What’s it about?
A “from the headlines” flick in which Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to expose corrupt authority figures through their site WikiLeaks. As the secrets they uncover become more portentous, the company mission statement begins to blur.

 What did we think?
Elizabeth says: Firstly, let me say, Cumberbatch’s insanely accurate Aussie accent is a wonder to behold. Now that’s out of the way, this film has a very Social Network feel to it: borderline-Asperger’s genius has idea for company, partners with a like-minded tech whiz, hits the big time, gets a bigger ego, gets paranoid every time partner is credited alongside him, fires partner, looks like an asshole. Does it bring anything new to the table? Not really. Is it interesting? Sort of, if you haven’t already watched the whole drama over the news.

What’s it about?
After his wife Ellie passes, 86-year-old Irving Zisman’s (Johnny Knoxville) quest for a new, prime “piece of tail” is invigorated.  This dream is short lived when he’s forced to deliver his grandson Billy to his father after Billy’s junkie mum is jailed.  Queue the precocious kid/dirty old man road trip.

What did we think?
Elodie says: You would think that taking a small Jackass skit, adding a scripted storyline and combining it with the traditional Jackass hidden-camera pranks to make a full length movie would fail big time, but it doesn’t.  This movie is not for the faint hearted or those who would despise a dude dressing up as an old man for shits and giggles. Bad Grandpa is crude, it’s daring, but most of all it’s hilarious!

What’s it about?
A middle-aged divorcee (Julia Louis Dreyfus) wrestles with the many relationships in her life and discovers that experience is a very different thing to wisdom.

What did we think?
Dan says: This delightfully funny film captures the heart of real relationship trials and tribulations. Imagine that you and your friends were slightly funnier than you are when you’re drunk and that you had a chance to do a second draft of everything you said and you’d almost have this film.
Story buffs will leave feeling unsatisfied but the real meat is in the relationships and the interplay between this extremely talented ensemble doing what they do best.

What’s it about?
After rescuing his son Dalton from the spirit world called “The Further”, Josh Lambert is suspected of the murder of family friend and spiritual guide Elise Rainier. But it appears the ghostly woman who once haunted Josh as a child may have returned to the real world with him with a deathly agenda.

What did we think?
Hilary says: For Halloween this year, I watched Insidious (1) to prepare for this sequel and thank god I did. Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up right where the first left off and hops back and forth between the two films towards the end, with little explanation about crucial elements such as “The Further” from the first film, which could turn fear into frustration. While a little slow to get going, I ultimately found Chapter 2 a more complex, stronger and scarier film than the previous one. The full return of the cast (including the excellent Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) was a definite win for famous Aussie writers James Wan and Leigh Whannell, of Saw fame.

What it’s about:
Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Oscar winner George Clooney) and medical engineer Dr Ryan Stone (Oscar winner Sandra Bullock) on her first shuttle mission must help each other to survive after speeding debris from an exploded Russian satellite leaves them adrift in space.

What did we think:
Hilary says: If you have always wanted to visit outer space, seeing Gravity is probably as close as you are going to get to the real thing, such is the spectacular nature of its visuals and effects. The seat-grabbingly tense moments are well dispersed throughout this compact, 90-minute thriller, filling in for a fairly lightweight plot and lackluster script. Director Alfonso Cuaron has made a film that feels unlike any space movie that has come before it, and if you only catch one blockbuster at the cinema this year, Gravity should be it – preferably in all its 3D glory.

What’s it about?
An ethically shady young college boy gets the offer of a lifetime when he’s employed by a big shot casino owner. Richie (Justin Timberlake) soon discovers that in order to become the world’s biggest douchebag he must first learn from the master (Ben Affleck).

What did we think?
Dan says:  This film presents itself as a very clever mathematical thriller stirring memories of The Bank (2001) but every time there’s a clever bit they skip ahead to the bikini girls and the brooding ex-pop star. If you threw James Bond into this film it would be a great Bond Film but that’s because you’d be watching James Bond.

Timberlake puts in a solid performance but the pacing is slightly off and the romance unconvincing. Ben Affleck never manages to come across as villainous. He gives the impression that he’s about to wink at the camera and then run off and high five Kevin Smith.

You won’t be bored in the process of this film failing to make a lasting impact.

What’s it about?
Generic action schmo John McClane – sorry, John Cale (Channing Tatum) – is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time: the White House, on a tour with his daughter, when terrorists take over. It’s Die Hard with a President.

What did we think?
Ben says: You’ve seen Die Hard, right? Siege. Guns. Explosions. Wisecracks. Singlet-clad hero plays cat-and-mouse with baddies, keeping in touch with the world outside through walkie-talkie chats with a fellow law-abiding rebel who’s been told by superiors to go home. Head terrorist has fearsome and unhinged machinegun-happy lieutenant. Bespectacled tech geek terrorist cracks security while a Beethoven symphony plays. There’s a bit where John hides on top of an elevator; there’s a part when gung-ho helicopter dudes are shooting at John on the roof, mistaking him for a terrorist. There’s barefoot stuff; there’s a scene where a shard of glass is being removed painfully while the characters take a moment to reflect. Anyway, all that went down in that other movie. I can’t remember a thing about this one.

What’s it about? 
A New York teenager (Lily Collins) recovers memories that open her eyes to a supernatural world mere ‘’mundane’’ mortals can’t see, dragging her into a centuries-long battle between good, evil and everything in between.

What did we think?
Lisa says: This is the latest in the line of supernatural teen romance flicks aimed at the post-Twilight audience – and yes, it’s also based on a popular book series. Fortunately, it stacks up pretty well against Twilight and others of its ilk with a stronger plot, less angst, better special effects, some great action sequences and a prettier, much more charismatic cast who exhibit actual chemistry. Established actors Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lena Headey and Jared Harris add authority to the film, which is well-paced and easy to watch. BUT, while the movie is a vast improvement on others in its genre, it’s still a supernatural teen romance flick. Recommended for fans of the original books, and those with a weakness for the genre, like me.

What’s it about?
A girl becoming a woman finds that her father has become a corpse. A stranger arrives and turns into her creepy uncle while her mother again turns into the bottle. Skittish old ladies know more they they are letting on and a tiny key doesn’t have a lock. Oh, so much gothic whimsy I want to cake my face in pancake and wear black and white polkadots!

What did we think?
Dan says: Every shot in this film is a piece of art unto itself. Like the cinematographer saw the surgical perfection of Nicole Kidman’s new face and felt he had to up his game. Everything has had so much care put into it you feel that Chekov’s guns are being loaded at every moment.

Sadly, in the third act many of them misfire wildly. The dramatic reveal is that the film turns out to be much less interesting than it set out to be. It’s not Poison Ivy (1992) but it feels like it would get played at the same movie marathon.

What’s it about?
Nebbish high-schooler Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has sparked a masked-vigilante craze as Kick-Ass. But wannabe supervillain Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is still fuming over the death of his criminal dad at Kick-Ass’s hands (and bazooka). Orphaned freshman Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz) is kicking street-thug butt as spunky lone-wolf Hit Girl but her adolescence is fast blooming and catty teen bitches are much tougher to crack than crooks.

What did we think?
Ben says: OK, so it’s teenage Watchmen meets Mean Girls, with McLovin’ in emo. Like its tighter prequel, this hyperactive comic-book adaption is laden with irony (no lumbering Christopher Nolan-esque existential brooding here), with crunching ultra-violence erupting often and hilarious X-rated dialogue that would have Tarantino blushing. Bonus points: The naughty c-word is not just said but spelt out on screen; a hulking Russian she-woman wreaks carnage as a remix of the Tetris theme plays; and it’s a modern superhero flick in which NO SKYSCRAPERS TOPPLE. Halle-motherf’n-lujah to that.