This week's new films

Killing Them Softly (18) (Andrew Dominik, 2012, US) Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini. 97 mins With a cast like that, no prizes for guessing this is a gangster movie. But despite the well-trodden ground, it finds its own patch thanks to an up-to-date landscape of economic hardship and all-round criminal incompetence. Thus, Pitt's suave assassin breezes into town to clean up a mess, but only gets caught in a bigger one. It's tough, violent stuff, but with a certain sleazy finesse. Savages (15) (Oliver Stone, 2012, US) Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Blake Lively. 130 mins Stone gives up the politics and returns to crime, with a violent thriller involving two pot-growing California dudes and their run-in with a Mexican drug cartel. Hysteria (15) (Tanya Wexler, 2011, UK/Fra/Ger/Lux) Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, 99 mins The invention of the vibrator and the phenomenon of women's "hysteria" are viewed with jaunty decorum but some political savvy in this Victorian romcom. Now Is Good (12A) (Ol Parker, 2012, UK) Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine, Olivia Williams. 103 mins Terminally ill gamine Fanning goes through her teenage bucket list, which inevitably leads to short-term romance. House At The End Of The Street (15) (Mark Tonderai, 2012, US) Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue. 101 mins Lawrence elevates this schlocky Psycho update far higher than it deserves. Things head downhill, and down to the basement, when she befriends her creepy young neighbour. Tower Block (15) (James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson, 2012, UK) Sheridan Smith, Jack O'Connell, 90 mins An unseen sniper picks on (and off) residents of a condemned council flat in this sharp little thriller. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (PG) (Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2011, US) 86 mins Documentary on the pioneering fashion editor. Untouchable (15) (Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano, 2011, Fra) François Cluzet, Omar Sy. 112 mins An African immigrant helps a paralysed French aristocrat carry on with life – could this be a metaphor for western civilisation? Or a topical variation on the old "Magic Negro" trope? Santa Sangre (18) (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989, Mex/It) Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra. 123 mins Unique, unforgettable cult gem, incorporating circus life, psychological trauma and elephant funerals. Inbred (18) (Alex Chandon, 2011, Ger/UK) Jo Hartley, Seamus O'Neill, James Doherty. 98 mins Gleefully gruesome Yorkshire horror in the "don't get many strangers round here" vein, serving up splatter with some very British humour. You Are God (15) (Leszek Dawid, 2012, Pol) Marcin Kowalczyk, Dawid Ogrodnik, 124 mins Biopic of Polish rap outfit Paktofonika, whose leader, Magik, committed suicide in 2000, aged 22. Heroine (15) (Madhur Bhandarkar, 2012, Ind) Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda Bollywood eats itself, with Kapoor plays a movie star whose fame is waning. Out from Friday Barbara Christian Petzold's acclaimed study of a doctor working in 80s East Germany. Saints And Soldiers 2: Airborne Creed Band Of Brothers-style second world war saga. Out from Mon All's Well That Ends Well Filmed Shakespeare from the Globe Theatre. Out from Wed Resident Evil: Retribution Another bad day at the zombie apocalypse for Milla Jovovich. Looper Ingenious time-travel hitman thriller. Holy Motors Denis Lavant assumes 11 roles in Leos Carax's madly inventive headscratcher. The Campaign Local candidates Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis become rivals in this political spoof. Babymakers Fertility comedy involving a sperm bank heist. Cross Of Honour English and German pilots band together for this lost-in-the-wilderness drama. Husbands Reissue for John Cassavetes's drunken, improvised slice of life. Coming soon In two weeks … Emma Watson shakes Hermione in The Perks Of Being A Wallflower … Liam Neeson, still angry, stars in Taken 2 … In three weeks … Jack Kerouac rides again in On The Road … Horror and humour mix in animation Hotel Transylvania … In a month … Tim Burton's retro stop-motion horror Frankenweenie … Sundance winner Beasts Of The Southern Wild …