Grassroots is the true story of Grant Cogswell’s 2001 campaign for a seat on Seattle’s City Council. Basing his campaign around a desire to expand the city’s monorail system, Cogswell became a serious challenger to incumbent Richard McIver by targeting an untapped zest for change that lay dormant amongst Seattle’s young adults. Grassroots is admirable in its purpose, but a little out of step in the wake of Barack Obama’s successive victories in the war for the White House.

The story of a pathological liar who discovers that he has a half-sister and a nephew, People Like Us shows off the gargantuan acting abilities of the entire cast. Charming, genuine and flawed, the sweet and the funny is offset with some odd choices at the start and a pedestrian ending. However sceptical, this heart-warmer will win you over.

Alcohol is everywhere. Adverts on TV and billboards tell us all to get out there, drink up, do some shots and be more fun than you really are. As long..

Kevin James wafts back onto our screens as a listless biology teacher who just wants to chip in a few bucks and save his school when budget cuts loom. No bake sales here, as good-natured Mr. Voss enters the Octagon in a bid to literally fight for what he believes in. Take note, Here Comes the Boom is here to impart laughs and lessons in equal measure. Achieving neither, at least Kevin James gets a pummeling.

Set in 1968, The Sapphires tells the story of four aboriginal girls who are plucked from the outback and perform a whirlwind tour for troops across Vietnam. Chris O’Dowd anchors much of the fun, but things get a little slippery when the film’s feel-good factor is forced to come to terms with the social, racial and political climate of the time.

Whether you call it Desire to Kill or Enemy at the Dead End, this film is still about two nearly-dead men in a hospital ward trying to kill each other without the nurses noticing. You could roll a wheelchair through some of the plot holes, but this absurdist South Korean thriller is a true original.

With superb performances, nail-biting tension and a commitment to recreating the world of 1979 that borders on the obsessive, Argo shows Ben Affleck truly coming into his own as a director. There are a few glaring problems that seem to plague any film attempting to dramatise a true story, but the film builds up such good will that most of the negatives can be forgiven.

Thomas Vinterberg’s latest is a troubling meditation on the damage done by a single lie, upending a rural village and unearthing some dark truths at the heart of its close-knit community. Mads Mikkelsen won Best Actor at Cannes for his performance as Lucas, a nursery teacher who becomes a pariah when he is wrongly accused of terrible crime.

A touching, often heartbreaking documentary on the conditions that women around the world are forced to give birth in, as well as looking at the life chances of the babies lucky enough to survive childbirth. With incredible access, Welcome to the World shows us how fortunate we are to have made it even past our first birthday.

Norwegian islands play host to some pretty dark events. Long before the horrors of summer 2011, Bastøy Island was the home of a now infamous prison colony for troublesome boys, where dire conditions led to an uprising so overwhelming that the Navy was called in to control it – one of only two occasions in Norway’s history when its military forces were turned on its own people. To recreate all the drama of this cataclysmic event is, you would think, enough for any movie. Not so King Of Devil’s Island, which ultimately pulls out more stops than it can handle in its attempt to not just tell the story of Bastøy, but to make you think – and think deep.