The musical which wowed both critics and film fans alike during the year was Tom Hooper's stunning film adaptation of the stage musical Les Miserables which won three Oscars. It included one for Anne Hathaway who stole the film with her gut-wrenching rendition of I Dreamed A Dream.

Top of the biopics was Ron Howard's riveting and nail-biting Rush which explores the merciless rivalry between racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played magnificently by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.

It was closely followed by Stephen Frears's heart-breaking Philomena, based on the true story of an elderly Catholic Irish woman (Judi Dench), who enlisted the help of a former BBC journalist (Steve Coogan) to find the son the nuns stole from her as a teenage girl.

Another strong production was the delightfully bitter-sweet Saving Mr Banks which depicts the extraordinary tale of how Mary Poppins was brought to the big screen and Walt Disney's (Tom Hanks) 20-year battle with the book's prickly author PL Travers (Emma Thompson) to win the rights to her beloved literary creation.

Alexander Payne's road-trip drama Nebraska, starring an unrecognisable Bruce Dern, was a sublime take on the often uneasy relationship between an ageing father and his middle-aged son.

But one of the biggest surprises of the year was Ben Lewin's raw and funny no-holds-barred The Sessions, based on the real life tale of a disabled journalist (John Hawkes).

Confined to an iron lung, he enlists the help of a sex therapist (Helen Hunt) to lose his virginity.

It features knock-out performances from both actors, who turn a very difficult subject into a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable film.

The tough but touching action comedy Stand Up Guys was a master class in acting as Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin showed how it is done with effortless ease and finesse as they play retired gangsters who reunite for one last epic night.

In the sci-fi stakes Alfonso Cuaron's simple but compelling thriller Gravity about an astronaut (Sandra Bullock) lost in space is a visual feast that takes the breath away.

Robert Redford delivered a captivating yet gruelling solo performance as a man lost at sea in a boat as he sails solo in JC Chandor's virtually dialogue-free All Is Lost.

The final gem of the year was James Toback and Alec Baldwin's hilariously compelling and star-studded documentary Seduced And Abandoned about the Cannes film festival, a unique account of the financial constraints of making a film today.