The hair is piled high, the fake tan abounds and the rhinestones have been polished to within an inch of their lives; it’s time to melt into the ridiculously enjoyable world of Irish dance with Jig.

In 1994 Wes Craven reclaimed the original slasher nightmare and helmed the final instalment in the franchised vision of terror – Nightmare on Elm Street. The outcome of Craven’s combined writing and directing efforts in this film – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – was a vivid horrorscape of the unimaginable and an exercise in intelligent, disturbing inventiveness. 17 years later and My Soul To Take has summoned the cinematic corpse-monger back to the business of blood – but it’s a far cry from the slick-witted slice ‘n dicer – and this time the result may be more bed-time story than Nightmare…

A Turtle’s Tale, the biography of a dismally boring chelonian who spends fifty years biffing around in the sea and then turns into John Hurt, has been billed as an adventure/thrillride/treat etc “for all the family”. Should you wish to protest this blatant lie, the Trading Standards Institute can be found here; nobody over the age of five will find any joy in Sammy’s aimless paddling, trite relationships and pious eco-preaching.

A devastatingly right-on documentary determined to plumb the depths of America’s capital punishment system, In the Land Of The Free follows the life and times of three men: Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King – collectively known as ‘The Angola Three’. Between them, they have spent over a century in solitary confinement for the murder of a prison guard; a murder that, in all likelihood, they never committed. It’s all sufficiently horrid, worthy stuff – but we have to ask, why is Samuel L involved?

First there was Kidulthood, then there was Adulthood, now there’s Anuvahood. With original writer/director Noel Clarke having absolutely nothing to do with this one it’s up to Kidulthood co-star Adam Deacon to assume the role of writer/director and somehow turn the middling urban drama into comedy gold.

The Eagle is based on Rosemary Sutcliffe’s popular novel The Eagle of the Ninth, and is the story of a young Roman officer who possesses a singular obsession; regaining the..

An animated film about a man you’ve probably never heard of and his dog. If you already think this sounds awful then prepare to be surprised. Pleasantly.

Sweetgrass, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s documentary feature, should be subtitled: The Death of the Cowboy. For that is essentially what we witness: the end of an era, a way of life, a centuries-old practice.

Things I Learned From Watching Life, Above All: if you don’t a) fall down a hole and die, b) nearly get stoned to death by your village or c) get forced into prostitution and then have your face cut up by a rapist, you will probably die of AIDS. OR all of the above will happen to everyone dear to you and you’ll be left alone in the world. Yay!

A quietly confident introduction and the fun of multi-task-actors makes you hope that Country Strong will do for Gwyneth Paltrow what Crazy Heart did for Jeff Bridges. Sadly though, it soon becomes clear that there’s just too many cliche moments piling up to glimpse a genuinely moving story, and trowling on the sentiment only serves to alienate whatever audience lasts until the end. (Except for country lovers, of course. They’ll probably just lap up the massive hats.)