Nick de Semlyen

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

The founding of a comedy institution shot as a madcap thriller, Saturday Night glides over the surface rather than drilling deep, but it’s largely a hell of a fun 109 minutes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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