Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Highly Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Director: Otto Preminger
Writers: Wendell Mayes, Robert Traver
Cinematographer: Sam Leavitt
Composer: Duke Ellington
Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott

With Leavitt’s photography and Ellington’s score being every bit as sexy as the provocative turn from Cinema’s Sexiest Actress Lee Remick, Preminger’s languorously paced court-room drama, following a murder case from initial arrest to final verdict, is not only brilliantly made and thought provokingly manipulative, but also exceedingly entertaining. Iain.Stott

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The Full Monty (1997)

Cautiously Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Cinematographer: John de Borman
Composer: Anne Dudley
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, Hugo Speer, Lesley Sharp, Emily Woof

Although the sanitised dialogue never quite convinces, and there’s a general lack of credibility to much of the action, there’s no denying that Cattaneo’s heartfelt tale of six unemployed steel-workers forming a stripping act in order to avoid the blues of the dole queue, is never anything less than entertaining. Iain.Stott

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A Room with a View (1985)

Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Director: James Ivory
Writers: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, E.M. Forster
Cinematographer: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Composer: Richard Robbins
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Rosemary Leach, Rupert Graves

This episodic Merchant/Ivory production, an adaptation of Forster’s acclaimed novel, chronicling an ingénue’s romantic awakening against a number of idyllic backdrops in Italy and England, is a gently comic, swooningly enchanting, and beautifully observed little film. Iain.Stott

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L.A. Confidential (1997)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Curtis Hanson
Writers: Curtis Hanson, Brian Helgeland, James Ellroy
Cinematographer: Dante Spinotti
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn, Ron Rifkin, John Mahon

James Cromwell’s baffling accent aside, this cracking thriller - a tale of corruption, sleaze, and the Hollywood nightmare - is, with its strong performances, attractive production values, and brilliantly written script, a thoroughly well made and absorbing entertainment. Iain.Stott

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Superbad (2007)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Greg Mottola
Writers: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Cinematographer: Russ Alsobrook
Composer: Lyle Workman
Cast: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone

A pair of socially inept best-friends manage to snag an invite to a party, and set off into the night in search of alcohol, hoping beyond hope to finally shed their virginity, in Mottola’s riotously funny and surprisingly tender journey down well ridden roads. Iain.Stott

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The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Best Avoided

USA/Germany
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Rob Zombie
Cinematographer: Phil Parmet
Composers: Tyler Bates, Terry Reid, Rob Zombie
Cast: Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Ken Foree, Matthew McGrory, Leslie Easterbrook, Geoffrey Lewis, Priscilla Barnes, Dave Sheridan, Kate Norby, Lew Temple, Danny Trejo, Dallas Page

Zombie’s sequel to House of 1000 Corpses (2003), chronicling a small town sheriff’s pursuit of a family of murderous loons, made with more skill and poetry than is typical of the genre, is a nevertheless distasteful experience, mixing scenes of physical and psychological torture with blackly comic filler to decidedly unpleasant effect. Iain.Stott

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The Muppet Movie (1979)

Recommended

USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: James Frawley
Writers: Jack Burns, Jerry Juhl
Cinematographer: Isidore Mankofsky
Composer: Paul Williams
Cast: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton

By turns knowingly naff, brilliantly inspired, and quietly subversive, the Muppets’ big screen debut - a post-modern road movie filled with cracking musical numbers, starry cameos, and some fantastic gags - is a thoroughly entertaining film and is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of just about anybody. Iain.Stott

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