Despite the warmongering title, focusing on the action would be doing The Battle Of The Five Armies a disservice. Even at its most talky, it's compelling stuff, reaping the rewards of characters built-up over two-and-a-bit movies (sometimes more), all of them flawed and with a convincing agenda.

It ebbs away at the climax, but there’s 45 minutes where it sings loud and strange.

With a large supporting cast and rapid gag-rate, ingredients are generous. But with no real plot to bind them, the pile-up of chaotic chases, repeat-on you leek puns and noisy dust-ups gradually kills the appetite.

Watching these famous monsters share the screen for the first time since 1963’s King Kong Vs. Godzilla, in a series of expertly choreographed battles, packs real wallop, even if you can’t help wishing that screen was 30ft high at your local cinema.

Taste and laughs are in equally slim supply in Jennifer Lawrence’s latest, from which only her fresh-faced co-star emerges untarnished.

Don’t overlook this spiritual sequel to "The Shining." But don’t expect it get close to Kubrick’s original, either.

Despite top-notch visuals and versatile voice-work from Ty Burrell’s (Modern Family) doting doggy dad and Alison Janney’s monstrous social worker, it lacks the "Up"-style warmth to be best in show.

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.

[A] memorable, conventional account of a true maverick.

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.

A warm, witty and welcome return – intelligently evolved and an absolute hoot. As Bridget would say: ‘v.good’.

Pixar’s least essential franchise gets back on track with a polished but disposable threequel.

It’s Carry On Up The Catwalk with TV’s favourite fashionistas. The perfect girl’s night out for the Mamma Mia crowd.

Savages is punishing in places, but there are enough colourful characters and careening twists to make it worth the effort.

Writer/directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s debut explores over-familiar territory and suffers from fiercely ponderous pacing.

Blurring the fiction/documentary lines (it features non-professional actors), it’s spiced with eccentricities.

Forgive the blasts of nu-metal. Forget the blunted satire. And allow for the obligatory, they-have-our-blessing cameos. This, as Snyder puts it, is Dawn Of The Dead on "steroids". And it's a blast.

Jurassic World is a fiendishly crafted blockbuster: old-fashioned thrills, heroism and romance, locked inside a smart, self-aware shell.

Delivers as a Friday-night actioner, with some smart moves and good banter. Smith and Lawrence are on crackerjack form.

Kingsley essays both authenticity and humour, but it’s often hard to know what’s steering the story.

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.

More character study than comic book movie, and anchored by an Oscar-worthy Joaquin Phoenix, Joker is a bravura blockbuster that proves you don’t need superpowered scraps to dazzle.

A sparkling, enchanting new spin that out-swims the original, with a pitch-perfect performance from Halle Bailey.

Despite the leads’ chemistry, Carmen doesn’t manage to turn these sparks of brilliance into something bigger. The focus on dance over dialogue doesn't help a meandering plot that never feels like it’s getting anywhere. And while the Mexican/US border offers ripe context for political discourse, the script only scratches the thematic surface.

Apatow's return creates a pleasantly sprawling, perceptive study of mid-life angst that never lacks for laughs. Promoting Rudd and Mann from Knocked Up's margins to centre stage proves to be a shrewd move.

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

Tamer than the book and not as funny, this is Salmon filleted. But McGregor and Blunt make fetching lovebirds, while Kristin Scott Thomas is off the scale in a rare comic outing.

For all its garish aesthetics, sly feminism and wall-to-wall nudity, writer/director Anne Biller’s camp-com is almost too much of a good thing, outstaying its welcome at a paint-drying two hours.