Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is a ten-year-old boy growing up in Hitler’s Germany during the end stages of World War II. His mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) leaves him to his own devices to explore his hometown and spend lots of time playing with his imaginary friend Adolf (Waititi), the Führer himself. An injury incurred at a Hitler Youth training camp will mean Jojo has lots of time to recuperate and discoveries will make him question his allegiances.

Jojo Rabbit is the third major film that Waititi has helmed that features a young child in the lead role. Boy is a spectacular film that explores the loss of innocence of its lead character. Hunt for the Wilderpeople takes the audience on a bizarre adventure as a juvenile delinquent bonds with a father figure who isn’t interested in children. Waititi coaxes excellent starring performances from his young leads in both of those films.

In Jojo Rabbit, Waititi is again considering the loss of youthful naiveté through the eyes of his hero, Jojo. And, again, Waititi helps Griffin Davis to excel in a comedic lead performance that many adults would be proud to have created. Matching Griffin Davis is Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa, while both Johansson and Sam Rockwell turn in accomplished takes on their supporting roles.

The first part of this film is an absolute riot: Jojo and Adolf have a blast (pun intended) preparing and then attending the Hitler Youth camp, and Waititi’s comedic skills are on full display. This is a satire with elements of slapstick and visual comedy thrown in, and it is really, really funny.

Considering the topic and themes under exploration, however, there inevitably needs to be a change in tone. Waititi tries to graduate the shift in the mood so that it isn’t so jarring, but there is a moment when the audience is assaulted by a thematic gut punch.

It is the difficulty of balancing the two different films Waititi is trying to make that means Jojo Rabbit isn’t as successful as it threatens to be. There is only so much an audience can be willing to trust a filmmaker, and Waititi breaks that trust when the gear change occurs. As a consequence, one wonders whether we are witness to a dream sequence and the cognitive dissonance causes a departure from the filmmaker’s world back into the real.

This is all incredibly lamentable, as Jojo Rabbit has enough heart to win most audiences. The film is mostly satisfying, and it is commendable that Waititi succeeded in creating it and then having it released. Were it not for its unevenness, Jojo Rabbit would be a miracle; as it stands, it’s just a very good film with a major flaw.

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For someone who knew next to nothing about Dunkirk the event, Christopher Nolan’s film is certainly educational. To a certain extent. For all the chaos going on, there’s very little in the way of exposition. This is possibly a deliberate storytelling technique, to put us in the boots of the soldiers who knew very little aside from a sense of urgency in their efforts to escape impending death.

As such, this is a war movie that’s quite distinct from your usual war movie. At best, it avoids those awkward moments where the viewer wonders if the film they’re watching is glorifying war. After all, this is about thousands of men trying their best not to die. At worst, it means that the film will be a confusing cinematic experience for some, what with the multiple concurrent timelines.

In a move reminiscent of his breakthrough, Memento, Nolan plays around with beginning, middle and ending, having three separate stories happening simultaneously, even if they begin days or hours or minutes apart. The three separate stories are linear, and like Memento, the film seems more complicated than it actually is. That being said, considering everyone is wearing uniforms and boast few distinguishing features, it does get confusing. There are already multiple articles online explaining the potentially confusing timeline, though I won’t link them here for fear of spoilers.

The cast are great, completely inhabiting their roles. Nolan mainstays Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy are present (even Michael Caine appears in a voice-over!) but the film expertly obfuscates their star presence, and each become just another weary and terrified face amongst all the other men facing death.

As with Interstellar, the use of visual effects here is phenomenal. It never looks anything less than photo-real, even when I’m sure I must be looking at CGI. That it was done with a relatively scant budget of only $100 million is shocking. But then again, Nolan really is an anomaly – a director that gets to work within the studio system, making blockbusters that still feel like the products of an auteur. Here, the pace never lets up, so it’s just as well the film is only 106 minutes. When there’s a tendency for successful directors to become more and more self-indulgent, this is another reason to be impressed by Nolan’s achievement.

I can’t really say that Dunkirk is a fun film, hence the low Hoopla Factor. It is an incredible big screen experience, however, and really drives home the significance of the event without reaching for any cheap platitudes.

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A remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood feature, the story concerns a wounded Union soldier stumbling onto a Confederate school during the American Civil War. The school is run by Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) with the assistance of Edwina (Kirsten Dunst, always willing to put in an appearance in a Sofia Coppola film). The presence of Corporal McBurney (Colin Farrell) sets the girls at the school into chaos, as vows are broken and alliances reconfigured. Farrell is particularly good in a tough role, sympathetic yet very flawed.

The Beguiled features an incredible cast of women, and it’s exciting to see so many onscreen at once. Joining Kidman and Dunst are Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice, Oona Lawrence, Addison Riecke and Emma Howard. All the faux Southern accents are terrible, but I was able to overlook this. Strangely enough, though I suppose unsurprising, is the fact that the film most definitely does not pass the Bechdel test, considering just about every single scene concerns the presence of McBurney in their midst. That being said, the characters are afforded depth, strength of character and agency – all good things.

The cinematography is great. Clearly, with such a tiny budget, they couldn’t move the camera much. As a consequence, DOP Philippe Le Sourd does the most he can with shadows and mist, which perfectly suits the isolated setting.

Unsurprisingly, the trailer makes The Beguiled look more sinister than it actually is. This is a subtle film – eerie, surprising, funny – even if its ambitions are less than lofty. The drama is suffused with ambiguity, but in a good way (Lost in Translation), not a bad way (The Virgin Suicides.) I’d like to state it’s the second-best Sofia Coppola film out there, but I haven’t seen Lost in Translation in a long time, and I’m concerned that it won’t have aged well. Suffice to say that The Beguiled is a nifty little tale that isn’t quite a thriller, isn’t quite a wartime drama and isn’t quite an historical romance. It’s something in between, and that hard-to-pin-down story is the kind of thing at which Coppola excels.

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Confidence, however, is the crucial word here, because Rogue One is a film that isn’t afraid to take chances. You get the feeling Gareth Edwards got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here: not only does he get to direct a Star Wars film, but he gets to make one that doesn’t relate to the Skywalker family saga. That’s like being given a cheesecake that’s all delicious top layer with none of the boring biscuit base. And whilst The Force Awakens excited us because it felt like Star Wars again after the prequels, Rogue One is exciting specifically because it dares to be different.

The story concerns the bunch of rebels responsible for tracking down the Death Star plans that set things into motion at the beginning of A New Hope. And whilst there is a lot of freedom for writers Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll and Garry Whitta to create new, interesting characters, the film actually features a helluva lot of connective tissue, elements that tie the film into not just the original but the prequels as well. Easter eggs galore can be spotted here, and only a couple of them feel shoehorned in.

The cast features a fantastic collection of actors. The Star Wars films are certainly addressing the ethnic diversity issue in Hollywood, even if this film is still 90% male. Felicity Jones heads the cast as Jyn Erso, and she’s…pretty good. Her character doesn’t leap out of the screen the same way that Rey did in TFA, and part of me thinks leaving some time for her character to breathe would have improved matters. Going by the teaser trailer, there was certainly a lot left on the cutting room floor; perhaps some of this would have helped matters.

Thing is, Rogue One has a very cluttered first act, and I was having trouble keeping up. First off, we have a huge array of characters – Diego Luna’s Cassian, Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO, Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Îmwe, Wen Jiang’s Baze Malbus and Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook – but I couldn’t remember any of them by name once the credits rolled. Another aspect that made the film a little more complex than your average Star Wars was the fact that we don’t just have good guys and bad guys; we actually get shades of grey. Aside from Han Solo’s introduction in A New Hope (since neutered in the late-90s re-releases) moral ambiguity is something we haven’t really experienced in this series. Here, this complexity is most welcome, but it also took me a little longer to understand who was on whose side. That being said, it’s hard to complain about finally seeing rebels’ actions feel like the acts of freedom fighters (or terrorists, depending on your point of view.)

This is a crowded film. We have a tonne of characters, and they’re constantly in highly populated areas. This sets it apart from the original trilogy, which regularly presented sparse alien worlds (and something I was glad to see back in TFA.) The new worlds we do see, however, are beautiful. The expanded universe is going to go nuts with all the new races, ships and planets on show, and this is surely something that the fans will lap up.

The best part about Rogue One is there are actual stakes. In fact, I’d say this features one of the best climaxes in the entire saga. It had me on the edge of my seat, such was the desperation on show. You truly get the sense that the odds are stacked against our protagonists, and this is something that will please those who were bothered by Rey’s continuous good luck in TFA.

At the end of the day, however, I didn’t have quite as much fun as 2015’s entry. Now, this might be because the novelty factor has worn off (two Star Wars films in two years) or it might simply be because Rogue One is a more complex beast. I do think this film will hold up better through repeat viewings, however.

For all those who want to see a bit more depth in their stories set in a galaxy far, far away, then this is for you. This is a more mature film, and – dare I say it – possibly the darkest and grittiest Star Wars story yet. At best, it’s adding much-needed colour to a very black and white franchise, at worst it’s simply filling in the gaps between the prequel and original trilogies, much like an expanded universe novel or comic used to do.

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Then along comes Warcraft, a film about orcs written and directed by the Goblin King’s son, Duncan Jones. And it dives headlong into full, unadulterated fantasy territory. Not only are we expected to sympathise with CGI orcs and human knights in shiny armour, we have spellcasters creating lime green cosmic portals to other dimensions. For better or worse, Warcraft embraces its fantastical setting and isn’t shy about dialling it up to 11.

Which is great…but only for some. If you’re a fan of the world, then Warcraft is for you. I saw the film with a friend who’s been playing ‘World of Warcraft’ for over a decade, and he loved it. If you’re really into high fantasy, then this should excite you, if for no other reason than the fact these films don’t get made. For everyone else…I’m not so convinced.

The thing is, Warcraft: The Beginning (if that’s what it’s called in your territory) is basically a war film. The narrative is at pains to portray both sides (something at which WoW has always excelled) and at the end of the day, it’s about the never-ending nature of conflict, the futility of war etc etc. Warcraft gets full marks for this.

Ironically, the orcs fare better than the humans. Evoking sympathy for these monstrous green musclebound creatures was high on the creative team’s wish list, and they truly excel. Toby Kebbell’s performance as Durotan is probably the best of the lot, though Paula Patton gives her all, acting through some awkward-looking false teeth. When it comes to the humans, however, I was less enamoured. Full disclosure: I think Dominic Cooper’s a bit rubbish. Always have. So once again I’m bemused at his casting as Llane Wrynn. Then there’s Ben ‘human spoiler’ Foster as Medivh, who isn’t playing anything outside his comfort range. They all look silly in costume, and one wonders if a 100% animated film would have been a better way to go.

The action is decent, the visual effects are mostly good (only really falling flat when they need to show us human performers interacting with CGI characters. Visually, it’s all right, but as I said before, this looks like early 80s fantasy most of the time. Think Conan, Red Sonja, Willow, Legend – there’s nothing washed-out about the footage here. The score is decent, but only has a single theme that sticks in your head after you walk out of the cinema.

I doubt that Warcraft is going to convert anyone who thinks the high fantasy genre is silly. For fans of the genre, you should definitely check this out, if only to pin down what it is about these types of films that is so hard to get right. Players of the games will already have seen the film by now, I imagine, so they won’t need much convincing. For me, part of my enjoyment sprang from the fact that studios don’t really make these films. Low fantasy, urban fantasy? There are plenty of examples. But this is the first time I’ve seen something like this since the likes of Eragon or Dungeons & Dragons (and those two examples give you a good reason as to why it’s been so long!)

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Vera (Vikander) is desperate to go to Oxford but her father (and, quite frankly, most of society) won’t have a bar of it. Her brother, Edward (Taron Egerton, unrecognisable from his character in Kingsman: The Secret Service) is the only one on her side, but she’s barely succeeded in her goal when the Great War breaks out. We follow Vera from her Oxford days to her time serving as a nurse close to enemy lines.

In case you hadn’t guessed, this isn’t a happy film. It doesn’t actually show any of the fighting going on just outside of Vera’s experience, but like her, we see the results as she tends to the wounded and dying. This is the first feature film adaptation of Brittain’s 1933 book, and it’s surprising that it’s taken this long to appear. Being written from the perspective of a young woman, it’s a refreshing take on the war film genre.

Words cannot describe just how incredible Vikander is in the lead role. The film takes the time to stick close to Vera during her solitary moments, and really lets us see inside her head. Whether she’s remembering the briefest of gentle touches from the object of her affection, Roland (Kit Harington), or imagining what’s going on behind enemy lines, director James Kent keeps the focus on her. Vikander is such an amazingly expressive performer that even the quietest moment is filled with feeling.

It’s also important to note that this is a much better film than Seventh Son, which also featured Vikander and Harington. Even better news is that five minutes after Harington’s appearance, I forgot that I was watching Jon Snow. The same couldn’t be said for the fleeting appearances from Dominic West, however, as it was hard to shake the idea that McNulty had been dropped into ‘Downton Abbey’. Hayley Atwell also popped up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

The only real flaw with Testament of Youth is that the film’s strongest moments are all over a good 20 minutes before the credits roll. Nevertheless, this is a powerful film that deserves to be seen. Vikander’s presence is going to be felt on the big screen in a big way in 2015 (IMDb has six 2015 films to her name), so we’re all in for a treat.

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As many may know, during World War II, the British were working hard to break the German Enigma code. An elite team of codebreakers worked in secrecy at Bletchley Park, and the story of their efforts was only revealed to the public 50 or so years after the end of the war.

The father of computer science, Alan Turing, is played deftly by he of the oh-so-easily-made-fun-of-surname, Benedict Cumberbatch. Whilst it isn’t worlds apart from that of the other famous genius who lacks any kind of social skills, Cumberbatch’s finely tuned performance is distinct from his most famous role. He plays Turing as if he is constantly computing (heh) on a higher level. Even when he’s having an in-depth conversation, his mind is elsewhere, either because of his obsession with creating his machine, or because of the secrets he’s being asked to keep.

He’s ably assisted by the likes of Matthew Goode (brilliant as ever), Allen Leech and Matthew Beard, whilst Charles Dance is almost as unlikeable as the TV role we all love to hate him in. Keira Knightley plays Joan Clarke, a gifted numismatologist who becomes closer to Alan than the rest of the codebreaking team.

The screenplay is fantastic, and it only slips up once or twice, when it goes for the tried and true cliché of having a significant phrase repeated throughout the story, so as to give Alan’s life a neat narrative arc. For some reason this kind of thing always takes me out of a biopic; it may be no one else is in the least bit bothered. What’s most incredible, however, is the fact that the film isn’t horrendously depressing. Anyone who’s read about Turing knows that he was met with injustice despite his achievements, yet the film is at times humorous, tense and thoughtful, and it changes tone effortlessly.

The film looks fantastic. The scenes of war, there to remind us what’s going on outside the confines of Bletchley Park, are a mixture of modern visual effects and stock footage. There’s nary a wasted moment either. I didn’t like the scenes from Turing’s childhood as much as the rest of the film, but it must be said that Alex Lawther’s performance as the young Turing perfectly complements Cumberbatch’s.

An excellent period drama and enlightening biopic, The Imitation Game is the first great film of 2015.

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The citizens within the walls are trying to come to terms with Eren’s…ah…newfound abilities, and decide whether they are a danger or an asset to the city. Eren, for his part, has joined the Scouts, and the bulk of part II is an extended scouting mission that, without spoiling anything, goes from bad to worse.

Taking the action outside the city is a fantastic move, as it’s great to see how the soldiers have to use their omnidirectional gear differently when out in the open. The action is just as brilliant as the first half of the series, and frequently pushes the concept to the limit. There are some truly jaw-dropping moments to be witnessed here. I should be used to it by now, but Attack on Titan’s ability to blindside the viewer is amazing. There’s very little about the story that’s predictable, and I was taken off-guard regularly by this show, one that isn’t afraid to take things to the extreme.

There are some emotional moments that really ring true this time around.  Whilst the first half wasn’t exactly sterile, here there are some quite touching scenes, including one brilliant moment where the returning soldiers are treated with sustain by the general populace.

Whilst this half of the series brings with it all the brilliance of the central concept, it does carry over the same flaws. The never-ending introspection of every single one of the characters can drag. To make things worse, most of the time said introspection is unnecessary, since it’s simply telling us how the characters feel – something that’s made clear by their actions and words anyway.

I’m sure that part of this has to do with keeping the budget of the episodes manageable. Whilst the animation is among the best I’ve ever seen in an anime series, each episode is obviously at pains to balance to the static scenes with the high octane ones. I’m nit-picking, but it’s something that I was constantly aware of whilst watching.

The animation is beautiful, and once the characters get out of the city, the background art is truly stunning. It looks amazing on Blu-ray, even if the special features are a little ho-hum. Attack on Titan has such broad appeal that I can’t imagine many feeling disappointed by the show. More significantly perhaps, the final episode leaves you desperate for more. The series producers have been tight-lipped about a series 2, but let me assure you, by the time the end credits have finished, you’ll be just as keen to revisit the world of the titans as I.

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Attack on Titan is set in a vaguely medieval world that may or may not be a post-future Earth. Humanity lives within one giant city surrounded by 500 foot walls. The stone barriers are there to fend off the titans, who appeared without warning a century earlier. Gigantic naked humanoids, these creatures are only interested devouring humans, and there’s nothing creepier than seeing these gigantic, genital-less mute behemoths towering over our heroes, a blissful glint in their eye (except, maybe, if they did have genitals).

Eren (Yûki Kaji), Mikasa (Yui Ishikawa) and Armin (Marina Inoue) are three childhood friends who join the military in an effort to thwart the titan menace. Eren is the most single-minded of the bunch and, if we’re being honest, is of the Shenji mold (à la Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone), in that he constantly dials the intensity all the way up to 11. Eren does a lot of yelling, but thankfully stops short of becoming tiresome. The other two provide some balance. The quietly-spoken Mikasa is the most capable of the new recruits and a fearsome warrior, whilst Eren is the smartest of the bunch, even if he’s a bit of a wimp. The three of them make for a great central triptych of characters.

There are a host of supporting characters, all with their own visual quirks, so they’re easy to tell apart, even when they’re wearing identical uniforms. My favourites would have to be Sasha (Yu Kobayashi), who’s more than a little strange and overly concerned with food, and Levi (Hiroshi Kamiya), the enigmatic leader of an elite squad.

The production values of Attack on Titan are quite incredible, and look amazing on Blu-ray. The soldiers use their omni-directional mobility gear to fly through the city streets, and those sequences recall the high-flying moments of The Amazing Spider-Man, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ or ‘Arkham City’. In such instances, the buildings are usually rendered in 3D animation whilst the characters remain in 2D. They are fleeting moments, however, and it’s quite common for an episode to feature still frames for the occasional crowd scene, presumably to keep costs down. It works, however one wonders if spending less on the high octane moments would mean we could lose some of these static shots.

The main problem with Collection 1 is that the characters are prone to bouts of extended introspection. I’m all for character development, but this can slow down the narrative unnecessarily. It’s a case of telling, not showing, and I suspect it too has to do with keeping the budget at a manageable level.

The brilliant thing about Attack on Titan though is this: no longer has it set up the rules, than it breaks them. With impunity. The show took me completely by surprise on several occasions, something that hasn’t occurred since Blood-C, and its ability to do narrative about-turns with such ease is unparalleled.

When you get down to it, this really is your traditional Kaiju versus humans setup, except the monsters are simply giant versions of humans. There’s something undeniably unsettling about these titans, however, and as such, Attack on Titan sends Godzilla back to the Pacific Rim from whence he came.

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To make myself very clear: I was not a fan of Canopy. It must be said that I was expecting a very different film when I went in. Some early reviews had compared it to Gravity, and having recently seen the similarly themed All is Lost, I figured this would be the same deal – something goes wrong in the first few minutes, then our hero spends the rest of the film trying to get to safety. This was not the case. What should be a very simply case of conflict/resolution, conflict/resolution is anything but. Completely absent is any sense of escalation within the narrative. I wanted a bold, simple thriller; instead what I got was an 80 minute tone poem.

The film looks pretty good. The lighting is excellent, particularly in the night time scenes, and the few simple visual effects get the job done. The on location stuff in the jungles of Singapore is fantastic. Some strange choices are made in the cinematography department, however, and there were several occasions when I got a close-up of nothing whatsoever. The filmmakers did make a great decision not to feature any subtitles whatsoever, so whenever someone is speaking in another language, we’re thrust into the role of Chittenden’s character – alone and uncomprehending of what is going on around him.

After a dull first 15 minutes, I thought that proceedings would pick up once our fallen pilot bumped into another person (Tzu-yi Mo) lost in the jungle. I thought perhaps we’d have a kind of Enemy Mine thing going on, where two former enemies learn to trust each other and become brothers. Instead, Canopy simply became a film featuring two people stumbling through the jungle, seemingly without purpose.

Like I said earlier, perhaps I simply wanted a different kind of film. It has a dreamy, contemplative pace and the narrative feels completely directionless. An 80 minute movie should not drag. The most exciting thing about Canopy was its premise.

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