66/100

This Russian thieving magpie of a sci-fi film takes elements from a number of genre classics, but essentially offers an atmospheric riff on Alien and is loaded with mainly political allegories, especially relating to Russia’s communist past.

When cosmonaut Veshnyakov returns to Earth, it soon transpires that he has a mysterious and malevolent extraterrestrial organism living inside him. But thanks to Abramenko’s coolly understated, meat and potatos storytelling and evocative recreation of the early ‘80s Soviet Union, Sputnik doesn’t…

83/100

If films are judged according to how often and how well they hit their apparent targets (and they should), then Dunkirk is near flawless. Nolan has explained that he wanted to portray the rescue mission of allied troops from France at the beginning of WWII not as a traditional war film but as a thriller, a tale of suspense and survival, and he has managed to do exactly that. Even for a film telling a well known story, this…

35/100

Oh dear, this is not very good is it? I haven’t read Ernest Cline’s 2011 hit book on which this is based but its hard to imagine that it’s any less hackneyed than the film. The book is supposed to be a fan letter to ’80s pop culture, set in a world where icons from movies, games and TV became real. But the film, though at times technically pretty impressive (of course it is, come on its Spielberg), is really…