​​​​​​​Following a calm-before-the-storm prologue, John Krasinski’s sequel to his terrific 2018 creature-feature picks up mere moments after the first movie. This time, Emily Blunt and her brood venture beyond their farmhouse into a world overrun by gnarly alien predators that hunt by sound. Cillian Murphy, who’s no stranger to post-apocalyptic survival rigours (28 Days Later), plays an old friend of the protagonists’, joins the slick follow-up which once again relies on the power of silence and stillness to generate high-tension thrills (best appreciated on the big screen), even if it has lost of some of the freshness (nothing here can hold a candle to the bathtub birthing or that squirmy rusty-nail-in-the-foot sequence in the original.) But it does allow Millicent Simmonds, as the hearing-impaired daughter whose auditory device is key to defeating the monsters, to shine in a few badass moments. (3.5/5 stars)

The talents of Ryan Reynolds (as the bodyguard), Samuel L Jackson (the hitman) and Salma Hayek (the hitman’s wife) are criminally squandered in this unnecessary sequel which feels made-up as it goes along. (Frank Grillo’s Interpol agent shows up, talks tough and disappears for a while.) Poor Antonio Banderas, looking like a Liberace impersonator on his day off, is the third-rate Bond megalomaniac giving the trio hell as they shoot and swear their way across Europe. Some folks might find this overplotted, overcrowded jumble entertaining, but for others, it is the kind of cynical cash-in that’ll make them hate movies. (2/5 stars)

Part social drama, part gritty crime story, the Hongkong-set, Golden Horse Award-nominated Hand Rolled Cigarette stars Lam Ka-Tung as a former British army soldier harbouring a South Asian man (newcomer Bipin Karma) who’s stolen a stash of dope from the triad. The two do not get along at first but they eventually warm up to each other and start sharing their hopes and regrets (it’s a pity their bittersweet exchange isn’t in Cantonese). Decent turns, though the coincidence-laded plotting — what are the odds that they pissed off the same gang boss? — scuppers the narrative. The climactic fight sequence is unforgettable. (3/5 stars)