Andersson’s movie reveals poetic ironies, surreal slapstick and melancholy truths, often all wrapped up together.

Carruth’s furiously elusive second film skirts the line between nonsense and near-masterpiece, like Terrence Malick filleting "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind."

Warm, witty, and occasionally wild, Waititi’s bush-bonding romp is a kind, generous-spirited winner.

An all-too-familiar story is told with empathy and vigour in a film arguing for tolerance, activism and change.

Drawing on their traditions of oral storytelling, it’s lushly photographed and costumed, plus dreamily confusing, yet it vividly brings a past to life.

A deeply affecting and intimate tale that rings right through the nerve-ends.

It’s the filmic equivalent of a Penn and Teller magic trick: amaze, show the mechanics, amaze again.

The details ring true and the performances smart in Mackenzie’s prison movie. You wouldn’t meet Jack O’Connell’s tasty glare in a boozer, but try taking your eyes off him here.

This franchise is never happy to cruise - and M:I 7 goes all-out. It judders at times, but when it delivers, it delivers big time.

The armageddon-through-beer-goggles approach brings the chuckles, but The World’s End stands up as a great example of the genre it ribs. Nostalgic, bittersweet and very, very funny.

The low-key tone and casual pacing create an atmosphere akin to a fly-on-the-wall doc, while a nuanced moral conflict builds through the plight of the title character.

The finale, as Ai's Twitter tirades lead to a serious human-rights breach, will make your blood boil.

Two immensely enjoyable central performances and some of the best race sequences yet filmed fuel an otherwise standard sports movie.

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is as irreverently funny as 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie. And, like Spider-Verse, it has a unique visual style that rewards close inspection.

Russell follows "The Fighter" with a softer, soapier family dysfunction drama, lightly comic enough to make for palatable Friday-night viewing. As its nutty lovebirds, Cooper and Lawrence save Playbook from the director's surprisingly mundane impulses.

Nia DaCosta turns things up to 11 with an energized take on the 28 Years Later world. Come for the gore but stay for the surprisingly frequent jokes and a pair of astonishing performances from Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell, whose sadistic Jimmy Crystal is utterly hateful but always compelling.

Tarr risks self-parody with recurring scenes of the pair tucking into scalding potatoes, but if you've got the stomach for it this is an intoxicating vision of life at the end of its tether.

Devastating and uplifting in equal measure, this emotionally draining film makes good on Shults’ early promise.

It’s not iconic sci-fi to match Alien or Blade Runner but it is a topical, supremely crafted, intelligent, heartfelt spectacle with gallows humour to die for. Strap yourself in.

By swapping gaudy satire for introspection (without losing any of the franchise's trademark flamboyance), Wake Up Dead Man brings Knives Out back to its roots and makes for a sequel that's almost on a par with the original.

Crucially, while there’s plenty here that fans of the famously enigmatic pair may be learning for the first time thanks to Wright’s exhaustive access, it’s a documentary that doubles as an accessible, breezy introduction to a band you may never have heard of, and a springboard to further explore their celebrated back catalogue.

Arrietty’s craft and charm will invite universal acclaim.

It's perfectly possible to like the title character of Lauren Greenfield's documentary – Jackie Siegel – while detesting everything she represents: grotesque financial inequality, jaw-dropping ignorance and appalling bad taste.

Expertly shifting between present and past , writer-director Denis Villeneuve displays an impressive command of his material, patiently building up to an emotionally explosive climax.

Be sure to make family time for Bird’s flawed but dazzling sequel. “Superheroes suck,” says Violet. No, they most certainly don’t.

This moving docu-portrait of former NFL player Steve Gleason’s battle with motor neurone disease is as much heartrending home video as it is awareness-raiser.

Bond 21 is refreshed yet faithful, any grumbles easily quashed by Craig's powerful presence. The suit fits. And he wears it well.

A 25th anniversary restoration of Giuseppe Tornatore’s ode to moving pictures and puppy love.

Sublime and stupendous. Beautiful, bold and remarkably executed, this is Gray’s masterpiece, driven by a career-best turn from Pitt.

Don’t worry, baby: Pohlad’s biopic is reverent, duly, but also rich, clever, warm and sensitive. Banks and Giamatti provide anchor, Cusack impresses and Dano surfs to glory.

As noble as his ideals are, watching a series of interminably lengthy conversations inside a car makes for stultifying viewing. And the abrupt ending, which highlights the fictional nature of the whole enterprise, is mystifying.

A Hidden Life is the most soulful war movie since "The Thin Red Line": elegiac, emotional and exquisitely shot. Malick’s back!

An impressive study of guilt, responsibility and the bad things that happen to good people.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not perfect nor could it ever be. But for every niggle...there are 10 things that are exactly right, and it says much that no one will leave disappointed despite going in with hysterical levels of expectation.

John McNaughton's movie manages to go beyond the disquieting, distressing or even disturbing. It's downright dismaying.

Who let the dogs out? This is Homeward Bound: The Incredibly Harrowing Journey, with the feelgood payoff arriving after many feel-shit sequences. Well worth it, though.

As The Palaces Burn ends up as gripping and unexpectedly moving as anything John Grisham’s ever scribbled.

It’s a relief to discover that the Lady Bird/Little Women director’s tale of a dress-up doll is profound, silly, moving, smart, existential and, to use Ken’s word, SUBLIME! (shout this (K)energetically, please).

Boasting great music cues, vivid 35mm lensing (by, of all people, Avatar actor Giovanni Ribisi, who here makes his classy debut as director of photography), and engaging gender politics that establish Mollner’s interest in more than just the thrill of the chase, Strange Darling is a slick game of cat and mouse.

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.

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.

For those seeking comfort, kindness and a sense of cherishing in a turbulent world that seems to reward cruelty over caring, A Beautiful Day will be cinematic balm. Surrender to it and bring tissues.

A timely, gut-wrenching but ultimately hopeful work.

Strickland’s nuanced, atmospheric, ambiguous movie transcends genre.

Too slow for the mainstream, perhaps, this presents a disgusted worldview thats painstakingly plausible, however much we may wish differently.

Not the promised insider’s peek but Assayas and Binoche are still a potent combo, nailing the fragility of an actress facing the ageing process.

Some will find Camille too self-absorbed, yet writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve (Father Of My Children) conjures poignancy, grace and a feel for symbolic seasonal change that's positively Renoir-esque.

Benson and Moorhead’s sophisticated sci-fi/horror features minimal SFX but more ideas than a TED talk. Uncanny, and uncannily good.

With its slow tracking shots, complete disregard for edited narrative and endless baaing and whistling, it’ll either bore you to tears or hypnotise you with its weird Herzogian beauty.

So damn charming it makes your heart twinkle like Redford's eyes.

A superbly detailed account of a notorious miscarriage of justice and how it was gradually unravelled. It's a tad overlong, but the passion, skill and revelations on display will captivate you.

The great thing about Arabian Nights is that if one story isn't to your liking, another pops up, so the decision to give this tale a feature-length running time is perplexing. But quibbles aside, this is daring, magical filmmaking.

Their wry, odd-couple chemistry is comfortingly familiar, but kept fresh by an insouciant realism that deftly avoids exotic cliché.

Wonderfully whimsical children’s fantasy about a young boy’s journey through the space-time continuum in the company of six cantankerous dwarves.

Arduous yet always absorbing, Cristian Mungiu’s first full-length feature since 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days is inspired by a real-life case of a tragically botched exorcism in rural Romania.

Aided by committed, awards-ready performance, The Sessions transforms 'taboo' subject matter into a humorous, humane and uncomplicated pleasure.

After 30 years of gestation, Mank emerges one of the great films on the machinations of Hollywood

A feel-good charmer with an important message, Pride will have you clutching your sides, wiping your eyes and punching the air in triumph.

A sombre crimer that resists easy thrills, investing instead in grit, intelligence and complex characterisation.

Doesn’t have the heft of Zodiac or the verve of Se7en but Gone Girl is a masterful adaptation and a superior crime-thriller. As for Fincher changing the ending… See for yourself.

Dear everyone – stop whatever you’re doing and go see Dear White People. One of the freshest, funniest and most vital films of the year.

Madness and death hang over Herzog’s Wagner-scored vision like a black cloud, while Kinski adds much poignancy to Dracula, the lonely immortal.

Scorsese blends his twin religions of Catholicism and cinema to considerable effect.

Part Two is an inarguable marvel technically, almost leaving its Oscar-grade predecessor for dust.

Part war story, part endurance test, this harrowing portrait of a young boy’s loss of innocence is gripping, gruelling, grown-up fare. That said, some judicious trimming wouldn’t have hurt.

Refusing to become a cautionary tale, How to Have Sex explores the pitfalls as well as the pleasures of teen-holiday hook-ups; it also brings an admirably fresh, female POV to the subject of sexual consent.

A loving, very funny valentine to undead pleasures, with Swinton and Hiddleston on top form.

Powerful drama, driven by a powerhouse performance, Selma is this year’s Lincoln. For Oyelowo and DuVernay, it’s a career changer.

Is Furiosa as magnificent as Fury Road? No, though not because it’s the first Mad Max movie without Max, whose absence barely registers. At 140 minutes minus credits, it’s a touch unwieldy, while its lament for the inevitability of war and the emptiness of revenge feels hollow given the giddy excitement it stirs from just these things. But what can’t be disputed is that Miller, the Mad genius, has done it again, once more refusing to simply repeat himself and instead choosing to kick up dust rather than gather it as he forges a new path through the Wasteland in often spectacular fashion.

This blend of tongue-in-cheek exoticism and desire so strong it makes crocodiles melancholic amply rewards your patience.

Not quite the intimate parable of the first movie nor a balls-to-the-wall battlefield extravaganza, Dawn is pitched somewhere in the middle, with much of its two hour-plus running time powered by the simmering, expertly sustained tension both between and within the two species.

Riotously told and enthusiastically performed, Hustlers is hugely entertaining. Edgy, provocative and full of ker-ching

A riot of saturated colour and delirious imagination, Ang Lee's adap radiates spirituality. But it's also a simple, thrilling and gently uplifting tale of a boy, a boat and a tiger. Take the plunge.

MacKay is marvellous, delivering lines with a Lear-like intensity, in what becomes a fascinating meditation on myth and madness.

Denzel Washington and Viola Davis excel in a well-crafted drama that’s sure to bring the late August Wilson’s words to a much wider audience.

Keep The Lights On feels lopsided in its focus on Erik, with Paul remaining a strangely remote object of the former's romantic devotion.

The resulting pickle may seem alien to many, but Yaron’s navigation of Shira’s struggles make it tangible.

Korean maestro Bong Joon-ho’s (The Host) playfully off-kilter Hitchcockian thriller refuses to play by genre rules, stir-frying slow-burn menace and Freudian drama into unpredictable combinations.

The tale is better than the telling – and the soundtrack's better still – but music this monumental demands its moment. Now go and buy the album.

The blend of stunning music and innovative visuals make this a true festival of the senses.

It suffers an abrupt ending and, compared to the creativity displayed in Coppola’s other biopic, Marie Antoinette, is a more muted affair.

A rich rumination on the immortal link between artist and subject.

Romance doggy style, beautifully drawn by the best animators Disney could muster in 1955, and a true classic.

A gutsy, first-rate, full-blooded ghost story, as elegant as it is eerie and brilliantly realised. Blending terror with tenderness, Guillermo Del Toro has crafted something both traditional and original: a sun-kissed gothic horror.

Assured, adult filmmaking from a writer/director who knows her way around the ups and downs of relationships.

It’s heartening to find Fox so fearlessly unhumbled by his condition and the mobility problems that come with it. One of the star’s stipulations before consenting to this film was that it would have "no violins". By its end you’ll be happy to give him the whole flipping orchestra.

A Different Man is in essence a meta-movie, one that cunningly examines issues surrounding beauty and artistic creation.

Twists and betrayals add spice to a familiar cat-and-mouse tale, while director Kim Jee-woon handles spectacle and drama with equal aplomb.

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.

The performances keep us engaged.

It’s a triumph of design, offering a creepy twist on such classic monsters as living dolls, the mummy and, in particular, the golem of Jewish folklore, a large clay figure that can be brought to life to do its creator’s bidding...

The film strips away ideas of heroism mercilessly.

A touching tribute interweaves with tough storytelling.

The one-liners are in evidence but this is more abrasive than you might expect. Blends rigour and vigour to join "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and "Midnight In Paris" as the best of late-period Woody.

Based on a true story, it’s directed with beautiful, painterly restraint by Anne Fontaine (best known for pretty pieces such as Gemma Bovery), who lets powerful performances by Agata Buzek (as a nun of faltering faith), and fearsome abbess Agata Kulesza power the story.

An uncompromisingly bleak slow burn, it leaves the pulse frantic and nerves frayed.

It's clear Wassung and Trachtenberg just get it. Somehow, they're able to push the sci-fi envelope and offer up fresh images and ideas the series has yet to see, while also appealing to diehard fans with Easter eggs.

A full-on fourquel whose attempts to up the action ante yield frequently blistering results.