1408 (2007)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Mikael Håfström
Writers: Scott Alexander, Matt Greenberg, Larry Karaszewski, Stephen King
Cinematographer: Benoît Delhomme
Composer: Gabriel Yared
Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Jasmine Jessica Anthony

An 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 sort-of invite to stay in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, New York, which he duly takes, and then, of course, things begin to go bump in the night, in Håfström’s smart, chilling, and surprisingly moving ghost story. Iain.Stott

Read More

The Family Friend (2006)

Recommended

Italy/France

Feature Film
Original Title: L’amico di famiglia
Writer/Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi
Composer: Teho Teardo
Cast: Giacomo Rizzo, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo, Marco Giallini, Barbara Valmorin, Luisa De Santis, Clara Bindi

An 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 an indebted client, in Sorrentino’s stylish and entertaining if mildly disappointing follow-up to the far superior The Consequences of Love (2004). Iain.Stott

Read More

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Highly Recommended

USA
Short Feature Film
Director: Buster Keaton
Writers: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joe Mitchell
Cinematographers: Byron Houck, Elgin Lessley
Cast: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly, Ward Crane

An 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 love rival, in Keaton’s thrillingly imaginative short film. Iain.Stott

Read More

The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)

Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Director: Cliff Owen
Writers: Len Heath, John Warren, John Antrobus, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Ivor Jay, William Whistance Smith
Cinematographer: Ernest Steward
Composer: Richard Rodney Bennett
Cast: Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Bernard Cribbins, Davy Kaye, Nanette Newman, Bill Kerr, Ed Devereaux, Reg Lye, John Le Mesurier

When 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 status quo ante, in this deliriously funny satirical farce. Iain.Stott

Read More

Bob Roberts (1992)

Cautiously Recommended

USA/UK
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Tim Robbins
Cinematographer: Jean Lépine
Composer; David Robbins
Cast: Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Rickman, Ray Wise, Brian Murray, Gore Vidal, Rebecca Jenkins, Harry Lennix

Existing 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.Stott

Read More

Ratcatcher (1999)

Highly Recommended

UK/France
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cinematographer: Alwin Kuchler
Composer: Rachel Portman
Cast: William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, Michelle Stewart, Lynne Ramsay Jnr., Leanne Mullen, John Miller

Set 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, and quite beautiful portrait of a 12-year-old boy’s tragic, adventure-laden summer holidays. Iain.Stott

Read More

Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)

Highly Recommended

UK/Ireland/France
Television Film
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writer: Guy Hibbert
Cinematographer: Ruairi O'Brien
Cast: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Mark Davison

A 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. Iain.Stott

Read More