• Lars and the Real Girl: I'd see talented Ryan Gosling even if he was just reading off his grocery list. But in this quirky-sounding comic drama, he portrays a small-town oddball whose new girlfriend – they met on line – is a full-sized doll.

• Atonement: Ravishing Keira Knightley pairs up for another literary adaptation with director Joe Wright, for whom she starred in 2005's Pride & Prejudice. This drama about a troubled British family is based on a best-selling novel by Ian McEwan.

• Lust, Caution: After striking box office gold with homosexual lust with 2005's Brokeback Mountain, director Ang Lee showcases the heterosexual kind, and lots of it, in an NC-17 rated drama set in mid-century Hong Kong and Shanghai. Joan Chen and Tony Leung Chiu Wai star.

• Margot at the Wedding: Playing estranged sisters, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh let long-simmering conflicts come to a boil in a comedy from Noah Baumbach, the writer-director behind The Squid and the Whale (and who's wed to Leigh). Jack Black costars.

• I'm Not There: The times they are a-changin', but Bob Dylan still remains a figure of mystery. Singular director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) uses not one, but six actors (including Cate Blanchett) to portray Dylan during various periods in the troubadour's career. Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore and Heath Ledger costar.