Hidden Figures (out Feb 16) is simplistic, cheesy in places but it's still a beautiful tribute to three African American women who overcame much discrimination to forge a career at NASA during the 1960s. Starts Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe are very, very hard to dislike. Grade: B+.

Fifty Shades Darker (out Feb 9) wins a few points for being a less conventional romantic drama. Unfortunately, the storyline is slight and some scenes were laughably bad (such as one involving a helicopter). Grade: C+.

A Street Cat Named Bob (out Feb 9) doesn't flow all that smoothly but it's still an affecting story about a homeless man who, in trying to shake a drug addiction, becomes friends with a stray cat. Grade: B.

Gold (out Feb 2) is based on a true story and follows a struggling American businessman (Matthew McConaughey) who travels to Indonesia with hopes of constructing a successful gold mine. It's a "truth is stranger than fiction" kind of tale but it's slow to make its point. Grade: B-.

Toni Erdmann (out Feb 9) is a wonderful German comedy about a father who used unorthodox techniques to reconnect with his middle-aged, workaholic daughter. I’m struggling to think of a more warped, out-of-the-box comedy from the past year. You'll have no idea what's around each corner. Grade: A.

Fences (out Feb 9) is based on the Tony Award winning play from the late August Wilson and is a strong character study set in 1950s Pittsburgh. Denzel Washington (who also directs) stars as a domineering patriarch who tries to assert his waning authority over his wife and children. Grade: A-.

Patriots Day (out Feb 2) takes us inside the hunt for the two men behind the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. The Mark Wahlberg narrative (who plays an ordinary police officer) isn't all that interesting but the conflict between government agencies sufficiently compensates. Grade: B.

Manchester by the Sea (out Feb 2) is the story of a man who has distanced himself from his family but is force to reconnect after a tragic event. This is an exquisitely well-told tale about the way we deal with trauma and loss. It also has a surprising amount of comedy. The performances, headlined by Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges, are wonderful. Grade: A.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage (out Jan 19) is a mindless action film that sees Vin Diesel reprise the role he created in 2002. Did the script look this bad on paper? The villains are pathetic and the cliches are endless. Grade: C-.

Perfect Strangers (out Jan 26) is a wonderful Italian comedy about a group of friends at a dinner party who agree to share every text message, email and phone call received during the dinner. There are a few surprises and a few "laugh out loud moments". A great finale too. Grade: A-.