The Summer Film Guide

With La Nina working her unholy magic, you may need to take shelter in your nearest cinema on more than a few summer eves. See how many of the fine flicks on Concrete Playground's Summer 2011/12 hit-list you tick off your list.

Best use of twee

Restless (now showing)

Can a misfit with a Kamikaze pilot ghost friend find love with Mia Wasikowska? Gus Van Sant says yes.

Best action flick

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (in cinemas December 15)

With Pixar's Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) in the director's chair, the fourth instalment of the Tom Cruise spy franchise may get a whole lot cooler.

Best movie to enjoy with your mum

Iron Lady (in cinemas December 26)

Meryl Streep is Margaret Thatcher. This can't go wrong.

Best revival

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (in cinemas December 26)

Some purists will disagree, and motion-capture animation is nobody's favourite, but Steven Spielberg and the UK's hippest moviemaking talent have done well bringing the intrepid boy adventurer/journalist/detective back into our lives.

Best mind-fuck

The Skin I Live In (in cinemas December 26)

Pedro Almodovar's sensational new film is not a Boxing Day flick to which to take the whole family.

Best crowd-pleaser

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (in cinemas January 5)

He's now a wit, a cad and a brawny crime-fighter. Few can resist.

Most unabashed nostalgia

The Muppets (in cinemas January 12)

We've been following the parody trailers for months, so there's no question we'll pack the theatres for the full-length journey.

Best animation

Arrietty (in cinemas January 12)

Studio Ghibli continues to restore the magic, whimsy and watercolour-rich palette to a form that can get distracted by technology.

Best nail-biter

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (in cinemas January 12)

Sure, a perfectly competent Swedish adaptation already exists, but this intense, David Fincher-directed take on the Stieg Larsson novel is something else.

Most intimidating cast list

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (in cinemas January 19)

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy. Eep.

Best use of 3D

The Darkest Hour (in cinemas January 19)

Invisible aliens invade Moscow. It might turn out half-baked, but both the locations and effects are stunning.

Best date movie

Young Adult (in cinemas January 19)

Because saccharine romance makes most people vomit into their mouths a little, this gem from the Juno team is a safer bet to keep you both giggling while it hits home life's little lessons.

Best love story

Weekend (in cinemas January 26)

A hook-up at a house party becomes something deeper. Oh, and this couple's gay. A good omen for 2012?

Best indie

Martha Marcy May Marlene (in cinemas February 2)

If you were fleeing an abusive cult in the Catskills, you might be paranoid, too.

Most justifiably bleak

Shame (in cinemas February 9)

Carey Mulligan breaks out of her nice-girl box by starring in this powerful story of sex addiction with Michael Fassbender.

Most unlikely blockbuster

Coriolanus (in cinemas February 23)

Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler recover the rarely heard-of Shakespeare tragedy. But in modern, war-scarred Europe. Epic.

Most dreaded by bibliophiles

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (in cinemas February 23)

Jonathan Safran Foer's great American po-mo novel comes to the screen, with Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and a swag of sentimentality.

Most street cred

The Rum Diary (in cinemas March 13, but previewing at St George Open Air Cinema)

Johnny Depp retrieved this himself from the depths of Hunter S. Thompson's drawers. Enough said.