Pawlikowski is in complete control of the form, but this is no austere piece of work — he even finds time for a few good jokes. Accessible, humane and compassionate: what a treat this is.

A quality ghost story with an unusual backdrop and great performances.

Insightful, revelatory and profound, Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary combines riveting interviews, archive footage and - yes - state-of-the-art photographic effects to offer a unique perspective on the Israel-Palestine issue.

Really smart people on a really smart person: Fassbender, Winslet, Sorkin and Boyle await Oscar nominations. But for all its relevance and grandeur, Steve Jobs is ridiculously entertaining. You might say, user-friendly.

A suspense-filled nailbiter that plays on a fear no weapon weilding psycho can top.

A tense, slickly executed thriller.

A glowing tribute to The Beatles and their music, this is both a toe-tapping pleasure to watch and a smart, occasionally scathing look at how we get things wrong.

It shouldn't work, but it does.

A thriller that twists and turns with an understated power that will have you gripping the arm of your seat. Terrific stuff.

Although AWIL's comedy/horror elements aren't always cosy bedfellows, the film retains its original, quirky charm. Great effects for the day, too.

Ultimately, overlapping notions of family, cinema and healing are neatly tied up in an arresting and heartrendingly gentle finale that will leave an ache in your chest. Stripping dialogue and editing flourishes away, Sentimental Value’s final note is a showstopper.

An honest, affection-hooking, coming-of-age drama which proves that there is life beyond Hogwarts for Emma Watson.

While it may blunder down the odd comedy cul-de-sac, Madagascar 3 is often inspired and very, very funny.

It's beautifully mounted to capture the age and the passing seasons, though director Gillian Armstrong never lets the production values overwhelm the gentle sketches of girlish hopes and pastimes tempered by the trials of life.

Here it is at long last: a truly great vampire comedy. And also the funniest horror film to come out of New Zealand since Braindead.

Whether you're after a comedy-drama about cancer or a Rogen laugh-fest with added heart, this does a remarkable job of balancing the odds. And the laughter/tears split? Call it 70/30.

Depp puts in a reliable performance as the put-upon son who finds solace in the company of waitress, Juliette Lewis. All three deliver memorable performances along with a strong supporting cast.

A pot-bellied fable unlike anything else you’ll see this year. Not since Babe has an adorable porker inspired such peculiar joy or unexpected heartache.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stands out from a somewhat formulaic era of Marvel movies: held together by its compelling sense of place, and by acting as a passionate eulogy for Chadwick Boseman.

Shelton keeps the humour straight down the middle and, just like "Bull Durham" before it, uses the rituals and metaphors of sport to relate the complexities of love and relationships.

There's nothing preachy about this slick and funny doc (narrated by Dennis Hopper), which as a brief history of how porn spurted into the mainstream has all the money shots you could ask for.

A diabolical treat with Rourke and De Niro in fine form.

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.

By equal turns tense and witty but with plenty of perceptive social commentary to go around, this is a film that only gets more rewarding the more you look under its surface.

A touching and revelatory piece of film-making about the plights of real people living in an uncertain world.

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

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

It’s a hugely enjoyable descent into epic gluttony.