Rather than the cynical ‘one last grab’ of the series, Kung Fu Panda 3 might actually be the best. Also, and this is so rarely the case that it’s worth mentioning, it deserves to be seen in 3D.

Once you get over the unlikelihood of Affleck and Crowe as buddies, State Of Play stands as a sterling thriller, benefiting from admirable convictions and an arguable return to form by Russell Crowe.

Finding laughs in the current global political quagmire is a tough ask. But Long Shot manages to spin a winning mixture of warm-hearted fantasy and comedic edge. And Rogen and Theron shine.

McQueen serves up an awe-inspiring, visceral reflection of London’s torrid history of racial prejudice and police brutality, while John Boyega gives a career-best performance dripping with power and passion.

A raw, lean and abrasively effective thriller from Steven Soderbergh, which features Claire Foy as we’ve never seen her before.

A hugely assured debut, The Witch is a beautiful, bleak brainworm that will haunt you for days.

A furiously paced, inventive and flat-out hilarious take on a tried-and-tested formula. An exemplary bromantic comedy that doesn't sacrifice heart in pursuit of laughs, maintaining plenty of the former and a superabundance of the latter.

Thoughtful, moving, and Bettany is brilliant. To be reminded of the power of love to redeem and repair, catch Creation.

The dazzling ensemble perfectly captures every nuance in one of the finest acting showcases you could hope for.

As beige as an old PC, but beneath the surface the blood pumps bright scarlet. An intelligent and emotionally charged spy drama.

Guaranteed to offend, but also guaranteed to leave you in spasms of laughter.

Dusted with magic — and more than a little malevolence — this is one of those films you want sink into on a cold winter’s night.

Marie Antoinette is gorgeous, giddy, gilded filmmaking.

Part mystery, part black comedy, part metaphor for loss, Patrick is a nakedly true original. It also has the best caravan fight since Kill Bill Vol. 2.

A sophisticated adaptation of a hugely important book that adeptly handles its daunting themes, and provides a platform for a star-making performance from Amandla Stenberg.

A pressure cooker of a period picture, Brooklyn 45 is a smart take on the spooky séance staple, a film where the scariest spectres are the ghosts of the past rather than any pixel-packed phantoms.

A bulked-up James McAvoy dominates the screen in this razor-sharp Glasgow smile of a black comedy, packed with aberrant sex, hard drugs and maximum David Soul.

It stands as a hugely enjoyable, occasionally chilling, musical.

This is a startlingly superior piece of craftsmanship, with the flavour of life and richness of the script conveyed via uniformly wonderful performances. Above all, though, it's Lee's foodie masterstrokes, as Chu prepares his elaborate menus, that make the film so mouth-wateringly unforgettable.

Part fishing documentary, part filmmaking experiment, Paravel and Castaing-Taylor is remarkable, disorientating and unique gem.

Good, gory fun.

Compelling and excellently acted, September 5 is a shining study of journalistic integrity, even if it skips some of the bigger and more important questions raised by the event it documents.

Overcoming a shaky start, this low-budget rom-dram rewards patience, with a fine cast delivering strong work. Accept the invitation.

The result is both audaciously amusing and provocatively sophisticated.

Funny and freewheeling, it's a joy.

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

It's a tale told with considerable warmth and humour, some spiffing explosions and a multiple-hanky act of self-sacrifice to round things off.

Jackass Forever is a hilarious, even genuinely touching reunion of America’s most vulgar performance artists. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel for the series or definitively say goodbye to it, nor does it need to — it’s simply enough to remember that some things never get old.

Gripping, smart and well-tooled, this greenies-on-a-mission movie gives terrific build-up and a riveting central set-piece, with only a slight dip at the end. If she is looking for another genre to subvert, a Reichardt superhero movie would be a sight to behold.

Closer to the gentle humanism of Paterson than Jarmusch’s cooler, ironic output, Father Mother Sister Brother is a small-scale and singular treat.

This is a fascinating insight into the mind of the Nobel laureate and his city muse. Coolly intelligent and noirishly compelling.

This is enormous fun, one of the best TV adaptations to date, and guaranteed to provoke a nostalgic misty eye and mischevious grin in anybody who's ever owned a crimplene tank top.

Young Ahmed might be major filmmakers in a minor mode, but it is still a riveting, beautifully made character study that provokes compassion and controversy in equal measures.

If director Chuck Workman maps a familiar rise and fall of rule-breaking brilliance it is vindicated by the great raconteur and in-depth praise from an impressive roster.

Dreams and nightmares, innocence and experience, civilisation and nature… an elegiac horror/neo-noir debut that captures a snapshot of America’s lost soul. Director Joshua Erkman is one to watch.

Despite the hint of a stiff-upper-lip kind of reserve, this is astonishingly brutal. And Firth’s performance makes this dark, dark story land.

Falling on the meaty, potential role of a lifetime like a ravenous lion, erstwhile comedian Jamie Foxx, so good in "Collateral," is just wonderful as the eponymous star.

The net result is difficult and demanding viewing yet strangely thrilling.

Van Sant never strays far from the man-overcomes-disability genre, but this is more than made up for by some impressive directorial flourishes and an engaging central performance.

Song Without A Name is a true original, at once rooted in a raw emotional reality but told with the striking beauty of a dream. Writer-director Melina León is definitely one to watch.

Exquisitely designed, this cornucopia of melodramatic fragments and movie pastiches will enchant Guy Maddin fans.

A story with all the qualities of a classic LA noir is given a very effective spin by transposing it to politically charged Cairo. It’s angry, frustrated and thrilling.

Yes, the premise is a bit threadbare but this is an intimate, lyrical documentary that offers a subtly effective snapshot of life as a young woman on the threshold of adulthood.

A visceral, artful horror about childbirth and trauma released in the UK just in time for Mother’s Day.

If you loved D’Artagnan, you won’t be let down by Milady. If you’ve not seen D’Artagnan, then get ready to enjoy the year’s best non-Barbenheinmer double bill.

A rough, exhausting, exhilarating action picture with a payoff which would have delighted Sam Fuller or Howard Hawks. The Stath - an actual Olympian, remember - is on top form.

Funny and nasty in the best traditions of Headhunters and Jackpot, this is the Stellan Skarsgård vengeance thriller we've all been waiting for.

Atmospherically black-and-white photography provides suitable accompaniment to Sidney Lumet's unrelenting direction, with the two leads into it with plenty of relish.

The quintessential '50s rom-com.

Acerbic, unexpected and quietly heart-warming without ever approaching sappy, this takes a no-nonsense approach to big issues - life, love and ageing - and never feels heavy-handed. We should all be so lucky in our grandmothers.

Perfectly tense atmosphere and performances, with the sparks flying between Bogart and Bacall.

An intense, emotional ride. Uplifting and inspiring.

The doppelgänger trope may sound well worn but Enemy finds fresh, deeply unnerving ground. And Jake Gyllenhaal gives two spellbinding performances.

This is a film full of scenes that would be easy to overplay, but which Schwarzenegger tackles with understated perfection. Truly, this is quite unlike anything else he’s ever done, and brilliantly so.

It's hard to imagine that the prodigiously gifted Dolan is still in his early twenties. This is another work of marvellous maturity and assurance.

Quick on its wits and fast with its fists, this is Black firmly back doing what he does best. And nobody out there does it better.

Violent, visionary, vital.

Hansen-Løve again shows what a gifted storyteller she is with this tender, realistic portrayal of young love.

As a direct tribute to the dignity of the solider facing attacks on both their bodies and their souls it puts things in a salutary context.

A charming, visually sparkling Parisian fantasy with a dark edge.

Perhaps the most ironic title of 2021, Hope isn’t filmmaking to set the pulses racing. Instead it’s a quiet, nuanced study of how a couple who have drifted apart deal with the direst of circumstances, perfectly played by Andrea Bræin Hovig and Stellan Skarsgård.

You’ll think you know where this sun-baked serial-killer thriller is going, until you don’t. A nifty, chronologically crafty tale, fuelled by bravura acting by Willa Fitzgerald, it’s a small movie with high impact.

Set to be one of the final entries in what we know as the DCEU, this is also one of the best, a witty and warm buddy comedy that deserves to be more than just a Flash in the pan.

A classic Andrea Arnold picture, complete with striking new talent and moving insight into life lived on the margins.

There are first-time filmmaker flaws — at times, the characters feel like pawns in a pre-ordained plot — but Bettany has a real gift for finding grace in the grimness.

Offbeat and downbeat, it’s a film full of thoughtful stillness, powerful moods, reflective internal struggles and shattering, lonely self-realisation, suggesting more critical kudos than commercial impact.

Despite the generic title, Only You is an emotional treat, lit up by stellar charisma from Laia Costa and Josh O’Connor. And debutante Harry Wootliff is a filmmaker to watch.

A haunting, perceptive and uncompromising examination of controversial subject matter, expertly written and directed by Paul Haggis and characterised by excellent performances from its starry cast.

Jordan has, though, made an important film, based on the wise predication that only through understanding can come peace. And if that sounds a bit pompous, it's also a damn good trip to the flicks.

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.

An uncompromising debut that weaves Lidia Yuknavitch’s rich but troubled life into hypnotic poetry. Kristen Stewart reintroduces herself as an exciting filmmaker who’s out to make a splash.

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

Passengers is as surprisingly traditional as it is undeniably effective. A timeless romance wedded to a space-age survival thriller, it may be a curious coupling but Tyldum’s Turing follow-up is a journey well worth taking.

By smuggling canvasses out of Nazi Paris, she was “midwife” to Pollock and Rothko. “Art,” the doc claims, “was a mirror of her own strangeness.”

Challenging the truism that you can never go home, this doesn't entirely integrate its political subtext. But the storylines are involving, the setting is picturesque and the performances are impeccable.

Strange, stylish and intelligent, this is a rare anime film that delivers on its Eastern promise.

Epic, heartbreaking cowboy story.

This is delightfully bonkers; an eerie and edgy outpouring that makes Twin Peaks look like Moonlighting.

An Oscar nominee at this year's Academy Awards and for good reason, Falardeau's film is moving, smart and sensitive. Terrific stuff, in short.

Kathryn Bigelow is back with a bang. This is a bleak but adrenaline-pumping experience that’ll leave you shaken, and searching for the nearest bunker.

A tale of pelts that pelts along, with more lunacy and creativity than a brace of other films, this film dares to go full beaver. Don’t sleep on it.

A close encounter of the wordless kind, this is a smart and splendidly scary horror sci-fi, with a brilliantly brittle turn from Kaitlyn Dever.

This reflection on isolation, technology, creativity and desire brilliantly blurs the lines between perception and voyeurism, the objective and the subjective.

Niki Caro’s boldly reimagined, battle-laden saga belies its Disney status and spotlights the multifaceted star power of Liu Yifei. The result is a live-action remake done right.

Jurassic World is fresh and thrilling, and while it often tips its hat to the original, it’s not a slavish copy, introducing more than enough new wrinkles into the prehistoric playbook to launch a new wave of sequels.

An uneven but appropriately rousing attack on Trump, which occasionally loses its focus as it makes its bigger, scarier points about the United States’ slide into despotism.

It might be Charlie Kaufman lite, but this is a great date movie for the discerning -- smart, ingenious and heartwarming.

Avant-garde triumph revolving around the seemingly mundane life of a widow in Brussels.

If anything, this is too faithful to the book, sometimes getting bogged down in detail as Katniss struggles to her goal. But its epic sweep, grand designs and unyielding central performance make this a compelling finale.

The Moomins’ adventure is, despite its French joie de vivre, full of the knowing wit and wry Nordic wisdom which have ensured their popularity since 1945. A treat for the whole family.

Stories about love in a world gone mad don't come any more gorgeous, or any more sweepingly epic, than this.

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.

Though it perhaps inevitably lives in the shadow of some subgenre masterpieces, Black Sea is a superbly shot men-on-a-mission thriller with chest-tightening tension and a striking contemporary resonance.

A compassionate and inspiring look at an extraordinary life, anchored by two of the best performances of the year.

Marlene Dietrich tries not to give anything away as usual while Agatha Christie's whodunit plot whirs tidily about her expressionless beauty.

An excruciating watch at times, the unflinching bluntness is captivating and somehow, despite their flaws, the group’s rock godhood is maintained.

A sanitised version of Spielberg’s film, let alone Walker’s novel. But bravura musical sequences and a top-notch cast ensure smiles and tears come the end credits.

Schumacher is never quite smart enough to keep the debate neutral, and the unrestrained hero worship at the close leaves a nasty taste.