An entertaining look at the 80s embourgeoisement of 60s student activists steers skillfully between social satire and sentiment.

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

The road-crime movie is such a formula in Hollywood that almost every debuting director turns one out, but writer-director Matthew Bright rings the changes by modeling this white trash nightmare on Red Riding Hood.

This is the Bond flick blessed with the best plot, a genuine sense of emotion and a spirit closest to Ian Fleming’s novels.

Lewd, funny and immensely quotable, this is one of the very best high school dramas ever made.

Powerful, personal, but bombastic.

With Soderbergh now only on cinematography duties, this one takes all of the original’s surface — chiefly the hip gyrations — and none of the substance, interesting character arcs or charms.

A darker middle act, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 lacks the verve of 1994 but still delivers enjoyable summer camp-based bedlam. Next up: 1666.

Sequel manages to retain some pathos and credibility.

It’s not as scary or as effective as the first film, but points for the performances, and for trying hard to do something different and fresh.

Manages to be a charming little movie, nothing to write home about but a perfectly acceptable way to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon with the child, or children, in your life.

Intelligent and uncompromising, with knock-out performances from Downey Jr. and Foxx .

A pleasing and pretty enough re-run, just that bit diminished.

An interesting, challenging mess. The White Crow offers lots that’s impressive — Ivenko as Nureyev, the dance sequences, a knuckle-whitening last 20 minutes — but can’t render it in a dramatically engaging way.

An acting masterclass that neither pulls its punches nor sacrifices detail to pander to a mass audience, this is smart filmmaking from a director who gets better with every film — and a near career-best from Bale, which is saying something.

Part two of Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy is a stark, morally complex study of blind belief, lightened by black laughs and Seidl’s static, deadpan compositions.

Plot-wise Ocean’s 8 cleaves closely to the tenets of Heist Movie Lore but does little to enliven or tweak the formula. It lacks the jazzy swagger of Soderbergh’s trio but delivers a fun, likeable romp built on the charm and charisma of its cast.

This will divide audiences as much as "The Tree Of Life," but it's a brave and beautiful calling card for both filmmaker and star. Drink it up, sit back and think of a very different Australia.

Lyrical in style and presentation, this drama alludes to serious issues but does not address them. Enjoyable stylistically, but not substantiated beyond glossy advertisement.

The film's chill seeps into your bones like a ceaseless cold drizzle. It also suffers from uncomfortably weird tonal shifts.

A perfectly serviceable biopic with good performances, which goes some way to explaining Franklin’s genius as a musician and a star, but one that isn’t nearly as transcendent as its subject deserves.

Given that this is the first whacky comedy to come out of the Gulf War it’s a shame the whole enterprise isn’t a lot more tasteless, but the half-funny goings-on give that the script has been tailored not to offend a military machine on the point of massive war, perhaps at the expense of unpatriotic laughs. That said, it’s a pleasant enough time-waster, and doesn’t drag on too long.

It is a rare feat to make a sequel better than its predecessor but here Sonnenfeld manages to do just that. With such a strong adult cast, it comes as a surprise when the children steal the show. With such dry and morbid humour, it feels that at times he was filming more for the parental viewers than the childrens.

This never reaches the heights of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer or The Snowman in terms of classic seasonal fare. But there are a lot of laughs lurking within the shiny 3D wrapping and snow-covered silliness.

Like a late ’60s satire played embarrassingly seriously.

Judged by any rational standards, Rumble is absolute bollocks, but it at least has some pretty darned amazing Chan fight scenes.

Disney’s adaptation of the first book in T. W. White’s colourful Arthurian trilogy The Once And Future King (which also served as the source for the musical Camelot) is formulaic matinee fare, competent and sprightly but undistinguished.

Michael Caine as a Nazi and Donald Pleasance as Himmler...what more could you want?

A barbed study of the American economy puts capitalism in the dock but somehow fails to convict.

A diabolical treat with Rourke and De Niro in fine form.

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

An unforced, engaging and surprisingly incisive account of the disintegration of British rule in Africa.

An uplifting film that cemented the reputation of its star.

No film that includes a Vin Diesel flying headbutt could remotely be called a write-off, and Furious 6, like its predecessors, is a big screen no-brainer that’s objectively terrible but undeniably pleasurable. A reversal from Fast 5, it’s still a gear above all the other sequels. And an end-credits teaser promises much for the future.

Intimate, delicate and delightful.

Determinedly quirky and cool, arresting and ultimately too baffling to be satisfying, although Penn is priceless. Cultdom beckons.

Director Lewis Gilbert effortlessly marshals the intricacies of the plot (a nutty plan by SMERSH to ignite a world war), the exotic Japanese locations, and the extravagancies of having hundreds of ninja warriors abseiling into a huge enemy base unfathomably constructed in the belly of an extinct volcano (quite the engineering feat!).

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.

Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie — heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious.

This is a garish, frequently insane, diamond-encrusted fantasy trip into the mind of a superstar, and we should be grateful to have even limited access.

This has many more plus points than critics at the time were willing to admit.

If you like E.T. and Bumblebee, chance are you’ll have a good time with this slightly homogenous but sweet-natured kids’ adventure.

A great example of the Emotionally Stunted Men Grow A Heart sub-genre. Role Models staves off the January blues and puts a marker down as 2009’s laugh-out-loud comedy to beat.

An engaging melodrama whose less convincing plot points are superseded by some astonishingly affecting performances from the mostly unknown cast.

Apart from an irritating plot glitch this is a solidly entertaining ride, more than competently directed and played.

Quite a nice little relationship comedy-drama, but essentially for an audience of what the French charmingly call ‘women of a certain age’. Totally not the Superbad set, then.

If Fosse's film fails to capture the man or his art completely, it remains a damn good place to start.

One of the most worthwhile sequels of recent years, maybe funnier than the original as it intelligently expands the potential for the surreal and it ties up all the loose ends managing, quite remarkably, to give pointlessness a purpose.

A franchise rebooted with efficiency, energy and sporadic invention, although Hulk 2.0 hardly smashes it out of the park.

A sharp-witted and wide-reaching account of a bright political hope’s fall from grace, with an impressive ensemble cast and a great performance from Jackman.

Well-paced, expertly performed, and an urgent call to stand up to fascism, Nuremberg is a powerful, sweeping story of the attempt to bring an unthinkable evil to justice.

Director Yang Joon-hyun works scrupulously from the Hollywood serial murder playbook, and delivers something which does its job, even as its last reel flounders with several too many plot twists, but has no particular reason to exist.

A powerful meditation on personal freedom from a Hungarian auteur.

A 1949 for-kids version of the King Kong story still boasting a lot of charm.

It's more than a little precious, but it's also sincere, touching and astute in its insights into social geography and human nature.

At a time when teen outsiders are having their time in the spotlight, Stargirl feels like a relic, and a prompt for Disney to do a better job at capturing contemporary high-school culture.

Charming and watchable. The three leads show their comedy potential.

Blue Beetle owes a lot to the sheer wit and warmth of its supporting cast, which will earn it far more approval than its so-so CG antics and origin-story familiarity.

A wonderfully nasty turn from Liotta, along with a novel treatment of familiar plotlines, elevates Kaplan's effort into the 'must see' category.

Some great acting and visuals make up for this thriller’s frostiness.

The lamest of the three versions but the performances are bearable.

A quartet of pitch-perfect performances from a cast uniformly at its career best, together with a director on shockingly mischievous top form, this is a shot of pure, exhilarating cinematic malice. And if nothing else, it contains the most surprising puking sequence since Monsieur Creosote.

Though it rings ever so slightly hollow as cool shades into callousness, this exercise in sexy suspense and brain-scrambling mystery is a dazzling, absorbing entertainment which shows off Danny Boyle’s mastery of complex storytelling and black, black humour.

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.

A beautifully rendered, long, drawn-out but ultimately very satisfying story of betrayal and revenge in an uneasy setting of wartime paranoia.

The script may have rubbery legs, but the action is rock-hard. The surprise is the lightness of touch: treat as a comedy for best results.

The eccentric performances make this otherwise flawed film work.

While it never quite swims beyond the shallows of its money-minded plot, this fictionalised account of the licensing battle over hit puzzle game Tetris is, for the most part, absorbing and exuberant.

Slow and foreboding with a memorably creepy Christopher Walken. If you're looking for fun, this ain't it.

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

Argue that von Trier's latest is theatre and not cinema. But at least acknowledge that Dogville, in a didactic and politicised stage tradition, is a great play that shows a deep understanding of human beings as they really are.

One of the sillier series entries in terms of plot, but still scary enough and funny enough to leave you hoping Ghostface might yet kill again.

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

As earnestly as they have tried to continue the formerly excellent spy series, everything Gilroy and crew concoct only serves to mock the excellence and passion with which Greengrass delivered his films.

Not perfect, but a much more satisfying Earth-in-ruins film than Oblivion or After Earth. It is a little more conventional than District 9 (what isn’t?), but confirms Blomkamp as one of the potential science-fiction greats of this decade.

An embarrassing mish-mash of comedy and horror which fits neither criteria.

Hall is very funny as the energetic adolescent pest and a good supporting cast includes the Cusack sibings John and Joan.

It's a result so painfully logical it would make Lynch's hair stand on end.

The combination of Neil Simon and Mike Nichols has the pair of them back to somewhere near their best.

Quietly compelling, but lacks finesse in its characterisation and dogged denunciation of the Ethiopian justice system

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

The scares and monsters are effectively conjured, but if you’re not familiar with Austin Schwartz’s source material, you may be left a little cold.

An improvement on the last outing for Jackman’s not-so-merry mutant. If only it trusted enough in its unique setting to forgo a descent into aggressively awful formula.

Thrillingly paced, ravishingly shot and eerily topical, Sicario 2 retains much of its predecessor’s dark charm despite its shuffled creative personnel. But a jarringly Hollywood ending dulls its overall impact.

Smith might be the focus, but while he’s got the charisma and the moves, it’s Chan who makes it punch above its weight. Nice scenery too.

Fennell’s second feature is both evocative and provocative, with lashings of style but questionable substance. It doesn’t stick the landing, but the ride right before the nosedive is a properly enjoyable one.

It’s tight, suspenseful, funny and packed with great music.

An affectionate portrait of a remarkable woman that loses its grip when it bites off more than it can chew.

Maybe this would hit the spot for a Sunday-night sofa slump but it’s more patronising than perceptive when it comes to portraying ageing. As disappointing as a stale scone.

Perhaps the riskiest mainstream movie in years, Vaughn’s love letter to spy movies may be uneven in places, but it’s ultra-violent, envelope-pushing, and fun enough to overcome the flaws.

It’s messy, with a middle section that sags, but Birds Of Prey has vibrancy, anarchy and balls to spare. Harley and Joker are dead. Long live Harley Quinn.

This film is more known for being the one which introduced Goldie Hawn to Kurt Russell than anything else, which is somewhat unfair as at its heart lies a sweet romance, with good performances from both the leads and an Oscar nomination for supporting actress Lahti.

Despite its admirable strengths and the fact of it being a true story, there is somehow a failure to completely connect with the fierce boy, giving his unhappy and alienating youth an unfortunate air of unreality.

The founding of a comedy institution shot as a madcap thriller, Saturday Night glides over the surface rather than drilling deep, but it’s largely a hell of a fun 109 minutes.

An absolute treat. In spite of its disappointing climax, this is Apatow’s smartest, rudest and -- yes -- funniest film yet.

A general disappointment, but then with David Bowie and Patsy Kensit what did you expect.

A good-looking and entertaining British horror film.

Vikander and Fassbender are riveting in a handsome period drama that begins beautifully, but becomes increasingly contrived as it tries to wring as much drama as possible from its set-up.