When Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira was released in 1988 it must have been something of a novelty; an ultra-violent, hyper-stylised, feature length cartoon for adults. Now re-released in cinemas some 20+ years later for an audience au fait with the wonder of Japanese animation it’s clearer than ever that novelty had nothing to do with the film’s success. Graphically restored and sonically remastered, it’s as staggering today as it ever was.

Blimey. It’s all over. Fourteen years after the first book came out, ten years on from the first film and eight months since Deathly Hallows Part 1 rather cheekily claimed that ‘It All Ends Here’, the extraordinary cultural juggernaut that is the Harry Potter book series has finally completed its transition onto the screen. A better swansong than this film could scarcely be imagined.

This chaotic comedy centred around three bone idle, strapped for cash roomates sees the mass merging of Hollywood and Bollywood conventions to make an film that can appeal to a universal audience. Shocked? Yes. Pleasantly shocked? Yes.

Having won Best UK Feature at Edinburgh International Film Festival, David MacKenzie’s Perfect Sense is an exciting mix of romantic drama and sci-fi thriller that excels in originality. Providing a fresh look on apocalyptic catastrophe, it explores an unfolding romance it the most unlikely of circumstances.

A typical hunting trip in the woods goes awry when a few argumentative men become the victims, or ‘prey’, of a group of infected and bloodthirsty beasts. Devoid of any filmmaking conviction, Prey feels like Dog Soldiers meets Jurassic Park meets Animal Farm. Failing to scare or even entertain, this rural horror is so tame that for all its narrative coherence it should simply be called ‘Attack of the Toothy Pigs’.

Directed by the late David Hemmings, whose acting credits include Gladiator and Gangs Of New York, The Survivor is a tense, psychological horror, but one that raises more questions than it answers. Sometimes tense, sometimes scary, sometimes making no sense whatsoever, The Survivor is a captivating watch. Though I guarantee you’ll spend most of it baffled at how much Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter look alike.

Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) stars in a confused and meandering war story from Spike ‘however do I manage to balance such a big chip on one little shoulder?’ Lee. Bogged down by technical problems and frantic attempts to shoehorn a message into the madness, this is anything but a miraculous film.

Robert Redford’s latest directorial exploit stars James McAvoy and Robin Wright (quondam Robin Wright Penn) in a sepia-tinted legal drama about the distinctly witch-hunty trials which followed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. You may need a short nap in the middle, but The Conspirator‘s beetle-browed intensity is more than made up for with a slew of well-judged performances in a supremely atmospheric setting.

Larry Crowne is the second directoral attempt from Tom Hanks, and is a film that you want to love so much that you end up liking it, just a little bit. The onslaught of college-based clichés are almost balanced out by the few genuinely funny comedy moments that pepper the film, and Julia Roberts is at her least annoying in years.

Francesca Simon’s wildly successful Horrid Henry books have at last made it onto the screen, and the eponymous terror’s cinematic exploits are guaranteed to keep kids rapt from his first act of unnecessary biscuit theft to his final defiant bit of on-screen graffiti. If you happen to be carting a child about, be a sport and take him/her/it along – he/she/it’ll have a fantastic time.