Cinema previews: Anna Karenina | The Imposter | To Rome With Love | Total Recall | Dredd

Rory Ford previews the best of this month’s film releases.

Anna Karenina (7 Sept)

Oscars (or at the very least BAFTAs) ahoy? Director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) delivers a lush adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel – from a script by Tom Stoppard – with regular muse Keira Knightley in the title role as the Russian aristocrat unfulfilled by her marriage to her husband (Jude Law) who embarks upon a scandalous affair with the affluent Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson).

The Imposter (24 Aug)

It’s a labyrinthine psychological thriller that would strain anyone’s credulity, except that it happens to be true. This unusually filmic, and riveting, documentary examines the story of Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old that disappeared from his home in Texas in 1994. Three years later he (or rather 23 year-old Frédéric Bourdin, who claimed he was Nicholas) is discovered in Spain. What’s truly remarkable is that the parents accepted Frédéric. Why?

To Rome With Love (14 Sept) Woody Allen continues his autumnal tour of Europe with this portmanteau made up of four stories all set in the Eternal City. The stories are intercut (but not necessarily interlinked) and while the great man’s reputation means that he can attract a stellar cast (Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni, Judy Davis) the fact that Allen has cast himself in one (as an insecure opera director) will bring joy to the hearts of Woody watchers worldwide.

Total Recall (29 Aug) Colin Farrell stars as an unfulfilled factory worker who discovers that he may in fact be a spy with implanted false memories in this surely unnecessary remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi flick. It even features a triple breasted prostitute just like the original – because that was the best bit, obviously.

Dredd (7 Sept) He is the law. Britain’s most popular comic book character gets a gritty, violent reboot courtesy of novelist (and fan) Alex Garland. Karl Urban stars as the futuristic fascist Judge caught in the middle of a Block War as he hunts down a drug-lord in Mega-City One. It’s got a big thumbs-up from Dredd’s Scottish creator John Wagner and that’ll do us.

Berberian Sound Studio (31 August) Mesmeric and creepily funny almost-horror from Peter Strickland. The excellent Toby Jones stars as a fish-out-of-water British sound engineer employed to dub sound effects on to a 70s Italian horror movie, which has unfortunate ramifications on his psyche. Remarkably controlled filmmaking and a real one-off.

F For Fake (24 Aug) Orson Welles spent the last few years of his life advertising frozen peas and trying to get numerous film projects off the ground. Fortunately, his last feature, released in 1975, is a wee gem, a free-form documentary-cum-essay about fakery and forgers that touches on Welles’ own past as a hoaxer (that Martian invasion in 1938) and is both fascinating and enormous fun.

ALSO RELEASED

• The Watch (29 Aug) features a host of US comedy talent (Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn) as a neighbourhood watch group who fend off an alien invasion.

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a NYC bike messenger who picks up an envelope that attracts the unwanted attention of a dirty cop in Premium Rush (14 Sept).

• “Put your trousers on, you’re nicked!” Ray Winstone plays Jack Regan in this remake of The Sweeney (12 Sept).

• The Possession (31 Aug) Ole Bornedal-directed creeper about a young girl who buys an antique box only to find out that it contains the ancient malevolent spirit of a dybbuk (a Jewish demon).

• Shadow Dancer (24 Aug) Tense, emotive political thriller featuring terrific performances from Andrea Riseborough (as an IRA operative) and Clive Owen as the MI5 agent who leans on her to turn informant.