It took Canadian Steve Kostanski three years and only $1000 to create Manborg, an homage to mid-80s VHS sci-fi and horror. By embracing their cheap production values and never aspiring to be more or less than hilarious nostalgia, Manborg is possibly one of the best cinematic experiences you’ll ever have, providing that you are old enough to remember the unique and exquisite sensation of pushing a tape into a VCR. MANBORG!

Having recently delivered middlebrow stodge like Invictus, Hereafter and J. Edgar from the director’s chair, it’s been a while since Clint Eastwood has had a chance to chew some scenery. With directing duties left to longtime collaborator Robert Lorenz, Eastwood steps in front of the camera once more, finding the same ardent growl that made Gran Torino such an enjoyable boilermaker of a film. Unfortunately, Trouble with the Curve is as toothless as the man himself, a catatonic baseball drama that suffers from the same mouldy traditionalism championed in Eastwood’s cranky talent scout.

Releasing two classic albums in the early seventies to minor critical acclaim but non-existent commercial success in the US, reclusive singer-guitarist Rodriguez became something of a popular music myth. Examining his phenomenal popularity overseas and his music’s relative obscurity at home in the US, director Malik Bendjelloul goes in search of the story behind a man dubbed the ‘Mexican Bob Dylan.’

It has been less than a year since Great Expectations hit our telly-boxes via the woebegone institute that is the BBC (the less said about He Who Must Not Be Named, the better), so it makes sense that Mike Newell and the British Broadcasting Corporation have remade it AGAIN for the silver screen. If, of course, by “makes sense” you mean “makes no sense at all”. Expect the usual suspects, lavish costumes and lingering glances in this portion of Dickens Lite for the TOWIE age…

Bernard Rose’s new film is a sparse, quietly naturalistic slow-burner that grapples with some of the big questions through the medium of a very small story. Underpinned by the fascinating dynamic between its two leads, Danny Huston and Matthew Jacobs, and swinging from the banal to the life-or-death in a heartbeat, Boxing Day is an oddly affecting film that – despite taking a while to get to the point – has a deeply moving and important message at its heart.

After intriguing us with his enigmatic presence in Winter’s Bone, then quietly disturbing us as the maniacal cult leader in Martha Marcy May Marlene, the increasingly versatile John Hawkes now reveals his softer side in endearing comedy drama The Sessions. That rare thing, a populist movie that also happens to be a good one, audiences will rightly flock to see The Sessions – and so should you. Just one word of warning… if Mr. Hawkes wants you to start crying in public, you will start crying in public.

Like a resounding fist-bump cementing a job well done, police drama End of Watch is a testosterone-fuelled ride-along through L.A.’s crime-ridden south central district. Proving that sometimes a film doesn’t need to be more than the sum of its parts, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña showcase an infectious chemistry that papers over some noticeable cracks, and confirm there’s life in the Academy yet.

Weddings! Weddings weddings weddings. Everybody loves weddings and all films are about weddings these days aren’t they? It really feels like that’s the case. Take wedding themed film Our Family Wedding, for instance. Weddings everywhere! Only, why is there a goat running around eating Viagra and trying to rape people? And why are all the Mexican people so deeply, deeply racist? And why is Forest Whitaker in this film? So many questions! And by questions we mean weddings.

Following the pitch-black Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos draws back the curtain on some more theatre of the absurd with Alps. A group of people offer an unusual service, replacing deceased family and friends in an effort to ease the mourning process. When one of them takes her position too far, things start to get messy. Slow, deadpan and unflinchingly weird, Alps is cut from the same cloth as Dogtooth, but lacks any real bite.

I, Anna features tremendous performances by its leads, but this is not enough to sustain the viewer through a lackadaisical and uninteresting plot. Initially intriguing but ultimately forgettable, the film is never as thrilling, meaningful or insightful as it would like to be. Although it calls itself Film Noir, I, Anna is somewhere closer to beige.