The sequel to the 2008 hit Race, Race 2 encompasses enough action, gorgeous humans (hiiiii John Abraham) and complicated plots to work as a stand-alone action thriller. There’s no denying that Bollywood films ever EVER lack vivid colours, great cinematography and music that’ll make your head burst (with what, I’m unsure). But it’s thin dialogue, awfully superficial characters and chimerical plot let the film down abysmally. Race 2 really attempts to be a great success, and manages it sometimes, but its triple-twists and quadruple-bluffs turn into one (addictively) outrageous farce.

Claustrofobia is a Dutch horror debut from director Bobby Boermans, starring Carolien Spoor as a veterinary student who finds herself chained to a bed in the basement of one of her neighbours with no idea how she got there. The film explores some aspects of the condition of its title, but not nearly as deeply or darkly as you’d expect.

His first starring role since making the relatively short trip back to Hollywood from the L.A. governor’s mansion, Arnold Schwarzenegger creaks back onto the big screen in a routine actioner that bets big on nostalgia for the one-liners and stiff acting he perfected so long ago. Does a dinosaur like Schwarzenegger have a place in an era dominated by wire-less martial arts madness and the kind of jumped-up hyper-kinetic combat pioneered by the Bourne franchise? The Last Stand is a lesson in the saving grace of star power, even if it doesn’t burn quite as bright as it used to.

Although previously dramatised on television and in the first act of Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, this is really the first feature film to deal fully with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. But is The Impossible the ultimate disaster movie, or just the ultimate disaster?

Returning with another crash course in revisionist history, Quentin Tarantino invites us to buckle up and cast our minds back to pre-Civil War America for a trip through the South’s slave circuit. Bold, bloody, and arriving after what must have been a very short stay in the editing room, the ‘Southern’ epic Django Unchained is finally here.

The adaptation of Lee Child’s best-selling book One Shot, Tom Cruise has some mighty big literary shoes to fill. This film could have so easily been a mechanical and soulless action film, relying purely on the big name stars and the widely-read source material. In fact, Jack Reacher is beautifully shot, brilliantly acted and far surpasses the traditional man-against-the-world action flick. It never pushes the envelope too far, but Jack Reacher will leave you wanting more.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is undoubtedly an event-movie, but can it overcome the ridiculously high expectations and accusations of technological awkwardness surrounding its release? Yes. Yes it can. All the criticisms leveled at the first film in The Hobbit trilogy might be justifiable, but Peter Jackson has still created a worthy prequel to the Lord Of The Rings. Big flashy set pieces, enjoyable and complex characters and an accessible yet captivating script add up to a movie you will be proud to one day have as the cornerstone of your DVD collection. You’ll never be so glad to return to Middle Earth.

It took Canadian Steve Kostanski three years and only $1000 to create Manborg, an homage to mid-80s VHS sci-fi and horror. By embracing their cheap production values and never aspiring to be more or less than hilarious nostalgia, Manborg is possibly one of the best cinematic experiences you’ll ever have, providing that you are old enough to remember the unique and exquisite sensation of pushing a tape into a VCR. MANBORG!

The Man With The Iron Fists is more of a bloviated vanity piece by lead/director/writer/composer RZA than an homage to Chinese martial arts cinema. Proving that mediocre and poorly-edited action sequences are no substitute for a coherent screenplay, this film is an hour and a half of unenjoyable tosh that never even approaches the level of violence, gore, or fun that it promises. Someone better wrap RZA in a warm blanket and put him back to bed, he’s obviously not ready to be doing films yet.

Releasing two classic albums in the early seventies to minor critical acclaim but non-existent commercial success in the US, reclusive singer-guitarist Rodriguez became something of a popular music myth. Examining his phenomenal popularity overseas and his music’s relative obscurity at home in the US, director Malik Bendjelloul goes in search of the story behind a man dubbed the ‘Mexican Bob Dylan.’