Costa-Gravas at his hypocrisy and oppression-fighting best.

An awe-inspiring piece of filmmaking from Edgar Wright that plays out as a musical through the lens of an action thriller. Sweet, funny and utterly original — you won’t see a film like it this year.

Douglas' teeth-clenched, dimple-thrusting megalomaniac is among his best work, while the gossipy screenplay (another Oscar winner) is served wonderfully by Minnelli's lush melodramatics.

Beautiful, funny, timely and tender, this is the American arthouse movie of the year.

Wonderfully complex but warmly human, Bergman's drama is one of his very best.

One Fine Morning is Mia Hansen-Løve on tip top form, drawing a fantastic lead performance from a never-better Léa Seydoux. Some flicks need a bearded assassin or ghostface killer to create drama. Hansen-Løve just needs the stuff of real life.

Although not all the loose ends are tied up in the telling of this bizarre and absorbing tale of love, grief and goose-bumps, one scarcely minds at all, since the fourth-dimensional doings on offer, (underlined with a marvellously moody, haunting score by Zbigniew Preisner) are like an erotic trip into The Twilight Zone.

Cut it, print it. These are brutal executions, brilliantly executed. Director Park has said he wants No Other Choice to be his “masterpiece” and he may well have done it. Hopefully he won’t be jobless any time soon.

A hugely impressive debut. Personal and political, this is a tender and spellbinding depiction of family in fraught times.

It may be formally unadventurous but A Real Pain is a real treat, a tender, funny treatise on family jealousies and our relationship to the past. Simultaneously light and heavy, it soars on the stellar pairing of Eisenberg and Culkin.

It's a deep film, but also elusive, accepting that some mysteries can never be solved.

In this haunting social lament Mati Diop pulls off shifts from social realism to genre mysticism with a poise as supernatural as the force that overtakes her young lovers.

A well-warranted remastering of his Aussie new wave classic.

A rivetingly weird and exceptionally beautiful fantasy film that offers no easy answers but ponders the biggest questions — through myths, mysticism, and men in crisis. This is major stuff from David Lowery.

A key turn-of-the-decade film, with Nicholson railing against waitresses and barking at noisy dogs as Rafelson observes seedily picturesque roadside America.

The spectacular last-reel recreation of the bombing makes this, Michael Bay notwithstanding, the Pearl Harbor film to beat, but the unquestioned highlight is the famous on‑the‑beach adultery scene between virile sergeant Lancaster and an unusually unladylike Kerr, with the waves crashing around them to symbolise their unrestrained passions.

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.

A worthy farewell that packs in as much action as its seven predecessors combined and manages not to stint on the emotional beats. Harry Potter leaves us as a quiet, bespectacled, corduroy-wearing hero for the ages.

Terrific. Michael Shannon delivers a fractured everyman who'll stay with you long after the final frame.

To call it the most important movie of the year so far makes it sound possibly rather worthy. That’s not true at all. Get Out is a comment on a highly complex situation that’s also a total blast.

Passionate and expertly crafted, this black-and-white opus is well worth seeking out.

Heartfelt and heart-breaking, this feels like Spielberg has made an adaptation faithful to its roots but also, always, alive to the modern world.

Visually, this is an exquisitely composed film, and it teems with curiosities and compassion. If on occasion the story seems to wander, it arrives at an enchanting destination.

A vibrant, haunting documentary, and a poignant tribute to a free spirit.

A richly nuanced American comedy, with two acting talents working at their absolute peak.

Guerra and Gallego offer a masterful, compelling reimagining of the crime drama within the specific ethnographic milieu of a tribal people weathering dangerous change. Unforgettable images in service of a strange, poignant story.

Not all magically benevolent nannies fly on talking umbrellas, as we learn in this beautifully formed little heart-tugger.

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

With luck The Hurt Locker's recent awards haul should draw audiences to this equally intense and actually more brilliant depiction of war. It marks the arrival of a sensational new talent behind the camera and is a debut that deserves to be seen.

Jia’s grip slackens slightly at the end but, especially in its middle section, Ash Is Purest White is engrossing, surprising and affecting, held together by a towering performance from Tao – her gaze alone should carry a licence to kill.

As startling and bleakly compelling as you'd expect from this rare combination of director and subject.

A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at identity, aspiration and a precarious way of life, this is anchored by a stunning performance by Brady Jundreau and inspired direction by Chloé Zhao.

The title Varda By Agnès is apt, a portrait that is both expansive and personal, intellectually sharp but full of fun and heart. A film that is both an entertaining gateway and fitting eulogy to a giant talent.

Curious allegorical epic which was supposed to speak to Allied spirits during the second world war but was a trifle obscure in its symbolism even then.

The anxieties of a teenage girl weigh universally heavy. Burnham brings wisdom and immediacy to a generation raised online, his debut feature already cementing his presence as a remarkably sensitive filmmaker.

A true emotional epic.

Overall this is a gripping, non-judgmental look at a young girl finding herself in the toughest circumstances.

This is simply the finest jazz documentary ever made.

A terrific alternative to the diabetic's nightmare that is most of Disney's output, Kiki's Delivery Service takes pride of place in Miyazaki's exceptional body of work.

The world Jordan envisions is desperate, but Hoskins’s human heart offers a lovely thread of hope.

While you cannot dismiss its place in history, its power is in what it represented rather than what it did.

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.

Ideal Sunday afternoon fare.

Back to the streets and with a stellar cast, Martin Scorsese proves once again that he's the master of urban storytelling -- and of thrillingly violent filmmaking.

Utterly absorbing, extremely smart and - considering this is a sad, shabby, drably grey-green world of obsessives, misfits, misdirection, disillusionment, self-delusion and treachery - quite beautifully executed.

A gift of great storytelling, this is the best film Chris Sanders has made.

A scrappy but soulful delight. Regina Hall brings everything to this nuanced and loving portrait of working women whose stories seldom make their way into the foreground of film.

Just wonderful with its offbeat but wholly credible storyline, down-to-earth style and exceptionally fine performances.

No mere creature feature, this 1940s classic offers more subtle chills.

The luxurious feel of the film is a perfect counterpoint to the painful truths drawn on each brother's face, whilst Pfieffer is much more than eye candy.

A tight plot that's enriched by wonderfully crafted characters that each have their own key weaknesses.

The comparisons are inevitable, so let's get them out of the way. Hero is a better film than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Carla Simón’s film is a tender peach itself. A lament for a world slipping out of reach is brought invigoratingly to life by a vividly drawn cast of characters.

Tries just a tad too hard to be a classic, with Ladd's Roy Rogers woodenness not quite getting the depths of author Jack Schaefer's fallen hero, but the support - Jean Arthur as the yearning farmer's wife, Ben Johnson as the conscience-struck bully - are excellent, and some scenes lodge forever in your memory.

Dramatically, this may seem slight. But bounteous pleasures lie in the intimacy of the acting and in the exquisite cinematic and culinary craftmanship on display.

Shows the famed songwriter's performance and work off with reverance, and a faithfullness to the live experience.

With great performances across the board and a socially relevant story, Mudbound will resonate long after the credits roll.

An impressive filmmaking debut from actor-turned-director Rebecca Hall which largely avoids cliché or soapboxing about race, featuring two excellent performances from Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.

Stunningly beautiful and quietly powerful, this is a portrait of a vanishing way of life and of a determined woman who’s just trying to make her way in the world.

Splashing around in the same mad puddle as Lynch but a good deal funnier, this tale of a man with many faces is an exhilarating, audacious, lunatic rocket-ride. Hop on board.

A dig into the nature of humanity from a director already fluent in the language of brutality and tenderness. A stunning love story that in its finest moments is pure poetry.

Altogether, this is as fine a piece of craftsmanship as one could expect of Eastwood, with Hackman and I Freeman's performances standing out, and given the sombre tone there are entertaining surprises and even some good laughs to be had.

Clouzot achieves an analysis of the human condition at least as bleak as Huston's The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre but without the grandstanding speeches and with more subtle performances.

Ledger's performance is monumental, but The Dark Knight lives up to it. Nolan cements his position as Hollywood's premier purveyor of blockbuster smarts – and the Batbike is kinda cool, too.

A perfectly pitched blast of nostalgia, which will transport you to that time in life when the future stretched before you and anything seemed possible.

Filled with striking and scarringly disconcerting images of vandalised nature, satanic mills and redundant modernity, this is a mournful tribute to a maligned migrant workforce and a sobering reminder that nothing comes cheap.

A bold, honest film about family life that showcases a terrifically unpeppy turn from Bejo.

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

Its pleasures lie in the dialogue, the twists, the reveals. It all leads to a delightful Agatha Christie-style drawing room denouement, in which the rat is exposed, their best-laid plans laid to waste. Like the film as a whole, it’s deliciously, lip-smackingly satisfying.

Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, it's classic. But it's also got rather a bland pair of lead characters. That said, it's still enjoyable family entertainment, and shall remain forever so.

Ogata's performance is the obvious highlight, and Imamura constructs an utterly plausible scenario, but at times overreaches, and loses focus. If you can tolerate a few extraneous scenes, though, this is a dark treat.

As involving and intellectually rich as all Tarkovsky's work.

A delightful first instalment in a planned quartet of short films, Anderson and Dahl’s sensibilities continuing to be a match made in heaven.

Gorgeous cinematography, a lilting score and near-faultless performances, under Wright’s assured direction, make this the first contender for next year’s Best Picture Oscar.

There is simply nothing like it out there: profound, idiosyncratic, complex, sincere and magical; a confirmation that cinema can aspire to art.

A spry police procedural fused with an achingly intense romance, Decision To Leave keeps you off-kilter throughout, in the best possible way. Make a decision to see it.

In two-and-a-half hours, a decade of Spielberg’s own life flies by. An autopsy of a marriage and a homage to invention, it’s a bittersweet piece of joy.

Mike Leigh sees a Britain everybody knows exists but would rather not think about, and this is a nightmare journey, at once horrific and funny, through a twilight London of the excluded and the rejected.

An explosion of garish colour, wacky detail and surreal complications, Almodovar’s very funny, urban comedy overflows with the unexpected. See it!

Powerful, terrifying and soulful, this real-life Hurt Locker is an intimate, often brilliant insight into combat and comradeship.

What matters is the affection Wang has for his characters and the portrait of assimilation represented by the characters the amateur sleuths encounter. Whimsical, certainly, but also generous, insightful and funny.

Seminal feature from Tarkovsky, the master of atmosphere and multi-functional allegory is truly affecting, as well as fodder for countless film studies curricula.

This impressionist Western won't be everyone's slug of bourbon but it's a slow burn that will richly reward the patient.

Though Davies says this is a celebration of what were the best years of his life — he had a doting mum, nice sisters, and school was apparently okay — you'd hate to see what he'd produce if he were depressed, for the overall mood is heavy and glum.

A deeply moving drama played out on the small stage of ordinary people’s lives. An unforgettable performance from Jordan invests Grant with real humanity, while Coogler’s unvarnished script and sure-handed direction propel the film to its inevitable, terrible conclusion.

This drama is a little too sedate to make its mark, but director Walter Salles delivers a sensitive portrait of Eunice Paiva's family life during a period of traumatic upheaval.

One of Hollywood's forgotten masters and one of its brightest new actresses team for what could well be an Oscar wild card.

The relationship between Ada and Eka is beautifully written and utterly believable, while the film's central idea of compassionate deception allows Bertucelli to explore the nature of love, culminating in the film's masterful and deeply affecting ending.

A well observed and deeply tender tale.

The Handmaiden is at once a superlative thriller and a deeply erotic character study, but it’s the intelligence, mordant wit and depth of characterisation that are the real turn-ons.

A beguiling and often brutal look at the life of a donkey, this hijacks your heart, your mind, your ears and your eyes from start to finish.

Danny Boyle's finest since "Trainspotting." In fact, it's the best British/Indian gameshow-based romance of the millennium.

Just as she did with Lemonade, Beyoncé proves herself a master of the visual album once again with a timely and vivid meditation on Black pride. The film it’s born out of may be forgettable, but this is quite the opposite.

Written with great insight by Kogo Noda and filmed with painterly delicacy by Asakazu Nakai, though Ozu's touch brings the magic to this domestic drama.

Gilliam's dystopian epic remains among his best, blending his trademark visual inventiveness with a vicious brand of social satire. Unique and essential.

This wonderful documentary succeeds as a reminder of human endeavour.