This is an old-school exercise in shock and gore, with scary ideas and unblinking splatter.

It’s not just the demonic possession victims whose eyes will be rolling back in their skulls – none of this should work, really, and yet the film just about gets away with it, proving the Lord truly does move in mysterious ways.

Fennell throws everything at this fever-dream adaptation, which massages the senses while showcasing Elordi’s ever-growing star power. If only its electrically erotic energy was sustained to the end.

The players are a colourful bunch, the film referencing is smart, the football satire sharp and there are delightful moments of visual imagination in the appealing animation.

Less a sequel, more a virtual remake of Home Alone, this "John Hughes production" follows the same route as its money-spinning predecessor, wheeling out the well-worn precocious-kid-on-his-todd scenario with scant regard for originality.

It’s no Scream. Or, indeed, The Babadook. But Kevin Williamson’s meta-slasher has solid emotional underpinning and a handful of ace scenes. And Sidney-f*cking-Prescott.

It may lack the subtleties and emotional wallop of a lo-fi musical like Once, but Sunshine On Leith delivers a bright, cheery, big-hearted smile of a movie.

Inoffensive fun, but unlike its paperback forbear, the cinematic Ferdinand is unlikely to stand the test of time.

It doesn’t do anything different from the original, but the upside to The Upside is two strong, winning performances that keep you going down a well worn path.

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

Two parts raw and real, one part manipulative, Coda finds engaging characters and real emotions in a hackneyed narrative arc. See it, though, for a terrific turn from Emilia Jones, if for no other reason than to say you were there at the beginning.

Sharply scripted with a melancholic charm.

Just as Miyazaki seemed on the verge of properly crossing over, he serves up an anime riddle wrapped in an enigma - though with all his usual charm, wit and hand-drawn beauty.

This drama works best when it’s not taking its cues directly from its source material. It may not be always totally compelling, but Deadwyler elevates every scene she’s in.

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

The strength of the piece is that it realises which aspects of its genre have been seen too many times, always coming back to Nelson's blank but expressive stare as he watches terrible things the director doesn't need to shove in our faces.

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

It's always trying to do something unusual. It has a great lead in Pegg. What it doesn't have is an ending or a clear reason what it wants to be.

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

The acting is all first base, the script a laughable stream of gung ho-isms, the action merely solid and the effects indifferent. Yet, you still stroll out with a grin a mile wide.

If "Ichi The Killer" stressed the extreme natureof Takashi Miike's cinematic sensibility, Gozu hammers it home… with a blood-spattered mallet.

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.

A sweepingly romantic take on the D.H. Lawrence classic that, while not offering anything revolutionary to the period drama genre, is a satisfying and engaging watch.

Speed 2 is a well-above-average armrest-gripper with little in it to upset the children excepting, perhaps, Dafoe's lengthy white teeth, and the fact that UB40 provide onboard cabaret.

It’s silly and a little too slow, but the characters are enormously charming and the design is overwhelmingly sumptuous. It should give viewers, especially children, a welcome hit of Christmas magic.

Dextrous with the action-adventure elements but clumsy in its handling of the central message, Apocalypto is a strange but largely entertaining mix of action, bloodletting, chin-rubbing and arthouse trimmings.

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.

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.

With a great set designed by an Oscar winner as well as a cast that includes Maggie Smith and of course, based on a children's favourite, it's hard to see where this could go wrong. It does entertain, but it manages to hold back on the sentimentality that you're left with nothing at all.

Hanks, it seems, is good enough to survive any film. The dog, too, works wonders with a standard script.

An enjoyable satire is let down by a third act that juggles too many ideas for its own good.

It's charming enough with some nice comedy touches, but the initially intriguing premise is soon railroaded out of sight by its desire to conform to a tried-and-tested cinematic formula.

Tough on nuance, tough on the causes of nuance, this episode has the highest velocity and lowest IQ yet. See it on the biggest, loudest, dumbest screen you can find.

A completely merited cult favourite of the avant-garde genre. This is surprisingly compelling in places.

For the most part, Caught Stealing is a riotous, rollicking ride studded with New York’s concrete grit — but its sharper edges prove more difficult to endure.

A solid shark thriller whose admirable but clunky eco-warnings almost get in the way of a good time. Best when it allows itself to really go in-Seine.

What The Tender Bar lacks in dramatic heft and originality, it makes up for in warmth, geniality and a clutch of great performances — chiefly Ben Affleck, who turns a stock uncle character into a memorable mentor.

Genuine fun for adults and children alike.

For all its weaker aspects, it is to be recommended as a denunciation of intolerence made with understanding, compassion, and some humour.

It’s a well-made adventure with great energy and considerable style, but it’s essentially a maze without an exit.

A daring reimagining of an oft-told story, Kiss Of The Spider Woman features some sensational musical moments that nicely hark back to classic Hollywood, but struggles to reconcile two very different worlds.

Luckily, the two leads’ chemistry make it a happy, if not completely satisfying, ending.

Spooky, silly, and sub-90 minutes, Cobweb uses familiar elements to create an inviting, entertaining atmosphere — and when the horrors finally emerge in the final reel, it gives good splatter to boot.

Significantly better than the first film or, say, the first two Harry Potters, but we still can’t love it as much as we do the books. That said, if they keep improving at this pace, Dawn Treader should be a fantastic experience.

Nothing is taken seriously, and there’s a nice mix of old groaner jokes delivered with a visible wince and genuine, sneakily erudite wit.

One of the greatest behind-bars movies ever, the result finds director Franklin J. Schaffner making the most of both his sun-drenched locations and his leading man, who squintily acts even co-star Dustin Hoffman well off the screen.

A sugar-fuelled thrill, this boasts a fine young cast and pleasantly pantomime adult roles. It may be too long for younger kids, but tweens are going to love it.

More of a slow burn than a thrill-ride, this study of bygone motorhead mentality at its most visceral and violent is gorgeously shot — but only nicks the surface.

A few storytelling decisions don’t ring true, but the winning performances and loving celebration of Black British culture help conjure up just enough holiday cheer to make this worth watching.

Better in conception than execution, Spies In Disguise never really gets the best out of its James Bond Is A Pigeon high concept. The result is entertaining while it lasts, but won’t lodge itself permanently in your memory bank.

If TV had a Saga Channel, this intriguing, if never quite gripping, serial killer thriller would play on a loop, in between reruns of Matlock and NCIS.

A frothy fantasy about a boy and his bear that makes up for in style what it lacks in substance.

Tracee Ellis Ross kills it as a believable soul diva in a harmonious pairing with Dakota Johnson — a shame, then, that a distracting romcom plot ends up so high in the mix.

Downright depressing.

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

Not a sequel to the bland film of Jacqueline Susann’s trashy best-seller, this is more like a demented remake, alternating modish psychedelia with deliberately square moralising.

Some gorgeous imagery – mostly in pictures taken by the kids – and heartbreaking stories, but the directors' appearances sometimes feel self-indulgent.

Moving beyond the confines of the app’s premises, The Angry Birds Movie 2 starts slow but flourishes into breezy, colourful fun.

A worthy — if chilly and difficult — addition to the sadly extensive filmography of American mass murder. The soundtrack from Canadian singer-songwriter Maica Armata adds some much-needed heart.

The film is strongest when it remembers it’s a Tim Burton film and has licence to get weird. While it’s slicker and less homemade-feeling than the 1988 vintage, there are still flashes of B-movie brilliance.

A film about a cult that might well attract a cult following itself. But it’s only moderately successful, with the early scenes hinting at a bolder, more satisfying tale that could have been.

For its historical detail and recognition that teenagers were around long before James Dean sparked up a Marlboro, this film deserves some credit.

Perhaps, it was the choice of material, a much more internalised story despite its glossy Raj setting, or the absence of Robert Bolt as screenwriter (it was he who put the fire in Lean’s belly), but the film, for all Lean’s innate elegance, is strangely remote and unmoving.

Jim Caviezel is a one-man scourge of child predators in this well-meaning thriller that doesn’t entirely deserve to be written off as culture-war propaganda.

A quiet and meditative portrait of the artist as a retiree, this lacks incident or high stakes but has an elegiac feeling of regret and reckoning that fits its subject’s twilight years.

Togo is in a slightly more sombre register than Call Of The Wild but delivers similar sturdy pleasures; exciting dog-in-peril action and striking landscapes, all anchored by Dafoe’s grounded performance.

The musical interludes in which Rapman narrates significant plot points offer a welcome change of pace, but the subject matter at play here is a little too common to truly stand out from the pack.

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

An unsparing look at the winter of life, salted with humour and emotion.

A very text-book example of two actors better than the material, Crystal and Williams do their best but can't elevate this far.

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.

After an unsatisfying start as a comedy, Silent Night finds its feet as an ambitious, thoughtful chamber piece about what it means to peer into the abyss. Merry Christmas, everyone!

A compelling if formulaic star-crossed lovers’ narrative. Come for a wordless seduction, stay for the complexities of parenthood, drag queens and family loyalties that deserve more of your time.

An eerie and unsettling adaptation of Judy Pascoe's novel that impresses more for its atmospherics than its narrative.

This beautifully shot drama transforms an Italian summer of fraternal love into a delicate, decades-spanning exploration of friendship. It’s overlong, and overfamiliar, but remains a nuanced dual character study.

A deeply human and often brutally honest depiction of trauma and recovery, anchored by three superb performances — though it often falls victim to formula.

This is an Aquaman film that needs lots more Aquaman and vastly less bombast. It’s visually wild and recklessly inventive, but the cast deserve better than to be cast adrift in a tempest of CGI.

A generic but competent reboot-quel enlivened by good performances across the board and some stylish direction. No grudges need be held here, but maybe it’s time to put this franchise to bed.

Heavy but fascinating creepy drama, that lacks pace in the first half but has some genuinely thrilling moments.

An uneven take on Palahniuk’s fourth novel, Rockwell and Huston shining brightly enough to eclipse a patchy directorial debut.

An engaging, visually striking attempt to uncover the ‘real’ Grace Jones which is only partially successful in those terms. Nonetheless, it’s still a fitting tribute to a music icon.

It’s never quite as satisfying an experience as Schitt’s Creek — but thanks especially to a sparky trio of actors, Daniel Levy’s directorial debut is strong when it comes to the heartache of grief and the importance of friends.

A decent historical drama, with one of the best extended battle scenes (a full half of the movie is the face-off in the 'village of death') in recent memory.

The filmmaking is a tad formulaic, but On Swift Horses is a beautifully shot piece of period escapism with a mesmerising central performance from Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Having taken such pains to establish Tom’s Finnish background and its attendant dangers, Karukoski hurtles through the sketchy American section without exploring any of its crucial issues in sufficient depth.

Far from perfect in its execution, but once IF hits its stride, Reynolds and Fleming keep this emotional adventure entertaining enough.

It takes courage and ingenuity to find the modern romcom formula within the operas of Gluck, sung well through SMS by Heughan and Chopra Jonas. It also stars Celine Dion.

There’s much to chew on in Cherry, and not all of it works. But a never-better performance from Tom Holland, and some bold directorial choices, make it a mostly compelling watch.

Unpacking classic fiction that has already been adapted a few times, once to critical acclaim, is no easy task. Yet while it’s not completely up to the challenge, The Turning at least offers up enough moody chills and a lead in Mackenzie Davis it’s not hard to root for as the craziness builds.

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

While the characters sometimes feel roughly drawn, the casting is spot on.

It’s fun to take another turn with Derek and Hansel, but they probably don’t have another season in them.

This Tramp doesn’t really stamp a fresh personality on a story already told well. But it also doesn’t embarrass itself compared to the original and it’s got a shaggy charm of its own.

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.

Despite strong performances from the leads, when it comes to pacing and power, it’s the Danish original that edges it. Still, a sturdy and affecting remake that brings a powerful story to an even wider audience.

Its restraint might put off thrill-seekers, but if you can endure the wooden dialogue and sloppy exposition, it musters the entertainment quotient of a middle-order Harry Potter.

While the quirky structure could be taken as a bold move, the story still feels frustratingly incomplete, rendering the preceding hour or so a tantalising glimpse at what could have been.

Although downbeat, this celebration of the US military is done so expertly you forget that at the time it is set Coppola's idea of a great film was You're A Big Boy Now.