Hanna Flint

Everything is wrapped up a little too neatly by the final act. But with the epidemic of loneliness only growing larger, maybe, every once in a while, a sweet, hopeful ending is exactly what audiences need from cinema. To feel seen. To be reminded that it's going to be okay.

Despite a starry cast and endearing performance from Joey King, A Family Affair is as messy as the conflicting professional and personal relationships it depicts. A convoluted and superficial script and yawning direction fail to deliver character stakes worth getting behind.

The second part of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon space opera, The Scargiver, delivers a half-baked conclusion to a well-trodden story with flimsy character studies and lacklustre action.

Despite a great ensemble cast, Zack Snyder's space opera is let down by a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story that fails to live up to its expansive promise.

It has a few laughs and some stylish outfits, but this is unfortunately a shallow prequel, one which fails to breathe new life into the Hunger Games franchise.

Lotfy Nathan’s debut is a grounded, sensitive portrait of a country still reeling from dysfunction. The script doesn’t penetrate as much as Adam Bessa’s searingly intense performance, which gives this social drama impressive emotional heft.

Variously throughout the film, close-ups of hands stroking marble, bodies or linking fingers try their best to create a sense of visual intimacy that the script fundamentally lacks. In its absence, all that’s left is a run-of-the-mill queer story with one dimension.

Despite his erotic thriller credentials, Lyne makes a tepid return to the director’s chair with a rather basic adaptation of an intriguing marital character study that Affleck struggles to enliven.

There are some hilarious new songs (look out for ‘Gotham City Guys’) and the jokes are more meta than ever, with Arnett’s Batman still invariably the funniest figure in the room. But the comedy feels like overcompensation for a story that gets more convoluted as it shifts back and forth between the human and Lego worlds.

Stillwater’s leap is admirable – it’s just a shame about the landing.

Phoenix, Hoffman and Norman, especially, amuse and move with their relatable performances in Mills’ sweet drama. It’s nicely visualised but can feel unnecessarily long in places.

While there are some atmospheric and absorbing moments, all involving Isaac monologuing or close-ups on his face depicting stormy thoughts brewing underneath, Schrader ultimately abandons his gambling subplots in favour of a two-fold ending that is both anticlimactic and empty.

There’s a hodge-podge of ideas going on that don’t always seamlessly fit, but Wan’s homage to ’80s horror and Wallis’s fretful performance, has a bloody lot of guts.

Bravo stylishly delivers a dreamlike odyssey with slick, character-driven performances full of conviction, but that courage dissipates by the final act with nary enough steam to power a satisfying ending for its eponymous hero.

French Exit boasts an assured cast but drab direction and lazy writing ensure the characters are never as eccentric, cutting or interesting as the film’s tinkling score would have you believe.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It hits some major horror notes, with Wilson and Farmiga providing much needed heart and soul, but the new Satanic worship elements causes the franchise to take a farcical turn.

Smart special effects, atmospheric visuals and an impressive physical performance from Williams enhance this timely ghost story but the horror doesn’t hit as hard as the rages against misogyny.