Prowling panthers, paranormal spies and vengeful ice-skaters: must-see movies of 2018

The Black Panther roars, Matt Damon shrinks, Aardman go stone age and Jennifer Lawrence takes spying into a new dimension – we preview the best cinema of the new year

The 50 top films of 2017 in the UK: No 4 Elle

The magnificent Isabelle Huppert brings gravitas and credibility to Paul Verhoeven’s controversial and darkly comic revenge thriller, which resonates all the more after recent Hollywood revelations

Mountains May Depart review – our friends in the east

A love triangle unfolds over three decades in this intriguing Chinese melodrama

Youth review – Chinese dancers endure fall-outs, heartache and burst blisters

Feng Xiaogang’s sprawling drama lays on the Spielbergian syrup and covers swaths of China’s history in broad brushstrokes – but it carries a potent message

Bingo: The King of the Mornings review – hectoring tale of porn star turned clown

Daniel Rezende’s version of the life of Brazil’s Bozo takes the myth for granted and is guilty of some lazy screenwriting tricks

The 50 top films of 2017 in the UK: No 7 Toni Erdmann

Continuing our countdown of the year’s finest films, Catherine Shoard celebrates an audacious German comedy packed with flabbergasting set-pieces

Blade of the Immortal review – bloodshed and birdsong

Takashi Miike’s samurai slasher has both elegiac and witty moments but the gore does tend to bore…

Menashe review – intensely emotional tale of a widower’s grief

A Yiddish drama set in a Hasidic Jewish community unpicks patriarchal power politics with a powerful central turn from non-professional Menashe Lustig

Blade of the Immortal review – spectacular corpses and an undead samurai

Takashi Miike’s surreally violent action movie based in Hiroaki Samura’s long-running manga may not be his best work but is brutally dramatic

The Braddies 2017: Peter Bradshaw nominates his films of the year

The Guardian’s film critic presents his shortlist of the year’s movies, directors, actors, writers and screenplays he considers most awards-worthy

100 not out: Takashi Miike joins the world’s most prolific directors

The Japanese director is known in the west for ultraviolence and boundary-pushing gore, but he has honed his craft in genres including family films to reach this career landmark

The poisonous dispute over Indian film Padmavati mustn’t spill over into the UK

Threats against British cinemas won’t be tolerated, and the Indian government must know that, writes Sunny Malik, a UK-based social media manager focusing on Bollywood

Heartstone review – fervent teen sexuality drama

This long, Iceland-set debut steams with suppressed emotion as two teenagers explore a dawning relationship

Fireworks review – anime romance sparkles with strangeness

This disorientating teen tale – think Japan’s answer to Sliding Doors – follows the divided destinies of three characters in wholly un-Hollywood style

A Caribbean Dream review – Shakespeare goes to carnival

Shakirah Bourne’s tender-hearted adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a refreshingly low-key palate cleanser with plenty of time for its older characters