T2: Trainspotting 2 (out Feb 23) is a sequel to the iconic 1996 original from director Danny Boyle. While it’s great to catch up with these eclectic characters, the screenplay is slight. Knowledge of the original film isn’t essential but it would be a helpful prerequisite. Grade: B-.

The Great Wall (out Feb 16) is like an episode of Game of Thrones with a Chinese flavour. Set in "long ago" times, a group of soldiers use the famous wall to fend off intelligent monsters. Matt Damon is the film's weakest film. If you ignore his bland character, you're left with original, creative action sequences as the warriors use every trick in the book. Grade: B+.

Silence (out Feb 16) is the story of two Catholic priests who travel to Japan in the 17th Century to help grow the religion. The performances and cinematography are hard to fault. Still, it's a hard slog at 161 minutes and is as much an endurance test for the audience as it is for the characters. Grade: B.

Hidden Figures (out Feb 16) is simplistic, cheesy in places but it's still a beautiful tribute to three African American women who overcame much discrimination to forge a career at NASA during the 1960s. Starts Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe are very, very hard to dislike. Grade: B+.

Fifty Shades Darker (out Feb 9) wins a few points for being a less conventional romantic drama. Unfortunately, the storyline is slight and some scenes were laughably bad (such as one involving a helicopter). Grade: C+.

A Street Cat Named Bob (out Feb 9) doesn't flow all that smoothly but it's still an affecting story about a homeless man who, in trying to shake a drug addiction, becomes friends with a stray cat. Grade: B.

Gold (out Feb 2) is based on a true story and follows a struggling American businessman (Matthew McConaughey) who travels to Indonesia with hopes of constructing a successful gold mine. It's a "truth is stranger than fiction" kind of tale but it's slow to make its point. Grade: B-.

Toni Erdmann (out Feb 9) is a wonderful German comedy about a father who used unorthodox techniques to reconnect with his middle-aged, workaholic daughter. I’m struggling to think of a more warped, out-of-the-box comedy from the past year. You'll have no idea what's around each corner. Grade: A.

Fences (out Feb 9) is based on the Tony Award winning play from the late August Wilson and is a strong character study set in 1950s Pittsburgh. Denzel Washington (who also directs) stars as a domineering patriarch who tries to assert his waning authority over his wife and children. Grade: A-.

Patriots Day (out Feb 2) takes us inside the hunt for the two men behind the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. The Mark Wahlberg narrative (who plays an ordinary police officer) isn't all that interesting but the conflict between government agencies sufficiently compensates. Grade: B.