David Hughes

Even Oedipus would be left scratching his head by this bonkers but drily funny tale of one family's forlorn search for normality.

A loopy joy from start to finish, Bradley Cooper proves that he's the real deal.

Unlucky to miss out a Best Foreign Film Oscar, this moving war flick is a nerve-jangling odyssey into the underground world.

The forgettable title and cookie-cutter concept may seem lazy, but Coogan and Rudd work their asses off to make Erasmus and Paul the most memorable screen gay men since The Birdcage. It’s caustic, authentic, and very, very funny.

An understated Nicolas Cage — there’s a phrase you don’t get to write too often these days — anchors a superbly realised film, which, like its eponymous hero, has a brittle outer shell concealing a surprisingly warm heart.

Wisely focusing on four key cases, The Fight is a worthy attempt to document the ACLU’s seemingly endless struggle to challenge the many constitutional violations of the Trump administration.

A bold portrayal of a boy soldier in a brutal, bloody conflict, anchored by commanding performances from Idris Elba and 14 year-old newcomer Abraham Attah.

Beautifully performed and tough as nails, Vinterberg's social drama could not be any more timely.

Close gives a performance that demands the Oscar voters consider her for a seventh time, and with Pryce matching her barb for barb, this is a heavyweight piece of theatre that grips whenever they’re on screen.

Given the obvious influences on The Double, it could have felt like a facsimile of other films. Instead, it has enough individuality, imagination and idiosyncratic invention to identify it as a true original.

If Chris Morris had grown up in Sweden watching Jacques Tati and Ingmar Bergman films, he might be making films like this. Based on Andersson’s mordantly funny observations about the human condition, the pigeon has it pretty good.

Holm’s well-judged adaptation of the bestseller keeps the maudlin to a minimum and plays the black comedy just right. A strong contender for feel-good film of the year.

Powerful, moving and melancholy. A low-key treat.

An extremely interesting insight, proving that rap music is an art form in its own right.

Fifty years after he first appeared, Donald E. Westlake’s antihero may have found his perfect avatar. Like Parker’s robberies, it isn’t entirely successful, but Statham and Lopez make enticingly mismatched partners in crime.

Chilean writer-director Sebastián Silva’s neither-fish-nor-fowl narrative plays tricks on our minds, without fully engaging our senses.

Often funny, outrageously vulgar in places and very, very French.

Zac Efron makes a convincing bid for movie stardom — and Ratajkowski proves she’s more than just a pretty face — in this flawed but fitfully entertaining film, even if it all goes a bit Pete Tong at the end.

If weapons and wizardry get your blood up, and you prefer your movies dark and brooding and minus the sandals, Solomon Kane fits the bill. It may lack The Lord Of The Rings' majesty, but Robert E. Howard fans will lap it up.

Whether or not the metaphorical aspects excite you, an unshakeable tolerance for high camp and lowbrow humour may be required to fully appreciate Almodóvar’s broad, bawdy comedy — even for fans of his early, funny films.

If only he had probed a bit deeper, and widened his scope beyond the predominantly white, male subjects (including our own Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan and Stephen Merchant), this could have been a fascinating film as well as a funny one.

McKellen and Mirren, sharing the screen for the first time, are exquisitely matched in this slight but enjoyable yarn, which is like watching two magnificent vintage cars in a road race, without minding too much who wins.

Moving if low-key, Jim Loach's debut feature is proof that compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking runs in the family.

The visuals are an animation student's wet dream, the dialogue an English student's nightmare - but for Japanimation fans it's a big-screen must-see.

Cage and Wood make a hugely enjoyable double act (has True Detective season three been cast yet?) in this deceptively dark thriller with comic undertones, arguably sunk by a seismic tonal shift that not only wipes the smile off your face, but leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Tune into its offbeat frequency, however, and there is much to enjoy.

Whilst this fly is not as tightly scripted or keenly directed as its parent, it does have pace, breathless tension and the sort of gross-out effects that rules out kebabs for some time after the credits have rolled.

Funny, whimsical and as warming as a big bowl of Irish stew.

Your opinion of this unasked-for but likable comedy sequel depends entirely on whether your reaction to the statement “It’s better than the first one” is 1) “Dear God, it could hardly be worse” or 2) “Awesome!”