This (will’o-the-)wisp of a film is a beauty depending on the eye of the beholder; frustratingly slender yet with moments of profundity.

As glossy as any of the surfaces that Alice polishes so diligently each day, it’s a feminist film that asks viewers to evaluate their own social complicity in oppression, while not skimping on really great costumes, gorgeous cars or horny sex scenes.

Quibbles and conversation starters aside, The Whale is Aronofsky's kindest work to date, a film that asks its audience to practice acceptance, understanding, empathy, and forgiveness.

Though it’s not Schrader’s finest work and requires political leaps of faith that can be compared to American History X and could be called simplistic, Master Gardener is still an auteur operating at the top of the league.

McDonagh’s latest is a worthy In Bruges reunion: smart, funny, deeply felt.

Clever, violent, and wicked, with a fabulously unhinged turn from Goth, West’s period psycho tale truly does have the X Factor.

Nodding to Badlands, Natural Born Killers, My Own Private Idaho, even The Lost Boys, Bones And All is as interested in loneliness, connection, self-identity, and fiscal invisibility as compulsion. Who misses the murdered if they don’t ‘exist’? And what adolescent hasn’t felt the creeping dread that their needs or bodies are out of step with society?

Recalling the likes of All About Eve and Amadeus, TÁR asks pertinent questions about cancel culture, artistic integrity and gender, while also providing a primer on orchestral politics and musical history.

Though ambitious and visually stunning (gorgeous cracked deserts, beautiful beaches, houses filled with sand), it’s willfully elusive and unwieldy to the point of frustrating.

Like marriage, White Noise might not be exactly what most expect going in… but there’s fun to be had in the many surprises it throws your way.

For his part, Trachtenberg has resolved how to give the Yautja its due. Best post-Arnie Predator variant? Undoubtedly. Best Predator movie per se? Tough call, but trust this: Prey gets the job done.

Ending up in a CG mess that tries to say something about karma, Bullet Train isn’t the Pulp Fiction on rails it thinks it is. What it is, though, is a whole dollop of fun. Buoyed by Leitch’s expert eye for action as well as one of the most hilariously disposable A-list casts around, the film has Friday night written all over it.

Peele is three for three. You’ll spill out into the night jawing with your friends and gazing at the stars.

Favoring charisma over character, this action-espionage thriller hangs lots of action – some solid, some ace – on a threadbare plot.

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

Andy’s favourite sci-fi movie won’t be yours. But it’s a fun adventure with animation that sucks your eyeballs from their sockets.

In narrowing his film’s field of activity, director Colin Trevorrow dispiritingly winds up reducing it to the tried, the tested, and the numbingly familiar.

It has an unpredictability that keeps you on your toes and a bitter pathos that gives every laugh (of which there are many) a note of tragic despair.

Guileless performances, understated direction and bucolic Belgian scenery combine to create a quiet gem of a film.

Reichardt and Williams reunite to muted effect to create a portrait of an artist that feels a little unfinished.

At two hours and change Hunt definitely outstays its welcome, while it’s disappointing Lee has room for only two notable female characters. If you are up for some robust, relentless, blood-splattered mayhem, though, it’s well worth hunting down when it makes its way into cinemas.

The toe-tapping beats of this full-throated biopic will be familiar in more ways than one but Baz Luhrmann, like Elvis, knows how to put on a great show. Butler’s Best Actor chatter starts here.

Unconventional, almost to a fault, Brett Morgen’s impressionistic, experiential Bowie documentary is an electrifying oddity.

Sex, violence and surgery: the king of body horror is back, but the script could do with a scalpel.

A master filmmaker mines cinema’s glamorous past in a nostalgic neo-noir you don’t so much watch as surrender to.

An intense and gripping dramatization that, a few liberties apart, does justice to a disturbing true story.

The director of The Square gives a new shape a whirl with hilarious, scathing and sometimes jaw-dropping results.

George Miller combines myth, magic, and romance to mixed effect in a visually dazzling adult fairytale starring a committed Swinton and Elba.

Atlantic cod and oyster beds provide a pungent backdrop for this effective fillet of atmospheric psychological drama.

It’s a sensitive, sweet, frequently heartbreaking trip through deeply personal history, but there’s no getting round the fact that Gray had what most might consider a fairly typical childhood.

One of the smartest zom-coms in recent memory gets a faithful French remake, but it's too well made to convince as the ultra-low budget schlock its aping.

No cynicism, just on-point sentiment and scintillating set-pieces. Top Gun: Maverick scores a direct hit on its twin targets of nostalgia and adrenaline.

Come for the wild ideas, stay for the warm wisdom in the Daniels’ heartfelt carnival of chaos. Yeoh aces every curveball.

Garland’s bold, original version of what horror can be when it swaps tired old tropes for visceral, visionary thrills is an absolute game-changer.

Despite a handful of high points and Raimi flourishes, Strange’s second solo film rarely feels like the best possible outcome of this confluence of director and character.

Star power swings to the rescue of a breezy romantic adventure that sticks to charted territory. Tatum fans will go weak at the Nees’ use of their hero.

A truly distinctive epic, blending brutal violence, powerhouse performances and otherworldly imagery into its volcanic rampage of revenge. Unmissable.

Despite the well-honed wizarding credentials of Yates and co-scripters Steve Kloves and Rowling, the series still can’t seem to settle on a hero. Let’s hope that the prospective next two helpings can unravel whether it’s Newt’s beast-fuelled journey or Dumbledore’s quest with which we’re hitching a ride.

After pretty much inventing the modern-day comedy drama, Judd Apatow here gets frivolous, to patchy effect.

Morbius may be a living vampire, but this supervillain origin story is dead on arrival. A rote, lifeless and cynical attempt to expand Sony’s Spidey-Verse.

Despite some missteps, SEGA’s videogame mascot proves his previous movie was no flash in the pan.

It’s a bonkers, ballistic, brain-numbing ride.

Debut director Mimi Cave and screenwriter Lauren Kahn maintain a sure grip over the tonal shifts, ensuring the messages don’t drown out the entertainment factor.

Ripples in time create holes in the plot, but Reynolds and his younger self patch over the missing piece with incredibly watchable charisma.

An intergenerational family drama, a search for self, and a big, bouncy comedy sure to entertain.

A gripping, grimy and sensational street-level detective story, the Dark Knight’s triumphant return is exactly the fresh start needed after a decade of diminishing returns.

With plenty of potential and a door swung wide open for a future sequel, Uncharted makes a decent play for filling an Indy-shaped hole in the movie market right now. But the series will need to beef up its reserves of charm and swagger to be in the same league as cinema’s favorite archaeologist.

A glossy, undemanding confection that doesn’t make waves, but shouldn’t be given a wide berth either.

Between hidden depths and dazzling surfaces, home truths and virtual wonders, Hosoda’s tale of teenage anguish, connectivity and emotional salvation enraptures.

Jackass Forever has laughs and thrills and will goose your nostalgia, but it’s like a modern-day Rolling Stones gig – the hits are replayed but satisfaction is elusive.

Here, the working-class milieu invites imagination, adventure, and camaraderie rather than a Ken Loach-style crushing of hope, while a climactic confrontation on divided streets is framed like a thrilling showdown in a black-hat-vs.-white-hat western. But it is the child’s- eye view, the wit, and the generosity of spirit on show that elevate Branagh’s Belfast.

Cruel and elegant, del Toro’s nightmares remain worlds apart from the pack.

The stalk ‘n’ slash sequences, though decent, can’t match Craven’s mastery of mood and mechanics, but the new guys understand that Scream movies are sick as well as slick.

The cast commit, but The 355 is no lucky number for Kinberg, who only delivers diminished returns on spy-thriller genre conventions.

Forget what you think you know… The Matrix Resurrections is a twisty metanarrative anchored by a love story for the ages.

A thoroughbred origin story and rollicking good adventure in one, led by an excellent Ralph Fiennes. It’s a hoot.

Though delightful in places, the third entry in Sony’s third Spider-Man cycle feels both overstocked and underwhelming.

Performances pop as Earth gets the chop, with US politics, big business and social media going up in flames.

Spielberg lovingly restages the classic musical – but while the songs still soar, it feels more indulgent than essential.

True, it has a tendency to meander and lands Last Night in Soho’s Thomasin McKenzie with an underwritten role. But at its heart is a brooding Cumberbatch, offering one of the shrewdest performances of his career. The Road’s Smit-McPhee also impresses, especially as his character grows more important in the film’s final, unexpected third.

It’s not great Scott, but House Of Gucci still offers a fine excuse to vicariously experience the lifestyles of the rich and shameless.

Recasting studio formula in fresh, dazzling shapes and shades, Encanto is high-tier modern Disney.

Trumpeted by Netflix as a ‘new-school western’, The Harder They Fall in fact takes the staples of old-school westerns (bandits, bank jobs, train robberies, rowdy taverns, shootouts) but blends them all together in a manner that feels fresh and vibrant.

Tom Hanks, his dog and a robot charm in a post-apocalyptic road movie assembled with care and a light touch.

The leads deliver to order in this flimsy but playful frolic. A tankful of banter keeps the engine ticking nicely.

Lacking Snyder’s directorial dab hand, Army of Thieves is still a fun heist movie that makes an already likeable character even better.

Chloé Zhao gives the MCU just the kick in the pants it needs at this phase in its evolution.

Some entertaining bicker-banter, but you may feel like Venom craving human heads: undernourished and angsty for what could’ve been.

Warm, witty and full of wonder, Afterlife reanimates a franchise without spitting on its grave.

Even a disappointing villain can’t detract from a bold, satisfying climax to Daniel Craig’s time in the tux.

Violent, gripping, darkly funny and deeply human… everything, in other words, you’d expect from a Sopranos story.

Scott’s usual scope and scale meet unreliable narrators for a thought-provoking tale of systematic abuse. In a classy cast, Comer shines brightest.

Green delivers a smart, sturdy second chapter. Low consequence, perhaps, but still highly entertaining.

A lot of thrilling, dazzling, sometimes frightening fun.

An astounding spectacle, vast in scale and ambition. Prepare to have your breath snatched away.

Sharp social commentary and slick genre trappings make for thought-provoking entertainment, even if it never entirely hooks you.

Marvel’s Phase Four makes up for lost time with an origin story that richly entertains when it’s not pushing boundaries.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is better than Netflix’s live-action series. While it’s by no means perfect, it hints at a smart evolution of a franchise that’s learned the right lessons from Geralt’s debut. It’s scarier, slightly more focused, and feels like a living, breathing world – monsters and all.

The film falters mostly with its disappointingly one-note female characters ... It’s a shame, for Reminiscence has some impressive ingredients floating around in its murky mix.

Warm and witty, Free Guy is expertly crafted disposable fun. And right now, that feels essential.

Task Force X has the X factor in James Gunn’s lively, funny, and very bloody improvement on a DC disappointment.

An action vehicle that, in trying to do it all, does a little too much; Johnson and Blunt keep it afloat.

An intriguing concept is executed frustratingly poorly. On the Shyamalan spectrum, it’s more The Happening than Unbreakable.

It’s no slam dunk for King James in a reprise that shows you can only spread Space Jam so far.

Another work that could really only come from Anderson’s relentless imagination: exquisite detail, eclectic storylines, superb cast.

Damon’s sturdy presence just about holds it together, while Breslin shows some impressive chops as the daughter who is too aware of his failings to see him as her saviour. By the end, though, the still waters McCarthy seeks to navigate don’t run deep so much as dry – a consequence, you suspect, of trying to cram too many genres into one star vehicle.

There’s a lack of genuine emotional heft, not helped by some clunky dialogue (lines like "we are literally living on borrowed time"). But what the film really misses, amid several ear-splitting, CG-heavy alien-attack set-pieces, is humour.

A popcorn-friendly horror romp, Fear Street is a colorful addition to Netflix’s catalogue.

Natasha Romanoff’s long overdue solo movie delivers action and emotion in a rousing addendum to Scar-Jo’s stellar MCU story.

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.

Something of a companion piece to the superior Finding Nemo, this is one of Pixar’s weaker efforts but still worth catching.

The sticking point for some will be the bone-crunching violence, of which there’s A LOT. But if you can stomach that, then this ticks that dumb-fun summer-movie box nicely.

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

Better than The Conjuring 2 and most of the Annabelles, this latest entry gives some zip to a stumbling franchise.

Between Simmonds’ superb lead, the suspense, the slivers of hope, A Quiet Place Part II is worth making a noise for. Just pipe down in the cinema.

As much as Oygen pulls you along in the moment, it doesn’t leave you with anything that’ll particularly linger.

Classy work from director and cast, but an anti-climactic second half doesn’t quite knit together the incident and intrigue.

That a formula as well-trodden as Saw’s can still surprise, delight, and make you feel like you need a quick shower after is impressive.