First thing’s first: Todd Haynes new film Carol is brilliantly acted, scripted and directed. I fully expect Oscar nominations for Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Haynes, as well as screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, adapting Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt.

The plot concerns an unexpected love affair between two women in 1950s New York, wherein department store clerk Therese (Rooney Mara) meets well-to-do Carol (Cate Blanchett), whose marriage is on the rocks. Her husband (Kyle Chandler) discovers the affair, and embarks on a custody battle for their young daughter.

Revisiting themes present in Haynes earlier film Far From Heaven, which deliberately echoed Douglas Sirk 1950s melodramas, only with subject matter that would have been prohibited at the time, Carol is a much less self-aware piece. It isn’t trying to evoke Hollywood of yesteryear in quite the same way, though the 1950s atmosphere and attention to period detail are no less rigorous. Haynes opens his film with a shot of a ventilator grille, and frequently frames his subjects through glass, semi-obscured. This is a story about what is under the surface of the supposed American Golden Age.

Obviously, the subject of homosexuality is something Carol shares in common with Far From Heaven (which dealt in part with a husband desperately trying to “cure” himself of being gay), and it is here that some Christian audiences are likely to get hot under the dog-collar. Aside from obvious warnings about bad language and one quite strong sex scene, I want to make clear to fellow believers that had I thought this film to be a propaganda piece, grinding any kind of lobbyist axe, I would have duly pointed this out.

Instead, I felt Carol to be a profoundly subtle, understated, and above all human drama, dealing with very real feelings and situations which in the 1950s would have been difficult to cope with, to say the least. For example, it would have been easy to stereotype Chandler as a boorish villain, but here he is just as human as the romantic leads. Yes he is essentially an antagonist, but he is also a product of his time, genuinely bewildered at his situation, not deliberately evil.

One thing I cannot understand about many of my fellow believers is that they will condemn a film like this on subject matter grounds, yet enjoy a film like Doctor Zhivago or Brief Encounter. In fact, this film reminded me of the latter a great deal. This is a curious double standard. I for one enjoy both this and the afore-mentioned classics not because I endorse adultery (and yes, I am aware of what the Bible says about homosexuality), but because I am a human being with a soul.

I will conclude by simply reiterating that Carol is brilliantly acted, scripted and directed, and is quite rightly receiving a good deal of critical acclaim.

I have now seen the second half of a film I started watching a year ago, thanks to the decision to split Mockingjay, the final Hunger Games movie, into two parts. Of course said decision was made for the best possible artistic reasons, not to milk a cash cow…

Anyway, as a film, Mockingjay part 2 obviously does not stand alone, so if you haven’t seen any Hunger Games films, or read the books, don’t bother reading further. This details the final battle between Katniss and chums (including obligatory love triangle suitors Gale and Peeta) and the Capital, headed by the odious President Snow. But is resistance leader Coin just another dictator in waiting?

All this is decently acted, with Jennifer Lawrence terrific as ever in the lead. Able support is provided by Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth as well as the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore. Visually it all looks suitably grim and dour, with director Francis Lawrence helming events solidly. The action scenes are intermittently exciting, even if the special effects fail to convince at times. One underground sequence echoed James Cameron’s Aliens in a moderately effective albeit bloodless way. And yes – the film remains essentially faithful to the source material, albeit without quite the needed level of blood and guts.

Intriguing themes of totalitarianism, propaganda, power, corruption, failure to learn from history, and what is and isn’t acceptable from a side with supposedly the moral high ground in war remain in the background of the action, though for the most part fail to be as chilling as they should. Whilst still powerful, the film fails to quite capture the full irony, outrage and dramatic satisfaction of the novel’s superb climax – again perhaps partly because the story was split in two. I’m not sure every single bit of the very ending needed to be included either. For instance, I think the film would have benefited from a slightly less on-the-nose final scene. It worked well in the book, but here it feels like a Timotei commercial.

In short, Mockingjay part 2 is by no means a disaster, and if you liked the others, you’ll like this one. It is, however, still half a film.

Michael Fassbender adds to his lengthy list of sterling performances in Steve Jobs, playing the eponymous computer entrepreneur. He brilliantly depicts the vitality, stubbornness and genius of this larger than life figure, though I have no idea how true to life his portrayal or the film is. Some have said it whitewashes Jobs, whilst others claim it is too harsh. I for one do not particularly care, since regardless of the truth, Steve Jobs is riveting.

As per current biopic trends, this eschews the cradle-to-the-grave approach and instead focuses on backstage drama around the launch of three different Apple products in 1984, 1988 and 1998. Besides Fassbender strong support is provided by Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Bridges, as Jobs’ long suffering marketing manager Joanna Hoffman, programmer Steve Wozniak and original Apple CEO John Sculley respectively. In addition, Jobs’ daughter Lisa is portrayed by three different, equally brilliant actresses Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine. Danny Boyle directs with his usual visual panache and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin provides a fine theatrical template, set almost entirely within the claustrophobic backstage environment, and packed with his requisite sizzling dialogue.

All of which begs the question, how did this terrific film fail at the US box office? Steve Jobs shares DNA with the much more successful The Social Network (also written by Sorkin), and with this much talent attached, it is genuinely baffling as to why the film did not find an audience. Although films about unlikeable protagonists can be a hard sell, this manages to give the hoary old genius-who-is-rubbish-with-people tale a fresh spin. It explores key relationships between Jobs and Hoffman, the woman who acts as his conscience, Wozniak, who remains loyal despite appalling treatment and Sculley, who comes off as either duplicitous or misunderstood depending on where audience sympathies fall.

In the end though, the relationship with Jobs’ daughter Lisa is what really gives the film emotional depth – a shocking catalogue of sins of omission beginning with refusal to accept parentage to regret and recriminations later in her life. As Wozniak aptly laments “It’s not binary. You can be decent and gifted at the same time”.

With such food for thought amid the dramatic fireworks (I should throw in the regulation warning for strong language here), I’m left scratching my head as to what’s not to like. Do yourself a favour and don’t believe the box office figures. See Steve Jobs. It’s a brilliant film.

Old fashioned in the best possible sense is a good way to describe Brooklyn, director John Crowley’s adaptation of Colm Toibin’s novel. Not only does it hark back to the great “woman’s picture” movies of the 1930s and 40s, but it will also strike a chord with anyone who has had to adjust to life far from home in a new country, thanks largely to a completely convincing central performance from Saoirse Ronan.

Ronan plays Eilis Lacey, who leaves Ireland for a new life in 1950s New York. Here she is assisted by kindly priest Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) and no-nonsense landlady Mrs Kehoe (Julie Walters). At first Eilis feels cripplingly homesick, but soon she finds her feet, eventually falling for the charms of Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen). However, unexpected news from Ireland precipitates a return to her home country, where another potential suitor Jim (Domhnall Gleeson) awaits. Eventually Eilis finds herself torn between two worlds.

On the surface, there is nothing particularly remarkable about Brooklyn. It is understated, gentle and considerably less melodramatic than the trailer makes it appear. However subtle but strong performances from the entire cast (particularly the afore-mentioned Ronan) really make us care about the characters. Nick Hornby’s screenplay also contains many intriguing little details and vignettes – from the charity Christmas dinner with down and out elderly Irishmen (whom, we are told, helped build American bridges, buildings, railways and so forth), to the awkward dances Eilis and other single girls attend hoping to find romance. On top of this, the smaller characters are often imbued with a deep, heart-warming humanity (the wonderful Mrs Kehoe for instance) that rings very true. Crowley’s direction is restrained and unshowy, giving the film an authentic feel despite the odd chocolate box edge. Another plus is that politics are mercifully absent from the picture, so nothing is mentioned about the troubles (thank goodness).

Ultimately, Brooklyn works very well as an understated, likeable and moving story of leaving home and coming of age, old fashioned in the best possible sense.