PK sticks faithfully to Hirani’s well-oiled formula, and yet there is no question that it’s a courageous film. Packed with sharp dialogue and genuinely funny moments that offset the lack of subtlety, it is easily one of the year’s better films. The director’s best since Lage Raho Munnabhai.

There’s awe and spectacle and some nice light-hearted moments too, but it still pales in comparison to Jackson’s original LOTR trilogy. For Tolkien nuts though, understandably it marks the end of an era.

It’s as much fun as getting your privates stuck in your zipper.

The film coasts along smoothly for the most part of its 90-minute running time, except for the flabby, repetitive middle portion in which Dulal and Ruma engage in profound conversations each time they meet. Slickly shot, capturing a real, lived-in feel of the city, this is a charming little indie that manages to say something important, while never forgetting to make you laugh. Give it a chance.

There is a sense of drama in the final moments, in the manner that the gas leak is shot: the chaos at the general hospital, the bodies strewn in the slums, on the hospital steps, in the streets. It’s commendable that the film relives the terrible tragedy of the gas leak, but sadly, it has few moments that are extraordinary or even genuinely moving.

Expectedly, it’s Malkovich and Cumberbatch who get the best lines and ample opportunity to have fun with their (voice) parts. But for the latest installment of a much-loved franchise, The Penguins of Madagascar feels surprisingly underwhelming.

Not very much happens in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. The studio’s decision to make two films from the final book in Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy may have made sense from a business point of view – hey, it worked for Harry Potter and Twilight! – but dramatically, it’s a bad move. The filmmakers take roughly half an hour’s worth of plot and thinly spread it over two long hours, giving us a movie that feels half-baked and wanting.

The only bits that do work in Ungli are the seemingly unscripted lighter moments between the friends, and of course the scenes in which everyone from political bullies to sadistic auto-rickshaw drivers are brought to task in imaginative ways. The film’s overarching theme – of making offenders accountable – will no doubt resonate, but there had to be a more intelligent way to tackle the same idea.

This is a film that wants to be many things all at once – a rom-com between a fading star and the next big thing, also a clever satire on Bollywood. It’s overlong at 135 minutes, and on occasion dreadfully boring. Saif Ali Khan can still pull off goofy humor better than most others, but how many times does he have to play the same part before we can all agree that he’s too old for this schtick?

‘Boyhood’ then is a true gem, and a bold, brave experiment that’s as intimate as it is expansive. It’s an emotionally affecting film with a big beating heart, and Linklater shows us that indeed life is in the little details. Don’t miss it.