Edwards’ film boasts great filmmaking, noble intentions and cracking monster action. Yet it never reconciles its B-movie origins — preposterous premise, clichéd characters — with its solemn, Nolanised tone. This Godzilla stomps but very rarely romps.

Not quite Four Weddings-funny but always entertaining and endearing in equal measure.

This leaden relocating of an iconic German saga to 16th-century France isn’t helped by the miscast Mads Mikkelsen’s morose display as Michael Kohlhaas.

A bloody, scuzzy, progressively preposterous whodunnit, blending old school and new wave to neutering effect. One chunky plus: the all-new Antihero Arnie.

Charming and uplifting.

While Miyazaki’s two-hour-long, historical-melodrama swansong is destined to be his most divisive film yet, it is also his most adult and interesting, and never less than visually breathtaking throughout.

Dreams of rock stardom become a warped reality in this barking-mad but affecting comedy about the side-effects of being a non-conformist genius.

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

A compelling, if well worn , topic — work/life balance — is brought vividly to life by a great Binoche performance.

Not all magically benevolent nannies fly on talking umbrellas, as we learn in this beautifully formed little heart-tugger.

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.

Over-reaching and unintentionally amusing, this is straight-to-video quality inexplicably delivered at blockbuster scale. A thunderous volca-NO.

However familiar the terrain, this is a vivid, heartbreaking and captivating character piece and travel movie in one, guided by an outstanding Wasikowska.

Often funny, outrageously vulgar in places and very, very French.

The by-the-numbers plotting is a little clunky but there's fun to be had in the cast's easy chemistry.

Chilean writer-director Sebastián Silva’s neither-fish-nor-fowl narrative plays tricks on our minds, without fully engaging our senses.

A few too-broad gags aside — and even these are in the funky spirit of ’60s Marvel — this is a satisfying second issue with thrills, heartbreak, gasps, and a perfectly judged slingshot ending.

A very welcome return from Moodysson. The music is Wyld Stallions-grade, but the charm and spirit of the three girls will have you moshing in your seat.

There are films to see on huge screens, but this is one that almost cries out for a small cinema, surrounded by total blackness. It’s a daring experiment brilliantly executed, with Tom Hardy giving one of the performances of his career.

Newcomers will be puzzled by the clumsy contextualisation and muddled motivation of characters who, robbed of their inner lives by a clunky script, are left floundering amid the melodrama and speak-the-plot dialogue.

Political chicanery and psychological mystery entwine with some stunning underwater sequences but don’t gel entirely satisfactorily.

A mysterious and disorientating blend of giallo violence, cinematic experimentation and Lynchian psychohorror. Revel in its bonkers beauty.

A sci-fi horror dimmer than the dark side of the moon.

Messier than recent Hammer output, but effectively chilling when it’s not making us feel the noize.

A bulkier, slower beast than Evans’ first film. But when it enters combat mode, it’s more raucously bloodthirsty than anything you’ve ever seen. Unless you’re Ross Kemp.

On the strength of only two films, McDonagh and Gleeson are a director/star team on a par with Ford/Wayne, Fellini/Mastroianni or Scorsese/De Niro. Calvary is gripping, moving, funny and troubling, down to an uncompromising yet uncynical finish.

A very unfocused, sporadically funny film, lifted by its (predictable) visual splendour.

Another typically assured piece of work from Ozon with a showstopping turn from newcomer Vacth.

Strange and surreal but with moments of real beauty.

Powerful, moving and melancholy. A low-key treat.

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.

Smart, tough and a little bit cool, this is an intriguing opening rather than a slam-dunk in its own right, but the cast - and especially Woodley - make it sufficiently diverting to merit a place in the action franchise ranks.

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.

Nearly as good as the last film — the starrier cameos compensating somewhat for the more scattershot plot — this is fun but could have been more deeply felt.

Six Feet Under scribe Jill Soloway offers a wry perspective on married life as Temple's stripper-with-a-heart is lobbed into this domestic yarn like a firecracker in an arms cache.

The action comes thick and fast but the storyline is generic and Lutz makes a particularly dull hero. An Erymanthian bore.

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

It may climax with an overly formulaic splurge, but The Winter Soldier benefits from an old-school-thriller tone that, for its first half at least, distinguishes it from its more obviously superheroic Marvel cousins.

Brimming with ideas and laudable ambition, it's well worth a look.

As elegant as the man's clothes, this handsome biopic traces 20 incident-filled years in the life of the designer.

Less a three-lane pile-up than a minor traffic violation in a residential area. Three points for Waugh, then, and a £60 fine.

A bold, honest film about family life that showcases a terrifically unpeppy turn from Bejo.

Trivialising despair, it’s a depressing waste of a major cast, and an early bid for mess of the year.

Dedicated to Morris’ champion, Roger Ebert, who would be proud, this is a provocative, revelatory and disturbing film.

A brutal, immersive prison survival story with a breakout performance by British actor Jack O’Connell.

A tender, nostalgic and warm ‘family’ drama which also quietly seethes with the threat and tension of imminent danger. Labor Day shows a new side to Jason Reitman as a filmmaker, and we like it.

Over-the-top but blackly funny along the way.

A stirring, lushly-constructed celebration of youthful spirit.

Odd and sexy, troubling and touching, frustrating and mesmerising, dull and haunting. A film by Jonathan Glazer.

It’s the tangle of workings-out not the easy answer that are the proof of a theorem, and that magnificent, sparkling, insightful chaos abounds here.

It’s a conversation starter: a cultish exploration of female sexuality in a culture dominated by prostitution and patriarchy.

Even a cast boasting Oldman and Harrison Ford can't salvage his dreary, contrived corporate thriller.

A well-warranted remastering of his Aussie new wave classic.

Another meticulously stylish and deadpan Wes Anderson movie that walks the fine line between masterpiece and folly.

A fly-on-the-wall look at the band that will thrill fans but may not convert too many non-believers.

A timeless musical treat and the most fun you can have with really elegant clothes on.

A crunching, visceral transplant for this cannibal tale from its urban Mexican setting to an American milieu.

Some good performances, impeccable craft and good intentions can’t compensate for a lack of dramatic urgency and emotional heft. The Book Thief is effective, but not effective enough.

Non-Stop is weak sauce, a cheapie snoozer that not even heavyweights like Neeson and Moore can save.

Haunting and idiosyncratic, Jarmusch’s vampire marriage preaches to the converted, but he’s in fine voice nonetheless.

A rich movie, seductive when abandoning people for falling snow or bleak nature and funny, painful and unflinching when it gets physical.

A provocative, engrossing, often hilarious, frequently tough picture. Not for all sensibilities but it’s among von Trier’s more playful, purely entertaining films, with insight and humour in even the horrors.

Beautifully crafted, sinister, frightening, erotic and thought-provoking, Alain Guiraudie’s multi-faceted Cannes triumph is already one of the most provocative, intriguing films of the year.

Corny and shakily plotted, it's a disappointing directorial debut from Goldsman.

A flowerier adaptation of the Scott Spencer romance than Zeffirelli's '80s version, it's tailor-made for the Nicholas Sparks crowd.

A caper thriller that's sufficiently zippy to hold the attention. LaBeouf's current notoriety adds extra piquancy to those urban fight scenes.

A romantic-comedy that isn't funny or romantic.

Saturday Night Fever by way of Strictly Come Dancing, Frost’s solo movie lacks the inventive madness of his Cornetto team-ups, but it’s still a heartfelt blast of fun.

Jonze has made a sweet, smart, silly, serious film for our times, only set in the future.

There’s a good-hearted father and son tale at the heart of the madness here, but the surroundings are sometimes a little too silly for true greatness.

There’s nothing wrong, of course, with sci-fi films asking Big Questions, but the delivery doesn’t have to be — should never be, in fact — this tedious.

A frustratingly ungraspable movie collage compiled with real visual flair.

One for lovers of ravishing craft, although the elusive emotional engagement is frustrating.

Get this — Matthew McConaughey is currently the most exciting acting talent at work in movies. Next up, the simple business of a Christopher Nolan.

The Lego Movie is bursting out of its box with enthusiasm and excitement for the possibilities of a little pile of nubby plastic.

Setting out to be a killer-cop satire for the social media age, the result makes Paul Blart look like Taxi Driver. Unfollow immediately.

It’s predictable and troubled by continuity errors, but as undemanding romantic comedies go, it’s a pleasant enough watch with a heartfelt script from debut writer-director Tom Gormican.

A quality production, with awards-bid performances from Bale and Affleck to prove it... but, as signalled by the curiously unmemorable title, it flounders while trying to come up with a story to embody the things it wants to say about the sorry state of modern America. Worth seeing, but a near-miss.

A documentary of two halves, Gibney's character study of Armstrong is tough and forensic. But whether through a lingering admiration or the film's origins as a straightforward celebration of the cyclist's talents, there are moments when its powder remains a little dryer than perhaps it should.

A severe portrait of fortitude under extreme pressure, somewhat marred by blinkered politics.

A snappy, quirky German indie that will thrill fans of early Jim Jarmusch.

Interesting material let down by the occasionally pedestrian direction.

It takes a while to get going and never outstrips its theatrical origins but gets by on great actors working through meaty scenes. See it for Streep vs Redford alone.

In stripping Jack Ryan back to basics it’s lost some sophistication, but reinvigorated an action hero who’s unlike any other on offer and who absolutely earns his second — or rather fourth — shot.

An idea that must have sounded good on paper looks a lot less smart on the screen.

An ordinary, forgettable horror film. Even the Devil deserves more than this.

A laudably even-handed examination of a highly charged subject.

Surprisingly watchable, at least by recent Vince Vaughn standards, with Chris Pratt stealing the show was the hilariously gormless lawyer.

Falling between the twin pillars of the art house and prestige period flick, 12 Years A Slave is history lesson as horror film, powerful, visceral and affecting. And after years of being great in everything, Chiwetel Ejiofor shines in a lead worthy of his immense talent.

Powerful and mesmerising, this offers an fresh approach to a tough topic.

While it’s as tacky and obvious as Sin City itself, this comedy is watchable thanks to a lively pace and spirited turns from Kline and Steenburgen. An unabashed old-timers’ fantasy.

It’s vivid, substantial and works hard to be worthy, but as it ticks off the milestones of a monumental life it flickers more often than it really catches fire.

As a director, this feels like Stiller’s moment. Mitty is a film that bravely rejects cynicism. In many ways, it’s the new Forrest Gump. Go with it and it is, in all senses, wonderful.

A triumph of pure cinema and wonderful visual storytelling from Chandor, who must now be considered the real deal, while Redford is sublime in what could well be the performance of his career.

Perhaps a folly and – Kikuchi aside - too deadpan to be a romp, this is still a decent, colourful samurai spectacle with a classical look (lots of symmetrical compositions) and a story which stands up under multiple retellings.

Like LaBute's best work, this tense drama is not for all tastes, but anyone game to watch two effortlessly volatile and vulnerable performers trade barbs for 83 minutes ought to give this due consideration.

Inside Llewyn Davis throbs with melancholy, hunches under heavy skies, revels in music history's unsexiest scene and unapologetically leaves you dangling. It is also beautiful, heartfelt and utterly enthralling.

The oddest thing of all about The Wolf Of Wall Street is also the most unusual for a Scorsese film: it is incredibly, incredibly funny.