You might need to take a Norwegian guide along to explain various local references and identify the specific trolls, but Troll Hunter's proud cultural identity - tremble, a US remake is in the works - is its strongest suit. It's wry, spectacular fun.

More than just a time-travel rom-com, this is a movie that asks you questions and doesn’t sugar-coat as many of the answers as you’d expect. Smart and sweet, funny and genuinely moving. Should probably come with a ‘there’s something in my eye’ warning.

This movie-movie gem scores on levels few horror films ever have. Not just a disturbing ride but also a hard-hitting political statement.

As the drama circles their inaction, this trio of excellent performances fills the screen with a form of spiritual exhaustion, and the film slumps into noir’s typically happy-clappy comeuppance of failure, betrayal and ruin. But the mood has caught on, and the film, stamped with a stunning visual emptiness, haunts the memory for long after its sour close.

An effective and unsettling allegory for growing up, this is the kind of low-key horror that will make you look twice at cherub-faced youngsters.

Lewd, funny and immensely quotable, this is one of the very best high school dramas ever made.

Not quite a terrifying thrill-ride, Ghost Stories is a creepy, disturbing ghost train with a beefier backbone than its source material, trading on tropes but still making your skin itch.

Sour as month-old milk and with a tang of off-screen animosity in its mouth, Robert Aldrich's melodrama is still hysterical in every sense of the word.

A cracking cold war story.

Looks like 2004 has given birth to a new superhero franchise after all.

Smart, sassy and sweet. This showed John Cusack's promise as a romantic lead, and some.

Unapologetically aimed at the arthouse crowd, this is superior filmmaking. Superbly acted and well written, it stakes its claim in the pantheon of love-gone-wrong watches.

Netflix wants to prove it can do what Disney does – and it more or less succeeds. Vibrant and heartfelt with tunes to boot, there’s plenty of love in Over The Moon.

Essential, enormous fun.

A beautifully argued parable about the need to go where life takes you, Darius Marder’s debut thrives on the soul of Riz Ahmed and the bold creativity of sound designer Nicholas Becker. Together they make Sound Of Metal sing.

Another strong, sparky and bloody entry in the QT canon. Although, creaking under its running time, it's not quite as uproariously entertaining as his last pseudo-historical adventure, "Inglourious Basterds."

An incredibly silly, sapphic, gloriously weird high-school satire. Bottoms’ ultra-knowing tone might be a struggle for some — but it’s hilariously rewarding.

1666 mostly operates in a different register than 1994 and 1978, but is no less entertaining. It rounds off an ambitious triptych chock-full of horror-history allusions, strong world-building, sharp scares, palatable gore, lively filmmaking and a likeable set of characters. Other scary-movie franchises take note.

Come for the wise alien spider, stay for Adam Sandler at his sombre best in this strange, heartfelt sci-fi drama. Here’s hoping he continues to push himself to new highs.

Mamet’s gem of a movie, with a great final twist, goads the Godfathers with just as much invention and wit as the much higher profile Married To The Mob.

Unlike most sequels Lethal Weapon 2 is neither predictable nor conventional. It's just pumped full of juice.

Benediction finds both sorrow and hilariously withering wit in the eventful 
life of a famed wartime poet, offering some of the sharpest, nimblest dialogue of writer-director Terence Davies’ estimable career.

Extremely enjoyable. Although it’s a little tonally unsure, whenever Hanks and Hoffman are on screen, any misgivings are forgiven.

A reminder of the astonishingly kinetic talent that John Woo maybe still possesses, this at times is on the verge of melodrama, but rescues itself from the brink with some fine gunplay.

As enthralling as it is important, How To Have Sex neatly depicts the joy and pain of teenage girlhood. A scrappy but impressive directorial debut — and a strong showcase of breakthrough British talent across the board.

Charming and effective feel-good fare.

Excruciatingly hilarious and hilariously excruciating. The merkin scene will live with you forever.

A dreamlike time capsule of a historic event, told from a kid’s perspective and rendered in beautiful animation — only Richard Linklater could have made this film.