The rare teen movie that recognises crushes are never as important or powerful as BFFs — and one that marks an intriguing new direction for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison productions.

In another variation on a theme, this plodding drama may have its heart in the right place but, along side a gaggle of angst-ridden Hughes dramas of the period, fails to stand out amongst the crowd.

The film works for the most part, and even though the laughs notably dry up as the CGI spectacular kicks into gear, its feelgood vibes will most likely have already won you over.

Neither a Medellin-style disaster nor an Aquaman-sized hit, this pays decent fan service but an Ari-centric spinoff might have been the smarter move.

Another dose of Culkin charm.

If it lacks filmmaking fireworks and emotional wallop, The Children Act delivers a sensitive, thoughtful drama about complicated issues. And it is another reminder, if one were needed, of the subtlety and skill of Emma Thompson’s stratospheric talent.

Abrasive but affecting.

Fabulous fantasy from the godfather of modern puppetry Jim Henson.

A feverish, quietly sad exploration of longing and infatuation. Its lack of focus stifles the experience, but Daniel Craig has rarely been as compelling a watch.

Pacy and punchy, this is a promising first official outing for the new Captain America, even if some awkward and inconsistent moments hold it back from greatness.

As a satire on the seduction by media and our infatuation with celebrity, it's hardly "The Truman Show," but Garrone’s Gomorrah follow-up is wry and witty. Plenty of fun.

An uneven, somewhat meandering thriller is given emotional pull by Mel Gibson’s excellent comeback performance. The lethal weapon hasn’t lost it.

Repetitive insults do most of the heavy lifting for this comedy, but any time spent with actors as skilled as Colman and Buckley is time enjoyably spent.

Sir Richard Attenborough's long-in-the-making account of the life of Sir Charles Chaplin is a film you desperately want to like, but it emerges as a big, shiny, old-fashioned biopic that ultimately fails either to illuminate the genius of its subject or to excite as a story.

With the potency of the central idea diminishing, Escape still manages the tricky move of carrying on a story that really should have ended with the last film, while setting up the series' mythology and paving the way for future chapters. But it's still a dilution.

However contrived this tenth Sparks-to-screen becomes, the emotions and chemistry outweigh the bull.

A fascinating portrait of a broken rock star picking up the pieces, this misses a few tricks but still entertains.

This coasts along just fine thanks to charm and comical interludes, but it fails to deliver the sassy story it promises. Fine for a romantic comedy, but an inferior follow up to director Gluck's edgier "Easy A."

Not Lee's finest but intriguing nonetheless.

Fonda and Danner — who looked then exactly like her daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, does now — are likable leads in ’70s futurist leisurewear (why didn’t those tailored jumpsuits catch on?), and some creepy corporate robot action helps (Danner’s gunfight with her robot duplicate), but it’s a lot less exciting than the original and replaces satire with TV-style plotting.

It's worth watching, though, for Minnie Driver, whose luminous performance as the governess in question struggles to save writer/director Goldbacher's film from the doldrums.

Surprising success with what could be a formulaic disgruntled teen movie. Fast paced with a satisfyingly unhappy ending.

Certainly worth seeing for its care, authenticity and the central performances, but the suggestions of collective guilt and responsibility, and the pushing of humanity towards the brink are just too coy to ever be really effective.

It may be too tame for horror fans, but the gothic twist works remarkably well — even if everything else is business as usual for the Belgian detective.

After several successful films where he plays the tough-as-nails cowboy, Wayne wasn't about to break the pattern now. Playing the only character he knows, he gives several inspiring speeches to an unlikely group of kids who turn from boys to men.

We're marking time before the final battle between Good and Evil, with the promised darkness sitting somewhat clumsily with teen romance and humour.

This has a lot of good ingredients but just doesn't quite manage to pull it off. It's looks dated and Shirley Maclaine doesn't quite capture the sympathies of all audiences.

Gonzo freakiness in such doses that cult status is practically ensured.

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.

Bardo sees director Alejandro González Iñárritu looking at the man in the (hall of) mirrors; the result is visually sensational but sometimes lethally patience-testing.

Blair Witch with moon rock. Paranormal Activity in space. Contrived, but if you can take one more variant on the formula, it's got its moments.

With suitable suspension of disbelief this makes for agreeable enough nonsense.

A fluffy but fun telling of a rags to riches story.

Smart special effects, atmospheric visuals and an impressive physical performance from Williams enhance this timely ghost story but the horror doesn’t hit as hard as the rages against misogyny.

Formulaic but uplifting, positive and accessible. Fairly graphic sex is handled as tastefully as one is ever likely to see in a crowdpleaser.

It rarely makes sense – the script vastly overestimates the power of the hashtag as a weapon of mass destruction – but you’re never bored.

Charming slice of small-town France.

The filmmakers try to solve the problem of turning an experience which merely consists of a series of fights into a story by... ignoring it, presenting a film which merely consists of a series of fights.

Friend Request keeps up the pace and throws in a few neat twists to keep the plot from stagnating.

There's no question it's stunningly mounted, and Wasikowska makes a much stronger Jane than Alice, but the romance is overripe and the climax underdone.

Hackneyed and somewhat dated Tarantino-isms abound. But for the committed fan of such things, there is more than enough to enjoy here: not least an entertainingly unhinged performance from Willem Defoe.

A 'realistic' Vegas movie that will set no-one's soul on fire, but is further proof that Hanson can lend his talents to any style of movie.

A satisfying come-down by the director, who stays safely within, rather than pushes against comedy conventions.

Yes, it’s offensive, stupid and loud, but its cartoonish, macabre wit should be evident to anyone with a brain in the first ten minutes. Whether it’s funny or not, though, is another matter entirely. Approach with extreme caution -- and/or rubber gloves.

With so many films adapted from novels, it's nice to see cinema paying homage to unheralded greats of literature like Sebald. While this one often struggles to do justice to his sense of grandeur and poetry, it'll be manna for fans of the German's work.

Farty, burpy, fall-y over fun tied to a pretty inconsequential plot. Your kids will explode with joy.

If Pop-Tarts are barely a breakfast, Unfrosted is barely a movie — but it’s sprinkled with solid gags, stuffed with super-silly guest appearances, and lovingly glazed in sweet ’60s trappings.

Though it takes too long to get into the swing of things, Sting delivers faint echoes of the B-movie classic it wants to be, offering a memorable foe in a giant, bloodthirsty spider.

While it’s a shame that Luce loses sight of the very topics that it brings up in service of cheap thrills, it’s a fascinating, entertaining puzzle all the same.

A sole potty joke is unnecessarily crass, but for the most part this is joyfully funny.

Fun, funny and affectionate, though it packs the emotional wallop of an undernourished high school nerd.

One of Streep's finest-ever performances. But beyond that - whatever Morgan and Lloyd's intentions - it's little more than a myth-enshrining exercise.

The film has a real sense of a situation slipping out of control, with marvellous displays of hysteria matched by movie trickery that spreads the edginess to the audience.

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

An honourable attempt to return the mainstream thriller to a more serious, intelligent vein, yet ultimately lacks the complexity of characterisation, dense subterfuge and overall feeling of weightiness that separates the great from the good.

While its reach may exceed its grasp, any shortcomings of Pathaan are papered over by the sheer charisma of its lead actor, who once again demonstrates why he is one of the most popular movie stars in the world.

Quality acting and writing and appropriately understated direction, but a touch too polite for its own good.

A neo-realist fairy tale that charms without losing sight of its key themes of exploitation and truth to one’s self.

If you don’t like Saw, this isn’t going to change your mind – but it’s skilful, satisfying schlock and respectful of its fanbase. And the final death is a show-stopping coup de grace.

With some gorgeously stylised animation and sharp comedy making up for its somewhat lightweight storytelling, The Bad Guys is... not bad.

Dramatically it’s bitty, with, to paraphrase a great American newsman of the time, too much, too fast. But there is no denying how absorbing the tumultuous events of those four days remain.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It hits some major horror notes, with Wilson and Farmiga providing much needed heart and soul, but the new Satanic worship elements causes the franchise to take a farcical turn.

The music, even after a quarter of a century, is the film's redemption.

The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot is a strange but enjoyable mishmash of genres and ideas held together by the gravitas and class of Sam Elliott.

Full-force performance form Ryan Reynolds but not as funny as it hopes it is.

It tootles along being cute and fluffy like a twentysomethings' version of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but to further its notions of sisterhood and the power of women, it also takes a spin through Thelma And Louise territory, then revisits The Exorcist to up the supernatural content. It's enough to make your head spin.

Lithe, bold, often funny and full of characters to cheer for, it never pretends to be anything more than a trigger-happy romp. If that’s what you’re after, The Losers offers plenty of explosive entertainment.

It would be easy to slam this flimsy romantic charmer for its cloying whimsicality, but at the core of its misfits-need-love-too storyline lies a warmhearted charm so captivating that only the most hardened cynic will fail to be enchanted.

Corbet emerges as an actor of sensitivity and depth, but it’s Gordon-Levitt who steals every scene as the damaged, destructive but ultimately sympathetic rent boy.

Neither a great step forward for fat acceptance nor a damning blow against it, The Whale is best appreciated as a moving, stripped-back character study, with a stunning lead performance.

It's all totally farfetched and skates imperturbably over several questions of logic that will spring unbidden to the most accepting mind. But it's entertaining, inconsequential fun.

For all the gags flying around, and all the friendly insults batted between Blanchett and Black, the script lacks the sparkle and polish of many of the classic Amblins it so enthusiastically emulates.

Come for Nic Cage fighting a robot alligator with a mop. Stay for some inventive licks on the dead-by-dawn horror-movie template, though the other characters are nothing to shriek about.

This is an attempt to be both a high-octane actionfest and a satire on such films, the result of which is the weirdest concoction: the metaphysical blockbuster. No wonder it tanked.

Although certainly an insightful study of the pop star’s populated psyche, Miss Americana is more of a mid-album track than an anthem. What could be raw and rowdy instead feels like an entertaining but tapered means of rebranding.

It's like "The Bridges Of Madison County" with more shouting, only not nearly as good. No surprises whatsoever, but nice scenery, attractive stars and another credible, affecting performance from Lane that hoiks it up an extra star.

Think Donnie Brasco, with the IRA instead of the Mafia. Jim Sturgess dominates with a star-making turn, although some stylistic slip-ups let him down a little.

Imagine if Stanley Kubrick had made Ghost and you're some way to this classily restrained oddity, but its morbid preoccupations and ambiguity might prove too cuckoo for most.

At times a subversive, sub-Marvel thrill, it might be best to come back to this after the glut of goody-goody heroes due to bombard our screens have passed.

Despite a second act lull, Connolly convinces in this cute and charming comedy.

A familiar tale of a quirky childhood is delivered with little in the way of freshness or truth. Still, the performances by Larson, Harrelson and Watts rescue it.

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.

Blood-drenched and gore-splattered, anchored by a hard-as-nails performance by Beetz, this is a thinly plotted but immensely fun horrorfest. Best watched with a strong stomach.

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.

Sub-Ludlum plotting but stylishly executed, this offers a fun night out but is far from a nailed-on franchise-starter.

Disappointing third act to this brave drama about love and sex in our later years.

A decent but unremarkable film with a big, unforgettable central performance. Carey Mulligan passes with First-Class Honours.

Strong turns from its female leads and Amanda Seyfried elicits more sexual tension from proceedings than "Jennifer's Body" ever managed.

The boys put in fine performances but sadly the script lacks the depth of what could have been a challenging story.

Great actors do what they can in a simple and largely unaffecting story.

Two compelling leads and a mix of adventure and romance. It’s a pleasant experience, if not one that will linger long in the memory.

For all its chilled intelligence and topical ambition this is a bloodless adaptation, but worth seeing for Hoffman’s deft and ghostly presence.

Violent and sometimes shocking, this is nevertheless superbly acted, brilliantly shot piece.

Soapy it may be, but for those who’ve poshed it up with the Crawleys since the very start, this is an affectionate, escapist hug of a movie — like being wrapped in a doily.

Jennifer Lawrence is the standout in a tonally uneven, eccentric romantic dramedy that fuses "The Fisher King" with "Romy And Michele's High School Reunion."

Haynes’ film has lovely performances from both actors, and a keen sense of time and place help, but the story is a little too shaggy and unformed to entirely hold the attention.

The Expendables 3 has its cake and shoots it: armed to the nipples with vast action and bulging A-listers, but over-over-blown and overcrowded. See it for Gibson’s big-bad.

What begins as a series of pleasant revelations and a deft example of genre defiance is nearly crippled by cliche in its second half, but The Rock's surprising dramatic magnetism will hold you until the final whistle.