Olly Richards

Simpler, but also bolder and bloodier, than its predecessor, The Bone Temple is a more-than-worthy sequel.

It cleverly pulls at the supposed laws of the series in a way that makes it more interesting without diluting the fearsome nature of the title character. Trachtenberg is making the franchise richer with every instalment. And if the film’s final shot is any reliable indication, he’s far from finished.

A trippy mix of horror, thriller and sports movie, Him is a very wild ride. A launching pad for its director and lead, and a shining moment for Wayans.

A really good, dumb comedy can be a joyous thing, and this is a really good, dumb comedy.

In live-action mode, Lilo & Stitch has some of the charm of an ’80s Amblin movie, like E.T. or Gremlins.

This movie does exactly what a horror reboot should, taking the best bits of the original and heading in a smart, inventive new direction. There’s minimal reliance on nostalgia. It’s daft as hell and a heck of a good time.

This is very effective, experimental filmmaking – and at 85 minutes it never becomes indulgent – and the most exciting thing Soderbergh’s done in quite some time.

It’s a moving, challenging watch.

It’s a tremendously enjoyable type of horror, full of giggle-inducing jump scares, but sending you off with some intelligent questions to gnaw on.

A gift of great storytelling, this is the best film Chris Sanders has made.

A smart, tragic take on just how dark the American Dream can be, with award-worthy work from Stan and Strong.

There are strong shades of Bo Burnham’s 2018 movie Eighth Grade here. That’s not to call Dídi derivative at all, but to say that it nails that high-school yearning to be cool and complete lack of any idea how to get there, making things worse for yourself with every attempt.

Despite a few early narrative bumps, it’s hard to imagine what more you could want from a movie with this pairing. Marvel has found its mojo again.

Sasquatch Sunset’s mood sits somewhere between the queasy surreality of Jim Hosking’s The Greasy Strangler and the winsome daftness of Daniels’ Swiss Army Man. It’s easy to see this following in the (big)footsteps of those and acquiring its own cult following.

Through this decade so far, Pixar’s films have held great ideas that haven’t quite reached their full potential. This is probably its best film since Coco, and best sequel since Toy Story 3.

If the film ends up somewhere a little too neat, Comer makes the journey always worthwhile.

This has the warm, cosy sense of a film that, even with its few flaws, could very easily become regarded as a festive classic.

The story has a good dose of hokum, but the execution has an oppressive and sometimes feral quality that doesn’t just make the hairs on your neck stand up, it puts your whole body in fight-or-flight mode. An extremely impressive first film.

A gripping, moving, sometimes frustrating portrait of a man consumed by a need to speak up, even as he wonders if anybody’s watching.

Dressed like a Primark sale rail and flirting with whoever’s nearest, he brings a camp energy that makes little sense for his character (a man who simultaneously cares about nothing and will endure the logistics of arranging a multi-vehicle attack on a dam), but provides a wildly entertaining contrast to the beefy machismo of most of the cast.

It may sound dismissive to call a film ‘nice’, but that’s exactly what this is. It’s beautifully produced, entirely uncynical niceness. If you’re after just a lovely time, come on in and put your feet up.

The Outfit follows a pattern set by countless gangster flicks of the past, but its freshness is in the intelligence and surprise of the script. Like a well-made suit, it’s not old-fashioned — it’s classic.

The things Sorkin is criticised for — grand speeches, an earnest streak — are the things that make his work sing when the context is right. The drama of this legendary TV couple gives him plenty of material to do some of his best work.

Tom Hanks is more than enough to make this almost one-man show thrilling and heart-breaking. Prepare to weep. Doubly so if you’re a dog person.

It’s always fun, inventive and full of charm. If you have any concerns that Jason Reitman’s film might sully the legacy of his dad’s greatest creation, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

When Gunn took on Guardians Of The Galaxy, he turned nonsense into gold for Marvel. By giving The Suicide Squad the same sense of mischief and an equally surreal streak, he’s done the same for DC.

Released at any time, The Platform, packed with ideas and moments to be endlessly debated, would have all the makings of a cult classic. Released in 2020, it is an astonishingly apt metaphor for our times.

Coogan and Reilly’s performances are among the best either has ever given. This film, which pays wonderfully funny tribute to two comic legends, richly deserves them.

Mary Poppins Returns has boundless creativity, stacks of charm and not a cynical second. If it’s not quite practically perfect, it comes close enough.

A fascinating documentary that captures all the glamour and grubbiness of the 20th century’s most famous nightclub. All the thrill of being there with none of the hangover.

It’s way over the top in its style, which is a good thing, but grounded with realistic, loveable characters. This is a romcom milestone and the best thing to happen to the genre in years. It’s crazy good.

The smart visual trickery lifts what might otherwise have been a fairly conventional thriller, but it also lets Chaganty say some interesting things about our online lives. Technophobes should stay away.

An absolute treat of an interview with a man who has told other people’s stories wonderfully for decades and tells his own just as well.

As both teen comedy and mid-life crisis comedy it’s terrific. It feels honest and modern in a genre that so very often uses dick jokes and gross-outs to cover old-fashioned morals.

A story with all the qualities of a classic LA noir is given a very effective spin by transposing it to politically charged Cairo. It’s angry, frustrated and thrilling.

Describe it and this sounds completely weird and a bit creepy, like some extremely niche fetish porn with a budget. Watch it and it’s magical; fantastic in all senses. It’s the biggest risk of del Toro’s career and it could not have paid off more.

It’s a classy weepy with some killer dialogue, but Bening is the big sell here. Given one of the juiciest roles of her career, she makes every moment count.

A very smart take on the stalker movie, which resists easy laughs for harder truths, and might make you think twice the next time you’re lining up a photo for social media.

Paddington 2 is every bit as enchanting as the first, perhaps even more so, but it feels arbitrary to pick a winner. The film is a pure delight, as sweet and sharp as, well, marmalade, really.

A film that’s at once light, joyful and emotionally devastating, with deeply affecting central performances. A full-hearted romantic masterpiece.

To call it the most important movie of the year so far makes it sound possibly rather worthy. That’s not true at all. Get Out is a comment on a highly complex situation that’s also a total blast.

Jackie does what the very best biopics should: it makes you view someone you’ve seen countless times as if you were seeing them anew.

A very strong debut by writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig deals with all the usual teenage concerns — dating, family, school — in a way that tries to go beyond genre cliché, with a heroine who is often unlikeable but always believable.

A Molotov cocktail of laughs and anger, Chi-Raq is a powerful state of a nation address. The result is the most creatively exciting Lee has been in a decade.

Its plot isn’t going to win any prizes for originality, but Nair tells the story with immense warmth and cheer. You can see just about every move coming, but it’s making all the right ones.

Just as with "Once" and "Begin Again," Sing Street will make you laugh, cry and leave you humming its songs for days.

It's a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer.

Rather than the cynical ‘one last grab’ of the series, Kung Fu Panda 3 might actually be the best. Also, and this is so rarely the case that it’s worth mentioning, it deserves to be seen in 3D.

Eddie The Eagle turns a long-running joke of British sport into a crowd-pleasing story of inspiration. It’s a solid gold winner.

It’s a riveting, complex film that asks one simple question: what do you do when there’s no right answer?

Tough, but resilience is amply rewarded. If last year’s larky Frank suggested Abrahamson was a director to watch, this makes him a director to be cherished.

Potent and visceral in its depiction of street life and blinged-up excess alike, Straight Outta Compton delivers big beats of both kinds.

Maclean has made a Western of such confident ease that it’s hard to believe this is the director’s first feature film.

The supporting cast is a kick. Law gets to send up the Bond role, something he could very well have played in his younger days; Allison Janney fills her boots as the angry head of the agency and Statham, frankly, should only ever play this role for the rest of his life.

Bird and Lindelof have thrown everything they have at this film and, aside from a pause for breath at the end, they’ve made something funny, surprising and packed full of wonder.

The golden-larynxed franchise graduates with a merit.

Sum up the plot and it sounds interminable. Watch the film and it will spit you out elated, exhausted and cheering for an encore.

Sharp, funny and feeling, this isn't just Juno-meets-Girls but a smart film that tackles real-life issues with rare frankness.

There are films to see on huge screens, but this is one that almost cries out for a small cinema, surrounded by total blackness. It’s a daring experiment brilliantly executed, with Tom Hardy giving one of the performances of his career.

The Lego Movie is bursting out of its box with enthusiasm and excitement for the possibilities of a little pile of nubby plastic.

As a director, this feels like Stiller’s moment. Mitty is a film that bravely rejects cynicism. In many ways, it’s the new Forrest Gump. Go with it and it is, in all senses, wonderful.

A film for every age, whether you’re an awkward kid, former awkward kid or awkward kid-adjacent. Funny, real and uplifting. A film that reaffirms your belief in the human spirit.

Dazzlingly clever and hugely funny, it succeeds both as a broadening of the Monsters universe and as a film in its own right. Monsters University had a tough task, and it’s passed with honours.

In trying to tell an enormous amount of story it can spread itself too thin and leave some strands feeling unfinished, but when it’s at its best, this is beautiful and bold filmmaking.

An intense mix of horror, thriller and domestic drama, this is exquisite film making.

It may look like a documentary but Gibney's film is a horror film in every sense. Essential, uncomfortable viewing.

It's the kind of silly you can only get away with when your writing is very smart. A little bit odd and very, very funny.

To produce a coherent film from Martel's tricky novel would be achievement enough, but Ang Lee has extracted something beautiful, wise and, at times, miraculous.

It's gorgeously designed, deftly written and frequently laugh-out-loud funny. For child or adult, this is a fantasy to get lost in.

It's a collection of cop-movie clichés but presented with sufficient flair and strong performances that the ride is enough, even if it's on rails.

Another Aardman triumph. The animation house's most technically ambitious project so far and, if not quite at the genius level of Wallace & Gromit, still a comedy treasure and far too good just for kids.

As thrilling and smart as it is terrifying. There have been a number of big-gun literary series brought to screen over the past decade. This slays them all.

21 Jump Street has that "Anchorman" experimental-chaos vibe, with all the hit-and-miss moments that implies. It's completely lunatic and sort of a mess. It's also the funniest high-school comedy to come out of Hollywood in ages.

Made absolutely for grown-up fans, this is the Muppets as you fondly remember them: funny, smart and gleefully insane. Kermit, it's great to have you back.

Check behind the doors. Switch on all the lights. You won't be sleeping soundly for a while.

You don't need to understand anything of baseball to get behind this, a chest-swelling story about second chances and flipping a finger up (even a giant foam one) to The Man.

A great, big joy. Even if you're a bit bah humbug, just delight in the supremely clever Aardman comedy.

A wonderful comedy of romance, pain and getting it all wrong until somebody makes you do it right. The kind of film that makes you want to call someone the minute it's over, even if just to tell them to go see this movie.

It’s a hugely enjoyable descent into epic gluttony.

A great debut from a promising talent.

So quirky that it’s almost in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own antic whimsy at times, but a comic delight destined for cult adoration.

To call WALL•E Pixar's best film would potentially denigrate films that deserve no scorn. But this is their most ambitious undertaking since "Toy Story" and storytelling of such charm and visual wit that it can stand proudly alongside the studio’s best. Absolute heaven.

The boys (now in blue) have done it again.

There are thrilling flashes of Gilliam getting back to top form here. A scrappy movie with more ideas than it can control, but one born out of a passion and determination that are wholly infectious.

A dazzling experiment that paid off immensely, this is cinematic pleasure at its purest. One caveat: If they ever make a sequel, we’re taking two stars back.

The best animated movie of the year and only a whisker shy of the brilliance of Wallace and Gromit.

A good old-fashioned horror in the best possible way, this is a beautifully told, terrifying ghost story that lingers with you long after the shivers have stopped.

The movie that brought a hip new sensibility to animated features and which still stands up in the age of Pixar and DreamWorks thanks largely to a blistering improv turn from Robin Williams.

While cynics may find it twee, Mendes fans should greatly enjoy this (gently) surprising change of direction. Go in with the right frame of mind and you’ll leave with a big, goofy grin on your face.

Crediting its audience with emotional intelligence, this rises well above your usual rom-com-dram. But if you’re planning on seeing it with your other half, be warned: it might invite some uncomfortable discussions afterwards.

If you're a novice, this is a plucky introduction to Whedon's world and the most fun sci-fi of the year. If you're a devotee, this is the magnificent return you've been praying for.

Intelligent, classy and skin-crawling. You won't see a better acting masterclass this year.

Taut, clever, and fronted with two excellent performances, this is a clever choice for Jackson's first step into mainstream filmmaking.

Witty, wonderful and wildly imaginative, Burton’s first proper ‘family movie’ since "Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure" delivers a sugar rush that’ll last for days.