The boundless inventiveness Nintendo is known for never quite bleeds through as you would expect, especially as an adaptation of one of Mario's most beloved 3D platformers. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, then, shoots for the stars and ultimately comes up just short.

The seventh and supposedly final Scream is never as sharp or as smart as the series' best, but it still has a few neat tricks up its billowing sleeve. Enjoyably self-aware and satisfyingly bloody, this may be imitation Craven, but it proves Scream's slasher-whodunnit formula is still potent enough to thrill.

Despite Five Nights at Freddy's 2 slightly bettering its predecessor in terms of scares and impressive animatronics, the sequel fails to understand that less is more. By stuffing as many storylines and characters as possible into its relatively brief runtime, the sequel feels messy and inconclusive, leaving FNaF fans shortchanged.

Some fun action and Glen Powell's star power aren't enough to energize a muddled, poorly paced ride with thinly drawn characters and an inconsistent world that wastes its abundant potential.

A serviceable blockbuster falls short of being truly fun by swapping the Grid for a real-world setting. Despite a good lead performance from Greta Lee and a great score, Ares lacks the charm and silliness of its Tron predecessors after one upgrade too many.

Not disastrous but disappointing all the same, The Conjuring: Late Rites commits the ultimate sin of not quite being bold or memorable enough for a final chapter.

Despite too many two-dimensional characters, a bloated story, and forgettable mutant dinosaurs, Rebirth still manages to deliver some of the franchise’s best set-pieces. Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson stand out in this unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber before being extracted.

Though stronger in its more straightforward first half than in its experimental and hallucinatory second, 28 Years… still provides enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy.

Jared Hess's indie sensibilities help to elevate a video game adaptation that is boosted further by Jack Black's irrepressible star turn. The special effects could be better, as could the female roles. But this remains an entertaining fantasy adventure that makes light work of what might appear to be unpromising source material.

The Russo brothers deliver a fun and very current take on tech vs humanity with a core message on how human connection conquers all in this visually stunning sci-fi family adventure. However, the rushed storyline and vast list of underdeveloped characters ultimately let the movie down.

Slick and silly action sequences garner Fight or Flight well-earned John Wick and Bullet train comparisons, while Josh Hartnett proves himself a worthy action hero on this, at times, bumpy flight path.

Anthony Mackie's Captain America earns his Stars and Stripes in this uneven, un-MCU thriller. Sam Wilson and an always-excellent Harrison Ford drag Brave New World into unfamiliar narrative territory before it eventually succumbs to familiar Marvel failings.

Star Trek: Section 31 doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a serious exploration of the criminal underbelly, a camp throwback to the noughties, or a tonally off combination of the two? Whatever it is, it doesn't work half as well as it should.

Far too many characters are vying for screen time in this predictably plotted sequel, but thankfully a weird, wild, and utterly brilliant central performance from Jim Carrey makes this a fun watch. A fine, wheel-turning instalment in a continually burgeoning franchise that will no doubt continue for many years to come.

It's no Hakuna Matata, that's for sure. And it's far from Jenkins' best work, but in any other hands, a lot of Mufasa's intentions would have completely misfired. Thankfully there are some stellar vocal performances and VFX – but it could have been so much better.

Though closer in quality to Morbius than Venom, Kraven is far from a catastrophe and serves up a decent helping of bloodthirsty, globe-trotting action. Taylor-Johnson makes a muscular if self-satisfied protagonist in a film that would have been better off standing on its own shoeless feet than cravenly (or should that be, 'kravenly') cleaving itself to its comic book brethren.

What could have been an exciting experiment in telling a new tale in a beloved universe in a very different way feels heavily compromised.

Completely stripping the bold premise back, Nightbitch is one of the year's most disappointing releases, wasting the talents of the usually brilliant Amy Adams. This dark thriller is all bark and no bite.

Frustratingly, [Marcel's] movie maintains the issues of the first two films – ropey effects, muddy night-time action scenes, a determination to be family friendly at all times – and then undoes any goodwill its more successful components have inspired by including a mid-credits sting that renders the previous 109 minutes obsolete.

Don’t be put off by the long wait. This is a little slimline but a lot of fun.

A credible, if slightly limited, prequel that recaptures the atmosphere if not the originality of Rosemary’s Baby.

The Crooked Man is at its best in a flavoursome first half that serves up crepuscular, shallow-focus photography (take a bow, DoP Ivan Vatsov) and backwoods dialect as tangy and prickly as wild gooseberries.

A visually striking and inventive overhaul of well-oiled IP that suggests animation was the right path all along. Autobots, roll out!

Exploring how a one-time surrealist art muse fought to report atrocities, this handsome but rather conventional biopic showcases a tip-top Winslet performance, but at times meanders like a weighty Wikipedia entry.

Filmmaker Azazel Jacobs follows up the highly mannered (and highly strung) French Exit (2020) with a slow-burn study of sibling rivalry, parental mortality and the ties that bind.

Part courtroom movie, part behind-bars romance, Folie à Deux is an unconventional musical sequel that fails to hit the high notes.

For those looking for an easy-on-the-eye, brain-in-neutral-thriller, Wolfs still hits the spot.

It's all enough to make you wonder if this is a flight that should have stayed grounded.

It’s just a pity that the storytelling sprawls all over the place, with some plotlines (like the Beetlejuice/Delores discord) failing to pay off. But mostly Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun afterlife frolic.

Berry and Wahlberg’s engaging dynamic elevates this nonsensical action caper. Forgettable fun.

John Cena’s a joy to watch, but Paul Feig’s latest isn’t quite on the money.

The Gearbox title gamers loved has spawned a frenetic and disorderly shambles they’re likelier to loathe. Claptrap? You said it.

Granted, the Lady Raven sequences go on for a bit too long - M. Night is clearly enamored with his daughter’s talent as a pop singer - but other than that minor indulgence, this is a taught thriller that slowly ties a rope around Hartnett’s throat and squeezes as the gig rolls on.

A serious subject is sensitively handled in a drama that’s otherwise just tear-jerking soap opera.

It’s not the sort of family film you’ll wax lyrical about, but there’s enough colorful, chaotic, kid-friendly fun to amply entertain.

The action’s routine (as is the norm for this sub-genre) and the spy plot skimps on mystery and twists. But Bautista and Coleman maintain their winning rapport from the first film, and Schaal’s inappropriate comments never fail to amuse. It’s just about enough.

Despite leaving its love affair on the launch pad, this sassy NASA romcom fulfils its mission to entertain.

Series veteran Chris Renaud (who co-directs with Despicable Me lead animator Patrick Delage) ensures that there’s nostalgic value for older generations, notably in the surprisingly heartfelt, Tears for Fears-soundtracked finale. The addition of the cunning Gru Jr proves a deft move, too; the father/son, bonding/tormenting scenes bring a fresh (and at times touching) dynamic to proceedings.

Much more fun than Coming 2 America. Don’t be surprised to see a fifth film greenlit.

The final act loses its way, but in the main West wraps his slasher trilogy in satisfying style, putting a blood-soaked, Hollywood-branded bow on his eras-spanning saga.

A solid performance by Quasem and an impressively gruesome early leg-munch aren’t enough to earn Something in the Water anything close to a recommendation. Avoid like a fin in a bay.

The rocky relationship between Lee and her father feels convincing enough, and it's great to see a queer storyline take shape as Lee develops feelings for her father's co-star (Chloe Bailey, one of several strong supporting actors). But the horror story leans too heavily into what has now become cliché, with Crowe's outbursts seeming increasingly ridiculous rather than terrifying.

Cage disappointingly disappears for a good chunk of the runtime, but Martell and Jenkins hold the fort until he reemerges in suitably dramatic fashion during Arcadian’s climax. Sadly little else in the finale works so well, with ropey special effects and ludicrous set pieces undercutting the intrigue created at the start.

Entwining Irish folklore, dead-parent issues, eco-anxiety, and reality-show commentary, The Watched is an acceptable mid-tier horror. It'll be far more interesting to see what Shyamalan does next.

While it's stronger on gunplay and horseplay than plot, this is a solid entry for BB fans.

There are some stunning moments, such as the eerily green-screened opener, and an unsettling underwater sequence up there with Dario Argento’s Inferno. But the 145-minute runtime feels increasingly indulgent, and Bonello borrows heavily from Kubrick, Lynch and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Like E.T. gone wrong, director Kiah Roache-Turner’s underdeveloped but briskly suspenseful, suggestive arachno-shocker sees a kid with family issues find solace in alien company. Only this spidery E.T. will gobble you up before it phones home…

Lopez takes admirable care of the story’s human elements, seizing opportunities to find emotion amid the weapons-grade pyrotechnics of the chaotic action sequences. But the effective (if minimal) world-building really just masks a thin plot, hammy characters, and the kind of questionable logic leaps you so often find in this sort of big, silly space movie.

As ever, Cronenberg leaves you with much to chew on, but dramatically The Shrouds feels rather inert, as if it can’t get out of second gear

You might care to see this as an allegory about power, sex and control, but it doesn’t feel like it’s saying anything particularly profound.

From overblown sci-fi concepts to incest and erections, Megalopolis is a comedy of errors in a more literal sense than may have been intended, despite its many Shakespeare references.

Marking Harlin’s trumpeted return to a genre in which he established himself as something of a journeyman (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Exorcist: The Beginning), The Strangers: Chapter 1 makes decent use of its contained setting – the house itself, to wheel out the cliché, is its own character – but can’t cut through the sense of fatigue.

It’s entertaining to a point. ... But whether the filmmakers truly get under Trump’s skin is debatable. Do we learn much new about him? Perhaps not, but it’s an absorbing journey all the same.

Long before the film reaches its action-packed, train-based climax, however, adults will be questioning if its three writers have so much as seen an actual Garfield comic strip, given how removed their work feels from its activity-averse inspiration.

IF is obviously aiming to be an E.T.-style family classic about kids and creatures on a healing journey. But its sticky sentimentality keeps it mawkish rather than magical.

Entertaining enough but inessential, Kingdom offers spectacle and thrills but lacks the ambition, smarts, and gravity of its immediate predecessors.

While it may prove a good gateway horror for some, more experienced genre fans will likely wish it was a bit nastier.

Such is the in-built disposability of this sort of lightweight streaming fodder that those who watch it will probably have forgotten it inside of five minutes.

Snyder’s sci-fi epic stumbles towards the finish line with an underwhelming Part Two that feels more like a Part One-And-A-Half.

The deaths are exuberantly grisly and explosive, too, the sound mix relishing every gooey squelch. Yet as predictable twists and an underused final cameo arrive, all the blood isn’t enough to cover up the nagging shortfalls of final-act invention.

Given the short from whence it came ran a mere 12 minutes, there is a definite sense of material being extended beyond its elasticity. Yet it’s a decent vehicle for Ridley that, like last year’s The Marsh King’s Daughter, shows she doesn’t need a galaxy far, far away to demonstrate her star (Wars) power.

A competent if occasionally clunky biopic, enlivened by a superb Marisa Abela, who truly inhabits Winehouse and brings those songs to life.

Frankly, if you’re buying a ticket purely for the behemoth battles then you’ll get your money’s worth: take your pick from a trippy rumpus that defies gravity, a Copacabana beach-off, some Planet of the Apes-esque monkey business, and a literal dust-up at the Egyptian pyramids.

Too many characters and callbacks plus a formulaic plot means Frozen Empire doesn’t touch the original movies, but it’s a likeable-enough brand extension.

In the end, Road House is a solid actioner, a frolic that Liman marshals competently. This is a fun Friday-night fight-fest, best enjoyed with a few bevvies – brash, loud, knockabout and liable to leave you with a cauliflower ear or two.

You’ll flinch, yes, but you’ll forget it just as quickly.

There are some decent-enough scares weaved in, including a powerful cold open and a pull-string set piece. But for a film about the power of imagination, it’s frustrating how little it trusts the audience to use its own. As such, there’s no real sense of dread or suspense.

Brown and the beast strike sparks as Fresnadillo’s initially lukewarm adventure gradually heats up.

It never feels particularly different to what you’ve seen before, and doesn’t push any boundaries visually or narratively in the way its DWA stablemate Puss in Boots: The Last Wish did.

Ethan Coen strikes out on his own with a frivolous frolic that wears its slightness like a badge of honour.

Throughout, there’s a tendency to descend into farce, which yields laughs, but ultimately hampers these Letters’ potential to say something more profound.

Capturing Marley’s essence on screen proves an impossible task in a biopic that veers towards hagiography.

A neat mash-up of high-school comedy and horror tropes. Pity it flounders in the final third, though.

First too slow, then too silly, Vaughn’s well-cast but wayward romp fires off half-baked ideas without the focus needed to make them stick.

Writer/director duo Sam and Andy Zuchero take an admirably big swing with their feature debut Love Me, but it never engages emotionally in the way this kind of material needs to.

The film treads a fine line between saccharine and crowd-pleasing, though there’s no doubt a few moments will elicit tears.

A fun if by-the-numbers heist movie that brings the laughs, but doesn't stand out from the crowd.

A little more than a remake yet less than a makeover, Tina Fey’s watchable, well-cast revisit needed more daring to be wholly worthwhile.

Any attempt at Chariots of Fire-style emotional intensity is tanked, however, by Callum Turner’s unhelpfully laconic, low-key performance.

The best bits of Kingdom come when Jules Verne-esque technology like Manta’s Octobots collides with Atlantis’ psychedelic bioluminescence, a colourful contrast that gets to the heart of this watery franchise’s trippy appeal.

Snyder’s passion project risks becoming subsumed by its own self-importance, but delivers bombastic mayhem and grandiose visuals by the bucket-load.

Adapting from Rumaan Alam’s bestseller, writer/director Esmail (creator of TV’s tech-conspiracy drama Mr Robot) paints a scarily plausible picture of how fast chaos and conflict erupt when our computer-reliant systems suddenly start to fail. But his endlessly bickering characters ultimately stop us caring whether their world ends with a bang or with a whimper.

Ravishingly pretty but low-powered, this cute and earnest fairy tale has a whole lot of homage, but not enough heart.

Davis, Dinklage, Zegler, and the Games thrill, but Snow doesn’t quite summon the substance needed to fulfil this long-haul prequel’s ambitions.

Marvel’s woes won’t be solved by a disjointed mini-Avengers that doesn't make a great deal of sense. But the cats are Flerken great.

A ploddingly predictable, gore-lite yawner.

Stanfield, on double duty as both Clarence and his straitlaced disciple twin Thomas, is a charismatic lead in a cast that boasts more than one enjoyable cameo. Yet you can’t help concluding that Samuel’s laudable ambition to give his mischievous comedy a deeper resonance was too heavy a cross to bear.

Taking aim at England’s ruthless ruling class rather than American misogyny, it’s a glossy, wildly over-the-top satire about a working-class student’s fatal attraction to an aristo family. Saltburn is a fiercely funny watch, albeit one that doesn’t deliver on its promise quite as well as Fennell’s debut.

The performances keep us engaged.

Fitful jolts aside, the devil trots out the old tunes wearily in this hoary and overcooked valentine to a horror classic.

Tobin Bell’s comeback may please some, but it’s not a sufficient X-cuse to see Saw resuscitated.

Ultimately, though, the combination of handsome visuals and assemblage of sketchy moments leave it feeling more like a museum piece, offering impressions over a gratifying narrative experience.

A vaguely promising premise is squandered in a convoluted neo-noir set-up.

Despite a typically strong performance from Blunt - and a fun, if one-note, Evans - neither the rise nor the inevitable fall ever feel all that compelling. It lacks the sheer audaciousness of the similarly structured The Wolf of Wall Street, and doesn’t come close to the energy of The Big Short, which whipped up furious indignation while being massively entertaining at the same time.

Vardalos does her best with her scenes as Toula, bringing some much-needed charm and emotional depth, while laughs are mostly driven by Andrea Martin’s Aunt Voula, who aptly introduces herself early on as "your favourite". But neither can save My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 from feeling like a pale imitation of what’s come before.

DuVernay captures the universal experience of loss: the regrets, the suffocating sorrow.

The Nun 2 feels like an unnecessary sequel to a hoary offshoot that was hardly essential in the first place.

This ultimately feels like a story that didn’t need remaking, with performances that would have tickled in a one-night view on Broadway. It’s Friedkin’s swan song, yes, but is it representative of his output? Probably not.