As well-constructed, unique, hardboiled and brutal as Zahler’s prior films, but this one leaves a less welcome bad taste in your mouth, thanks to its repugnant heroes and racial stereotypes. Impossible to dismiss, but hard to warm to.

Despite strong performances from Cookson and Dench, this potentially exciting espionage tale is dreary and forgettable.

Despite a familiar, somewhat tedious set-up, Greta truly comes into its own in the final act, a ’90s thriller throwback elevated by Isabelle Huppert tearing up the scenery and dancing all over it.

The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot is a strange but enjoyable mishmash of genres and ideas held together by the gravitas and class of Sam Elliott.

Either choose to dwell on Little’s formulaic storyline, or be charmed by the confident comedic performances of its three stars. One will lead to an infinitely more fun time at the movies.

Plenty of shock and gore, and David Harbour is more than worthy to wear the horns. But this is a reboot in need of a reboot.

Jessie Buckley impresses again in the story of a woman who wants and needs so much more. A seemingly well-worn narrative becomes a more interesting look at the responsibilities and rights of being a mother with a dream.

Mid90s is funny, observant and true. If the Wu Tang Clan and Ren & Stimpy references don’t resonate, the portrait of finding your people and them schooling you in the world will. Swear-y and lovely in equal measures.

Happy As Lazzaro is s-l-o-w and its narrative twist will alienate some. But this is deliberate, singular filmmaking, at once poetic and down-to-earth, from an unsung talent. Let’s be clear: Alice Rohrwacher should cherished.

Wonder Park has some fun bits (a narcoleptic bear) and a worthy sentiment around the value of going through tough times but it’s too hectic and untethered to land its loftier ideas. It aspires to be Inside Out but falls way short.

A decent, if inessential, take on one of Stephen King’s best novels. Sometimes original is better.

A charming family-friendly story about adventure and friendship — told with bar-raising artistic craft and technical skill. We’d expect nothing less from Laika.

An eccentric, funny yarn filled with eccentric, funny characters, Audiard’s oater deftly twists Western tropes, sending its charming, ramshackle heroes scurrying from one bizarre incident to the next.

An impressive sift through one of the UK’s weirdest pop-cult phenomena, even if it doesn’t manage to unpick the strange relationship between Sievey and Sidebottom.

An enchanting blend of Disney twinkle and Tim Burton’s dark whimsy that’s at its best when venturing off the beaten path. Come for the super-cute elephant, stay for Keaton and DeVito’s glorious reunion.

The hardest power to depict onscreen is the wisdom of Solomon, but Shazam! makes clever decisions, mixing middle school snark with disarming sweetness. And — yes — it delivers the requisite lightning-strike punch-’em-ups with considerable force.

Sprouse and Richardson are proven heavyweights in the young-adult pocket of Hollywood, but this soft-hearted teen romance spreads on sugary sentiment too thickly to leave a lasting message.

A stunning sophomore effort from Jordan Peele.

An interesting, challenging mess. The White Crow offers lots that’s impressive — Ivenko as Nureyev, the dance sequences, a knuckle-whitening last 20 minutes — but can’t render it in a dramatically engaging way.

Its skating sequences are impressive, but it’s the intimate examinations of fracturing friendships and emerging adulthood that make Minding The Gap surprisingly resonant.

The storytelling is a little loose, but as a workplace comedy with a side-line in romance, this earns its laughs thanks to the immensely game Henson and a stellar supporting cast.

Ben Is Back begins with nuance but is let down by its familiar Drugs Are Hell tropes. Still, the pairing of the ever-excellent Roberts and Hedges keep it a largely compelling watch.

Under The Silver Lake is gorgeous to look at and listen to, with moments of genuine panache, but its wilfully labyrinthine plot will have limited appeal.

Ray & Liz is undoubtedly a difficult watch, a searing portrait of a family that has come apart at the seams. But, creating an astute sense of atmosphere and detail that come together to make meaning, Richard Billingham marks himself out as a filmmaker to watch.

Small-scale and slow, The Kindergarten Teacher works best as a showcase for the brilliance of Maggie Gyllenhaal. Adding another complex character to her resume, it’s another reminder she is among the best actors working today.

Instructive, insightful and inspiring, Maiden is a rousingly riveting record of a remarkable accomplishment that says as much about British bloody-mindedness as it does about feminist fortitude and underdog pluck.

Triple Frontier is engaging in parts with well-mounted action. But the characters lack definition and you can’t help but think an old timer like Howard Hawks or Sam Fuller might have done it better in half the time.

As a Nick Fury buddy comedy, it’s fun. As a feminist fable it’s essential. This takes a while to really get going, but when Carol Danvers takes off she is unstoppable.

Telling an age-old story in a singularly original way, Border is a compelling, sometimes excruciating fairy tale for our times — with a bizarre sex scene to rival Team America’s.

Serenity is a genuine headscratcher, baffling on almost every level. Badly scripted, strangely acted and poorly pitched, there is so much to pick over it’s hard to know where to begin. Sometimes the best of bold intentions are just not enough.

Isn’t It Romantic had us at hello but loses its spell when it has to develop its plot. Not as smart or sharp as you’d hope, it still delivers a lot of fun for those who can’t resist a bad Katherine Heigl flick.

The bones of the story have been played a million times, but a talented and committed cast make this swoonsome rather than samey.

This is a sexually frank and arrestingly tender perspective of a young man in freefall. It occasionally leans too far into the horrors of street prostitution, but it’s mostly an open-minded view of its shiftless main character.

A soft-spoken yet chilling domestic horror film that tells its slightly overfamiliar tale effectively, with strong performances, quietly disturbing atmosphere, one or two friendly clichés, and good, old- fashioned scares.

Packed with plenty of heart and relatability — and a powerhouse performance from Jack Lowden — it never fully resolves the tension between the grit and glamour of the wrestling worlds the Knight family inhabit.

It’s not a hugely innovative biopic, covering just a short period of Bader Ginsburg’s extraordinary career, but this is still a vastly inspiring account of the fight for equality.

A typically taciturn turn from Neeson is surrounded by a colourful cast, gallows humour and complete disrespect for cinematic stereotypes. A little bloated, maybe, but deserves kudos for joining the road not Taken.

Jellyfish is a familiar but compassionately drawn portrait of hardscrabble lives, centred by a terrific performance by Liv Hill.

It goes nowhere fast and Kechiche’s camera consistently ogles his female cast but he remains a terrific director of actors, the intimacy and authenticity conveying a real lust for life to sweeten the hefty running time.

With two astonishing child performances, Capernaum is a real heart-breaker. It can make Ken Loach look happy-go-lucky but it’s a gripping, sympathetic cry for the dispossessed.

A motorsports movie you don’t need to be a petrolhead to enjoy. Rev up those whiteknuckle thrillride clichés, you're going to need them.

For all its formula, Instant Family is a winning confection, unafraid to go to unexpected dramatic places and elevated by Byrne’s gift as a comedy foil and Moner’s lively but subtle turn.

What could have been a simple retread or by-numbers continuation instead throws itself headfirst into time-twiddling absurdity. High art? No. A total blast? You bet.

A sometimes clunkily executed true-life story which at least has potency in its blend of subject matter and lead actor. Despite often being hard to watch, this is Rosamund Pike’s best work yet.

A quiet and meditative portrait of the artist as a retiree, this lacks incident or high stakes but has an elegiac feeling of regret and reckoning that fits its subject’s twilight years.

More proof that Cornish is a wizard at re-energising tired tropes.The characters are a delight, the action sequences thrum with invention, and when it’s funny, it’s very funny indeed.

Joel Edgerton once again proves himself a gifted filmmaker — but for all the craft, compelling performances and good intentions at work here, the drama itself falls somewhat short.

A sort of Romeo And Juliet with systemic racism replacing the family feud, this is romantic and infuriating, hopeful and despairing. A sensory, desperately emotional experience for lovers and fighters alike.

Best enjoyed for the fun, slick action and the astonishing, super-expressive realisation of Alita herself, because elsewhere it’s cyberpunk business as usual, marred by some sloppy plotting.

Escape Room is like The Crystal Maze with more death. It’s fun at the start then loses its way, but it’ll do until ‘Flossing: The Movie’ comes along.

So insubstantial it may not actually exist, The Mule is very much the latest in a long line of minor Clints. But it might help pass the time on long journeys. Just make sure you don’t watch and drive.

On Her Shoulders is a compassionate, level-headed portrait of a remarkable woman. What it lacks in filmmaking fireworks, it makes up for in the sheer magnetism and moxie of its hero.

Regardless of the skittish structure and illegible subtitles, this is a valuable reflection on an incalculably influential career, which serves as a timely reminder about the pitfalls of artistic tyranny.

A moving hymn to outsiders, this thrives on two criminally good performances from Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. It also confirms Marielle Heller as one of the brightest directorial talents around.

A supremely likeable film. Its message might seem obvious and its template overcooked, but it boasts a warm heart, with two astoundingly good lead performances to guide it home.

Slow and difficult to get a hold on, Burning emerges as a brilliantly made one-off; puzzling, intelligent and ultimately mesmerising. And Jong-seo Jun is a revelation.

DreamWorks Animation’s most heartfelt series bows out with a beautifully designed finale, but the long-awaited emotional goodbyes for its beloved central duo don’t quite soar.

One Cut Of The Dead is a true original, a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse drama and much more besides.

The ham-fisted lessons and wacky adventuring are just a skeleton on which to hang the meat of the thing: gorgeous, stunningly realised animation; frequent self-referential shrewdness; and still some of the wildest, most surreal jokes you’ll find in any movie.

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

It doesn’t do anything different from the original, but the upside to The Upside is two strong, winning performances that keep you going down a well worn path.

A based-on-fact family drama whose truths may hit too hard for some, but are worth suffering if only to witness Timothée Chalamet’s performance.

Essentially a Split sequel with an Unbreakable topping, this is weaker than either of those films but still has a decent amount of entertaining and creepy sequences, most of them due to McAvoy’s high-commitment performance.

Challenging the truism that you can never go home, this doesn't entirely integrate its political subtext. But the storylines are involving, the setting is picturesque and the performances are impeccable.

A sharp-witted and wide-reaching account of a bright political hope’s fall from grace, with an impressive ensemble cast and a great performance from Jackman.

Coogan and Reilly’s performances are among the best either has ever given. This film, which pays wonderfully funny tribute to two comic legends, richly deserves them.

It's a film that bores straight into your soul and leaves you shattered, but somehow richer for having seen it.

Despite good moments and an ambition to reach for the profound, Life Itself settles for trite, sentimental and patience testing. A killer cast deserve better.

This is the origin film we really need right now. Directors Cohen and West have brought a liberal trailblazer’s fascinating and largely untold story proudly into the spotlight.

Baalsrud never claimed to be a hero and the emphasis of this gripping reconstruction rightly falls on the resourcefulness, courage and self-sacrifice of those who epitomised the spirit of resistance.

All the affairs and scandals that a French literary genius could wish for, with the bonus of a modern heroine and a story that acknowledges the diversity that has always been with us.

Contrivances and clichés abound, but Bird Box still manages to be a compelling, high-concept idea thanks to Bier’s faultless direction and impressive cast.

A genuine oddity, Welcome To Marwen may not hit the emotional highs but mixes high-concept fun with a sincere attempt to describe trauma in an original visceral way. And Zemeckis’ filmmaking remains exemplary.

If you’re not fond of Lopez’s soapier films (hello Maid In Manhattan) this might make for queasy watching, but stick with Second Act for its smart reframing of a city Cinderella story that retains its sense of humour.

Weird, dirty but accessible, The Favourite is a perfectly performed, thrillingly made period picture that morphs before your very eyes. Come for the top-drawer hi-jinx; stay for a moving look at human foibles and frailties.

You’ll need a magnifying glass to find the jokes in this send-up of other, better Holmes screen adaptations. With stars this funny, there are inevitably some moments of mirth (several of them onion-based), but it falls well short of their previous team-ups.

An absorbing, well-acted psychological thriller that loses its grip as it slips into sensationalism.

This is daring, dangerous and dizzying stuff, the story of a one man simultaneously in competition and cooperation with nature. Meet Tom Cruise’s hero, probably.

An acting masterclass that neither pulls its punches nor sacrifices detail to pander to a mass audience, this is smart filmmaking from a director who gets better with every film — and a near career-best from Bale, which is saying something.

Mary Poppins Returns has boundless creativity, stacks of charm and not a cynical second. If it’s not quite practically perfect, it comes close enough.

This is an Aquaman film that needs lots more Aquaman and vastly less bombast. It’s visually wild and recklessly inventive, but the cast deserve better than to be cast adrift in a tempest of CGI.

It rips a few too many pages from familiar playbooks, but when it indulges in its own weirdness this film casts off those heavy caterpillar tracks and soars.

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.

This is made with skill and thought, but this kind of character piece needs to wield a microscope, not peer down reversed binoculars: otherwise why bother? You will, however, find yourself Googling canal boat holidays.

An impassioned ode to both the toys and their era, this, at last, is the Transformers movie we’ve been waiting for.

Despite a strong cast, promising premise and a timely attempt to explore male neurosis, Swimming With Men is let down by slight characterisation, by-the-numbers plotting and heavy-handed jokes that desperately need arm bands.

An understated yet profound examination of identity and self-sacrifice, this honest depiction of repressed romance will unashamedly tug at every heart string.

A patchy follow-up to the searing ’71 from director Yann Demange, but one which tells a compelling true story and offers a treat of a supporting turn from Matthew McConaughey.

A delightful folk story from one of the best filmmakers working today — and a fitting final turn from Redford, all easy charm and grace. It takes a lifetime of effort to look this effortless.

No fence-sitting here, Sorry To Bother You wallops its targets. Drenched in self-awareness, it is fantastically refreshing, defiantly announcing Riley as a radical new voice.

For all his ambition, Serkis can’t find the right tone for Mowgli and it becomes a very confused beast, neither fun enough for all ages to enjoy nor complex enough to be the visceral, grown-up thriller he nudges at.

Bewildering in all the right ways, this is a poetic, sublime interpretation of a sorry story. An evocative, emotional experience, it pits humanity against inhumanity, resulting in something refreshingly new.

Fresh, funny and frequently bonkers, Into The Spider-Verse is an astonishing shot of cinematic superhero adrenaline. For such an over-familiar character, somehow, this feels original and entirely new.

The spirits of the old masters pervade this disquieting but deeply moving drama. But Kore-eda stands alone as the chronicler of family life in a country facing an identity crisis.

Pairing thrilling technical prowess with profound artistic vision, Alfonso Cuarón has made a masterpiece, at once understated and otherworldly. We need more filmmakers like him.

Like Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur, this tries hard to do something new and exciting with an old formula. It quickly makes you wish for something more traditional and straightforward.

Like a real-life stroppy teen, Assassination Nation is pissed off with something new every five minutes — but there’s style and sophistication here. The Trump era has its first dorm-room classic.

It’s as predictable as an Advent calendar, but thanks to Kurt Russell’s grizzly charms, The Christmas Chronicles at least gives us one of the movies’ best Santas yet.