Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (out Jan 12) is a chaotic family comedy that tries to win audiences over with its silliness but fails miserably. A troubled kid tries to "take on the establishment” and embarrass his school's controlling, sexist principal. Grade: C-.

The Edge of Seventeen (out Jan 5) stars Hailee Steinfeld as a teenager who needs to take a good hard look at herself. I can’t pretend to relate to the troubles of a teenage girl in today’s society but this comes across as realistic and authentic. We all make mistakes and that's just part of life. Grade: A-.

Passengers (out Jan 1) is the story of a man who wakes up and finds himself alone on a spaceship that is still 90 years from its destination. The film explores a great moral quandary (everyone will have a different opinion) and has a few solid action sequences. Not quite enough material to last two hours though. Grade: B.

Assassin's Creed (out Jan 1) is based on the video game series which a friend tells me is "fun when you ignore the storyline and go around bashing guards and seeing how long you could live before they all kill you." It's an apt description of the film too. Grade: C+.

Paterson (out Dec 22) is a beautiful told tale from writer-director Jim Jarmusch about a poetry-loving bus driver (Adam Driver) from a small town in New Jersey. It's the kind of movie that makes you appreciate life - complete with its richness and simplicity. Grade: A-.

Moana (out Dec 26) is textbook Disney with its themes of family and "finding one's self". It's the tale of teenage girl from a small Polynesian island who goes on a mystical journey to help save her people. It's visually impressive and contains a couple of catchy songs. Grade: B+.

Red Dog: True Blue (out Dec 26) contains plenty of cheesy moments but it's still a likeable, warm-hearted family drama that taps into Australia's history and culture. It's a prequel to the successful 2011 original and shows the bond between Red Dog and his first owner (played by Levi Miller). Grade: B+.

Allied (out Dec 26) is from Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis and is set during World War II. Brad Pitt plays an intelligence officer who must investigate his own wife who has been accused of being a German spy. The dialogue feels unnatural in places and the ending offers less than expected. Grade: B-.

Sing (out Dec 26) makes the most of its many characters and is the story of a theatre-owning koala who tries to run a singing competition to escape financial ruin. There's a lot of music (for both young and old) but the film suffers with a safe finale which is just a long sing-a-thon. Grade: B.

Why Him? (out Dec 26) has some great comedic chemistry between the unusual pairing of James Franco and Bryan Cranston. It's the story of a father who doesn't see eye-to-eye with his daughter's strange new boyfriend. Better than the similar Meet The Parents. Grade: B+.