Despite the warmongering title, focusing on the action would be doing The Battle Of The Five Armies a disservice. Even at its most talky, it's compelling stuff, reaping the rewards of characters built-up over two-and-a-bit movies (sometimes more), all of them flawed and with a convincing agenda.

It ebbs away at the climax, but there’s 45 minutes where it sings loud and strange.

With a large supporting cast and rapid gag-rate, ingredients are generous. But with no real plot to bind them, the pile-up of chaotic chases, repeat-on you leek puns and noisy dust-ups gradually kills the appetite.

Watching these famous monsters share the screen for the first time since 1963’s King Kong Vs. Godzilla, in a series of expertly choreographed battles, packs real wallop, even if you can’t help wishing that screen was 30ft high at your local cinema.

Taste and laughs are in equally slim supply in Jennifer Lawrence’s latest, from which only her fresh-faced co-star emerges untarnished.

Don’t overlook this spiritual sequel to "The Shining." But don’t expect it get close to Kubrick’s original, either.

Despite top-notch visuals and versatile voice-work from Ty Burrell’s (Modern Family) doting doggy dad and Alison Janney’s monstrous social worker, it lacks the "Up"-style warmth to be best in show.

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.

[A] memorable, conventional account of a true maverick.

Tipping its hat to "The Evil Dead" and Peter Jackson’s early gore flicks, Dead Snow 2 is a 90-minute symphony of skull-splitting sight gags, each one more revolting than the last.

A warm, witty and welcome return – intelligently evolved and an absolute hoot. As Bridget would say: ‘v.good’.

Pixar’s least essential franchise gets back on track with a polished but disposable threequel.

It’s Carry On Up The Catwalk with TV’s favourite fashionistas. The perfect girl’s night out for the Mamma Mia crowd.

Savages is punishing in places, but there are enough colourful characters and careening twists to make it worth the effort.

Writer/directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s debut explores over-familiar territory and suffers from fiercely ponderous pacing.

Blurring the fiction/documentary lines (it features non-professional actors), it’s spiced with eccentricities.

Forgive the blasts of nu-metal. Forget the blunted satire. And allow for the obligatory, they-have-our-blessing cameos. This, as Snyder puts it, is Dawn Of The Dead on "steroids". And it's a blast.

Jurassic World is a fiendishly crafted blockbuster: old-fashioned thrills, heroism and romance, locked inside a smart, self-aware shell.

Delivers as a Friday-night actioner, with some smart moves and good banter. Smith and Lawrence are on crackerjack form.

Kingsley essays both authenticity and humour, but it’s often hard to know what’s steering the story.

It makes for a tonally consistent movie, though one that fails to deliver on a deeper emotional level – arguably the element that elevated the franchise above its many clones. It's a shame, because the action really is brilliant, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu. Whoa.

More character study than comic book movie, and anchored by an Oscar-worthy Joaquin Phoenix, Joker is a bravura blockbuster that proves you don’t need superpowered scraps to dazzle.

A sparkling, enchanting new spin that out-swims the original, with a pitch-perfect performance from Halle Bailey.

Despite the leads’ chemistry, Carmen doesn’t manage to turn these sparks of brilliance into something bigger. The focus on dance over dialogue doesn't help a meandering plot that never feels like it’s getting anywhere. And while the Mexican/US border offers ripe context for political discourse, the script only scratches the thematic surface.

Apatow's return creates a pleasantly sprawling, perceptive study of mid-life angst that never lacks for laughs. Promoting Rudd and Mann from Knocked Up's margins to centre stage proves to be a shrewd move.

It’s hands-down Disney’s best and punchiest prequel yet, one whose playful perils make for a deliciously rowdy ride.

Tamer than the book and not as funny, this is Salmon filleted. But McGregor and Blunt make fetching lovebirds, while Kristin Scott Thomas is off the scale in a rare comic outing.

For all its garish aesthetics, sly feminism and wall-to-wall nudity, writer/director Anne Biller’s camp-com is almost too much of a good thing, outstaying its welcome at a paint-drying two hours.

It’s more of a table wine – inoffensive, middlebrow and, like the scenes of grape harvesting here, hard work.

Reynolds moves on from Green Lantern in Satrapi’s psycho-romp, pitched awkwardly between funny-haha and funny-peculiar, but blessed with enough style and smarts to merit a look.

The action’s passable and Gillan makes a decent fist of an underwritten character. Otherwise, this Jumanji makeover’s a losing game.

With a little money, a lot of innovation, and sweat-soaked stunt sequences backed by a thumping soundtrack, The Fast And The Furious reminds you just how exciting action cinema can be. It's everything that Gone In 60 Seconds should have been.

To The Wonder doesn’t quite live up to the sky-high expectations set by his earlier films. But it’s still a brave, soul-stirring and sensitive work.

This classy adap of a much-garlanded stage play will appeal to discerning audiences who can tolerate unpleasant characters with potty mouths if they're played by Oscar winners.

A mix of the intimate and cosmic that shoots for the stars. You’ll float… and sometimes bump back to earth.

Justin Lin gets the series back on track with Fast and Furious 9 by delving into the past while racing into the future. See it on the biggest, loudest screen possible.

Leagues ahead of Legacy but the weakest of the Matt Damon movies, Bourne still has the power to thrill. But it seems his story has run out of steam.

There is some doubt as to the facts of the story (isn’t there always, with Hollywood biopics?), and Longoria hardly shakes up the biopic formula. But the result is a tasty treat that will satisfy a thirst for entertainment.

As we watch Lee still encouraging ‘true believers’ well into his old age, it’s hard not to be moved.

This funny, touching adap of Shrabani Basu’s 2010 biography has its own chemistry, withering wit and unsentimental message of acceptance. A royal treat.

Park Chan-wook brings operatic finesse to generic material in his tight-wound, wickedly weird US debut. And Mia Wasikowska nails it.

Saluting both America's national pastime and its oldest working icon, Curve is a solid heart-tugger that plays with a straight bat when it comes to plot, character and message.

An uncomfortable fit for the Time's Up era.

Paul Giamatti shines as Theo’s pessimistic brother Chet, and the uplifting message never smashes you over the head.

Laugh-out-loud in places. Frustratingly flat in others. Sporadic giggles guaranteed. Fey and Poehler’s comic chemistry is undeniable; shame the script didn’t get a Liz Lemon rewrite.

Outrageous, outlandish and overboard, The Dictator will satisfy Cohen's army of fans. But it never feels as funny, full-on or fresh as "Borat" and "Brüno."

This is 007 in mid-story crisis; a festival of blaring action set-pieces propping up a scrappy script and undercooked characters.

Hits all the routine beats but is plenty entertaining, with Pacino rediscovering his enviable pizazz to headline a quality ensemble.

More "oooh… aaah" than "ho-ho-ho", ROTG is so full of yuletide razzmatazz that only true Scrooges will have trouble stomaching it. If only Santa's workshop had given the script more of a tinker...

No ray guns, no tentacular beasties, just gravitas in a film that goes boldly about its business but never quite lands.

Pioneer features underwater sequences so breathless they’ll thrill even James Cameron (director Erik Skjoldbjærg made the original Insomnia) but Petter’s truth-chasing is at times too frantic and melodramatic.

This stiffly scripted film never quite stirs the emotions.

Coherence croaks as Gout dishes enough jump-cuts, whip pans and slo-mo assassinations to make Michael Bay look restrained, but the multi-handed mood music offers meaty compensations.

Sweeping landscape shots and the reliable presence of Sergi López, here playing a scarred private investigator, can’t distract from the clichés of a particularly dim-witted script.

Though it dabbles with the horror of the Third Reich it never examines their worst atrocities ... And that perhaps, is too careless in today’s world of a rising far right and stealth dictatorships. But if you’re looking for giddy escapism, Bowie tunes and an unapologetic good time with a side order of remembrance for of WW2, then you’ll have as much fun as the cast clearly had making this.

With characters you care about – principally Teresa Palmer’s appealingly edgy, cliché-bucking Rebecca – and a poignant denouement, this is horror with guts as well as gore.

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

No prizes for guessing who ends up with whom, but the colourful retro designs and the leads’ sparkling chemistry help to Tipp-Ex over some of the predictability.

In a summer hardly starved of comic-book properties, this redundant extension of a series that ran out of gas a decade ago doesn't need a neuralyzer to be forgettable.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is credible as the former NSA contractor, but Stone gets side-tracked by his relationship with Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) and Rhys Ifans’ leering CIA suit.

Stylish and savage, but nothing you haven't seen before. Lawless is something of a blunt instrument but seductive nonetheless.

Some of the vibrancy has worn off but this Rock-solid sequel has enough giggles and gasps to attract herds of viewers.

Moana remains as compelling a protagonist as ever in her much-anticipated sequel, whilst her reunion with Maui showcases the wonderful voice talents of Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. There’s plenty to admire in the animation and rich mythology of the tale, but it rehashes many of the themes and plot points of the original leading to a fun but less vital movie.

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.

Denzel Washington is compelling in Robert McCall's swan song, but the story often falls flat.

Charming, spectacular, technically audacious… in short, everything you expect from a Peter Jackson movie. A feeling of familiarity does take hold in places, but this is an epically entertaining first course.

Initially promising, this Aussie weepie branches unconvincingly into magic realism, with symbolism so clunky it hampers Gainsbourg’s involving turn.

If buddy movies are your thing but Christmas flicks aren't, you'll enjoy this refreshingly edgy romp about three friends lost in the city full of hallucinogens and regrets.

It's slight, sure, and there's a better, less-glossy film buried in the material, but warm performances redeem Crowe's agreeable return.

Jarrold struggles to sweep things along with quite enough vigour – budget constraints crowd the edge of the frame – but Gadon is intoxicating as Elizabeth.

A terrific thrill ride. With Ford in fine form, Indy’s last stand is a highly satisfying blend of action, humour and emotion.

A darker and sadder Part 2 brings the story of Oz's witches to a moving close and cements Jon M. Chu's adaptation of Wicked as an absolute triumph. But, For Good suffers slightly from thinner source material and weak new songs.

A sweet-natured love story, well-intentioned, animated and acted, but lacking the depth of some of the studio’s greatest triumphs.

Occasionally potent but mostly risible, this tale of the occult sees Rob Zombie cast a weak spell. Disappointing.

Some will balk at Pinto's passivity, but Trishna again shows Winterbottom to be one of the few directors today who are liberated, rather than constricted, by classic literature.

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.

Over-ambitious perhaps, but Freyne’s intensely executed ‘infected’ fable packs tension, resonance, and clout.

Led by some fine performances, this is an impressive and intense example of how to adapt Stephen King.

Contrived attempts to 'explain' the film's many mysteries ultimately disappoint.

The World Is Not Enough is, without a doubt, a solidly entertaining chapter in the Bond franchise's chequered history. But while Apted fiddles with the format, this is far from an overhaul of the blueprint, and so lacks the whiff of freshness long-time fans may have been sniffing for.

Hardly the most original film of the year, but one of the most purely pleasurable. The ideal horror intro for fledgling genre fans – scary fun that definitely fills a hole.

Script and acting are flawless – but set beside Bertolucci’s glory years (The Conformist, Last Tango In Paris, Novecento) it all feels a bit slight.

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.

A grandiose Western based on the Johnson County War of 1892, when cattle barons brought in mercenaries to massacre immigrant settlers, it suffers badly from narrative incoherence. But there’s a grand romantic sweep to the action (enacted by a solid cast including Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken and Isabelle Huppert), the set-pieces are majestic and its disenchanted view of the American frontier myth still rings ominously true.

It's overlong and laboured in places, but worth a bite for the money-shot set-pieces. Plus... zombie tiger!

An Arab Spring-y allegory with kissing cousins and a divine countryside setting, Kevin Macdonald’s fourth narrative film is an awkward oddity, as uncomfortable in its own skin as its protagonist.

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.

Despite being as garish and manufactured as Perry's multi-coloured hair-don'ts, Part Of Me deserves kudos for allowing an element of unpredictability to intrude upon its tween exploitation and sugary vulgarity.

Exuberant when it’s in the ascendence but empty on the way back down, this well-crafted cock and balls story is – for the most part – filthy good fun.

Good performances, but it's difficult to give two hoots about Close's passion project when the story remains as pinched and hermetic as poor little Albert Nobbs himself.

The script keeps its gloves on but Gyllenhaal gives his all, notching up one of his very best performances.

It’s no Parenthood. It’s tonally messy. But Instant Family’s made with excellent intentions and chunks of it work.

Fast-paced, explosive, ultra-violent, the incredible action scenes will have you cheering from your sofa, sending the popcorn flying.

Hugely charming if somewhat cluttered, Burton’s horror-spiked YA freaks-and-a-geek fantasy proves a Home run for Asa Butterfield.

Following preparations for the Met’s 2015 exhibition ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’, this modest doc asks: can fashion be art? The answer is ambivalent.

Closer to Eli Roth than Sam Raimi, this brutal retread combines J-horror atmospherics with torture-porn kills. It’s more evisceration than invention but at least has the courage of its bloody-minded convictions.

Unashamedly absurd, wildly entertaining and face-achingly funny, Love And Thunder makes Ragnarok look like Bresson. Another classic Thor adventure.

The punning title is true; his bracing words narrated by admirers, Fuller’s amazing journey is lovingly honoured. Fuller Life, full of heart.