Coming Soon: Josh Brolin does Dubya in 'W'

There's no way that the films coming out of America in the next two months can possibly match the real-life drama, but one release which might come close is W (9 November), Oliver Stone's biopic of George Bush II. Josh Brolin (pictured) from No Country for Old Men stars as Dubya, and if that casting seems surprising, what about the choice of two 35-year-old sex symbols, Thandie Newton and Ioan Gruffud, as Condoleeza Rice and Tony Blair?

Later in the month, there's Blindness (21 November), from Fernando Meirelles, the director of City of God and The Constant Gardener. It's an allegorical drama set in a world where the entire population goes blind except for an ophthalmologist's wife, Julianne Moore. If you thought Gone Baby Gone and The Dark Knight were depressing, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Also that week, there's Waltz with Bashir (21 November). Nobody would have guessed that cartoons would become the means to tell the most powerful and personal stories of Middle Eastern unrest, but, following Persepolis, Waltz With Bashir is an Israeli "animated drama" concerning one soldier's memories of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in West Beirut. It was widely, albeit wrongly, predicted to win the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Changeling (28 November) is the latest from the ever-prolific, evergreen Clint Eastwood. A period thriller set in 1920s Los Angeles, it stars Angelina Jolie as a woman whose nine-year-old son is kidnapped. Months later, the police claim to have found him – but the boy she's given is a different child. It's a true story, although judging by John Malkovich's wig and character name – Reverend Gustav Briegleb – it's hard to believe that the Coen brothers weren't involved somewhere along the line. That same week, Steve Coogan stars in Hamlet 2 (28 November), a comedy about a failed actor who stages a blasphemous rock opera in an Arizona school. Think of it as the antidote to High School Musical.

The Harry Potter instalment due this Christmas has been shunted back until next summer, but Harry fans might be placated by Twilight (19 December), based on one of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling teen vampire novels. The year ends with Australia (26 December), an epic story of love, war and cattle, which sees Baz Luhrmann reuniting with Nicole Kidman for his first film since 2001's Moulin Rouge.