The running time (like all Lanzmann's films) is not oppressive but allows for Murmelstein and his interlocutor to talk through, around and inside the context and reality of pragmatism, egoism, heroism and evil.

Not only does Li'l Quinquin's procedural strand evoke countless laughs both macabre - the body that incites the story is found chopped up inside a cow - and slapstick, but also provides the context the exploration of deeper themes.

With Unbroken, Jolie fails to captures Zamperini's life, and she focuses too much of what he endured and how he survived such suffering, crafting a lacklustre and dull film about an incredibly remarkable man.

The Imitation Game's approach is successful as entertainment but not totally satisfactory in providing greater insight into its subject.

The jokes are far from fresh, yet the shock laughs are on a par with their inaugural outing and will undoubtedly appease fans of the original.

In only ever managing to skim the surface, the spirit of their crusade is never really evoked. What's left is ultimately a handsome, and at times heart-stopping voyage that never lives up to its classic forebears.

Looped around a paper-thin narrative that makes hardly any sense, Secret of the Tomb displays signs of fatigue right from the start.

As far as holiday films go this is perfect for lightening the holiday hangover but ultimately it's equal parts onerous and energetic, overreaching in its attempt not buckle under the weight of previous iterations.

'71 is a pulse-raising actioner that stumbles a little in navigating the typically hazardous political terrain.

Although the thriller like approach makes the unveiling of the story intermittently interesting, Human Capital stumbles on its blandly predictable, two dimensional characters and the implausible melodrama of its latter stages.

Gere does a fantastic job of embodying this broken man... It's an incredibly moving performance that lends Time Out of Mind emotional weight and anchors this contemplation of a man adrift in a world that doesn't appear to care.

Little Accidents may be a little too sober, lacking the occasional spark that would make it more than just a film about moral decision points - but it's a likable small-town drama all the same.

Certain sequences are handled exceptionally... but others feel overblown and some characters underwhelm. That’s not to say that Black Sea is not an enjoyable – and at times, enthralling – aquatic adventure, it just never quite thrills as much as it spills, and flounders during some of its more emotional beats.

It's a film that prompts an overwhelming emotional response as it weaves its dark magic.

Jackson's efforts have peaked and troughed, but this final chapter will undoubtedly satisfy fans, and kindle a sense of sadness as this hobbit's tale finally draws to a close.

Horrible Bosses 2 is by no means an atrocity, but it's tired and unexceptional, which is perhaps worse.

Devoid of cash-in cynicism, and full of belly-shaking humour, Paddington proves to be not just a wonderful contemporary rendition of the bear, but a polite hat-tip to the man who created him, paying homage in the best way possible: by bringing a gentle, slightly reserved, smile to audience faces.

It's a singular and deeply resonant work that finds a mesmerising poetry amidst the chiaroscuro rubble of post-colonial Portugal.

A hilariously louche and ramshackle psychedelic noir, Inherent Vice is an audacious stylistic leap for Anderson, but his risks pay off beautifully. It's an amazing work, capturing the heady vibe of Thomas Pynchon's novel while stumbling into in the great cinematic lineage of California noir.

An exercise in assigning valuable historical context to scenes of brutality, Concerning Violence is a lesson in understanding a continuing colonial condition, the roots and complexities of which are often concealed and simplified by news coverage of poverty and conflict.

A harrowing but necessary insight into what the first Allied troops met as they stumbled upon the nightmare of the Holocaust.

Quickly paced and oozing with visual ingenuity, The King and the Mockingbird is an off-kilter but enormously enjoyable passion project whose stance as the vanguard of gorgeous, purely hand-drawn animation is as notable as its notorious production.

A largely groanworthy independent offering which is severely lacking in the pulpy charms it so desperately tries to emulate.

Collins' revolutionary-lite rhetoric has become unravelled by the commercially driven decision to split the final novel into two films - ultimately lessening the satirical bite and reverting to the very gender archetypes it originally sought to challenge.

Interstellar may not be perfect, but tent-pole filmmaking with such ambition and grandeur is always worth celebrating.

With some seriously fine performances and a simple but effective visual style that helps establish the film as a believable period piece, O'Connor's film is a solid adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel.

Force Majeure is a gripping and deftly observed drama that adds caustic condemnation through its embracing of humour.

Quieter moments do punctuate the tension - though the mood never sheds the lingering stench of impending death - and the characters are allowed time to breathe and inject a little colour to their long-standing relationships.