The One-Line Review

The full results, including individual ballots, can be found here. My ballot, which I drew up a couple of months ago (reproduced underneath the main results below), already feels (inevitably) out of date.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Stalker (1979)
Persona (1966)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Mirror (1975)
City Lights (1931)
The Godfather (1972)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
À Bout de Souffle (1960)
Vertigo (1958)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
8½ (1963)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Psycho (1960)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Come and See (1985)
M (1931)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
The Shining (1980)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Metropolis (1927)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Blow Up (1966)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Dead Man (1995)
Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
The Four Hundred Blows (1959)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Goodfellas (1990)
Chinatown (1974)
Sunrise (1927)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Blade Runner (1982)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
L'Eclisse (1962)
Rashomon (1950)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Le Samourai (1967)
The Conformist (1970)
The Third Man (1949)
Sátántangó (1994)
Solaris (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Rear Window (1954)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Last Year in Marienbad (1961)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Ordet (1955)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Tokyo Story (1953)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Modern Times (1936)
Se7en (1995)
Dogville (2003)
The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
Viridiana (1961)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Annie Hall (1977)
L'Atalante (1934)
Dekalog (1989)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Woman of the Dunes (1964)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Chungking Express (1994)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Badlands (1973)
Alien (1979)
L'Avventura (1960)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Fight Club (1999)
Manhattan (1979)
The Ascent (1977)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
La Règle du Jeu (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
Playtime (1967)
The General (1927)
Three Colours: Blue (1993)
The Tree of Life (2011)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Back to the Future (1985)
Death in Venice (1971)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Léon (1994)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Fargo (1996)
City of God (2002)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Sacrifice (1986)
Lost Highway (1997)
Amadeus (1984)
Sansho Dayu (1954)
Orpheus (1950)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Nosferatu (1922)
Eraserhead (1977)
Three Colours: Red (1994)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

My ballot (1-Aug-11):

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Alice in the Cities (1974)
All About My Mother (1999)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
The Apartment (1960)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Barton Fink (1991)
Begone Dull Care (1949)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Big Business (1929)
A Blonde in Love (1965)
Brief Encounter (1945)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Caught on a Train (1980)
Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Claire's Knee (1970)
Close-Up (1990)
Comrades (1986)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Dance Party, USA (2006)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
A Day Out (1972)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Dead of Night (1945)
Dekalog (1989)
Diamonds of the Night (1964)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Duck Soup (1933)
Early Summer (1951)
Edvard Munch (1974)
Elephant (1989)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Exotica (1994)
Faces (1968)
Faust (1926)
Festen (1998)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Gertrud (1964)
Girl Shy (1924)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
Great Expectations (1946)
Hana-Bi (1997)
Harold and Maude (1971)
High Hopes (1988)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Hunger (2008)
Ikiru (1952)
Il Posto (1961)
In the City of Sylvia (2007)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
Jeanne Dielman (1975)
Le Jour se Lève (1939)
Journey to the Beginning of the World (1997)
Kes (1969)
King & Country (1964)
Last Days (2005)
The Last Laugh (1924)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
MASH (1970)
Modern Times (1936)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Morvern Callar (2002)
O Lucky Man! (1973)
Our Daily Bread (2005)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
People on Sunday (1930)
Persona (1966)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Pyaasa (1957)
Rear Window (1954)
Red Angel (1966)
The Red Desert (1964)
La Règle du Jeu (1939)
Rosetta (1999)
Sátántangó (1994)
Shall We Dance (1937)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
A Swedish Love Story (1970)
Syndromes and a Century (2006)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Tony Manero (2008)
The Turning Gate (2002)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
Uzak (2002)
Vendredi Soir (2002)
Vive l'Amour (1994)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Woman of the Dunes (1964)

CFB's Top 40 Films of 1998 (2011)

2011-07-12T13:44:00.002+01:00

The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Happiness (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
The Truman Show (1998)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
Festen (1998)
Dark City (1998)
A Simple Plan (1998)
American History X (1998)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Show Me Love (1998)
Pleasantville (1998)
Pi (1998)
Central Station (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Opposite of Sex (1998)
Elizabeth (1998)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
Black Cat, White Cat (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Red Violin (1998)
Eternity and a Day (1998)
Out of Sight (1998)
The Apple (1998)
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
An Autumn Tale (1998)
Buffalo ‘66 (1998)
Xiao Wu (1997)
The Idiots (1998)
Wild Things (1998)
Primary Colors (1998)
Inquietude (1998)
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998)
Last Night (1998)
The Dream Life of Angels (1998)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)

CFB's Top 25 Obscure Films of 1998 (2011)

2011-07-12T13:40:00.004+01:00

Cabaret Balkan (1998)
Christmas in August (1998)
The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)
42: Forty Two Up (1998)
Mr. Zhao (1998)
Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998)
Of Freaks and Men (1998)
The Terrorist (1998)
The Farm: Angola, USA (1998)
The Last Days (1998)
Confession (1998)
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998)
Barrio (1998)
Dr. Akagi (1998)
Flammes (1998)
Secret Défense (1998)
Flatworld (1998)
Talking Heads 2 (1998)
Billy’s Balloon (1998)
Ruskin (1998)
The Quarry (1998)
Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998)
Jeanne et le Garçon Formidable (1998)
Place Vendome (1998)
David and Lisa (1998)

Fawlty Towers: Series 2 (1979)

2011-07-10T12:39:00.003+01:00

Essential Viewing

Television Series

Director: Bob Spiers

Writers: Connie Booth, John Cleese

Cast: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth, Ballard Berkeley, Brian Hall

Though Cleese’s performance is slightly less manic and physical than in the first series, and his character a tad more sympathetic, this second series is, if anything, even funnier, smarter, and more memorable than its hilarious predecessor.

1. Communication Problems

When Basil surreptitiously has a bit of luck on the gee-gees, his winnings get passed from person to person in an effort to keep it a secret from his disapproving wife – but, unfortunately for him, a deaf guest, who refuses to switch on her hearing aid for fear of running down the batteries, reports a similar amount of money to have been stolen from her room, leading to much suspicion and confusion.

2. The Psychiatrist

A holidaying psychiatrist does his best to ignore the odd behaviour of his manic host, Basil Fawlty; but said hotelier’s inability to avoid the breasts of a comely young Australian woman and his obsession with the sexual habits of another guest make doing so particularly difficult.

3. Waldorf Salad

When a pair of holidaymakers from California arrives after the kitchen has just closed, Basil has the idea to play at being chef, despite having just been bribed to keep the kitchen staff on with four crisp five pound notes – alas, all does not go smoothly, as the American gentleman and his British wife are soon unfathomably ordering screwdrivers and Waldorf salads (and they’re fresh out of waldorfs).

4. The Kipper and the Corpse

When a guest dies during the night, Basil, as keen (though incapable) as ever to keep up a level of propriety, soon has his staff carrying the body from room to room in order to hide its existence from his other guests – inevitably, he fails spectacularly.

5. The Anniversary

Having forgotten their anniversary the previous year, Basil, to mark their fifteenth, arranges a surprise party with some of their closest friends – unfortunately, Sybil takes his faux forgetting for the real thing and drives off in a huff, leaving him to concoct an unworkable, illness-related excuse for when their guests arrive,

6. Basil the Rat

When a health inspector gives them a long list of things to clean and fix in order to avoid being closed down, the staff of Fawlty Towers quickly and busily gets down to it; unfortunately, just as he’s due to return, Manuel’s pet rat – he thought that it was a Siberian hamster – escapes, leading to much panic, confusion, and poisoned veal. Iain.Stott

Fawlty Towers: Series 1 (1975)

2011-07-09T15:44:00.006+01:00

Essential Viewing

Television Series

Director: John Howard Davies

Writers: Connie Booth, John Cleese

Composer: Dennis Wilson

Cast: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth, Ballard Berkeley

A bigoted, elitist hotel owner – prone to fawning over nobility and treating with disdain the common man – manages to find himself in farcical situation after farcical situation, in this hilarious, brilliantly written first series, which benefits greatly from Cleese’s wonderfully physical comic dexterity.

1. A Touch of Class
Fed up with the riff-raff that usually patronise his hotel, who he treats with utter disdain, Basil Fawlty takes out a £40 ad in a swanky magazine, looking to attract a better class of customer; so when a certain Lord Melbury checks in, he proceeds to fawn all over him, near enough ignoring the rest of his clientele – unfortunately, though, the titled gentleman is not all that he appears to be.

2. The Builders
Instead of hiring a respectable builder like Stubbs – as his wife, Sybil, had requested – to put through one door and block up another, Basil hires cowboy builder O’Reilly, with whom they’d had trouble previously, who proceeds to fill in the wrong door and put another were one was not needed, much to the unsurprised chagrin of his no-nonsense better half.

3. The Wedding Party
When an unmarried couple tries to book into a double room, Basil refuses to accommodate them, but Sybil, his more enlightened wife, does so any way, leaving his imagination to run wild; and before long he is seeing carnal desire everywhere, and comes to believe that the hotel is filled with sex maniacs, causing him to make a fool of himself when he asks them all, including his waitress Polly, to leave.

4. The Hotel Inspectors
After hearing a rumour that there are three hotel inspectors in town, Basil comes to believe that a particularly demanding guest is one of said assessors, and begins to fawn all over him; but when his true occupation comes to light, his sycophantic deference soon turns to irrational rage.

5. Gourmet Night
The inaugural not-for-riff-raff Fawlty Towers gourmet evening runs anything but smoothly, when their new Greek chef, the best that they've ever had, gets steaming drunk after a romantic rebuff from Manuel, leaving him unable to cater the event, and forcing Basil to quickly change the menu and look to their old chef André, now running a successful restaurant and who had recommended the soused Kurt in the first place, to come to the rescue – now, if only he’d paid a professional to fix his car.

6. The Germans
With Sybil in hospital to undergo an operation on an ingrowing toenail, Basil is left at the hotel with instructions to hang a moose’s head in the lobby and to perform a fire drill – a set of tasks that inevitably proves to be beyond him; and before long, concussed after a blow to the head, he finds himself unable to serve lunch to a party of German guests without making constant references to the war. Iain.Stott

Northern Exposure: Season 2 (1991)

2011-07-08T17:23:00.002+01:00

Recommended

USA

Television Series

Creators: Joshua Brand, John Falsey

Cast: Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, Barry Corbin, Darren E. Burrows, John Cullum, Cynthia Geary, Elaine Miles, Peg Phillips

The second season of Northern Exposure, following the misadventure of a Jewish New York doctor marooned in the rural no-man’s-land of Cicely, Alaska, is a consistently entertaining work with no real weak episodes and at least one classic – Episode 2: The Big Kiss

1. Goodbye to All That
On the eve of a two week trip to New York, Elaine, Joel’s fiancée, sends him a Dear John letter, detailing her love for a retired judge, sending him into an almighty funk, and prompting Ed (with the assistance of Holling and Maggie) to seek to ease his pain; at the same time, Shelly becomes addicted to television, when Holling buys her a giant satellite dish.

2. The Big Kiss
After a viewing of Boys Town (1938), Ed becomes curious about the identity of his parents, and sets out to find them with the aid of his 256-year-old spirit guide, One-Who-Waits, who also advises Chris, who has had his voice stolen by a beautiful stranger passing through Cicely, that he must sleep with the most beautiful girl in town (Maggie) in order to remedy his situation.

3. All Is Vanity
When a John Doe drops dead in Joel’s office, the town’s populace, led by Chris and Maurice, take it in turns to watch over the body until a decision can be made about what to do with it; a stray comment from Shelly has Holling contemplating circumcision in order to please her; and Joel reluctantly agrees to play the part of Maggie’s boyfriend, when her judgmental father comes for a visit.

4. What I Did for Love
When Maggie has a dream about his death in a plane crash on the eve of his trip to New York, prompting the town’s populace to begin saying their goodbyes to him, the usually unsuperstitious Joel, already full of suspicion about his too-good-to-be-true temporary replacement, begins to rethink his travel plans, whilst also investigating Maurice’s breathing difficulties, reported to him by an astronaut groupie who visits him annually.

5. Spring Break
Just before the ice breaks, an event celebrated by the Running of the Bulls, the residents of Cicely become gripped with unusual passions – Joel and Maggie struggle to resist each other; Shelly develops a taste for reading; Maurice falls for a domineering state trooper; the usually placid Holling is itching for a fight; and somebody is stealing all of the town’s radios.

6. War and Peace
Nikolai Ivanovich Appalanov, a Russian singer loved by all but Maurice, arrives in town for a vodka-fuelled good time and, if the former astronaut agrees to it, a deadly serious game of chess; elsewhere, Ed falls for bad girl Lightfeather Duncan, and begins to woo her with the aid of Chris’s two-wheeled erotic poetry; and Holling, beset with vivid, unsettling dreams, struggles to get a decent night’s sleep.

7. Slow Dance
Further credence is given to idea of Maggie being cursed, or at least to all of her beaus being cursed on her behalf, when Rick is killed by a falling satellite; Maurice’s delight at finding buyers, with whom he has a great deal in common, for a property of his is soon tempered by the revelation that they are gay, prompting him to reconsider his decision to sell to them; and Shelly becomes the green-eyed monster when an old flame of Holling’s, who is closer to his age and has more in common with him, arrives in town. Iain.Stott

Northern Exposure: Season 1 (1990)

2011-07-08T12:33:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Television Series

Creators: Joshua Brand, John Falsey

Cast: Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, Barry Corbin, Darren E. Burrows, John Cullum, Cynthia Geary, Elaine Miles, Peg Phillips

A newly qualified doctor from New York struggles to adapt to life in rural Alaska, in this decidedly gentle and relatively straightforward though never less than thoroughly entertaining first season of a series that would go on to much greater things.

1. Pilot
Jewish New Yorker Joel Fleischman, a newly qualified doctor, travels to Alaska in order to fulfil the terms of his scholarship, but instead of the Anchorage hospital that he was expecting he finds himself shipped off to Cicely, a small town in the middle of nowhere, peopled with oddballs and eccentrics, where he very reluctantly sets himself up as a GP.

2. Brains, Know-How and Native Intelligence
The broaching of the subject of Walt Whitman’s homosexuality by Chris Stevens on his radio show leads to his sacking by Maurice, who also replaces him, filling the airwaves with show tunes in the process, much to the chagrin of the local populace; whilst Joel struggles both to get Ed’s medicine man uncle to take his prostate cancer seriously and fix his own faulty shower in the wake of Maggie’s chastisement of him over his helplessness and general lack of self-sufficiency.

3. Soapy Sanderson
When 82-year-old hermit Soapy Sanderson takes his own life, leaving his 100 acre estate to Joel and Maggie, the oft bickering pair look set to be brought closer together, but a $50,000 offer from a local Indian tribe interested in using the land as a tax haven soon puts paid to that.

4. Dreams, Schemes and Putting Greens
Maurice’s plan to build a holiday complex on the outskirts of Cicely, complete with 18 hole golf course, grabs the attention of Joel, who embraces the idea wholeheartedly, striking a deal to become the resident physician in exchange for having a year knocked off his “sentence”, but news of Shelly’s pregnancy and impending nuptials threaten to disrupt matters, when the former astronaut’s eye is taken off the task of wooing of a pair of Japanese businessmen.

5. Russian Flu
When his fiancée, Elaine, flies in from New York for a weekend visit, Joel’s time is spent not in the carnal throes of passion that he had envisioned but attending to the town’s populace, who have all, barring one or two notable exceptions, come down with a particularly nasty strain of flu, which Marilyn, with her malodourous tribal remedy, seems better equipped to deal with.

6. Sex, Lies and Ed's Tapes
While Ed struggles to write a screenplay for the new, post-Jaws Hollywood, Holling develops a phantom neck injury in the wake of the arrival of Shelly’s secret husband, and Rick fears that he is to be the latest victim of Maggie’s curse, when Joel discovers an errant tumour during a check-up.

7. A Kodiak Moment
The death of Maurice’s brother causes him to contemplate his own mortality and seek a new heir to his empire; whilst Ed and Shelly accompany Holling on a hunting expedition, when it becomes known that Jesse, a great grizzly bear with whom he has a history, is back in the area; and Joel and Maggie fight and bond a little whilst giving a prepared childbirth class in Boswell.

8. Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale for Big People
The first of the series’ many great episodes: whilst the residents of Cicely struggle to sleep under a particularly bright full moon, an IRS worker from Portland rides into town on a motorbike, unable to explain why he’s there, and teams up with Chris, with whom he has an uncanny rapport, to help create his large Aurora Borealis sculpture; elsewhere, Joel, returning from a long-distance house call, breaks down in the middle of nowhere, where he encounters Adam, the legendary local bigfoot, who turns out to be a gourmet chef, albeit one with questionable hygiene habits and social skills. Iain.Stott

Couples Retreat (2009)

2011-07-07T13:01:00.003+01:00

Not Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Peter Billingsley

Writers: Jon Favreau, Dana Fox, Vince Vaughn

Cinematographer: Eric Edwards

Composer: A.R. Rahman

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, Faizon Love, Kali Hawk, Jean Reno, Peter Serafinowicz

An intense, uptight married couple, considering divorce, convinces three other couples to accompany them on a retreat to an idyllic island, promising sun, sea, sand, and relaxation, where instead they are confronted with intense couples counselling and oppressive rules and regulations, forcing them to reluctantly examine their own relationships, in this well enough acted though seldom funny and hopelessly predictable comedy. Iain.Stott

Grown Ups (2010)

2011-07-07T12:17:00.003+01:00

Not Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Dennis Dugan

Writers: Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf

Cinematographer: Theo van de Sande

Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams

Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Joyce Van Patten, Ebony Jo-Ann

When their championship winning junior high school basketball coach dies, five old friends and their families decide – as well as attending his funeral – to share a lake house in their old home town for the 4th of July weekend, reconnecting, bonding, confessing, regretting, and recapturing as they do so, in this occasionally mildly diverting though generally tiresome and decidedly undercooked comedy. Iain.Stott

The Walking Dead: Season 1 (2010)

2011-07-06T09:42:00.002+01:00

Highly Recommended

USA

Television Series

Developer: Frank Darabont

Cast: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Norman Reedus, Emma Bell, IronE Singleton, Melissa Suzanne McBride, Jeryl Prescott

Adapted from Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard’s comic books, Frank Darabont’s visceral and gory yet affecting and perceptive series, following the trials and tribulations of a small band of survivors, as they struggle to find a way to live following the zombie apocalypse, gets off to an excellent start with this excellent first season.

1. Days Gone Bye
After waking from a coma in a derelict and deserted hospital in the midst of the zombie apocalypse and gradually coming to realise his situation, Rick Grimes, a small town sheriff’s deputy, shot in the line of duty some weeks earlier, sets off towards Atlanta in search of his wife and son, whom he believes to be still alive.

2. Guts
Rick becomes trapped in a department store with a group of survivors he meets in Atlanta, who are in the city scavenging for supplies, when it becomes surrounded by walkers, and is forced to think very creatively in order to escape and survive.

3. Tell It to the Frogs
After returning to the camp with the rest of the survivors and reuniting with his wife and son, Rick, along with three others (including Merle’s decidedly angry brother) decide to return to Atlanta to attempt to rescue their hand-cuffed and stranded compatriot, whilst also recovering the bag of guns abandoned the previous day.

4. Vatos
Unable to locate Merle, Rick and the others turn their attentions to the abandoned bag of guns, which has also caught the eye of a rival gang of survivors, who attempt but fail to snatch it, instead taking a hostage – an act reciprocated by our heroes – which leads to a potentially violent showdown; whilst back at camp, tensions begin to rise.

5. Wildfire
In the aftermath of the deadly zombie attack on the camp of the previous evening, the survivors begin to deal with the dead and the dying, whilst attempting to formulate a plan for the next step in their bid for survival, and eventually set off towards the Center for Disease Control, hoping to find some official help.

6. TS-19
After a night of relative comfort and luxury in the CDC, the survivors begin to pressure their lone host for answers to the cause of their plight, and – finding them decidedly sobering – realise that they must go back out into the world if they are to survive: that is if they can actually get back out of the locked down building. Iain.Stott

Blow Out (1981)

2011-07-05T11:37:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Brian De Palma

Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond

Composer: Pino Donaggio

Cast: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz

A film soundman for trashy exploitation flicks, out in a remote spot one night recording new sounds for his latest project, manages to capture the fatal car crash of a presidential candidate on tape, as well as rescuing his comely young companion, and becomes convinced, as film footage also comes to light, that it was an assassination, not the tragic accident peddled by the official line, in De Palma’s stylish and greatly entertaining if occasionally rather silly (though often pleasingly so) thriller, which is also somewhat clumsily written in spots. Iain.Stott

The Trip (2010)

2011-07-04T13:37:00.003+01:00

Recommended

Feature Film

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Writers: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon

Cinematographer: Ben Smithard

Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Marta Barrio, Margo Stilley, Rebecca Johnson

Edited down from the excellent mini-series of the same title for an international release, Winterbottom, Coogan, and Brydon’s warm, witty, and affecting concoction – a tale of friendship, one-upmanship, middle-age regrets, and fragile entertainers’ egos – loses a little in the process, shedding some of its laughs and a degree of its emotional power, bit it remains, never the less, hugely entertaining. Iain.Stott

Blotto (1930)

2011-07-02T12:31:00.003+01:00

Not Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anita Garvin, Tiny Sandford

Stanley, forbidden by his wife to go out on the town with his great pal Oliver, hatches a plan (involving a fake telegram and a stolen bottle of booze) to remedy his situation – unfortunately for him, his better half is onto him from the start and sets out to teach him a lesson, in this surprisingly tedious and drawn-out one-joke Laurel and hardy short. Iain.Stott

Our Wife (1931)

2011-07-02T08:25:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James W. Horne

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Jack Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Babe London, James Finlayson, Ben Turpin, Charley Rogers, Blanche Payson

With Mr. Finlayson ecstatic at the prospect of his daughter’s marriage right up until the point at which he sees a photograph of her intended, Mr. Hardy, Ollie, with the aid (read: hindrance) of his best pal Stan, is forced to change his plans and arrange an elopement – unfortunately, said midnight flit relies rather too heavily on said dim-witted chum, in this entertaining Laurel and Hardy short, featuring a memorable turn form Ben Turpin and a cracking punchline. Iain.Stott

Our Relations (1936)

2011-07-02T07:57:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Harry Lachman

Writers: Jack Jevne, Charles Rogers, Felix Adler, Richard Connell, W.W. Jacobs

Cinematographer: Rudolph Maté

Composer: Leroy Shield

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Alan Hale, Sidney Toler, Daphne Pollard, Betty Healy, James Finlayson, Iris Adrian, Lona Andre, Ralf Harolde, Noel Madison, Arthur Housman

Stan and Ollie, happily married pillars of the local community, find their reputations plummeting for no apparent reason, when, unbeknownst to them, their long-lost, no-good twin brothers, Alf and Bert, sail into town looking for a good time – albeit on a budget, in this atypical, intricately and tightly plotted Laurel and Hardy feature, a well crafted and consistently entertaining film. Iain.Stott

Saps at Sea (1940)

2011-07-01T13:23:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Feature Film

Director: Gordon Douglas

Writers: Felix Adler, Harry Langdon, Gil Pratt, Charles Rogers

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Composer: Marvin Hatley

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Richard Cramer, James Finlayson

After suffering a nervous breakdown brought on by his job testing horns (and exacerbated by a cockeyed plumber and a decidedly stupid best friend), Ollie, along with said chum, Stan, set off to recuperate (under doctor’s orders) on a safely moored, newly hired boat – but rest and relaxation are hardly forthcoming, as they soon find themselves Shanghaied at sea with a notorious killer, freshly escaped from prison, in this entertaining, action- and gag-packed episodic Laurel and Hardy feature. Iain.Stott

You're Darn Tootin' (1928)

2011-07-01T12:52:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Edgar Kennedy

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Floyd Jackman

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Otto Lederer, Agnes Steele

14 weeks behind on their board, and just sacked from their musical orchestra, Stan and Ollie suddenly find themselves kicked out onto the street, where they attempt to put their tuneful “talents” to use busking for change – but run-ins with a police officer, a drunk, and a sewer worker ensure that things run anything but smoothly, and before long, nerves frayed, a fight breaks out between them, soon escalating to engulf the entire street in a dance-like shin-kicking orgy, in this inventive, oft hilarious silent Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

Below Zero (1930)

2011-07-01T12:00:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Frank Holliday, Blanche Payson

In this hugely entertaining, plot-packed Laurel and Hardy short, Street musicians Stan and Ollie find business tough going outside of the Deaf & Dumb Institute, and even harder going farther down the street where people can actually hear them, but a lost wallet, filled to the brim with money, looks set to perk up their cold, snowy winter's day – that is until they inadvertently try to treat its rightful owner, a police officer, to a steak dinner. Iain.Stott

Groundhog Day (1993)

2011-07-01T11:23:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Harold Ramis

Writers: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis

Cinematographer: John Bailey

Composer: George Fenton

Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty

A cynical, world-weary television weatherman finds himself living the same day – Groundhog Day, probably his least favourite day – over and over again; a situation that has him go from dismay through impish joy to despair and finally acceptance, as he gradually comes to be a better human being, spurred on by the (forever destined to be?) unrequited love he develops for his producer, in Ramis’s inspired, smart, and oft hilarious comedy, which has proven itself to be effortlessly rewatchable. Iain.Stott

Pardon Us (1931)

2011-06-30T13:50:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Feature Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Jack Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson, Walter Long, Stanley J. Sanford, Otto Fries

In this sporadically entertaining though rather drawn-out and decidedly patchy Laurel and Hardy film, Stan and Ollie, freshly convicted of boot-legging, find adapting to prison life decidedly difficult, due in no small part to Stan’s loose tooth, which makes a raspberry-like noise every time he speaks, constantly getting him and his rotund chum into trouble with the guards and their fellow inmates alike – as for the escape attempts… Iain.Stott

The Battle of the Century (1927)

2011-06-30T13:10:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Noah Young, Sam Lufkin, Charlie Hall, Anita Garvin

After his crushing defeat to 'Thunder-Clap' Callahan, Hardy’s boxing trainer takes out an insurance policy against his fighter (Laurel), and sets out to get a return upon it by carefully placing an errant banana peel for him to slip up on – unfortunately for them, a baker’s assistant comes a cropper instead, spilling his goods onto the street as he does so, and in so doing triggering a mass custard pie fight, in this generally entertaining (though partially lost) Laurel and Hardy short, which starts well with a hilarious boxing scene, but loses its way somewhat when the main action begins. Iain.Stott

The Hoose-Gow (1929)

2011-06-30T12:44:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writers: H.M. Walker, Leo McCarey

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Tiny Sandford, James Finlayson

Prison inmates Stan and Ollie, digging a ditch on work detail, cause untold havoc – including cutting down a tree housing a look-out guard and lodging a pick-axe in the radiator of a car – when the Governor and other dignitaries come to inspect their site, culminating in a free-for-all custard pie fight (actually rice-and-oil pie fight), in this diverting but rather tired Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

2011-06-30T12:14:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Finland/France/Norway/Sweden

Feature Film

Original Title: Rare Exports

Director: Jalmari Helander

Writers: Jalmari Helander, Petri Jokiranta, Sami Parkkinen, Juuso Helander

Cinematographer: Mika Orasmaa

Composers: Juri Seppä, Miska Seppä

Cast: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen, Ilmari Järvenpää, Peeter Jakobi

When an American funded dig on the Russian side of the Korvatunturi Mountains unleashes an army of Santa’s elves onto the surrounding populace, kidnapping all the local children and stealing their hairdryers and other heat-producing electrical appliances, a small band of Finnish men find that they must stop them or else risk their nefarious leader – Mr. Claus – being thawed out and let loose on the world, in this mildly diverting but decidedly undercooked fantasy, which never quite delivers on the promise of its intriguing premise. Iain.Stott

Putting Pants on Philip (1927)

2011-06-29T20:33:00.003+01:00

Not Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writers: Leo McCarey, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sam Lufkin, Harvey Clark, Dorothy Coburn

The be-kilted, lady-killing Philip (Laurel), fresh off the boat from Scotland, draws (with his sartorial elegance) a huge crowd where ever he goes, much to the chagrin of his hugely embarrassed uncle (Hardy), who decides that the best solution to his familial problem is to commit the titular act – a task easier said than done, in this lacklustre and rather uninspired early Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

Their First Mistake (1932)

2011-06-29T20:14:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: George Marshall

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch

When Mrs. Hardy warns Ollie (under the threat of leaving him) that he’s not to go out on the town with Stan any more, Stan suggests that he give her a baby to take her mind off their gadding about, which he does that very afternoon, going out with Stan to adopt one – unfortunately, on their return, they are greeted not by a doting mother, but by a process server with divorce papers, and are left holding the baby, in this patchy, low-key, and only sporadically entertaining Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)

2011-06-29T18:38:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Feature Film

Directors: George Marshall, Raymond McCarey

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Donald Dillaway, Jacquie Lyn, Grady Sutton, Muriel Evans, Montague Shaw, Richard Tucker, George Marshall

When Stan and Ollie return from the trenches of The First World War without their army buddy Eddie Smith, they determine to take his daughter from her just-in-it-for-the-money foster parents and deliver her to her grandparents – trouble is they haven’t got the address, and so they begin to systematically (not to mention chaotically) go through every Smith in the phone book, in this hilarious, plot-packed, episodic Laurel and Hardy film. Iain.Stott

Big Business (1929)

2011-06-29T16:13:00.002+01:00

Essential Viewing

USA

Short Film

Directors: James W. Horne

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Tiny Sandford

When a pair of door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen prove themselves unable to leave the home of an uninterested customer without getting something stuck in the door – coat, Christmas tree, etc. – a squabble erupts, quickly escalating into an orgy of reciprocal, tit-for-tat violence and destruction, which soon sees his house and their car torn to pieces, in Laurel and Hardy’s hilarious short film, their finest silent production, rich in allegorical potential. Iain.Stott

Scram! (1932)

2011-06-29T15:49:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Ray McCarey

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Richard Cramer, Arthur Housman, Vivien Oakland

With its jails completely full, Judge Beaumont orders a pair of vagrants to leave town in lieu of the charge’s usual 180 day sentence, but instead Stan and Ollie hook up with a drunken millionaire, who offers them a place to stay for the night – cue dropped car keys, lost house keys, mistaken identity, more booze, and an unwelcome reacquainting with the judge, in this hugely entertaining, oft hilarious Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

Duck Soup (1927)

2011-06-29T15:26:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: H.M. Walker, Arthur J. Jefferson

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Marcus, Stuart Holmes, Madeline Hurlock, William Austin, Bob Kortman

Attempting to avoid the attentions of a press-ganging forest ranger looking to recruit fire-fighters to battle a large blaze, Hives and Maltravers (Laurel and Hardy), a pair of dishevelled but well-spoken down-and-outs spy an opportunity to stay in a holidaying millionaire’s mansion, albeit one that requires them to pose as master and maid and interview potential renters in order to do so – alas, they don’t bank on him returning home early to fetch his forgotten bow and arrow set, in this enjoyable, prototypical early Laurel and Hardy short, their first real collaboration. Iain.Stott

The Second Hundred Years (1927)

2011-06-29T14:17:00.005+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: Leo McCarey, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Stanley Sanford, Frank Brownlee, Otto Fries, Bob O'Conor, Ellinor Van der Veer

After their first escape attempt resulted only in them tunnelling up into the Warden’s office, Big Goofy and Little Goofy (Laurel and Hardy) grab the opportunity to pose as painters and walk out of the front gate, pursued only by a mildly suspicious guard, whom they shake by taking on the identities of a pair of French police chiefs who, unfortunately for them, are on their way to the prison for a tour, in this entertaining early Laurel and Hardy comedy, one of their first real collaborations, and the likely inspiration for the superior Will Hay vehicle Convict 99 (1938). Iain.Stott

Call of the Cuckoo (1927)

2011-06-29T13:38:00.005+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Floyd Jackman

Cast: Max Davidson, "Spec" O'Donnell, Lillian Elliott, Leo Willis, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, James Finlayson

Desperate to sell their home to get away from their sanity-challenged neighbours – the residents of an asylum: Messrs Laurel, Hardy, Chase, and Finlayson – the Gimplewarts accept an offer for a house swap, based on photographic evidence alone, and soon find themselves living in a crumbling, built-in-two-days, should-be-condemned wreck, ill-prepared for their imminent sure-to-be-disastrous housewarming dinner party, in this generally entertaining if unremarkable silent comedy. Iain.Stott

45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)

2011-06-29T12:55:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker

Cast: Glenn Tryon, Charlotte Mineau, Rube Clifford, Oliver Hardy, Edna Murphy, Stan Laurel

A country rube, in Hollywood to pay off a debt, gets mixed-up with a cross-dressing bank robber, whom he believes to be a movie star, soon finding himself in drag as well and inadvertently coming between a hotel detective and his insanely jealous wife – chaos ensues, in this mildly diverting silent farce, which is most notable for featuring both Laurel and Hardy (for only the second time, though they never share the same screen) amongst the supporting cast. Iain.Stott

Night Owls (1930)

2011-06-29T12:30:00.004+01:00

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, James Finlayson, Anders Randolf

When the Chief of Police admonishes him for his abysmal arrest record, Officer Kennedy convinces a pair of vagrants (Stan and Ollie) to help him stage a robbery at the chief’s house in order for him to intervene and save the day – which is easier said than done when the likes of Messrs Laurel and Hardy are involved, in this entertaining, slapstick-filled L&H short. Iain.Stott

The Turning Gate (2002)

2011-06-28T16:13:00.003+01:00

Essential Viewing

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 생활의 발견

Writer/Director: Hong Sang-soo

Cinematographer: Choi Yeong-taek

Composer: Il Won

Cast: Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Hak-sun, Ye Ji-won, Chu Sang-mi

Featuring some exquisitely composed images and a number of affecting performances, Hong’s restrained and deliberate yet gently funny and hugely moving film depicts the misadventures of a struggling actor, following him as he takes a trip to see an old friend to help forget his woes – a trip which leads to the consumption of much alcohol, to much discussion and argument, and to a number of ill-advised, heart-breaking sexual encounters. Iain.Stott

In the Cut (2003)

2011-06-28T15:05:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Jane Campion

Writers: Jane Campion, Susanna Moore, Stavros Kazantzidis

Cinematographer: Dion Beebe

Composer: Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson

Cast: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Damici, Kevin Bacon, Sharrieff Pugh

A writer, who splits her time between researching for her new book and teaching English, begins a sexual relationship with a homicide detective, who is investigating a murder in her neighbourhood, and continues to do so even when she begins to suspect that he might actually be the killer himself, in Campion’s much maligned but consummately crafted and decidedly well acted erotic thriller, which proves to be an atypical one by being both erotic and thrilling. Iain.Stott

Scenes from the Suburbs (2011)

2011-06-27T14:27:00.002+01:00

Recommended

USA/Canada

Short Film

Director: Spike Jonze

Writers: Will Butler, Win Butler, Spike Jonze

Cinematographer: Greig Fraser

Composers: Arcade Fire

Cast: Sam Dillon, Zoe Graham, Zeke Jarmon, Paul Pluymen, Ashlin Williamson

Spike Jonze’s stylishly melancholy collaboration with Canadian band Arcade Fire, inspired by their acclaimed 2010 album The Suburbs, enigmatically and affectingly paints a portrait – against the backdrop of a town under martial law – of a disintegrating friendship, from carefree summer days of lads larking around, through miscommunication and alienation, to acrimony and violence. Iain.Stott

Dolphin Boy (2011)

2011-06-27T12:54:00.002+01:00

Recommended

Israel/France/UK

Feature Documentary

Original Title: דולפין

Writer/Directors: Dani Menkin, Yonatan Nir

Cinematographers: Uri Ackerman, Yoav Kleinman, Yaron Levison, Yonatan Nir

Composer: Issar Shulman

Despite an occasionally intrusive and manipulative score and the rather hackneyed sight of a doctor sat at his computer typing away (superimpositions and all) as he explains the case to us, Menkin and Nir’s film proves to be an affecting and uplifting one, capturing a father’s intense love for his son, as it follows (over the course of four years) the progress of Morad, a teenaged boy left in a dissociative state after a severe beating, as he gradually learns to live again thanks to the healing powers of dolphin therapy. Iain.Stott

I Killed My Mother (2009)

2011-06-27T11:56:00.003+01:00

Recommended

Canada

Feature Film

Original Title: J'ai tué ma mere

Writer/Director: Xavier Dolan

Cinematographer: Stéphanie Weber-Biron

Composer: Nicholas Savard-L'Herbier

Cast: Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément, Patricia Tulasne, Niels Schneider

With its striking photography and unusual mise en scène, 19-year-old Dolan’s consummately crafted semi-autobiographical directorial debut proves itself to be an assured and stylish work of numerous delights, as it relates to us the story of a tumultuous (and very shouty) love/hate relationship that builds up between a hard working but short-tempered single mother and her even shorter-tempered, hormones-racing 16-year-old son. Iain.Stott

Perrier's Bounty (2009)

2011-06-26T15:17:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Ireland/UK

Feature Film

Director: Ian Fitzgibbon

Writer: Mark O'Rowe

Cinematographer: Seamus Deasy

Composer: David Holmes

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, Michael McElhatton, Don Wycherley, Liam Cunningham, Brendan Coyle, Padraic Delaney, Conleth Hill, Gabriel Byrne

Having missed the deadline to repay the €1,000 that he owes to a vicious local gangster, Michael, chased down by two of his thugs, prepares to say goodbye to his legs, but his suicidal neighbour, about to shoot herself, instead comes to his rescue by turning the gun onto them – cue the eponymous reward for their capture – and so they set out on the run, accompanied by Michael’s sleep-deprived father (who may or may not be about to die), in Fitzgibbon’s well crafted and acted though rather familiar black comedy. Iain.Stott

The Invisible Woman (2009)

2011-06-25T12:02:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Brazil

Feature Film

Original title: A Mulher Invisível

Director: Cláudio Torres

Writers: Cláudio Torres, Adriana Falcão, Maria Luísa Mendonça, Cláudio Paiva

Cinematographer: Ralph Strelow

Composers: Luca Raele, Maurício Tagliari

Cast: Selton Mello, Maria Manoella, Vladimir Brichta, Luana Piovani, Fernanda Torres

When his wife leaves him for a German millionaire, Pedro, a thirty-something Rio traffic operator, re-enters the dating pool, but after just a few weeks is ready to give up, until he meets the perfect woman, who (unfortunately for him) turns out to be a figment of his imagination – cue a great deal of air-snogging in the cinema, on the dance floor, and elsewhere – whilst his next door neighbour, who actually does exist and really likes him, may as well be invisible as, in the six years that she has lived next door to him, has never managed to turn his head, in Torres’s mildly entertaining but decidedly fluffy and perhaps a tad overlong romantic comedy. Iain.Stott

Phenomena (1985)

2011-06-24T11:40:00.003+01:00

Not Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

aka Creepers

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini

Cinematographer: Romano Albani

Composers: Goblin

Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau, Donald Pleasence, Fiore Argento, Federica Mastroianni

The teenaged daughter of a famous American actor struggles to fit in at an elite Swiss boarding school, when it becomes known that she has a strange fondness for (and an even stranger kinship with) the local insect population; and, near enough friendless (barring her roommate who has mysteriously disappeared), she makes friends with a paralysed Scots etymologist, who – bafflingly – encourages her to track down a local serial killer, who has been killing teenaged girls, in Argento’s woodenly acted and ridiculously plotted if often quite stylish horror film, which has a deliriously silly yet ridiculously entertaining ending that can’t quite make up for the dross that precedes it. Iain.Stott

The Miners' Hymns (2010)

2011-06-23T17:55:00.004+01:00

Recommended

Short Documentary

Director: Bill Morrison

Composer: Jóhann Jóhannsson

Accompanied by Jóhannsson’s mournful brass and cathedral organ score, made-up entirely – but for a bookending contemporary helicopter shot – of archive footage (from the likes of Mitchel and Kenyon at the turn of the century to miners-shot footage of police brutality during the 1984 strike) Morrison’s elegiac cinepoem elegantly paints a portrait of coalminers and coalmining in the northeast of England during the 20^th century. Iain.Stott

Accidental Hero (1992)

2011-06-23T11:15:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Original Title: Hero

Director: Stephen Frears

Writers: David Webb Peoples, Alvin Sargent, Laura Ziskin

Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton

Composer: George Fenton

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, Joan Cusack, James Madio, Chevy Chase, Kevin J. O'Connor

A cynical small-time crook, about to be sentenced for the receiving of stolen goods, reluctantly saves the lives of 54 people from an aeroplane that crashes right before his eyes, but – not wanting any attention (and having stolen the handbag of one of those that he saved) – he avoids taking the credit… that is until a one million dollar reward is offered by a television company for his bravery (and taken by someone else), in Frears’s well paced, amiably acted, and generally entertaining film, which is let down by a somewhat overblown score and a few misjudged Capraesque touches. Iain.Stott

Post Mortem (2010)

2011-06-22T11:22:00.005+01:00

Essential Viewing

Chile/Brazil/Mexico

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Pablo Larraín

Cinematographer: Sergio Armstrong

Composer: Juan Cristóbal Meza

Cast: Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Amparo Noguera, Jaime Vadell, Marcelo Alonso

A morose morgue stenographer’s budding-but-strained romance with a painfully thin, waningly popular variety show dancer is put to the test when the bloody military coup of September ’73 – deposing Chile’s democratically elected president – causes their lives to move in markedly different directions, in Larraín’s sensual and strangely blackly comic yet emotionally devastating and decidedly disturbing third feature. Iain.Stott

12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

2011-06-22T10:49:00.004+01:00

Recommended

Romania

Feature Film

Original Title: A fost sau n-a fost?

Writer/Director: Corneliu Porumboiu

Cinematographer: Marius Panduru

Composers: Rotaria

Cast: Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Săpdaru

On the 16th anniversary of The Romanian Revolution of 1989, a small town television presenter (accompanied by two self-professed revolutionaries) asks the question, “did the revolution happen in our town, or did its residents only take to the streets after Ceaușescu’s titularly-timed abdication?” in Porumboiu’s unhurriedly paced, gently funny, and strangely affecting feature debut. Iain.Stott

Win Win (2011)

2011-06-21T13:13:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Tom McCarthy

Writers: Tom McCarthy, Joe Tiboni

Cinematographer: Oliver Bokelberg

Composer: Lyle Workman

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Alex Shaffer, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Margo Martindale, David Thompson

A financially struggling lawyer (and part-time high school wrestling coach) dishonestly takes on the guardianship of a client in the early stages of dementia in order to pocket the $1,500 that comes with the accompanying (largely shirked) responsibility, but it’s a plan that becomes complicated somewhat by the arrival of the elderly man’s teenaged runaway grandson, who happens to be a very talented wrestler, in McCarthy’s amiable and generally entertaining if rather predictable and somewhat undercooked film, which feels more like the pilot for a promising television series than a fully realised feature. Iain.Stott

Last Night (1998)

2011-06-21T12:16:00.003+01:00

Recommended

Canada/France

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Don McKellar

Cinematographer: Douglas Koch

Composers: Alexina Louie, Alex Pauk

Cast: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie, Geneviève Bujold, David Cronenberg, Roberta Maxwell, Robin Gammell, Sarah Polley, Trent McMullen, Michael McMurtry

With his world already feeling like it had ended a few months earlier with the death of his wife, Patrick Wheeler wants nothing more than to sit alone and honour her memory as the actual end of the world approaches, but a stranded stranger (who, herself, wants nothing more than to get home to her husband) soon has him reluctantly changing his plans, whilst his family and friends take their own personal journeys towards oblivion, in McKellar’s affecting, nuanced, metaphor-laden feature directorial debut. Iain.Stott

Adieu Philippine (1962)

2011-06-20T17:46:00.003+01:00

Recommended

France/Italy

Feature Film

Director: Jacques Rozier

Writers: Michèle O'Glor, Jacques Rozier

Cinematographer: René Mathelin

Composers: Jacques Denjean, Paul Mattei, Maxime Saury

Cast: Jean-Claude Aimini, Stefania Sabatini, Yveline Céry, Daniel Descamps, Vittorio Caprioli, David Tonelli

About to be shipped off to fight in the Algerian War, Michel, a young television camera technician, meets two attractive young girls, whom he begins to pal around with, a friendship/flirtation that soon sees the three of them (though they're occasionally joined by a fourth) heading off to a sun-drenched Corsica, as they await the inevitable adieu, in Rozier’s ramblingly entertaining picaresque tale, which makes up with charm and verve what it lacks in polish and refinement. Iain.Stott

The Martins (2001)

2011-06-20T14:22:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

UK/USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Tony Grounds

Cinematographer: David Johnson

Composer: Richard Hartley

Cast: Lee Evans, Kathy Burke, Linda Bassett, Eric Byrne, Terri Dumont, Lennie James, Paddy Considine

When he fails to win the holiday of his dreams in a competition run by the local newspaper – the latest in a series of life’s disappointments – long-term unemployed Hatfield resident Robert, married with two children, snaps, imprisons the prize’s rightful(ish) recipients, and takes his family on the holiday anyway (a trip to the Isle of Man), all the while waving an unloaded pistol at anyone who annoys him or gets in his way, in Grounds’s sporadically entertaining if ultimately rather sentimental comedy-drama. Iain.Stott

This Filthy Earth (2001)

2011-06-20T14:01:00.003+01:00

Essential Viewing

Feature Film

Director: Andrew Kötting

Writers: Andrew Kötting, Sean Lock, Émile Zola

Cinematographer: Nick Gordon Smith

Composer: David Burnand

Cast: Rebecca R. Palmer, Shane Attwooll, Demelza Randall, Xavier Tchili, Dudley Sutton, Ina Clough, Peter-Hugo Daly

Adapted (with the aid of comedian Sean Lock) from Émile Zola’s 1887 novel La Terre, Kötting’s formally audacious, intensely visceral, and blackly humorous misanthropic masterpiece brilliantly regales us with rural tales of sex, violence, superstition, and ignorance, filled with bodily fluids, guttural Yorkshire explosions, and a great deal of filthy earth. Iain.Stott

Troll Hunter (2010)

2011-06-18T08:58:00.005+01:00

Recommended

Norway

Feature Film

Original Title: Trolljegeren

Writer/Director: André Øvredal

Cinematographer: Hallvard Bræin

Cast: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Three student film-makers, out in the Norwegian countryside investigating bear poaching, happen upon a world-weary hunter, the titular character, who (fed-up with his unglamorous [secret] lifestyle) introduces them to a world of trolls, government cover-ups, and grimy caravan parks, in Øvredal’s very well crafted if slightly undernourished (character-wise) and vaguely hackneyed (form-wise) though never less than thoroughly entertaining monster movie, which makes good use of the its locale's oft spectacular scenery. Iain.Stott

For a slightly longer piece, see 1000 Nights in the Dark.

102 Boulevard Haussmann (1990)

2011-06-17T11:28:00.005+01:00

Recommended

Television Film

Series Title: Screen Two (1985-1994)

Director: Udayan Prasad

Writer: Alan Bennett

Cinematographer: John Hooper

Cast: Alan Bates, Janet McTeer, Paul Rhys, Philip McGough, Jonathan Coy, Philip Rham, Michael Wilcox, Peter Geeves, Michael Grandage, Lesley Nightingale

On a rare trip out to a concert performance, the asthmatic, decidedly frail, and near enough bed-ridden Marcel Proust takes a shine to a young viola player (on sick leave from the raging First World War), whom he attempts to befriend through a series of private concert performances, as his devoted maid (McTeer, affectingly restrained) passively looks on, in Bennett’s tender, subtle, and gently melancholic teleplay. Iain.Stott

From Under My Bed (2005)

2011-06-15T13:10:00.003+01:00

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Sous mon lit

Writer/Director: Jihane Chouaib

Cinematographer: Dylan Doyle

Composers: Mendelson, Los Tres Amigos

Cast: Emeline Becuwe, Clément van den Bergh

As her parents tootle off on their summer holiday thinking that their daughter is about to board a coach for a school-organised trip to London, Mira, a sexually repressed teenaged girl caught awkwardly between childhood and adulthood, instead returns home alone, where her fears, repressions, and anxieties begin to manifest themselves, in Chouaib’s thoughtfully and viscerally stimulating short film. Iain.Stott

Dry Summer (1964)

2011-06-15T12:41:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Turkey

Feature Film

Original Title: Susuz yaz

Director: Metin Erksan

Writers: Metin Erksan, Kemal Inci, Ismet Soydan, Necati Cumali

Cinematographer: Ali Ugur

Composers: Manos Hatzidakis, Yamaci

Cast: Erol Tas, Hülya Koçyigit, Ulvi Dogan

Osman, a charmless farmer who covets his younger bother’s comely new bride, builds a dam to prevent his neighbours from receiving water that emanates from a spring on his property – an act that leads to violence, betrayal, and retribution, in Erksan’s diverting, well photographed parable, which generally feels quite rushed and suffers from some rather stilted performances. Iain.Stott

The Little Tailor (2010)

2011-06-14T11:42:00.003+01:00

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Petit tailleur

Writer/Director: Louis Garrel

Cinematographer: Léo Hinstin

Composer: Grégoire Hetzel

Cast: Arthur Igual, Léa Seydoux, Grand Albert, Sylvain Creuzevault, Lolita Chammah, Evelyne Lequesne, Laurent Laffargue

Arthur, an apprentice tailor with dreams of becoming an haute couturist, is forced to choose between his eighty-year-old dying mentor, who fought in the resistance as a teenager, and Marie-Julie, a beautiful, melancholy young actress who he has only just met, but with whom he has fallen deeply in love, in Garrel’s lyrical, gorgeously shot short film, which features a particularly touching performance from Seydoux. Iain.Stott

Cold Weather (2010)

2011-06-13T15:34:00.003+01:00

Highly Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Aaron Katz

Writers: Aaron Katz, Brendan McFadden, Ben Stambler

Cinematographer: Andrew Reed

Composer: Keegan DeWitt

Cast: Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Raúl Castillo, Robyn Rikoon

Gently morphing from ambling slice-of-life drama to ambling amateur sleuthing mystery, Katz’s gorgeously photographed, delightfully scored, and tenderly acted third feature – as idiosyncratic and filled to the brim with humanity as his first two – emphatically cements his place as (despite being near enough unknown) the most exciting young film-maker currently working in America. Iain.Stott

The Housemaid (1960)

2011-06-12T18:33:00.002+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 하녀

Writer/Director: Kim Ki-young

Cinematographer: Kim Deok-jin

Composer: Han Sang-ki

Cast: Lee Eun-shim, Kim Jin-kyu, Ju Jeung-nyeo, Um Aeng-ran, Ahn Sung-ki, Kang Seok-je, Ko Seon-ae, Na Jeong-ok

Overcome with exhaustion after moving into a new home, and struggling to cope with her domestic duties, a pregnant woman, who spends most of her time diligently working at her sewing machine, encourages her music teaching husband to employ a maid, who proceeds to make their lives a misery, in Kim’s visually arresting and campily entertaining if generally rather overblown thriller. Iain.Stott

The Mugger (2007)

2011-06-12T08:31:00.003+01:00

Recommended

Argentina

Short Feature Film

Original Title: El asaltante

Writer/Director: Pablo Fendrik

Cinematographer: Cobi Migliora

Cast: Guillermo Arengo, Germán de Silva, Arturo Goetz, Maya Lesca, Bárbara Lombardo, Verónica Piaggio

Captured in near-enough real time with claustrophobic hand-held photography, featuring an excellent performance from Arengo, Fendrik’s promising feature directorial debut grippingly follows a seemingly respectable middle-aged man around the streets of Buenos Aires as he perpetrates a series of robberies at a number of plush private schools, before returning to his decidedly more mundane everyday life (allowing us to re-evaluate his actions). Iain.Stott

Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)

2011-06-11T20:34:00.002+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Eli Craig

Writers: Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson

Cinematographer: David Geddes

Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon Jay McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons

Tucker and Dale, whilst vacationing at their new holiday home, save a pretty young camper from drowning – unfortunately, though, her college friends mistake them for murderous, kidnapping hillbillies, and are soon (after one or two freak accidents compound their erroneous theory) laying siege to the unfortunate pair’s isolated cabin, in Craig’s blackly comic, cliché-bendingly funny feature debut. Iain.Stott

Bad Connection (2000)

2011-06-11T16:12:00.003+01:00

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Faux contact

Writer/Director/Composer: Eric Jameux

Cinematographer: Franck Barbian

Cast: Sylvie Testud, Nasser Cerkoune, Frédéric Leray, Eric Jameux

As a wave of terrorist attacks sweep Paris, a young, unemployed Muslim man – struggling to complete the level of the game he's playing – rings a video game helpline from a phone box for assistance, but a dodgy light bulb, a surprisingly helpful call centre worker, and a vigilant but impetuous police force ensure that he gets more than he bargained for, in this smart, funny, and well crafted short film. Iain.Stott

Chicken Heart (2002)

2011-06-11T14:35:00.004+01:00

Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: チキン・ハート

Writer/Director: Shimizu Hiroshi

Cinematographer: Takase Hiroshi

Composer: Suzuki Keiichi

Cast: Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Imawano Kiyoshiro, Matsuo Suzuki, Mabuchi Erika, Haruki Misayo, Omi Toshinori, Araki Nobuyoshi, Kishibe Ittoku

Three sort-of friends, who eke out a living during the day by scrubbing graffiti off walls, selling toupees, and handing out insurance leaflets on the street, spend their evenings providing a service as a human punching bag to stressed out businessmen, eating and drinking at an illegal food stall, and generally dreaming of a better future, in Shimizu’s hugely likeable second feature, which gradually develops from hilariously bizarre comedy to touching character study as it progresses towards its melancholically tender finale. Iain.Stott

World's Greatest Dad (2009)

2011-06-09T10:34:00.002+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Bobcat Goldthwait

Cinematographer: Horacio Marquínez

Composer: Gerald Brunskill

Cast: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore, Mitzi McCall, Evan Martin, Geoff Pierson, Henry Simmons, Lorraine Nicholson

Following a tragic accident, a put-upon single father, whose dreams of literary fame have come to naught, finds his fortunes taking a turn for the (seemingly) better, when his students and fellow teachers suddenly see him in a new light – though his new found popularity soon begins to weigh upon him, in Goldthwait’s cynically and blackly comic yet insightful and strangely moving little film. Iain.Stott

Cedar Rapids (2011)

2011-06-07T08:58:00.003+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Miguel Arteta

Writer: Phil Johnston

Cinematographer: Chuy Chávez

Composer: Christophe Beck

Cast: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith, Alia Shawkat

Following the death of a co-worker in an auto-erotic asphyxiation accident, Tim Lippe, a terribly naïve small town insurance agent, is sent to the bright lights of Cedar Rapids for a conference in his place, where his innocence is quickly crushed as he is exposed to drink, drugs, casual sex, and corruption, in Arteta’s amiable, oft hilarious coming-of-age comedy. Iain.Stott

CFB's Top 30 Films of 1971 (2011)

2011-06-06T10:58:00.003+01:00

The Last Picture Show (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Death in Venice (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Walkabout (1971)
Duel (1971)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Play Misty for Me (1971)
Klute (1971)
Bananas (1971)
Le Souffle au Coeur (1971)
The Emigrants (1971)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
The Beguiled (1971)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Out 1 (1971)
The Devils (1971)
10 Rillington Place (1971)
Macbeth (1971)
The Decameron (1971)
A New Leaf (1971)
King Lear (1971)
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Trafic (1971)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Anne and Muriel (1971)
The Boy Friend (1971)
Punishment Park (1971)
Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1971 (2011)

2011-06-06T10:56:00.000+01:00

Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
Love (1971)
Juste Avant la Nuit (1971)
The Trojan Women (1971)
Such Good Friends (1971)
Silence (1971)
La Region Centrale (1971)
Checkpoint (1971)
Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia (1971)
The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes (1971)
Synchromy (1971)
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1971)
Desperate Characters (1971)
Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring (1971)
Joe Hill (1971)
The Salamander (1971)
Red Sky at Morning (1971)
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971)
The Ceremony (1971)
Emitai (1971)

Paul (2011)

2011-06-06T10:25:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Greg Mottola

Writers: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

Cinematographer: Lawrence Sher

Composer: David Arnold

Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio

Two sci-fi loving comic book nerds from England, fresh from their first visit to Comic-Con, set off on a UFO-hotspot road trip across the US, which is enlivened considerably by their meeting of Paul, a pot-smoking alien on the lam from nefarious government agents, whom they attempt to aid in his plan to return to his own planet, in this amiable, sporadically entertaining, reference-heavy road movie, which is never quite as entertaining as it should be. Iain.Stott

The Night Shift (2007)

2011-06-02T08:22:00.007+01:00

Recommended

Iceland

Television Mini-Series

Original Title: Næturvaktin

Director: Ragnar Bragason

Writers: Ragnar Bragason, Jón Gnarr, Jóhann Ævar Grímsson, Jörundur Ragnarsson, Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon, Gestur Valur Svansson

Cinematographer: Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson

Cast: Jörundur Ragnarsson, Jón Gnarr, Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon, Sara Margrét Mikaelsdóttir, Arnar Freyr Karlsson

Whilst trying to find himself after dropping out of university, 23-year-old Daniel takes a job at a Reykjavik petrol station on the night shift, under the tutelage of the tyrannical shift manager Georg – who is consumed with rules, regulations, and Swedish communists – alongside co-worker Ólafur, a put-upon, hopelessly naïve dreamer, getting into various pleasingly low-key scrapes along the way, in Bragason’s gently funny, occasionally hilarious, and generally beautifully observed comedy series. Iain.Stott

Cannes, 2011

2011-05-23T11:30:00.002+01:00

Palme d'Or

The Tree of Life (2011)

Grand Prix

Once upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

The Kid with a Bike (2011)

Best Director

Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive (2011)

Best Screenplay

Joseph Cedar, Footnote (2011)

Best Actress

Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia (2011)

Best Actor

Jean Dujardin, The Artist (2011)

Jury Prize

Polisse (2011)

Un Certain Regard Prize

Arirang (2011)

Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard

Elena (2011)

Un Certain Regard Award for Best Director

Good Bye (2011)

Caméra d'or

Las Acacias (2011)

In competition

The Artist (2011)
Drive (2011)
Footnote (2011)
Hanezu (2011)
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Le Havre (2011)
House of Tolerance (2011)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)
Melancholia (2011)
Michael (2011)
Once upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
Pater (2011)
Polisse (2011)
The Skin I Live In (2011)
Sleeping Beauty (2011)
The Source (2011)
This Must Be the Place (2011)
The Tree of Life (2011)
We Have a Pope (2011)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Un Certain Regard

Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Arirang (2011)
Beauty (2011)
Bonsái (2011)
The Day He Arrives (2011)
Elena (2011)
Good Bye (2011)
Hard Labour (2011)
Hors Satan (2011)
The Hunter (2011)
Loverboy (2011)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
The Minister (2011)
Miss Bala (2011)
Restless (2011)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011)
Stopped on Track (2011)
Tatsumi (2011)
Toomelah (2011)
Where Do We Go Now? (2011)
The Yellow Sea (2010)

CFB's Top 30 Films of 1933 (2011)

2011-05-23T11:07:00.002+01:00

King Kong (1933)
Duck Soup (1933)
42nd Street (1933)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Queen Christina (1933)
Baby Face (1933)
Zéro de Conduite (1933)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Ecstasy (1933)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Three Little Pigs (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Little Women (1933)
Land Without Bread (1933)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
Design for Living (1933)
Lady for A Day (1933)
Snow-White (1933)
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
Flirtation (1933)
Bombshell (1933)
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
I’m No Angel (1933)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Hallelujah I’m A Bum (1933)
Outskirts (1933)
Woman of Tokyo(1933)

CFB's Top 25 Obscure Films of 1933 (2011)

2011-05-23T11:00:00.001+01:00

Bastille Day (1933)
Man’s Castle (1933)
Night on Bald Mountain (1933)
The Water Magician (1933)
Ganga Bruta (1933)
Passing Fancy (1933)
Little Toys (1933)
Building a Building (1933)
Daybreak (1933)
Lot in Sodom (1933)
Treno Popolare (1933)
Misere au Borinage (1933)
The Mad Doctor (1933)
Victory of the Faith (1933)
Madame Bovary (1933)
Midnight Mary (1933)
Penthouse (1933)
State Fair (1933)
Ladies They Talk About (1933)
Betty Boop’s Penthouse (1933)
Japanese Girls at the Harbor (1933)
Today We Live (1933)
Popeye the Sailor (1933)
Bed Of Roses (1933)
Only Yesterday (1933)

Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)

2011-05-11T10:35:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Paul Mazursky

Writers: Leon Capetanos, Paul Mazursky, René Fauchois

Cinematographer: Donald McAlpine

Composer: Andy Summers

Cast: Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Little Richard, Tracy Nelson, Elizabeth Peña, Evan Richards

After his loyal companion, Kerouac, leaves him for a better source of doggy snacks, Jerry, a Beverly Hills down-and-out, decides to take his own life in the swimming pool of a random millionaire, who proceeds to save him and take him in – unsurprisingly, chaos ensues, in Mazursky’s sporadically entertaining though rather over long adaptation of René Fauchois’s play, which lacks the satirical bite of Jean Renoir’s version. Iain.Stott

Young Islands (2011)

2011-05-10T16:34:00.004+01:00

Highly Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Kevin Chenault

Composer: Jesse Gallamore

Cast: Steven Hamilton, Joseph Dodd, Brooklyn Harper, Lisa Garrett, Sarah Beaven, Rick Kersting, Brittany Morris, Trena Morris, Jesse Gallamore, Steve Grey, Josh Gapinski

With mise en scène and sound design of a quality that belies both the film-makers’ youth and inexperience and the production’s low budget, Chenault’s gently affecting, lugubriously paced, and near enough plotless film beautifully paints a portrait of Corey (Hamilton), a fume-huffing, bed-wetting teenaged boy, freshly back from summer camp (and about to be shipped off to another one), who wanders aimlessly around his small town neighbourhood, attempting to come to terms with his feelings for his friend Kenny (Dodd), whilst also dealing with the break-up of his parents’ marriage. Iain.Stott

A Man Escaped (1956)

2011-05-09T13:24:00.003+01:00

Highly Recommended

France

Feature Film

Original Title: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut

Director: Robert Bresson

Writers: Robert Bresson, André Devigny

Cinematographer: L.H. Burel

Cast: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod, Jacques Ertaud, Jean Paul Delhumeau, Roger Treherne

Based on the memoirs of André Devigny, Bresson’s engrossingly understated and largely (but for the odd burst of Mozart) beautifully low-key film follows the escape attempt of an imprisoned terrorist/resistance fighter at Fort Montluc, Lyon, in Nazi-occupied France in 1943, detailing from beginning to end his numerous feats of ingenuity and daring. Iain.Stott

I'm Here (2010)

2011-05-09T13:00:00.002+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Director: Spike Jonze

Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel

Composer: Sam Spiegel

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sienna Guillory

A lonely android (Garfield) falls for a happy-go-lucky robot (Guillory), and for a while all goes well, but when she develops a habit for losing appendages in unseen accidents, a habit that he, filled with love, can’t help but remedy with his own body parts, things begin to literally fall apart, in Jonze’s distinctive, melancholy short film. Iain.Stott

Cyrus (2010)

2011-05-09T11:55:00.004+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Directors: Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass

Cinematographer: Jas Shelton

Composer: Michael Andrews

Cast: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener, Matt Walsh

A lonely freelance editor, whose best friend is still his seven-years-divorced ex-wife, meets, against all the odds, a seemingly perfect woman; and all goes well until he meets her clingy, jealous 22-year-old son, who takes an instant disliking to him, in the Duplass brothers’ mildly entertaining, though never all that credible, vaguely mainstream comedy-drama. Iain.Stott

Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

2011-05-06T11:41:00.001+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Josh Radnor

Cinematographer: Seamus Tierney

Composer: Jaymay

Cast: Josh Radnor, Malin Akerman, Zoe Kazan, Kate Mara, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Hale, Michael Algieri

A struggling New York writer, his alopecia-suffering best friend, and his (not really a) cousin find their love lives complicated by, respectively, a lost orphan, a persistent, picture-taking co-worker, and a potential move to Los Angeles, in Radnor’s promising directorial debut, though somewhat less promising writing debut, which benefits from an assured visual touch and some likable performances, but suffers from an overly whimsical plot and some awkward dialogue. Iain.Stott

Paper Man (2009)

2011-05-01T09:58:00.003+01:00

Highly Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Directors: Kieran Mulroney, Michele Mulroney

Cinematographer: Eigil Bryld

Composer: Mark McAdam

Cast: Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Lisa Kudrow, Hunter Parrish, Kieran Culkin

A struggling middle-aged writer (along with his super-powered lifelong imaginary friend, Captain Excellent) decamps to an out-of-season seaside town to write his second novel, but instead forms an unlikely friendship with a lonely teenaged girl, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend and his wife, in Kieran and Michele Mulroney’s beautifully crafted, deftly played, and generally very affecting directorial debut. Iain.Stott

Doghouse (2009)

2011-04-30T12:32:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Feature Film

Director: Jake West

Writer: Dan Schaffer

Cinematographer: Ali Asad

Composer: Richard Wells

Cast: Stephen Graham, Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke, Emil Marwa, Lee Ingleby, Keith-Lee Castle, Terry Stone, Neil Maskell, Christina Cole

In order to cheer up one of their number following his recent divorce, a group of friends travel to a remote village for a booze-dripping, misogyny-laden lads’ weekend, but their plans are upset by the military testing of a biological weapon, which has turned all of the local women into man-eating zombirds, leaving them to flee for their lives, in Jake West’s sporadically entertaining zombie-comedy, which features some cracking one-liners and excellent effects work. Iain.Stott

4.3.2.1 (2010)

2011-04-30T11:51:00.003+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Feature Film

Directors: Noel Clarke, Mark Davis

Writer: Noel Clarke

Cinematographer: Franco Pezzino

Composers: Adam Lewis, Barnaby Robson

Cast: Emma Roberts, Tamsin Egerton, Ophelia Lovibond, Shanika Warren-Markland, Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Susannah Fielding, Jacob Anderson, Freddie Stroma, Linzey Cocker, Ben Drew, Ashley Thomas, Alan McKenna

Reminiscent of Doug Liman’s Go (1999), Clarke and Davis’s stylish and fun if somewhat inconsistent comedy-thriller draws together four interconnecting storylines featuring 4 girls (all friends) over 3 days in 2 different cities (London and New york), involving stolen diamonds, stolen virginities, stolen flat keys, stolen scenes (by cameoing stars), and an awful lot of attractive young women walking around in their underwear. Iain.Stott

Super (2010)

2011-04-29T10:56:00.006+01:00

See entry at 1000 Nights in the Dark.

Village of the Dolls (2010)

2011-04-28T21:35:00.005+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Documentary

Original Title: Marwencol

Director: Jeff Malmberg

Cinematographers: Jeff Malmberg, Tom Putnam, Matt Radecki, Kevin Walsh

Composers: Ash Black Bufflo

Featuring: Mark Hogancamp

Jeff Malmberg’s fascinating and insightful yet warm and witty documentary paints a portrait of Mark Hogancamp, a man in his mid-40s who, in order to deal with the trauma of being beaten (literally) senseless by five youths in a pub car park in the year 2000, retreats into a doll-populated fantasy world of Second World War heroes and villains, where he therapeutically works through his hopes and fears, photographing the action as he goes along. Iain.Stott

The Arbor (2010)

2011-04-28T16:10:00.005+01:00

Highly Recommended

Feature Documentary

Director: Clio Barnard

Cinematographer: Ole Bratt Birkeland

Composers: Harry Escott & Molly Nyman

Cast: Christine Bottomley, Neil Dudgeon, Robert Emms, Natalie Gavin, Manjinder Virk, George Costigan, Jimi Mistry, Monica Dolan, Neil Dudgeon

Strikingly photographed and disquietingly scored, Clio Barnard’s deliberate and innovative yet devastatingly moving documentary, filmed with actors lip-synching to recorded interviews and dramatized scenes from its subject’s eponymous play, gradually builds up a picture of the life of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and her legacy, with particular attention paid to the drug-fuelled plight of her eldest daughter, Lorraine, a young woman of mixed race who has known nothing but pain and suffering. Iain.Stott

CFB's Top 30 Films of 1946 (2011)

2011-04-26T15:27:00.001+01:00

Notorious (1946)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
La Belle et la Bête (1946)
Great Expectations (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
The Killers (1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Gilda (1946)
Shoeshine (1946)
Paisan (1946)
The Yearling (1946)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
The Dark Corner (1946)
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Green for Danger (1946)
Cluny Brown (1946)
Song of the South (1946)
The Murderers Are Among Us (1946)
Humoresque (1946)
The Razor’s Edge (1946)
To Each His Own (1946)
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
The Stranger (1946)
A Stolen Life (1946)
The Harvey Girls (1946)

CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1946 (2011)

2011-04-26T15:25:00.002+01:00

Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946)
Under the Bridges (1946)
Deadline at Dawn (1946)
Decoy (1946)
The Battle of the Rails (1946)
Five Women Around Utamaro (1946)
Margie (1946)
Gates of the Night (1946)
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
Let There Be Light (1946)
Strange Impersonation (1946)
Nocturne (1946)
Sister Kenny (1946)
My Reputation (1946)
The Bandit (1946)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Northwest Hounded Police (1946)
The Chase (1946)
Devotion (1946)
Enamorada (1946)
The Other One (1946)

ASIFA’s Top 50 Animated Short Films (2010)

2011-04-26T15:18:00.013+01:00

Dimensions of Dialogue (1982)
Tale of Tales (1980)
The Hand (1966)
Tango (1981)
The Street of Crocodiles (1986)
Harpya (1979)
The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
Tuning the Instruments (2000)
The Street (1977)
Ryan (2004)
Breakfast on the Grass (1987)
Pas de Deux (1968)
Father and Daughter (2000)
Satiemania (1978)
Repete (1995)
Creature Comforts (1989)
Balance (1989)
When the Day Breaks (2000)
Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
Mount Head (2002)
Hunger (1974)
The Big Snit (1985)
Hen, His Wife (1990)
Labirynt (1963)
Substitute (1961)
Le Nez (1963)
Felix in Exile (1994)
The Cow (1989)
Rowing Across the Atlantic (1978)
Two Sisters (1991)
Reflection (1979)
Asparagus (1979)
Luxo Jr. (1989)
Girls Night Out (1988)
The Hill Farm (1989)
Road to the Abyss (1992)
Hotel E (1992)
The Wrong Trousers (1993)
Sisyphus (1974)
Milk (2005)
Screenplay (1992)
Mindscape (1976)
Feelings of Mountains and Waters (1988)
Words, Words, Words (1991)
The Flying Man (1962)
Frank Film (1973)
The Thieving Magpie (1965)
Dojoji (1976)
The Roll Call (1970)
The Public Voice (1988)
Franz Kafka (1992)

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)

2011-04-18T16:23:00.005+01:00

Not Recommended

Spain/USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Woody Allen

Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond

Cast: Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Lucy Punch, Freida Pinto, Antonio Banderas

Rehashing a number of themes, characters, and scenarios from his earlier work, only with their heart ripped out and replaced with cynicism and bile, Allen’s London-set film casts a jaundiced eye over the coupling and uncoupling of a group of unhappy friends and family who are desperately trying to find comfort and meaning in their empty lives. Iain.Stott

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

2011-04-17T09:41:00.005+01:00

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Shane Black

Writers: Shane Black, Brett Halliday

Cinematographer: Michael Barrett

Composer: John Ottman

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen, Dash Mihok, Larry Miller, Rockmond Dunbar, Shannyn Sossamon

A petty criminal, via a fortuitous film audition-cum-escape attempt, is whisked off to Hollywood, where he attends the odd party, meets (after numerous years apart) the unrequited love of his life, becomes involved with a gay private detective, and accumulates several corpses whilst playing amateur sleuth, in Shane Black’s knowing, irreverent, and blackly comic action movie parody-cum-film noir homage. Iain.Stott

In Treatment (2008-)

2011-04-17T08:57:00.003+01:00

USA

Television Series

Developer: Rodrigo García

Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Forbes

Developed by Garcia from Ori Sivan’s Israeli series, Be'Tipul (2005-2008), this intelligent, surprisingly dramatic, and very well-acted if never entirely credible HBO drama follows the therapy sessions of Dr. Paul Weston with a number of his patients over a course several weeks, as he gently brings forth the demons that haunt them, whilst also confronting his own personal and professional problems.

Season 1 (2008)

In this consistently gripping first season, which was very closely modelled on its Israeli progenitor, Paul treats a young woman who has fallen in love with him during their sessions, an over confident navy pilot with 16 dead Iraqi children on his conscience, a suicidal 16-year-old gymnast (Mia Wasikowska, scintillating), and an ill-matched married couple going through a myriad of difficulties, whilst also monitoring his own problems with a former colleague. Iain.Stott

TONY's The 50 Best Documentaries of All Time (2010)

2011-04-12T17:29:00.002+01:00

Shoah (1985)
Sans Soleil (1983)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Night and Fog (1955)
Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
Dont Look Back (1967)
The War Game (1965)
Nanook of the North (1922)
Roger & Me (1989)
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Salesman (1968)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Triumph of the Will (1935)
Hearts and Minds (1974)
Crumb (1994)
Titticut Follies (1967)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Lake of Fire (2006)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hitler: A Film from Germany (1977)
High School (1968)
Empire (1964)
In the Year of the Pig (1968)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896)
The Gleaners & I (2000)
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Grey Gardens (1975)
Woodstock (1970)
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
The Up Series (1964-)
Sherman's March (1986)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Burden of Dreams (1982)
Point of Order (1964)
The Fog of War (2003)
Man on Wire (2008)
Monterey Pop (1968)
The Battle of Chile (1975-1979)
F for Fake (1974)
Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind (2007)
Grin Without a Cat (1977)
When We Were Kings (1996)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
The Last Waltz (1978)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Annecy International Animated Film Festival's Top 100 Animated Shorts (1906 - 2006)

2011-04-12T16:49:00.006+01:00

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Fantasmagorie (1908)
Dimensions of Dialogue (1983)
Crac (1981)
The Man Who Planted Trees (1988)
Tale of Tales (1980)
Night on Bald Mountain (1933)
A Colour Box (1935)
The Idea (1932)
The Street (1977)
Neighbours (1952)
Blinkity Blank (1955)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Harpya (1979)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Snow-White (1933)
Creature Comforts (1989)
Tango (1981)
Street of Crocodiles (1987)
Begone Dull Care (1949)
Le Petit Soldat (1947)
What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
Father and Daughter (2001)
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
The Hand (1966)
Steamboat Willie (1928)
Le Nez (1963)
The Thieving Magpie (1965)
Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950)
La Joie de Vivre (1934)
The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)
Pas de Deux (1968)
Hunger (1974)
Girls Night Out (1988)
Satiemania (1978)
Composition in Blue (1935)
Rowing Across the Atlantic (1978)
Moonbird (1959)
The Public Voice (1988)
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
Free Radicals (1958)
The Ride to the Abyss (1992)
Vincent (1982)
Franz Kafka (1992)
Dojoji (1976)
Two Sisters (1991)
Grey Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood (1991)
Balance (1989)
Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
When the Day Breaks (1999)
Rooty Toot Toot (1951)
The Skeleton Dance (1929)
King-Size Canary (1942)
Frank Film (1973)
The Flying Man (1962)
Egged On (1926)
Mindscape (1976)
Jumping (1984)
Harvie Krumpet (2003)
The Wrong Trousers (1993)
Broken Down Film (1985)
Damon the Mower (1972)
Fast Film (2003)
Geri's Game (1997)
Monsieur Tête (1959)
Ryan (2004)
Café Bar (1974)
Repete (1995)
Hen, His Wife (1990)
Mount Head (2002)
Invisible Ink (1921)
78 Tours (1986)
The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)
Closed Mondays (1974)
Cat's Cradle (1974)
The Three Inventors (1980)
The Big Snit (1986)
The Sandman (1991)
Blitz Wolf (1942)
Feelings of Mountains and Waters (1988)
The Lady and the Cellist (1965)
Le Chapeau (2000)
The Lion and the Song (1959)
Le Château de Sable (1977)
Apel (1971)
'A' (1965)
Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)
Tuning the Instruments (2000)
Le Pas (1975)
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936)
Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) (1975)
Au Bout du Monde (1998)
Felix in Exile (1994)
The Band Concert (1935)
The Concert of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal (1962)
Seiltänzer (1986)
Hotel E (1992)
Film, Film, Film (1968)
Les Jeux des Anges (1964)
Flux (2002)

Friday Night Dinner (2011-)

2011-04-11T14:24:00.004+01:00

Television Series

Creator: Robert Popper

Cast: Tamsin Greig, Simon Bird, Paul Ritter, Tom Rosenthal, Mark Heap

Each Friday evening, Adam and Jonny return to their family home for dinner with their dopey dad and long-suffering mum, a ritual often interrupted by their strange, pervy neighbour, Jim, and their own sophomoric pranks and japes, in Popper’s frequently hilarious and vaguely perceptive (if perhaps a little lightweight) family sitcom.

Series 1 (2011)

Girlfriends of debatable legitimacy, Greek blokes’ bums, collectible vs. crap, “females”, piss-yellow curtains, Bitch-Face’s Mercedes, foot-faced relatives’ weddings, and baby penises all compete for dinnertime conversation in this generally warm and very funny if hardly ground-breaking first series. Iain.Stott

The Killing (2007)

2011-04-09T09:17:00.003+01:00

Recommended

Denmark/Norway/Sweden

Television Mini-Series

Original Title: Forbrydelsen

Head Writer: Søren Sveistrup

Cast: Sofie Gråbøl, Lars Mikkelsen, Søren Malling, Bjarne Henriksen, Ann Eleonora Jørgensen, Marie Askehave, Michael Moritzen, Nicolaj Kopernikus, Bent Mejding, Johan Gry, Morten Suurballe, Farshad Kholghi

On her last day before leaving for a new life in Sweden, Sarah Lund, an obsessive police detective, gets drawn into a murder investigation, partnering up with her replacement to find the murderer of 19-year-old Nanna Birk Larsen, a case filled with twists, turns, and much political skulduggery, in Sveistrup’s hugely addictive, well acted, and often quite brilliant mini-series, which miraculously manages to survive its numerous clichés, its gratingly constant score, some occasionally over-zealous editing, and a horribly distracting star cameo. Iain.Stott

Happy Gypsies (1967)

2011-04-08T12:29:00.006+01:00

Cautiously Recommended

Yugoslavia

Feature Film

Original Title: Skupljaći perja

Writer/Director/Composer: Aleksandar Petrović

Cinematographer: Tomislav Pinter

Cast: Bekim Fehmiu, Olivera Vučo, Bata Živojinović, Gordana Jovanović, Mija Aleksić

A hard-drinking gypsy from a small town, when not losing heavily at cards or trying to avoid his ageing wife, whom he soon hopes to replace with a younger model, struggles manfully to build his goose feather business in the face of strong competition from a local rival, in Petrović’s sporadically humorous and mildly amusing film, which suffers somewhat from some rather wooden supporting performances and a couple of jolting plot turns. Iain.Stott

The Green Ray (1986)

2011-04-07T13:19:00.005+01:00

Highly Recommended

France

Feature Film

Original Title: Le rayon vert

Director: Eric Rohmer

Writers: Eric Rohmer, Marie Rivière

Cinematographer: Sophie Maintigneux

Composer: Jean-Louis Valéro

Cast: Marie Rivière, Lisa Hérédia, Béatrice Romand, Rosette, Eric Hamm, Carita, Joël Comarlot, Vincent Gauthier

Let down at the last minute by her friend and travelling companion, Delphine, a delicate young woman with cripplingly low self-esteem and equally cripplingly high standards, is forced to set off on her annual summer holidays alone, hoping (and, for the most part, failing) to find companionship and contentment, in Rohmer’s gently, unpredictably moving and painfully authentic feeling yet vaguely whimsical character study. Iain.Stott

Brimstone and Treacle (1976)

2011-04-07T12:31:00.008+01:00

Recommended

Television Film

Series Title: Play for Today (1970-1984)

Director: Barry Davis

Writer: Dennis Potter

Cinematographer: Peter Bartlett

Cast: Michael Kitchen, Denholm Elliott, Patricia Lawrence, Michelle Newell

Made to be shown as part of the BBC’s Play for Today strand in 1976, but not shown until 1987, Dennis Potter’s provocative and shocking yet thoughtful and intelligent play explores the effect that the Devil, masquerading as an old flame of their brain damaged daughter, has upon a middle-aged, middle-class couple when he imposes himself upon them, exposing their bigotries, hypocrisies, and moral inconsistencies as he indulges his dark desires. Iain.Stott

The Insurance Man (1986)

2011-04-05T13:48:00.006+01:00

Highly Recommended

Television Film

Series Title: Screen Two (1985-1994)

Director: Richard Eyre

Writer: Alan Bennett

Cinematographer: Nat Crosby

Composer: Ilona Sekacz

Cast: Robert Hines, Daniel Day Lewis, Jim Broadbent, Vivien Pickles, Geoffrey Palmer, Tessa Wojtczak, Katy Behean, Trevor Peacock, Alan MacNaughton

A middle-aged man in Nazi-occupied Prague with a lung condition tells his doctor of how he came to work briefly in an asbestos factory thirty years earlier, telling of how a mysterious skin condition, contracted whilst working at a dye factory, had led to his meeting, after a tortuous journey through a nightmarish, uncaring world of labyrinthine corridors and bureaucracy, a kindly young Jewish insurance adjuster, named Kranz Kafka, who took pity upon him, in Alan Bennett’s strikingly photographed, brilliantly written, and consummately performed television play. Iain.Stott

Dinner at Noon (1988)

2011-04-05T13:16:00.005+01:00

Highly Recommended

Short Television Documentary

Series Title: Byline (1988-1991)

Director: Stuart Burge

Writer/Presenter: Alan Bennett

Cinematographers: Mike Fox, Paola Ribeiro

In this wonderful little documentary, Alan Bennett spends time at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, quietly observing its varied clientele, whilst ruminating on the changing face of class structure and his own personal family history of hotel stays, warmly and wittily yet honestly and critically remembering his modest upbringing and the dinners at noon that it brought. Iain.Stott

CFB's Top 30 Films of 1985 (2011)

2011-04-04T14:46:00.001+01:00

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Ran (1985)
Brazil (1985)
After Hours (1985)
Come and See (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Vagabond (1985)
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
Witness (1985)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
My Life as a Dog (1985)
A Room with a View (1985)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Prizzi’s Honor (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Runaway Train (1985)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Lost in America (1985)
The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
The Official Story (1985)
The Quiet Earth (1985)
Shoah (1985)
Colonel Redl (1985)
Re-Animator (1985)
Tampopo (1985)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1985 (2011)

2011-04-04T14:38:00.002+01:00

Taipei Story (1985)
Wetherby (1985)
Broken Down Film (1985)
Alamo Bay (1985)
Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1985)
Angry Harvest (1985)
An Early Frost (1985)
Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti (1985)
Treasure Island (1985)
Turtle Diary (1985)
Compromising Positions (1985)
A Gentle Spirit (1985)
Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme (1985)
Tea in the Harem (1985)
Wuthering Heights (1985)
The Satin Slipper (1985)
Letter to Brezhnev (1985)
Favourites of the Moon (1985)
The Story of the Voyages (1985)
Bayan Ko: My Own Country (1985)