It doesn’t matter if there are carollers outside, or if

it’s slap bang in the middle of the hottest summer,

there’s always time for Die Hard. The quintessential

action movie of well, ever, sees Bruce Willis trade in

his sitcom origins for a dirty vest and a Beretta.

New York cop John Mcclane’s (Willis), holiday

season is about to get a whole lot worse. When

Alan Rickman and his band of not-so-merry men

shoot their way into an LA skyscraper and hold the

partying office workers hostage, Mcclane happens

to find himself in the wrong place at the right time.

Leader of this German ‘terrorist’ group, Hans Gruber,

is not just my favourite Rickman role (dodgy accent

aside) but perhaps the greatest villain in Hollywood

history.

Director John McTiernan, fresh off of the surprise

hit Predator, delivers this masterclass in tension

and set-piece action only a year later, making Willis

a household name in the process. A myriad of

copycats, including four sequels(!), over the years

did little to dilute the impact the original had, and

still has to this day, thirty years later. (Jack Whiting)

One Christmas Eve a small baby at an orphanage crawls into Santa’s bag of toys… only to be accidentally carried back to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. Although he is raised to be an elf, as he grows to be ten times bigger than everyone else it becomes clear that Buddy (Ferrell) will never truly fit into the elf world. One Christmas, Buddy finally decides to find his real family, and sets off for New York City to track down his roots, but soon finds himself as much an outsider there as back at the North Pole. In fact, everyone in New York seems to have forgotten the true spirit of Christmas. So Buddy takes it upon himself to win over his family, realise his destiny, and save Christmas. Another family delight with Will Ferrell gangling in every direction to make the whole film into fabulous chaos. Very silly and very funny, somehow his antics get funnier every year. Don’t dare miss this fabulously silly Christmas treat in this stop-start year on a huge elfin screen - that lives on, while all around it… the grown-up corporate gainsayers, fall apart. Not gloating just green.

Welcome to our 17th anniversary Christmas, with the same old irresistible film we’ve been showing since the Rex re-opened in December 2004. It was a flop at the box office when it first appeared in 1946. After the war, the USA celebrated the brave new world with fashion, cars and fridges. We had bomb-sites, functional clothes, cold water, rations, war debts and the grey 1950’s but with essential, fabulous and much missed old City trams in every corner of Britain. Accidentally, it became essential TV viewing in the UK during the mid 70s, hence a new part of Christmas itself. You couldn’t see it at the cinema until independents got it re-released nineteen years ago. Now thanks to the BFI, this beautifully restored digital copy, is here again at the hand-restored Rex (and Odyssey) for Christmas 2019. Our cinemamatic Christmas would not now be the same without Clarence (angel 2nd class) showing George Bailey how terrible life would be in Bedford Falls, had he not been born. The simplest universal message: without that One in your life, your world is diminished. Happy Christmas. Have fun, go easy and raise a glass to a world with a George Bailey-like future for future children.

Benedict Cumberbatch is the last person I’d expect to voice this classic character, but he does an impressive job embodying the surly, sour, but ultimately wounded soul.

The Grinch lives on a mountain high above the town of Whovillle, where festive goodwill is spreading like an epidemic. Like Scrooge, there’s an explanation for his shrivelled heart that’s rooted in the Grinch’s backstory: he grew up unloved in an orphanage where Christmas came not even once a year.

To destroy the fun for everyone else, the Grinch is impersonating Santa to steal the town’s presents.

At the same time, cute-as-a-button poppet Cindy Lou cracks a plan to trap Santa as he comes down the chimney to be doubly sure her Christmas wishes come true.

While this is a much safer iteration of the Dr. Zeus creation; far more so than the admittedly terrifying, Jim Carrey horror show from nearly two decades ago, and though its ambition remains rather low, the visual gags and charm will warm over any cold critic. (Jack Whiting). It looks and sounds like great fun. Nobody here will be nit-picking. Bring the street. Or to keep a safe distance, perhaps the next street along..

The BFI’s meticulously restored White Christmas is a treasure trove of Irving Berlin classics: ‘Sisters’, ‘Blue Skies’, and of course… Two song-and-dance men (Crosby and Kaye, actually only one, Bing can’t dance) team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show-biz. One winter, after joining forces with a sister act (Gorgeous George’s aunt, Rosemary Clooney and stunning Vera Ellen) they hit the road. The real ‘adventure’ starts at a gig in Vermont. The run-down Inn belongs to their old army General. The result is unabashed sentimental slush, an immortal, perennial Christmas favourite unlikely to fade. 1950s: America’s boom decade. Was it a fabulous time there? Bogart, Brando and Doris Day; the cars, the romance, the Technicolor, with Ella and Sinatra in their prime. At the Pictures every home had a piano and a fridge while we were still rationing carrots and living in forty shades of grey (without a trace of smut) enjoying scrubbed necks, goose grease, darned everything, nits and the unforgiving one-pair of shoes worn too long for growing toes. But somehow Christmas always brought the annuals: Beano and Dandy and that single precious Mars bar. No television! There-there now… ‘The Past is another Country’. White Christmas remains a borderless fantasy passport.

Britain's most loveable bear is back for another charming adventure, this time travelling deep into the South American rainforest.

Needing to break their routine, the Browns and Mrs. Bird join Paddington on a trip to Peru to visit his Aunt Lucy, only for the Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman) who runs Lucy's retirement home to tell them she has vanished. With boat captain Hunter (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina, they venture into the jungle, where a mythical monument stirs rumours of El Dorado, sparking greed and leading to yet another perilous and purely Paddington-esque caper.

While both director and writer have changed since his last outing, things remains whimsical and fun. Packed with jokes and cultural references from Indiana Jones to The Sound of Music, the story playfully nods to British eccentricities, all seen through the eyes of this lovable furry outsider. Whishaw and co are as exceptional as always, while franchise newcomers Colman and Banderas dive right in, creating colourfully bonkers characters who are equally hilarious.

It might not quite match Paddington 2 (at this point a modern classic) but it’s still a blast, for audiences young and old. And stay for the closing credit sequences!

Peter Wright’s much-loved production for The Royal Ballet keeps true to the spirit of this festive ballet favourite.

Bringing to life the timeless charm of this Christmas classic, the production follows Clara as she is swept into a magical adventure on Christmas Eve. After a festive party, she is whisked away into a fantastical world once everyone else has gone to bed, where her enchanted Nutcracker transforms into a brave hero. Together, they battle the menacing Mouse King and journey to the glittering Kingdom of Sweets, where they are greeted by the enchanting Sugar Plum Fairy, who welcomes them with open arms.

Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score, sumptuous period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman (including an ingenious magical Christmas Tree), an exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy and chivalrous Prince all come together to combine the thrill of the fairy tale with spectacular dancing from the Royal Ballet.

It has been running since the mid-1980s, but this looks as fresh as if newly minted, with every element creating theatrical magic. A sparkling feast for the eyes, this is a festive treat for the whole family to enjoy and cherish

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Parisian taxi driver Charles (Dany Boon) is not having a good day. In fact he’s not having a good anything.

He is tired of barely making a living. He is tired of missing out on life with his partner and their daughter. When he gets a call to pick up an elderly passenger on the other side of Paris, he’s not keen to take the fare until the operator assures him he can turn his meter on from his start point.

His passenger is Madeleine (Line Renaud), a woman in her nineties who is finally moving out of her house into a nursing home. It’s not something she’s happy about but with no family to help her, it is a sad inevitability. Madeleine is in no rush to reach the home and encourages Charles to make stops along the way so she can revisit the Paris of her youth.

As the film progresses, Madeleine’s life story becomes increasingly unexpected, and against his will, Charles finds himself sucked into it. And, more to the point, enraptured with the effervescent Madeleine

Love actually is all around.

Back, for as long as it likes. From nowhere in 2006 A-list big man Liev Schreiber on a-day-off from tough-guy, turned in this extraordinarily beautiful piece of storytelling from script to made-look-easy directing. And what a timeless treasure it is.

Eugene Hutz’s perplexed Alex, our ‘guide’, his straight-faced story telling and of the haunting film-score is from him too, and his real-life band: ‘Gogol Bordello’ (they are at the train-station)

A heartstopping surprise from its first outing at the Rex 15 years ago, Jonathan Safran Foer’s real family tale and best-seller.

Geeky ‘Jonfen’ (Elijah Wood) travels from America in search of Augustine, whom he believes saved his grandfather during the Nazis razing of Trachimbrod a now lost, Ukranian town. It was wiped-out. Armed with a yellowing photograph, he begins his search with the unlikely Alex, his grandfather (Boris Leskin) and his ‘seeing-eye bitch’. Alex’s butchery of the English language and passion for all things American is a tragi-comic joy from the start. You will be glad to be in the presence of every word and gesture. It is as unexpected as it is beautiful. It will touch you now. Then, it will fill your hearts long after and for years to come…

Ridley Scott’s return to the Roman arena is something of a repeat, but it’s still a ludicrously engaging epic, and Paul Mescal is a formidable lead. We are entertained.

15 years have passed since Russel Crowe’s Maximus defied an empire. His son Lucius (Mescal) has grown into manhood in Numidia, northern Africa, and soon plunges into war against the Roman invaders. Scott is in total command of the action scenes, and makes that point with an extravagant opening battle. Numidians catapult balls of fire toward the approaching Roman ships; Lucius's wife is killed, he is captured, and surprise surprise, is sold into slavery as a gladiator.  His destiny brings him to Rome, vowing revenge against the empire's General Acacius (Pedro Pascal).

Denzel Washington plays the cunning and ambitious slave-owner Macrinus, who plans to parlay his warlord status into political power. Meanwhile, Rome itself is no better after the last film; now we have not one, but two insufferable Caesars in Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).

This is a sequel that delivers on upping the ante, and while Mescal doesn’t quite match Crowe’s intensity (who does?) it is nonetheless an utterly thrilling spectacle

Every screening sold out since its first in Sept 2006, and ever since. It will take you on an unanticipated, emotional ride. The characters are beautifully drawn, and unlike those that leave you empty, this will warm your heart. It tells the story of the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families you’re ever likely to meet. To fulfil the dream-wish of seven-year-old Olive, the whole motley family, trek to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. Along the way they must deal with crushed dreams, heartbreaks and a broken-down van. The family is made up of an uncommonly natural little miss Olive, a silent, Nietzsche-reading teenager, a suicidal uncle, an embarrassingly optimistic dad, a scatty mother, and a horny, coke-snorting grandfather with a penchant for creative profanity (the wholly original Alan Arkin, got Best Supporting Oscar for this) This is a beautifully observed road movie, where sanity takes a back seat, while innocence and hope drive it every step of the way. Come now, see it afresh, untampered on our big screen, before it goes missing.

Alan Arkin 26/3/34 – 29/6/23

This is one film we cannot resist. Whistle the tune in the street and we’ll show it! It all begins in 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont (the show stealing Jean Hagen) are the darlings of the silent screen. Off screen, Don, aided by Cosmo Brown (the sensational Donald O’Connor) has to dodge Lina's romantic overtures especially when he falls for chorus girl Kathy Selden (the lovely, then 19 year old Debbie Reynolds). With the advent of the ‘Talkies’, Don and Lina's new film will be all singing, dancing and… talking! Unfortunately, Lina's voice would make gums bleed (think: Kate Bush screeching Sinatra). Kathy is hired to secretly dub Lina’s voice off screen while Gene K goes off splashing in the street, to make B-Movie Musical history. When Lina (who steals the show) finds out, run for cover. For Gene’s famous splash dance, the rain was lit from behind so primative acetate film might capture the downpour, and Gene had the flu! One single take, no waste or mishap after just three dry runs. Ouch! Witness too the fabulous Donald O’Connor’s unparalleled screen masterpiece “Make ’em Laugh” (one take?). What greater celebration of family cinema. New Years Eve. A timeless 1952 classic to dance us into 2020… Irresistible.

Edward Berger’s riveting papal drama blends spy-thriller suspense with a wry observation on the electoral process.

After the Pope dies, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with managing his fellow cardinals in the conclave, navigating tension between progressive candidates like his friend Bellini (Tucci) and more narrow-minded conservatives such as Tremblay (John Lithgow), who had a mysterious meeting with the Pope just before he died. As questions arise and contenders emerge, Lawrence begins digging into rumours, all while worried that he's getting votes himself. And no one notices that Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) is carefully observing all of this.

Berger and writer Peter Straughan expertly play with layers of narrative while a solid cast brings textured characters to life. Fiennes makes Lawrence inscrutable as he grapples with his self-image, refusing to see himself as a potential Pope until the world begins to shift. His camaraderie with the skilfully internalised Tucci is wonderful to watch.

It all may be set out as a look into the workings of the Catholic Church, but it's also a clever and timely swipe at organised religion, asking questions about the truth that often gets lost in institutional power plays.

Please note: The showing will start promptly at the time advertised. There will be no adverts running beforehand

The stars enchant as young rival witches in this slick first instalment of a two-part adaptation of the musical juggernaut, Wicked.

Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande), brings news that the Wicked Witch, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), is dead. Born with green skin, Elphaba is treated with scorn by peers, and her anger manifests in uncontrolled levitation. As she escorts her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to Shiz University, her power unleashes itself, catching the eye of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), a sorcery professor who takes Elphaba under her wing. Glinda watches with jealousy, and as the polar opposite students become roommates, a rivalry begins.

Wicked matches its polished razzle-dazzle with real heart. Driven by knockout performances, this charm assault zips along so enjoyably that you almost wish it were longer (your bladder may disagree). With its timely themes of bullying, corrupt leaders and the demonisation of difference, this is a film that promises a froth of pink and green escapism but delivers considerably more in the way of depth and darkness. It has been a long production journey, but reaching the end of this winding yellow brick road has yielded movie gold.

Contains sequences of flashing lights

Oscar-winning writer-director Steve McQueen’s emotionally-fraught Second World War drama.

Among the most versatile filmmakers working today, McQueen doesn’t repeat himself. A distinctive filmography that spans across everything mainstream and indie—from American slavery and Dutch Nazi occupation to the rhythms of London’s West Indian communities and a women-led crime extravaganza—stands tall as proof. With the elegant historical fiction Blitz, his largest-scaled film to date, McQueen, this time, turns his lens onto London’s blitzkrieg that started in September 1940.

9-year-old George (brilliant newcomer Elliott Heffernan) is sent to the English countryside for safety by his mother, Rita (Saoirse Ronan). Defiant and determined to reunite with her and his grandfather, Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, George embarks embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril. Meanwhile, a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.

Everything about Blitz is meticulously crafted, from the precise, historically-accurate production elements to the tension-inducing sound design. Hans Zimmer’s score is fraught with feeling, augmenting the already-intense sequences to something almost harrowing. Performances, led by Heffernan, are vulnerable and honest, as if McQueen pushed everyone to do their very best with the role they were given, no matter how small.

Empathetic, brutal, brilliant filmmaking.

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A quantum physicist turns sleuth when a series of gruesome murders occur at an academic alpine summit in Timm Kröger’s heavily stylised noir.

This twisty German film takes the notion of the multiverse for a spin and sends it into a deep orbit. The result is a strange and bleak work of retro sci-fi and reality bending.

We first meet German physicist Johannes Leinart (Jan Bülow) in 1974, as a guest on a talk show, looking dishevelled and slightly haunted. He’s there to plug his novel The Universal Theory, a tale of love and fate, parallel universes and murderous conspiracy. He travels to Switzerland for a conference on physics; with guests left to their own devices, Johannes’s attention moves to pianist Karin (Olivia Ross): he falls in love, to the point of obsession.

But there’s something weird going on inside the Swiss mountains, perhaps connected to the scientists’ experiments with uranium for the Nazis during the not-so-distant war. Kröger creates a world as hopeful as it is melancholy. While Johannes is broken by this lost love, somewhere there is a different version of him who wasn’t

Contains sequences of flashing lights

Cillian Murphy proves less is more in this expertly crafted drama.

Set during Christmas in 1985, the film follows Bill Furlong, a dedicated father and coal merchant, as he uncovers shocking secrets hidden by the local convents. Faced with the dark realities of Ireland's Magdalene laundries - brutal institutions run by the Roman Catholic Church from the 1820s until 1996 which claimed to rehabilitate "fallen women”, he must also confront some unsettling truths about himself.

Adapted from the prize-winning 2021 book by Claire Keegan, this is a film where so much is left unsaid. Unsettled by his own childhood connections to the laundries, Bill’s pain is evoked in small, telling ways such as shots of him scrubbing his hands of coal dust, as if washing away his perceived sins. Murphy’s is one of several outstanding performances; notably, Emily Watson is on imperious form as the convent’s Mother superior, who has clearly terrified the residents for years.

A restrained, dark and soul-searching story that centres on the cold, biting reality of how difficult and even miraculous it can be to escape poverty

Cate Blanchett and Charles Dance are among the G7 members lost in an apocalyptic forest, in this hilariously pin-sharp comedy.

Hosted by German Chancellor Hilda Ortmann (Blanchett), world leaders representing Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US (Dance) gather for a summit on a palatial estate.

Their lakeside G7 dinner is thrown into crisis when they realise that their phones don’t work; the chateau HQ and probably the whole town has been abandoned and they are now utterly alone – except for the 2,000-year-old humans discovered embalmed in the mud which have now come back to life, stumbling around the place and frantically masturbating so that the resulting tsunami of seed will both extinguish the catastrophic fires and engender an enlightened new people.

There are some memorably daft set-pieces, like the discovery of “a brain the size of a hatchback”, Alicia Vikander babbling prophecies in Swedish and an AI system designed to detect child predators unexpectedly coming in handy. And although this film feels like a cackle in the face of humanity’s demise, there’s still an earnest frustration at its core towards our real political leaders’ march towards oblivion.

No matter how much of his previous work you’ve seen, you’re still not prepared for what he brings to the everyman at the epicentre of Wim Wenders‘ Perfect Days.

The extraordinary Japanese actor Koji Yakusho plays Hirayama, whose life, it may seem at first, is defined by his job: he cleans public toilets in Tokyo, and every day he zips himself into a blue jumpsuit, retrieves his keys and flip phone, and drives through the city making his rounds. He polishes mirrors to a sterling gleam, wipes down faucets and levers with care, and inspects a toilet’s underside with a small mirror to ensure he's scrubbed every inch of it. It's not so much that Hirayama is dedicated to his job; it’s more that the ritual of doing it right means something to him.

The genesis of Perfect Days comes from Wenders being invited to Tokyo to do a series of shorts about the city’s facilities, many of which had been redesigned as something akin to modern-art instalments and a source of civic pride. Relaxing, and full of beauty and warmth. Perfect Days is a quie and serene experience.

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Paolo Sorrentino’s (2012) film is a withering portrait of the city of Rome and one sceptical inhabitant of its la dolce vita.

As Jep Gambardella (Sorrentino regular Toni Servillo – Il Divo, Consequences of Love and now Loro) celebrates his 65th birthday, he thinks back on his life, which has also been the life of the city, and realises he has spent most of it searching on the rooftops and in the gutters for what he calls La Grande Bellezza: The Great Beauty.

Aristocratic ladies, social climbers, politicians, high-flying criminals, journalists, actors, decadent nobles, artists and intellectuals, whether authentic or presumed, attend parties at antique palaces, immense villas and the most beautiful terraces in the city.

“Pure couture cinema” (Guardian)

 “No night-stalking tribute to Italian cinema. Servillo’s super-dry presence creates a most pungent screen character” (Sight&Sound) (research Anna Shepherd 2012)

Sorrentino plays with Rome’s Mellenial ego. A mass of interlocked facts, characters and anecdotes casts an eye over the marble palaces and terraces stalked by the beautiful hedonists of Berlusconi’s era

Startling in its originality, and breathtaking in its vibe. It is unashamedly art-house and unapologetically Italian. Here once. Don’t miss it for either world.

Luca Guadagnino takes on the unenviable task of adapting one of William S. Burroughs’ dense and winding novels. And he does so with gusto thanks in part to two fabulous leads.

Daniel Craig is Lee, a gay expatriate based on Burroughs himself. Lee lives a relatively isolated life in Mexico City after the second world war, hanging around bars, drinking, doing drugs and picking up guys. Lee conceives a passionate obsession with Gene (Drew Starkey), a handsome young army veteran, who appears at first to be straight, but slowly is attracted to Lee. As they develop a bond, they venture on a strange and enlightening trip to South America in search of a fabled drug.

Burroughs is a tricky customer, and there are very few successful adaptations of his work; Beat Generation prose generally doesn’t translate well to screen, but Queer is head-and-shoulders above the rest, not least because of the surrealist visuals and genuine warmth the film exudes. Despite the story’s seemingly fractured nature, Queer feels like a fever dream where the love and genuine connection shared by the two central characters help pull you through its trippy odyssey.

Tissues at the ready as Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh charm as two lovers in this heartfelt drama.

Every love story is a tragedy. Every relationship ends, either in separation or death, and the only question is how much joy you can get out of it before that time comes.

Tobias (Garfield) is an anxious, emotional wreck whose first marriage ended in disaster. He encounters Almut (Pugh) and they make an unlikely connection, their chemistry is so undeniable that they attempt a date. The timeline leaps between early, sex-on-the-floor courtship to a complicated pregnancy to Almut’s diagnosis, the highs of easy weekends contrasted with the lows of difficult days of impossible decision-making.

The strength of their performances keep even the weakest scenes free from cliché. They’re cast close to their own personas: Garfield is emotional, his heart always on his sleeve, while Pugh is steely, and fights for everything. Their softer, funnier and sexier scenes are more effective than most romantic comedies, but then their weightier conflicts are just as effective. It is a big romantic drama that knows exactly how to make us swoon as well as make us sad.

This came so close to not being finished, but when it went on to win the coveted Palme d’or at Cannes (2006) it was glittered at by the glitterati, but not by the tabloid English press and Tele-graph.

They demonised it before it was ever screened!

“Only 42 of the 659 cinema screens in Britain are set to show it (one of that 42 was/is The Rex) yet 300 French cinemas are queueing for it…” (Standard 22nd June 2006).

With characteristic insight, honesty and intelligence, Loach/Laverty creates a tense moving, com-passionate and poignant story. It examines the personal cost of conflict in Ireland in the early 1920s.

Reluctant at first, later driven by all around him, Damien (Cillian Murphy) follows his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) into violent conflict. When an unstable treaty is finally agreed, it is already too late. Civil war pits families, who fought side by side, against each another. The period detail is extraordinary, as are the performances in this “controversial slice of half-forgotten history”.

Brutal and heart searching, not a beat is skipped.

It is a beautifully measured story of loyalty, conflict and above all: Family. Heart lifting/breaking.

Don’t miss Cillian Murphy at his best – long before Oppenheimer.

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Payal Kapadia’s wonderful Indian drama circles around three women at a key point in their lives.

In Mumbai, senior nurse Prabha hasn’t heard from her husband in over a year. He moved to Germany shortly after their arranged marriage, leaving her to navigate life alone. She shares a flat with Anu, a younger nurse, who is secretly seeing Shiaz, a man from a Muslim background. Although their relationship is considered inappropriate by some, neither of them cares about society’s judgment. Together, they work alongside Parvaty, the hospital cook, who is facing eviction from her apartment after being unable to prove she’s lived there for 22 years. When Parvaty decides to return to her coastal hometown, Prabha and Anu accompany her on the journey.

The story centres around their everyday struggles, from Prabha's hollow respectability and Anu's defiance of societal norms, to Parvaty’s existential questions about identity. Kapadia maintains an effortlessly light tone that cuts through the surfaces to find vivid emotions. Performances are heartfelt, with Prabha’s emptiness contrasted against Anu’s yearning for a serious relationship, while Parvaty’s quiet frustration adds further depth.

A hugely involving take on the transformative power of compassion

Brimming with humour, heart and suspense, it’s a most welcome return to the world of Moana.

Now an intrepid explorer, Moana is charting nearby islands for clues about her homeland's past when she uncovers a shocking truth: the malicious god Nalo cursed the South Pacific, isolating each island community. Determined to break the curse, Moana forms a makeshift crew: inventor Loto, historian Moni and farmer Kele, and sets off to restore unity. Along the way, they reconnect with Moana’s old ally, demigod Maui, who has his own score to settle with Nalo and his mischievous sidekick, Matangi.

Vocal performances are lively and full of personality, visuals are stunning, all complemented by catchy new songs, sharp pop culture references and a story rich in emotional depth. But as with the original, it’s the characters who truly shine, with each member of Moana's new crew bringing something special to the table. From Loto’s inventive genius to Moni’s historical insight and Kele’s grounded, humble nature, each character embarks on their own personal journey, fitting as Moana begins to navigate the transition into adulthood.

Angelina Jolie delivers her most resonant performance to date in Pablo Larrain’s mesmerising biopic about the diva of all divas, Maria Callas.

Set in September 1977 over her final week, the film flickers through her mind to memories and fantasies, exploring both her self-image and her place in the world. Maria lives in Paris with her housekeeper Bruna and butler Ferruccio, working to restore her voice after years of prescription drug abuse. A journalist follows her with a film crew, probing her past, stirring memories of her love for Aristotle Onassis and her strained relationship with her sister Yakinthi. She also reflects on key moments from her youth, when her mother pushed her relentlessly to be a better singer.

It’s a rich, immersive performance from Jolie. Hints of childhood abuse and a stifling relationship with Onassis shape Maria’s desire for control over her own destiny. Larrain weaves in operatic arias that echo her repressed emotions, while Spencer writer Steven Knight’s punctuates his script with dry wit, captured in subtle glances and deadpan exchanges between Maria, Bruna, and Ferruccio. Bold, inventive and elegant, with an emotional earthiness.

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Edoardo de Angelis’ patriotic true story of non-fascist Italian decency during the Battle of the Atlantic.

WWII marine officer Salvatore Todaro (Pierfrancesco Favino) commands the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. He is a reluctant soldier, more at home on the sea than in the chaos of war. When his submarine unexpectedly engages an unknown enemy and sinks what turns out to be the Belgian vessel Kabalo, Todaro makes the decision to rescue the surviving Belgian crew. He brings them aboard the Cappellini and sets course for a safe location, despite the risks involved.

It’s an engaging, straightforward narrative, less intense than Das Boot and closer in tone to The Cruel Sea. Favino brings a natural, powerful masculinity to his role and it is very much his film. The choice to selectively highlight a moment of selfless heroism, portraying an Italian officer who defied fascist orders to help the enemy, demonstrates the complexity of individual moral courage amidst wartime and neatly sidesteps what could otherwise be seen as whitewashing Italy’s fascist past. A sturdily made, well-minded film that gets the job done

Nicholas Hoult is faced with life-changing responsibility in Clint Eastwood’s courtroom mystery thriller.

Clint Eastwood, to put it frankly, is a marvel. At 94, the 4-time Academy Award winner is still releasing films and seemingly intends to do so until he physically can't anymore. And who's to stop him? He's directed two Best Picture winners in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, has directed 41 films, worked with multiple generations of Hollywood's top talent, and is still arguably the most iconic film cowboy to ever grace the silver screen.

Rumoured to be the final film of his legendary career, Juror No. 2 follows family man Justin Kemp who is still reeling after a presumed nighttime road collision with a deer the previous year. Called up to a high-profile murder trial jury, he is suddenly faced with a serious moral dilemma as he questions what really happened that night. Under the watchful eyes of the judge, the courtroom and the district attorney (Toni Collette), he grapples with the choice to use his knowledge to sway the verdict, ultimately deciding whether to convict or free the accused killer.

If it is to be his last, Eastwood bows out with a career-honouring tribute to justice and morality.

Writer/director Jacques Audiard bold take on the transition narrative is one of the most unique films of the year.

At once a crime thriller, musical, and romance, the film is, at it’s heart, a classic tragedy that grapples with questions of love, identity, forgiveness, and heartache. Through liberating song and dance and striking visuals, the story follows the journey of four women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Rita (Zoe Saldaña) is an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job. That is, until she’s enlisted by wealthy, powerful cartel leader Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), agreeing to help him fake his death, then medically transition and be reborn as Emilia Pérez. Now liberated, wife/widow Jessi (Selena Gomez) pines for the man she had been cheating on Manitas with. Meanwhile, Emilia falls increasingly in love with Epifanía (Adriana Paz), who comes to her newly established foundation seeking out information about her missing abusive boyfriend.

It’s a lot. And it’s about as unlikely and unorthodox as a musical gets. But Emilia Pérez proves that sometimes the most unconventional films, even if they aren’t masterpieces, are the ones that stand-out the most.

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Laure Calamy is pure magic in Caroline Vignal’s breezy French sex comedy.

Inspired by her friend’s experiences and her own “research”, Vignal’s tale feels like a cross between early Pedro Almodovar and a more-domestic, female-skewed version of Eyes Wide Shut.

Iris, a woman who has everything: a wonderful husband, two perfect daughters, a thriving medical practice, lives in a beautiful apartment - but no sex life. With her 50th birthday approaching, a revelation begins to take root: perhaps the time has come to find a lover. And so, Iris opens a door she never thought she would, cautiously signing up for a dating app. Almost instantly, the messages flood in.

Iris’s embracing of her inner man-eater involves a lot of swiping and lying that, with a less loveable lead running the show, could come off as purely selfish and deceitful. Calamy, on the other hand, makes adultery look almost adorable. This is yet more proof of why she is currently France’s most engaging and exciting actor. Her charm ensures this soufflé of a movie never completely collapses and that we never waver in caring about her fate, even if we might challenge some of her choices

Robert Eggers’s passion project is lavish, luxurious and lurid on the grandest of scales.

Captivated by F.W. Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece since first encountering it on VHS at the age of nine, Eggers staged a high school play inspired by the film and has dreamed of bringing it back to the big screen ever since 2015. In many ways, it’s the film he was destined to (re)make, as the haunting influence of Murnau’s eerie classic can be traced through his first three period films: The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman.

Following in the footsteps of both Murnau and Werner Herzog, he follows the outline of Bram Stoker’s Gothic classic Dracula. Set in 1838 in Germany, his Nosferatu details the obsession between a haunted young woman, Ellen Hutter, and the ancient Transylvanian vampire stalking her, Count Orlok, leading to untold horror.

Led by powerhouse performances from Lily Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård, it is simply one of the best executed and best looking iterations of “Dracula” ever filmed. Egger’s key intention here, it seems, was to rescue the vampire from its twinkly tween era and to return it to its folkloric roots. And it is every bit as nightmarish and alluring as expected.