“Ever since I discovered art,” laments one participant, “this cell has truly become a prison.”

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

This strikingly original feelgood fable is artfully balanced between director Kim Mordaunt’s roots in documentary and a spellbinding magic realism.

A modest, moving film, Rosewater goes to show that quiet outrage can speak as loud as any atrocity.

It might not venture into the unknown, but Raya takes spirited wing.

A low-budget, highconcept WTF thriller that might have been conceived by Rod Serling in the heyday of his Twilight Zone series. Spread the word.

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.

Dudok de Wit and Ghibli have birthed a pan-continental marvel: a fable-cum-fantasy of a life adrift, aching with tender beauty and awed by nature’s extremes.

A deliciously silly, spoofy tale of the 60s battle for breakfast domination, filled with high-fructose fun.

A timely look at a fight to be heard – in the boardroom or the press – that’s elegant without being electric.

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.

Sun, sex, psychosis, skinny-dipping: it sounds like genre tat, but Guiraudie’s dark, droll study of a risky attraction upends expectations. It plays by stealth, but its sly grip is sure.

Theron is astonishingly good, giving a subtle, vanity-free performance.

It may lack the ingenuity of their finest outings, but this is Pixar’s best film in ages. Visually splendid, frequently emotional and culturally nourishing.

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.

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

The film reveals how patriarchal values clash with the desires of its female characters to lead more emancipated lives.

Zootropolis is a witty, creative and entertaining romp with literally endless sequel potential and the biggest collection of four-legged critters this side of Noah.

A brutal army thriller that feels like the truth, thanks to take-no-prisoners storytelling and a tell-no-lies performance from Jack O’Connell.

A brief cameo from producer Benedict Cumberbatch provides some additional mid-film star wattage. Yet who needs it when you have Comer, a force of nature to rival any city-swamping deluge?

It’s great to see a gritty girl-gang story that’s not a fingerwagging cautionary tale, or a grrrlpower fantasy. Sciamma finishes her coming-of-age trilogy on a high note.

So what if director Charles Walters settles for mimicking George Cukor's set-ups shot for shot - he still deserves a fat slap on the back for flawlessly shoehorning in a half-dozen belting Cole Porter numbers.

Friedkin's unflinching trailer-park noir features ugly characters, game performances, degradation and the obscene abuse of a chicken drumstick. Highly recommended, then.

A bold, entertaining riot that captures the manic energy of its lead character and ushers in a gang you’ll want to join.

The powerful, vanity-free performances are the real thing in this bittersweet biopic.

Chastain and Sarsgaard make a riveting duo in a film that – like Franco’s Tim Roth double Chronic and Sundown before it – is in no great hurry to elucidate its mysteries.

Bloom’s an extraordinary character, expertly played, and we gradually move from admiring her chutzpah to genuinely caring what happens to her.

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

Taking Lorius’ own incredible expedition footage and giving it a whimsical bent and a voiceover, Jacquet shapes a powerful portrait of the world and its soothsayer.

Original, engrossing and extremely confrontational, The Tribe treads the dark path between misery porn and masterpiece.

Devoid of the ultra-violence so often associated with Korean cinema, Poetry is quiet and unhurried, making its portrait of social bleakness all the more impactful.

Mackenzie goes western in satisfying style, while Bridges, Pine and Foster bring true grit to Sheridan’s tight script.

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

While the style seems familiar, the material feels fresh: a testament not only to how Nichols lovingly crafts a fictional story around the photos Danny Lyon took for his seminal 1968 book The Bikeriders, but also to the flesh his actors put on the bones of the archetypes who populate it.

In Soderbergh’s self-aware hands, it’s a character-centric, director-driven, genre-savvy invitation to take pleasure in a job well orchestrated, right up to a judicious closing shot that leaves you wanting to linger awhile with its motley crew.

Wan has fashioned a nitro-fuelled thrill-ride that forms a fitting tribute to its blue-eyed bro.

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.

Smart, funny and emotional, Lady Bird is a Trojan horse movie – sneaking its way into hearts and minds via well-worn tropes.

Jennifer Lawrence shines once again in a fitting send-off for cinema’s best YA franchise. The hefty action and high stakes outweigh any shortcomings.

Subtexts about grief and revenge help anchor the plot, though the more decisive clincher is Lowe’s guiding imprint – a mix of scathing vernacular wit and genre savvy.

Cleverly making the most of the quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD dynamics of most horror films, the sound is the real star.

Amalric jigsaws the pieces, conjuring a taut, tense air of Chabrol as he does.

All the elements of a modern Hitchcock-style murder mystery are brilliantly handled, while the sort of tricks usually deployed to misdirect the audience are intelligently positioned to draw us deeper into Mima's tortured psyche until fantasy blurs into deadly reality. The result is a smart, innovative and gut-wrenchingly disturbing film.

A simple, slight but delightful slice of life à la Leigh, with some heart-stoppingly committed performances and genuinely moving moments. It won't set the world on fire, but will smoulder in your brain long after you've left the cinema.

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

With a riveting portrayal by Cumberbatch at its heart, The Fifth Estate tells its story grippingly - but finally leaves us none the wiser.

This is an acutely observed, well-judged, and original take on a popular genre. That it’s also a directorial debut is extremely impressive.

Not as groundbreaking as the original, nor as expansive as all the best sequels are. But with some excellent cast additions, and Miller on murky form, this still sizzles to the touch.

The Death of Stalin review: "A frighteningly funny satire that finds humour in historical horror"

Christian Bale outstrips all his previous transformations.

A slice of raggedy realism with ultra-naturalistic performances.

An accomplished and classy follow-up to A Star is Born then, and one that proves Cooper is more than a one-hit wonder. But as an examination of artistic temperament, sexual voracity, and the patient women who love conductors, Maestro’s thunder has been stolen to a degree by Tár.

With largely improvised dialogue and a cast including genuine ex-offenders, Chapiron captures a powerful stench of authenticity.

Its relentless pot shots at war, religion and just about everything else making it more controlled chaos than movie.

Shot on digital video with a non-professional cast, Lovely Rita intelligently conveys the stifling nature of Rita's home and educational environments, and benefits from refusing to spell out character motivations. Newcomer Osika's subtle and often wordless central performance, meanwhile, seals the film's success.

All in all, Bond 18 is an impressive, entertainingly uproarious spy thriller, with a pinch of Goldfinger charm, an oasis of impossible stunts, gorgeous women and throw-away one-liners. Great stuff.

The result? An accomplished, bittersweet drama that's more bitter than sweet.

A superlative slice of ’70s social realism.

A rigorously detailed telling of an important story that never loses sight of the human devastation. Terrific turns from the ensemble cast.

Like Tonya on the ice, this vicious black comedy is lean, mean and hard to take your eyes off.

Driven by a committed turn from Witherspoon, Jean-Marc Vallée confirms himself as the go-to director for triumph-over-adversity character studies.

An absorbing thriller that favours vivid characters, profound ideas and Old Testament morals over propulsive plotting and set-pieces. With lots of blood.

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

Stone and Carell ace it in this smart biopic, stylishly recreating the champ-vs-clown clash of the tennis titans that electrified ’70s America.

Gyllenhaal is sensational headlining a pitch-black satire with its finger on the pulse.

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.

For all its bleak edges, The Angels’ Share warms like a sip of the good stuff.

The drifty, dream-punctuated second half might puzzle younger kids, though its universal themes and visual gags are perfectly all-ages appropriate. As is the film’s sweet, un-snarky tone, free from sly Futurama satire or Bojack Horseman raunch.

As a portrait of a privileged, narcissistic sex addict, its magnificence and messiness are intertwined, while Gérard Depardieu’s (literally) naked performance offers a gurning, grunting bedfellow to Keitel’s Bad Lieutenant and Brando’s butterfat Last Tango In Paris protagonist.

Adventurer, narcissist or both? Marshall Curry’s riveting study of a momma’s boy turned freedom fighter never editorialises, leaving us to decide.

Don't overlook this film. It doesn't have the must-see pull of a Mars Attacks! or a Fierce Creatures, but it's a fine, convincingly played drama, and a superlative adaptation of Mr Miller's play. (Married to Marilyn Monroe, he was. Makes you think...)

With Streep on grandstanding form and Grant given a rare chance to show his range, this is an intelligent dramedy that moves and amuses.

Vikander brings fresh emotional weight to the familiar scenario of WW1 grief, ensuring that this mostly avoids the traps of dull, dutiful heritage cinema.

As we’re steered from nightmares to raptures, the mix of horror, sci-fi, puberty fable and gender-twisting perhaps strains the narrative. But two certainties hold: it’ll stick with you, and Hadžihalilovic is in total command of her evolution.

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

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.

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.

From multi-talented Belgian/Canadian duo Dominique Abel and his partner Fiona Gordon comes a slice of light-hearted whimsy.

This is a chilling portrayal of a deeply unsympathetic protagonist.

Furious, relevant, and funny as hell.

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

An innovative genre blend that overcomes its bagginess thanks to sharp character comedy and a wildly appealing central dynamic.

Like "Martha Marcy May Marlene," this lo-fi psychodrama reaps the benefits of a mesmerising female lead, only this time as cult leader not disciple. Marling continues to impress.

With it comes admission into a stunning world of majesty and savagery; shame about the overbearing Philip Glass score.

McCullin emerges in David and Jacqui Morris’ accomplished film full of integrity, dignity and empathy.

Sure, the core tale of personal redemption is standard stuff but Zak Hilditch’s breathless, batshit-crazy thriller tears through orgies, mass suicides and murderous rampages to conclude on a scene as moving and terrifying as the climax of Melancholia. Hold on tight.

That rare breed of blockbuster that emphasises character over spectacle and slow-burn tension over relentless action sequences, Godzilla rewards patience with strong performances and sparing, spine-tingling set-pieces.

A low-key charmer, this lovingly-crafted, melancholic movie is a big, comforting hug of a film.

Gray’s technique is effective, catching the moment one Indian scientist, Yusuf Hamied, stood up and got the moral ball rolling.

Gomez-Rejon’s sardonic yet sensitive story of geek friendship is the best YA illness novel adap yet. And yes, you can stick that on the poster.

Midsommar features a standout performance from Florence Pugh and an expertly assembled atmosphere of dread, even if its lacks the propulsion and all-consuming terror of Hereditary.

With Moss’ brilliance in full view, Whannell’s taut exercise in suspense gives Universal’s monsters a jolt of life.

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.

If the result is unlikely to leave audiences bawling, it’s still a well-observed study of life and loss.

Breakfast At Tiffany's still exerts an enduring charm, not least because of the poise and waif-like beauty of the bewitching Hepburn. [Review of re-release]

Famuyiwa’s teen pic mixes a cocktail of crowd-pleasing vim and political punch, lent charm and conviction by Moore – a star in the making.

If this isn’t the biggest tearjerker of 2017 we’re in for a distressing year. A truly, ahem, tree-mendous fantasy.

Squeezing every drop of tension from wet-ink recent history, Phillips only falters when making its protagonists mouthpieces in a broader geopolitical debate. Otherwise, it’s full steam ahead to the Oscars.