What’s it about? 
Tony (Jim Broadbent) leads a reclusive, curmudgeonly existence until a letter from his past resurfaces and forces him to confront his flawed recollections of his past in the film adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Prize-winning novel.

What’s it about?
A bunch of people meet in a warehouse for a weapons deal. Shots are fired and shit gets real in real time.

What did we think? 
Elizabeth Best says: Ever wanted to skip the beginning boring part of a movie and get right to the climax? Free Fire is ALL CLIMAX; an hour and a half of gangsters shooting the shit out of each other, on a claustrophobic set. It’s tense, it’s exciting, it’s even gross in bits. It has a touch of the Reservoir Dogs about it except without the flashbacks. Only thing is, the flashbacks (ironically) are what move the story forwards and without them, the bullet fatigue eventually sets in. The concept is truly kick-ass, it’s just a shame they didn’t do a bit more with it.

What’s it about?
A trio of teenagers are kidnapped and imprisoned by a brilliant but strange man with ambiguous motives. Also, it’s an M. Night Shyamalan film, so, you know, take that as you will.

What we thought
Dan Beeston says:If there’s one thing M. Night does well, it is suspense. The problem is that there is always a sword of Damocles distracting you from being in the moment. That notion that you’re waiting for ‘The Twist™’. Ignore that. Split is not ‘The 6th Sense’. It’s just a scary and interesting story told well.

It’s also one where you can’t trust the reviewer’s experience. I can tell that some people will get a lot more out of this than I did and some people will be left frustrated. Ironically, I expect ‘Split’ to be divisive.

What’s it about?
An all american teen boy finds a strange creature that uses his old truck as a hermit crab shell that allows him locomotion at high speeds.

What we thought
Dan Beeston says: This conceit is so absurd that I expected a collision of poorly thought out reasons for shonky car chases. What I did not expect was a kids adventure story that rivals Spielburgian classics like ET and the Goonies. Every story element meshes together beautifully. Characters are beautifully realised and I found myself chuckling through the entire film.

This film also manages to add something new and fresh to the tired (no pun intended) trope of the car chase.

What’s it about?
When a spaceship malfunctions, two passengers on a 120-year voyage to a new home planet wake up from their sleep state 90 years too early.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: Take a sci-fi flick, throw in some romance, a few major (and kind of messed up) ethical dilemmas, and a healthy dose of tension and you have a movie that will almost certainly promote robust discussion of that “what would you do?” variety after the credits roll. In what seems to be a trend in movies these days, the trailer for Passengers is a little misleading. Without spoiling things, the premise of this movie is a LOT darker than we are led to believe.

What’s it about?
An aspiring actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) meet and fall in love in Los Angeles, musical style.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: La La Land is simultaneously a loving homage to the golden age of cinema and completely uncharted filmic territory; nostalgic and new all at once. It delivers the feelings of falling in love in a heady, melodic rush that’s absolutely captivating. It channels films such as Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris while navigating the modern pitfalls of romance. But it’s so caught up in the quirky and magical “newness” of its concept that towards the middle it seems to rely solely on that. Unfortunately, this means the pacing feels at odds with the gloriousness of the rest of the film. But the magic returns for a finale guaranteed to take your breath away.

What’s it about?
An advertising executive (Will Smith) totally shuts down when tragedy strikes. His “concerned” friends (Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Michael Pena) try to help when he starts questioning the universe and writing letters to the concept of Time, Death and Love.

What did we think?
Elizabeth Best says: The intriguing trailer for this film is a lie. The concept, so artfully set up in the preview, is destroyed minutes into the film, creating a jarring effect that leaves a bitter, mean-spirited aftertaste. Collateral Beauty is emotionally manipulative, and seems to be created specifically to tug so fucking hard on heartstrings that it makes some kind of discordant non-musical cacophony of awfulness. It’s a movie purely about emotions that feels like it was made by someone who doesn’t understand how to human AT ALL. It gets two stars for what I thought the concept was, and the rest of the three taken off for what the actual movie robbed me of.

What’s it about?
A condemned man is rescued to take part in an experiment that allows him to connect to his ancestor’s memories using science… What? Really? How on Earth does that even…? Okay, Fine. That’s the story.

What we thought
Dan Beeston says:
I’m not sure if it was a problem with the mix but the film was SO LOUD that I felt flattened. The images flash by like they’re trying to cure Malcolm McDowell of his violent tendencies. No character seems sympathetic or even interesting. The story makes no sense. This film made me feel like a grandfather trying to program a VCR at a rave concert. The experience was a physical torture and I had to walk out after an hour.

Fuck this film

What’s it about?
A Polynesian princess yearns for the open sea and when her island begins to die she embraces the opportunity to seek out the help of the demigod Maui and insist that he return the heart of the world.

What we thought
Dan says:
The stories of ancient tribal cultures tend to get lost in the flash and glitz of 21st century storytelling but Disney have a lot of skill redrafting ‘olde tales’. Moana is exceptional cinema. Lavish scenes, vibrant heartfelt characters and joyous songs combine in that Disney style to share the tales of another whole new world.

Like all of the Disney products there is a sprinkling of shoehorned emotional moments that could have hit the cutting room floor but in total it’s entirely satisfying. I’m still humming the songs and counting down the days until it opens and I can see it again.