The Castle (18)

Artificial Eye release Michael Haneke's adaptation of Franz Kafka's novel, made for Austrian television in 1997 and never before available outside of a box set in this country. Ulrich Muhe (The Lives Of Others) plays the surveyor whose life takes a turn for the absurd when he's sent to a provincial village. Extras include 24 Realities Per Second, a documentary about a director now hailed as one of the best of his generation.

Pixar Short Films Collection 2 (U)

This second collection of a dozen Pixar shorts includes the wonderful La Luna, nominated for an Oscar in 2011, and two other Oscar nominees, Presto and Day & Night. If nothing else, a terrific stocking filler for the kids.

It Always Rains On Sunday (PG)

This overlooked film from 1947 is now hailed as a classic example of gritty British drama and follows a day in the life of a Bethnal Green housewife (Googie Withers) who finds a former lover (played by real life husband John McCallum) turning up having escaped from prison. It's directed by Robert Hamer, who would go on to make Kinds Hearts And Coronets and, like that film, it's an Ealing Studios production. There's a restored screen version in selected cinemas this month too.

Cosmopolis (15)

David Cronenberg's take on Don DeLillo's 2003 novel about a millionaire asset manager driving across Manhattan to get a haircut. DeLillo being DeLillo, it isn't that simple, of course. Robert Pattinson stars as the moneyed financier and he's joined by (among others) Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binoche and Samantha Morton. A strange film from a strange book, but then what would you expect from the horror maestro?

Barry Didcock