A wide-reaching crime drama from the director and star of intimate relationship study Blue Valentine seems an unusual prospect on paper, but in practice the transition isn’t as big as you might expect. Bold and sweeping as The Place Beyond the Pines may be, it still revolves around family – it’s just a shame Derek Cianfrance tries to spoil his child a little too much.

Gosling to give his face a break for a bit.

Killing Them Softly is a strange cocktail of unusually thoughtful gangsters, stylized violence and unsubtle political satire. If you can get past the wanky title, viewers may be pleasantly surprised by its thoughtful approach to grizzly topics but it is by no means the film it has been marketed to be. Think The New World with more guns.