Helen O'Hara

The pristine setting never meshes with Jones’s efforts to give emotional reality to his army of characters, who cannot escape their tropes: leader, hero, warrior woman, mystic.

Messier and heavier than Days Of Future Past, this is not so much the next step in the X-Men’s evolution as a failed callback to past glories.

The setting is glorious and Dormer is on form, but the scares can’t match either.

As a counterpoint to the (much better) "Spotlight," it’s a fascinating look at modern journalism – but perhaps not always for the reasons its makers intended.

It may occasionally shock a laugh from you, but between those moments your face will be a rictus of horror.

It’s fun to see Zoolander once more. It seems unlikely that the premise could ever sustain a third film, but if this is Derek’s swan song then he leaves amid a flurry of feathers and bustle – surely all a male model could wish for.

Witty, absurd and far more entertaining than it has any right to be, this could finally shed light on the financial crisis for those of us who found it all too boring to contemplate.

The prequels this ain’t. We can all breathe again.

Acerbic, unexpected and quietly heart-warming without ever approaching sappy, this takes a no-nonsense approach to big issues - life, love and ageing - and never feels heavy-handed. We should all be so lucky in our grandmothers.

If anything, this is too faithful to the book, sometimes getting bogged down in detail as Katniss struggles to her goal. But its epic sweep, grand designs and unyielding central performance make this a compelling finale.

While it’s a woefully incomplete middle chapter, at least it’s never boring.

While there are fun moments, the whole is an odd mix of grotesquerie and cutesiness.

Cavill and Hammer are made for each other, but the film can’t always find the pyrotechnics to match their chemistry.

Gripping, humane and lighter than it sounds, Stewart’s first foray into directing suggests that he was right to quit the day job. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

Bigger and, yes, darker than the first, this is less air-punchingly gleeful but probably more consistent. Thanks to Whedon and the most charismatic, compelling cast you’ll find anywhere, Age of Ultron redefines the scale we can expect from our superhero epics but still fits human-sized emotion amid the bombast.

Once you swallow the giant pill that is the premise, it just about makes sense, and Woodley sells it with all her conviction.

A compassionate and inspiring look at an extraordinary life, anchored by two of the best performances of the year.

Both heavy-handed and ham-fisted, this is a self-important morality tale where you can see everyone's uppance coming long before it arrives.

The drama and tone are powerful and effective and Lawrence makes an exceptionally charismatic heroine, but an almost total lack of action means this is less catching fire than treading water.

It’s a well-made adventure with great energy and considerable style, but it’s essentially a maze without an exit.

Strong performances keep the viewer guessing as much as our heroine, but the character drama recedes as the thriller element builds, to its detriment.

At times terrifying and too tough for tinies, this is nevertheless a triumphant sequel that puts its faith in Hiccup and Toothless to find a way through dark times for man and dragon. Until we all get our own dragon to go flying with, the result is a story sufficiently thrilling to have us all airborne.

Smart, tough and a little bit cool, this is an intriguing opening rather than a slam-dunk in its own right, but the cast - and especially Woodley - make it sufficiently diverting to merit a place in the action franchise ranks.

Nearly as good as the last film — the starrier cameos compensating somewhat for the more scattershot plot — this is fun but could have been more deeply felt.

There’s a good-hearted father and son tale at the heart of the madness here, but the surroundings are sometimes a little too silly for true greatness.

The plot’s all over the place, but there are a lot of laughs and some strong action beats along the way.

This is not a simple story of an uptight English woman induced to loosen up by those freedom-lovin’ Yanks, but a delicate and brilliantly acted story of overcoming the past to embrace an uncertain future. Emma Thompson, in particular, is magic.

It admirably avoids many of the pitfalls of adapting this book, but seems to have lost some of the life and pace as well.