Chinatown (1974)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Roman PolanskiWriter: Robert TowneCinematographer: John A. AlonzoComposer: Jerry GoldsmithCast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Darrell Zwerling, Diane Ladd, Roy Jenson, James HongComing across like the baleful lovechild of Raymond Chandler and Karl Marx, Polanski’s majestic, doleful portrait of an enigmatic private detective in 1930s drought ridden Los Angeles, chronicling...

Read More

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926)

Cautiously RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Harry EdwardsWriters: Frank Capra, Hal Conklin, Gerald C. Duffy, J. Frank Holliday, Harry Langdon, Arthur Ripley, Murray Roth, Tim WhelanCast: Harry Langdon, Joan Crawford, Edwards Davis, Tom Murray, Alec B. Francis, Brooks Benedict, Carlton GriffinThere’s a cracking two-reeler hidden within this painfully stretched feature film, in which Langdon’s love-struck imbecile stumbles into a cross-country walking race, as two or three scenes are quite wonderful, but unfortunately there’s also a lot of soporific...

Read More

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Not RecommendedUSA/GermanyFeature FilmDirector: Phyllida LloydWriter: Catherine JohnsonCinematographer: Haris ZambarloukosComposer: Benny AnderssonCast: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Dominic CooperWith a cast (more annoyingly perky than a room full of children’s TV presenters on amphetamines) running around singing ABBA songs against the backdrop of a sun-drenched Greek island, Lloyd’s Mamma Mia! is a typical feel-good film, i.e. totally depressing - for genuine...

Read More

City of God (2002)

Cautiously RecommendedBrazil/FranceFeature FilmOriginal Title: Cidade de DeusDirector: Fernando MeirellesWriters: Bráulio Mantovani, Paulo LinsCinematographer: César CharloneComposers: Ed Cortês, Antonio PintoCast: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Jonathan Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge, Jefechander Suplino, Alice BragaMeirelles’s ‘70s-set, fact-based portrait of a vicious gang war in the...

Read More

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Anthony MinghellaWriters: Anthony Minghella, Patricia HighsmithCinematographer: John SealeComposer: Gabriel YaredCast: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, James Rebhorn, Sergio Rubini, Philip Baker HallMore layered than René Clément’s 1960 adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, Minghella’s sexy, sun drenched effort, chronicling Damon’s mild mannered, titular character’s gradual descent into sociopathy, is also a thoroughly entertaining one, with fine performances...

Read More

Sight & Sound's Films of 2003

Adaptation (2002) The Son (2002) Le Souffle (2001) The Five Obstructions (2003) Être et Avoir (2002) Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) Drunk on Women and Poetry (2002) Spirited Away (2001) Young Adam (2003) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (20...

Read More

Sight & Sound's Films of 2001

Amores Perros (2000) Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)The Others (2001) Code Unknown (2000)Faithless (2000) A One and a Two... (2000) The Circle (2000)Eloge de l'Amour (2001) À Ma Soeur (2001)Together (20...

Read More

The New World (2005)

Highly RecommendedUSA/UKFeature FilmWriter/Director: Terrence MalickCinematographer: Emmanuel LubezkiComposer: James HornerCast: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, Yorick van Wageningen, Raoul TrujilloMalick’s typically lyrical depiction of the setting up of the Jamestown settlement by British settlers on the shores of the titular lands in the early 17th century, and...

Read More

The Band's Visit (2007)

Highly RecommendedIsrael/France/USAFeature FilmOriginal Title: ביקור התזמורתWriter/Director: Eran KolirinCinematographer: Shai GoldmanComposer: Habib ShadahCast: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Imad Jabarin, Tarak Kopty, Hisham Khoury, Francois Kheel, Eyad Sheety, Shlomi Avraham, Rubi Moscovich, Hila Surjon Fischer, Uri Gabriel, Ahouva KerenAn Egyptian police band, invited to perform at the Arab culture centre in Petah...

Read More

Don't Look Now (1973)

Essential ViewingUK/ItalyFeature FilmDirector: Nicolas RoegWriters: Chris Bryant, Allan Scott, Daphne Du MaurierCinematographer: Anthony RichmondComposer: Pino DonnagioCast: Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serato, Renato Scarpa, Adelina PoerioBy turns frightening, unsettling, beautiful, and painfully moving, Roeg’s incomparable masterpiece – part supernatural horror film, part unblinking portrait of grief...

Read More

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

Cautiously RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Terence FisherWriters: Peter Bryan, Arthur Conan DoyleCinematographer: Jack AsherComposer: James BernardCast: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi, David Oxley, Francis de Wolff, Miles Malleson, Ewen SolonPerhaps the most acclaimed of all Doyle adaptations, this stylish Hammer effort with Cushing as Sherlock Holmes - investigating the death of the venerable Lord Baskerville, against the backdrop of fantastic legends of ancient curses and haunted moors - is an entertaining if perhaps...

Read More

The Way I Killed My Father (2001)

Cautiously RecommendedFrance/SpainFeature FilmOriginal Title: Comment j'ai tué mon pèreDirector: Anne FontaineWriters: Jacques Fieschi, Anne FontaineCinematographer: Jean-Marc FabreComposer: Jocelyn PookCast: Michel Bouquet, Charles Berling, Natacha Régnier, Amira Casar, Stéphane Guillon, Hubert Koundé, Karole RocherA successful doctor, with a beautiful wife, a sexy mistress, and a penchant for surgically enhanced prostitutes, finds his comfortable existence under threat when the arrival of his long absent father forces him to reappraise his life...

Read More

Nuts in May (1976)

Highly RecommendedUKTelevision FilmSeries Title: Play for Today (1970-1984)Writer/Director: Mike LeighCinematography: Michael WilliamsCast: Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Anthony O'Donnell, Sheila Kelley, Stephen BillClick for revi...

Read More

Let's Get Lost (1988)

RecommendedUSAFeature DocumentaryDirector: Bruce WeberCinematographer: Jeff PreissFeaturing: Chet BakerWeber paints an even handed portrait every bit as bitter-sweet as its dilapidated protagonist’s often wonderful music (which underscores the majority of the film), presenting Chet Baker as a once beautiful figure, ravaged by years of drug use, but one that could still seemingly hold a tune. Iain.St...

Read More

Naked (1993)

Essential ViewingUKFeature FilmWriter/Director: Mike LeighCinematographer: Dick PopeComposer: Andrew DicksonCast: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell, Claire Skinner, Peter Wight, Ewen Bremner, Susan Vidler, Deborah MacLaren, Gina McKeeClick for revi...

Read More

The Four Feathers (1939)

Not RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Zoltan KordaWriters: R.C. Sherriff, Lajos Biro, Arthur Wimperis, A.E.W. MasonCinematographers: Osmond Borradaile, Georges PérinalComposer: Miklos RozsaCast: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez, Allan Jeayes, Jack Allen, Donald Gray, Frederick CulleyAt times unintentionally funny, and blighted with soporific action sequences, the Korda brothers’ production of Mason’s much filmed novel, a tale of derring-do set against the backdrop of the British lead massacre of Mahdist freedom fighters...

Read More

Hillsborough (1996)

RecommendedUKTelevision FilmDirector: Charles McDougallWriter: Jimmy McGovernCinematographer: Barry AckroydComposer: Robert LaneCast: Christopher Eccleston, Sarah Graham, Mark Womack, Tracey Wilkinson, Ricky Tomlinson, Rachel Davies, Scot Williams, Maurice RoëvesPainting a damning portrait of the former Chief Superintendent of South Yorkshire Police, David Duckenfield, as well as of The Sun newspaper, but also a beautifully human one of the relatives of the victims, McGovern’s sensitive, impassioned, and justifiably angry portrait of the Hillsborough...

Read More

Honeydripper (2007)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: John SaylesCinematography: Dick PopeComposer: Mason DaringCast: Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Gary Clark Jr., Mable John, Nagee Clay, Absalom Adams, Arthur Lee Williams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Davenia McFadden, Daryl Edwards, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eric L. Abrams, Kel Mitchell, Keb' Mo'In this 1950s-set rural drama, Sayles paints a vibrantly subtle portrait...

Read More

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Highly RecommendedItaly/USAFeature FilmOriginal Title: C'era una volta il WestDirector: Sergio LeoneWriters: Sergio Donati, Sergio Leone, Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, Mickey KnoxCinematographer: Tonino Delli ColliComposer: Ennio MorriconeCast: Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Gabriele FerzettiQuite possibly the film with the best claim to the title of the ultimate Western, Leone’s beautifully phlegmatic, Bolognese-dipped...

Read More

Little Children (2006)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Todd FieldWriters: Todd Field, Tom PerrottaCinematographer: Antonio CalvacheComposer: Thomas NewmanCast: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Gregg Edelman, Noah Emmerich, Jackie Earle Haley, Phyllis SomervilleField’s formally playful picture - a coruscating adaptation of Perrotta’s novel, painting a damning portrait of suburbia, filled with children big and small, selfishly and prejudicially blundering their way towards instant gratification and assumed moral superiority - is a bravely acted,...

Read More

Molière (2007)

RecommendedFranceFeature FilmDirector: Laurent TirardWriters: Laurent Tirard, Grégoire VigneronCinematographer: Gilles HenryComposer: Frédéric TalgornCast: Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Edouard Baer, Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Valette, Gonzague Montuel, Gilian Petrovski… or Molière in Love; Tirard’s sumptuous speculation on the events that lead to Molière’s writing of Tartuffe, chronicling the eponymous playwright’s brief, farcical dalliance with the very edges of high society, is, with its accomplished performances, excellent production...

Read More

Shattered Glass (2003)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Billy RayWriters: Billy Ray, H.G. BissingerCinematographer: Mandy WalkerComposer: Mychael DannaCast: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Hank Azaria, Melanie Lynskey, Rosario DawsonThis pleasingly low-key production, filled with attractively subtle performances and agreeable surface detail, chronicling the fib-telling, infamous, former journalist Stephen Glass’s undoing, despite its obvious entertaining qualities, never really gets under the skin of its ethically dubious protagonist....

Read More

Springtime in a Small Town (2002)

Highly RecommendedChina/France/The NetherlandsFeature FilmOriginal Title: 小城之春Director: Tian ZhuangzhuangWriters: Ah Cheng, Li TianjiCinematographer: Mark Li Ping-bingComposer: Xu JianpingCast: Hu Jingfan, Wu Jun, Xin Baiqing, Ye Xiaokeng, Lu Si SiAdapted from the same source story as Fei Mu’s much acclaimed Spring in a Small Town (1948), Tian’s beautifully nuanced film, coming after an enforced ten-year hiatus, exquisitely exploring an emotionally complicated ménage-a-trois, is a visually sumptuous and really rather moving work of great delicacy....

Read More

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Larry CharlesWriters: Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Todd PhillipsCinematographers: Luke Geissbuhler, Anthony HardwickComposer: Erran Baron CohenCast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, LuenellSacha Baron Cohen travels across America in the guise of his Borat character, lampooning small mindedness and bigotry along the way, in this intelligent yet sophomoric and perhaps a little cruel...

Read More

13 Tzameti (2005)

Cautiously RecommendedFranceFeature FilmWriter/Director: Géla BabluaniCinematographer: Tariel MeliavaCast: George Babluani, Pascal Bongard, Aurélien Recoing, Fred Ulysse, Nicolas Pignon, Vania Vilers, Olga Legrand, Christophe VandeveldeA young Georgian immigrant chances upon a set of mysterious instructions that promise the possibility of instant riches, and, with him recently losing out on a big payday, he follows them and stumbles into a dangerous world of underground gambling in Babluani’s sub-Bressonian curio that fails as both thriller and...

Read More

A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Michael WinterbottomWriters: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Laurence SterneCinematographer: Marcel ZyskindComposer: Edward NogriaCast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes, Shirley Henderson, Jeremy Northam, Kelly Macdonald, Naomie Harris, Ian Hart, Gillian AndersonFalling Somewhere between Kiarostami and Entourage (HBO), Winterbottom’s post-modern ragbag of delicious old nonsense – depicting a film-crew’s filming of Sterne’s...

Read More

Ghost World (2001)

RecommendedUSA/UK/GermanyFeature FilmDirector: Terry ZwigoffWriters: Daniel Clowes, Terry ZwigoffCinematographer: Affonso BeatoComposer: David KitayCast: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas, Bob Balaban, Stacey TravisAlthough the plot doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, Zwigoff’s entertaining comic book adaptation – chronicling the first tentative steps taken by two lifelong friends into the adult world – is...

Read More

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Cautiously RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Frank DarabontWriters: Frank Darabont, Stephen KingCinematographer: Roger DeakinsComposer: Thomas NewmanCast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James WhitmoreAlthough hamstrung somewhat by the speechifyingly unrealistic dialogue and a general lack of credibility when it comes to prison life, Darabont’s sprawling portrait of a mild mannered...

Read More

Night of the Demon (1957)

Cautiously RecommendedUK/USAFeature FilmDirector: Jacques TourneurWriters: Charles Bennett, Hal E. Chester, Cy Endfield, M.R. JamesCinematographer: Ted ScaifeComposer: Clifton ParkerCast: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham, Athene SeylerAn American psychologist who specialises in debunking witchcraft travels to England, where he becomes dangerously intertwined with a nefarious cult, in Tourneur’s (surprisingly direct) horror...

Read More

Afghan Star (2009)

RecommendedUKFeature DocumentaryDirector: Havana MarkingCinematographer: Phil StebbingMarking’s fascinating Afghanistan-set documentary, chronicling the progress of a number of contestant’s on a reality-TV tinged musical talent show (one that retains all of the qualities that make its western equivalents so distasteful), paints an eye-opening portrait of a country in the process of monumental change. Iain.St...

Read More

Victim (1961)

RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Basil DeardenWriters: Janet Green, John McCormickCinematographer: Otto HellerComposer: Philip GreenCast: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, Nigel Stock, Peter McEnery, Donald Churchill, Anthony Nicholls, Hilton EdwardsAlthough at times logic is in danger of being lost to polemic, Dearden’s beautifully paced film, chronicling a married, non-practicing homosexual lawyer’s attempts to track down a blackmailer targeting the local gay community (homosexuality was still illegal at this point), is a brave, stylish,...

Read More

Michael Clayton (2007)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: Tony GilroyCinematographer: Robert ElswitComposer: James Newton HowardCast: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Merritt Wever, Michael O'KeefeScreenwriter Gilroy’s directorial debut - a tale of corporate skulduggery, legal manipulation, and moral awakening, chronicling Clooney’s world-weary, indebted, gambling addicted lawyer’s quest for truth and redemption - is an intelligent, well-made, and surprisingly humanistic journey through a cynical and dangerous world. Iain.St...

Read More

The Innocents (1961)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Jack ClaytonWriters: William Archibald, Truman Capote, John Mortimer, Henry JamesCinematographer: Freddie FrancisComposer: Georges AuricCast: Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Peter WyngardeClayton’s stunning film, an adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898), chronicling a new governess’s gradual realisation that her charges have been possessed by malevolent spirits...

Read More

Mildred Pierce (1945)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Michael CurtizWriters: Ranald MacDougall, James M. CainCinematographer: Ernest HallerComposer: Max SteinerCast: Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Bruce Bennett, Eve Arden, Jo Ann Marlowe, Moroni OlsenWith its alternately playful and unsettling mise en scène and universally convincing performances, Curtiz’s jolting noir-cum-melodrama, an adaptation of Cain’s novel about a mother who gives up...

Read More

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirectors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie FarisWriter: Michael ArndtCinematographer: Tim SuhrstedtComposers: Mychael DannaCast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Abigail BreslinDayton and Faris’s feature debut – boasting some brilliant comic performances, chronicling one extended, dysfunctional family’s road trip from Alburkerke to California to a attend a rather disturbing child beauty pageant...

Read More

My Voyage to Italy (1999)

Highly RecommendedItaly/USAFeature DocumentaryOriginal Title: Il mio viaggio in ItaliaDirector: Martin ScorseseWriters: Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Raffaele Donato, Kent Jones, Martin ScorsesePresenter: Martin ScorseseScorsese guides us on a delightfully personal and subjective journey through classic Italian cinema, shining a delicate, thoughtful light on Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Fellini, and Antonioni, in this more focused companion piece to the...

Read More

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (2009)

UKTelevision Series SpecialDirector: Doug NaylorWriter: Rob GrantCinematographer: Andy MartinCast: Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, Robert LlewellynThe crew of the Red Dwarf, following a squid attack, somehow end up back on Earth in 2009, and discover that they are just fictional characters in a TV show in this curious return to our screens, after a ten year hiatus, that at times threatens to disappear up its own backside, but some...

Read More

In the Company of Men (1997)

Highly RecommendedUSA/CanadaFeature FilmWriter/Director: Neil LaButeCinematographer: Tony HettingerComposer: Karel Roessingh, Ken WilliamsCast: Aaron Eckhart, Stacy Edwards, Matt MalloyAt times, very hard to watch, LaBute’s searing, allegorical (?) portrait of a schadenfreudian businessman, who shows signs of misogyny, misandry, racism, snobbery, homophobia, and general misanthropy, is an uncompromisingly constructed, ultra-low budget work that has much to say about the dark heart of mankind. Iain.St...

Read More

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Michael AptedWriters: Tom Rickman, Loretta Lynn, George VecseyCinematographer: Ralf D. BodeCast: Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, Phyllis Boyens, Ernest TubbSpacek, doing her own singing, is absolutely fabulous in the titular role of the popular country singer Loretta Lynn, in Apted’s entertaining biopic, chronicling her progress from 13-year-old child bride in the hills of Kentucky to her arrival in Nashville and onto international stardom. Iain.St...

Read More

Millions Like Us (1943)

RecommendedUKFeature FilmWriter/Directors: Sidney Gilliat, Frank LaunderCinematographers: Jack Cox, Roy FogwellCast: Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Moore Marriott, Eric PortmanDespite an all too brief, superfluous, and surprisingly dull appearance from the oft brilliant duo of Radford and Wayne, Gilliat and Launder’s warmly drawn portrait of life on the home front during the Second World War is, with its mix of funny, dramatic, romantic, and poignant moments, a movingly entertaining little film. Iain...

Read More

The Long Memory (1952)

RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Robert HamerWriters: Robert Hamer, Frank Harvey, Howard ClewesCinematographer: Harry WaxmanComposer: William AlwynCast: John Mills, John McCallum, Elizabeth Sellars, Eva Bergh, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Martin-Harvey, John Chandos, John Chandos, Thora HirdJohn Mills’s recently released ex-convict, wrongly accused of murder, ventures back out into the world, single-mindedly intent upon revenging those that connived and contrived to put him behind bars; but humanity (his and others’) ensures that twelve years of pain...

Read More

A History of Violence (2005)

Highly RecommendedUSA/GermanyFeature FilmDirector: David CronenbergWriters: Josh Olson, Vince Locke, John WagnerCinematographer: Peter SuschitzkyComposer: Howard ShoreCast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes, Peter MacNeill, Stephen McHattie, Greg Bryk, Kyle SchmidWhen a pair of psychotic thieves attempt to rob a family-owned diner in a small American town, the quiet, mild-mannered proprietor leaps into action and...

Read More

Robin and Marian (1976)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Richard LesterWriter: James GoldmanCinematographer: David WatkinComposer: John BarryCast: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Nicol Williamson, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Kenneth HaighLet down only by John Barry’s sentimental score, chronicling Robin Hood’s return to England after twenty years of obediently following King Richard around the world, re-teaming him with his beloved Marion, and putting him back at odds with his mortal enemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Lester’s typically myth-busting look at the...

Read More

Gallivant (1997)

Highly RecommendedUKFeature DocumentaryDirector: Andrew KöttingCinematographer: Nick Gordon SmithComposer: David BurnandFeaturing: Andrew Kötting, Eden Kötting, Gladys MorrisKötting’s remarkable film - chronicling the film-maker’s low-key journey around the entire coastline of Britain accompanied by his 85-year-old grandmother and 7-year-old, Joubert's-syndrome-suffering daughter - is a visually playful, whimsically funny, quietly moving, and obliquely informative minor masterpiece, and a quite unforgettable experience. Iain.St...

Read More

1408 (2007)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Mikael HåfströmWriters: Scott Alexander, Matt Greenberg, Larry Karaszewski, Stephen KingCinematographer: Benoît DelhommeComposer: Gabriel YaredCast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Jasmine Jessica AnthonyAn author who travels from “haunted” hotel to “haunted” motel in search of paranormal experiences – experiences that he has yet to, but would dearly love to, experience – receives an intriguing...

Read More

The Family Friend (2006)

RecommendedItaly/FranceFeature FilmOriginal Title: L’amico di famigliaWriter/Director: Paolo SorrentinoCinematographer: Luca BigazziComposer: Teho TeardoCast: Giacomo Rizzo, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo, Marco Giallini, Barbara Valmorin, Luisa De Santis, Clara BindiAn ageing, small-time moneylender who lives with his elderly, bed-ridden mother, and is, thanks to his hideous looks and complete lack of charm, prolifically unlucky with members of the opposite sex, manages to manoeuvre his way into the knickers of the beautiful young daughter of...

Read More

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Highly RecommendedUSAShort Feature FilmDirector: Buster KeatonWriters: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joe MitchellCinematographers: Byron Houck, Elgin LessleyCast: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly, Ward CraneAn aspiring detective is accused of a crime that he did not commit by the family of his potential fiancée; banished, he returns to his day job as a film projectionist, and dreams of apprehending the real culprit, his dastardly...

Read More

The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)

RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Cliff OwenWriters: Len Heath, John Warren, John Antrobus, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Ivor Jay, William Whistance SmithCinematographer: Ernest StewardComposer: Richard Rodney BennettCast: Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Bernard Cribbins, Davy Kaye, Nanette Newman, Bill Kerr, Ed Devereaux, Reg Lye, John Le MesurierWhen a gang of Aussie rapscallions, dressed as policemen, start hitting London’s ordinary decent criminals, both Scotland Yard and a crooked cooperative join forces in order to restore the mutually beneficial...

Read More

Bob Roberts (1992)

Cautiously RecommendedUSA/UKFeature FilmWriter/Director: Tim RobbinsCinematographer: Jean LépineComposer; David RobbinsCast: Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Rickman, Ray Wise, Brian Murray, Gore Vidal, Rebecca Jenkins, Harry LennixExisting in some sort of satirical limbo - not quite subtle enough to be biting, but too subtle to be seen as camp fun - Robbins’s faux documentary, chronicling the senatorial election campaign of a popular country singer, manages, never the less, to hold one’s attention throughout. Iain.St...

Read More

Ratcatcher (1999)

Highly RecommendedUK/FranceFeature FilmWriter/Director: Lynne RamsayCinematographer: Alwin KuchlerComposer: Rachel PortmanCast: William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, Michelle Stewart, Lynne Ramsay Jnr., Leanne Mullen, John MillerSet amongst the mournful Glaswegian tenements of 1973, beset by alcoholism and striking binmen, against a backdrop of filth and squalor, deprivation and loss, Writer-Director Lynne Ramsay paints a lyrical, sensual,...

Read More

Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)

Highly RecommendedUK/Ireland/FranceTelevision FilmDirector: Oliver HirschbiegelWriter: Guy HibbertCinematographer: Ruairi O'BrienCast: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Mark DavisonA former member of the UVF (Neeson) agrees to meet with the brother (an excellent, anxiety ridden Nesbitt) of a man that he killed 33 years previously, on camera for a television show, in Hirschbiegel’s tense and moving film, which thankfully avoids any easy answers to The Troubles....

Read More

Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: Preston SturgesCinematographer: Victor MilnerCast: Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Kurt Kreuger, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Lionel Stander, Edgar KennedyRex Harrison’s famous conductor, led to believe that his young wife, played by the beautiful Linda Darnell, has been unfaithful to him with his secretary, fantasises about how he might deal with the adulterous pair, but unfortunately putting these...

Read More

The Host (2006)

RecommendedSouth KoreaFeature FilmOriginal Title: 괴물Director: Bong Joon-hoWriters: Baek Chul-hyun, Bong Joon-ho, Ha Jun-wonCinematographer: Kim Hyung-kuComposer: Lee Byung-wooCast: Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hie-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Du-na, Ko Ah-sungBong’s socially conscious creature feature, a very funny, thrilling, and superior piece of entertainment, chronicles the attempts of one family to recover their beloved youngest member, following the emergence...

Read More

Green for Danger (1946)

Cautiously RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Sidney GilliatWriters: Sidney Gilliat, Claud Gurney, Christianna BrandCinematographer: Wilkie CooperComposer: William AlwynCast: Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Rosamund John, Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, Megs Jenkins, Moore MarriottThe incomparable, mercurial Sim enlivens an otherwise rather silly whodunit with a raft of wonderful facial expressions, plus there are some nice comic moments, but the central mystery, revolving around a couple of murders in a rural hospital towards the end of the...

Read More

Summer Interlude (1951)

RecommendedSwedenFeature FilmOriginal Title: SommarlekDirector: Ingmar BergmanWriters: Ingmar Bergman, Herbert GreveniusCinematographer: Gunnar FischerComposer: Erik NordgrenCast: Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Alf Kjellin, Georg Funkquist, Renée BjörlingAn embittered 28-year-old ballerina mysteriously receives her first love’s diary in the post, and becomes haunted by memories of an idyllic summer romance that unfortunately ended in tragedy,...

Read More

Open Hearts (2002)

RecommendedDenmarkFeature FilmOriginal Title: Elsker dig for evigtSeries Title: Dogme #28Director: Susanne BierWriter: Anders Thomas JensenCinematographer: Morten SøborgCast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen, Stine Bjerregaard, Birthe NeumannReleased under the ‘Dogme 95’ banner, though it breaks a number of its rules, Bier’s harrowing drama of infidelity and loss, chronicling the tortured emotional lives of a number of Copenhagen residents following a tragic traffic accident, is comparatively straightforward and accessible,...

Read More

Early Summer (1951)

Essential ViewingJapanFeature FilmOriginal Title: 麦秋Director: Ozu YasujirōWriters: Noda Kōgo, Ozu YasujirōCinematographer: Atsuta YuuharuComposer: Itō SenjiCast: Hara Setsuko, Ryū Chishū, Awashima Chikage, Miyake Kuniko, Sugai Ichirō, Higashiyama Chieko, Sugimura Haruko, Ikawa Kuniko, Nihonyanagi Kan, Shirosawa Isao, Murase ZenMembers of a happy Tokyo family begin to worry about the marital status of its eldest daughter, 28-year-old Noriko (the always...

Read More

The Machinist (2004)

Best AvoidedSpainFeature FilmOriginal Title: El maquinistaDirector: Brad AndersonWriter: Scott KosarCinematographer: Xavi GiménezComposer: Roque BañosCast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Larry GilliardThe sight of Bale’s skeletal form is one the most distasteful things to ever appear on our cinema screens, but other than that, Anderson’s rather familiar Kafkaesque tale, following Bale’s machine operator through a waking dream of paranoia, déjà vu, and guilt, is really quite anodyne and...

Read More