Nick de Semlyen

While all of the signature elements are present and correct, right down to the soul-shrivelling hard stare, some of the warmth and wit and dashes of brilliant eccentricity we’ve become used to are absent.

Scruffy and overstuffed, but contagiously good-natured. And frankly more films need to feature showdowns at abandoned alligator-themed amusement parks.

A lot more entertaining and irreverent than the film’s grandiose subtitle, “Courting A Legend”, suggests — even if it’s hardly as trailblazing as the man to whom it pays tribute.

Some summer anti-programming arrives in the form of a highly talky, at times upsetting prison drama — think Fortress meets Limitless. You can feel the strain of its expansion from novella form, but it’s just about worth a visit.

A film based on a game inspired by films that are much better than this one, Uncharted is watchable enough but could have been so much better.

A fast-paced and hectic kitchen thriller that, though it tries to spin a few too many plates, pulls you deep into a fascinating, detailed world most of us know little about.

Guy Ritchie delivers a nice surprise: an LA neo-noir with high-voltage action and an ice-cube-cool Statham. If it gets a bit tangled up in its time-hopping reveals, it’s largely 
an enjoyable, rattlesnake-mean thriller.

Not quite ‘Ready Player One Star’, but this is an odd duck: a Black Mirror-ish concept played for laughs, which ends up getting tangled up in its own code.

A strange hybrid of Italian neorealism and fish-based fantasy, Luca is beautiful to behold but plays it too safe to make a real impact. Still, great CG linguine.

The action is sharp and imaginative, and Jordan strongly establishes his action-flick credentials. But story-wise it’s all very familiar and more than a little dour.

Come for Nic Cage fighting a robot alligator with a mop. Stay for some inventive licks on the dead-by-dawn horror-movie template, though the other characters are nothing to shriek about.

Swinging between ice and space, Clooney has upped his directorial ambition and delivered a big-scale, big-hearted story, even if it struggles to match the films it riffs on.

A supernatural, effects-laden yarn like this is right in Robert Zemeckis' wheelhouse. Which makes it a little disheartening that it’s merely good, rather than great. Dahl's story still sings, but like a potion missing eye of newt, this new take is slightly undercooked.

The concept of combining Adam Sandler and horror is not a bad one. But this is no Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Instead, Hubie Halloween inspires mild dread for all the wrong reasons..

It’s not hard to tell that this Big Lebowski spin-off involved neither Coen Brother. Fair play to Turturro for going in such a strange direction, and assembling a pretty killer cast, but it’s unlikely to satisfy even the most ardent Quintana enthusiast.

It’s not as effective as Mandy or The Mist, both of which it evokes at points. But Color Out Of Space is still an audacious and admirably out-there attempt at cosmic horror.

Like Maximus, the hero who inspires the theme of its pivotal party, Greed will keep you entertained. But patchiness and occasional preachiness mar a clearly heartfelt message movie.

With hard-boiled dialogue, sleek God’s-eye views of the city and serious talent in supporting roles, you’re not given a chance to get bored. Even so, an air of overfamiliarity hangs over proceedings.

If you like E.T. and Bumblebee, chance are you’ll have a good time with this slightly homogenous but sweet-natured kids’ adventure.

An earnest stab at crunching a brilliant breezeblock of a novel down to film-size, but one that fails to pay off. Frankly, you might have more fun watching a pigeon for 149 minutes.

As well-constructed, unique, hardboiled and brutal as Zahler’s prior films, but this one leaves a less welcome bad taste in your mouth, thanks to its repugnant heroes and racial stereotypes. Impossible to dismiss, but hard to warm to.

Essentially a Split sequel with an Unbreakable topping, this is weaker than either of those films but still has a decent amount of entertaining and creepy sequences, most of them due to McAvoy’s high-commitment performance.

You’ll need a magnifying glass to find the jokes in this send-up of other, better Holmes screen adaptations. With stars this funny, there are inevitably some moments of mirth (several of them onion-based), but it falls well short of their previous team-ups.

An old-school film about an old-school crime that brings together an impressive array of British legends. Solid, but sadly the results don’t exactly blow the bloody doors off.

Some outrageous, if hardly original, twists eventually enliven a dreary plot. But even with Margot Robbie in full scheming-vixen mode, Terminal feels interminable.

A well-meaning look at the issue of arranged marriage, garnished with some Hollywood star power, but it’s too meandering and sluggish to grip.

A droll and vigorous psychological study of an everyday egomaniac, but we’ve seen Stiller do this sort of thing before, and better.

A film about a cult that might well attract a cult following itself. But it’s only moderately successful, with the early scenes hinting at a bolder, more satisfying tale that could have been.

The lesser of 2017’s two Wonder Woman movies, this attempt to explore a complex three-sided relationship is let down by bland storytelling.

Given the story is based on reality, it’s understandable why the makers of 6 Below didn’t want to throw in embellishments, but a bear attack really wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Verdict Spies, terrorists, remote-controlled bombs… Unlocked’s components are all too familiar, and it doesn’t put nearly enough effort into making them feel fresh.

A microwave meal of a kid’s film, consisting of tired tropes and bland platitudes. This particular village should have stayed lost.

It’s an energetic survival thriller and terrific showcase for Lively’s chops, but iffy plotting and a sloppy climax detract from the terror.

Considering it’s the debut of one of TV’s hottest double-acts, Keanu is a slight disappointment. But there’s plenty of funny stuff, and George Michael fans in particular should have faith, faith, faith.

There are moments that make the whole enterprise worthwhile, and introduces an intriguing new Batman. But it’s also cluttered and narratively wonky; a few jokes wouldn’t have gone amiss, either.

It has a strong, game cast but this is karaoke filmmaking, trading on nostalgia rather than breaking new territory. Affable but forgettable.

The premise promised Regency class and Romero shocks. The results, though, are only intermittently entertaining, and a better adaptation of Austen than a monster mash.

The film strains in two different directions, half trying to stay true to its based-on-fact roots, half wanting to ditch all that and become a ridiculous farce.

Messy and unlikeable.

A disappointingly tame and unimaginative effort, which throws away much of what was best-loved about the original and fails to find worthy replacements.

Over-familiar and the first half's pace is sea-sluggish but with inspired touches.

Full-force performance form Ryan Reynolds but not as funny as it hopes it is.

This is maximum-gloss entertainment with its fair share of tricksy rug-pulls. But, like one of the neon-coloured cocktails Smith drinks in it, it’s more of an immediate rush than something you’ll remember in a year.

Overlong and underpopulated with gags that really land, there's still moments of mirth for devotees of the original.

Some inspired grace notes elevate a thriller that's more De Palma than Hitchcock.

Some nice comic beats and a sinister Andy Garcia turn make this far more watchable that the fratty conceit might suggest.

Tough on nuance, tough on the causes of nuance, this episode has the highest velocity and lowest IQ yet. See it on the biggest, loudest, dumbest screen you can find.

An ultraviolent Korean crime film with plenty of swagger and visual brio, but still too generic to really stand out from the pack.

It’s no masterpiece and admittedly slight at 85 minutes long. But Idiocracy is that rarest of things in this age of lazy laughs — a gutsy comedy with something to say. More importantly, it’s funny.

Kudos to Anderson and Gilroy for making a low-action, dialogue-heavy geopolitical thriller in this day and age. But aside from finally giving its star some strong material to work with, it doesn’t live up to its promise.

Some of the tension drains from a slow middle act, but it remains a gripping tale of sleuth-work and moral awakening.