PLANNING ON HEADING out to the cinema this weekend to banish the January blues?

There are a few movies out this week, but which is a must-watch, and are there any you should avoid?

We take a look.

A Monster Calls

What we know

A tear-jerker about a boy whose mother has a terminal illness, and a creature who appears to help deal with his emotions.

What the critics say

• “This is an affecting movie with a lump-in-the-throat ending, but I have to confess to finding its fantasy quotient a bit twee, and the non-fantasy scenes are themselves flavoured by a self-consciously imaginary storybook quality that took the sucrose content too high.” – The Guardian
• “The monster might roar, grab Connor with his spindly limbs, or even smash property around him, but his emotional impact is negligible, and his purpose in Connor’s life is kept shrouded in mystery for too long.” – The Atlantic

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 7.7/10
• IMDB: 7.7/10

Assassin’s Creed

What we know

The big-screen adaptation of the game of the same name, starring our own Michael Fassbender.

What the critics say

• “After successfully tackling Shakespeare, a Ubisoft game must have seemed like literal child’s play, but while the result is often spectacular, the story is not. It is, as the Bard once phrased it, “a tale… full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”” – Empire Online
• “For an ostensible action movie, the cast spends an awful lot of time standing around and looking lost. I can only guess that they were following their director’s lead.” – NY Times

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 4/10
• IMDB: 6.5/10

Silence

What we know

The latest film from Martin Scorsese was 30 years in the making. His adaptation of the story of a 17th Jesuit monk is getting some middling reviews, but is still being described as a “remarkable achievement”.

What the critics say

• “It is slow and solemn in stretches and often remote, but it rewards patience with a transcendent epilogue that departs from the main character’s point-of-view to find a glimmer of meaning.” - The AV Club
• “And yet, judged in broadly cinematic terms, “Silence” is not a great movie, despite having been directed by one of the medium’s greatest masters at a point of great maturity (this is the last film one might expect to immediately follow the bacchanalian excess of “The Wolf of Wall Street”). Though undeniably gorgeous, it is punishingly long, frequently boring, and woefully unengaging at some of its most critical moments.” – Variety

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 7.9/10
• IMDB: 7.7/10

Which one would you go see first?