2018 was an especially strong year both for documentaries and for fictional films exploring real-life issues, the ramifications of racism in particular. Other timely topics included the place of social media in contemporary life and the centennial of the end of World War I.

If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna) is a faithful, evocative and reverent adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel about a struggling young African-American couple, with many of the attendant weaknesses such careful film realisations can bring with them.

Popular character Toothless discovers a female Light Fury dragon in “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”. Photo: Universal Pictures International. Fans of the picturesque How to Train Your Dragon film franchise won’t be left disappointed with the spectacular third and final instalment of the DreamWorks Animation trilogy. The epic animated-adventure film How to Train Your Dragon:...

Emily Blunt stars in a scene from the movie “Mary Poppins Returns”, a sequel to the 1964 film “Mary Poppins”. Photo: Jay Maidment/Disney. It has taken more than half a century, but at long last Mary Poppins returns (Disney). The result is a delightful sequel to the 1964 classic that will divert all but the youngest and most skittish members of the family. Flashing forward some two dec...

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne star in a scene from the movie “Instant Family”. Photo: Paramount Pictures/CNS. By John Mulderig It’s rare that a movie can reasonably be expected to accomplish some good in the real world. But director and co-writer Sean Anders’ blend of comedy and drama, Instant Family(Paramount) may be the exception. This warm evocation of both the challenges and the...

Taron Egerton stars in a scene from the movie “Robin Hood”. Photo: Lionsgate/CNS. By John Mulderig Someone behind Robin Hood (Summit) – presumably one or both of the screenwriters, Ben Chandler and David James Kelly – has mummy issues with Holy Mother Church. As a result, vicious anti-Catholicism permeates this otherwise merely dopey take on the classic legend. We know we’re not...

Sylvester Stallone, Wood Harris, Michael B Jordan and Jacob Duran star in a scene from the movie “Creed II”. Photo: MGM/CNS. By John Mulderig Moviegoers under 33 take note: You had yet to be born when Rocky IV, the 1985 film that hovers in the background of the sports drama Creed II (MGM), was released. While viewers of any age will know what to expect from this latest extension of the...

Brenton Thwaites as Paul Asher and David Strathairn as ‘The Man’ in ‘an Interview with God’. Photo: Supplied. By Peter Sheehan This American film develops an intriguing plot line about a crisis-ridden journalist who returns home after covering the war in Afghanistan, and then conducts a series of interviews with someone who claims he is God. The journalist named Paul Asher-played b...

Johnny Depp stars in a scene from the movie “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”. Photo: Warner Bros/CNS. By John Mulderig For a film about magic, 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was strangely lacking in enchantment. So it’s welcome news that the follow-up, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros) is sharper and more engaging, though defects rem...

Ava (Erin Bethea) and Benjamin Morton (Jonathan Patrick Moore) on their wedding day. Photo: Supplied. By Theresia Titus Through a simple storyline, New Life tells the audience of a subtle Christian message about how the smallest light of hope is always there even in the most unbearable situations. Directed by Drew Waters, a television actor who makes his directing debut with the re...