What’s it about?
When Harry Potter met Neverland. An orphan is spirited away to the magical Neverland where he meets Han Solo James Hook and embarks on an adventure of flight, fantasy and fairies.

What did we think?
Pan is oozing with over-the-top charm and is actually a good fun film but you’re left feeling it could – and should – have been so much more.

It’s whimsically wonderful, a visual feast that boasts an amazing cast and effects, using colour and contrast delightfully. But while the individual facets are impressive, it falls a little short in the story. Normally a slow-build is balanced by depth of character – but this doesn’t quite eventuate.

Take James Hook, who IS Han Solo (down to the American accent) with a bit of Indy thrown in. One of the dangers of the dreaded prequel is the unexplained tangents and here it feels particularly discordant.

What’s it about?
Based on the true story of a freak weather event in 1996 that lead to to several climbers’ deaths, the film follows two expeditions who attempted to make the summit of Everest, but were thwarted in their descent. Starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gylenhaal, Emily Watson, Josh Brolin and Keira Nightley.

What did we think?
Angela Young says: The word epic can, for once, be rightly used here. Director Baltasar Kormakur should be very proud of producing such a powerful, accurate and dignified memorial to those who lost their lives on the mountain that day. Strong, but not over dramatised performances (how refreshing!) from a superb cast, along with stunning visual effects, brought the hideous chill, frightening winds and sheer adrenalin mixed with fear pouring through the screen. Moving and enlightening (why the HELL do people want to do climb that thing??), you should see Everest – and preferably in 3D.

What’s it about?
When aliens misinterpret video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth in the form of the video games.

What did we think?
Amy Currie says: You know what’s a really good video game movie? Wreck-It Ralph. Wreck-It Ralph is funny, moving and has a plot that makes sense. Wreck-It Ralph isn’t confused about whether it’s supposed to be for children or adults. Wreck-It Ralph entertains both without resorting to recurring jokes about slut-seeking missiles. Nobody repeatedly screams ‘bitch’ in Wreck-It Ralph, and nobody receives an adoring scantily-clad warrior woman who never speaks as a (quite literal) trophy. No beloved video game characters urinate on themselves. In Wreck-It Ralph, the King of Queens is not the President of the United States.

Watch Wreck-It Ralph, watch the not-half-bad 2010 short film on which Pixels was based or watch the episode of Futurama with a similar alien-video-game-battle plot. Do not, under any circumstances, watch Pixels.

What’s it about?
A stoner – who is in fact a sleeper government agent – is marked as a liability and targeted for extermination. But he’s too well-trained and too high for them to handle.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Whoever thought that mashing a stoner film with an action movie obviously broke the rule about sampling their own product. What appears to be a kitschy trailer has unfortunately translated into an awkward, rambling and painful feature film devoid of any real depth. There are some laughs here and there but despite the amount of drugs there are no highs as it struggles to decide whether to go over the top or not.

Enjoy the trailer but don’t bother with the whole flick.

What’s it about?
A high schooler who makes deliberately terrible parody films with his friend is forced by his mother to spend time with a schoolmate who is dying of cancer.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: We have seen emotional teenage movies before but there is a freshness about the quirky Me, Earl and the Dying Girl that sets it somewhat apart. It utilises familiar tropes – high school cliques, unusual parental relationships, etc – and intertwines them with some genuinely funny and fresh perspectives. It’s incredibly engaging and, despite its strong manipulative nature, most people will leave deep in thought and with their heart on their sleeve. It asks questions of the viewer on how you would react to a life-threatening disease but subtly rather than in your face. And delivers a few unexpected gems that only add to the emotional stew. Well worth a look.

What’s it about?
An impossibly handsome down-on-his-luck twenty-something (Zac Efron) dreams of being a DJ, his thuggish friend dreams of getting in more fights, his drug-dealing friend dreams of getting rich, his dopey looking friend dreams of something better. They party a lot, Zac meets an impossibly good-looking chicky-babe, things go bad, things go good. PCP EDM 128 BPM HASHTAG What – WHAT?

What we thought
Stephen Scott says: like American beer, We Are Your Friends is fun, fairly lightweight, but has a good heart. The target audience will love it then promptly forget about it 5 seconds later.

Want more in-depth analysis? Consider #WAYF to be a 21C version of Plato’s Republic, The Lord of The Rings, heck, even The Bible: it’s a morality tale to help you understand and avoid life’s pitfalls. It’s a story for today’s teens, tweens and in-betweens: you’re probably never going to make it big, but hey, someone does, so why not give it a go? Oh, and drugs are awesome! Oh, and don’t do drugs.

Post-script: it must be a nightmare growing up amongst the perfect people in The Valley. Bulging biceps, shining pearly white teeth and jaw-droopingly-amazing how-do-they-defy-gravity-like-that hand-crafted boobies as far as the eye can see. Maybe that’s why they drink so much. And take so many drugs. Lots of drugs. So many drugs. Don’t do drugs.

What’s it about?
Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a pro boxer with a dodgy defence technique but a string of wins under his light heavyweight champion belts. When tragedy strikes his wife (Rachel McAdams) and daughter (Oona Laurence) and custody of his child is taken away, he has to fight to get his life – and career – back on track, with the help of a new, old school trainer (Forest Whitaker).

What did we think?
Angela says: Even though this film has a stellar cast who produce some stonking performances (special nods to Whitaker, McAdams and Laurence). Even though the fight scenes are horrendously, gruesomely well done (as one of those who finds boxing to be the epitome of human savagery, I had my face turned away for a third of the film). Even though I had a tear in my eye on more than one occasion. And even though it’s not actually the same storyline. This still feels like Rocky-lite. Sorry, but it does. It’s a good film but it won’t have Sly’ staying power.

What’s it about?

When Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) move from Chicago to Los Angeles to start a new life they encounter an old friend of Simon’s who takes a keen interest in their lives.

What did we think?

Nick says with strong, confident stylistic choices from director Joel Edgerton and great performances from all involved, especially Rebecca Hall, The Gift offers a well paced narrative and rising tension that starts from the minute one right up until the curtain closes.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) drives his wife (Christina Applegate) and children across the country to Wally World in an effort to bring them closer together.

WHAT DID WE THINK?

Dominic says yet another in the recent glut of rush-job studio comedies, although this one improves noticeably as it goes. It’s at its best when trying new ideas (e.g. a running joke with Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose”, copious cameos from modern comics) and not making obvious reference to the previous Vacation movies. Fun performances from Helms, Applegate and Chris Hemsworth as a randy Texan rancher can’t quite redeem the tired gags and flip-flopping tone.

What’s it about?

There’s this smart guy who’s rich and he figures out how to shrink to the size of an ant and then communicate with them, but he thinks it’s too powerful for the authorities until one day when he’s old he finds out someone else has figured it out so he ropes in a criminal to become … I’ve said too much.

What we thought

Stephen Scott says: In the grand tradition of Iron Man, Marvel have created a fantastic lol-filled adventure that exceeds your expectations. Fun and funny.

Hey, does Marvel have its own Genre category yet?