The Saw films have turned wanton cruelty into an annual event, with a seventh instalment in the series due this Halloween. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, screenwriters of Saw IV, V and VI, evidently aren’t satisfied with the carnage they have already wrought, so they have co-written this equally grisly tale about a robbery that turns unexpectedly nasty.

Get Him To The Greek foolishly promotes a supporting player – Russell Brand’s egotistical rock star Aldous Snow from the 2008 relationship comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall – to centre stage in his own film. You can have too much of a good thing and we have our fill of Aldous’s sexist outbursts well before the first hour.

A British re-make of a black French comedy, Wild Target is a film that, sadly, never quite hits the bullseye. Bill Nighy, Rupert Grint, Rupert Everett, Martin Freeman and Emily Blunt all lent their hands to this crime caper, with a script never quite lives up to the talent around it. Despite its stellar cast and romping pace, the team are let down by bad jokes, sloppy storytelling and cliche characters.

Nine years after he guided Denzel Washington to the Oscar for his riveting portrayal of a corrupt Los Angeles cop in Training Day, director Antoine Fuqua ventures onto the mean, crime-riddled streets of New York. With a dispassionate eye, he once again goes on patrol with the men and women who proudly promise to uphold the law then occasionally bend it beyond recognition

If Robert Luketic’s action-packed romantic comedy is to be believed – and it is an almighty stretch – men are capable of hiding everything from their nearest and dearest. In the case of the film’s charming hero, he manages to meet, woo and marry the woman of his dreams without revealing a vital part of his genetic make-up. His unsuspecting wife will definitely regret her wedding vows to love him ’til death us do part, and to be honest, we regret paying the ticket price.

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the flickering of Gary Winick’s winsome romantic comedy about one young woman’s quest for everlasting love in sun-dappled Verona, the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet. Screenwriters Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan serve up a steaming spaghetti of cliches, cultural stereotypes and unintentional laughs, garnished with a light classical and pop soundtrack.

The weight of public expectation can be a heavy burden – it can cripple even the strongest men. In 2006, Noel Clarke wrote and starred in Kidulthood. His gritty portrait of disenfranchised youth culture raised eyebrows and two years later, he wrote, directed and starred in the sequel, Adulthood. The continuation of his emotionally damaged characters was a wake up call to the UK box office, taking an impressive £1.2 million in its opening weekend. Cinemas hurriedly arranged additional screenings and Clarke accepted his newly-minted reputation as the bright young thing of home-grown cinema. There were obvious concerns that he was a one-trick pony. Thankfully not.

If you’re already aware of The Killer Inside Me, chances are you’ll almost certainly know of it as “that film where Casey Affleck beats seven shades of blue out of Jessica Alba’s face.” You don’t have to wait long to find out that you have not been lied to. Indeed, if The Killer Inside Me sets out to make audiences feel uncomfortable, then it is an undeniable success. But does the film have anything else noteworthy to offer us?

Jim Field Smith’s effervescent romantic comedy strikes a chord with insecure types everywhere, centring on a lovable airport security guard, whose low self-esteem almost wrecks the best relationship he might ever have. It’s a shame that this formula has been done to death by Judd Apatow and crew, as this is a comedy that has great potential, but is let down by the plot-by-numbers.

Astro Boy is the classic tale of a young boy trying to get along with the cards life gives him. Making friends, getting by and generally having a good old time, he’s just like you and me. The only difference is that this kid is a robot. And some people want to kill the death out of him. It’s a futuristic Pinnocchio-inspired CGI romp, and whilst it has a lot to recommend it, ultimately there’s not a lot of human heart beating behind it.