Transformers: Age of Extinction

Five years after the Decepticons invaded Chicago, the Autobots have gone into hiding as fear grows among society. Though the Autobots were initially granted asylum, the government has been secretly and systematically hunting them down. Cade Yeager (Wahlberg), a single father and mechanic, stumbles across a deactivated Optimus Prime (Cullen), and soon he and his daughter’s boyfriend (Reynor) become wrapped up in a conflict between man and machine. Meanwhile, the future of mankind itself is threatened when a new and powerful enemy targets Earth.

Director: Michael Bay. Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Peter Cullen, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Titus Welliver, Sophia Myles, Bingbing Li, T.J. Miller. 2014. 165 min. Action.

Chef

When his culinary creativity is staunched by his autocratic employer (Hoffman), talented chef Carl Casper (Favreau) leaves his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant to consider the next stage of his life. Returning to his hometown of Miami, Fla., Carl reunites with his ex-wife (Vergara), his son (Anthony) and his friend (Leguizamo), and together they open up a food truck. Hitting the road, the gang sets off across the country as Chef Carl plans to reassert himself as a culinary master and reclaim his success in L.A.

Director: Jon Favreau. Stars: Jon Favreau, Emjay Anthony, Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale. 2014. 114 min. Comedy.

Hellion

Hollis Wilson (Paul) is a hard-drinking and emotionally absent single father who struggles to raise his two boys, especially his rebellious 13-year-old son Jacob (Wiggins). As Jacob’s obsession with heavy metal and motocross culture leads to dangerous behaviour, the authorities step in, placing his younger brother Wes (Garner) in the custody of his Aunt Pam (Lewis), forcing Jacob to rekindle his relationship with his estranged father in order to bring Wes home.

Director: Kat Candler. Stars: Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars, Annalee Jefferies. 2014. 94 min. Drama.

Decoding Annie Parker

Based on incredible true events, the story follows Annie Parker (Morton), who lives a wonderful life with her parents and her older sister. After a series of tragedies wherein her father dies and both her mother and sister lose battles with breast cancer, Annie is struck by the incurable disease herself. Meanwhile, brilliant geneticist Mary-Claire King (Hunt) is on the hunt for new information on the origins of cancer. The two women soon find their paths intersecting, and they discover a bond that goes beyond science.

Director: Steven Bernstein. Stars: Samantha Morton, Helen Hunt, Aaron Paul, Maggie Grace, Rashida Jones, Alice Eve, Corey Stoll, Ben McKenzie, Kate Micucci. 2013. 91 min. Drama.

The Rover

In a dystopian near-future, Eric (Pearce) lives a hard and solitary life, having lost his farm, his family and everything of value to him. When a gang of dangerous criminals steals his last possession -- his car -- Eric is determined to get it back. He sets off across the Australian outback to hunt the thieves down, enlisting the help of Rey (Pattinson), a naive young member of the gang who was wounded and left behind in their scramble to escape.

Director: David Michôd. Stars: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, Chan Kien, Tawanda Manyimo, Tek Kong Lim, David Field, Scott Perry, Richard Green. 2014. 103 min. Drama.

Neighbors

Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne) are a young couple settling into a quiet neighbourhood after the birth of their new baby. Their peace and tranquility is abruptly shattered when a fraternity moves in next door. Led by Teddy (Efron), the rowdy group vows to keep the partying to a minimum, but the promise soon falls by the wayside. An all-out war begins when Mac finally breaks down and calls the police to deal with the noise, putting the frat boys up in arms. All hell breaks loose following Mac and Kelly’s brilliant prank on the boys, who are quick to retaliate in the most obnoxious ways.

Director: Nicholas Stoller. Stars: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Jake Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Brian Huskey, Ike Barinholtz, Carla Gallo. 2014. 97 min. Comedy.

Very Good Girls

Lifelong best friends Gerri (Olsen) and Lilly (Fanning) are in the midst of spending their last summer at home in New York before heading off to college. Neither one being very experienced with intimacy, the girls make a pact that they will both lose their virginity by the time autumn rolls around, and they take their first steps into adulthood. When they both set their sights on the same handsome street artist (Holbrook), the girls' friendship is put to the test for the first time in their lives, especially when Lilly secretly begins spending time with him.

Director: Naomi Foner. Stars: Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Boyd Holbrook, Sterling Jones, Lenny Platt, Ellen Barkin, Clark Gregg, Peter Sarsgaard, Richard Dreyfuss, Demi Moore. 2014. 91 min. Drama.