1 War for the Planet of the Apes (12A)
(Matt Reeves, 2017, US) 140 mins
Having journeyed from cute pet to world-weary warlord (wiping out most of humanity along the way), alpha-chimp Caesar has earned his epic finale. Combining elements of prison-camp drama, biblical epic and, given the Kurtz-like antagonist, Apocalypse Now-style war movie, this instalment gives sci-fi spectacle and character depth; the latter all the more impressive considering the characters are mostly non-human.
2 Spider-Man: Homecoming (12A)
(Jon Watts, 2017, US) 133 mins
Tom Holland is just the thing to rejuvenate the rapid-turnover superhero franchise, and he’s youthful enough to take this iteration back to the teenage realm where it belongs. As well as the usual high-school anxieties, he’s got his neighbourhood vigilantism and a stalled Avengers apprenticeship to deal with.
3 Baby Driver (15)
(Edgar Wright, 2017, UK/US) 113 mins
Wright pays homage to a slew of classic US movies in this smartly assembled car-chase/heist thriller, whose action scenes are a joy. He also assembles a pretty impressive cast. Ansel Elgort is our hero behind the wheel, at the service of Kevin Spacey’s colourful crime gang.
4 It Comes at Night (15)
(Trey Edward Shults, 2017, US) 92 mins
A post-apocalyptic woodland scenario yields unorthodox terrors in this minimalist drama which expertly explores the darkness without and within. Joel Edgerton is well cast as a twitchy patriarch defending his isolated homestead, until a stranger comes knocking, with his own, equally desperate family …
5 The Beguiled (15)
(Sofia Coppola, 2017, US) 94 mins
Coppola has been criticised for excising an African American character who figured in the original novel and the 1971 movie but, on its own terms, this is still an assured, feminist-slanted civil war drama. It follows wounded soldier Colin Farrell as he finds sanctuary and much more besides when he comes to Nicole Kidman’s all-female seminary.
