Resurgence does not depart far from the formula established in 1996, but none of the actors in the sequel have the skillset required to make this kind of unwieldy vehicle take flight.

Lack of "a core funder" has caused NZ organisers to scrap this year's festival.

Typically for Richard Linklater, the film is a song of innocence, a nostalgic vision of a moment when all things appear possible. However, this rankly personal statement nonetheless feels rather forced and thin.

As in previous Ice Age instalments, the Scrat segments are the highlights, while the main storyline combines pointlessly glossy animation with dialogue from a mediocre sitcom

You might well suppose that the whole of Turkey has turned fundamentalist. Not so, says the director of Mustang, Deniz Gamze Erguven.

If characters are the new movie stars, then the franchise is the new coin of the Hollywood realm. Movie studios live or die by how many franchises — connected universes, sequel factories, spin-off machines — they have in their stable.

Our pick of this weekend's top screenings.

Hollywood is a strange creature: an often unyielding machine where, in the modern economy at least, box office dollars are more important to studio chiefs than indulging the whims of artists and dreamers.

After a World War II movie, it could be a Jacobean tragedy complete with soliloquies next.

After a liver transplant, the filmmaker began to see life - and a pear tree outside his office - very differently.

The Jurassic Park and Fly actor was so obsessed as a teenager that he would write 'please god, let me be an actor' on the shower door every day.

This haunting and challenging film explores the limits of female freedom.

Alexander Skarsgard reveals his intense training to achieve the physique of a vine-swinging wildman.

Eugene Levy has carved out a varied acting career, from comedy to improvisation to TV and film, but says voiceover work like Finding Dory is the most taxing.

Its significance may be lost on some, but Star Trek continues to reach for the stars.

Atmosphere eclipses narrative drive in this Italian drama with Juliette Binoche.

At 52, the French screen goddess is driven by a spirit of adventure.

Sam Neill talks wine, politics and Wilderpeople over some fine sashimi with Karl Quinn.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee that killed Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin in a freak accident over the weekend was recalled recently for a possible gear defect that could lead drivers to think they're in park when they're not.

Director Richard Linklater revisits his youth in a film set four years after his cult hit Dazed and Confused.

The BFG is one of the most simple and straightforward tales Steven Spielberg has directed.

The young actor best known for playing Chekov in two Star Trek movies was killed when his car rolled and pinned him against a wall.

The box office figures fly in the face of a trend the filmmaking industry has dubbed "sequel-itis", which describes audiences' sequel fatigue.

Paul Cox was obsessed with death, and seemed for a time able to cheat it, but the cancer with which he was diagnosed seven years ago has finally claimed the filmmaker's life.

The standout moments included an Irish comic musical; the disappointments an Indian thriller.