What’s it about?
When a little girl is stolen away by malevolent spirits, her family must band together to rescue her.

What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: This remake of the 1982 film has all the modern bells and whistles you’d expect, with computer-generated effects and new technology being used to try to ramp up the spook factor. The cast, including Sam Rockwell as the little girl’s father and Jared Harris as a grizzled paranormal investigator, deliver solidly amusing performances. But amusing isn’t really what horror is going for. On the whole, however, this flick is written and shot too blandly to be especially frightening or fun. Why remake a film if you can’t improve on the original?

What’s it about?
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a desk-bound CIA operative constantly in the ear of suave and in-the-field Bradley Fine (Jude Law). When he disappears, she gets in on the action to save the world from global disaster at the hands of a nasty Russian arms dealer.

What did we think?
Angela Young says: Let’s face it, McCarthy can do no wrong in comedy – especially when she’s permitted to swear outrageously. And there’s plenty here – it had me spitting out my drink on more than one occasion. F-bombs and even c-bombs rain down from above (some might say too many). Guffaw! The storyline’s the same American, crass crap, but it’s hilariously well done with superb one liner scattered throughout. Rose Byrne’s pretty good as a Russian bitch, and it’s fantastic to see loveable Brit Miranda Hart playing her typical endearing role. Allison Janney as the boss is a genius stroke of casting, too. Explosive laughs out loud virtually guaranteed.

What’s it about?
In this Oscar-nominated anthology of six darkly funny short stories, ordinary people carry out violent acts of revenge.

What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: Szifrón has created a compelling feature-length experience out of very different and surprising short films. Each one steadily increases in length and scale, but is also completely self-contained, so the whole film flies by but you’ll be picking your favourites as you leave the theatre. It’s a fun, classy and bloody affair that you should go into knowing as little about as possible.

What’s it about?
Max escapes a post-apocalyptic cult and ends up unlikely allies with a group of fellow escapees. Explosions and car chases ensue.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Gloriously insane or  insanely glorious? To be honest it’s both. I am gobsmacked. In a quite simplistic plot, Miller has taken some huge risks but they have all paid off. Females who are strong characters in their own right. Over-the-top interpretations of religion and in-movie soundtrack guitars and drums. Very little dialogue. Any and all of these could have gone wrong but it’s all part of an escalation of action and adrenalin that leaves you breathless. It’s brutal, unrelenting and so much fun. Are there some problems? Yes. Do I care? No.

If all movies were like this I would never sleep again.

What’s it about?
On VE night, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret actually managed to escape Buckingham Palace for a night of incognito celebration.  A Royal Night Out tells how the evening might have unfolded.

What did we think?
Amy Currie says:  Too soon.  No, really.  I’m embarrassingly fond of the Queen, and I hope she lives forever.  On the offchance that she doesn’t, though, they should remake this film in about 30 years.  Perhaps then they could actually commit to a silly, caricatured romp instead of a confused series of mishaps surrounding a saintly, duty-bound Princess entirely devoid of character flaw.  It’s certainly a fun premise, but the painfully respectful depiction of Her Maj just doesn’t gel with the otherwise broad-strokes approach.  It’s ridiculously incongruous – Princess Margaret (Bel Powley, an absolute standout) is mistaken for a prostitute and bundled into a wheelbarrow, but when Elizabeth chastely kisses a new friend goodbye the camera discretely pans away as if director Julian Jarrold was afraid of being hung for treason.  Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) does her best with what she’s given, but A Royal Night Out would have been miles better for a little affectionate teasing.

What’s it about?
Our favourite plucky female a capella group is back! But are they looking to life after college or maintaining their now-established high standards? A suspension following a wardrobe malfunction may acca-lerate their fate…

What did we think?
Generally sequels develop the depth of characterisation but the follow-up to the delightful Pitch Perfect chooses to instead make the characters more two-dimensional. Oddly it works.What do we get? A dumbing down of Beca (the lovely Ana Kendrick) and Chloe (Brittany Snow). More Fat Amy and more Lilly (Hana Mae Lee’s kooky Korean). Political Incorrectness galore. More songs. A bigger (and better) riff-off. Over the top jokes that range from sly to outright sexist and racist. On paper it sounds a bad idea but in the cinema it was toe-tapping and almost non-stop LOLling. And I mean actually laughing out loud even as your mind is scolding you for laughing at the highly inappropriate one liners. With wonderful singing, genuine laughs and a savvy approach to directly appealing to its target demographic, PP2 will be met with acca-citement from the fanbase. As I left the preview screening dozens of teenage girls were already animatedely talking about plans to see it again when it is released later this week (May 7 in Australia).

What’s it about?
Caleb is a bright young coder who wins a company wide lottery that has him spending a week at his celebrity boss’s mountain retreat. On arrival it is revealed that his role is to interview an Artificial Intelligence program in a beautiful body.

What we thought
Dan says: There is an almost immediate menace in this film that never stops. This slow burning thriller crept relentlessly forward, always keeping me delighted. The ‘car-chase brigade’ may find it plodding but for those with some patience they’ll be rewarded in spades.

The visuals are impressive. Imagine the Portal video-game come to life but GladOS is much, much cuter. Each carefully considered pause contains a screen full of delicate engineering ticking away at the seams of this flirtatious droid.

You won’t be able to look away, which is good training for the oncoming robot apocalypse.

What’s it about?
A group of high school friends are Skyping when a guest enters the conversation: Laura Barns, a classmate who committed suicide a year ago.

What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: The entire movie takes place in real time on one of the character’s computer desktop screens, and it makes smart cinematic use of familiar images from that environment. Less smart is the story, whose characters become hard to like at all as they are forced to answer for their transgressions. Their constant screaming and crying feels like seeing the “Leave Britney Alone” video play in several open windows, but the film they’re in is enough of a fun novelty to be worth checking out.

What’s it about?
Marvel’s superhero team reunites to fight an AI determined to destroy the world. Did I mention they created it too?

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: The Avengers sequel is a grand spectacle featuring amazing fight scenes and lots of adventure and for most people that will be enough. The CGI and one liners are strong enough to overshadow some poor characterisation (the inter-team tension is incredibly same-same and a smug sarcasm is way too prevalent) and a subplot featuring darkest fears that is both cliched and actually goes nowhere. Thankfully grater emphasis on the lesser characters and the delightful voicing of Ultron by James Spader help you gloss over the negatives and you can just enjoy this fast-paced action flick for the fun romp it is.

What’s it about?
An adaptation of the World War One memoir of Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander), an Oxford student whose life is thrown into disarray upon the enlistment of her fiance Roland Leighton (Kit Harrington) and brother Edward (Taron Egerton).

What did we think?
Dominic Barlow says: The Theory of Everything might have gobbled up Oscar nominations earlier this year, but this is easily the superior historical British romance. It uses a tender love story to portray the personal damage done by a dark time in human history. With a fine cast and finer visuals, it’s a devastating, moving and inspiring piece of work.