Six Minutes to Midnight (out Apr 22) is a fictional thriller set just prior to the start of World War II. A British spy infiltrates a local school filled with German children and tries to gather intelligence. This isn’t good. It’s trying too hard to give the audience what it thinks it wants. It’s incredibly corny and is filled with farcical chase sequences and villains that belong in a Scooby Doo cartoon. Grade: C.

This Little Love of Mine (out Apr 22) is a contrived, unrealistic romantic comedy where you know the ending after 15 minutes. A successful female lawyer travels to her childhood home (an idyllic island) where, on behalf of a client, she tries to get an old friend to sign a contract which will make him heir to a billion dollar fortune. The dialogue is terrible. There’s an audience for this type of movie... but sadly, it’s not me. Grade: C-.

The Unholy (out Apr 15) is unsatisfying. It's a horror flick about a young woman from a small American town who is visited by the Virgin Mary and starts performing miracles. It's the kind of movie where every character is a walking cliché and the subplots have been sticky-taped on to get to a 90-minute run time. Grade: C.

Ascendant (out Apr 8) is an Australian-made thriller about a young woman being held hostage in the elevator of a 120-story building in Shanghai. It's lacking when it comes to ideas, villains and credible narrative but I liked the passionate lead performance from Charlotte Best. Grade: C+.

Aalto (out Apr 15) is an attention-grabbing documentary about acclaimed Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. It focuses on his beautiful creations and also the influence of his two wives on his designs. You may not know his name beforehand but you’re likely to remember it after seeing this. Grade: B+.

Gunda (out Apr 15) is a black and white, dialogue-free, music-free, Norwegian-American documentary about pigs, chickens and cows from Russian director Viktor Kossakovsky. Sounds like a box-office smash, right? I like the bizarre idea (remarkable to see the film earn a cinema release) but I’m not convinced there’s more on offer here than a strong National Geographic doco. Grade: B.

Antoinette in the Cévennes (out Apr 15) is a quirky French romantic comedy about a school teacher who, unpreparedly, goes on a week-long hiking trip in the name of love. Laure Calamy is a likeable lead and the script offers surprising laughs. That said, it takes big leaps in terms of character development in the second half which don’t quite stack up. Grade: B+.

Creation Stories (out Apr 15) is a biopic about Scottish music manager Alan McGee who helped bring the likes of Oasis, Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine to stardom. This is fun. It moves at a cracking pace (there’s a lot to cover) and it provides an unapologetic look at this interesting man. Grade: B+. 

Supernova (out Apr 15) blends two films we’ve seen recently - The Father and Blackbird. A man experiencing the early stages of dementia (Stanley Tucci) goes on one last road trip with his long-term partner (Colin Firth) to catch up with old friends. I grew to like these characters and their simple, heartfelt conversations. Grade: A-.

Voyagers (out Apr 8) is a sci-fi adventure about a group of genetically engineered youngsters sent on an 86-year space mission to colonise another planet. The film is loaded with good ideas but writer-director Neil Burger struggles to bring them all together into something with meaning and significance. The dialogue is laughably bad in places. Grade: B-.