A MONSTER CALLS (12A, 108 mins) Drama/Fantasy. Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, and the voice of Liam Neeson. Director: J.A. Bayona.

Released: January 1 (UK & Ireland)

Adapted by Patrick Ness from his award-winning novel, A Monster Calls is a tender coming of age story that will strike a chord with anyone who has lost a loved one to terminal illness.

"Most of us just get messily ever after... and that's all right," reflects one character in J.A. Bayona's haunting and elegiac film, which witnesses the devastation wrought by cancer through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy, who has yet to come to terms with the impending loss of a parent.

In the hands of another filmmaker, the teenage protagonist's inner turmoil could provide a road map to emotional manipulation via crocodile tears and mawkish sentimentality.

Spanish filmmaker Bayona, who deftly handled the destruction of the 2004 tsunami through the eyes of another adolescent in his drama The Impossible, allows our tears to well gradually, rather than bludgeon us into submission.

Edinburgh-born relative newcomer Lewis MacDougall is mesmerising as the film's fulcrum, tearing at his character's fractured heart with maturity beyond his years.

Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver offer sterling support, while director Bayona marshals impressive visual effects to elegantly underline each haunting dramatic note.

Reclusive schoolboy Conor O'Malley (MacDougall) is in denial about the dark shadow hanging over his mother Lizzie (Jones).

He silently soaks up physical abuse at school from bullying classmate Harry (James Melville), and seeks refuge each night in his vivid illustrations.

As darkness falls and midnight strikes, the yew tree which stands guard over the nearby church magically comes to life and morphs into a gnarled creature (voiced by Liam Neeson).

The behemoth visits Conor and promises to share three parables.

"Stories are like wild animals. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they may wreak," growls the hulking visitor.

The creature demands just one thing from Conor in return: "Tell me your nightmare."

Each night, the creature spins his yarn and the boy listens intently, searching for meaning in the words.

He only finds bitterness and confusion.

"Many things that are true feel like a cheat," warns the creature.

Meanwhile, Conor struggles to articulate his churning maelstrom of fears to his well-to-do grandmother (Weaver) and estranged father (Toby Kebbell).

A Monster Calls is an unforgettable start to the new year, crafted with love, tenderness and sensitivity.

The catharsis of the final act is a thing of exquisite, heartbreaking beauty.

I surrendered to juddering, uncontrollable sobs, remembering the loss of my mother eight years ago to the same merciless and monstrous disease.

Some wounds never heal, nor should they, for they are an important reminder of the fragility of our precious day-to-day existence, which we take for granted at our peril.

:: NO SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 8.5/10

SILENCE (15, 161 mins) Drama/War. Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Ciaran Hinds, Issei Ogata, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yoshi Oida, Yosuke Kubozuka. Director: Martin Scorsese.

Released: January 1 (UK & Ireland)

A moment of silence can be awkward, meaningful, baffling, revelatory, suspenseful or soothing.

Writer-director Martin Scorsese's passion project Silence - a labour of love since 1990 - possesses many of these qualities but above all, it is a test of physical and mental endurance that will be beyond the tolerance of most audiences.

Set in a beautifully rendered 17th century Japan, this sprawling sermon on faith and endurance of the human spirit is easy to admire for its technical precision and production design, but difficult to love for a lack of engagement with the characters.

The 161-minute running time is punishing and Scorsese's script, adapted from the novel by Shusaku Endo and co-written by Jay Cocks, adopts a deliberately contemplative and pedestrian pace.

The filmmaker gives us plenty of time to draw our own conclusions about the persecution and torture of Christian priests.

He opens with the harrowing image of five captured holy men, stripped to the waist, whose skin is red raw from splashes of scalding water from a nearby hot spring.

Other Christians are burnt alive or tightly bound, pushed overboard and left to drown in choppy seas.

Scorsese has previously ruminated on matters of faith and dogma in The Last Temptation Of Christ and Kundun.

Here, he muses on self-sacrifice, literally and figuratively, through the eyes of a selfless man, whose pleas for a sign from his Lord are met with deafening silence.

And our occasional yawns.

In 1640 Macao, Father Valignano (Ciaran Hinds) receives a letter which suggests Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) has publicly denounced God and surrendered his faith in Japan.

Young priests Sebastiao Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), proteges of Ferreira, refuse to believe the correspondence and persuade Father Valignano to allow them to seek out their mentor.

"From the moment you set foot in that country you step into high danger," Valignano reminds them grimly.

Unperturbed, the priests sail to the coastal town of Tomogi in the company of a disreputable guide, Kichijiro (Yosuke Kubozuka).

"We must be careful. There's a price of 300 pieces of silver for you," he explains.

"Three hundred? Judas only got 30," replies Rodrigues.

Aided by God-fearing villagers including Mokichi (Shin'ya Tsukamoto) and Ichizo (Yoshi Oida), Rodrigues and Garupe secretly tend to Japanese flocks.

Silence is anchored by Garfield's committed central performance that offers fleeting glimpses of his character's anguish.

Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who was Oscar nominated for Brokeback Mountain, artfully composes each frame for maximum impact.

Scorsese is completely invested in his subject matter, but he refuses to let us in with him.

The filmmaker keeps us at a distance from Rodrigues and Garupe, even when they are being hunted by the notorious Inquisitor, Inoue Sama (Issei Ogata).

Their torment is a whimper in the dark.

:: NO SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 6/10

ASSASSIN'S CREED (12A, 115 mins) Action/Adventure/Fantasy. Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling. Director: Justin Kurzel.

Released: January 1 (UK & Ireland)

Based on a video game series, Assassin's Creed is a dour time-travelling fantasy that swiftly somersaults into absurdity and incomprehension.

We share the bewilderment of the lead character when he mumbles, "What the hell is going on?"

If the three screenwriters have the answer, they don't let on for almost two hours of special effects-laden hack and slash, that ebbs and flows between present day Madrid and 1492 Andalucia.

Director Justin Kurzel, who recently helmed attractive leads Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in his tour-de-force reimaging of Macbeth, is powerless to make sense of the digitally augmented muddle.

Battle sequences and protracted chases on foot, including daredevil leaps captured in slow motion, are stylishly staged to the relentless drum beat of composer Jed Kurzel's score.

For fans of interactive media, it's as grim and bloody as the 12A certificate will allow.

Unfortunately, like so many adaptations of video games, the film lacks the vicarious thrill of physically controlling a character and assuming personal responsibility for their fate.

Voyeurism has rarely been so tiresome.

A few hours after he is executed by lethal injection, Callum Lynch (Fassbender) wakes in a facility owned by biotechnology company Abstergo Industries, a front for the power-hungry Templar Order under the control of president Ellen Kaye (Charlotte Rampling).

The convicted criminal learns he is the last in a long bloodline of valiant protectors - the Assassins - who have been at war with the Templars.

The company's Machiavellian CEO, Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons), is searching for an ancient artefact called the Apple of Eden, which was hidden by Callum's 15th-century Spanish relative, Aguilar de Nerha.

Using a device called the Animus, Rikkin and his scientist daughter Sofia (Cotillard) access genetic memories concealed in Callum's DNA to locate the missing artefact.

"What you're about to see, hear and feel are the memories of your ancestor who's been dead for 500 years," whispers Sofia.

Vivid snapshots of the past flash before Callum's eyes and he relives each punch and stab as if he were Aguilar, fighting alongside fellow Assassin Maria (Ariane Labed).

Ricocheting back and forth in time, Callum realises he holds the power to his blood-spattered destiny.

Assassin's Creed employs earthy and metallic colour palettes to create an immediate visual distinction between the two timeframes.

Fassbender, credited as one of the film's producers, and Cotillard could deliver their lines in their sleep while Irons isn't even afforded an opportunity to chew scenery.

The plot makes little sense and there's no effort on the part of the script to tether the historical mumbo jumbo to a reality that non-game players can understand.

Kurzel delivers the required big budget spectacle and neatly sets up further instalments, but if this opening salvo is a signal of intent, it's game over already for Callum and his kin.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 4/10