Nick de Semlyen

Essentially Parabolas & Prejudice, it isn’t the most nuanced piece of work out this month. But nuance be damned — an uplifting plea for equality, this is a story calibrated for maximum effect.

An eccentric, funny yarn filled with eccentric, funny characters, Audiard’s oater deftly twists Western tropes, sending its charming, ramshackle heroes scurrying from one bizarre incident to the next.

It sounded like the dumbest movie of all time, but it’s actually smart, subversive and packed with famous voices saying wonderfully unspeakable things. In fact, it’s a banger.

More proof that Cornish is a wizard at re-energising tired tropes.The characters are a delight, the action sequences thrum with invention, and when it’s funny, it’s very funny indeed.

One of Hollywood's forgotten masters and one of its brightest new actresses team for what could well be an Oscar wild card.

Lord knows how it all connects, but there's a strange power in how About Endlessness flows, jumping around the whole spectrum of human experience and the ridiculous places to which our emotions push us. Andersson's pigeon is at flight once more, and cinema is a richer place for it.

Both a vehicle for Awkwafina’s formidable talents and an incredibly charming ensemble piece. If there’s any justice, it’ll be remembered when it comes to award-scattering season.

A beautifully observed study of an American family coming apart at the seams, it not only establishes Dano as a director to watch, but features an extraordinary performance by Mulligan.

Stylish, high-energy, smart and eye-wateringly violent. There are quibbles, for sure, but where it counts, Monkey Man goes bananas in the best possible way.

If you’re playing Wes Anderson bingo, you can tick off ‘droll whimsy’, ‘visual pizzazz’ and ‘Bill Murray’. Yet, thanks to the Far East setting and a rollicking story, this is a fun and fresh-feeling experience.

A thinking person’s Bad Boys, this off-kilter indie crime comedy introduces two deliriously warped lawmen to the screen. Here’s to a Cuba-invading sequel.

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

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.