Kaka

It's the same thing over and over again, only with family values coming more to the fore, as well as clearly defined characters and more humour, especially provided by Michael Peña. If there's anything new to talk about here, it's the central character's perks, as the visual antics are carefully staged and the zooming in and out is handled in a brilliant, dynamic, and entertaining way. Sadly, though, Peyton Reed is otherwise pretty much a routine man, because a script this leaky can't be in a movie with any ambition, and that goes for Marvel's save-the-world movies as well.

Those sincere romantic characters and broad smiles will make Julia Roberts immortal. Hugh Grant may have long since abandoned his roles as shy but smart blokes, but he fits Notting Hill perfectly. It's the perfect blend of unobtrusive humour, decent emotion and, surprisingly, no shortage of British charm as a spice – apparently London does its own thing here. Plus, there's an irresistible 1990s feel, when it was all still for real. In hindsight, it's admittedly romantic as hell, and Roberts is a celebrity in the film with almost too many correct values and choices, but if you are not a sourpuss, it will be impossible not to like it.

Joel Edgerton has made a smarter film than could have been expected. Great psychology and plasticity of characters, excellent situational scenes and fantastic actors without exception. Pity about the literal twist, which is impressive but still too explicit. Had it been more open and just hinted at, it could have been one of the highlights of the year, as the subliminally unsettling tension of something evil and unspoken is felt even through the screen.

A notch down in quality after Rush, of course, but you wouldn’t have expected otherwise with this slow historical tale. Howard knows how to get the sea atmosphere right, and he knows how to work with a generous production design. Pity about the CGI, is not only artificial at first glance (it almost always is), but also not very pretty to watch. But the treatment of the original story is generally on par, and unlike its contemporary on the same level, Bridge of Spies, also occupying cinemas, this film has a lot more life, personality and emotion. Roque Baños will be the new Hans Zimmer in a few years.

A film with a testimonial value that is much more than how it actually entertains and enriches the end viewer. At the same time, though, it's typical Spielberg of the last decade. That is to say, smart, honest, with less verve than before, less original and groundbreaking, but also, nonchalantly academic, with accurately rendered period realities of Berlin and an overall magnificent production design (for that money!). It also knows how to play with characters (a reliable Hanks, a fantastic Rylance) and those wordless Kaminski details (the last scene) – something that can be called a constant for a very long time. A safe bet. It’s not bad, but nothing to write home about, either.

A flat out USA vs Russia fight, set in far away Siberia. Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins are great and the action scenes are brilliantly edited. Terrible crap with no logic, but if you skip everything else, that ring is pretty much worth it.

Nowadays it's flat, but in its day it was a very conscious social satire in an unapologetically attractive take on bank robbery. It's incredible how films have swelled and got incredibly big inwardly over the past few decades. Here, the would-be subtle digressions into gay sexuality and political shenanigans are so blatant and simple in hindsight that it doesn't quite hold the viewer's attention, and when they do it is with a considerable smirk. Sidney Lumet can't be denied a certain authenticity and, more importantly, an effort to make everything fit together perfectly. One thing, however, hasn't changed at all in all that time until today: Al Pacino's acting.

A worthy ending. It doesn't make it into the cinematic benchmarks due to its relative emotional flatness, incompleteness and fairytale-ness (ironically, Lord of the Rings is exactly the opposite), but the filmmaking is top-notch and Katniss Everdeen is the driving force behind the whole project, even if the long glances are often unnecessary and the impassioned dialogue isn't exactly heartfelt. Even though I hadn’t read the book, I guessed the finale a good halfway through the film, but it plays to a clearly written plot from the start, where nothing is meant to be a coincidence and everything is clearly working towards a goal. It's not about the element of surprise, it's about liking this fictional world and the characters in it, and childishly rooting for the rebels against the tyrant. Visually, of course, it's appropriately fluffy and it pretty much feels like a war movie with the backdrop of a destroyed Yugoslavia, but whatever. There's not much going on anyway, and the two great scenes (the oil, the sound of drops in the canal) are great to enjoy in the cinema.

A fantastically portrayed atmosphere of New York in the 1970s with all the afros and the smoking, but, in terms of script, the film almost fails, because things get going only in the last 10 minutes. The rest is just a bar crawl with long shots with no editing, where the camera atypically flits around a bar trying to authentically portray the world of the time. Scorsese's start, De Niro's awesome performance.

The Other Woman is dull crap and a waste of time. What's most disappointing is that it was made by an otherwise brilliant and sensitive director of emotional flicks like The Notebook or My Sisters Keeper.