The ‘bots are back. And you don’t need to look far past the poster to know that they’re looking special. Following their breakout in Michael Bay’s first blockbuster, the Transformers can no longer win us over just by bringing our favourite childhood toys to life. It has to be better, as well as bigger.

It’s like Memento. Only drunk. In Vegas. On a stag-do. Three men wake up in a ransacked hotel suite. One of them is naked from the waist down. One of them is missing a tooth. One of them is wearing a hospital bracelet. None of them can remember what the hell happened. Apart from the fact there were four of them the night before. Dude, where’s my groom?

From toys to superheroes, from ants to monsters, from the bottom of the ocean to the twinkling reaches of outer space, the people at Pixar have blown our minds. But what direction is left for them? Up answers that question inside its first 15 minutes.

Any new Terminator movie is ahead before it’s started. The simple but powerful premise of the first two – a network of machines gaining consciousness and endeavouring to wipe out humankind – provides such a strong science-fiction universe. With all the tools available to a modern-day filmmaker, a catalogue of iconic images to draw on and a script effectively already written, Terminator 4 surely can’t fail.

If anyone was worried that spending years toiling in the blockbuster factory that is the Spider-Man franchise would soften up Sam Raimi’s style, fear not: Drag Me To Hell proves that the lunatic who made the Evil Dead movies is alive, well and ready to rock.

Ben Stiller is back in the sequel to his 2006 success, and he’s bringing his friends: the many exhibits of New York’s Museum of Natural History who come to life when the lights go down.

The Angels & Demons trailer promises a frenetic sprint through a tale of sci-fi, religion, historical intrigue and big-time action – the kind of cocktail unique to the reality-bending text of Dan Brown. Predecessor The Da Vinci Code stumbled through the book, confusing and boring audiences. They wouldn’t go wrong again would they?

If you ever needed proof that today’s children are spoilt by the cinema, then take a look at Coraline. Not only is it the best animated film to appear since WALL-E, it’s also arguably the first movie to make brilliant use of 3D without using it as a gimmick.

Blasting into a deep-space war burning with photon torpedoes and wrecked Starships, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek starts with its own big bang: James Tiberius Kirk born into battle as Romulans obliterate his father’s ship – but not before the freshly squeezed infant rockets away in an escape pod. A legend is born... Make that reborn.

If you want a complex examination of the superhero’s role in the modern world, go and see Watchmen. If you want to watch stuff blow up real good, go see X Men Origins: Wolverine. As long as you don’t care about such trivialities as character and plot, you’ll get your money’s worth.

State Of Play’s journey to the multiplex has not been an easy one. Loosely adapted from well regarded BBC miniseries, the movie has been four years in development and nearly fell to pieces altogether when Brad Pitt pulled out of the leading role just before shooting was due to start.

Fans of The Thick Of It, Armando Ianucci’s scabrously witty political comedy for the BBC, will know exactly what to expect from In The Loop: sweaty policy wonks, ineffectual MPs and reams of eye-watering, perfectly pitched profanity.

Described as a ‘modern day re-imaging’ of Andrew Key’s 1975 original, this promises the kind of family adventure they just don’t make these days. Director Andy Fickman has given the story a sparkling Hollywood coat of gloss; injecting fast paced action and state-of-the-art special effects. But has the makeover killed the magic?

Every so often, a film comes along that makes us marvel at the fact that no-one thought of it before. In all of history, what could be more perfect for a British comedy than a crew of sea-faring radio DJs illegally swinging the hips of 60s cool Britannia, all the while being hounded by the groove-killing goons of the government? Surely we should be on Boat That Rocked 6: The Techno Years by now...

With the hugely successful 2007 thriller Michael Clayton in the bag, writer/director Tony Gilroy remains on steady ground here. The corporate espionage world, explored again in Duplicity, is a largely untapped well of thrills, surprises and home truths. This is CIA/KGB/MI6-style action with a real-world relevance that Bourne and Bond can’t touch.

It is a poor film indeed that fails to live up to its own title. Lesbian Vampire Killers sounds great. It sounds like Ronseal cinema, a spiritual cousin to Cannibal Holocaust and Snakes On A Plane. Unfortunately, the film itself is a catastrophe: an abject failure as both a comedy and a gore-fest.

Batman can’t get it up. Superman hates the human race. The villain wants to save the world. Just three reasons why it’s taken 23 years, six Hollywood studios, five directors and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring legendary Brit author Alan Moore’s “unfilmable” comic-book masterpiece to the big screen.

In these credit crunchy times, it’s only natural that international banks should become Hollywood’s men in black hats. Look at them in their shiny suits, quietly reaping the profits of disaster while the rest of us struggle. That, at any rate, is the premise of The International, Tom Tykwer’s sleek and silly follow up to Perfume.