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 overall effect is too intelligent to be soppy and too damn good to be ignored.

John Frankenheimer, during his decade as one of the screen's most innovative and exciting directors, tells a difficult story with imagination and compassion.

The Bourne Supremacy builds on and exceeds the original, delivering, quite simply, one of the finest big-budget thrillers in years.

A commanding, troubling domestic horror that should launch a long career for Avranas.

A touch less fresh than the original, but this is still bursting with energy, emotion, warmth and imagination. It knows the way.  

This is really Sly's movie as he slugs his way through a heartfelt performance and delivers some cracking punches, both literally and emotionally.

Sharp, funny and strongest when it stands on its own two perfectly manicured feet, this snappy musical successfully updates the original Mean Girls template for a fresh audience.

This is way more than it seems and manages to surprise and enchant throughout.

Crammed with wonderful De Palma showboating and a wonderfully crackpot turn from John Lithgow as a right-wing loon.

A documentary that practically defies description, Grimonprez's film is playful, provocative and very, very watchable.

Fascinating, funny, wicked and to the point, this is an excellent film about a week every Briton over the age of 15 will remember vividly.

The year’s most pleasant cinematic surprise. Once has enough heart, wit, verve and sheer songwriting genius to ensure you’ll see it far more times than its title suggests.

Enormously entertaining, endlessly quotable, perfectly cast and packed full of the richest acting you'll see from an ensemble cast all year, but the result is ever so slightly hollow.

As much Tolkien's baby as Mignola's, this has more heart and humour than most fantasy films can dream of. Hellaciously good.

Sharper than a stake in it's genre references, The Monster Squad appeals to cinephile as well as teen sensibilities.

Writer-director Gerard Johnson and chameleon-like star Ferdinando continue to impress with their strong collaboration here.

Vastly enjoyable despite the syrupy, soppy song bit in the middle (go make a glass of mulled wine during it). Michael Caine is perfect in the role and there are many genuine belly laughs.

Michael J. Fox is a revelation as the mouse that roared, whilst the score, the direction, and the rest of the cast turn a risky film into a solid addition to the Nam canon.

A bit tarter than its predecessors, but not skimping on their woozy, chatty charm, this perfectly played, gently incisive film is a welcome new chapter in one of cinema’s most beguiling ongoing romances. See it with someone you’ve loved for some time.

A war film without the war but with some interesting observations nonetheless.

Intimate, delicate and delightful.

A languid, leisurely paced drama. Not much happens, but Reichardt’s light touch and the performances of the leads make it soar.

A pitch-black, often very funny slice of pulp fiction with a number of stand-out performances, notably the ferocious Theron.

Winning Best Film at that year's Oscars, this John Huston film typically epic with a faithful screenplay to Richard Llewellyn's famous novel. Strong performances from Crisp and O'Hara although McDowall as the young lead, gives a particularly memorable performance while the setting shows Wales at its most beautiful.

A phenomenal, heart-breaking performance from Jeff Bridges powers this simple but affecting redemption story.

Filled with imaginative, vibrant visuals and an (inter) stellar lead performance, despite some flourishes that miss their landing, Gagarine’s voyage is one well worth joining.

Hogg’s films are never conventional stories, but this is a rewarding and affecting watch.

A successful mix of literary adaptation, meta-fictional discourse and inside-showbiz comedy. Both funny and clever.

Great performances, provocative ideas and gripping action scenes fall prey to Hollywood logic and pat storytelling in the final hour.

A Molotov cocktail of laughs and anger, Chi-Raq is a powerful state of a nation address. The result is the most creatively exciting Lee has been in a decade.

This campy extravaganza has it all - heroes, villains, beautiful women and high stakes. Laughably bad and fantastically good all at once, this is a guilty pleasure that everyone can enjoy.

Nicole Holofcener transforms an intimate betrayal into an illuminating case study of moral righteousness. A delightful, hilarious and deeply human film about the innate contradictions we refuse to accept.

Just a solidly made cat-and-mouse thriller, with muscularly committed performances from its two leads. It’ll make you want to explore the Great Outdoors and simultaneously never leave your house again.

War Horse is bold, exquisite family filmmaking in the grandest Hollywood tradition. Be warned: whether you're a hippophile or not, it's a four-hankie moviegoing experience.

It still stands up as an upbeat portrait of pre-revolutionary Russia, and will have you whistling If I Were A Rich Man for days.

A notable, unusual existential thriller that is psychologically acute without the need for Oscar-clip self-pitying speeches, it’s also terrifically suspenseful with a provocative punchline.

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. 

As a sensitive portrait of what college is like for the awkward lonely types — and an ode to just staying up late and shooting the sh*t — Freshman Year is a funny, tender treat.

Yes, Jason Bourne basically amounts to a trio of action set-pieces elegantly strung together. But who really cares when they’re this impressive?

Scott is simply awesome as the one-of-a-kind General George Patton, the brilliant campaigner and man among men renowned for the rage he directed at the berks in authority and the adulation he inspired in his men.

If you're a novice, this is a plucky introduction to Whedon's world and the most fun sci-fi of the year. If you're a devotee, this is the magnificent return you've been praying for.

A sprawling anything-goes portrait of the artist and the creative process in crisis.

Tense and tightly plotted, How To Blow Up A Pipeline is existentially terrifying but not nihilistic. It’s an exciting, humanist eco-thriller that figures there’s still time to take action — but only so much.

Day is on top form as the boastful sharpshooter, but she's ably matched by her supporting cast and the music.

Just missing out on top-tier Hansen-Løve, Bergman Island is beautifully played — especially by Krieps and Wasikowska — and retains all the hallmarks of her best work; an intelligent, personal, heartfelt treat.

Powerful art cinema that challenges political and social unity in Iran.

Sweet Country is epic and personal, daring to tell a simple story in a challenging, arresting way. It’s a demanding two hours but leavened by great performances, especially from newcomer Hamilton Morris.

In typical Rob Cohen fashion, it does exactly what it says on the tin. But that's all it needs to be the visceral rollercoaster ride we all expect.

Made with such elegance, atmosphere and wonderfully mannered performances it will nestle deep inside your head, refusing to budge. The more you ponder it, the better it becomes.

It’s always fun, inventive and full of charm. If you have any concerns that Jason Reitman’s film might sully the legacy of his dad’s greatest creation, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Rare is the film that understands the pleasures of letting an enraged Ice Cube take out his wrath on an all-you-can-eat buffet. And which other blockbuster in 2014 would interrupt its climactic car chase to lob in a gag about Benny Hill?

It isn’t always subtle, but Blue Jean is a gorgeously presented, stirringly performed slice of British queer history that announces director Georgia Oakley and actor Rosy McEwen as major talents to watch.

Equipped with liberal helpings of square-jawed top quality Hollywood thespianism, and that expensive, highly commercial Tony Scott gloss-finish, this submarine-set mutiny thriller is about as good as it gets.

A gripping, well-told, incredibly watchable thriller for a new generation of TikTok sleuths — and a compelling argument to up your average screen-time.

This is not about where the Spicers end up, but how they get there, and you endure every stressful, exhausting and spectacularly tender moment of that voyage with them.

Depp plays on both his looks and quirky charm to make the title character a joy to watch, while Brando thoroughly enjoys himself as the suddenly amorous physician. Utterly charming.

Flawed, certainly, but by no means the horror-show its paltry box-office performance would suggest.

It may be predictable, but Bleed For This still grabs with its astonishing against-all-odds true story, and its belter of a central performance from Miles Teller.

It’s not like the film is hollow — hidden at its heart, in fact, is a struggle for the soul of Hollywood — it’s just that it feels more like a series of pleasant diversions rather than a single, solid journey.

Chock-full of terrific performances, Margin Call is the kind of gripping, grown-up film that these days is usually found on the small screen.

Dark, disturbing and difficult, this is a deep dive into a troubled headspace and never lets you leave. Ramsay is now four for four, one of our most exciting filmmakers. If she could not leave it so long next time, that’s just fine with us.

Garin’s performance is just one of the note-perfect elements in The Return -- unfussy acting, unhurried direction, sublime cinematography and low-key music -- which conspire to draw the audience into a deceptively simple story with numerous hidden depths.

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.

They do make ’em like they used to -- a fresh blast of old-school sci-fi, bursting with ideas and a stellar turn from Rockwell.

A garish, gorgeous example of pop art at its finest.

To steal from Ali, this one floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

Shorta is a Molotov cocktail of a movie. For co-directors Ølholm and Hviid, it’s a Hollywood calling card. For the rest of us, it’s a tense actioner, anchored by powerful performances from its leads, who add layers to good cop/bad cop clichés.

DuVernay’s sweeping odyssey is an ambitious (if sometimes messy) spectacle. At its best, it holds a poignant power that provides plenty of food for thought — enough to linger long after the credits roll.

A lean, tough, thoughtful thriller with depth, Blue Ruin establishes Jeremy Saulnier as a promising indie auteur and Macon Blair as an unusual leading man.

A frank look at 21st century mores, this succeeds in saying new things about anxieties as old as the human race.

A unexpected pleasure to watch, disturbing for new parents, slightly silly but ever so enjoyable.

Funny, sad and horrifying. Anti-fundamentalist rather than anti-Christian, this deserves to preach to more than just the converted.

As spectacular and surprising as you would expect from Scott. Its spiritual uncertainty – and lack of triumphalism – perhaps robs it of a truly satisfying, cathartic conclusion, but also makes for a truly modern, thoughtful biblical blockbuster.

Scott's take on Napoleon is distinctively deadpan: a funny, idiosyncratic close-up of the man, rather than a broader, all-encompassing account.

Whatever you want to call Sick, it's anything but a piece of exploitative voyeurism, by turns sombre, hilarious, wince-inducing and inspiring.

Full of wit, intelligence and flair, once more Delpy has created a delightfully irresistible sort-of-romantic comedy.

It has lost none of its power: Scum is, in the final analysis, horrific.

A very strong debut by writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig deals with all the usual teenage concerns — dating, family, school — in a way that tries to go beyond genre cliché, with a heroine who is often unlikeable but always believable.

Director Hui shows a different side to Hong Kong cinema in a tender drama that's illuminated by the marvellous Ip.

The anxieties of a teenage girl weigh universally heavy. Burnham brings wisdom and immediacy to a generation raised online, his debut feature already cementing his presence as a remarkably sensitive filmmaker.

Both leads excel at showing a true feeling (be it love or lust) but both covered in the guilty angst that one will betray the other. Edge of your seat stuff.

A crowdpleaser that also tells an important story about showbiz, it’s fab. You’ll come out singing.

A typically poignant lifestory illuminated by strong turns from Dussollier and Azéma, Alain Resnais' latest is one to stir the brain as well as the heart.

More successful as a coming-of-age movie than a horror, It still ranks among the better Stephen King adaptations — no small praise indeed.

The reach of this avant-garde comic meltdown sometimes exceeds its grasp, but this is still a consistently jaw-dropping joyride through one man’s terrible, very bad, no good week.

Dumas’s classic novel finally gets an epic adaptation worthy of its scope, rendered in delicious French by its dangerously sexy cast. Gird your buckles because they’re about to get swashed.

Mesmerising, magical portrait of smalltown America, dominated by a performance from Paul Newman so outstanding it must surely make him front-runner to hoist the Best Actor statuette come Oscar night.

Essentially Parabolas & Prejudice, it isn’t the most nuanced piece of work out this month. But nuance be damned — an uplifting plea for equality, this is a story calibrated for maximum effect.

Apples is an offbeat treat that manages to embrace ironic distance and emotional weight through a prism of perfectly judged absurdism.

Released at any time, The Platform, packed with ideas and moments to be endlessly debated, would have all the makings of a cult classic. Released in 2020, it is an astonishingly apt metaphor for our times.

Brave, beautifully acted and emotionally revealing - an early strong contender for the most provocative and compelling film of the year.

Lovingly photographed in a monochrome that recalls Woody Allen’s Manhattan, this is a slickly scripted rom-com.

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.

Meadows in a minor key but still a major delight; his improvised feel, sparky comedy and interest in the truth of youth services a story that’s both winning and winsome.

There is true beauty in the realism at the heart of what could come across a fanciful movie plot, with its documentarian coolness of execution, the crisp rhythms of Zinnemann’s direction, we feels we are staring through a window into the shadowy recesses of history.

A highly effective indie horror that overcomes the familiarity of its scares with the brilliantly executed novelty of its canine conceit.

Peppered with fun-to-spot cameos (can you spot Williem Dafoe?), the parody-satire script works well with Depp's adept handling of the titular bad boy. A delinquent joy-ride, though without the Hard-core distaste of previous Waters flicks, which may or may not be a bad thing.