Predictability. It’s something that tends to plague many films, yet it’s the single greatest strength of the Final Destination series. There’s nothing more predictable than someone dying in a horror film, so why not embrace it? It’s all about the build-up;knowing something bad is going to happen, but being powerless to stop it, is more nerve wrecking than the actual event itself. That’s why the Final Destination series actually benefits from foreshadowing everything to, ahem, death.

In the future according to Moon, aliens have not come to annihilate us, machines have not turned against humanity and meteorites are not on a collision course with the White House. Instead, the single biggest threat facing the hero is himself. In other words, Moon is the kind sci-fi film you rarely see anymore; subtle and intelligent. Consider it the binary opposite of Transformers 2, which on paper sounds like the highest praise imaginable. However, when you consider the opposite of ‘too much’ is ‘too little’, you’ll understand where Moon falters.

Within the doom and gloom of today’s economy and the decreasing quality of life as a result, people increasingly enjoy reminiscing about earlier times. Going back to a more carefree period in history for the purposes of a film often signifies a lack of satisfaction with where someone is and often who someone is, and a director’s objective is often to express that notion with regards to their homeland. Valeriy Todorovskiy’s Russia certainly has identity issues to this day after a tumultuous history that has served up corruption, civil wars and a great social and economic divide. The questions of identity and social standing are shown in Todorovskiy’s Stilyagi (Hipsters) by instances of popularity and the ability to face evils throughout adversity.

Charlie and Eddie go to White Castle in Richard J. Frankland’s Stone Bros., but are discriminated against once they arrive. Why? Because they’re indigenous Australians, and while they have a lot in common with the hilarious pot-smoking duo Harold and Kumar, the ‘White Castle’ in question is not a burger joint. Or if it were, Mc Reconciliation burgers would be in short supply.

Audiences have watched Richard Dean Anderson’s hair grow greyer with each new season of Stargate SG-1 since it first aired in 1997. As the longest running sci-fi series in TV history, creator Brad Wright has a lot to be proud of, but upon recently watching a re-air of the feature-length episode that started it all, he realised “he could do better”. It’s for this reason that Wright decided to return to the editing room twelve years later to re-cut and remaster the entire first episode, Children of the Gods, making it the way “it should have been from the beginning.”

The story of Coraline and her fantastical adventures is momentous – but not only because it’s the latest project from The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick. The film breaks a lot of milestones: at 100 minutes it’s the longest stop-motion feature ever, and the first to be shot entirely in 3D. Not to mention it’s the first venture from animation company LAIKA, and boy do they have big expectations riding on their shoulders with this one. But with the stunning visual experience that comes as we’re taken between what our heroine has and what she thinks she wants, it’s just not the animated masterpiece many were hoping for.

Whilst romanticised films about the Australian bush exist aplenty, there are few that portray the threat and direness associated with living a historically ‘bush’ way of life. There are also few films which question the fortune of those who decided to resettle in Australia. However this is what Lucky Country, the new Australian thriller by director Kriv Stenders (Boxing Day, Blacktown), encompasses. This film lives up to its thriller status with edgy characters and grisly moments. Set in 1902, it follows the lives of a small family who live in an isolated region in the Australian bush, their residence a small cabin enclosed in a dense landscape of flora and fauna. It is this landscape, conveyed as a malevolent omnipresent force that constantly watches those within, which is the backdrop to Stenders tense creation.

In Last Ride, Hugo Weaving won’t be seen dodging bullets in slow motion or transforming into a giant killer robot. Instead, he can be seen as the very flawed, very human ex-con Kev, on the run in the Australian outback with his ten year-old son Chook.