If the film isn’t quite as inventive as the game-changing horror that was Cabin in the Woods (which boasted Joss Whedon as co-scripter), it’s infused with affection and craft.

Director Amber Fares finds a frankly astounding subject for her first feature-length doc, using the story of a few brave sportswomen to shine a bright headlamp on lives lived under occupation.

The footage – discoveries made by the Allies in the liberated Nazi camps during 1945 – is graphic, terrible, unforgettable.

A short, sharp shock of a thriller that demonstrates the versatility and range of both Soderbergh and Foy.

Directed with straightforward economy, The Invisible War sheds much-needed light on a very dark secret.

Some metaphors score and some miss, but this is leap-of-faith cinema: the rewards entail some risks.

Sheridan directs as well as writes for the first time, and delivers a superb thriller with a powerful chill that gets in your bones. Smart, tense and soulful.

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.

Die Another Day simply blows the competition away. If you want excitement, laughs and pure sex appeal, remember one thing: Bond's really do have more fun.

Loud, ripe, violent, bloody and blackly funny, Free Fire cocks its gun right in your face. See it – and bring earplugs.

“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.