Shia LeBeouf and Rachel Evan Wood fail to muster the chemistry to make this drug tinged, semi spiritual crime caper into the love story it really wants to be. Charlie Countryman (LeBeouf) flees from Chicago at the behest of his dead mother (Melissa Leo) to Bucharest but his bad luck continues when the Romanian man sitting next to him on the plane also dies. Seemingly cursed with the ability to take last request from the recently deceased, Charlie vows to the mans ghost to deliver a gift to his daughter, Gabi (Wood).

At the first mention of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, most instantly think of him as the King of Indie films or as ‘that guy’ from Christopher Nolan’s blockbusters Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Sometimes this also extends to his notable performance as the teenage alien in American 90’s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. And now, even with these select few of the roles which extend down his now extensive resume, Gordon-Levitt has now made the transition from in front of the camera to behind it.

Marilyn Monroe once said, “Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” But despite its amoral, backstabbing, and phony reputation, Tinseltown has remained a fascinating place where many people dream of meeting or becoming a star. For more than a century, Hollywood has created and debunked many myths about itself as a main subject – some based on truth – beginning with the early days of cinema.

James Franco’s directorial debut, As I Lay Dying, is visually impressive (once again, a young director somewhat reminiscent of Terrence Malick), however, the film’s characters and basic plot lack substance. Based on the novel by William Faulkner, the story revolves around a poor, uneducated, southern family who feel compelled to deliver their recently-deceased mother’s casket to a designated place in order to honour her beseeching request. They come across almost as pilgrims on the outskirts backwater country of an America from ages ago.

Mumble-core affiliate Joe Swanberg turns up the volume and tightens the dialogue in this sweet look at relationships that never could be. Olivia Wilde turns in a great performance as Kate, the sole female working at a boutique micro brewery in Chicago; A very social drinker who gets through her days on the highs of a playful flirtatious relationship with Luke (Jake Johnson), a flannel shirt wearing beardy with a goofy sense of humour which nearly trumps her own. The brewers respective partners are slightly more serious and far more suited; Anna Kendrick's prim Jill and the hugely underrated Ron Livingstone's methodical Chris gravitate immediately towards each other with as much chemistry as Luke and Kate and a short weekend away together brings in some inevitable problems.

This fairly straight buddy film is both brainless and fun in equal measure with Denzel Washington and Mark Walberg using their very different acting styles, against the odds, to make a pretty watchable duo. Icelandic action director Baltasar Kormákur made a pal in Walberg in last year's Contraband but 2 Guns is much lighter in weight, often straying into Lethal Weapon territory; The ludicrous story and over slick action may get some critics backs up but this is a watchable piece of popcorn cinema.

You could watch the entirety of Greg Camalier's Muscle Shoals purely based on the soundtrack alone, with no picture, and be throughly entertained. This tiny Alabama town of only 8,000 people slumped on the edge of cotton plantations and squashed up to the banks of the Mississippi river produced some of the greatest soul records of all time. Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Bob Dylan and Etta James all recorded some of their finest cuts in Rick Hall's makeshift studio.

In this quite strange and slightly cobbled together animation Dream Works have created a kids film as blueprint. The clapped out old car who wants to race in Pixar's Cars, the old crop duster who wants to race in Pixar's Planes, the old toy who has to fight against the new in Pixar's Toy Story; It's a trope of kids films of course, teaching our young whippersnappers that it doesn't matter who you are, the underdog can succeed! Turbo is the story of a simple garden snail with big dreams who is given super powers a la Bruce Banner and his Incredible Hulk and his new-found friends and speed which could allow him to race in the Indianapolis 500.

A young woman disappears into an abyss of depression and self harm in Fernando Franco's serious and affecting La Herida featuring an intense, every shot, performance by Marian Alvarez. It's a star making role for the young actress  playing Ana; Somehow making the very heavy subject matter lighter and, with some assured un-showy direction from Berger, cinematographer on Pablo Berger's stunningly beautiful Blancanieves, this engrossing and difficult film ends up a near triumph.

The pinnacle of Matthew McConaughey's recent run of blistering performances is undoubtably here in Jean-Marc Vallée's incredible true story of Ron Woodroof; An alcoholic, drug addled, homophobe who, after contracting the H.I.V virus in the mid 80's, began to run a back yard pharmacy; Selling banned combinations of drugs from the world over for the treatment of the disease. It's a bold and uncomfortable performance from the actor whose decline and relapse is perfectly mapped by Vallée and writers Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack. Put simply, McConaughey is brilliant in almost every shot in the film; His best role yet which will surely earn him an Academy Award nomination and in our opinion a long-awaited win.

A powerfully acted day in the life which utilises the darkness of social realism a la Ken Loach within the enveloping environment and race politics of John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood. It reaches for the failure of America on a racial and social level by focusing on the last day in the life of Oscar Grant (a fantastic Michael B. Jordan), gunned down on New Year's Day on the platform of Fruitvale Station, San Francisco by police officer Johannes Mehserle. The harrowing, definite and much publicised death of the man we must follow through Fruitvale Station makes Ryan Coogler's blistering debut all the more powerful.

Alex de la Iglesia's is well-known in Spain for his amped up grotesque story telling and he's on good form this time around with Witching and Bitching. A wild ride with nothing too original to say about what is left in its wake but it's simple attack is one of an unashamed crowd pleaser, quickly becoming one of the fastest grossing Spanish films ever. Basically, we're on the run with a group of criminals fleeing for the French border who arrive in a small Northern town and meet some odd locals; A 101 plot but one which de la Iglesia uses to mostly surprise instead of totally bore.

Writer Hanif Kureishi and director Roger Michell turn their hand toward an ailing marriage between two teachers attempting to find a slice of the heady romantic past in the very city which is supposed to accommodate us all in this often futile search. Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan are on top form here, showing us a couple who are in equal parts, at war, in love and tentatively bored. Empty nesters who have reached the ultimate realisation. If you want a bristling romantic comedy with a happy ending then stay well clear. Michell and Kureishi offer no tear jerking finale but instead hint cynically and brilliantly at a time where everything felt new, fresh and intense with a reference so blatant it could just be a stroke of genius.

This sweet little story went remarkably unnoticed at this years San Sebastian and Toronto festivals but there is a lot of heart and soul in this brisk character study about a security guard who puts his career on the line when he buys a game cock. Part Aki Kaurismäki part Jim Jarmusch; Por Las Pluma is a perfect balance of melancholic comedy, paced out with a quietly wonderful performance from Allan Cascante as Chalo and a sly sense of humour from writer director Neto Villalobos…

The beautifully shot Mother of George takes a look at fascinating and cinematic culture, little seen in American cinema, using it's performances to lift this somewhat melodramatic film above its script. Nigerian newly weds Nike and Ayo (Danai Gurira and Isaach De Bankolé) are happy-go-lucky in their new life together. Ayo works as a chef with his brother Biyi (Tony Okungbowa) so Nike doesn't have to. She walks the streets of New York at odds with the culture somewhat more than her Americanized friend Sade (Yaya Alafia) but when the couple find they are unable to conceive a child Nike is cornered by the pressure of her own…

François Ozon's Young and Beautiful (as it is so named in the English tongue) has certainly found newcomer matching the promise of the film's title; Marine Vacth and her quiet but affecting portrayal of Isabelle; A 17-year-old girl on the cusp of her sexual beginnings at the story's introduction and so far separated from them at the close…

Bold simplicity is something that is often forgotten in science fiction. Premise after premise, on paper, will often light up the eyes of even the most trepidatious film goer. Year after year our spirits are buoyed by "in a future where" or "in a world where" ideas but that only makes the height of the fall, once the film and its second act wades bullishly into standard action fare, hurt all the more…

Written by mathematician and playwright John Mighton, Directed by Canadian writer, actor and filmmaker Robert Lepage in his first English language film, Possible Worlds is a tricky film to dissect. Firstly the main character George Barber (Tom McCamus) is in fact dead, or at least has had his brain removed in a truly bizarre crime…

Last year's The Sound of My Voice was a perfect garden for Zal Batmanglij and writer-actress Brit Marling and their love of cult and conspiracy to flourish. Marling, now a definite rising star in the indie film world (whatever that means these days) has the brains, the talent and an eerie presence on-screen; Both beautiful and extremely confident…

Steve Coogan manages to keep Alan Partridge at bay in Michael Winterbottom's fourth collaboration with the comic master. The Look of Love is a film which most closely resembles 24 Party People's decade trotting bio pic-ery, this film feels a little more extravagant in its style but its subject, the life and times of Paul Raymond, London's figurehead in all things pornographic, is quite fascinating.