IT'S awards season and there's some great films worth watching at the cinema. Here's what you can watch at the pictures:-

HACKSAW RIDGE (15)

Desmond (Andrew Garfield) is born and raised with his brother Hal (Nathaniel Buzolic) in Lynchburg, Virginia against the picturesque backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

His father Tom (Hugo Weaving) is an emotionally scarred veteran of the First World War and mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) educates her brood using The Bible.

At an early age, Desmond almost kills Hal and he is haunted by the episode.

"To take another man's life is the most egregious sin," counsels Bertha.

Her words have a profound effect on Desmond, who takes up a vow of pacifism, even when he enrols in the US Army.

He intends to follow the lead of his nurse girlfriend, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), and serve as a medic.

However, Desmond is ushered into combat training under no-nonsense Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and instantly makes enemies of the rest of the squad, especially bullying ringleader Smitty Ryker (Luke Bracey), by refusing to carry arms.

Desmond's defiance leads to his arrest for insubordination and he faces a trial behind closed doors overseen by Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) and Captain Stelzer (Richard Roxburgh).

Hacksaw Ridge pulls no punches in its depiction of the horrors of conflict. Garfield delivers a mesmerizing lead performance, as a gentle and caring man who yearns to serve the country he loves, but isn't willing to abandon his moral compass in the name of patriotism.

Rating: Four stars

T2 TRAINSPOTTING (18)

Choose a flabby-bellied two hours rather than a lean 93 minutes of the original to follow Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) as he returns home to beg forgiveness from Spud (Ewen Bremner).

Choose revenge, the poison coursing through the veins of reluctant publican Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) when he discovers Renton is back in town.

Choose seething rage, which drips from the tongue of psychotic jailbird Begbie (Robert Carlyle) as he finally glimpses life without bars. Choose a detour to the familiar breathtaking vista of Corrour rail station, framed by the rounded hill of Beinn na Lap, to pay tribute to those left behind.

Choose flashes of brilliance - a darkly humorous explosion of bodily fluids, a funding pitch that describes a sauna as "an artisanal bed and breakfast experience" - punctuated by cute visual nods to the first film.

Choose Spud as the trembling, emotional core, willing him to succeed as he struggles to sever ties to heroin and discover self-worth.

Choose the sinking realisation that the giddy high of the first time you watched Trainspotting that breathless sprint down Princes Street to Iggy Pop's Lust For Life, the headfirst plunge into the worst toilet in Scotland, the needle drop of Underworld's Born Slippy - isn't going to be replicated.

Rating: Four stars

SING (U)

Koala bear entrepreneur Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) inherited a theatre from his father, but the business has gone into decline and now creditors are haranguing Buster to settle his debts.

In order to woo audiences and save the business, Buster organises a singing competition with a 1,000 US dollar prize.

"Real talent from real life - that's what audiences want!" he tells sheep pal Eddie (John C. Reilly).

Unfortunately, Buster's elderly iguana assistant Ms Crawly (Jennings), whose glass eye has a nasty habit of popping out of its socket, accidentally adds two more zeroes to the prize on promotional posters.

By the time Buster discovers her costly error, long audition queues have formed around the theatre.

He ploughs on regardless, shortlisting pig housewife Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), who is paired awkwardly with lycra-clad extrovert Gunter (Nick Kroll); crooning mouse Mike (Seth MacFarlane), who is heavily in debt to gangster bears; insecure elephant Meena (Tori Kelly), who suffers from crippling stage fright; teenage gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton), who is being groomed for criminality by his bank-robbing father (Peter Serafinowicz); and punk-rocking porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson), who has recently broken up with her boyfriend (Beck Bennett).

As the live performance beckons, Lady Luck deals Buster a catastrophic losing hand.

Sing is achingly predictable, right down to a contrived subplot involving sassy sheep diva Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) that preaches participation in a competition rather than winning.

Rating: Three stars

LA LA LAND (12A)

Aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) works as a barista in between auditions, which repeatedly end in crushing rejection.

On a traffic-jammed Los Angeles freeway, she crosses paths with talented pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), who reveres jazz in its purest form, but is forced to play saccharine standards by restaurant owner Bill (JK Simmons).

"I hate jazz," Mia tells Sebastian after they meet at a party in the Hollywood hills, where they share dreams for the future beneath the twinkling stars of the Californian night sky.

Sebastian is convinced he can spearhead a new appreciation for music until an old classmate, Keith (John Legend), questions his devotion to masters of a bygone era.

While Mia prepares to stage her semi-autobiographical one-woman show So Long, Boulder City, Sebastian agrees to play keyboard in Keith's soulless, chart-friendly band The Messengers.

Frustrations between the couple come to a head in a fractious to and fro about artistic integrity. La La Land is a perfect marriage of directorial brio, tour-de-force performance and jaw-dropping production design.

Gosling and Stone are individually luminous and electrifying as a double-act in high energy song and dance sequences.

Rating: Five stars

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (15)

Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) works as a janitor in a small apartment building in Chicago, where his chores include shovelling snow, changing lightbulbs and unblocking toilets of emotionally needy women.

It's an unedifying existence and Lee unfairly channels his resentment at the tenants.

Out of the blue, Lee receives a telephone call from family friend George (CJ Wilson).

His older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has suffered a heart attack.

By the time Lee arrives at the hospital, Joe has passed and the younger sibling must break the tragic news to his truculent 16-year-old nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges).

A meeting with family lawyer Wes (Josh Hamilton) reveals that Joe named Lee as Patrick's legal guardian.

"It was supposed to be my Uncle Donny. I was just the back-up," mumbles Lee, who is reluctant to be a parent again after the breakdown of his marriage to Randi (Michelle Williams).

Lee and his teenager ward muddle through grief and misunderstanding as they make preparations for Joe's funeral including a chance for Patrick to say farewell to his father at the mortuary.

Manchester By The Sea is anchored by Affleck's understated yet devastating portrayal, and the touching on-screen chemistry with co-star Hedges.

Rating: Five stars

SPLIT (15)

For her birthday celebration at a local restaurant, popular high school student Claire Benoit (Haley Lu Richardson) invites her classmates, including best friend Marcia (Jessica Sula) and creepy outcast, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy).

On the way home, a socially awkward misfit called Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy) overpowers Claire's father (Neal Huff) and kidnaps the three girls, spiriting them away to a bunker.

The teenagers woozily regain consciousness from chloroform fumes in a cell without windows or obvious means of escape, completely at the mercy of their captor.

Casey urges caution and the hostages discover that Kevin exhibits 23 distinct personalities including a germ-phobic brute called Barry, a clucky British mother hen called Patricia and a nine-year-old boy called Hedwig.

"[Barry] knows he's not allowed to touch you. He knows that," Patricia soothingly informs the trio after one heated encounter.

Away from the bunker, Kevin makes regular visits to psychiatrist Dr Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who is well aware of her patient's condition.

Meanwhile in the cell, Casey recalls hunting expeditions in the woods with her father (Sebastian Arcelus) and uncle (Brad William Henke), which taught her how to incapacitate large animals.

Split is a return to confident form for Shymalan, who has never quite lived up to the dizzying promise of his Oscar-nominated third feature The Sixth Sense.

Rating: Three stars