A gritty, life-affirming tale of an abused African-American teenager's struggle to change her life in 1980s Harlem. 16-year-old Clareece 'Precious' Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) has been abused from an early age by her now absent father, and is pregnant with his second child. With a venomous mother Mary (Mo'Nique) who treats her like a servant and her school life blighted by her illiteracy, Precious struggles to cope with her seemingly hopeless life. But the offer of a place in an alternative school and the nurturing of literacy teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) soon begin to transform the teenager, offering her a path to a brighter future. Mo'Nique won the Best Supporting Actress awards at both the 2010 BAFTAs and the Academy Awards for her portrayal of Mary.

Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey star in this steamy crime thriller set in rural Florida at the end of the 1960s. Charlotte Bless (Kidman), a garishly seductive femme fatale, enlists the help of returning Miami Times investigative reporter Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and his black colleague Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) as she tries to overturn the conviction of death row inmate Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), who is accused of murdering a local racist sheriff. But as a mutual resentment simmers between Yardley and Ward's adolescent younger brother, Jack (Efron), the investigation threatens to get derailed as the main protagonists find themselves swept up in a heady cocktail of heat, lust and violence.