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.

With stunning visuals, a beautifully emotional story, and a delightful central bond between Ryan Gosling's Grace and Rocky the alien, Project Hail Mary is large-scale sci-fi with tons of heart.

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.

Loosely based on the 2001 game Silent Hill 2, Return to Silent Hill can be an atmospheric horror film with original creature designs worthy of Konami's legendary franchise. But a confusing plot, mediocre visual effects, and over-the-top acting might make director Christophe Gans' newest Silent Hill adaptation just as divisive as his first attempt 20 years ago.

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.

The most action-packed Avatar yet still has the capacity to dazzle, with Oona Chaplin's Varang turning up the heat. Even if a frustrating lack of resolution and some repetitive storytelling choices make this feel more like The Way of Water part 2.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Predator: Badlands may irk traditionalists, but it's a big swing that just about works. The odd-couple dynamic between Elle Fanning's busted synth and the more human Yautja adds laughs to the usual lacerations for a fun, propulsive, off-world action-adventure.

With a surprisingly effective romance at its centre, and a dynamic ensemble of characters, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc offers more than just visually impressive blood-and-guts spectacle, even if it isn’t able to land every beat of its self-contained story, with the next arc beckoning somewhere on the horizon.

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.

Paul Thomas Anderson's bravura comic satire is a serious film of the year contender, and one of the best studio movies in years. An instant classic.

Series veterans may rue the lack of certain supporting players (the hot-headed Inosuke is largely absent, while usual comic foil Zenitsu is all gritted teeth and gripped swords here) and the lack of levity may sting in a series renowned for its malleable tone and endless charm, but Infinity Castle achieves the impossible by roaring past Mugen Train as Demon Slayer's best adventure yet.

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.

The Long Walk is not for the faint of heart, but it is one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made, and one of the best dystopian sci-fi movies to hit the big screen in a really long time.

Cleaving closely to the source material, del Toro wants to explore the trauma that makes us, mankind's capacity for cruelty, the death we bring on ourselves through war, and the catharsis of forgiveness – all notions that make Frankenstein relevant in current world politics and social media savagery.

Overall, Cregger’s twisted fairytale is not only the best horror movie to come out of an already impressive year for the genre, but Weapons is a positively terrifying, heartwrenching look at a struggling community.

Fantastic Four may not be the confident stride Marvel fans were hoping for but, at the very least, it's a solid first step.

It may not be a perfect movie, but in a word, it’s pretty super.

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.

A lot of campy, silly fun, just like its predecessor, with a few plucky upgrades – just don't go looking for an incisive commentary on AI.

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.

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.

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.

Karate Kids: Legends is a classic story reimagined for the TikTok generation. Ben Wang is a fantastic lead, while Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio have fantastic chemistry – if only they had more screentime. One of the better installments in this mixed franchise.

The Final Reckoning brings both the Dead Reckoning storyline and the franchise as a whole to a satisfying close. As ever, Cruise is in peak condition, front and centre amid some looney stuntwork. If only his antagonist Gabriel was a more worthy opponent.

Uses all the tricks in the Final Destination book to weave an intricate thrill ride packed with jaw-dropping, gasp-inducing, laugh-out-loud moments of gory fatality. With its killer set pieces, blood-soaked spectacle and knowing nods, Bloodlines delivers a worthy addition to a well-loved horror franchise that should satisfy existing fans and garner new ones to boot.

Thunderbolts* is a refreshing offering from the MCU that takes plenty of big swings and only occasionally misses. The movie cares more about the characters and relationships on screen than the franchise at large, and that means we do too.

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.

Mickey 17 is funny and charming from the get-go, building out a fascinating sci-fi world from its central conceit that ends up speaking to powerful and timely concerns through humour, satire and exhilarating genre elements. Bong Joon-ho's best English movie to date and arguably Robert Pattinson's best movie ever.

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.

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep breathes fresh air into The Witcher's increasingly stale franchise. Anchored by a wonderful voice performance from Doug Cockle, small distracting details aren't enough to overwhelm a well-paced and enjoyable new adventure for Geralt of Rivia.

The Monkey might be a horror, but it's a laugh riot too, as Osgood Perkins offers up a plethora of inventively gruesome kills and some surprisingly profound ideas surrounding life and death.

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.

Leigh Whannell has done it again, bringing his talents back to the world of Universal monsters with a worthy update to another horror icon. With solid performances, impressive effects and well choreographed action, Wolf Man may be sappy in places but it wears its tragedy on its sleeve to heartrending effect and balances it out with plenty of scares.

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.

Nosferatu delivers a relatively straight re-telling of this classic gothic tale. It looks and sounds stunning and is packed with vampiric horror. It doesn't push many boundaries but if you wanted the classic Dracula narrative feeling exactly like it’s directed by Robert Eggers, you're going to love it.

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.

If you're a Wicked fan, it's hard to imagine you could want anything more from this thrillifying film adaptation. Ariana Grande's and Cynthia Erivo's performances as Glinda and Elphaba will have you defying gravity.

Not perfect and not a patch on the original film, but the magic of Ridley Scott's direction and Denzel Washington's performance elevates Gladiator 2 into the epic spectacle it needs to be. But best to manage your expectations in comparison to the Oscar-winning film.

Antonio Banderas chews scenery with varying results but Olivia Colman is pitch-perfect as the all-singing all-dancing Reverend Mother. Paddington's latest adventure may be the weakest of the films so far but it remains a total delight.

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.

A little baggy in places with its two-hours-plus runtime, and a touch convoluted too, Smile 2 is a visually impressive sequel with solid performances, an expanding lore, and some genuinely scary moments, making it a very successful follow-up to a recent horror favorite.

An impressively cinematic drama that fully immerses viewers in a time and place but offers links to our divided present.

Mielants, who brilliantly conjures a dank, oppressive mood (even a shot of childhood fave Danger Mouse on TV fails to lift the spirits) skilfully avoids any overwrought confrontations; the film’s understated power only grows as it goes on.

Pedro Almodóvar fans may be wrongfooted by the writer/director’s first full-length English-language feature, an atypically austere entry in his canon that’s nevertheless as vivid and haunting as much of his other work.

Timestalker has something to say about romantic obsession: like a teenager, Agnes is slow to learn from her mistake of idolizing an unsuitable pretty boy. It’s also a neat switch on gender norms in Hollywood comedies past, to which Lowe has fun paying tribute: the '80s will be familiar to fans of everything from Working Girl to Back to the Future.

The gleeful nastiness will be too much for many. Fans, meanwhile, will rejoice as Art wraps intestines around a Christmas tree like tinsel.

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

Compared to the average family-friendly animation, this is very much an upgrade.

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

It's a puzzler that holds the interest throughout the film, but there's plenty besides to enjoy, from Plaza's mysterious, comical appearances to Stella's candid chats with her friends – including West Side Story’s Maddie Ziegler as Ruthie – about life, relationships and everything.

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...

As impressive as [Berry] is, though, it’s the kids who shine brightest in a drama whose iron hold on the audience’s attention can withstand the odd dip into credulity-stretching implausibility.

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

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.

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.

The best horror remakes are not afraid to push the source material in new directions – exhibit a) The Thing; exhibit b) The Fly – and while Watkins’ movie is nowhere near the level of those masterpieces (few are), it’s shrewd, engrossing and pleasingly nasty.

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.

Tapping into the same rich vein of British folk horror the likes of 2015’s The Witch and 2022’s Enys Men mined so productively, Starve Acre roots its dread in a gloomy past that is mundane, real and tangible.

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

Touching rather than touchy-feely, it’s a high-stakes story with its fair share of fights, deaths and the jail-or-joy tensions of parole hearings. If it’s also a tad starry-eyed about drama as a cultural cure-all, Kwedar’s empathy for the life-battered inmates makes this a rare, graceful work.

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.

Underpinned by themes of language and identity, writer/director Rich Peppiatt’s rude, raucous film remixes music-movie clichés to Kneecap’s rebel tune with galvanizing verve. Tearing straight outta Belfast on barrelling beats, Kenneth Branagh it ain’t.

Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher) directs with a slow and steady hand, taking time to explore both Rona’s moments of solitude and those in which she encounters others.

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

Zoë Kravitz makes a phenomenal debut as director with this heightened, gripping thriller.

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.

Sharply observed with a top-notch cast and a pleasing old-school vibe, The Instigators is tremendously entertaining.

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 MCU’s self-appointed messiah might not have pulled off a complete course correction, but he delivers an action-packed, gag-stuffed crowdpleaser that gives the franchise a much needed lift. Jackman is worth his weight in adamantium.

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.

Evading easy categorisation, writer/director Jane Schoenbrun’s horror-hued follow-up to We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) can be read as a transgender allegory, one that compellingly explores the idea of being born into one existence, feeling you should be living a different one, but not knowing how to cross over to this other life where it seems you would be happier.

First-time writer/director Josh Margolin sharpens the film into a smart senior thriller, giving us tense geriatric POVs of the challenges that ensue (Thelma is seriously old, not the agile seventy-something of The G, another recent granny-get-your-gun outing).

Glen Powell’s whirlwind ascent continues in a film that does pretty much all you could ask for from a Twisters movie.

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

The horrors, like Cage himself, are largely kept off-screen for much of the movie’s duration. Yet with its eerie soundscape and sepulchral visuals, Longlegs nevertheless succeeds as a deeply disconcerting experience, one that burrows into the brain as insidiously as the innocuous means its villain employs to disseminate his evil.

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.

While it shares plenty of DNA with the first two films, it has its own distinct character. It's a compelling and moving watch.

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.