For a movie that has dark in its title, and which is — yes! — darker (people die, Asgard is grimier, as befitting Alan Taylor’s Game Of Thrones heritage), Thor 2.0 is consistently amusing.

Leslie Dixon’s script is effective, though sometimes seems stranded between the domestic humour and the big issues being played out. Still, engaging, undemanding stuff.

A leftfield sports documentary that's as insightful and thought-provoking as it is fast and furious.

Romance novel in narrative this transcends its genre with visual depth and perceptive socio-cultural insights.

More than a biopic or period-piece, this is a stylish time capsule reaching into the present with unnerving clarity. Abortion care is still so hard — this film makes that fact sink into your bones.

This film is more known for being the one which introduced Goldie Hawn to Kurt Russell than anything else, which is somewhat unfair as at its heart lies a sweet romance, with good performances from both the leads and an Oscar nomination for supporting actress Lahti.

With the camera placement being as meticulous as the use of Handel on the soundtrack, this impeccably played saga deservedly earned Mungiu a share of the Best Director prize at Cannes.

A classy French-Belgian horror with an unusual female perspective on monstrous taboos. Shocking but not sensationalist, this is a strong cannibal movie worth chewing over.

A funny, affecting, twisted tale, which demands you pay close attention to every throwaway detail.

Another smash from Cartoon Saloon, at once heartily funny and heartfelt. With this and The Breadwinner, director Nora Twomey is now two-for-two.

Uncompromisingly authentic, impeccably played and quietly compelling.

As with a number of arthouse films, the ending leaves something to be desired. But, courtesy of its meticulously mundane digital imagery, this is a film of precise details that sketches an outline of existence and then leaves it to the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Pixar sequel-phobes be damned — this is a dazzling and technically impressive return to form that delivers a similar high to Finding Nemo without feeling like a retread.

A deceptively simple tale with a lot to say, Drift lingers long, thanks largely to a mesmerising performance from Cynthia Erivo.

A complete, if slightly overlong, view of Tina Turner’s life and career, the film is a deeply felt portrait of audacious talent and reinvention. The results are incredibly poignant.

Simply terrific, enormously watchable and an absolute must for all Eastwood fans. Gotta say it: this film will make your day.

If you're a bah-humbug type looking for an alternative to Santa Claus: The Movie or Miracle On 34th Street, this could be a holiday perennial. May be too strange for normal people, but weird kids will love it.

Both a coming of age and an exploration of an era, this self-biographical reminiscence feels both regretful and hopeful – a filmmaker trying to make peace. It’s not sugar-coated, but it’s full of love.

You have to be in the right mood for it, but this is one of the season’s finest films.

Carla Simón’s film is a tender peach itself. A lament for a world slipping out of reach is brought invigoratingly to life by a vividly drawn cast of characters.

A lighter film for Hitchcock but with a wonderfully sewn narrative and some good performances.

Gripping, heart-wrenching, powerful and a sad indictment of scientific practice, which shows that 'human' and 'humane' are all-too-often mutually exclusive.

Ford’s artfully composed and emotionally clever noir is well-paced and, in stark contrast to the naked flesh that opens the film, never, ever sags.

An unapologetic, impassioned biopic, The Birth Of A Nation begins quietly but ends in a howl of rage. It might not be perfect, but it’s powerful enough to stay with you.

A small film, but fresh and immensely charming.

The tension dips occasionally but stick with it and you'l be richly rewarded.

Fans of David Gordon Green, you may well leave feeling confused. Fans of daft laughs and James Franco, you're in for one of the funniest comedies of the year.

Peck’s film may have been an Oscars bridesmaid but it turns Baldwin’s prescient words into a staggering achievement. It’s an exhilarating blast of focused fury.

With its driving jazz score, hilarious dialogue and overdrive melodramatics, this is the ultimate expression of the American cinema's greatest fetishes: big breasts, fast cars, tight jeans, and sudden death. This is, in its own way, one of the great films of the 60's.

Unpretentiously and likeable Peter Hyams is one of the few hacks still working at this budget level, and he relishes the chance to make an audience jump, not only with some neat monster effects and a pile of mutilated corpses but also with some subtleties of editing and lighting, plus one of the loudest jump-out-of-your-seat soundtracks in a recent memory.

Part fairy tale/creature feature/domestic melodrama, this adds up to far more than a ‘one boy and his monster’ story — and is a tougher emotional journey as a result.

Beautiful and original.

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.

With a brisk, biting comic tone and a nice line in righteous anger, Dumb Money skilfully picks up The Big Short’s baton for cinematic-economic takedowns.

A filmed stage show with barely any bells and whistles, this is an endearing trip through time, via a band who constantly changed the game. And the music is immense.

A splendid study of the forces and passions behind the world’s biggest fashion magazine.

A fresh, funny little romp.

Surprisingly exciting and laugh-out-loud funny, Thelma is a warm-hearted joyride. If anything, it’ll make you really want to pick up the phone and call your own grandma.

It comes on like an Unsolved Disappearance Movie but American Woman morphs into something more interesting, a portrait of a woman gradually finding her place in the world. And Sienna Miller is stellar.

Although 1917’s filmmaking very much brings attention to itself, it’s an astonishing piece of filmmaking, portraying war with enormous panache. This is big-screen bravado, and then some.

It's easy to dismiss Branagh's Shakespeare productions as nothing new, but before he went on to more heavy duty fare such as Hamlet, he made this bright, accessible romantic comedy which still stands out as one of his greater directorial efforts. The cast are a joy to watch, while the beautiful location matches the romantic mood.

More ‘Lost In Long Island’ than ‘Miracle On Main Street’, this offbeat indie ladles on the melancholy mood while skimping on the holiday highs, and seems destined to become a cult Christmas favourite.

A true evocation of the spirit of the Strand Magazine, this is the best Holmes movie ever made and sorely underrated in the Wilder canon.

A smart, accessible, surprisingly balanced look at our dysfunctional world. Compelling stuff.

Defying rote heroics and sidestepping those solemn Frodoisms lurking in the role, Lawrence seeks out the complex, human and earthy in Katniss, still the beating heart and total triumph of these movies.

This is a suberbly structured thriller whose excellence is aided and abetted by a spirited cast.

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.

A Hugely, irresistibly enjoyable, with star chemistry to spare, genuine laughs and tears, and the bonus of apt Lennon songs on the soundtrack.

Out front and backstage, this illuminating but not quite revelatory documentary shows a vulnerable, exhausted Blur and the band at their best. Interesting to casual fans, essential for devotees.

Only once dipping into huggy sentimentality, we are happily spared the run-of-the-mill best mates saga the premise threatens. Instead this is a deeper and wonderfully engrossing picture with characters easy to sympathise with

James L. Brooks's clever and witty cry-a-long which has as many guys pretending not to cry, as women unashamedly sobbing.

Courageous and indelible account and an invaluable perspective of the protests.

Abel Ferrara's debut is in the exploitation ballpark, but it's as much a product of Warhol low-budget artiness as the slasher genre.

Tsangari proves she's one of the freshest voices in European cinema with this offbeat character piece.

This story is emblematic of the passion, obsession and solitary poetry of surfing.

Interesting depiction with a pretty decent performance from Holden and supported by a credible cast.

A deeply moving drama played out on the small stage of ordinary people’s lives. An unforgettable performance from Jordan invests Grant with real humanity, while Coogler’s unvarnished script and sure-handed direction propel the film to its inevitable, terrible conclusion.

There are few filmmakers as consistently, burningly passionate as Spike Lee. This is vital and timely work that’s up there with his best, with a gut-wrenching sting in the tail.

Impressively nightmarish.

Best known until now for Oscar-winning holocaust drama "The Counterfeiters," Karl Markovics flexes his muscles on the other side of the camera with terrific effect. A fine, moving debut for the new writer/director.

Bruising and beautiful in equal measures, La Mif is an impressive slice of social realist drama that feels rooted in something real — because it is.

While not to everyone's tastes, this is without doubt one of the most exhilarating films of 1994.

A great example of the Emotionally Stunted Men Grow A Heart sub-genre. Role Models staves off the January blues and puts a marker down as 2009’s laugh-out-loud comedy to beat.

George Clooney dazzles and Jeff Bridges shines in a scattershot but often hilarious military farce.

Recalling Harvey Keitel’s tortured cop in Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, Devereaux is an unreconstructed, unrepentant monster with no hope of, or interest in, redemption. It’s a fearless, heroic performance in a provocative, important film. [Unrated Version]

Coppola’s most traditional film to date is a heightened, darkly comic, sexually tense drama that flips the male gaze, to show what happens when a man, for once, gets caught in the crosshairs of desire.

Neatly balances a folkloric coming-of-age tale with violent action thrills.

Dreams of rock stardom become a warped reality in this barking-mad but affecting comedy about the side-effects of being a non-conformist genius.

Rian Johnson put his own spin on Dashiell Hammett with 2005’s Brick. Now he’s Johnsonised the work of Agatha Christie, with equally enjoyable results. Knives Out is snappy, meta and, yes, sharp.

Less a ‘civil rights drama’ than a tender portrait of a marriage suffering unimaginable stress, Loving soars thanks to its narrative approach and career-best performances from Negga and Edgerton.

Robbie and Janney are flawless in a compelling and corrective account of a misunderstood figure; one of the more darkly funny biopics you’ll ever see.

A pick-up after the second film, if not as assured as the first. Rapace sets a high watermark for Rooney Mara in David Fincher's remakes.

Much more than a way to pass a rainy bank holiday afternoon, this is rocking good superleague disaster adventure.

Though the clumsy geometric tentacle that does most of the machine’s evil will cries out for morphing, this is remarkably prescient in its tackling of issues the cinema is only now catching up with, and Christie adds depth to the lady-in-peril heroine. Well worth reassessment.

Don’t confuse it with Russell Crowe staring out of a window. After a patient build-up, Les Misérables becomes a Molotov cocktail of a movie, tense, explosive and urgent. A powerful fiction debut from documentarian Ladj Ly.

A refreshingly low-key treatment of teenage trauma, with a lovely star performance and an unforgettable approach to orthodontics.

A compelling study of a small-town lawyer's determination to challenge Cameroon's institutionalised chauvinism, which judiciously combines small triumphs with a daunting sense of the task that lies ahead.

Showing how paradise can be hell, this audiovisual treat is spiritedly played by its leads and bristles with a brooding menace that can't quite disguise the story's essentially melodramatic nature.

An illuminating, moving and quietly shocking account of Michael Hutchence’s short life. A must for fans, but Lowenstein’s lyrical, meditative piece offers a compelling account of one man’s passion that exudes warmth and humanity.

More story-led than the original with a high enough body count to make it a satisfying action movie.

A grim, dour dive into one LA cop’s unravelling, which centres on a truly transformative performance from Nicole Kidman.

Impeccably played by Rebecca Hall, this is a thoughtful reflection on life’s casual cruelties and how little attitudes towards women have changed since Watergate.

Burton continues to capture the essence of the Batman legend and more importantly his audiences imagination.

A strong debut from director Michael Pearce, with a gripping performance by newcomer Jessie Buckley. So much more than just another serial-killer movie.

The semi-improvised performances and gently nostalgic tone makes this endearing and captivating.

Thoughtful, moving tale which places its spectacular effects within a humane, elegiac story.

Exceptional, human filmmaking.

While Miyazaki’s two-hour-long, historical-melodrama swansong is destined to be his most divisive film yet, it is also his most adult and interesting, and never less than visually breathtaking throughout.

With so much going on, and such a ferocious pace, several parts of the story feel undernourished... But what we do get here is largely fantastic.

A spare and authentic screenplay unfolds in an almost documentary-like enviroment, there are no histrionics and the acting is of the highest order, but the film shocks and disturbs as much for its morally questionable purpose as in its ugly subject.

With its echoes of Graham Greene’s "The Quiet American," the script is inevitably preachy and Weir’s camera glowers over the injustices of President Sukarno’s failing regime in late 1965, but the performances are strong and the drama gripping.

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.

Branagh's Henry V must, however, be counted a success - it might never be as famous as Olivier's, but it should carry considerable clout for years to come.

Come for the near-endless rows that convincingly carry the venom of a collapsed, resentful marriage; stay for the extended critique of Russia’s contemporary spiritual vacancy.

Terrific performances, especially from the menacing, lazily charismatic Henshall, and debut director Kurzel's expressionist storytelling make for an Aussie film well worth hunting down. A tough but seriously rewarding watch.

Sweetie is a deeply uncomfortable, distressing yet wholly rewarding experience.

With its moody heroine, sex and reliance on talk it would be easy/stupid to dismiss Let The Sunshine In as oh so French, but Claire Denis’ most conventionally entertaining film is a delight. And it’s yet another reminder Juliette Binoche is an international treasure who should be cherished.

Not quite as fully realised as the classic Adam's Rib, but generally good.