Ex Machina (15)

(Alex Garland, 2015, UK/US) Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac. 108 mins

Powered by big ideas, slick design and three of the hottest actors currently out there, this sly little sci-fi thriller punches above its weight. It’s a model of film-making efficiency, if not a recommended technological road map. Naive programmer Gleeson is invited to the mountain retreat of his shifty alpha-genius CEO (Isaac), only to find himself testing the humanity of a seductive new android, who has all the grace and wit of Alicia Vikander but only half of her actual body. The test works both ways, of course, and the twisty story smartly weaves sexual politics into AI ethics, even if the result is more chin-stroking than armrest-gripping in the end.

A Most Violent Year (15)

(JC Chandor, 2014, US) Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo. 125 mins

The unpromising setting of the 1980s New York heating-oil business amply fuels a tense and atmospheric critique of the American dream – somewhere between American Hustle and The Godfather. Isaac plays an immigrant entrepreneur struggling to get ahead without getting his hands dirty, though the endemic corruption and ever-encroaching threat of violence make that an unlikely prospect.

La Maison De La Radio (PG)

(Nicolas Philibert, 2014, Fra/Jap) 104 mins

The Etre Et Avoir director gives us 24 hours in the life of publicly funded broadcaster Radio France, observing the various meetings, backstage preparations and live studio broadcasts within its totemic Paris headquarters. It’s insightful, although British viewers might find themselves wishing that Philibert was doing a similar study of the BBC.

Beyond Clueless (15)

(Charlie Lyne, 2014, UK) 89 mins

Life lessons learned exclusively from modern American teen movies in this intriguing documentary, formed entirely of clips from dozens of examples of the genre. Narrated by The Craft star Fairuza Balk and dreamily scored by Summer Camp, it’s an idiosyncratic end-of-term paper on the pitfalls of growing up.

Mortdecai (12A)

(David Koepp, 2015, US) Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, Olivia Munn, Aubrey Plaza. 107 mins

Another mannered eccentric from the Depp gallery. A twittish English art-dealer preoccupied with gentlemanly decorum and moustache-grooming, the title character is at the centre of a wacky international race to find a stolen painting.

The Gambler (15)

(Rupert Wyatt, 2014, US) Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Brie Larson. 111 mins

Despite the title, this is less a casino thriller than a shaded character study, although shading isn’t exactly Wahlberg’s forte. He’s a nihilistic English professor/compulsive gambler who doesn’t particularly enjoy winning – which is just as well. The debts and stakes all build towards a make-or-break climax, but this remake is no greater than the sum of its parts.

Out from Friday

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Big Hero 6. Photograph: AP

Kingsman: The Secret Service Spy Colin Firth recruits a teen tearaway in a comic-book adventure. Out on Thu

Big Hero 6 Disney turns in a futuristic boy-and-his-robot adventure.

Inherent Vice Paul Thomas Anderson channels Thomas Pynchon for a 1970s beach-bum noir.

Trash Slumdog-like Brazilian childhood drama.

Son Of A Gun Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander (again) in an Aussie heist thriller.

Tales Of The Grim Sleeper Documentarist Nick Broomfield on the trail of a Los Angeles serial killer.

No Manifesto: A Film About Manic Street Preachers The Welsh rockers look back over an eventful history.

I Am Yours Norwegian drama on the cultural conflicts of a Pakistani single mother in Oslo.

Pelo Malo Hair-centric childhood tale set in a Caracas housing estate.

Au Revoir Les Enfants Reissue for Louis Malle’s classic 1987 wartime boarding-school drama.

Coming soon

In two weeks... David Oyelowo leads the civil rights march to Selma… The Wachowskis launch their interplanetary epic Jupiter Ascending…

In three weeks... Dakota Johnson submits to Fifty Shades Of Grey… Richard Hawley and romantic movies in Love Is All…

In a month... Feel Jennifer Aniston’s pain in Cake… Experience 70s-styled surrealism in The Duke Of Burgundy…