Jamie Graham

The gleeful nastiness will be too much for many. Fans, meanwhile, will rejoice as Art wraps intestines around a Christmas tree like tinsel.

It’s a triumph of design, offering a creepy twist on such classic monsters as living dolls, the mummy and, in particular, the golem of Jewish folklore, a large clay figure that can be brought to life to do its creator’s bidding...

Boasting great music cues, vivid 35mm lensing (by, of all people, Avatar actor Giovanni Ribisi, who here makes his classy debut as director of photography), and engaging gender politics that establish Mollner’s interest in more than just the thrill of the chase, Strange Darling is a slick game of cat and mouse.

The best horror remakes are not afraid to push the source material in new directions – exhibit a) The Thing; exhibit b) The Fly – and while Watkins’ movie is nowhere near the level of those masterpieces (few are), it’s shrewd, engrossing and pleasingly nasty.

Glen Powell’s whirlwind ascent continues in a film that does pretty much all you could ask for from a Twisters movie.

As time passes, a real sadness creeps in as we suspect that we might be witnessing the extinction of a species, though an inspired sight gag is never far away. This is a film that needs to be seen to be believed.

Is Furiosa as magnificent as Fury Road? No, though not because it’s the first Mad Max movie without Max, whose absence barely registers. At 140 minutes minus credits, it’s a touch unwieldy, while its lament for the inevitability of war and the emptiness of revenge feels hollow given the giddy excitement it stirs from just these things. But what can’t be disputed is that Miller, the Mad genius, has done it again, once more refusing to simply repeat himself and instead choosing to kick up dust rather than gather it as he forges a new path through the Wasteland in often spectacular fashion.

A savage triumph.

This franchise is never happy to cruise - and M:I 7 goes all-out. It judders at times, but when it delivers, it delivers big time.

While it hardly stays with you like The Invisible Man, Renfield is a fun Friday night at the movies.

This easily surpasses Fede Alvarez’s overrated 2013 reboot and suggests there’s plenty more life – and death – in the franchise yet.

A propulsive thriller that’ll appeal to die-hard fans and newbies alike.

While some might have preferred this story with its edges unsmoothed, The Fabelmans is better viewed as the tale of how Spielberg’s personal values inform his every artistic decision, and how he became who he is: The Greatest Showman On Earth.

It’s the filmic equivalent of a Penn and Teller magic trick: amaze, show the mechanics, amaze again.

Peele is three for three. You’ll spill out into the night jawing with your friends and gazing at the stars.

No cynicism, just on-point sentiment and scintillating set-pieces. Top Gun: Maverick scores a direct hit on its twin targets of nostalgia and adrenaline.

An intergenerational family drama, a search for self, and a big, bouncy comedy sure to entertain.

The stalk ‘n’ slash sequences, though decent, can’t match Craven’s mastery of mood and mechanics, but the new guys understand that Scream movies are sick as well as slick.

Performances pop as Earth gets the chop, with US politics, big business and social media going up in flames.

Trumpeted by Netflix as a ‘new-school western’, The Harder They Fall in fact takes the staples of old-school westerns (bandits, bank jobs, train robberies, rowdy taverns, shootouts) but blends them all together in a manner that feels fresh and vibrant.

Malcolm & Marie is a film of the moment, powered by Covid, BLM and #MeToo – but good enough to stand the test of time.

We’ve all been waiting for Gadot, and it was worth it. A much-needed blockbuster full of humour, spectacle and optimism.

After 30 years of gestation, Mank emerges one of the great films on the machinations of Hollywood

An emotionally tough watch – though an exhilarating one tahnks to Aaron Sorkin's reliably taught script and direction

OK, so the ‘Nam firefights are more routine than we’d expect from Lee and the treasure hunt element almost feels it belongs to a different film, but this is a frequently fierce, fascinating picture. The world needs it right now.

The animation is spellbinding as Onward builds into a galloping adventure full of amusement, excitement and enchantment.

Bong has once more proved what an exciting filmmaker he is, and Parasite is strong contender for Oscar Best Picture.

Tries to fit in so much it threatens to tear apart at the seams, but ultimately rises to the impossible occasion.

The ghosts of Scorsese’s past can be found in these gaunt GoodFellas. An engrossing and, yes, haunting epic.

Awkwafina and Zhao shine in a deft comedy-drama with a higher US per-screen take than Avengers: Endgame.

A World Cinema Dramatic prize winner at Sundance, Hogg’s best film yet is an instant British classic.

Making his feature debut after directing a couple of Pixar shorts and co-writing Inside Out, Josh Cooley proves there’s life beyond the trilogy.

Not quite as good as Infinity War, but wears its three-hour running time with ease and rewards the fans. Part of the journey is the end, and this goes out with a bang that’ll make you whimper.

Neeson’s knees hold up in an oddball thriller that’s more interested in smirks than smashing things to smithereens.

So damn charming it makes your heart twinkle like Redford's eyes.

“YOU RIPPED MY FAVOURITE SHIRT!” Cage loses it in a bloody, druggy, superbly crafted revenge thriller. Astonishing.

A retro science-fiction actioner with both brains and brawn – quite a lot of brawn, actually. Surely destined for cult status.

Furious, relevant, and funny as hell.

McQuarrie brings grace and grit, and Cruise brings it, period. This quick-witted, fleet-footed franchise shows no sign of flagging.

Paul Schrader’s best for 20 years. A stunning study of one man’s flaws and an apocalyptic vision of mankind’s fate.

Be sure to make family time for Bird’s flawed but dazzling sequel. “Superheroes suck,” says Violet. No, they most certainly don’t.

Far better than we had any right to expect. Thrilling set-pieces, spine-tingling iconography and a Han/Chewie bromance to savour.

Not in the Bridesmaids league but a very funny female-centric comedy with big laughs and spot-on attitudes.

No small achievement. Alexander Payne re-confirms his position as one of US cinema’s premier filmmakers.

McDormand is an unstoppable force in a fiercely intelligent, profanely poetic movie that shifts tonal gears at breakneck speed.

An excellent middle chapter bursting with wit, wisdom, emotion, shocks, old-fashioned derring-do, state-of-the-art tech, and stonking set-pieces.

This is also a Christmas horror-comedy – and one of the best since Gremlins.

Poverty and poetry, delinquency and deluxe wonder… this child’s-eye view of lives on a knife-edge is terrific.

Kenneth Branagh finds interesting ways to grease the wheels of this new take on the oft-filmed novel.

This funny, touching adap of Shrabani Basu’s 2010 biography has its own chemistry, withering wit and unsentimental message of acceptance. A royal treat.

The plotting is tangled, the emotional undertow slight, but the action keeps on coming, including a blistering multi-player sword fight on speeding bikes.

Thrilling and haunting, pitching the power of adventure and friendship against the day-to-day horrors of childhood and a chilling Pennywise. An absolute scream.

No Badlands, but the best of the recent minor Malicks. And it features Val Kilmer with a chainsaw.

"Dunkirk" has a rival in the intensity stakes. Expect Bigelow’s deep-cutting drama to be part of the conversation come awards season.

Hilariously infectious and full of hope, Spider-Man’s return to Marvel couldn’t be more welcome.

Certain Women won’t challenge Transformers 5 at the box office, but it’s a deeply affecting triumph.

Strikingly original, brilliantly acted, this serio-comic masterpiece constantly swerves expectations.

Director Garth Davis’ debut is a touch over-stretched but impossible to resist – a classy crowd-pleaser with an especially magical first half.

Think Luis Buñuel spliced with Hieronymus Bosch.

Could have been a grand folly but instead it’s just grand. Will make audiences break into grins like its characters break into song.

If ever there was a film that epitomised the saying ‘no pain, no gain’, this is it. Packs a real wallop.

The great thing about Arabian Nights is that if one story isn't to your liking, another pops up, so the decision to give this tale a feature-length running time is perplexing. But quibbles aside, this is daring, magical filmmaking.

Volumes one and two are especially captivating, as Gomes himself appears onscreen to tell of how he charged a team of researchers with scouring Portugal in search of tales.

One of the princes of arthouse cinema, Miguel Gomes here uses his status to push form and stretch boundaries. Very long but very much worth it.

Scorsese blends his twin religions of Catholicism and cinema to considerable effect.

With few words and the odd squint, Cruise hard boils all of his charisma into a clenched fist, but is more than happy to let a dynamic Smulders take the lead in many scenes.

A couple of scenes are perhaps too on the nose, but the naturalistic performances are faultless, the righteous anger controlled, and the bleakness dotted with moments of humour and small acts of kindness. I, Daniel Blake is, first and foremost, a deeply humanistic film.

Full of shivers and subtext, this is scarily good. One of the films – horror or otherwise – of the year.

Not quite magnificent but certainly Fuqua’s best since "Training Day" and a rare remake that actually delivers. Yee-haw!

Informed, balanced and deeply humane.

Everybody in Everybody smashes it out the park, playing dreamers who exhibit a voracious lust for life as they quest for identity. Well, these actors might have found theirs – the next generation of leading men.

Sure, the core tale of personal redemption is standard stuff but Zak Hilditch’s breathless, batshit-crazy thriller tears through orgies, mass suicides and murderous rampages to conclude on a scene as moving and terrifying as the climax of Melancholia. Hold on tight.

With Streep on grandstanding form and Grant given a rare chance to show his range, this is an intelligent dramedy that moves and amuses.

Taken as a throwback to the thrillers of Carpenter and Spielberg’s cinema of wonder, it is special indeed. Not least because it honours its influences and yet remains, first and foremost, a Jeff Nichols film.

As unnerving as it is surprising.

Robert Eggers’ measured, meticulous debut builds into one of the most genuinely scary horror movies of recent years.

Charlie Kaufman shows us what it is to be human. Plus the best use of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ in the movies.

This is the anti-Heat: no sheen, no shimmer, no obsessing over highly grandiose themes and precise compositions; just grime and desperation.

Hail, Caesar! is a love letter inked in arsenic, at once celebrating the artistry of Hollywood and cringing at the crass commercialism and rampant phoniness of it all.

A rigorously detailed telling of an important story that never loses sight of the human devastation. Terrific turns from the ensemble cast.

Not without glitches but an energetic study of one woman’s refusal to settle for anything less than her share of the American Dream.

The Hateful Eight brands the western with a big ‘QT’. All you’d expect from a Tarantino movie and more besides. Saddle up.

Defying all boundaries, Martyrs relentlessly dishes the visceral pain and emerges as a work of not just ceaseless terror but also gravity and beauty.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not perfect nor could it ever be. But for every niggle...there are 10 things that are exactly right, and it says much that no one will leave disappointed despite going in with hysterical levels of expectation.

I don’t want people to dislike me. I’m indifferent to if they dislike me,” says Jobs. Well, this won’t be for everyone but it dazzles. Markedly better than Ashton Kutcher’s Jobs…

It’s not iconic sci-fi to match Alien or Blade Runner but it is a topical, supremely crafted, intelligent, heartfelt spectacle with gallows humour to die for. Strap yourself in.

It’s flawed, yes – Frances is frustratingly underwritten, her psychological fault lines spoken of but never shown – but it’s also swaggeringly cinematic. And it has Tom Hardy vs Tom Hardy.

Ambiguity is The Falling’s currency, and it’s all the richer for it.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation might have its hi-tech gadgets, but it's a pleasingly old-fashioned affair.

Like the Toy Story trilogy, Inside Out is about leaving childhood behind. It’s not quite as moving as those films but it is A-grade Pixar, full of Sadness and Joy.

Dear everyone – stop whatever you’re doing and go see Dear White People. One of the freshest, funniest and most vital films of the year.

Not up there with key US influences "Annie Hall," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Jerry Maguire," but a romcom Brits can be proud of. Make a date of it.

A lunatic vision, as hilarious as it is hellish. And some of the greatest action ever put on screen.

As a portrait of a privileged, narcissistic sex addict, its magnificence and messiness are intertwined, while Gérard Depardieu’s (literally) naked performance offers a gurning, grunting bedfellow to Keitel’s Bad Lieutenant and Brando’s butterfat Last Tango In Paris protagonist.

Wan has fashioned a nitro-fuelled thrill-ride that forms a fitting tribute to its blue-eyed bro.

Imagine all of D-Fens’ fury in Falling Down squeezed into one short, then times it by six. A gloriously crazed compendium that fizzes with OMG and OTT moments.

Over-long, but a work of great artistry and emotion. As the woodcutter says upon finding our heroine: “A gift from heaven”.