The Irishman (out Nov 7) is a crime/mobster flick from director Martin Scorsese. It's not a tale that will blow you away (we've seen this sort of stuff before) but Scorsese is a great storyteller. It's more about the characters and how they interact (lots of "Chinese whispers") than about what ultimately happens to them. Joe Pesci the pick of the outstanding cast. Grade: A-.

Last Christmas (out Nov 7) is an underwhelming romantic-comedy about a neurotic young woman (played by Emilia Clarke) who meets the ultimate nice guy (played by Henry Golding) and then reassesses her selfish nature. She’s a tough character to like and that’s part of the reason why it’s hard to buy into her transformation. A rare misstep from director Paul Feig. Grade: C+.

Emu Runner (out Nov 7) is an Australian drama about a 9-year-old Indigenous girl who bonds with an emu in the remote outback following the unexpected death of her mother. The acting could have been stronger but it's still nice to see quality Aussie tales on the big screen. Grade: B.

Arctic Justice (out Nov 7) is yet another animated feature set in a world of snow/ice and is about a fox trying to land his dream job as a mail deliverer. The messages are genuine but there's not a lot of complexity or nuance to the storyline. Grade: C+.

Pain and Glory (out Nov 7) is the latest from Pedro Almodóvar and is the tale of an ageing director with many things on his mind. Antonio Banderas is fantastic in the lead role. It's a beautiful story about the way we look back on our lives and reflect on the choices we've made. Grade: A-.

Doctor Sleep (out Nov 7) is a horror flick that's trying to offer more than darkened basements, possessed kids and cheap jolts. Based on the Stephen King sequel to The Shining, it's an intriguing tale involving psychic beings, childhood trauma and a group of nomads who "eat screams and feed off pain". With lengthy dialogue-free sequences, director Mike Flanagan makes great use of music and sound. Grade: B+.

Balloon (out Oct 31) is based on actual events and follows an East German family who build a hot air balloon to help escape to the west in 1979. It feels manufactured in places but director Michael Bully Herbig does a great job using his villains to create tension. Grade: B+.

47 Metres Down: Uncaged (out Oct 31) is a rubbishy, inferior sequel to the 2017 original (which I liked). This one is about a group of young scuba divers who get trapped in an underground cave system while being pursued by sharks. The direction is laughably bad - from the bizarre use of slow-mo to the over-the-top use of shaky cam. Grade: C-.

Terminator: Dark Fate (out Oct 31) is a quasi-reboot in that it picks up the Terminator storyline not long after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). You can forget about the other sequels. The action scenes lack lustre (they're gone with farce over credibility) but the performance of Linda Hamilton as the crusty, cranky, angry Sarah Connor makes this worth your time. Grade: B.

Yuli: The Carlos Acosta Story (out Oct 31) is a dramatic biopic about a young Cuban boy who, pushed heavily by his father, became one of the world's great ballet dancers. The son-father dynamic gets repetitive but there are some moving dance sequences that provides audiences with a spark. Grade: B-.