25 films to get excited about in the rest of 2015

It's getting hot in here… so get ready for round two for Channing Tatum's stripper, who comes out of early retirement for one last… well, you get the picture. Steven Soderbergh isn't directing this one, but we're sure most fans couldn't care less who's in the chair as long as Tatum takes his top off, and fast.

‘Magic Mike XXL’ is out on Jul 3

No, we still don’t know what ‘Genisys’ means, but the recent run of trailers for Arnie’s return to cyborg shenanigans have whetted our appetites for the main event. A temporally twisted rethink of the original trilogy’s timeline, this features an all-new Sarah Connor in the form of ass-kicking ‘Game of Thrones’ dragon-mother Emilia Clarke.

‘Terminator Genisys’ is out on Jul 3

Hankies at the ready for this incisive, moving documentary about the rise and horrible fall of Amy Winehouse. It's from Asif Kapadia, the man behind 'Senna', so expect a compassionate doc machine-tooled for cinemas rather than the small screen.

‘Amy’ is out on Jul 3

Brian Wilson’s life story is so remarkable, it’s surprising a biopic hasn’t been produced before now (no, we’re not counting dodgy TV movie ‘The Beach Boys Story’). Penned by ‘I’m Not There’ screenwriter Oren Moverman, the film bounces between two periods in Wilson’s life: the creation of his masterpiece ‘Pet Sounds’, and his later run-ins with controversial psychotherapist Dr Eugene Landy.

‘Love and Mercy’ is out on Jul 10

In Hollywood, you’re not a ‘serious’ actor until you’ve had seven shades of hell beaten out of you in the boxing ring. Following in the footsteps of Robert De Niro, Tom Hardy and Mark Wahlberg, it’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s turn to slip on a pair of shiny shorts as a fighter on the verge of retirement whose world collapses when his wife suddenly dies.

‘Southpaw’ is out on Jul 24

Pixar have been on a losing streak of late, but the animation masters behind 'Up' and the 'Toy Story' films are set to bounce back with a tale set within the mind of an 11-year-old girl, with characters including Joy, Anger and Fear. Heady stuff.

‘Inside Out’ is out on Jul 24

You just can't stop Meryl Streep (and nobody's trying), and here she plays a rock star making a late-life attempt to play the family figure she never was. It's written by Diablo Cody ('Juno') and directed by Jonathan Demme ('The Silence of the Lambs'). Frankly, the sight of Streep in rock leathers is enough for us.

‘Ricki and the Flash’ is out on Aug 7

In 1997, a failed bank heist led to the arrest of 24 people in North Carolina. This supremely well-cast indie reimagines tragedy as comedy, as Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson play three hapless criminals as they plan and execute the second-biggest cash theft in American history.

‘Masterminds’ is out on Aug 7

Set in the hippie-comedown haze of mid-1970s San Francisco, this adaptation of the coming-of-age comic book stars Kristen Wiig as a ditzy mother completely unaware that her teenage daughter (British actress Bel Powley) and her boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgård) are carrying on behind her back.

‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ is out on Aug 7

The advance word is red hot on the latest from ‘Knocked Up’ director Judd Apatow, breaking out of his recent rut by wisely handing over the writing duties to American TV comic Amy Schumer. Based on Schumer’s own experiences, the film follows the trials of a woman who freaks out when she realises she’s met Mr Right.

‘Trainwreck’ is out on Aug 14

This sober, intelligent drama from the director of ‘Weekend’ imagines a small upset in a long marriage that festers and grows into something painful over the course a week leading up to a forty-fifth anniversary party. British acting legends Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay have rarely been better.

’45 Years’ is out on Aug 28

Double trouble – Tom Hardy plays both Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie, in this biopic that promises to be more than a cut above your normal geezers-and-gangsters fare. Cut probably being the operative word…

‘Legend’ is out on Sep 11

Winner of both the Grand Jury and Audience prizes at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, this adaptation of the popular teen novel follows a pair of high-school students who befriend a girl with leukemia. Expect laughs and sobs in roughly equal measure.

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is out on Sep 11

A script pulled from the infamous ‘black list’ of great, unrealised movie projects. From a director, Aussie John Hillcoat, who knows his way round a punchy crime drama. And a cast, quite simply, to die for: Kate Winslet, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aaron Paul… we could go on, but we reckon you’re sold already.

‘Triple Nine’ is out on Sep 18

'Is that a swagger I see before me?' We've seen this moody, earthy version of the Shakespeare play and can confirm that Michael Fassbender is a brooding presence as the Scottish king and French star Marion Cotillard is quietly terrifying as Lady Macbeth.

‘Macbeth’ is out on Oct 2

He’s already been the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, ‘Man on Wire’, now French daredevil and all-round death-wish lunatic Philippe Petit is set for the big-screen treatment. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as the tightrope walker as he prepares for his grandest statement, a high-wire walk between New York’s Twin Towers.

‘The Walk’ is out on Oct 2

Let’s overlook the fact that the title is either a really dodgy pun on Venice’s most notorious bridge or a reference to a 1987 T’Pau album, and focus on the good news: Steven Spielberg directs Tom Hanks in a true-ish Cold War drama about a civilian lawyer roped into helping free an American pilot imprisoned in Russia. Convinced now? We are.

‘Bridge of Spies’ is out on Oct 9

‘Pan's Labyrinth’ director Guillermo del Toro steps away from the epic blockbusting robotics of ‘Pacific Rim’ and gets back to his first love: scaring audiences senseless. Starring Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska, this is an old-fashioned Gothic horror story about a nineteenth-century British bride who suspects her husband might not be as decent a chap as she first thought.

‘Crimson Peak’ is out on Oct 16

This loopy, surreal, cutting comedy from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos ('Dogtooth') is destined to become an out-there favourite: its wild premise is that anyone single who doesn't find a partner after 45 days will be turned into the animal of their choice. Its high-profile cast includes Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz.

‘The Lobster’ is out on Oct 16

Who doesn't salivate at the thought of a brand new Bond film? Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig reached new heights with 'Skyfall'. This time they've recruited the likes of Léa Seydoux and Christoph Waltz for an adventure set in the Austrian Alps, Rome, London and Mexico City.

‘Spectre’ is out on Oct 23

We've been waiting a while now for this fictionalised drama about the British votes-for-women movement of the early 1900s. It's written by Abi Morgan ('Shame', 'The Iron Lady') and stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and, in a cameo as Emmeline Pankhurst, Meryl Streep. It's been picked as the opening film of the 2015 London Film Festival – all of which looks very promising.

‘Suffragette’ is out on Oct 30

We love that Danny Boyle and Michael Fassbender are working together. Boyle is directing Fass in this biopic about the Apple legend, as scripted by ‘The Social Network’ genius Aaron Sorkin. Unsexy title, sexy story (we hope. Or, maybe not).

‘Steve Jobs’ is out on Nov 13

It's already looking like the film that might – might – give Johnny Depp's career a much-needed shot in the arm. He plays Whitey Bulger, a notorious gangster and killer (better known in the US, we reckon) who was active from the 1970s to the mid-1990s and is now in prison. The trailer suggests Depp in latter-day 'Donnie Brasco' mode.

‘Black Mass’ is out on Nov 13

It all ends here (at least until the producers pester Suzanne Collins into writing a few more books). Jennifer Lawrence returns as the twenty-first century’s greatest screen heroine (so far), futuristic authority-smashing revolutionary Katniss Everdeen.

‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2’ is out on Nov 20

‘Star Wars’ haters, you’d better enjoy these last few months of calm before the storm. Everyone else, prepare to get seriously overexcited: everything we’ve seen about the upcoming Episode VII, from the cast to the trailers to the recent Vanity Fair production shots, looks just as CGI-spectacular and old-school cool as we’d hoped.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is out on Dec 18