Ambitious and visually impressive as a pop-video mash-up, but, lacking a strong emotional core, it doesn't quite cohere as a fully satisfying movie.

Schnabel doesn't comes close to the quiet power of his last feature, "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly," delivering a story that can't match the scope or scale of Rula Jebreal's source material.

C&W lovers will lap it up - look out for some stellar Nashville cameos - and there's big-lunged uplift to see you through the cornball plot turns.

Good fight scenes, but a confusion of plot, culture and accents make this a lesser example of the sword 'n' sandal epic.

A loopy joy from start to finish, Bradley Cooper proves that he's the real deal.

A solid thriller with McConaughey doing what he does best.

An auspicious debut for Scott, but one whose ingredients are too familiar to really fizz. Green is great, though, in a dark-tinged role that plays to her strengths.

Pretty much cardboard, down to the heroic patriotic speeches, and less distinctive even than last year's scarcely stellar "Skyline," which trashed the same city. Things blow up good and Eckhart is a classier actor than his role warrants, but we've all been here before.

Wells knows how to extract the goods from a great cast, but it's in service of a somewhat mundane story. Still, it'll make you think about the imbalance in the business world, even if the arguments and consequences are nothing all that revolutionary.

Not up there with the Farrelly brothers' classics, but still a worthwhile, farcical comedy.

An encouraging set-up soon descends into a grubby muddle, leaving you wishing you were just rewatching "The Name Of The Rose" instead.

Broader and more accessible than either "Shaun Of The Dead" or "Hot Fuzz," Paul is pure Pegg and Frost - clever, cheeky and very, very funny. You'll never look at E. T. in the same way again.

In the filmography of liberal-skewing, Bush-era true stories, this is a measured, persuasive item.

Taymor's winningly cast, imaginative take on Shakespeare passes the test of bringing the Bard to film. It may also be the only PG Disney film to contain the word "F---".

A certain percentage of the audience will instantly sieze on this as their favorite movie of all time, and a small, but not insignificant demographic will have nightmares. Verbinski and Depp probably like it that way.

This grungy anti-musical will offend just about everyone with its attitude towards women, gays, kids, and the elderly.

A gentle trance-out and the strangest Palme d'Or winner in a while.

By keeping the pace quick, the explanation light and the characters strong, Nolfi achieves the near-impossible: a film puzzle you won't mind leaving unexplained.

If you can make it through the bland schmaltz of the first half you'll be rewarded with a spectacular blast of sustained action and the promise of even better to come. This could be the start of something great.

A shambling, ponderous mess that aims to be a trashy cult classic and merely ends up in the trash - Fichtner aside. And, in the biggest disappointment of all, there's not even that much angry driving in it.

Compelling and vivid, it's another fine piece of work from an up-and-coming talent.

Not a bad premise, but material demanding a light touch is weighed down by a desperate desire to fit in, like a little kid swearing to impress the big boys.

With a frustrating format and poor animation, it's still worth it for Franco and the chance to engage with a key work of poetry.

Just don't walk in expecting to become a believer by the end.

A dark rites-of-passage story meets lethal Shakespearean drama, with low-key performances that artfully get under the skin.

Squeaky clean fun for the youngsters in the family. Everyone else hide.

Whoever demanded a third installment of Lawrence's mirthless mash-up of weak gags and cross-dressing horrors should be imprisoned and forced to watch it on repeat until they repent. Avoid.

Surely cinema's first Mexican social-realist cannibal horror drama, it's grimly funny and at times horribly effective stuff. Ickily excellent.

A sharp study of corporate greed for those who felt Michael Moore pulled too many punches.

Laurent's brushstrokes always feel a little too broad to capture the finer details of the legendary New Wavers, but some fascinating archive footage saves his documentary from missing the mark altogether.

The wee'uns may enjoy the forest-based capers but for adults this is no pickernick.

A beautifully realised adaptation of a profoundly affecting novel. Intelligent sci-fi provides the backdrop, while in the foreground is a trio of truly impressive performances from Mulligan, Knightley and Garfield.

Totally crackers but it gets powered by pure invention and eccentricity alone.

Terrific: tough, exciting, funny, gorgeous and bewitchingly acted, this is darn close to perfection.

Workmanlike suspenser, with plenty of cold water but sparse chills. When it comes to James Cameron scuba thrillers, "The Abyss" still has the edge.

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.

A gently moving film that's always thought-provoking if at times a little slow going.

Kidman, in particular, hasn't been this good since "To Die For" and maybe not even then.

An exhilarating fight-flick that, like its scrappy central character, is impossible not to root for.

Better than "The Transporter" but not as much fun as "Crank".

Josh Fox puts a fresh spin on a well-drilled - if continually relevant - story.

While perhaps a touch overlong and with plot strands that don't hang together as well as they might, this is remains a triumph, illuminated by a terrific leading man turn from Paul Giamatti.

Iñárritu has made a modern classical tragedy and, in Javier Bardem, he has found his first authentic hero; a character caught up in an intricate web of events he cannot extricate himself from.

Slow, ponderous and as shallow as it thinks it is deep, lifted only by an impressive opening and fine work from Damon and Howard.

Not just a pretty face; there's meat on its bones and a song in its heart besides. This deserves a place up there with the best of Disney's previous fairy tales.

Grubby and yet vital, it stays with you.

Hit-and-miss for Howard. The tone flits, sometimes uncomfortably, from Vaughn-fuelled laugh-fest to relationship drama, but it's a winner compared to many of the clunkly comedies out there.

Every one of its cues might be tele-prompted, but this is an assured, likable comedy. Ford is as good as he's been in ages, but the stand-out is McAdams. If there were any justice, the movie would send her stellar.

An extraordinary, intoxicating movie. Its hard, twisted edges may turn off some, but there's no faulting either Aronofsky's technical mastery or Portman's flawless performance.

Weir couldn't make a boring film if his life depended on it, and for any other director The Way Back would be laudable. It's good, but from this director we have come to expect great.

High hopes of magic from the Gondry-Rogen pairing are dashed. Some neat touches aside, this isn't so much eternal sunshine, more superbad.

Does to the medieval era what Cage's Wicker Man did to Anthony Shaffer. Hokum and not in a good way.

A touching and insightful black comedy that gracefully spans sixty years.

A raw but beautiful picture of love uniting and dividing: tender, real and heartfelt.

Not for everyone, but fans of Dario Argento will find plenty to like about this otherworldly study of sex and sensuality.

A surprisingly fun, effervescent against-the-odds drama that offers an upbeat moral without the usual punishing survival-story clichés. Not for the faint-hearted, mind.

Okay, but it lacks conviction.

Measured in pace, yet thoroughly gripping and completely accessible. The title soft-sells the picture, but it's among the best of this or any year. And Manville should clear some shelf space for well-deserved awards.

A low-grade comedy that'll have Jonathan Swift turning in his grave.

With all these folks in the same movie, there are inevitably moments when Hoffman or Wilson get a laugh, but on the whole it's the same again but weaker and with fewer good jokes. We're too tired of the gag even to think of a 'focker' line to sign off the review.

Like his plans, Megamind verges on greatness but has flaws. But it's fun, energetic and at times dazzling. Expect a stronger sequel - unlikely to be 'darker and grittier', though.

Another "Hangover" was too much to hope for, especially as this was scripted by committee. It's a bit funny but also quite a bit nasty.

Some days a runaway train movie just hits the spot.

There are a scattering of infallibly cringe-making horrors, but on the whole Saw 3D could do with more depth.

Claire Denis' drama is an overly fastidious but insight-filled look at post-colonial Africa.

Well above the standards of your average romantic comedy, it's funny, sexy and smart. It's just not smart enough to stick to its guns to the end.

An amazing achievement for a 'first-time' filmmaker, which measures up to the finest indies for performance and character-work, and the biggest blockbusters for jaw-dropping effects. And it has the year's best sex scene, too.

Intentionally or not, it might be the comedy of the year. The music and dance are thrilling and the costumes saucy enough to satisfy, but the whole is so camp and clichéd that it must be deliberate. Right?

Effective jump-shocks and a strong turn from Eddie Marsan mask an over-complicated last act.

It may not have Lost In Translation's reach, but it's original and smartly funny with top performances.

Think the blazing joys of "Chariots Of Fire" where the race is to the end of a sentence. Can it be that the British are coming?

Another mixed Narnian offering which, while it doesn't bust through the series' three-star ceiling, at least gives us its best FX, biggest monsters and finest child actor yet.

If you just want to look with admiration and Johnny and/or Angelina – and why wouldn't you? – this offers the full scenic tour, but it's one of those frustrating almost-good films which never really catches fire.

The first and third acts are over-busy; the middle one moves like an arthritic house-elf. Still, a decent smattering of magic moments and tension's pumped up sky-high. Bring on Part 2.

A triumph of art direction, sound design and Gallic phat beats, but could do with a script upgrade and fun.exe patch.

If you're a bah-humbug type looking for an alternative to Santa Claus: The Movie or Miracle On 34th Street, this could be a holiday perennial. May be too strange for normal people, but weird kids will love it.

One of the funniest films of the year, this is a wonderful mix of old-school Carrey outrageousness with a genuinely touching - and very modern - love story.

A pick-up after the second film, if not as assured as the first. Rapace sets a high watermark for Rooney Mara in David Fincher's remakes.

A languid, quietly moving love triangle.

While the political grit behind the saga is somewhat sidelined, this is a fun watch enhanced by its stellar British cast.

Technically ambitious, dramatically basic. Still, it's a major step up from an AvP sequel and delivers all the Saturday night whizz-bang and Sunday morning brain-ripping you could want.

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.

A witty, warm exploration of family life that's conventional and unconventional in equal measure.

A talented cast keep some low-key action and tired gags from derailing this disappointing farce.

Good fun, and though it breathes hard in the second half, the ensemble has charisma to spare.

Think The Archers with a sprinkling of trendier folk and a lot more shagging. Very intelligently funny, with stellar performances.

An unconventional love story that finds pathos amid the PVC, this triumphant directorial debut bares so much more than flesh. Bruising and brilliant.

Warmly funny and historically curious, Sally Hawkins’ spirited, humane performance helps overcome a slight lack of dramatic tension.

Fantastic performances, sharp wit and a raw honesty breathe new life into the rites-of-passage drama.

Place your faith in Saint Maud. Original, unsettling and surprisingly moving, it’s a strong calling card for filmmaker Rose Glass and actor Morfydd Clark.

Anchored by a steadfast James Norton, Mr. Jones doesn’t grip as it should, but is a timely, well-made reminder about the importance of reporting the truth when the world doesn’t believe you.

If Danny Ocean and Barney Ross from The Expendables had a baby, it might look something like this — but should they?

Despite the hint of a stiff-upper-lip kind of reserve, this is astonishingly brutal. And Firth’s performance makes this dark, dark story land.

This is a wilder, bigger thing than just another farmyard sink drama. There may be little you haven’t seen elsewhere, but there’s no denying the skill here.

A sports film with an arthouse sensibility. It benefits greatly from its chosen subject matter — two of the most remarkable characters in sporting history — but only manages to truly get under the skin of one of them.

Sensibly dramatising a few representative days rather than Giacometti’s whole life, this may seem slight, but there’s a lot to dig into here — and Rush hasn’t had a showcase this good in years.

Iannucci’s brand of political satire is applied to one of the darkest chapters in modern history, with sensational results. The Lives Of Others with laughs, it’s farcical, frightening and a timely reminder that things could always be worse.

The fantastic action scenes featuring Chan in his pomp are slightly let down by comic overkill.