Damon Smith reviews the latest releases.

FILM OF THE WEEK

QUEEN OF KATWE (PG, 124 mins) Drama/Romance. Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Kabanza, Taryn 'Kay' Kyaze, Ivan Jacobo, Esther Tebandeke, Ronald Ssemaganda, Ethan Nazario Lubega, Nikita Waligwa. Director: Mira Nair.

Released: October 21 (UK & Ireland)

If there is one film studio that knows how to mine real-life sporting triumph against adversity for heart-warming family drama, it's Disney.

Ice hockey (The Mighty Ducks, Miracle), winter bobsleigh (Cool Runnings), golf (The Greatest Game Ever Played), American football (Remember The Titans) and baseball (Million Dollar Arm) have all scored big.

Now it's the turn of a classic game of strategy and ruthless tactics.

Queen Of Katwe chronicles the incredible true story of a Ugandan chess prodigy, who emerged from a slum in Kampala to proudly represent her country on the international stage.

Scripted by William Wheeler and directed by Mira Nair, this joyful celebration of the human spirit deftly moves between characters, whose fates are entwined in the capital city.

The film avoids checkmate by cliches in a genuinely moving second act and doesn't overplay the sporting metaphors, even when a little girl explains the process of promoting a pawn to queen ("In chess, the small one can become the big one!") and blatantly nods to the 10-year-old heroine's journey of self-discovery.

Among the film's chief pleasures is first-time lead actress Madina Nalwanga, whose personal odyssey from a community dance class in Kampala to the red carpet of Hollywood, mirrors her protagonist's remarkable transformation from impoverished unknown to globe-trotting celebrity.

Queen Of Katwe unfolds largely in chronological order, meeting 10-year-old Phiona Mutesi (Nalwanga) in the bustle of Kampala's streets in 2007, where she sells maize with her brother Brian (Martin Kabanza).

They return home with money to keep a roof over the heads of their single mother Nakku Harriet (Lupita Nyong'o), older sister Night (Taryn 'Kay' Kyaze) and younger brother Richard (Ivan Jacobo).

By chance, Phiona and Brian meet engineer Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), who is spearheading a missionary program, which supplies porridge to local children as they learn to play chess.

Phiona demonstrates natural aptitude for the game and gradually outmanoeuvres her fellow "pioneers" including Ivan (Ronald Ssemaganda), Benjamin (Ethan Nazario Lubega) and Gloria (Nikita Waligwa).

With help from his schoolteacher wife Sara (Esther Tebandeke), Robert mentors Phiona and inspires the girl to compete at the World Chess Olympiad in Russia.

"Sometimes the place you are used to is not the place you belong," he tells his protegee.

Queen Of Katwe is distinguished by fine performances including Oscar winner Nyong'o as a proud matriarch, who fears chess might corrupt her little girl and inspire dreams beyond her child's slender grasp.

Oyelowo is a stoic mentor and director Nair and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt capture both the beauty and resolve of a nation scarred by civil war.

Nalwanga and her young co-stars are naturals in front of the camera, and footage of actors with their real-life counterparts during the end credits leaves a large lump in the throat.

:: NO SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 7.5/10

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK (12A, 118 mins) Thriller/Action/Romance. Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany, Robert Knepper. Director: Edward Zwick.

Released: October 20 (UK & Ireland)

Solid, reliable, polished and compact - Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and its charismatic leading man, Tom Cruise, share many positive qualities.

Based on the book by Lee Child, director Edward Zwick's thriller continues the escapades of the eponymous former Major in the Military Police Corps as he exposes greed and injustice.

The opening salvo in the franchise, Jack Reacher, released in 2012, was an entertaining genre piece punctuated by smartly orchestrated action sequences, including opening scenes of a sniper taking aim at innocent bystanders that unsettled in the wake of shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The sequel, set four years later, keeps chilling reality at arm's length despite a largely predictable plot that touches upon America's military manoeuvres in the Middle East.

Cruise isn't showing his years - 54 and counting - as he performs his own death-defying stunts, including leaping from a car to a rooftop and trading blows in breathlessly choreographed fights.

There's an undeniable vicarious thrill, and a few unintentional giggles, watching his modern-day ronin square off against three or four hulking assailants at the same time, and disable them in a bone-crunching blur of punches and counterpunches.

Jack Reacher (Cruise) is living off the grid, embracing a nomadic lifestyle that allows him to move between low-rent motels as he brings down men and women in uniform who abuse their position.

En route to a face-to-face meeting with his successor, Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), Reacher discovers that she has been accused of espionage.

"She's been arrested, court-martial is pending," growls Turner's replacement, Colonel Morgan (Holt McCallany), who is suspiciously obstructive.

When associates of Turner are slain before they can testify, Reacher realises that he has stumbled upon a wider conspiracy involving overseas shipments of weaponry.

Against the odds, Reacher springs Turner from her high-security holding cell so they can expose corruption within the Army ranks, which could implicate retired General Harkness (Robert Knepper).

However, a tenacious assassin called The Hunter (Patrick Heusinger) is on their trail, flanked by violent henchmen, who will stop at nothing to silence witnesses.

In the midst of this taut game of cats and mice, Jack faces claims that a smart-talking teenager called Samantha (Danika Yarosh) is his daughter from a previous relationship.

Bullets ricochet, Jack communicates with his bloodied fists and must somehow keep Samantha out of The Hunter's gun sights.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back simmers pleasantly thanks to the on-screen chemistry between Cruise and Smulders, the latter rolling up her sleeves to inflict bruises in the accomplished action set pieces.

Yarosh is a delightfully snarky addition, and the father-daughter subplot spices up an otherwise predictable hunt for rotten apples in the Army barrel.

On this slick and efficient evidence, Reacher will be back.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 6/10

TROLLS (U, 92 mins) Animation/Musical/Comedy/Drama/Romance. Featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, James Corden, Russell Brand, Gwen Stefani, Kunal Nayyar, Christine Baranski, John Cleese, Jeffrey Tambor. Directors: Walt Dohrn, Mike Mitchell.

Released: October 21 (UK & Ireland)

Crammed to bursting with toe-tapping pop ditties courtesy of Simon & Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, Donna Summer and Justin Timberlake, Trolls is 92 minutes of glitter-dusted, computer-animated joy that is virtually impossible to resist.

Based on the fluffy-haired good luck trolls designed by Thomas Dam, which have inspired numerous fads since the early 1960s, Walt Dohrn and Mike Mitchell's musical misadventure unleashes a colour-saturated assault on the senses from the opening frames.

By the time Anna Kendrick's irrepressibly perky heroine launches into her opening song and dance number - a mash-up of Move Your Feet, D.A.N.C.E. and It's A Sunshine Day replete with elaborate hairography - only the most stony-hearted curmudgeon will remain motionless in their seat.

In the brief moments the film does sit still, the script gently tugs heartstrings by promoting its messages of self-acceptance and inner fortitude, including an obvious yet poignant use of a Cyndi Lauper ballad to hammer home the idea that happiness comes from within, not from wealth or material possessions.

Once a year on the Trollstice, a race of disgruntled ogres called Bergens unlock their inner joy by feasting on shiny trolls.

King Gristle Sr (voiced by John Cleese) and his drooling head Chef (Christine Baranski) lead the festivities but the Bergens' reverie is cut short when the trolls, led by benevolent King Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor), escape to a new home.

"I never got to eat a troll. What's going to make me happy now?" snivels young Prince Gristle Jr (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

"Nothing," replies the king tersely.

Twenty years after the great escape, Princess Poppy (Kendrick) has succeeded as ruler of the trolls, who sing, dance, enjoy group hugs and feverishly glue felt and paper into their scrapbooks.

Everyone except for eternal pessimist Branch (Justin Timberlake), who lives in a Bergen-proof subterranean bunker crammed with 10 years of rations.

When the Bergen Chef discovers the new troll village and captures several of Poppy's friends, including zen master Creek (Russell Brand) and Biggie (James Corden), the princess pleads with Branch for assistance.

"Why don't you try scrapbooking them to freedom?" he responds meanly.

Overcoming their initial differences, Poppy and Branch embark on a daredevil rescue mission to the Bergen castle where they play matchmakers to Prince Gristle Jr and scullery maid Bridget (Zooey Deschanel).

Trolls shimmies and sways like an animated version of Pitch Perfect, relentlessly plundering contemporary songbooks to verbalise characters' emotions.

Kendrick's vocal performance fizzes and she gels wonderfully with Timberlake as the downbeat voice of reason.

Admittedly, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger's screenplay is simplistic and the trolls' and Bergens' journeys of self-discovery are largely linear.

While Trolls might be lacking sophistication and cute in-jokes, it bursts with whizz-popping energy.

It's the cinematic equivalent of a mouth crammed to bursting with popping candy.

:: NO SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 7/10

I, DANIEL BLAKE (15, 100 mins) Drama. Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Dylan McKiernan, Briana Shann, Mick Laffey, Harriet Ghost. Director: Ken Loach.

Released: October 21 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Warwickshire-born director Ken Loach scales the cold, hard face of Britain's over-burdened welfare system in a grimly compelling portrait of the bureaucratic red tape that separates hard-working and desperate folk from the benefits they need to survive.

I, Daniel Blake is a quiet yet impassioned call to arms, centred on two people from different worlds, who have fallen through the cracks and are largely ignored by society.

Scripted by Loach's long-time collaborator Paul Laverty, it's a character study of mordant humour and harsh, unflinching reality that stokes our anger and frustration alongside the characters as they meet endless resistance to their efforts.

Thus the eponymous 59-year-old joiner has to spend 35 hours a week applying for jobs that he can't take because of his medical condition, and this search for employment propels him into an online world that is completely alien to a man who has worked with his hands his entire life.

"I hear this all the time, 'We're digital by default'," he rages. "Well, I'm pencil by default!"

Daniel (Dave Johns) has recently suffered a heart attack and his doctor has signed him off work until he recovers.

Following an assessment by telephone, a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions arrives in the post, which reveals he is not entitled to sickness benefit.

In order to qualify for jobseeker's allowance, he has to agree to spend his week pointlessly looking for employment or attending a CV workshop, while clashing with officious staff, who adhere rigidly to the rules.

When Daniel attempts to fill in the jobseeker's form online at his local library with the assistance of people sitting on the other computers, he fails to complete the screens within his allocated slot.

"Sorry mate, your time's up!" a young men tells him, those words laced with hidden meaning given Daniel's recent scare.

During one foray in search of compassion, Daniel meets feisty single mother Katie (Hayley Squires) and her two young children, Dylan (Dylan McKiernan) and Daisy (Briana Shann), who have been moved hundreds of miles from London into rundown council accommodation in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Despite his woes, Daniel becomes a fatherly figure to Katie, completing simple DIY tasks to ensure her accommodation is tolerable.

Cruel fate sinks its talons into both Daniel and Katie, and they are forced to make terrible choices to keep their heads above water.

I, Daniel Blake might be glaringly obvious in its intentions, including at least one scene that is unnecessarily manipulative, but there is fire in the film's belly.

Johns and Squires deliver riveting performances including a harrowing scene at a food bank, which lands with the force of a sledgehammer to the sternum.

There but for the grace of God stumble all of us.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 7.5/10

OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL (15, 99 mins) Horror/Thriller. Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Parker Mack, Michael Weaver. Director: Mike Flanagan.

Released: October 21 (UK & Ireland)

Another Halloween beckons and with tiresome predictability, another hoary horror rolls off the production line, boasting cheap scares, creaking doors and demonically possessed protagonists whispering in tongues.

Mike Flanagan's prequel to the 2014 horror Ouija unfolds almost 50 years before events of the first film and documents the devastation wrought by two girls in 1967 Los Angeles.

The titular board game takes centre stage again as the seemingly benign portal to the paranormal.

For the uninitiated, Origin Of Evil handily reminds us of the game's three important rules - Never play alone. Never play in a graveyard. Always say goodbye - which characters ignore over the course of a largely shock-free 99 minutes.

If you judge a horror purely on its ability to deliver skin-crawling chills, Flanagan's film has only one scene of note in which an eerie child verbalises in exquisite detail the sensation of being strangled to death.

Ten-year-old Lulu Wilson delivers this macabre monologue with unnerving intensity, punctuating the final line with a mischievous smirk.

In that one moment, the prequel makes the blood run cold.

Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) is a charlatan fortune teller, who conducts choreographed seances with her daughters, 15-year-old Paulina (Annalise Basso) and introspective nine-year-old Doris (Wilson).

The children perform various special effects - candles blowing out, a shrouded spectre hovering behind a curtain - to give the impression of spirits communicating with the living.

One night, Paulina sneaks out to party with friends including older boy Mikey (Parker Mack) and they terrify one another by playing Ouija.

"It's really cool!" the girl tells her mother and they introduce the board game and heart-shaped planchette to their act.

Little Doris is desperate to make a connection to her late father, Roger (Michael Weaver).

"Just because you can't hear him, doesn't mean he isn't there," Alice soothes her daughter.

Unperturbed, Doris uses Ouija to speak to Roger.

A malevolent spirit gains control of Doris and begins to wreak havoc on the Zander household.

As the girl's behaviour becomes increasingly violent, Alice and Paulina abandon their cheap tricks and dive into the spirit realm to save Doris, aided by a local priest (Henry Thomas).

Ouija: Origin Of Evil is pedestrian, but Flanagan and his design team evoke the period with elan, replete with TV news coverage of the race to land on the moon.

Younger actors have more interesting character arcs to explore, while experienced older cast serve the predictable plot and invariably end up screaming or losing pints of blood.

An additional scene during the closing credits neatly ties up narrative threads of the two films, not that anyone from the land of the living should want to linger that long.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 5/10

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES (12A, 105 mins) Comedy/Action/Romance. Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, Matt Walsh, Maribeth Monroe, Patton Oswalt. Director: Greg Mottola.

Released: October 21 (UK & Ireland)

As a colloquialism, keeping up with the Joneses perfectly encapsulates the basic human desire to be part of the in-crowd, to polish away the rough edges of individuality for the sake of social acceptance.

Greg Mottola's action comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses doesn't have to break sweat to achieve this depressing, bland conformity.

Wit, humanity, romance and plausibility are repeatedly sacrificed in the film's lumbering pursuit of feeble laughs, squandering a gifted cast on a lacklustre script that begs, borrows and steals from superior crime capers including Mr & Mrs Smith, The Heat and Spy.

Prize clowns Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher are reduced to outdated slapstick, such as running at speed into a triple pane window or suddenly becoming loose limbed after a tranquiliser dart goes astray.

Their screen chemistry is inert.

Indeed, Fisher generates more sparks with statuesque co-star Gal Gadot - the newly anointed big screen Wonder Woman - and screenwriter Michael LeSieur indulges a crass fantasy of faux lesbian flirtation between the two actresses in a department store changing room.

Fisher and Gadot far deserve better. So do we.

Jeff Gaffney (Galifianakis) works in human resources at a company, which produces microchips and components for aerospace and military contracts.

His wife Karen (Fisher) is an interior designer and they enjoy a simple life in a leafy cul-de-sac, where they exchange pleasantries with other residents including Jeff's work colleague Dan (Matt Walsh) and his wife, Meg (Maribeth Monroe).

Out of the blue, travel writer Tim Jones (Jon Hamm) and food blogger wife Natalie (Gal Gadot) move in across the street, paying cash for their home without viewing the property.

"Who would buy a house without seeing it first?" wonders Karen, who becomes convinced that the seemingly perfect Joneses are hiding something.

The Gaffneys clumsily infiltrate their neighbour's home and discover that Tim and Natalie are government spies with gadgets galore and a licence to kill.

Unwittingly, Jeff and Karen become embroiled in global espionage, testing the strength of their humdrum marriage as they pursue a criminal mastermind known as the Scorpion (Patton Oswalt).

Keeping Up With The Joneses wheezes and puffs through various set pieces, including a bullet-riddled car chase and a frenetic shoot-out, without any obvious punchlines or pay-offs.

Hamm oozes the seductive charm of his character in Mad Men and glides through the various lulls largely unscathed, teasing out the frustrations of an operative who wants to hang up his explosives and settle down.

Director Mottola, who previously helmed Superbad and Adventureland, falls painfully short of those former glories in every regard.

If James Bond was right and you only live twice, that's still too short to sit through Mottola's film.

:: SWEARING :: SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 4/10

Also released...

PHANTOM BOY (PG, 85 mins)

Released: October 21 (UK, selected cinemas)

A terribly sick boy uses his special powers to solve crime on the streets of New York in this charming animated feature co-directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol. Leo (voiced by Marcus D'Angelo) is admitted to hospital with a serious illness that means he spends long hours in his bed, dreaming of the world outside. The youngster discovers that at night, he has the ability to leave his failing body and float around the city, secretly observing the denizens of New York. Leo has always dreamt of becoming a cop and is delighted to meet a real life police lieutenant, Alex (Jared Padalecki), who is in a wheelchair at the hospital. The boy offers to use his ability to help Alex defeat a shadowy arch villain, The Man With The Broken Face (Vincent D'Onofrio). A plucky journalist called Mary Delaney (Melissa Disney) joins Alex and Leo on this noble quest for justice and the trio pool their resources to undermine the criminal underworld and prevent The Man With The Broken Face from distributing a deadly computer virus that will bring the city to its knees.

LITTLE SCREEN (U, 70 mins)

Released: October 22 & 23 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Launching this weekend, Little Screen is a monthly interactive cinema experience created for families and young children aged between 3 and 6, which aims to encourage pre-schoolers to watch and learn together in a friendly environment. For the duration of the 70-minute programme, children will be kept on their toes by gregarious host Marty (Darren Hart), who will be encouraging singing, dancing and full audience participation inspired by the content. The opening compilation boasts family favourites Hey Duggee, Masha And The Bear, Thomas & Friends, Ben And Holly's Little Kingdom and Paw Patrol.

DOCTOR STRANGE (12A, 115mins)

Released: October 25 (UK & Ireland)

The Marvel Comics universe expands with this superhero fantasy action directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister), who has co-written the screenplay with C Robert Cargill. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant and somewhat arrogant neurosurgeon, with a seemingly perfect life and a burgeoning romance with fellow medic, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Years of meticulous study are thrown into disarray when Strange is involved in a terrible car accident that robs him of the use of his hands. Cast adrift from the world of medicine, Strange searches for answers to his plight in the world of spirituality and encounters a Celtic shaman called The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), leader of a covert group, which harnesses the Mystic Arts to shape reality. Two of these Masters, Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong), take Strange under their wing and spearhead his training so he can unlock his hidden potential to travel long distances in the blink of an eye or slip between parallel realities. As his confidence grows, Strange learns about a former Master, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), who strayed from the path of righteousness and now uses his powers for destruction and evil. When Kaecilius threatens Strange's old life, including Christine, the medic must put his training into practice to save everything he holds dear from oblivion.

COMING NEXT WEEK...

Benedict Cumberbatch gets into a superhero groove in the big budget comic book fantasy DOCTOR STRANGE.

FILM CHART

1. Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance

2. Trolls

3. The Girl on the Train

4. Inferno

5. Storks

6. Bridget Jones's Baby

7. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

8. Deepwater Horizon

9. Finding Dory

10. Bolshoi Ballet 2016-2017 Season: The Golden Age