Most promising movies of 2010 (updated)

Philip Noyce's Salt (July) starring Angelina Jolie in a role initially intended for Tom Cruise as a CIA officer accused of being a Russian sleeper spy. Noyce is the Australian behind the Jack Ryan thrillers. Remember the bazooka ambush in Clear and Present Danger.

Anton Corbijn's The American (Sept), about an assassin (George Clooney) in a Southern Italian village preparing for the proverbial final assignment. "Local Hero with high-powered rifles and silencers," according to Hollywood Elsewhere.

Paul Greengrass's Green Zone (March), starring Matt Damon as a soldier caught up in a CIA conspiracy during the search for WMDs — "Bourne in Baghdad," according to the Independent. Shot in 2007, it could have passed its sell-by date.

Christopher Nolan's Inception (July) “a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind” the mind in question belonging to Leonardo Di Caprio. Sounds highly dubious but okay.

Doug Liman's Fair Game (TBA), with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts as Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame in a dramatisation of their 'outing' by Cheney's office. Liman is due a return to form.

David Fincher's The Social Network (Oct), "the Facebook movie," from a script by Aaron Sorkin. A lovely pairing: Plays Well With Others meets the Misanthrope. Facebook in a nutshell.

Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (TBA), with Stephen Dorff as a bad boy actor holed up at the Chateau Marmont, and Elle Fanning as his 11-year-old daughter.

Clint Eastwood's Hereafter (Dec) from a script by Peter Morgan, starring Matt Damon and Cecile de France as characters "touched by death in different ways."

Tron Legacy (Dec): Flynn’s son enter Tron to find out what happened to Jeff Bridges all those years ago. The only way for this one to go is up. The bikes look cool.

Knight And Day (July), Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in Charade territory directed by the consistently interesting James Mangold (Copland, 3:10 to Yuma).

David Gordon Green's Your Highness (Oct) with Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel. Trippy fantasy from the maker of Pineapple Express.

Departed writer Bill Monahan's London Boulevard (June): a reclusive actress (Kiera Knightley) entertains recently-released convict Colin Farrell.

David O Russell's The Fighter Starring Mark Wahlberg as Boston boxer Mickey Ward

Alexander Payne's The Descendents starring George Clooney as a lawyer on the road with his two daughters after the death of their mother

Edgar Wright's comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs the World starring Michael Cera and Anna Kendrick

Chloe (Spring): a thriller from Atom Egoyan, Ivan Reitman, Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried.

Katheryn Bigelow's Triple Frontier, a South American organised-crime thriller written by Hurt Locker's Mark Boal

Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as a couple fighting to save their marriage

Peter Weir's The Way Back, escape from a Siberian labor camp with Ed Harris and Colin Farrell

The Coens remake of True Grit starring Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin

Steven Soderbergh's female martial-arts thriller, Knockout

Also Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Julian Schnabel's Miral, Lee Unkrich's Toy Story 3 (June), Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (May), Joe Johnstone's The Wolfman (March), Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (March), Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (May), Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (April), and How to Train Your Dragon (March)