Allied

With the Second World War as a backdrop and a fateful meeting in Casablanca, this bears the hallmarks of an epic Hollywood romance. Brad Pitt stars as a wartime intelligence officer who falls for fellow agent Marion Cotillard after they're paired as husband and wife on an operation in Morocco. Back in London, they tie the knot for real, and then the plot kicks in and the stakes are raised, as Pitt is told that his new wife is a German spy. Director Robert Zemeckis could have explored the psychological angle of the story to a greater degree, rather than sending Pitt on a mission halfway through the film, but that does at least set the stage for some derring-do behind enemy lines in France. Pitt makes for a convincingly conflicted hero, while Cotillard shines in a role that plays on her doe-eyed, angelic aura, floating across the screen in silky gowns with a tenuous smile. And only the iciest temperament could resist the emotional finale.