Structurally it’s a bit ragtag, but, as your mum would say, it has its heart in the right place. For all its wilful oddness it’s enchanting, imaginative and genuinely moving.

De Palma is incapable of making a dull movie, but poor performances and a see-sawing tone make this an unsatisfying experience.

A bold and sometimes garbled take on modern American politics, this nevertheless marks an effective and surprisingly funny comeback for a film that many deemed to be DOA.

It creates a seasonal glow, but inconsistencies keep Fred Claus off the ‘Nice’ list this Christmas.

A smart, accessible, surprisingly balanced look at our dysfunctional world. Compelling stuff.

Violent, poetic, gripping, thrilling and blackly funny: that’ll be the Coens doing what they do best then. Now with added humanity.

An entertaining romp through familiar cop-and-crim cat-and-mousery, bolstered by strong star turns from Washington and Crowe. Still, it has neither the intelligence nor the grip to jump from the merely good to the truly great.

The depth of talent in the cast and gag writing shines through, but it’s only just enough to take your mind off of the flat animation.

Bleak, brutal and quite possibly brilliant, this is a triumphant return to form for Lumet and further proof that Hoffman is on an incredible winning streak.

A small but sweetly formed comedy of romantic misfortune that can’t quite keep Hollywood at bay.

This slick and sticky horror is the most accomplished treatment of vampire lore since Near Dark.

A superior, haunting thriller of abduction, deception and ethical dilemma with a sobering ending - a moral quandary that demands strong debate outside the cinema.

Disappointingly dull given the explosive subject matter, this at least attempts to get a message into the mainstream. An extra star for effort rather than execution.

The script is structurally similar to "21 Grams," but restrained turns and perceptive direction make this honest rather than manipulative.

Despite being occasionally hilarious, director Goran Dukic should have toned down the wackiness.

Over-indulgent and melodramatic, as is the nature of artistic mythmaking, The Golden Age will beguile and repel in equal measure. The performances are supreme, although some viewers may struggle to reconcile the director’s epic intentions.

A strangely affecting romance with real heart -- and another sign that Gosling is one of the best young actors around.

Minus a couple of brisk, black laughs, this hollow remake botches the twists and sucks the fun right out of its feisty source.

A highly engaging documentary that recounts a remarkable tale. Young Marla is clearly talented, but so too is her father…

Funny peculiar and funny ha ha, with a spontaneity and energy that gather up a powerful emotional head of steam as it chugs along.

Even The Rock's immense charisma cannot save this predicatable fare.

Not quite as smart as it wants to be, and a better action movie than it is a political thriller, this is still a heart-pounding drama.

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

If "Wedding Crashers" is in your top ten rom-coms ever, you might not hate this. Otherwise, it’s too gross to be sweet and too sweet to be gross.

With the whole of America as his backdrop, Penn pulls off his most ambitious movie yet. The result is a beautiful and thought-provoking road movie.

Better than the silly second instalment and boasting an effectively creepy empty world setting, it’s nevertheless scuppered by a lack of coherence.

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

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.

A load of kids singing Beatles tunes? You better believe it.

More Sunday afternoon filler than cinema sensation, it’s a perfectly pleasant drama, but you’ll struggle to remember it the next day.

Mortensen shines but a contrived, issue-driven plot destabilises what could have been a great Russian gangster movie.

Tense, powerful and considerably less crass than "Crash," Elah may be jammed with ideas that don’t all connect, but Jones’ devastating performance makes this a compassionate and very human look at the Iraq conflict.

It wants to be a modern "Taxi Driver"; it manages to be the new Falling Down, with Foster as fierce as ever.

This wonderful documentary succeeds as a reminder of human endeavour.

With not enough balls to be fun, and not enough brain to be cerebral, there’s not much going on behind those pained Western expressions to entertain.

A sad story, but well told, with respect for its subject and an eye for the Shakespearian tragedy in the tale.

Johansson is no Anne Hathaway in this pleasant but forgettable comedy.

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

Too scattershot to land any effective punches.

If not a train-wreck, this is certainly more than a fender-bender. In a world overflowing with targets for a satirical pasting, we needed something a lot sharper than this.

Quirky, fresh and sharply intelligent. A promising debut for director Delpy, both thought-provoking and painfully funny.

The best blockbuster of the summer and the most accomplished thriller since, well, Supremacy. This is the payoff Bourne fans have been waiting for and the standard to which future blockbusters should be held.

Despite the talent on show, there's little to distinguish this from any other bland family comedy.

It’s sufficiently well done to qualify as cute, quite the thing for a girlie outing with grub after, but it’s utterly phoney baloney.

The message is just as clear with Simpsonian antics -- if it ain't broke, don't make a movie…

Much more than a tits and arse farce, this is an enjoyable, if lightweight effort.

Offering plenty of body and a lot of lift, Hairspray gels kitsch styling with show-stopping tunes to mould a memorable musical.

Torture junkies should remember it’s only four months to Saw IV -- so you can afford to avoid Captivity.

Stagey filming aside, this is a sharp and controlled study of celebrity obsession.

There’s terrific chemistry between the leads, but an episodic structure set over 20 years is too sprawling to really allow for a connection.

It won't win new fans, but as Potter movies go, this is the most filmic of the lot, suspenseful and action-packed.

Herzog’s planted rather too firmly in his discomfort zone, but Bale once again confirms himself as one of our most intense, committed and watchable actors.

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.

If ever there was lawful impediment for a marriage to not go ahead, it's this mess of a movie.

Horrifying, heart-breaking, often hilarious - Moore’s latest shock doc is a potent polemic.

That feeling you have as you leave the cinema - that buzzing in the fingers and lightness in the heart - is called joy.

Yippee-ki-yay! Willis still has the goods.

Not up there with the best King adaptations, but a fun Gothic yarn that, like all good ghost stories, is simple and dripping with dread.

Pascale Ferran as the first female director to adapt this notorious novel absorbs her successful vision with a uniquely romantic vibe.

Bigger, better and more polished than the first, with a quite satisfactory ratio of action set-pieces and a lot of juvenile japery squarely aimed at its PG and fanboy audience.

That this is just about passable as a divorced parent’s weekend treat is down to Roberts’ charm and the timeless appeal of Nancy herself.

So quirky that it’s almost in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own antic whimsy at times, but a comic delight destined for cult adoration.

Poetic but bleekly pessimistic version of the Danish tragedy.

You can beat the house and you can break the bank, but sequels always get long odds on defeating the law of diminishing returns – yet Ocean's Thirteen just about pulls it off.

Roth's slick shock-'em-up sequel is a dispiritingly traditional splat of gristly Grand Guignol. It's tooled up to outrage, but ultimately numbs rather than grips.

A far-from-rosy life story makes this lengthy biopic entertaining, but despite a strong lead performance it fails to get under Piaf’s skin.

Knocked Up touches places most comedies wouldn't dare, some of them scarily biological, some of them scarily accurate. It's the sleeper hit of the summer, but don't worry: it's much better than that.

Ten Canoes is a rare and valuable movie, providing fascinating insight into another culture without pandering or being stuffy. Seek it out -- swim if you have to.

The plot's a trippy, twisty mess, and it's far too long, but it looks fantastic and makes some bold choices in its execution. And once again Jack's back to save the day.

Another summer threequel, another case of slipping standards – not so much in the visuals, which remain predictably impressive, but in the all-important gag rate. To waste both Donkey and Puss is a crime…

Harrowing and complex, this study in terror is not for the faint of heart.

The year’s most pleasant cinematic surprise. Once has enough heart, wit, verve and sheer songwriting genius to ensure you’ll see it far more times than its title suggests.

Bigger action, more amazing deserted (and devastated) London sequences and biting contemporary relevance, if a touch less heart than the original.

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.

It's Sarah Polley through and through: slightly too glum for its own good, but reeking of quality and feeling.

Still smart, still exciting and still action-packed. It's just a shame to note that, after promising greatness, all Spider-Man 3 delivers is satisfaction.

Love is here in all of its many guises, brought together with a touch of subtitled sophistication.

An unassuming treat amid the noisy blockbuster season. It’ll melt your heart and any dietary resolve equally.

A great idea is weighed down by an over-egged screenplay, but the setting and cast bring out its best.

With so many high standing peers (both contemporary and classic), it just doesn't have the muscle or the nous to make an impression.

The boys (now in blue) have done it again.

This stripped-down chiller has some decent jump-frights, but a dearth of memorable moments.

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.

For crying out loud, Marcus -- all you had to do was have Vikings fight Indians! How hard was that?

A twist-burdened techno-thriller that would be by-the-numbers if it could count.

Gere proves that there’s more to his range than ageing romantic leads in a multi-layered tale of public fraud and self-deception.

Even John C McGinley (Dr. Cox from Scrubs) can't save this lamest of comedies.

Formula rules, as Ferrell applies his schtick to another sport. But there's enough silly spectacle and eye-popping costumes to compensate.

Plot holes and a mixed tone lessen the impact but Gordon-Levitt holds it together with a strong lead performance.

Kids will enjoy the colourful animation and fun characters, but adults will wish it all made a bit more sense.

Pretty solid gory horror.

Cheadle's finest hour and proof that Sandler can act. Funny, sad and flawed -- like its characters.

Visually stunning, thoroughly belligerent and as shallow as a pygmy’s paddling pool, this is a whole heap of style tinged with just a smidgen of substance.

This Indian immigrant family saga is a pleasant watch, but given the emotive source novel, it’s surprisingly superficial.

It has few fireworks, but still sticks in the mind, and is a definite upgrade from Digimon: The Movie for director Mamoru Hosoda.

Sounds great, with this cast of men of a certain age on big scary two wheeled monsters. Unfortunately it only pulls it off in places.

This gripping character study becomes more agonisingly suspenseful as it gets closer to an answer that can't be confirmed.

Sam Jackson delivers the electric blues in a not-so-blue movie that promises more Deep South sin than it actually delivers.