When word spread that a feature film starring Paul Henry was to premiere at an international film festival, the news was met with surprise, amusement and confusion.

Like the many, ingenious vehicles it has roaring and exploding across the screen, Mad Max: Fury Road is a giant scrapyard jalopy, says Herald entertainment editor Russell Ballie.

Who knows what happened on May 8, 1945 when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, and sister Princess Margaret went on to the streets of London to celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day.

Pitch Perfect was hilarious, feel-good fun, and one of the surprise hits of 2012.

The budget is minuscule. There are no big names. Set pieces are delivered infrequently, and on a small scale. And if it's monsters you're after, there are precious few ghouls, goblins, ghosts or gremlins.

I enjoyed Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, even as I shrank from its outrageous contrivance.

Australian film-maker Robert Connolly, known for Balibo and Underground: The Julian Assange Story, enters new territory with this sweet family drama about a 12-year-old boy from rural Western Australia.

Documentary that captures small-town, rugby-mad culture enthrals.

The wonderful choristers of the American Boychoir School (is "boychoir" even a word?) in Princeton, New Jersey, are the heart and soul of this production. But all the star power at the top of the bill cannot save a sentimental paint-by-numbers film.

Toni Collette is fabulous and utterly convincing in this low-key drama about a magazine music writer whose latest assignment is to go in search of her ex-boyfriend, cult rock hero Matthew Smith, who mysteriously disappeared 10 years ago.

For Russian writer-director Zvyagintsev, whose 2003 debut The Return deeply impressed, this is feature number four, though only his second to be seen here outside festivals.

Age of Ultron feels less of an event than the first film, just a reasonably exciting instalment in Marvel's ongoing mega-franchise.

After a difficult start with the comings and goings of numerous directors and stars, including Katherine Heigl and Natalie Portman, this epic romantic drama about a woman who remains aged 29 for almost eight decades finally sees the light of day.

John Steinbeck's classic American tragedy-in-miniature has had five screen adaptations (including an Iranian film) but the only theatre version was the author's own, published and first staged in 1937, the same year as the novel.

In the black-and-white photograph of her that appears briefly during the end credits of this true-life melodrama, Maria Altmann looks somewhat more interesting than her screen version.

The new film by the writer-director duo behind the 2011 hit The Intouchables is not as formulaic and manipulative but it lacks the single-minded coherence that was so crucial to that film's success.

Frederic Tcheng, who co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and co-produced Valentino: The Last Emperor, steps out with his solo directing debut, Dior and I.

Following The Hunger Games was always going to be tough for the Divergent series, another young adult novel series set in a dystopian world.

Looking for light, cheerful entertainment for the littlies these holidays? Meet Home, the latest animated family film from DreamWorks Animation.

A loss of focus turns this small English feature from an excellent film into a routine and mediocre one about half-way through, but its opening reels have touches of understated genius about them and it is full of undeniably moving moments.

Liam Neeson sure is making the most of his late career run as an action hero.

Free of the Harry Potter juggernaut, British actor and director Alan Rickman has finally returned to the director's chair, almost two decades after his directing debut with The Winter Guest.

Chameleon character actor Marsan has a long list of supporting-role credits in big films (Sherlock Holmes; Mission Impossible III) and small (X+Y), which releases here next week.

A good kidnapping requires clever design, meticulous planning and a magician's sense of timing; so does a good kidnapping film. This isn't one.