WATCH: Meryl Streep finally speaks out about Mamma Mia 2

2013's **The Immigrant is sadly still waiting for a UK release, so praise be to the cinematic gods that James Gray's The Lost City Of Z **arrived without delay. Based on the true-life tale of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), this dense but always gripping biopic is part political drama, part family drama and part adventure. On discovering the remnants of an indigenous society, Fawcett spent his life trying to prove his Amazonian finds until his unexplained disappearance in 1925. Containing one of the most beautiful scenes of the year, this undseen gem deserves, nay, demands your attention.

After breaking out with iPhone-shot Tangerine (2015), Sean Baker returns with this unicorn-paletted tale of six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her young, lax mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite). Set in real budget motels within reaching distance of Disney World, this awards contender adeptly showcases the stark – and at times tragic – contrast between big dreams and hand-to-mouth living. Hard-hitting but often incredibly funny, **The Florida Project **boasts a career-best performance from Willem Dafoe as put-upon motel manager, Bobby.

Garance Marillier had a pretty daunting task for her first feature-length film. Cast in Julia Ducournau's French horror-drama Raw, she plays timid first-year veterinary student Justine, who, although a lifelong vegetarian, is forced to eat raw rabbit's kidney by her sister as part of the hazing process. Which, err, just so happens to awaken a primal desire making her long for raw human flesh… But Raw isn't an out-and-out horror by any means. It features teenagers munching on other teenagers, yes, but it's also an incredibly tender film about family, self-discovery and, ultimately, growing up.

It's been half a decade since Edgar Wright last directed a film. What a relief to find the caffeine-fuelled wunderkind has not weakened his espresso order. Swapping Cornettos for car-chases, Baby Driver is part heist-movie, part Busby Berkeley musical, all hyper-kinetic cinematic acrobatics. It's not as purely funny as Wright's previous work but that's deliberate: this is a 1970s thriller for a 2010s audience.

A three-hour independent drama about mourning and death does not immediately sound like a barrel of laughs – and yet **Manchester By The Sea **is unexpectedly hilarious in places. It's also devastatingly sad, of course, largely testament to Casey Affleck's awards-hoovering performance as Lee, a grieving handyman struggling to comprehend his emotions or his new responsibilities as a guardian. Quiet and pensive on the surface, Manchester By The Sea rings loudly and powerfully in your ears after watching.

It might not have the might of Marvel or the star power of Star Wars, but the Planet Of The Apes franchise has slowly but surely regained ground since being successfully rebooted in 2011 (ignore the Tim Burton 're-imagining', if you know what's good for you). Here, the prequel series gracefully completes the arc of alpha ape Caesar (Andy Serkis) in immensely satisfying fashion – and finally uses poo-slinging as a pivotal form of weaponry.

Paddington (Ben Whishaw) finds himself caught up in a scheme involving a stolen pop-up book meant for Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) in this infectious sequel. Delivering even more heart and fun second time around, **Paddington 2 **is as sweet and colourful as the titular bear's favourite treat. With Nicole Kidman out, Hugh Grant steps in as jaded actor Phoenix Buchanan, dialling the camp up to eleven and ultimately delivering one of the funniest – and best – roles of his career. Brendan Gleeson is also having the time of his life as feared prison cook, Knuckles.

Thor and his 'friend from work' The Hulk are stuck on the other side of the universe while a miffed Hela (Cate Blanchett) inconveniently wreaks havoc on Asgard. Cue Marvel's funniest film to-date: a hilarious space-set buddy movie with high-stakes action and Jeff Goldblum at his most Jeff Goldblumiest. Director Taika Waititi also proves the perfect addition to the MCU, bringing a joyous mix of neon, '80s vibes and humour to the Marvel canon.

You think you've seen every kind of romantic comedy. Then along comes The Big Sick, which adds a **Meet The Parents **wrinkle, an intelligently-handled cross-cultural mélange, and a heartbreaking medical tragedy – together concocting a romcom quite unlike the usual disposable date-night dross. Kumail Nanjiani's semi-autobiographical tale is a humble, low-key affair, but wrings big belly laughs and genuine pathos from his own life in impressive soul-baring fashion.

17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer) start a relationship during the summer of 1983. The latter is the research assistant of Elio's father. The former is incredibly knowledgeable and a talented musician but knows little 'about the things that matter'. The premise may be simple, but director Luca Guadagnino imbues every single frame with emotional weight and his signature infectious charm. Tender and insightful instead of seedy and insincere, the hype surrounding this current awards-magnet is wholly justified. Come for the breathtaking Italian setting and memorable performances from Hammer and Chalamet, but stay for its heartbreaking score and Michael Stuhlbarg's tear-inducing final speech. This is one you'll want to revisit time and time again.

Park Chan-Wook's tenth feature is as sexually-charged as you might expect from the South Korean auteur – but The Handmaiden is more than just an erotic thriller. It's a complex web of con and counter-con, elegantly transposing the Victorian England setting of Sarah Waters' source novel to early 20th-century South Korea for a pitch-perfect exploration of class and gender.

After seventeen years, nine films, and a lot of sideburn trimming, Hugh Jackman finally hung up his Wolverine claws this year. And what a difference seventeen years makes. Though the adamantium skeleton of this film is undoubtedly 'superhero movie', the flesh is 'classical filmmaking': down-to-earth, gritty, more human than mutant.

Amidst Yorkshire's seemingly endless countryside is young sheep farmer, Johnny (Josh O'Connor), bored of his isolation and wasting his days with alcohol and meaningless hookups. That is, until Romanian migrant Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) turns up.The intense relationship the pair strike up is of universal appeal: one that speaks of what it's like to have a mundane existence given meaning and your life turned around in an instant. Boasting two extraordinary performances from its newcomer leads and bold direction from Francis Lee, God's Own Country is poetic and utterly essential.

A Christopher Nolan film without a twist? Whatever next… The director turned his sights to the Second World War for feature number ten, choosing bullet-strewn skies and buckets of tension over his signature rug-pulling.The decision to play with time throughout his unconventional three-act structure (land, sea, sky) lends a very clever element of confusion which, alongside Hans Zimmer's often-distressing score, complements the soldiers' disorientation. Like him or loathe him, it's hard to argue against this being Christopher Nolan's crowning glory.

After his successes with British and American politics in The Thick Of It, In The Loop and Veep, Armando Iannucci returned this year to cast his satirical eye over Russian history. Michael Palin, Jason Isaacs, Steve Buscemi, Paddy Considine, Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Friend, Simon Russell Beale, Olga Kurylenko and more take us through the titular dictator's last days, before things explode in chaotic fashion on the event of his death. Side-achingly funny, Jason Isaacs has never been better than as a Soviet with a Yorkshire accent. It just has to be witnessed.

Anyone who worried that the maker of Looper and Brick might not be up to a Star Wars movie needn't have worried. An incredibly assured piece of story telling from writer/director Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi picks up the characters brought to life by J.J. Abrams and takes them in directions no one could have predicted. Soaring space battles, gruelling lightsaber duels and more porgs than you can fit in a landspeeder, there's something here for everyone. 'Spot the cameo' bingo cards are available in the foyer.

Forget the Oscar kerfuffle. In years to come, we won't be talking about Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway's unfortunate envelope malfunction; we'll be talking about the impact and influence of Moonlight, an astonishing and deeply powerful piece of work, and a Best Picture winner truly worthy of that title. A staggering elegy on loneliness, masculinity, poverty, addiction, and race, it speaks volumes through spare, personal, generational storytelling, with faultless performances across the board. The symphonic cinematography will move you; the stark vulnerability of the three leads playing Chiron will haunt you.

As with any film which earns an unprecedented tornado of praise, an inevitable backlash crept up around La La Land. Fear not: it'll take more than a few haughty think pieces to wipe the sunny smile off this film's face. The colour, music, dancing, sparkle and joy of Damien Chazelle's modern-day musical is infectious, and happily there is no cure. There's a reason it's the highest new entry in our recent 100 Greatest Movies poll.

The notion of a **Blade Runner **sequel was met with a hefty amount of justified trepidation. The notion of Denis Villeneuve helming said sequel? Considerably less. The Arrival and Sicario director brought the tension of the latter and aesthetic beauty of the former to Ridley Scott's well-loved dystopia, resulting in a sequel that was as visually stunning as it was familiar and haunting. Ryan Gosling entered seamlessly as Officer K, the blade runner tasked with hunting down Harrison Ford's long-lost Deckard. Best seen big and loud, this uncompromising sequel is an undeniable gift to **Blade Runner **fans and devotees.

As far as timeliness goes, Get Out, could not be more 2017, offering a profound comment on race and culture in modern America at a time when such a national conversation had reached fever pitch. And for all its expedient smarts, it is also an unbelievably entertaining horror with lashings of comedy, one best watched in a noisy cinema with giant buckets of popcorn. Its 99% Rotten Tomatoes score and record-breaking box-office could not be more richly deserved.