Simon Morris

Review - Despite the star power of Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick and the smart, women-led comedy director Paul Feig, A Simple Favour packs in too many tonal switches for its own good, says Simon… Video, Audio

Maverick film-maker Shane Black attempts to breathe new life into the '80s monster movie in The Predator, but the twists and turns lose the simplicity that made the original a true action hit.  Video, Audio

In this year's off-peak release schedule are two comedies from either side of the Tasman – a safe, Australian romantic comedy called The Flip Side for no discernable reason, and a rickety, unsafe Kiwi… Video, Audio

The story of unlikely bad boy East End fashion designer Alexander McQueen - aptly titled McQueen - is, like so many documentaries about tortured artists, predictably tragic and sadly unenlightening. Video, Audio

There is no doubt that Sir Ian McKellen is one of the best actors treading the boards, but his work is so good because he has devoted so much of his life to it - leaving little room for an underlying… Video, Audio

Review - The bittersweetness of Atonement was almost unbearably poignant, and it's repeated in On Chesil Beach, another Ian McEwan book adaptation also starring Saoirse Ronan. Video, Audio

The documentary Spitfire tells the story of the plane that won the Battle of Britain, and features the last surviving RAF pilots – both men and women – remembering those perilous days. Video, Audio

Review - Hollywood's been trying to tap into the Asian market for years, so I'd have thought a Cinderella story among super-rich Chinese would have been a no-brainer, Simon Morris writes. Video, Audio

Leave No Trace is the new film from director Debra Granik (Winter's Bone) with a star-making role for New Zealand actress Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie. Video, Audio

Review - A film noir parody set in a version of LA inhabited by humans and puppets, The Happytime Murders is directed by Jim Henson's son Brian, and stars Melissa McCarthy. Video, Audio

A 17th-century Spanish magistrate is stuck in a dead-end job in the Argentinian film Zama, directed by arthouse favourite Lucrecia Martel and based on Antonio di Benedetto's 1956 novel of the same… Video, Audio

BlacKkKlansman marks the return of director Spike Lee in a true story of a black policeman who joined the Ku Klux Klan. Produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out!) Video, Audio

Teen sci-fi thriller The Darkest Minds features possible stars of tomorrow, Amandla Stenberg and Harris Dickinson. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2). Audio

The Meg may feature Jason Statham and Kiwi Cliff Curtis, but what audiences want to see is the world's biggest shark. Video, Audio

Simon Morris looks at the mega-hit giant shark film The Meg, the true story of the black cop who joined the Ku Klux Klan, Black KKKlansman and teen sci-fi film The Darkest Minds. Audio

Can stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon add a feminist slant to a tired old formula? The Spy Who Dumped Me is pretty much what it says on the wrapper, says Simon Morris. Video, Audio