In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials the fight for survival now takes place among demolished cities and desert landscapes.

Even those familiar with the famous July Plot of 1944, in which a group of German officers led by Claus von Stauffenberg tried to kill Hitler, may not be aware that it was the last of more than a dozen planned or attempted assassinations.

Inoffensive, unremarkable and mostly just a bit naff, this adaptation of Bill Bryson's memoir of walking the Appalachian Trail is about as good as it could possibly have hoped to be, which is to say not very good at all.

Remember Dr Dre's brilliantly glamorous video for Still D.R.E? Where he and Snoop Dogg cruise around Compton in Chevys, bouncing on hydraulics and partying with bikini babes?

Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, this indie coming-of-age dramedy is all about Greg (Mann), a teenage boy whose mother makes him spend time with cancer-stricken classmate Rachel (Cooke).

Meryl Streep's rock'n'roll dysfunctional family drama makes Mamma Mia look authentic.

The film version of a well-regarded stage play, which was itself based on a true story, was always going to be at high risk of being a weepie of cloying sentimentality.

Leaving the theatre after watching this documentary about Carl Boenish, father of the base-jumping movement, I couldn't help but think how far skydivers have pushed the sport.

Director and screenwriter Peter Bogdanovich has often looked to the past for inspiration; this time he revives the screwball comedy genre he enjoyed success with in the early 70s.

Wordless as it is, this debut feature by a Ukrainian filmmaker makes no allowances for its audience's need for dialogue, expository or otherwise.

So here we have a British director reviving an American Cold War show that was the small-screen answer to Bond.

"You say nobody knows who he is? Who doesn't know who he is?" runs a line early in this splendidly entertaining film about three-time Oscar winner, costume designer Orry-Kelly.

Amy Winehouse really was a musical force of nature. Her voice and her songwriting were incredibly special.

A love letter to a life-changing experience, this portrait of a sextet of walkers on the famous Camino Frances that finishes at Santiago de Compostela tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the undertaking.

If the plays of George Bernard Shaw are more admired than staged these days, this one may explain why.

Tom Cruise's latest Mission: Impossible film is darker and funnier than its immediate predecessor and feels more like a Euro-espionage thriller than a spy story stuck on an action chassis.

Wondering what to see at the International Film Festival? Here are our latest reviews from the Auckland leg of the nationwide event.

John H. Watson, MD, has much to answer for; just ask this Sherlock Holmes.

Our reviewer Russell Baillie discovers there's big fun to be found in Ant-Man's small-scale thrills.

Revenge, served at various temperatures, is the unifying theme of this Oscar-nominated Argentinian compendium of six blackly comic short films making a welcome return from last year's festival.

Following last year's The Fault In Our Stars comes Paper Towns, the second (and probably not the last) adaptation of a John Green novel.

Amalric, best known as the villain in the Bond flick Quantum of Solace and most acclaimed for his extraordinary eyes-only performance in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

The 2002 New Yorker autobiographical essay that was the source of this slight but surprisingly amiable film is really worth reading.

When it comes to sequels, I often wonder "Why?" In this case the answer is easy to find.

The 1856 novel by Gustave Flaubert about a woman whose glamorous fantasies lead her to betray and beggar her decent but unambitious doctor husband is among literature's most filmed.

Beyond praise: Luke Norris, Emun Elliott, Phoebe Fox and Mark Strong in A View from the Bridge.

His hand doesn't work properly, his jokes are worse than your dad's, and in one hilarious scene, he has to jolt his dislocated knee back into place. If there's a hospice for cyborg killers, Arnie's T-800 deserves to be there.

Is it coincidence that the central duo in Carol Morley's film bear a striking resemblance to Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures?