Olly Richards

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.

Given the work lavished on every detail of the glorious backdrop, it’s a pity that the story happening in front of it is so familiar and safe.

A cheerful comedy-drama with charm to spare.

It’s extremely antic for the most part, covering a lack of real story with a lot of distracting quirk. Yet when Petit’s foot slips out onto a wire thousands of metres from the ground, it’s quietly mesmerising.

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

Despite a second act lull, Connolly convinces in this cute and charming comedy.

Less fun than last time and oddly unpleasant in its tone. MacFarlane takes potshots at everyone he can find, while shielding the two characters that deserve it most.

Farty, burpy, fall-y over fun tied to a pretty inconsequential plot. Your kids will explode with joy.

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.

A retrograde fantasy with the depth of a dressing-up box, but it’s spirited, genuinely funny and played to the hilt by an excellent cast.

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

A much bolder, braver horror sequel than most. Except for a wispy ending, it’s a match for the first.

A mushy mix of sentiment and some off-key singing lets the air out of this beloved musical's limo tires.

Long-shelved, the final product never lives up to the promise of its contemporary-Grimm-brothers conceit.

The gleefully Gothic fingerprints of Guillermo del Toro are all over this zippy excursion into Mexico's myths and legends, although the gag-count falls quite a lot short of Pixar greatness.

A dream cast are on good form in a film that makes you want to call your siblings, but very glad you don’t live with them.

Heroes in a half-arsed shell.

Since the adorable, simple Garden State, Braff’s ambitions as a filmmaker have grown. He’s reaching for answers to really big questions, but they are, just slightly, beyond his grasp.

It may share a narrator with "March Of The Penguins" but this short documentary is happily more sturdily scientific.

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

Despite the gusto its star brings to the role, it's hard to ride shotgun on Hector's voyage of discovery.

Endless wordplay and dumb slapstick do not a rewarding animation make. Pun-ishing.

If you enjoy Gondry’s brand of homemade art direction then there’s plenty to delight early on, but it’s all wallpaper.

If this tiresome yarn is the ‘true’ story of one of Disney’s most popular villains then, please, give us colourful lies and happy ignorance.

A few big laughs but weakly drawn characters mean a film that is enjoyable enough in the moment but then quickly forgotten.