Well intentioned and played, this shows flashes of what could have been, but is ultimately let down by its timidity towards the maths, and fails to make the case for its own hero’s greatness.

Nichols mounts impressive visual effects and frantic bursts of action.... But the film’s strength is in its humanity rather than its super-humanity.

Visual inventiveness and spectacular casting can’t quite salvage a muddled fantasy epic that, if it were a magic mirror, would be held together with gaffer tape.

It’s a mesmerising turn from Wiig, but the script leaves her working overtime to carry a story that doesn’t delve much deeper than its initial premise.

There are moments that make the whole enterprise worthwhile, and introduces an intriguing new Batman. But it’s also cluttered and narratively wonky; a few jokes wouldn’t have gone amiss, either.

On paper, this could have been excellent; as it stands, it’s painful and futile for all involved. Much like the Afghan conflict itself.

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.

Batshit crazy. Don’t expect a thriller in the seat-edge sense, but you will be thrilled — and repulsed — by this bold, faithful adaptation of Ballard’s ever-prescient picture of First World strife.

It has its moments, but it blows the interesting premise — the resurrection of Jesus told as a mystery — too early for an overlong, overly religious finale.

Despite the striking photography, this fascinating denunciation of 150 years of persecution and oppression lacks Guzmán's customary trenchancy and restraint.

Cheap and cheerless, Norm’s appeal melts faster than the polar ice. With characters so completely devoid of charm or entertainment value, even David Attenborough would call for a cull of this lot.

Abrams’ you-didn’t-see-this-coming announcement was an effective piece of theatre, which the film itself ably lives up to. A thriller that winds you tighter and tighter before its secrets come tumbling out in a cathartic finale.

Instead of bringing much-needed clarity, Allegiant piles on yet more bamboozling mythology to flummox and confound.

A visceral, artful horror about childbirth and trauma released in the UK just in time for Mother’s Day.

A hugely assured debut, The Witch is a beautiful, bleak brainworm that will haunt you for days.

Rather than the cynical ‘one last grab’ of the series, Kung Fu Panda 3 might actually be the best. Also, and this is so rarely the case that it’s worth mentioning, it deserves to be seen in 3D.

It’s a film that doesn’t so much invite you to switch off your brain as take it out and dump it in the nearest popcorn box.

An atmospheric rite of passage that suggests big things lie ahead for its writer-director and young cast.

The setting is glorious and Dormer is on form, but the scares can’t match either.

A humdrum remake of a crackerjack thriller, this never gets out of second gear despite a classy cast and intriguing premise. Credit to Dean Norris for playing a character called Bumpy with an entirely straight face.

As a counterpoint to the (much better) "Spotlight," it’s a fascinating look at modern journalism – but perhaps not always for the reasons its makers intended.

A solid haunting-possession movie with good character work and unusual local colour, this works in a few surprises, sufficient scares and a nicely barbed punchline.

Merrily gruesome black comedy.

It may occasionally shock a laugh from you, but between those moments your face will be a rictus of horror.

Aiming squarely at Carries, Mirandas, Charlottes and Samanthas, How To Be Single is familiar but fun.

A landmark film book gets its just deserts. The cleverly curated clips are stunning and the analysis thought-provoking in this richly rewarding piece.

Anomalisa has more heart, soul and pathos than 99.9 per cent of live-action movies. The best hotel-set love story since "Lost In Translation."

Brimful of glorious sounds, this affectionate fan letter says as much about Pops Staples's artistic and political evolution as it does about his devoted daughter, one of the all-time greats.

The interesting world of the film doesn’t get the story it deserves.

Ralph Fiennes dazzles as a rock’n’roll maverick in a stylish, unorthodox erotic drama that tries hard but fails to maintain its eccentric momentum.

So many films address the premise because it’s always thought-provoking and affecting. This also has a bleached, depopulated, effectively catastrophe-struck feel and an intriguing adult-and-child road movie storyline.

Strong subject matter and a superb cast are treated disappointingly with sledgehammer subtlety.

It has a nice line in wry chatter and a pleasantly old-fashioned ‘lost posse’ plot with engaging, odd characters striving against the wilderness while swapping cynical frontier wisdom.

A strong cast and impressive action sequences can’t find subtleties or surprises to enliven a rote period disaster movie. It hits the right points, but mechanically.

The franchise squeaks past with a so-so sequel that barely improves on what came before. Our only hope is that at some point they'll have to hibernate.

The sheer terror of Meru Peak, the mountain-climber’s ultimate nemesis, is confronted in a vertiginous, breath-stealing video diary. Book a back seat at the big screen, and don’t look down.

It’s fun to take another turn with Derek and Hansel, but they probably don’t have another season in them.

Writer/director Peter Landesman has turned out a film that nonetheless remains desperately conventional and never communicates that sense of inspiration.

The sheer number of dick jokes will soon numb you to their impact, but this is a fun, if patchy, alternative to the glut of ‘the world is about to end unless we do something’ comic-book films.

This is a fascinating insight into the mind of the Nobel laureate and his city muse. Coolly intelligent and noirishly compelling.

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.

It has a strong, game cast but this is karaoke filmmaking, trading on nostalgia rather than breaking new territory. Affable but forgettable.

The astonishing true life story of The 33 deserves a better movie than this. Trite above and below ground, it is not suitable for miners. Or anyone else really.

Although packed with compelling archive footage, this never quite gets into Joplin's head, heart or soul.

A joyless and pointless remake. The new take on Bodhi and co. squanders a potentially enjoyable premise and rarely delivers, except on the occasional stunt.

This modern riff on Monster Squad is a very pleasant surprise, and so ’80s in spirit that it’s a shock one of the villains isn’t a giant Rubik’s Cube.

It feels terrestrial rather than cinematic, but the joy of Trumbo is in the heroism of its subject and an amazing performance from Cranston.

The premise promised Regency class and Romero shocks. The results, though, are only intermittently entertaining, and a better adaptation of Austen than a monster mash.

Eddie The Eagle turns a long-running joke of British sport into a crowd-pleasing story of inspiration. It’s a solid gold winner.

Switching from dour humour to humanist drama without seeming contrived, this is a masterclass in combining character and landscape that is played with deceptive poignancy by the excellent leads.

An Alpine study of ageing and creativity that’s as fresh and bracing as the mountain air, although occasionally just as chilly.

The archive footage is compelling, but the soundtrack is a muddle of voice-over, music and effects.

Sparks fly, but the grim cynicism of modern politics adds subversive weight to the film’s screwball comedy stylings and has a lot to say about modern politics, in the US as well as abroad.

It might also be the case that the film is more taken by emotions, beauty and passing fancies than plot and character.

Witty, absurd and far more entertaining than it has any right to be, this could finally shed light on the financial crisis for those of us who found it all too boring to contemplate.

Everything that comes after the confident, dangerous first half-hour just makes you pine for what could have been as this devolves into ten-a-penny teen-lit sludge.

Luckily, the two leads’ chemistry make it a happy, if not completely satisfying, ending.

Heather Graham and Maika Monroe add heat to this handsome, slow-burning thriller that lacks the urgency of Bahrani’s previous effort, "99 Homes."

On a par with "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained," The Hateful Eight starts low-key but ultimately delivers big, bold, blood-soaked rewards. Roll on, QT Western number three.

More interestingly, it paints the Bolshoi as a microcosm of Russia, in thrall to tradition but beset by greed, backstabbing and corruption.

It’s a riveting, complex film that asks one simple question: what do you do when there’s no right answer?

The best Rocky film since the original, honouring the Stallone legacy while setting it in a different direction. Feel the need. The need for Creed.

Tough, but resilience is amply rewarded. If last year’s larky Frank suggested Abrahamson was a director to watch, this makes him a director to be cherished.

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

For all the special effects and half-starved A-listers, this is a sodden beast. Perhaps there’s a reason that Melville only told half the story.

Charming in that neurotically adorable way Charles Schulz established over many years, this is a fond continuation of the Snoopyverse.

Redmayne’s transformation may grab the headlines but it is Vikander’s touching turn that steals the show. Sedate, certainly, but The Danish Girl is touching, timely and exquisite.

If it all ends in cornball reconciliation, the dumb, fuzzy smile it leaves suggests it’s well earned.

Refocused on the hoof after the catastrophic 2014 earthquakes, Jennifer Peedom's film pulls no punches in exploring the culture and work of this unheralded group, as well as their frequent exploitation by Westerners.

The prequels this ain’t. We can all breathe again.

A Sheltering Sky-lite romantic travelogue that, despite its two leads, lacks any real spark.

Another dazzling Jennifer Lawrence performance anchors a blue-collar parable that boasts some inspired moments but never quite gels.

The Native American people have suffered any number of indignities over the years. But they haven't, until now, suffered Adam Sandler.

A work of beautiful rage.

A well-above-average ho-ho-ho-horror film with a shivery sense of winter weirdland and anarchic ultra-violence, it’s also a strong candidate to become a holiday favourite thanks to a perfectly judged punchline.

By smuggling canvasses out of Nazi Paris, she was “midwife” to Pollock and Rothko. “Art,” the doc claims, “was a mirror of her own strangeness.”

There are first-time filmmaker flaws — at times, the characters feel like pawns in a pre-ordained plot — but Bettany has a real gift for finding grace in the grimness.

Acerbic, unexpected and quietly heart-warming without ever approaching sappy, this takes a no-nonsense approach to big issues - life, love and ageing - and never feels heavy-handed. We should all be so lucky in our grandmothers.

Exquisitely designed, this cornucopia of melodramatic fragments and movie pastiches will enchant Guy Maddin fans.

DiCaprio's raw performance helps elevate what could have been just another man-versus-nature drama.

It's hard not to be seduced by this folky yarn.

The Moomins’ adventure is, despite its French joie de vivre, full of the knowing wit and wry Nordic wisdom which have ensured their popularity since 1945. A treat for the whole family.

Crackling with energy and fizzing with ideas, this fresh take on Frankenstein is a thrilling adaptation that reinvigorates a well-worn tale.

Deyn is a revelation in a difficult but rewarding take on Scottish rural life. The most English of directors has done a Scottish classic proud.

There’s too much going on and too little character development for this to become a Christmas classic.

It doesn’t all land, but The Night Before is largely a salty, sweet jingle ball.

A decent, mid-list spy thriller, suspended somewhere between le Carré and Bond but with a budgetary austerity in keeping with UK government spending cuts that keeps it out of the real high-stakes game.

Given the work lavished on every detail of the glorious backdrop, it’s a pity that the story happening in front of it is so familiar and safe.

A cheerful comedy-drama with charm to spare.

Has its moments of spectacle and danger, but offers too few genuine insights or rite-of-passage epiphanies.

Mara and Blanchett make for an unforgettable couple in a beautiful film about longing, loss and the confusion and wonder of love.

Compelling and powerfully acted, with just enough wrinkles to avoid the ghosts of gangster movies past. Depp's appearance might distract some, but it's good to see him back in the groove.

So godlike is Spielberg’s status that we often take his talents for granted. The strange, riveting mix of Bridge Of Spies is another sterling reminder that we shouldn’t.

The acting is wooden, but fans of the director’s more shocking work might enjoy its gentle self-referential comedy.

As it stands, it’s one of the worst films you won’t see in 2015.

Sands has his own personal link to the Holocaust, revealed over time, and My Nazi Legacy becomes horribly gripping.

One comes out of this fragmentary documentary about the King Of Cool’s passion for motor racing liking him much less than one did going in.

It’s still a giggle, largely thanks to Tilly’s cantankerous mother (Judy Davis) and the camp local cop (Hugo Weaving).