The Smurfs 3D attempts to tackle the ultimate question: what DO you do when cuddly blue money-spinners get lodged in your toilet? It turns out the answer is: get self-referential, mother SMURFERS. Harmless, silly fun along the lines of Elf and Enchanted, Smurfs 3D does a fair job of appealing to humans big and small – but it does feel like everyone’s aware that this is fluff and nothing more. Nothing smurf? Smurfing more? You’ll pick it up.

Next week, Jim Carrey will finally ascend to the apex of his career when the unrivalled cinematic event of the year, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, will be released. It’s bound to be full of fun, dancing and penguins, especially penguins. However, penguins have had far more of a cinematic impact than you might think, as this handy top 5 will attest to.

It must be pretty stressful to know that the success of a film hangs entirely on two performances – especially when you’re doing both of them. The Devil’s Double showcases Dominic Cooper’s (apparently) considerable talents with raucous aplomb, relishing the true(ish) story of Uday Hussein – the infamously psychotic son of Saddam – from the perspective of the man forced to take on his identity.

What’s your favourite Pixar film? Gotta be Toy Story hasn’t it, the first one you watched? Or wait, what about Up, or Wall-E, or maybe you’re partial to a bit of Mrs Incredible? Lord knows I am. Anyway, point is, nobody knows what they’re favourite Pixar film is, but everyone knows what their least favourite Pixar film is: Cars. Well ladies and gentlemen, trust me, Cars is practically The Godfather compared to its sequel. Prepare to be thoroughly disappointed.

Every so often you watch a film that you know you’re going to love within the first 5 or 10 minutes. Treacle Jr. is one such film. Funny, poignant, wonderfully acted and making brilliant use of its South London locations, Treacle Jr. is an absolute gem of a film, illustrating once again that you don’t need a Hollywood budget to create brilliant cinema.

This week saw the first teaser trailer for the last instalment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, and we here at Best For Film were…well, there was a feeling that we’d seen it all before. The gloomy Gotham-scape, mumbled dialogue, lots of shadows and buildings and shiny digital compositions. It’s slick, and it’ll probably turn out to be a good end to a so-far great trilogy, but a tiny part of us was thinking: “It’s not as good as Memento, is it?”. Still, Nolan isn’t the first indie director to be lured in by the lights and financial muscle of Hollywood, as this handy list will attest to.

An Apatow-eque romp without the cuddling after, Horrible Bosses chucks in loads of really naughty words and hopes to goodness it ends up controversial. The thing is, everyone’s obviously having such a brilliant time that it all just comes off as one big in-joke. Funny, crude, silly and loud – if you set your brain from kill to stun there’s a fair bit of enjoyment to be had here. I just wish they weren’t so damn pleased with themselves.

Ever wondered whether innocent midwives seriously questioned their careers after watching that alien explode from John Hurt’s chest? So have we. Some careers and films just don’t go together – and we’re here to make sure your movie-watching practises don’t get you scarred for life. Especially if you’ve carved a brilliant career in scar detection or something. SPOILERS AHOY!

Yeah it’s sunny, the birds are singing and the trees are treeing and the cats are dancing – but you know what? You don’t have anyone to barbecue with, icecreams are weepingly expensive and you’re still a terrible person. HURRAH FOR THE CINEMA!

So after a wet and blustery June and a less than tropical July, it looks like August is going to be no better. So, rather than delay the inevitable, best face facts now: that barbeque is staying in the shed, you’re not going to get a chance to wear that bikini and picnic food tastes rubbish when it’s covered in rain. However, last time we checked cinemas are all rain free! Huzzah! Here’s your pick of what’s to come next month!