Neil Smith

A serviceable translation of a theatrical success whose weaker elements are found wherever it veers too widely from its source.

Soderbergh lets his hair down with a frank, funny dramedy that bulges with humour, heart and smarts as McConaughey gives it everything he's got, in a potentially gong-grabbing turn.

A road movie with heart, humour and a lead prepared to give his youthful co-stars their share of the limelight.

That every jibe lands woefully wide is no surprise, though we’ll give leading lady Ashley Tisdale credit for giving her all to a film that mercifully won’t be around long enough to do any lasting damage to her post-High School Musical career.

Jillian Bell goes the distance in an inspirational comedy that’s funny, fresh and feelgood.

Precision-built to make you chortle, M3GAN is a l0t of 4un. On the fr1ghts front, however, it’s basically a Furby.

Backdraft clichés notwithstanding, this is a stirring fact-based tribute to public servants putting it on the line.

The doltish, messy and frequently incoherent result bears all the hallmarks of a botched and compromised endeavour.

Task Force X has the X factor in James Gunn’s lively, funny, and very bloody improvement on a DC disappointment.

Given the short from whence it came ran a mere 12 minutes, there is a definite sense of material being extended beyond its elasticity. Yet it’s a decent vehicle for Ridley that, like last year’s The Marsh King’s Daughter, shows she doesn’t need a galaxy far, far away to demonstrate her star (Wars) power.

Marvel’s Phase Four makes up for lost time with an origin story that richly entertains when it’s not pushing boundaries.

Those with fond memories of a gentler era of boy-and-his-insert-critter-here heartwarmers are bound to welcome Dragon’s old-fashioned vibe. But it still feels almost perverse to place all of Weta’s hi-tech wizardry at the disposal of a film so stubbornly, studiously lo-fi.

Though delightful in places, the third entry in Sony’s third Spider-Man cycle feels both overstocked and underwhelming.

Nods to "Hostel" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" make for a cine-literate affair further buffered by a smart cameo from erstwhile Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy.

We’ve seen Stiller do ‘exasperated malcontent’ before, but this remains a perceptive portrait of fortysomething angst.

One of the decade’s most accomplished fantasy sagas signs off with a finale that’s exciting, moving and fabulous to look at.

An expertly calibrated drama confirming Marsh’s status as one of Britain’s most formidable filmmakers.

Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s elegant mix of voiceover, archive footage and talking heads lets “the female Lawrence of Arabia” largely speak for herself, illuminating the pivotal role she played in shaping today’s Middle East.

While the style seems familiar, the material feels fresh: a testament not only to how Nichols lovingly crafts a fictional story around the photos Danny Lyon took for his seminal 1968 book The Bikeriders, but also to the flesh his actors put on the bones of the archetypes who populate it.

A rib-tickling homage to the gumshoe shows of yesteryear, with an endearingly daffy mindset.

Atlantic cod and oyster beds provide a pungent backdrop for this effective fillet of atmospheric psychological drama.

A little more anger would not have gone amiss in this well-acted but strangely remote slice of Oscar bait

As crude as the oil it revolves around, Deepwater provides combustible entertainment without leaving the shallows.

Forceful and arresting, Ayer's follow-up to "Harsh Times" and "Street Kings" sees him confidently playing to his strengths.

A primitive concept (cavemen play football) generates unsophisticated laughs in an animated caper that’s fun but rather second division by Aardman standards.

An outlandish high concept is a recipe for hope and humour in a film that bears viewing more than once.

Such is the in-built disposability of this sort of lightweight streaming fodder that those who watch it will probably have forgotten it inside of five minutes.

The leads make sweet music in an affecting four-piece that, if not note perfect, plays well to their individual strengths. A marked improvement overall on this year’s other Quartet.