Olly Richards

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

It’s a moving, challenging watch.

With its hackneyed storyline and critical derision in the US, whispers were that Honey was to be the new "Glitter." It's not nearly that bad, which is a shame since it just skims the embarrassingly blind enthusiasm of which camp classics are made -- instead bouncing along the path of bland and forgettable.

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

One of von Trier’s most confrontingly horrible films is also one of his weakest. A story about a man disguising his lack of worthwhile contribution with violent self-interest is guilty of every point it’s making.

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.

It's Sarah Polley through and through: slightly too glum for its own good, but reeking of quality and feeling.

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.

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.

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.

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

Maybe it’s fitting Playmobil: The Movie is old-fashioned, stiff and only suitable for those between the ages of four and ten, but it sure isn’t much fun.

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.

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.

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

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.

The film is at its best when it’s sitting just with them, not doing much, not trying too hard to be eccentric; just shooting the breeze and being cheerfully weird.

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

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 animation initially looks like something produced on an early Nintendo console, but what it lacks in finesse it more than makes up for in feeling. It makes sense of how a small child sees the world, saturated and magical but not yet subtly detailed.

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.

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

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

The first film was so middle-of-the-road that most have probably forgotten it existed. Its sequel creates a more lasting impression, with vibrant animation and a wackadoodle sense of humour.

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

It’s lifted by some very convincing performances.

Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi epic-cum-period-romance-cum-stalker-thriller is absolutely teeming with ideas. That they don’t all come together in an entirely convincing way doesn’t spoil the overall effect of something thought-provoking, very handsomely made, and appealingly weird.

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