If it’s psychological horror you love, Nocturne will be music to your ears. If not super-scary, Quirke’s film is an accomplished, uncomfortable tour de force.

While not quite offering the emotional gut-punch it promises, its many ideas never completely cohering, Soul is nevertheless a gorgeous and tender existential trip. It’s full of surprises.

A witty and likeable horror-comedy that manages to put a stake to the heart of some real issues while it tickles your ribs.

The concept of combining Adam Sandler and horror is not a bad one. But this is no Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Instead, Hubie Halloween inspires mild dread for all the wrong reasons..

Although its intentional twist on age gaps, sex and gendered dynamics is provocative, Nocturnal can’t quite hold the interest for its whole running time — in spite of a brilliant performance from Cosmo Jarvis.

A watchable tale of parental dread, propelled by a strong conceit and sustained tension — but let down by its outlandish twist.

While it never descends into the nightmare its premise threatens, Black Box is a solid thriller that benefits from strong performances and a screenplay packed with philosophical anguish.

A brilliant Sally Hawkins stands atop Craig Roberts’ perceptive look at mental illness. Small but beautifully formed.

Strongly acted and effectively staged, The Boys In The Band has lost little of its impact in the five decades since its first debut, and is a fitting tribute to its creator Mart Crowley, who died in March.

A fiery condemnation of the police state and government overreach, this is both timely and timeless. Sorkin and a superb cast make legal proceedings compelling, and then show that the law is an ass.

Knightley and Mbatha-Raw headline an excellent band of British talent, but the film’s focus feels sadly misguided. There’s a great story within Misbehaviour — we just don’t get to see enough of it.

Lighter and slighter than we may expect from Coppola, On The Rocks is an eminently charming, gorgeous portrait of a daughter, wife and mother finding her way back to herself via the streets of New York City.

A search for freedom and a sororal spirit pulse through Miss Juneteenth. Calmly navigating the intersections of a Black, working-class, American woman, Peoples ensures care, heart and hope are in every step.

The Eight Hundred bites off more that it can chew but it consistently serves up gripping filmmaking on the biggest canvas.

You will seldom find a film that cuts open a city and shows you its insides like Rocks does. Respectfully crafted, righteously funny and tender, Gavron has defined a generation like no-one else, and these efforts are not to be ignored.

Cuties is a thematically bold yet nuanced study of displacement and duty that deserves to be seen as an auspicious and astute debut, not the source of scandal.

A mixed bag of bones and bodies, whose Southern Gothic atmosphere and superb performances — from Holland especially — are let down by the film’s lack of narrative focus.

While not exploitative and (mostly) not gratuitous, this is as tough as it gets — you bleed for this kid. Even if it gets a bit too much, you just can’t look away. Thrilling filmmaking.

Elle Fanning and Sally Potter triumph again. It’s not always an easy watch, but The Roads Not Taken tackles a distressing subject with care and invites us to reconsider our preconceptions.

Well-intentioned if sometimes lacking in subtlety, Enola Holmes offers a fine, spirited reminder that a traditional story can always be retold — although it might need more refined teachings on feminism next time.

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.

Niki Caro’s boldly reimagined, battle-laden saga belies its Disney status and spotlights the multifaceted star power of Liu Yifei. The result is a live-action remake done right.

Despite a game cast, The New Mutants’ horror elements aren’t very scary and as a superhero movie it fails to truly excite. A disappointing finale to Fox’s X-Men franchise.

Reeves and Winter look like they’re having a blast getting the band back together in a fun but forgettable time-travelling comedy. Neither bodacious nor bogus.

Get Duked channels both Trainspotting and Deliverance to create a scattershot shotgun-blast of gags, gore and bedlam. Winningly performed by its young cast, it’s a (laminated) calling card for director Ninian Doff.

Bleak, bewildering, and a bit bonkers. Kaufman’s uncompromising originality is always welcome — but you’ll need time to let this one percolate.

Unnerving and compelling in equal measure, Amy Seimetz’s film is an exploration of how fear and paranoia can spread like a disease, and how the acceptance of one’s mortality remains the most terrifying thing of all.

An impassioned and imperfect portrait of teenage grief and heartbreak, Chemical Hearts takes its audience seriously. For every teenager who has ever felt alone, this feels like a tailor-made care package.

A relatively subtle yet moving entry into the Dolanverse, where explosive love is sublimated beneath the ebb and flow of friendship rhythms, and characters are revealed in tender observational details.

If it thematically bites off more than it can chew, Random Acts Of Violence is a full-on, visually arresting horror. What it lacks in chills, it makes up for in ambition and style.

Successfully mining the awkward humour of the adolescent experience, Karen Maine’s coming-of-age feature makes the most of a strong central performance from Natalia Dyer.

Part political drama, part history lesson, part gripping spy thriller, Coup 53 gives what has been relegated to a small footnote in Iran’s story the big, expansive, dramatic treatment it deserves.

Once again seizing control of the medium, Nolan attempts to alter the fabric of reality, or at least blow the roof off the multiplexes. Big, bold, baffling and bonkers.

Project Power has considerable style yet a disappointing lack of substance — but an attention-grabbing performance from Dominique Fishback and an intriguing twist on superpowers give it just enough juice.

In a concrete Russian military facility, no-one can hear you scream. Sputnik offers obvious time-honoured sci-fi/horror shenanigans with a few fun tweaks to the formula.

A forced, over-ripe satire on the hunger for social media, bolstered by an engaging performance by Joe Keery. But if you really want to feel the real-life impact of the ’Gram on a young psyche, stick with Eighth Grade.

Shannon Murphy’s debut film is a refreshing take on a familiar subgenre, offering a nuanced depiction of a family dealing with the worst-case scenario with humanity and sweetness.

A committed performance by Thorne along with some moments of directorial flair can’t offset the frustratingly dumb characters and shallow analysis.

A return to form for indie darling Drake Doremus, who brings his nuance, sensitivities and homespun feel to a formulaic love-triangle set-up. Jamie Dornan, Sebastian Stan and especially Shailene Woodley make it very watchable.

Young Ahmed might be major filmmakers in a minor mode, but it is still a riveting, beautifully made character study that provokes compassion and controversy in equal measures.

Part time-travelling family drama, part idiosyncratic immigrant-adventure comedy, An American Pickle’s gags underwhelm, but its emotion and originality will surprise you. One of oddest films of 2020 so far, buoyed by two superb turns from Rogen.

An adrenaline-spiking fresh take on a well-worn horror format, Host transcends its high-concept premise to deliver original ideas — and scream-worthy surprises.

In spite of what may seem like a direct-to-VOD vibe, this is a slick, nasty thriller with a throwback quality, neither too self-serious nor too self-aware. While it’s not especially fresh, it’s still solid genre filmmaking.

Just as she did with Lemonade, Beyoncé proves herself a master of the visual album once again with a timely and vivid meditation on Black pride. The film it’s born out of may be forgettable, but this is quite the opposite.

Wisely focusing on four key cases, The Fight is a worthy attempt to document the ACLU’s seemingly endless struggle to challenge the many constitutional violations of the Trump administration.

Claire Oakley has created a vivid sensory experience out of limited means. Make Up is anything but cosmetic — it gets right under the skin.

An unconventional and imperfect first work of a career that would have been fascinating to watch unfold, Jóhannsson’s images are just as strong as his typically excellent, haunting musical composition.

Another Glum Space Mum, but one who feels complex and real. While the film depicts extraordinary circumstances, it always keeps the hearts (and heads) of its mother and daughter in focus.

Arterton triumphs again and Swale marks herself as a director to watch. Summerland successfully combines an intelligent feminist fable and a lesbian love story with a slick period tearjerker.

Featuring strong performances and excellent effects work, The Vigil is a genuinely creepy debut which explores the ways in which our psychological demons can get their claws into our entire lives.

Jacki Weaver is excellent in this colourful culture-clash comedy which, despite an uneven tone, offers a welcome message about the power of love and acceptance.

If it fails to mine the deeper themes in this story about a working-class writer fighting to find her footing in the music industry, How To Build A Girl is a resounding success as a showcase of Feldstein’s capabilities in a leading role.

Fresh, funny and frank, Saint Frances is a welcome shake-up of tired genre clichés; a messy, uplifting story about a woman who may not have everything figured out, but is fully in charge of her own fate.

Even if it hits well-worn beats, Come As You Are still shines a light on the oft-ignored sexual wants and needs of the disabled community, with humour, empathy and poignancy.

Alfre Woodard gives an unforgettably moving performance in Chinonye Chukwu’s slow-burning, perfectly observed drama about the repercussions of state-sanctioned violence, in which the stakes could hardly be higher.

Part film industry satire, part winning love story, Benjamin is low-key and shambling but emerges funny, bittersweet and affecting.

A forgettable fantasy cheapie whose gruff earnestness feels hollow thanks to the unforgiveable thinness of its story and the weakness of its grip on its source material. Oh, and a note to whoever came up with the title: neither Arthur nor Merlin are knights of Camelot.

What Above Suspicion lacks in flashy direction, it makes up for in strong performances and gripping true-life material to draw from.

Feeling like a relic from the wave of ’90s crime ensembles that followed in Tarantino’s wake, Arkansas not only squanders some good talent, it’s a tragic waste of a fine book.

It cleaves closely to the familiar, but Finding The Way Back scores points by finding different beats within the formula and from a great Ben Affleck performance.

Zoinks! The Great Dane’s big-screen return has murderous robot bowling pins, escapades in abandoned amusement parks and exciting airborne chase sequences — but nowhere near the joke-rate an enduring character like Scoob demands.

A serious, well-intentioned slice of WWII naval history full of compelling detail and good action but lacking the dimensions and dynamics to make you truly feel it.

Despite some solid action beats and a story that skips from Sudan to Afghanistan, Paris and, finally, Guildford, The Old Guard is a trite revenge/conspiracy yarn, clumsily told (“That woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”), and squanders a potentially engaging conceit.

A compelling curio from Werner Herzog, who investigates a strange real-life phenomenon through a fictional lens. It's worth watching, especially if you enjoy Herzog's lateral take on life, but it's hard not to wish he'd just made it as a straight documentary.

Clouzot achieves an analysis of the human condition at least as bleak as Huston's The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre but without the grandstanding speeches and with more subtle performances.

It was always going to be hit-and-miss, but Homemade flits between creativity and indulgence in documenting the current crisis. If you want to cherry-pick, Larraín, Lello, Nyoni and Sorrentino’s efforts are top of the class.

Entertaining, energetic and unfailingly smart, this is theatre at the highest level, performed by a cast without a weak link. You can’t say no to this.

Lost Transmissions is a clear-eyed view of schizophrenia, aided by a powerful Simon Pegg performance yet hamstrung by some woolly filmmaking and a whiff of pretension.

Unputdownable documentary that evokes the thrill of reading preloved pages and reveals that a passion for collecting is not just a hoarding instinct, but a way to preserve and share culture. 

The votes are in, and it’s official: this largely unfunny paean to Eurovision is a waste of some serious talent. At least some of the songs are decent.

A captivating and comprehensive overview of trans representations in the media that everyone should add to their Netflix watchlist.

Scabrous, watchable and deceptively provocative, Jon Stewart’s political parable may be slightly out of step with the political reality of 2020 — but Carell and Byrne do enough to earn your VOD vote.

Inmate #1 might lack depths and dimensions, but for fans, this documentary is a machete-sharp glimpse into the life of a cult icon.

Resistance fails to commit to anything: too confused to honour its hero, too generic to shine a new light on a crucial moment in history. Somehow, such a remarkable story is here made forgettable.

It’s a potentially mid-’90s B-movie premise, but director Patrick Vollrath and star Joseph Gordon-Levitt keep it taut, tense and classy. Just a shame it doesn’t stick the landing.

An overqualified adult cast and some fun moments can’t entirely compensate for a defanged protagonist and too-static plot. This fantasy desperately needed a little more magic.

Though sometimes messy and freewheeling, Da 5 Bloods is a fascinating, frequently gripping and powerful interrogation of the connection between American imperialism, anti-Black racism, and the widespread trauma of the country’s war-making.

With The King Of Staten Island, Apatow goes for the heart — but with lesser yuks than usual and a subdued lead, it all kind of drifts by. Within it, though, are moments of real vigour and fragility.

The Last Days Of American Crime takes a potentially entertaining, if silly, premise and drains it of any reason to get invested. You can just imagine a John Carpenter would have doubled the thrills in half the time.

If the film never completely coheres into a satisfying whole, Days Of The Bagnold Summer has a lot going for it: a nicely judged sense of character, an eye for detail and strong performances, especially from Dolan. It also suggests Simon Bird is a filmmaker worth watching.

A Rainy Day In New York hits all of Allen’s touchstones, has a few good one-liners and is well played, but it sorely lacks the wit, vitality and veracity of his ’70s/’80s heyday.

Boasting a powerhouse cast, The Last Full Measure has the best of intentions, to celebrate servicemen without condoning war, but winds up with little else.

The Vast Of Night is a modest film about small-town dreamers that delivers big-time rewards and announces a singular, exciting talent in director Andrew Patterson.

Tracee Ellis Ross kills it as a believable soul diva in a harmonious pairing with Dakota Johnson — a shame, then, that a distracting romcom plot ends up so high in the mix.

The plot is insubstantial in the extreme, but Rae and Nanjiani are so cool, and their loose, free-flowing improv so winning, that you probably won’t care.

The Wrong Missy is a little hit-and-miss, but it’s funny and inventive, and Lapkus is good enough to make the word “zany” tolerable again.

It’s not an easy watch, but Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a necessary, unflinching portrait of young women trying to do right by themselves in a world seemingly against them at every turn.

The musical interludes in which Rapman narrates significant plot points offer a welcome change of pace, but the subject matter at play here is a little too common to truly stand out from the pack.

A stirring, sober examination of an ongoing injustice, The Assistant speaks to women whose discomfort is ignored, and bravely says that they matter, their feelings have been noticed. Now is the time for us to act on them.

A rip-roaring, bloody slice of Russian genre cinema that combines a tightly plotted narrative with a stylish command of craft to hugely entertaining, immersive effect.

Following Jackie, Pablo Larraín offers another powerful examination of grief, capturing all of the confusing and fascinating layers of human relationships. Despite the heavy subject matter, it’s intoxicating.

Powered by the charisma and physicality of its star, this often gruelling action flick does more than enough to suggest that Hemsworth has found his genre, once he hangs up a certain hammer.

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.

Selah And The Spades showcases Simone’s star power and suggests a promising future for Poe, but ultimately fails to keep up the pace needed to make it the slick, cutting teen drama that it clearly wants to be.

It’s Sliding Doors with place settings, but Love Wedding Repeat can’t make its time-loop conceit work (stick with About Time). Bouquets to the cast and production values; a quickie divorce from everything else.

The kids and Caine are good, but this lacks the magic of its source novel(s). Younger children may enjoy it, but its attempts to entertain older viewers mostly fall flat.

It could have been a tantalising coming-together of two icons of action cinema. Instead, The Iron Mask feels oddly anemic.

If you thought the first Trolls movie was fine, you’ll probably find this fine too. It completely lives up to the watchable mediocrity of its predecessor.