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Christian Bale delivers his best performance for years as fund manager Michael Burry.

O’Nan the writer and director consistently pulls an unexpected development or a priceless piece of dialogue from up his sleeve, ensuring you never lose interest in the tangled lives of a flawed but basically good-hearted main trio.

We shouldn’t feel so obviously manipulated and steered away from everything else towards the leads’ performances.

Ryan O'Nan is good value. He is ably supported by Ferrera, as the long-suffering spouse. They're stuck with a script that can't quite find the right voice for its concerns.

Now it's Denzel Washington's turn, which means this is serious and requires a smart turn out at all times and a watch that goes 'bleep'.

It's complicated and increasingly violent

Christian Bale - reduced lately to whispering solemnity in the likes of Dark Knight and Terminator Salvation - gets to really cut loose with Dicky in a performance that is sure to give Geoffrey Rush a run for his money on Oscar night.

Self-hatred and lies, stuck on the merry-go-round of never-ending temptations... give Flight its tension.

Although it is an actual river which divides the two countries, Hunt aims to explore societal divisions that run much deeper than that.

The final twist comes across as amateurish and lazy.

"The plot is bollocks."

The slow-burning two-hander first half gives way to a revelation-heavy final hour, where every new sub-Shyamalan surprise only confirms how much Oblivion is ripped off from superior sci-fi that knows its game better.

24-carat, high pressure excitement

The acting is precise in its natural flow

Prisoners, surprisingly for a film that lasts 153 minutes, holds you captive for the entire runtime.

Billed increasingly as a horror movie, the shifting sands of its tone means it sits uneasily in any category, as Smith flirts with comedy, action and horror without carrying off any of them particularly convincingly.

Oliver Stone takes the story and gives it slick mainstream polish, bringing the issue home in a way that is understandable and urgent, even if his hero ends up seeming almost too good to be true.

Part mystery, part psychological drama, and, towards the end, a harrowing thriller of unexpected intensity.

Ambitious, but also deeply flawed.

While this might sound like a trite story of redemption, it’s one infused by both a unique aesthetic and compelling central performances.