Sports Calendar

1941

Spielberg’s screwball blockbuster remains his one giant turkey; his crash back to Earth after Close Encounters

The Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner is superb as the gung-ho head of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq, who tests himself with acts of derring-do

District 9

This exposé of an alien refugee camp in Johannesburg brilliantly combines satire, bravura effects and verité queasiness

Best of 2009

Wrestlers and rockers in our ten films of the year, all out on DVD

Top ten DVD boxsets

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The sixth Potter feels long and bit formulaic, despite awesome effects, decent acting and surprisingly funny banter

Inglourious Basterds

It is quite unlike any war movie you’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s unlike any movie you’ve ever seen before

The Hangover

It’s full of “moments”, from Mike Tyson’s air-drumming Phil Collins-worship to the crazed naked Japanese man

Mid-August Lunch

This is a wonderful, slight, often hilarious delight. It’s a film that brings a smile just to think about it

The Proposal

It says much about Bullock and Reynolds that such clichéd tosh — which takes in a slapstick nude grapple — is tolerable

Orphan

The script does a good job of wrongfooting the viewer, and the American newcomer Isabelle Fuhrman is worryingly good

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Bay’s sequel teems with explosions, so much so that there’s little time for luxuries such as plot and characterisation

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Most franchises don’t offer much by number three, but this instalment is fresh, energetic and beautifully animated

Terminator salvation

Just as Mad Max reached its nadir with the inclusion of cute kids, so the Terminator franchise wilts and dies here

Duel meanings: Fight Club

The writer Chuck Palahniuk on the inspiration for Fight Club

Coco Before Chanel

Beautiful biopic dominated by the superb Audrey Tautou as “Coco” Chanel, whose early life is told here with a hazy glow

Sunshine Cleaning

It’s a formula we’ve seen before, but this bittersweet comedy is kept fresh by its gory subject

Fanny and Alexander

It is bawdy, earthy, joyous, elegant, beautifully detailed, and even a bit creepy, and deserves a place in your stocking

Star Trek

JJ Abrams was an inspired choice to reinvigorate a franchise that was always more about feelings than phasers

Michael McIntyre: Hello Wembley

Few stand-ups are better at communicating the simple joy of shared experience