As soon as Howard steps up to the mic, the movie crackles to life.

It's colourful, fun and as surreal as Disney is ever likely to get, this isn't as good as the books, but works as a cute introduction to them.

More engrossing than both "Sully" and "The 15:17 To Paris," Richard Jewell is enlivened by Paul Walter Hauser’s breakout performance yet undone by a lack of subtlety and real dramatic wallop. Solid, dependable, very late period Eastwood.

The result is both audaciously amusing and provocatively sophisticated.

Although let down by muddled plotting, The Night House is a low-key, well-made thoughtful horror flick, excellently played by Rebecca Hall.

A starry trio and suspenseful filmmaking can’t save this apocalyptic thriller from collapsing on itself.

An absolute blast, with a frenetic strike-rate and songs that will worm their way into your ears for days. Like Conner, this comedy’s for real.

Sarah Polley's second film is a masterfully painted portrait of an ordinary marriage under threat, dominated by a central performance of exquisite subtlety and observation.

Despite some sweet moments and strong on-screen talent, The Wedding Banquet’s off pacing and limited character development mean it ultimately falls flat.

Hustle follows a familiar game plan but executes it well, with a love of basketball culture shining through — alongside a likeable Sandler performance.

A striking debut from a blistering talent. What it lacks in narrative oomph it makes up for in beautiful imagery, natural performances and a worldview all its own.

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

Gorgeous to look at — but this is simply not looney enough to stand alongside the Looney Tunes greats of old. Needs more anvils.

Marvel has solved their third-act problem and villain problem and then some. However prepared you feel, you are not ready for Thanos. But then, neither are our heroes.

The Canadian horror maestro scrapes away the surface of Hollywood to discover a magnificently Cronenbergian outbreak of tortured families, reprehensible behaviour and extreme violence.

Joseph Kosinski has done it again. F1 combines unparalleled access, pioneering filmmaking and moving redemption arcs to deliver an exhilarating cinematic experience. What will he attach a camera to next?

A giddy helping of artful violence delivered with a wink and a cheeky grin. Unsurprisingly, John Wick 2 is already in the works.

Like many sequels, Truth To Power is bigger but messier than its predecessor. While it doesn’t quite deliver the oomph of the original, it is still a timely, persuasive wake-up call.

A film for every age, whether you’re an awkward kid, former awkward kid or awkward kid-adjacent. Funny, real and uplifting. A film that reaffirms your belief in the human spirit.

A beautiful, subdued Daisy Ridley performance anchors a story that is underplayed to the point of almost non-existence. Still, if you’re tired of blockbuster bombast, this could be the antidote.

Eat well beforehand or you’ll be in tummy-rumbling, tongue-hanging-out agony as the merry band cook their way across America. Good fun and happy, filling fare.

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.

Dream Horse is predictable and manipulative to a fault but, sparked by Toni Collette, there is a strong sense of sincerity and commitment to the subject matter that helps it across the finishing line.

Flashes of bleak humour makes this wry portrait a compelling experience.

The father and son chemistry give this blackly-comic slice of social realism a dose of Ealing-lite wit.

Okay, so it does cloy in places, but there is truth in its fractures and its seals, a soft-shimmering landscape of real people.

This film encompasses everything that is both grating and great about the blockbuster. It gives scant regard to character depth or dialogue while still being a must-see hoopla of computer trickery that weakens the knees and raises the neck-hairs.

Sentimentality creeps in now and again, but Levinson's steady grasp of his city's unique atmosphere makes these moments genuinely moving rather than hokey.

Lea van Acken is outstanding but Dietrich Brüggemann’s severe gaze invites voyeurism, not empathy. A stony, stifling if fascinating film.

A worthy, exciting, emotional addition to the venerable monkey movie marathon. Apes will rise. Sequels are likely.

It’s not the first of its kind, but compelling performances allow this portrait of a romance a genuine sense of passion. Under Tom Cullen’s sensitive, empathetic direction, this deeply felt picture never loses sight of its people.

A strikingly odd and original debut that is admirable for taking the triple-threat of suicide, depression and addiction in its nonchalant stride, although the confusing presentation of separate timelines mutes the overall impact.

Not to everyone's taste, but an earnest and hearfelt tale nonetheless.

While this doesn't add up to much more than 'It's good to be rich and have friends', it's entertaining, with some choice performances and the laugh-out-loud quotient of a good sketch show.

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.

A small, slight window into a mixed-up soul, this is more intriguing than engaging. Its restraint, though, is admirable, resulting in a mood-piece with an ongoing sense of unease.

Forman and screenwriter Michael Weller brought a sense of coherence to the original freewheeling structure and Twyla Tharp's choreography imparted an infectious dynamism. But, the profanity, nudity and disregard for the fourth wall that had made the stage show such a sensation were lost in the translation.

Director Johnny To's previous flicks are slicker affairs, but there's still plenty here to please the fans.

A solid A Quiet Place entry is elevated by Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn’s affecting performances — a surprisingly tender tale of the end of days.

There’s a pleasure to seeing such a starry cast in a slick cinematic thriller. But beyond that, Crime 101 offers little to remember after the closing credits.

At two hours, something as thin and unexceptional as this, is just too long. The result is that all the running gags run out of steam and there are far too many fudgy bits between the comic highlights. Nevertheless, lightly likable.

Entertaining in places, if only for the fact that unlike most 50s si-fi films, the aliens are treated with some sympathy.

Murray's initial transition from the small screen is a classic.

An Amityville for the YouTube age: potent, primal and genuinely frightening.

A gripping, moving, sometimes frustrating portrait of a man consumed by a need to speak up, even as he wonders if anybody’s watching.

This is Bond film that dutifully ticks all the boxes — but brilliantly, often doesn’t feel like a Bond film at all. For a 007 who strived to bring humanity to larger-than-life hero, it’s a fitting end to the Craig era.

From Phillippe Rousselot’s exquisite cinematography, with the stunning scenery of Montana as a backdrop, to Redford’s assured direction, this is utterly alluring, and manages to make fly-fishing seem not just romantic, but thrilling.

Atmospheric and chilling, Out Of Darkness doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but adds some thoughtful twists to a well-worn genre. It’s an intriguing sign of things to come from a new filmmaking voice.

Captivating and poignant portayal of life on the edge for the disregarded of our societies.

A gentle, enjoyable musical fable.

At once awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, eye-rolling and head-scratching, this is animated cinema on a scale rarely seen. It doesn’t always hang together, but on its box-office achievements alone, Ne Zha 2 has earned a place with the immortals.

Given the obvious influences on The Double, it could have felt like a facsimile of other films. Instead, it has enough individuality, imagination and idiosyncratic invention to identify it as a true original.

Rinko Kikuchi's superb core performance and some striking photography stand out in the latest feature from the Zellner Brothers.

Jarmusch leaves us with a highly entertaining and thoroughly oddball collage celebrating the typically inconsequential nature of most daily encounters.

Sartorially dated certainly, but still powerful, disturbing and raw.

An important story of injustice inspires but fails to fully ignite, despite two towering central performances from Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan.

In trying to tell an enormous amount of story it can spread itself too thin and leave some strands feeling unfinished, but when it’s at its best, this is beautiful and bold filmmaking.

Despite half-a-dozen recent attempts to "correct" this biopic, Minnelli's agonised portrait of the life of Vincent Van Gogh remains the definitive movie word on the subject.

Ironically, it lacks journalistic rigour but it's a fond, nostalgic look at the gilded history of the Grey Lady.

A worthy diversion for the very young, but against their more venerable stablemates - notably DuckTales - The Rescuers's identification/memorableness factor remains second division.

The pace never slows, the jokes never miss and the stunts never disappoint in this macho-dream of an actioner.

Adèle Exarchopoulos excels in this dark, elemental drama. A sensory delight that marks Léa Mysius as a filmmaker to get excited about.

1666 mostly operates in a different register than 1994 and 1978, but is no less entertaining. It rounds off an ambitious triptych chock-full of horror-history allusions, strong world-building, sharp scares, palatable gore, lively filmmaking and a likeable set of characters. Other scary-movie franchises take note.

Ostensibly a haunted house story, it manages to traverse a complex world of incipient madness, spectral murder and supernatural visions ...and also makes you jump.

It's a tale told with considerable warmth and humour, some spiffing explosions and a multiple-hanky act of self-sacrifice to round things off.

Star Wars really does begin here.

David Corenswet takes on the blue-and-red mantle admirably, and glimpses of Gunn’s signature sense of fun shine through — but a lack of humanity, originality and cohesion means the movie around them just doesn’t work.

An extraordinary and visionary study of a legendary murderer’s famous fate, within touching distance of Oscars.

The two leads are on fine form, but the surrounding structure is too familiar from a thousand other films. Still, tense and occasionally twisty stuff.

Heart-warming, funny, wise and profound. Not to be missed.

Not quite a terrifying thrill-ride, Ghost Stories is a creepy, disturbing ghost train with a beefier backbone than its source material, trading on tropes but still making your skin itch.

Tautly scripted by director Per Fly and bullishly played, this is soap for the ciné-sophisticate.

Connery was perhaps wise to call it quits the first time round.

If Never Look Away is no The Lives Of Others, it is also a cut above The Tourist. A strongly crafted, ambitious, occasionally absorbing dissection of a fascinating period in German culture, it is perhaps too middle-brow and broad for its own good.

So the script and the performances aren't exactly Oscar material, but it scarcely matters given that the real stars here are the ILM-created dinosaurs, a miracle of modern moviemaking.

A few big laughs but weakly drawn characters mean a film that is enjoyable enough in the moment but then quickly forgotten.

A brave, powerful, far from comfortable and distinctly English affair that bears all the hallmarks of a labour of love rather than an example of intellectual folly.

Jokes so stupid as to seem almost surreal, an amazing range of cultural referents and a smattering of genuinely witty conceits.

Inventive, ambitious, brutal and beautiful: a potent mythological epic. But also wilfully challenging, as likely to infuriate as inspire, whether through its unmitigated Old Testament harshness or its eco-message revisionism. If only more blockbusters were like this.

Hypnotic, maddening, pervy and disturbing. In other words, vintage Cronenberg. The doomy slow-burn won’t be to all tastes, but its abstract, feverish images are pure nightmare fuel.

A big, silly, scrappy bundle of fun, packed with Cage-related Easter eggs and in-jokes, but also a whole lotta heart.

While Ascher brings the experiences to life in a way that could conceivably induce nightmares in casual viewers, the potency of these scenes is ultimately diminished by repetition.

It shouldn’t really have taken 11 years for the Widow to get her own standalone adventure. But thanks to some zesty new character dynamics and smart twists, Marvel have finally done her right.

Barrymore, among the most consistently admirable women in showbiz, can proudly add a Guides badge for Meritorious Directing to her many other achievements. Excellent emo chick coming-of-age drama plus broads in fetish gear battering each other on roller skates -- frankly, a film that offers something for everyone.

It's fun spotting stars under cakes of make-up and the panache, great supporting cast and good-natured, old-fashioned feel make for a better movie than you remember.

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.

An unknown treasure of a fantasy film and well worth a look for fans of the genre.

It's a puzzle as much as a plot, but when it's in focus (which it isn't for long stretches) it's remarkable brain-food.

A smart and incisive look at race, identity and dysfunction in modern French society.

Guaranteed to offend a lot of folks across the political and belief spectrum, but consistently funny and horribly to the point. A sit-com spin-off is probably not on the cards, though.

This welcome spotlight on a lesser-known civil rights hero doesn’t escape the usual biopic clichés — but Colman Domingo’s impressive, deeply layered performance does this corner of history justice.

A captivating, and sometimes alarming, exposé of the business end of nuclear power. Watch as part of a behind-the-sofa double bill with Countdown To Zero.

While it's all grand opera, and driven by sweeping gestures and pompous, overwritten dialogue, it is prone to plain silliness - especially in granting us the big showdown at the close. But the sheer dynamism of the action, coupled with Hans Zimmer's lavish score and the forcefield of Crowe, still makes this a fiercesome competitor in the summer movie stakes.

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 tropical sex comedy that’s a little unfocused, but Segal and co throw plenty of funniness at the wall - and most of it sticks.

A deeply disconcerting provocation about the future of civilisation: a powerfully performed vision of an insignificant humanity.

In an era not exactly short of quirky bungled heist movies, Anderson and Wilson take an interesting tack – coming in late on lifelong relationships, and showing us the pay-offs to friendships and resentments that have been simmering for years.

Van Sant’s previous historical fictions have been more incisive, but this is a tense crime thriller, with a solid new addition to Bill Skarsgård’s rogues’ gallery of scumbags.