Claustrofobia is a Dutch horror debut from director Bobby Boermans, starring Carolien Spoor as a veterinary student who finds herself chained to a bed in the basement of one of her neighbours with no idea how she got there. The film explores some aspects of the condition of its title, but not nearly as deeply or darkly as you’d expect.

A refreshing look at the found footage style horror that already seems drained even though it’s only just begun. V/H/S is an anthology of 5 short horror films shot on actual video and each offering the best of their individual director, be it a haunted house thriller or a stalker tale. Prepare to be left disgusted, amused and freaked the fuck out.

The Wee Man is written and directed by Ray Burdis, whose previous directorial offering Love, Honour and Obey featured gangsters in London; now we are removed to Glasgow. Based on an account of his time in the Scottish city’s underworld, the film gives us the rise and fall of Paul Ferris, the notorious ‘Wee Man’ of the title. Expect violence, crime and formula all the way.

His first starring role since making the relatively short trip back to Hollywood from the L.A. governor’s mansion, Arnold Schwarzenegger creaks back onto the big screen in a routine actioner that bets big on nostalgia for the one-liners and stiff acting he perfected so long ago. Does a dinosaur like Schwarzenegger have a place in an era dominated by wire-less martial arts madness and the kind of jumped-up hyper-kinetic combat pioneered by the Bourne franchise? The Last Stand is a lesson in the saving grace of star power, even if it doesn’t burn quite as bright as it used to.

Michael Winterbottom gets to the heart of the matter with Everyday; a family drama with a difference. Winterbottom’s regulars Shirley Henderson and John Simm play parents Karen and Ian who are split apart when Ian is jailed for a decade for drug smuggling. Sitting out his term puts a strain on his four young children, played by real-life siblings. This minimalist drama takes the viewer closer to real family relationships than any British film has in years.

Steven Spielberg’s foray into the well-trodden political battlefield of the Civil War and President Lincoln’s fight to pass a bill against slavery is a predictable candidate for the Oscars, but nonetheless has many exceptional performances to applaud. Daniel Day-Lewis in particular, proves himself to be an excellent President, and makes this worthy (if turgid) drama stand out from the crowd.

Gangster Squad is based on the true tale of a group of LAPD officers and detectives in the late 1940s who used, shall we say, extra-judicial methods to smash the operations that allowed gangster Micky Cohen to control the underworld of the US west coast. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer, who has mainly worked in the worlds of advertising and music-video production, but has two previous films (Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less) to his credit. An ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte and Emma Stone play out a plot we get the feeling we have already seen before.

Despite the controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty (including an Oscar nomination boycott), Kathryn Bigelow’s latest politically-charged war drama still managed to bag 4 Golden Globe awards and bring in $24 million in its opening weekend. Zero Dark Thirty is intelligent, well-documented and manages to tug on our heartstrings whilst presenting us with the cold hard facts. Be that as it may, the film can sometimes feel like a prolonged episode of a TV drama that never quite surpassed its pilot.

Gabriele Muccino of The Pursuit of Happyness fame brings us a new feel-good romantic pic produced by and starring Gerrard Butler, about a washed up former football star attempting to reconnect with his young son and ex-wife in a suburban community in Virginia.

A load of raw fish? Think again. This minimalist documentary from David Gelb introduces the world’s greatest sushi-maker, Jiro Ono, who at 85 is still working hard at perfecting his craft.