WANTED | James McAvoy reprises the Edward Norton role in “Fight Club” as a hopeless drone who is plucked from his miserable life by a shadowy organization called The Fraternity. Angelina Jolie looks more and more cartoonish with thin arms, but large lips, eyes and boobs—perfect for this comicbook-based story about assassins who get their orders from the Loom of Fate. Yes, you heard right, the Loom of Fate. Timur Bekmambetov directs with anarchic glee. | mads bajarias

THE SHIELD SEASON 5 | Edgy police drama. Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) is a ruthless and effective strike team leader in a crime-ridden LA district. The team is corrupt and Internal Affairs detective Jon Kavanaugh’s (Forest Whitaker in his creepy best) mission is to bring down Mackey. Kavanaugh uses all means possible, including striking a secret deal with a drug lord that Mackey sent to jail. A team member’s death at season’s end sends Mackey over the edge. | mads bajarias

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER | Beautifully shot with exquisite visuals, director Tom Tykwer brings to life Patrick Suskind’s disturbing novel to the screen. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), an amoral outcast in 18th century France is a man is obsessed with scents. To concoct the best perfume ever created, he kills women to distill their essences. Some scenes like the baby Grenouille crying among the muck are unforgettable. The scaffold scene where Grenouille reveals his olfactory masterpiece is a superb sequence. | mads bajarias

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS | Quirky HBO comedy. Bret (Bret McKenzie) and Jemaine (Jemaine Clement) are an earnest but luckless music-and-comedy duo from New Zealand trying to make it in New York. Their manager Murray (the excellent Rhys Darby) works out of a room in the New Zealand consulate. The best parts are when they suddenly break out into song with hilarious lyrics (“You are so beautiful/You could be a waitress/Or a part-time model”) and shot in mock-MTV style videos. | mads bajarias

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS | The flip side of “Letters from Iwo Jima” tells the sad tale of the men in the iconic Mt. Suribachi flag-raising picture. Saddest was that of Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), a native-American who survived the war but died a broken man, forgotten by the country that had feted him as a hero. Ira and his mates were used as pawns by their government which tragically failed to recognize how the war had irreparably damaged them. | mads bajarias

ATONEMENT | A typewriter's clicks and dings become music at the movie’s beginning: this is a story about hope and salvation through literature. Upper-class 13-year-old Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is an aspiring creative writer. One fateful summer day, her overactive imagination mixed with conflicted feelings about the servant’s son Robbie (James McAvoy), puts an abrupt end to the budding romance between him and her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley). When WWII erupts, their lives are changed forever. | mads bajarias

DAMAGES SEASON 1 | Intricately edited and brilliantly plotted. This is no ordinary legal drama—at times it feels like a documentary about a savage tribe of high-stakes litigators whose bloodthirsty queen is Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). When her machinations result in people dying, the new hire—young, bright Ellen (Rose Byrne) fights back. By season’s end, Ellen barely gets out alive and gets surprising news: the FBI has been secretly investigating Patty, and they want Ellen’s help! | mads bajarias