Even though it looks like the trademark Minions tomfoolery is starting to wear thin – they at least tried hard to change up the narrative. With the third movie in the series – and seventh in the wider Despicable Me/Minions universe – there’s no doubt that the slapstick humour is being played out. There’s simply only so much you can do – even with much-loved one-dimensional characters – until the ‘well runs dry’. But kudos to the film’s creators for coming from a different angle, with a new...

The fifth instalment in any franchise has no right to be this good. While the Toy Story trilogy was nicely wrapped up in 2010, it’s no surprise that Disney/Pixar keeps milking this cash cow – and you could be forgiven for thinking the series may break at some point. The fourth movie didn’t quite shine as brightly as the first three – even though perfectly solid in its own right – so how would this prevent a potential decline? By making it poignantly topical – and with heaps of heartwarming...

Steven Spielberg returns after a four-year directing hiatus with an intriguing and thought-provoking slice of cinematic entertainment. This sci-fi thriller definitely comes into the ‘solid’ category of the legendary helmer’s movie work – but doesn’t quite compete in the upper echelons of his iconic back catalogue. In real terms it’s – in my humble opinion – about on a par with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If that yardstick is any help of course, depends how much you liked that...