Oh boy. Charlie St. Cloud may be handsome but he sure is weird. Really intense and looks like he’s going to burst into tears at any moment. And he does. Quite a lot. After the death of his younger brother, Charlie’s sense of responsibility for the fatal accident finds him as a caretaker of the graveyard where his brother is buried. And what does he do for fun? He hangs out with the dead eleven-year-old every day at sunset. Party time!

At one point, drug smuggler Howard Marks was believed to control ten percent of the world trade in hashish. Following a long spell in jail, he wrote a best-selling memoir of his experiences as a twentieth-century pirate – and as if he needed to seem more devil-may-care and elegantly weathered, he’s now being played by legendary waster Rhys Ifans. Mr Nice is enormous fun that you don’t even need to be stoned to enjoy.

Pat Tillman was an archetypal all-American – a handsome and successful athlete who gave up a multi-million dollar football career to enlist after 9/11. His death in Afghanistan saw him become a national hero, but when it emerged that he had died as a result of friendly fire the government mobilised to block the truth of his death. This spectacular documentary tunnels to the very heart of the American establishment and will shock you with what it finds there.

First time Swedish director/writer Ruben Ostlund is probably feeling very smug. Highly acclaimed and multi award-winning, Involuntary uses crafty shots and uncomfortable everyday situations (welcome to my life) to present five stories, each with their own potential disasters. With possible real life situations told through creative framing, it’s like watching a film through the eyes of a stalker. Creepy. Unless you are a stalker. Then enjoy.

George Clooney finally backs away from cool, calm and collected in the strangely compelling tale of The American; a thriller that questions the humanity of a life without trust. Though occasionally frustrating and just a little pleased with itself, its nevertheless an absorbing account of one man’s descent into darkness, and Clooney – thankfully – is more than capable of taking us on the journey.

One of the highlights of this year’s Raindance Film Festival, Rebels Without A Clue marks the feature-length directorial debut of photographer and short-film maker Ian Vernon. Blending expert cinematography with dark humour and memorable performances, it may be the best teenage sex/drugs/stolen car film set in the Peak District that you ever see.

At the invitation of the Swedenborg Society, Best For Film is publishing a special series of reviews to follow its ‘Images of the Afterlife in Cinema’ film season, which will be exploring life, death and everything in between. This week we take a look at what happens when there’s a mix up in heaven in A Matter of Life and Death.

23 years after his Oscar-winning film Wall Street inspired a generation of high-rollers and corporate raiders, Oliver Stone has reunited with Michael Douglas to bring us the next chapter in the life of legendary greenmailer Gordon Gekko – this time crossing swords with Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. It’s perfectly adequate when judged on its own merits, but as a follow-up to its extraordinary predecessor it leaves much to be desired.

Police, Adjective is the latest in what we Brits would call “Romanian New Wave Cinema”. However, director Corneliu Porumboiu would dismiss us in true Eastern European fashion, perhaps by waving a shawl in our face and spitting “ptooey” at the phrase, which he calls “problematic”. Regardless of genre, Police, Adjective (winner of the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival) is the antithesis of a cop film, replacing running about with batons with endless trudging round Eastern Europe in the same old jumper.

With its cast including Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen and Chris “Rihanna’s ex” Brown, Takers was never overly likely to make audiences think too hard. Given its title because its anti-heroes like to take things (told you it wasn’t a thinker), the plot follows a gang of bank robbers as they plan a $30 million heist, unaware that a hard-boiled detective is closing in on them, determined to crack the case. What results is a dodgy pastiche of crime films everywhere – fun in places, but ultimately brainless.