The Help (2011)

Historical drama set in Mississippi in 1963. 

Skeeter (Emma Stone), an aspiring author, decides to write a book on African-American maids and the struggles they face on a daily basis.

Directed by Tate Taylor, this film is adapted from the popular 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett. Despite good storytelling and some remarkable performances by Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Viola Davis, it’s sentimental and simplistic. There’s also an unfortunate “white saviour” aspect. Given the importance of the Civil Rights movement, you wish there had been a more nuanced and subtle treatment of the topic.

Doubt (2008)

Compelling drama adapted from the stage play by John Patrick Shanley. 

It’s 1964. At a catholic school, the priest, Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is slandered by Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), who accuses him of an inappropriate relationship with a black student. Meanwhile, a young and impressionable history teacher, Sister James (Amy Adams), is inadvertently drawn into this tangled mess.

Viola Davis plays the child’s mother with depth and empathy. 

It’s fascinating stuff, and you are quickly drawn in by Streep’s intensity as a terrifying, vindictive, almost witch-like fanatic.

I felt slightly disappointed by the ending, although I’m not sure how else it could played out.

Prisoners (2013)

A gripping and terrifying thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve. 

In Conyers, Pennsylvania, two girls go missing – believed to be abducted. Their families begin to disintegrate under the strain, with one of the fathers (Hugh Jackman) resorting to increasingly extreme behaviour. 

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the local detective, desperately trying to find the girls despite the community and his own boss working against him. 

It’s brilliantly written, acted and photographed. There’s a genuinely creepy look to the rainswept houses and streets. 

Themes of religion, family and community run through the narrative, adding depth and texture.

Ender’s Game (2013)

A sci-fi saga presumably aimed at 12-year-old boys, this version of Orson Scott Card's 1985 novel is entertaining and races along in an exciting way.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is an unusually talented child selected to join an orbiting military academy. He is one of many young people being trained to lead Earth’s defence against invading aliens named the Formic. Harrison Ford plays his mentor, Colonel Hyrum Graff, while Ben Kingsley is Mazer Rackham, a war hero from the aliens’ first attack.

For some reason the training segments of the film – complete with drill instructor – seem to deliberately pay homage to those in Full Metal Jacket, a film that the young audience won’t even be aware of.

The visuals are often remarkable, with seamless zero-gravity CGI and impressive videogame-like effects. 

In places it can all seem a little silly – a bunch of kids taking everything very seriously indeed – and although it attempts to introduce moral issues, these aren’t explored in great depth.

But ultimately it’s a well-paced romp, and the double twist of the ending certainly wasn’t predictable.