We recommend: theartsdesk Film Guide

At theartsdesk we make an effort to sift the forthcoming movie releases and review only those films we feel our readers will want to read about. To assist you further in your choice of what to see, this digest of our film coverage includes star ratings, credits, brief critical overview and a link back to the original in-depth review. You can also check future releases and watch trailers in our What's On calendar.

A Dangerous Method **

• Dir: David Cronenberg. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen. Blandly bourgeois tale of Jung and Freud. "Lacking the depth of a character study, the ambition of a serious historical piece, and indeed the sex for a properly meretricious romp, A Dangerous Method is a classic case of cinematic repression."

Albert Nobbs ***

• Dir: Rodrigo Garcia. Cast: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson. Glenn Close touchingly crossdresses in 19th century Dublin. "Close’s task is to play a heroine (or should that be hero?) who has superimposed one character upon another."

All in Good Time***

• Dir: Nigel Cole. Cast: Meera Syal, Harish Patel, Reece Ritchie, Amara Karan. National Theatre play diluted in celluloid transfer. "Rising screen star Reece Ritchie and the attractive Amara Karan don't do much beyond look decorative and concerned, as required."

Angel & Tony ****

• Dir: Alix Delaporte. Cast: Clotilde Hesme, Gregory Gadebois. A Normandy fishing community is the setting for an atypical and touching love story. "The contrasts are magnificent. She is edgy, restless, spontaneous, he taciturn, deliberate."

Avengers Assemble ***

• Dir: Joss Whedon. Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanssen, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner. It’s that man Joss Whedon again, this time at the helm of a superior superhero stew. "Whedon includes plenty of repartee and ruthlessly mines each character's core characteristics for humour."

Bill Cunningham New York ****

• Dir: Richard Press. A captivating documentary about one of New York's liveliest chroniclers. "A joyous and poignant profile of a character whose life has been completely driven by his twin obsessions: clothes and style."

Breathing ****

• Dir: Karl Markovics. Cast: Thomas Schubert, Karin Lischka, Gerhard Liebmann, Georg Friedrich. Powerful debut tells of a damaged teenager's redemptive hunt for identity. "Schubert lucidly says everything by saying almost nothing, and that also goes for the subtle fibres of the entire script."

Casablanca *****

• Dir: Michael Kurtiz. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinreid, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet. Happy 70th to a masterpiece that fused romantic melodrama with film noir to fight isolationism. "Knowing the story doesn’t impair one’s wonder at the undiminished magic of Casablanca."

Contraband **

• Dir: Baltasar Kormakur. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Beckinsale. New Orleans smuggling yarn fails to burnish Mark Wahlberg's reputation. "Everything arrives too late, as if the exciting bits had to be botched together and hastily bolted onto the end."

Corpo Celeste ****

• Dir: Alice Rohrwacher. Cast: Yle Vianello, Anita Caprioli. A quirky and original tale of sexual and spiritual awakening in Southern Italy. "Alice Rohrwacher’s debut feature film has a freshness of outlook and a sharpness of overview that could put many of her more venerable rivals in Italy to shame."

Damsels in Distress ***

• Dir: Whit Stillman. Cast: Carrie MacLemore, Aubrey Plaza, Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody. Whimsical, wordy rom-com charms despite its lack of recognisable human characters. "Stillman’s waggish world disorients just as often as it charms."

Dark Shadows ***

• Dir: Tim Burton. Cast: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Helena Bonham Carter somewhat recovers from the disappointing Alice in Wonderland with this gothic rib-tickler. "A lavish, often wickedly witty big-budget reimagining eschews the TV show’s po-faced gusto in favour of a more knowing exuberance."

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close **

• Dir: Stephen Daldry. Cast: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max Von Sydow. Oscar-nominated adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel is lacking in magic. "The course from stage to screen seldom did run smooth, but this adaptation is closer to an evisceration."

Headhunters ****

• Dir: Morten Tyldum. Cast: Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Nimble Norwegian thriller pits brain against brawn. "There are enough quirks of character and motivation to ensure that any lurking genre clichés are picked off before they get anywhere near centre stage."