If you thought pitching Ted, a film about a pot-smoking slacker with a CGI talking teddy bear, to studio executives would have been interesting, then Ted 2 takes things to a whole new level.

Emotions are at the forefront of this story, with most of the action happening inside the head of happy, young girl Riley (Kaitlyn Dias).

There have been plenty of declarations of Brian Wilson's pop genius. This is both explanation and exploration of it.

Danish director Vinterberg (The Celebration; The Hunt), might have been expected to turn in a challenging reading of the Thomas Hardy novel, one to loosen the grip of John Schlesinger’s 1967 version starring Julie Christie and Terence Stamp.

Did you know Minions have been around since the dawn of time? That's just one of many interesting facts you'll learn about Minions in Geoffrey Rush's amusing narration that begins this Despicable Me spin-off.

The acclaimed non-fiction book by New Yorker staff writer Katherine Boo is the raw material of this energetic and often spellbinding production of an adaptation by David Hare, the first National Theatre show with an entirely Asian cast.

It’s the early 80s and the country is emerging uncertainly from the Franco era. Old loyalties are dying hard — the area, we gather, was a fascist stronghold — and widespread industrial unrest lends a simmering sense of disquiet.

Ever since Jerry Maguire showed him the money, Cameron Crowe has had a hard time making movies that stick.

From Anne Fontaine, writer/director of Coco Before Chanel, comes this lighthearted and lusty modern-day interpretation of Posy Simmonds' graphic novel based on Gustave Flaubert's 19th century novel, Madame Bovary.

It would take some churlishness to deny the potency of the true story told by this biopic of Christina Noble, a Dubliner who founded homes for orphan children in Vietnam and Mongolia.

There's a lot of action, unanswered questions and convoluted science in Disney’s Tomorrowland, a film inspired by Walt’s namesake futuristic theme park, mostly to flesh out a premise that’s a little thin.

This doco, made and heavily branded by the V&A, is likely to be as close as fans here will get to it without an airfare.

Poltergeist 2015 is a faithful tribute, produced with an eye to introducing the Steven Spielberg-produced original - and the phrase "they're here" - to a new audience.

In the closing moments of this deliciously unpredictable Western, set in Colorado but shot in the South Island, the camera revisits the scenes of the various killings that have punctuated the action.

When word spread that a feature film starring Paul Henry was to premiere at an international film festival, the news was met with surprise, amusement and confusion.

Like the many, ingenious vehicles it has roaring and exploding across the screen, Mad Max: Fury Road is a giant scrapyard jalopy, says Herald entertainment editor Russell Ballie.

The budget is minuscule. There are no big names. Set pieces are delivered infrequently, and on a small scale. And if it's monsters you're after, there are precious few ghouls, goblins, ghosts or gremlins.

I enjoyed Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, even as I shrank from its outrageous contrivance.

Australian film-maker Robert Connolly, known for Balibo and Underground: The Julian Assange Story, enters new territory with this sweet family drama about a 12-year-old boy from rural Western Australia.

Documentary that captures small-town, rugby-mad culture enthrals.

The second instalment of a two-parter, this play proposes a solution to the mystery of what happened to the play that matched Love's Labour's Lost by assuming it was (and then delivering) Much Ado About Nothing.

One of the later sequences in this heavily armed action flick takes place in a bullfighting ring. Yes, we're now in Spain. No kidding.

The wonderful choristers of the American Boychoir School (is "boychoir" even a word?) in Princeton, New Jersey, are the heart and soul of this production. But all the star power at the top of the bill cannot save a sentimental paint-by-numbers film.

Toni Collette is fabulous and utterly convincing in this low-key drama about a magazine music writer whose latest assignment is to go in search of her ex-boyfriend, cult rock hero Matthew Smith, who mysteriously disappeared 10 years ago.

For Russian writer-director Zvyagintsev, whose 2003 debut The Return deeply impressed, this is feature number four, though only his second to be seen here outside festivals.

Age of Ultron feels less of an event than the first film, just a reasonably exciting instalment in Marvel's ongoing mega-franchise.

After a difficult start with the comings and goings of numerous directors and stars, including Katherine Heigl and Natalie Portman, this epic romantic drama about a woman who remains aged 29 for almost eight decades finally sees the light of day.