French writer-director Oelhoffen parlays a 1957 short story by Albert Camus into a quietly riveting quasi-Western, set in the sere rocky uplands of Algeria in the 1954, at the start of the bloody war against the French colonisers.
The presence of Sharma (from Ang Lee's The Life of Pi) and Revolori, the bellboy stuck on fast-forward in Wes Anderson's mystifyingly popular The Grand Budapest Hotel, may improve the fortunes of this straightforward family drama.
Depp's intense, quietly disturbing portrayal of cold-blooded killer Jimmy "Whitey" Bulger proves the actor is back on form.
The sobbing and sniffing in the theatre would indicate this emotionally manipulative story about lifelong friends dealing with one of them having cancer hits the mark - but it's a close-run thing.
Auckland University's Professor Richard Easther, one of the world's leading cosmologists, gives his scientific verdict on the movie of the moment.
Matt Damon and Ridley Scott's adaptation of the bestseller about an astronaut stranded on the red planet is the interplanetary geek gardening thriller of the year.
In Pan, director Joe Wright creates his own interpretation of Barrie's story by taking the source material and imagining what came before, telling the story of how Peter found Neverland, and became Peter Pan.
More than a quarter-century after Hope and Glory, his enchanting, autobiographical child's-eye view of London in the Blitz, Boorman turns in a sequel-of-sorts.
The Scottish play is Shakespeare's leanest tragedy, barely 2500 lines as against Lear's 3500 and Hamlet's 4000.
Filmmaker Nancy Meyers has produced a catalogue of lighthearted, fun films, with mature actors and made for mature audiences; think Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated.
Adam Sandler leading a crew to save the world against an invasion of 80s videogame arcade characters created by aliens who got hold of one of those Nasa space probes with a recording of what we did for entertainment in 1982.
Occupying the most improbable of genres, the musical thriller, this feature-film version of a 2011 National Theatre hit takes an unusual angle of view to explore the effect on the small Ipswich street of the title of a wave of murders in 2006.
Internationally acclaimed South Auckland hip-hop superstar Parris Goebel turns this classic follow-your-dreams dance story into something special, thanks to her electrifying, unique style of choreography and incredible troupe of dancers.
Sicario is less a typical FBI thriller than something akin to Michael Mann's Heat or a Zero Dark Thirty substituting the War on Terror for the War on Drugs.
As slight in scope as it is modest in subject matter, the second-to-last film by Albert Maysles, who died in March, is a charming if occasionally too-reverential portrait of New York identity and self-described "geriatric starlet" Iris Apfel.
If you see only one film this year shot on an iPhone 5s and focusing on transgender hookers in LA, make it this one.
This understated and delightful New York-based comedy starring Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement as a guy grappling with single fatherhood is less weighty than writer/director James C. Strouse's earlier films.
In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials the fight for survival now takes place among demolished cities and desert landscapes.
Even those familiar with the famous July Plot of 1944, in which a group of German officers led by Claus von Stauffenberg tried to kill Hitler, may not be aware that it was the last of more than a dozen planned or attempted assassinations.
Inoffensive, unremarkable and mostly just a bit naff, this adaptation of Bill Bryson's memoir of walking the Appalachian Trail is about as good as it could possibly have hoped to be, which is to say not very good at all.
Remember Dr Dre's brilliantly glamorous video for Still D.R.E? Where he and Snoop Dogg cruise around Compton in Chevys, bouncing on hydraulics and partying with bikini babes?
Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, this indie coming-of-age dramedy is all about Greg (Mann), a teenage boy whose mother makes him spend time with cancer-stricken classmate Rachel (Cooke).
Meryl Streep's rock'n'roll dysfunctional family drama makes Mamma Mia look authentic.
The film version of a well-regarded stage play, which was itself based on a true story, was always going to be at high risk of being a weepie of cloying sentimentality.
Leaving the theatre after watching this documentary about Carl Boenish, father of the base-jumping movement, I couldn't help but think how far skydivers have pushed the sport.
He's become a real glutton for punishment has Jake Gyllenhaal; whether it's the pounds he dropped for Nightcrawler, the muscle he packed on for this, or the cold he endured to play Scott Fischer in the forthcoming Everest.
The title sequence of this reboot of 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation includes holiday snapshots of butt cracks, animals humping and peeing, vomiting and an erection.
Director and screenwriter Peter Bogdanovich has often looked to the past for inspiration; this time he revives the screwball comedy genre he enjoyed success with in the early 70s.
Wordless as it is, this debut feature by a Ukrainian filmmaker makes no allowances for its audience's need for dialogue, expository or otherwise.
So here we have a British director reviving an American Cold War show that was the small-screen answer to Bond.
"You say nobody knows who he is? Who doesn't know who he is?" runs a line early in this splendidly entertaining film about three-time Oscar winner, costume designer Orry-Kelly.
Amy Winehouse really was a musical force of nature. Her voice and her songwriting were incredibly special.