A doctor (Hilary Swank) rents an apartment in an otherwise empty New York building, but comes to suspect that she's being spied on, perhaps by her landlord (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Hilary Swank stars in this true-life drama as Betty Anne Waters, a high-school dropout and a mother of two who decides to qualify as a lawyer, just so that she can overturn her brother's murder conviction.

As a reader I define a book as "great" if I'm still thinking about it long after I've finished it. As a writer, I'm tougher. A great book is one that makes me re-evaluate what I'm doing, dig deeper, try harder, raise my own bar. But James Ellroy's 'The Black Dahlia' was something else entirely, far more than just a great book. It changed my life.

A true story, compellingly acted – but I don't remember the Iraq war being this predictable

Starring: Hilary Swank, Christopher Lee

A superhero crime caper that has plenty of buzz but lacks any sting

Starring: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell

The return of Hammer sees the house of horror leave the Home Counties behind. Geoffrey Macnab welcomes new blood

Hollywood's leading women say movies tipped for Academy Award success are biased towards male actors

Insomnia and artistic expression have always been strongly linked, says Hannah Duguid. Now a major London gallery is hosting a unique all-night investigation into the subject

Intandem Films, an AIM-listed group, is expected to announce tomorrow that it is to co-produce and sell to distributors the latest movie starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank.

Even solid relationships do not seem to survive the apparent triumph of the Best Actress Academy Award. The winner gets a gong but loses her husband

Boxing Day means that it's time to stir the grey matter with a glass of something suitably refreshing and rise to the challenge of our 2009 Wine Trivia Quiz. Test your knowledge of the great and trifling wine events of the past year and you stand a chance of winning a magnificent six-bottle case of James Bond's champagne of choice, Bollinger Special Cuvée. We're also offering the runner-up a superb bottle of Hidalgo's rare Palo Cortado Viejo VORS (delivery to UK mainland addresses only), worth £65.

While not traditionally beautiful according to the Hollywood standards of yore, the American actress Brittany Murphy had "jolie laide" looks – big, brown eyes, a slightly disdainful mouth, a pointed chin, just-out-of-bed hair – which she used to great effect as she combined parts in ditzy comedies like Clueless and Just Married to meatier roles in the dark thrillers Girl, Interrupted and Don't Say A Word.