TRUMBO (15, 124 mins) Drama/Romance. Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Elle Fanning, Louis CK, Alan Tudyk, Roger Bart, John Goodman, Stephen Root, Dean O'Gorman, Mattie Liptak, Becca Nicole Preston. Director: Jay Roach.

Hollywood is in the throes of a highly publicised civil war about ethnic diversity.

Filmmakers have vowed to boycott this month's Academy Awards in protest at the lack of black actors among nominees, prompting sweeping reforms to the voting membership.

In 1947, it wasn't race relations that pitted the great and the good of California against one another: it was the perceived threat of Communists, who could use the big screen to spread their pernicious propaganda.

Membership of the Communist party was not illegal, but various figures behind and in front of the camera were called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about their political affiliations and to name and shame Communist sympathisers within the ranks.

A group of screenwriters, producers and directors were so incensed by this challenge to their First Amendment right to freedom of thought and speech, that they refused to give direct answers to the committee.

These so-called rebels became The Hollywood Ten and were blacklisted by the studios for more than a decade.

Among them was Dalton Trumbo, who secretly penned Oscar-winning scripts to Roman Holiday and The Brave One during his time in exile.

Jay Roach's handsome period drama, based on the biography by Bruce Cook, relives this inglorious period of paranoia and suspicion, when a few brave men stood up for their rights and suffered horribly.

Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) enjoys a charmed life with his wife Cleo (Diane Lane) and three children Niki (Elle Fanning), Chris (Mattie Liptak) and Mitzi (Becca Nicole Preston) until waspish columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) casts aspersions on his political leanings.

Actor John Wayne (David James Elliott), elected president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, weighs in on the argument and Trumbo is held in contempt by Congress.

While some people sever ties with Trumbo to protect their careers, low-budget filmmakers Frank (John Goodman) and Hymie King (Stephen Root) happily employ the venerated writer to polish their B-movies.

"They need scripts like an army needs toilet paper," quips Trumbo.

Leading man Kirk Douglas (Dean O'Gorman) also uses his influence to secure the writer a seat at the Spartacus table, despite protestations from advisors.

Distinguished by a tour-de-force Oscar-nominated performance from Cranston, Trumbo is a fascinating portrait of a time when suspicion could end a promising career.

Mirren savours every bile-drenched line of her finely dressed antagonist in sharp contrast to Lane's warm portrayal of a supportive, self-sacrificing wife.

John McNamara's elegant script glisters with snappy one-liners - "He's trying to sell his soul, but can't find it" - that recall a golden era when substance complemented style.

Roach's film serves up a silky smooth, intoxicating cocktail of both.

GOOSEBUMPS (PG, 103 mins) Family/Horror/Comedy/Action/Romance. Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Gillian Bell, Halston Sage and the voice of Jack Black. Director: Rob Letterman.

Comic whirlwind Jack Black ramps up his manic energy to gale force 10 in this fast-paced fantasy adventure based on the series of children's books by RL Stine.

Directed with brio by Rob Letterman, Goosebumps is a wicked delight, packed full of spooks and scares that should have adults jumping out of their seats almost as often as little ones.

Explosions of comic book violence, including a slip-sliding tussle between the Abominable Snowman and high school students on an ice rink, are orchestrated with black humour and vim.

Darren Lemke's lean script barely pauses for breath between the eye-popping set pieces, but still finds time to flesh out a compelling teenage love story that remains the right side of sickly sweet.

Digital effects are impressive, seamlessly integrated with live action to conjure scenes of large-scale destruction including a runaway ferris wheel and a town under attack from a giant praying mantis.

It's huge fun, especially in 3D when some of the ghoulish things that go bump in the night appear to leap out of the screen.

Letterman opens with the calm before the computer-generated storm as Gale Cooper (Amy Ryan) arrives in Delaware with her teenage son Zach (Dylan Minnette) to take up the position of vice-principal at Madison High School.

Their new next-door neighbour is the mysterious Mr Shivers (Black), whose daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush) is also an enigma.

Zach and his socially awkward student Champ (Ryan Lee) break into Mr Shivers' home and discover that the truculent father is actually renowned author RL Stine.

In the process of uncovering this startling truth, Zach unlocks one of Stine's books and accidentally unleashes Slappy (voiced by Black) from Night Of The Living Dummy.

The demented mannequin subsequently releases monsters from the rest of Stine's back catalogue and the grotesque creations run amok in Madison.

"Why couldn't you have written about unicorns and rainbows?" shrieks Champ.

"Because that doesn't sell 400 million copies," snaps Stine, who realises the only way to defeat Slappy is to pen another bestseller on his typewriter.

Meanwhile, Champ's high school crush Taylor (Halston Sage) and Gale's sister Lorraine (Gillian Bell) are caught up in the mayhem as zombies, a werewolf and assorted monstrosities besiege the high school.

Goosebumps careens wildly between action, comedy and touching drama, with a generous smattering of pithy verbal gags that will go above the heads of children and strike a bullseye with parents.

Black leads from the front, plying the wide-eyed lunacy that has served him well, with Minnette as his straight man and foil, whose prime concern is rescuing the people he loves.

Slappy's army of grotesque henchcreatures won't induce nightmares, but might just send a pleasing shiver down young spines.

A tricksy treat.

DAD'S ARMY (PG, 100 mins) Comedy/War/Drama/Romance. Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, Tom Courtenay, Bill Paterson, Blake Harrison, Daniel Mays, Michael Gambon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sarah Lancashire, Felicity Montagu, Emily Atack, Mark Gatiss. Director: Oliver Parker.

How do you improve on the perfection of Jimmy Perry and David Croft's sitcom Dad's Army, which began active service in 1968 and remains a jewel in the crown of the BBC comedy archives?

You don't.

If you're director Oliver Parker and screenwriter Hamish McColl, you pepper a flimsy plot that would barely stretch to one TV episode let alone 100 minutes with the show's catchphrases and pray our abiding affection for the characters will compensate for long passages without a discernible punchline.

Original cast members Ian Lavender and Frank Williams are conscripted to cameo roles to heighten the whiff of nostalgia.

Limp innuendo-laden banter about sausages barely merits a smirk, pratfalls are predictable and a terrific ensemble cast of gifted comic actors go on patrol without an arsenal of decent one-liners.

From uninspired beginning to muddled end, it's a cultural smash'n'grab that goes through the motions and will ultimately be remembered as a badly missed opportunity.

England, 1944.

The Second World War is on a knife edge and in the cosy community of Walmington-on-Sea, blustering bank manager George Mainwaring (Toby Jones) proudly leads the local Home Guard.

His hapless rank and file includes Sergeant Wilson (Bill Nighy), Lance Corporal Jones (Tom Courtenay) and Privates Frazer (Bill Paterson), Pike (Blake Harrison), Walker (Daniel Mays) and Godfrey (Michael Gambon), a mild-mannered soul who frequently drifts off into his own world.

The fate of the Home Guard hangs in the balance when Colonel Theakes (Mark Gatiss) reveals that he intends to sort the military wheat from the chaff and "Walmington feels chaffy."

Soon after, Mainwaring learns that a German spy has infiltrated the town and is transmitting secrets back to Berlin.

This search for a traitor coincides with the arrival of glamorous magazine writer Rose Winters (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who intends to pen a flattering article about the heroics of the Home Guard.

George is smitten and finds Rose most charming and agreeable.

"They said that about the Ripper," coldly retorts Mrs Mainwaring (Felicity Montagu), hard-nosed leader of Walmington-on-Sea's women's auxiliary army, which includes Pike's mother (Sarah Lancashire) and Walker's sweetheart Daphne (Emily Atack).

Dad's Army opens with a limp set piece involving a stand-off between the Home Guard and runaway livestock.

"We're supposed to be locking horns with the Hun not Bertie the bull!" despairs one of the men, echoing our mounting frustration.

Jones lightens the darkening mood with a few moments of physical humour, including choking on a slice of cake, while Nighy relies on his usual snorts and tics for merriment.

Montagu, Lancashire and co bring a diluted degree of girl power to proceedings that might be dismissed as tokenism without their characters' pivotal involvement in the hare-brained and lacklustre denouement.

POINT BREAK (12A, 114 mins) Action/Thriller/Romance. Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo, Clemens Schick, Tobias Santelmann, Matias Varela, Max Thieriot. Director: Ericson Core.

Released in 1991, the original Point Break starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves was a testosterone-fuelled, homoerotic classic of the era about an emotionally scarred FBI agent, who goes undercover to bring down a gang of bank-robbing surfer dudes.

Buff male characters shot lingering glances at each other dressed in tight-fitting wet suits, performed daredevil feats of one-upmanship and famously described Reeves' pretty boy thrill-seeker as young, dumb and full of one particular bodily fluid.

Director Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Academy Award for The Hurt Locker almost 20 years later, embraced the preposterousness of the set-up and charted an undeniably entertaining path through the water-drenched madness.

Ericson Core's muscle-flexing remake seeks the same extreme sports nirvana, but falls desperately short.

The philosophical mumbo jumbo of the original film has been elevated to ludicrous new heights by screenwriter Kurt Wimmer, while action sequences rely too heavily on digital trickery to dazzle.

Crucially, the central relationship between the reckless cop and the sensei-like leader of the robbers lacks tantalizing moral ambiguities or shifts in the balance of power.

Sad to say, the 2016 incarnation should be retitled Pointless Break.

The film opens with Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) and best friend Jeff (Max Thieriot) filming a motorcycle ride along a hilltop for their online fan base.

A leap across a chasm onto a needle of rock culminates in tragedy and Johnny retires from the scene.

Seven years later, he reemerges as a rookie FBI agent, desperate to prove his worth to Instructor Hall (Delroy Lindo).

Johnny gets his chance when he realises that a four-strong team of extreme sports fanatics are committing crimes in order to complete the fabled eight ordeals of Ono Ozaki, an environmentalist and athlete, who believed in harnessing the planet's natural forces to find the path to enlightenment.

Hall despatches Johnny to France in the company of British agent Pappas (Ray Winstone) to identify suspects among the big wave surfers.

By chance, Johnny rides a monstrous tube of water with gang leader Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez) and is welcomed into the fold by accomplices Roach (Clemens Schick), Chowder (Tobias Santelmann) and Grommet (Matias Varela).

They invite Johnny to shrug off past mistakes and seek pure adrenaline rushes around the world.

"We can only have responsibility for our own path," counsels Bodhi. "Let others have theirs."

Point Break is a shadow of its former self, lacking all of the swaggering charm that allowed us to overlook the gaping plot holes and leaps in logic.

Ramirez smoulders alone, Bracey is a bland hero and his romantic subplot an Australian daredevil (Teresa Palmer) is a fruitless diversion.

Director Core enlists some of the best athletes and stuntmen to enliven his action set pieces.

Alas, even their impressive feats of strength and nerve-racking endurance can't save the film from a spectacular wipeout.

JANIS: LITTLE BLUE GIRL (15, 104 mins)

Released: February 5 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Janis Joplin was one of the defining figures of the cultural revolution of the 1960s. Famed for her on-stage bravado, she captured the world's attention with her albums Cheap Thrills and Pearl, and her performance at Woodstock. Her flame burnt brightly before her death in 1971 at age 27. Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg (West Of Memphis) delves into the personal history of the iconic rock'n'roll singer and discovers that Joplin was an insecure and deeply troubled figure, who was haunted by her difficult adolescence in Port Arthur, Texas. She craved acceptance and channelled all of her anguish into her blues music. Using a series of letters written by Joplin to her parents, read by indie rock star Cat Power and made public for the first time, Berg paints a very different portrait of a musical trailblazer, revealing the pain and misunderstanding that fired Joplin's creativity, but also shepherded her to an early grave.

RAMS (15, 91 mins)

Released: February 5 (UK, selected cinemas)

Hard-drinking Icelandic sheep farmer Kiddi (Theodor Juliusson) and his estranged younger brother Gummi (Sigurdur Sigurjonsson) live on neighbouring farms, but have not spoken for four decades. They raise the same ancient breed and every year, Kiddi and Gummi silently compete against each other in a competition involving all farmers in the valley to showcase their best ram. Veterinary authorities complete routine checks of the flocks and discover BSE in Kiddi's animals. The virus can be transmitted to humans by eating contaminated meat, so all of the farmers in the valley are told they must destroy their precious livestock. The men and women of the local community are devastated - the sheep are their livelihood - and the farmers fear the BSE will be their downfall. However, Kiddi and Gummi refuse to abide by the rules laid down by the veterinary authorities and the siblings plot a daring alternative course of action.

TAKING STOCK (15, 75 mins)

Released: February 5 (UK, selected cinemas)

Out-of-work actress Kate (Kelly Brook) bides her time by working at a designer furniture shop run by the imperious and impeccably dressed Christina (Lorna Brown). Out of the blue, Christina and nerdy accountant Mat (Scot Williams) announce that the shop will be closing at the end of the week, as a result of the economic downturn. To make matters worse, Kate and the two other employees will not receive a redundancy package. Kate is devastated and her mood worsens when she returns home early to discover her boyfriend is leaving her for another woman. At her lowest ebb, Kate seeks emotional refuge in her favourite fantasy - Bonnie & Clyde - and imagines herself to be a modern day Bonnie Parker. She is inspired to concoct a hare-brained scheme to rob the furniture shop on its final day of trading and begins to seduce Mat as part of her wicked scheme. He initially resists Kate, but gradually falls for her womanly wiles. As the final day arrives, the shop's safe is laden with cash and Kate must persuade witless Mat to give her the code.

MISS HOKUSAI

Released: February 5 (UK, selected cinemas)

Based on the original manga Sarusuberi by Hinako Sugiura, Miss Hokusai is an animated feature directed by Keiichi Hara, which pays tribute to one of the unsung heroes of Japanese culture. In 1814 Tokyo, stubborn fiftysomething artist Tetsuzo (voiced by Yutaka Matsushige) spends days in his ramshackle home, creating astounding works for wealthy clients, who are willing to pay ridiculous sums for his creations. He has four daughters and one of them, outspoken 23-year-old O-Ei (Anne Watanabe), shares his talent for art. From time to time, she paints instead of her father and allows him to take the credit for her expert labours. As the decades pass, Tetsuzo gains fame across Europe under the name of Katsushika Hokusai and his work heavily influences artists such as Degas, Klimt, Monet and Van Gogh. However, almost no one knows about O-Ei and her hand in her father's celebrity.

DEADPOOL (15, 108 mins)

Released: February 10 (UK & Ireland)

Infused with the same anarchic, irreverent sense of humour that made Kick-Ass a smash hit with audiences, Deadpool is the latest visit to the X-Men universe, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Former Special Forces operative Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) discovers he has cancer that will rob him of his dream life with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). He is offered a second chance by The Recruiter (Jed Rees), who works for an experimental program known as Weapon X, which promises to induce a regenerative mutation to the cancerous cells. Wade undergoes treatment and is transformed into a mentally unstable hero called Deadpool, who is blessed and cursed with accelerated healing powers, disfigured skin and a politically incorrect sense of humour. Aided by best friend Weasel (TJ Miller), Deadpool vows revenge against Ajax (Ed Skrein), lynchpin of the Weapon X program, and his superhuman henchwoman Angel Dust (Gina Carano).

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES (15, 108 mins)

Released: February 11 (UK & Ireland)

Jane Austen's period romance is given a gruesome twist in this film version of Seth Grahame-Smith's parody novel, which transplants the heaving bosoms and unspoken desire to a 19th-century Britain overrun with the ravenous undead. Mr Bennet (Charles Dance) teaches his four daughters Elizabeth (Lily James), Jane (Bella Heathcote), Lydia (Ellie Bamber) and Mary (Millie Brady) martial arts so they can take care of themselves in an era of marauding zombies. The girls' mother Mrs Bennet (Sally Phillips) is more concerned with finding them wealthy husbands. The arrival of Mr Bingley (Douglas Booth) in town sends Mrs Bennet into a frenzy of excitement and she despatches the girls to a ball with instructions to catch his eye. Bingley is smitten with Jane, while Elizabeth meets her match in Bingley's haughty friend, Mr Darcy (Sam Riley). The girls repel a zombie attack at the ball but are crestfallen when they learn that Bingley and his friends have abandoned the countryside for the safety of London, which is now a walled fortress. Soon after, roguish soldier Mr Wickham (Jack Huston) arrives in the countryside and poisons Elizabeth against Darcy.