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Saturday, 27 November 2010

Paranoid (2000)

Posted on 10:31 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Writer/Director: John Duigan
Cinematographer: Slawomir Idziak
Composer: Charlie Mole
Cast: Jessica Alba, Iain Glen, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ewen Bremner, Kevin Whately, Mischa Barton, Gary Love

An American model, just returned to her London home from a New York fashion show, accompanies her potential new boyfriend to a house party in Devon, which is hosted by a former rock star who uses these little shindigs to drug and sexually abuse all of the young ingénues that he and his former band mates manage to entice there, in Duigan’s strangely alluring but decidedly grubby little thriller, which manages to survive some strange and strained plotting and mixed quality performances, thanks mainly to Idziak’s outstanding, atmospheric photography – though the film is most notable (and admirable) for creating one of cinema’s most unlikely heroes. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Thursday, 25 November 2010

The Telegraph's 50 Most Underrated Films of All Time (2010)

Posted on 03:38 by khali

  1. The Gigolos (2006)
  2. Resurrected (1989)
  3. Meet the Applegates (1990)
  4. Adam and Paul (2004)
  5. Innocent Moves (1993)
  6. The Dead Girl (2006)
  7. P.S. (2004)
  8. Signs and Wonders (2000)
  9. The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995)
  10. Osmosis Jones (2001)
  11. They Came Back (2004)
  12. Max (2002)
  13. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
  14. Alferd Packer: the Musical (1993)
  15. The Mighty (1998)
  16. Judge Priest (1934)
  17. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
  18. Haze (2005)
  19. Better off Dead… (1985)
  20. Comfort and Joy (1984)
  21. Brain Dead (1990)
  22. Waydowntown (2000)
  23. Session 9 (2001)
  24. Perfect Blue (1998)
  25. Handsworth Songs (1986)
  26. An Impudent Girl (1985)
  27. Kafka (1991)
  28. Stir of Echoes (1999)
  29. River's Edge (1986)
  30. Fearless (1993)
  31. Heartlands (2002)
  32. The City of Lost Children (1995)
  33. Suddenly (1954)
  34. Lagaan (2001)
  35. Body Snatchers (1993)
  36. Ace in the Hole (1951)
  37. Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)
  38. Last Night (1998)
  39. The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993)
  40. What's Up, Doc? (1972)
  41. Cube (1997)
  42. Simple Men (1992)
  43. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
  44. Xala (1975)
  45. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
  46. Clean, Shaven (1993)
  47. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
  48. Sátántangó (1994)
  49. Open Your Eyes (1997)
  50. The Fountainhead (1949)

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Resurrected (1989)

Posted on 03:05 by khali
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Martin Allen
Cinematographer: Ivan Strasburg
Composer: John Keane
Cast: David Thewlis, Tom Bell, Rita Tushingham, David Thewlis, Rudi Davies, Michael Pollitt, Christopher Fulford, Ewan Stewart, David Lonsdale

Seven weeks after disappearing during the Falkland war, British soldier Kevin Deakin (Thewlis, excellent) returns from the dead, claiming insomnia, and returns to England and his small Lancashire village a hero; but when the tabloid press begin to insinuate that he was a deserter, his family, friends, and fellow soldiers begin to turn on him, in Greengrass’s painfully authentic feeling examination of the way that people can be so easily swayed by the less conscientious elements of the media. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Posted on 05:14 by khali
Essential Viewing
France/Japan
Feature Film
Original Title: Hiroshima mon amour
Director: Alain Resnais
Writer: Marguerite Duras
Cinematographers: Takahashi Michio, Sacha Vierny
Composers: Georges Delerue, Giovanni Fusco
Cast: Emmanuelle Riva, Okada Eiji

A married French actress, in Hiroshima making a film about peace, and a married Japanese man share a brief, intense affair, which brings to the fore memories – beautiful, painful, and tragically fading – of her first love, with a young German soldier during the Nazi occupation, in Resnais’s provocative and affecting examination of love, desire, and memory. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Japan | No comments

Bo (2010)

Posted on 04:06 by khali
Recommended
Belgium
Feature Film
Director: Hans Herbots
Writers: Hans Herbots, Nele Meirhaeghe, Christian Vervaet, Dirk Bracke
Cinematographer: Danny Elsen
Composer: Senjan Jansen
Cast: Ella-June Henrard, Ina Geerts, Kalina Malehounova, Thomas Ryckewaert, Anemone Valcke, Laura Ballyn

A pretty fifteen-year-old from a struggling working class family, fed-up with never being able to afford designer clothing, takes a job as an escort to make some extra money; but Deborah (aka Bo) soon finds the task of juggling school, home, and underage prostitution to be decidedly impractical and increasingly unpleasant, in Herbots’s delicate and affecting if vaguely familiar film, which benefits greatly from Henrard’s assured turn. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Belgium, Feature Film | No comments

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

Them (2006)

Posted on 12:00 by khali
Not Recommended
France/Romania
Feature Film
Original Title: Ils
Writer/Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Cinematographer: Axel Cosnefroy
Composer: René-Marc Bini
Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Moca, Maria Roman, Camelia Maxim, Alexandru Boghiu

An attractive, bourgeois French couple are terrorised in their remote Romanian mansion by a group of hooded, feral youths for no apparent reason, forcing them to flee frantically into the surrounding woods in search of help, in Moreau and Palud’s generally well-crafted and pleasingly understated horror film, which (fatally) lacks any real tension, suspense, or visceral thrills. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Romania | No comments

Easy A (2010)

Posted on 04:30 by khali
Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Will Gluck
Writer: Bert V. Royal
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Composer: Brad Segal
Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci

When false tales of a teenaged girl’s loss of virginity begin to spread through her high school, she not only fails to refute them, but she wholeheartedly embraces and embellishes upon them, and before long is exchanging fabricated tales of sexual conquests with geeky classmates for gift vouchers and the like; but, of course, before long things begin to get a little out of hand, in Gluck’s perkily entertaining comedy, which benefits greatly from Stone’s tremendously charismatic central performance and some delightful supporting turns in the adult roles. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Monday, 22 November 2010

The Pleasure Garden (1953)

Posted on 12:44 by khali
Not Recommended
UK
Short Film
Writer/Director: James Broughton
Cinematographer: Walter Lassally
Composer: Stanley Bate
Cast: Hattie Jacques, John Le Mesurier, Jill Bennett, Jean Anderson, Maxine Audley, Gladys Spencer

In Broughton’s mildly diverting curio, Le Mesurier’s officious park warden, intent upon banning or sanitising everyone’s fun, and Jacques’s magic stole-carrying pixie, intent upon bringing pleasure to the same, battle for control of an overgrown park. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Film, UK | No comments

Hotel (2004)

Posted on 11:52 by khali
Essential Viewing
Austria/France/Germany
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Jessica Hausner
Cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht
Cast: Franziska Weisz, Birgit Minichmayr, Marlene Streeruwitz, Rosa Waissnix, Christopher Schärf, Peter Strauß, Regina Fritsch, Alfred Worel

A young woman, leaving behind the comforts of home, takes a job as a receptionist at a remote hotel in heavily wooded provincial Austria, situated near a cave that once housed a famous 16th century witch – The Lady of the Woods – replacing another girl who had just recently disappeared, and finds adjusting to her new lifestyle and surroundings eerily difficult, in Hausner’s beautifully paced, elegantly shot, and simultaneously alluring and disquieting allegorical mystery. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Austria, Feature Film, France, Germany | No comments

Explorers (1985)

Posted on 07:05 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Eric Luke
Cinematographer: John Hora
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson, Amanda Peterson, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, Karen Mayo-Chandler

Three social misfits – a sci-fi nut, a science whiz, and a kid from the wrong side of the tracks – band together to build a spaceship, the design of which coming from one of their dreams, and set off into space in search of their alien benefactors, in Dante’s imaginative and generally entertaining if rather underdeveloped feeling kids’ film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Sunday, 21 November 2010

The Girl Next Door (2004)

Posted on 06:35 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/Switzerland
Feature Film
Director: Luke Greenfield
Writers: Stuart Blumberg, Brent Goldberg, David T. Wagner
Cinematographer: Jamie Anderson
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, James Remar, Chris Marquette, Paul Dano

A well-behaved aspiring politician, about to graduate from high school, competing for a morale fibre scholarship to Georgetown University, falls in love with the girl next door, who just so happens to be an 18-year-old retired porn star, a turn of events which soon puts his previously rosy-looking future in doubt, in Greenberg’s surprisingly sweet and generally entertaining if rather familiar feeling teen rom-com. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Switzerland, USA | No comments

Saturday, 20 November 2010

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Posted on 04:23 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA
Animated Feature Film
Director: Lee Unkrich
Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Composer: Randy Newman
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson

About to leave for college, Andy must decide which of his possessions (including his childhood toys) he wishes to take with him, which he wishes to store in the loft, and which he wishes to donate to charity; but when fate plays a hand, taking the decision out of his, his old toys find themselves donated to a nursery, which is presided over like a prison camp by an embittered old teddy bear, from which they desperately try to escape, in this generally entertaining though somewhat sentimental third Toy Story film. Iain.Stott

Follows Toy Story 2 (1999).
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Posted in Animated Feature Film, USA | No comments

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Posted on 04:04 by khali
Recommended
USA
Animated Feature Film
Director: John Lasseter
Writers: Doug Chamberlin, Rita Hsiao, Andrew Stanton, Chris Webb, Ash Brannon, Pete Docter, John Lasseter
Cinematographer: Sharon Calahan
Composer: Randy Newman
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Wayne Knight

When he is stolen by an obnoxious toy collector, woody, who is introduced to his television stardom origins by his fellow collectors items, finds himself torn between returning home to Andy and his old friends (who are in the midst of staging a daring rescue attempt), and joining his new ones in a toy museum in Tokyo, in Lasseter’s inventive, action-packed sequel to his ground-breaking 1995 film. Iain.Stott

Followed by Toy Story 3 (2010).
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Toy Story (1995)

Posted on 03:09 by khali
Recommended
USA
Animated Feature Film
Director: John Lasseter
Writers: Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
Composer: Randy Newman
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, John Morris, Erik von Detten

When Andy gets a Buzz Lightyear figure for his birthday, Woody, a toy cowboy who used to be the boy's favourite, becomes filled with jealousy; and so, when said space ranger is knocked out of the window (vaguely accidentally), Woody is ostracised by his fellow toys, who suspect him of foul play, and must stage a daring rescue in order to win back their trust, in Lasseter’s inventive, funny, and slickly animated film, which should appeal as much to adults as to children. Iain.Stott

Followed by Toy Story 2 (1999).
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Posted in Animated Feature Film, USA | No comments

Friday, 19 November 2010

Gaslight (1940)

Posted on 05:00 by khali
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Thorold Dickinson
Writers: Bridget Boland, A.R. Rawlinson, Patrick Hamilton
Cinematographer: Bernard Knowles
Composer: Richard Addinsell
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton, Minnie Rayner, Jimmy Hanley

A man (Walbrook, deliciously sinister) systematically attempts to drive his sweet natured wife (Wynyard, outstanding) insane, in order to cover up a grisly secret from his past, but, unbeknownst to him, a retired policeman is quietly investigating his nefarious actions, in Dickinson’s stylish, inventively directed, and wonderfully acted 1880s set thriller. Iain.Stott

Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light was subsequently adapted as Gaslight (1944).
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Strike! (1998)

Posted on 04:51 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/Canada
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Sarah Kernochan
Cinematographer: Anthony Janelli
Composer: Graeme Revell
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, Rachael Leigh Cook, Thomas Guiry, Vincent Kartheiser, Monica Keena, Matthew Lawrence, Heather Matarazzo, Merritt Wever

If you can palate a bunch of young, attractive, stinking rich, white Americans bemoaning their lot in life, Kernochan’s warm and witty comedy, a tale of private boarding school girls desperately resisting their venerable institution’s intention to merge with a boy’s one, is a film that may just prove to be a diverting one. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Canada, Feature Film, USA | No comments

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Venice, 2010

Posted on 10:19 by khali

Golden Lion
Somewhere (2010)

Silver Lion for the best director
Álex de la Iglesia, A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)

Special Jury Prize
Essential Killing (2010)

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actor
Vincent Gallo, Essential Killing (2010)

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress
Ariane Labed, Attenberg (2010)

Premio Marcello Mastroianni, for the best emerging actor or actress
Mila Kunis, Black Swan (2010)

Osella for Best Cinematography
Mikhail Krichman, Silent Souls (2010)

Osella for Best Screenplay
Álex de la Iglesia, A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)

Special Lion for Overall Work
Monte Hellman

Luigi de Laurentis Award for a Debut Film
Majority (2010)


In Competition

  • Attenberg (2010)
  • Barney's Version (2010)
  • Black Swan (2010)
  • Black Venus (2010)
  • Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)
  • The Ditch (2010)
  • Essential Killing (2010)
  • Happy Few (2010)
  • Meek's Cutoff (2010)
  • Miral (2010)
  • Noi Credevamo (2010)
  • Norwegian Wood (2010)
  • La Passione (2010)
  • La Pecora Nera (2010)
  • Post Mortem (2010)
  • Promises Written in Water (2010)
  • Road to Nowhere (2010)
  • A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)
  • Silent Souls (2010)
  • The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2010)
  • Somewhere (2010)
  • Thirteen Assassins (2010)
  • Three (2010)
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The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

Posted on 01:18 by khali
Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: Grant Heslov
Writers: Peter Straughan, Jon Ronson
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Composer: Rolfe Kent
Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick

After his wife leaves him for his boss, Bob Wilton, a small-town journalist, goes to Iraq with the idea of proving something or other to her, but ends up wandering the desert with Lyn Cassady, a self-confessed psychic warrior, who regales him with tales of super powered soldiers and dead goats, in Heslov’s satirical, unpredictable, and frequently hilarious shaggy dog story. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

The House of the Devil (2009)

Posted on 12:55 by khali
Not Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Ti West
Cinematographer: Eliot Rockett
Composer: Jeff Grace
Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, AJ Bowen

West’s slowburn, ‘70s set (and styled) horror film does a good job of setting the scene for its bloody finish, as it follows Donahue’s cash-strapped university student to a babysitting job, which turns out to be not quite what she expected; but when said finale does arrive, it all feels rather rushed, and much of it is decidedly nonsensical. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

The Crazies (2010)

Posted on 09:01 by khali
Recommended
USA/UAE
Feature Film
Director: Breck Eisner
Writers: Scott Kosar, Ray Wright, George A. Romero
Cinematographer: Maxime Alexandre
Composer: Mark Isham
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker

Following the outbreak of a virus that leaves its victims irrationally and homicidally angry, the military swoops down on the small town at its epicentre determined to wipe-out every last trace of it, leaving the few remaining unaffected townsfolk with two sets of blood thirsty animals to run from, in Eisner’s polished and worthy remake of Romero’s 1973 film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UAE, USA | No comments

Under the Bombs (2007)

Posted on 05:12 by khali
Recommended
Lebanon/France/UK
Feature Film
Original Title: تحت القصف
Director: Philippe Aractingi
Writers: Philippe Aractingi, Michel Léviant
Cinematographer: Nidal Abdel Khalek
Composers: René Aubry, Lazare Boghossian
Cast: Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab

After the declaration of the UN monitored ceasefire following Israel’s 33 day bombardment of South Lebanon in 2006, a wealthy expat (Abou Farhat, outstanding), who is having marital troubles, returns to her hometown in search of her 6-year-old son, who was staying with her sister at the onset of hostilities, aided by an opportunistic taxi driver, who dreams of one day opening a restaurant in Germany with his brother, in Aractingi’s painfully authentic film, a potent and affecting mix of documentary and drama. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Lebanon, UK | No comments

Jonny Vang (2003)

Posted on 04:47 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
Norway
Feature Film
Director: Jens Lien
Writer: Ståle Stein Berg
Cinematographers: Philip Øgaard & Erling Thurmann-Andersen
Composers: Calexico
Cast: Aksel Hennie, Laila Goody, Fridtjov Såheim, Marit Adeleide Andreassen, Bjørn Sundquist, Nils Vogt, Anders Ødegård

When a number of attempts are made on the life of loveable loser Jonny Vang, a budding worm farmer who is having an affair with his best friend’s wife, he finds it very difficult to get anyone in his tiny, rural hometown to take his plight seriously, leaving him to vainly plough on with his dream alone, in Lien’s entertaining and unpredictable if rather lightweight black farce. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Norway | No comments

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Posted on 04:23 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
UK/USA
Feature Film
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael, Arthur Schnitzler
Cinematographer: Larry Smith
Composer: Jocelyn Pook
Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Julienne Davis, Rade Sherbedgia, Vinessa Shaw, Todd Field

A chance meeting with an old pianist friend, a late night fight with his beautiful wife, and the death of a patient all combine to put Tom Cruise's wealthy Manhattan doctor on a path towards a mystery filled with sex, intrigue, and dead hookers, in Kubrick’s frequently brilliant, often baffling, and at times really quite silly final film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1978 (2010)

Posted on 05:36 by khali

  1. Knife in the Head (1978)
  2. Satiemania (1978)
  3. Remember My Name (1978)
  4. Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (1978)
  5. Vertical Features Remake (1978)
  6. Hell Without Limits (1978)
  7. Stevie (1978)
  8. King of the Gypsies (1978)
  9. Movie Movie (1978)
  10. Without Anesthesia (1978)
  11. Moliere (1978)
  12. China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)
  13. Ringing Bell (1978)
  14. A Walk Through H (1978)
  15. El Paso Wrecking Corp. (1978)
    Alexandria … Why? (1978)
    No Man’s Land (1978)
    Les Mains Négatives (1978)
    Northern Lights (1978)
    Scared Straight! (1978)
    Special Delivery (1978)
    The Lion’s Share (1978)
    Lmno (1978)

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CFB's Top 30 Films of 1978 (2010)

Posted on 05:23 by khali

  1. The Deer Hunter (1978)
  2. Days of Heaven (1978)
  3. Autumn Sonata (1978)
  4. Interiors (1978)
  5. Halloween (1978)
  6. Superman (1978)
  7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
  8. Death on the Nile (1978)
  9. Midnight Express (1978)
  10. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
  11. Coming Home (1978)
  12. Pretty Baby (1978)
  13. An Unmarried Woman (1978)
  14. The Silent Partner (1978)
  15. The Last Waltz (1978)
  16. Straight Time (1978)
  17. Animal House (1978)
  18. Grease (1978)
  19. Preparez Vos Mouchoirs (1978)
  20. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
  21. Blue Collar (1978)
  22. Watership Down (1978)
  23. A Wedding (1978)
  24. Coma (1978)
    Heaven Can Wait (1978)
    The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (1978)
  25. Perceval le Gallois (1978)
  26. La Cage aux Folles (1978)
  27. Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978)
  28. In the Year of the 13 Moons (1978)

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On the Streets (2010)

Posted on 04:20 by khali
Recommended
UK
Television Documentary
Director: Penny Woolcock
Composer: Rob Manning

Film-maker Woolcock spent eight months following and interviewing members of London’s homeless community to make this powerful documentary, gently teasing out their back stories – some painfully believable, others laughably not (but no less revealing) – attempting to find reasons for their continuing plights, from self-confessed Reggie Perrins and environmental activists to abuse victims and suicidal Eastern Europeans. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Documentary, UK | No comments

Winter's Bone (2010)

Posted on 03:53 by khali
Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell
Cinematographer: Michael McDonough
Composer: Dickon Hinchliffe
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Kevin Breznahan, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Shelley Waggener, Lauren Sweetser

A tough 17-year-old, who has become the sole means of care for her two younger siblings and her mentally ill mother, desperately searches for her bail jumping father when it becomes apparent that he has put up their house for his bond, but meets with nothing but resistance from her family and neighbours, in Granik’s understated, well acted, and decidedly downbeat thriller. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Monday, 15 November 2010

Chicken Run (2000)

Posted on 07:38 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
UK/France/USA
Feature Film
Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, Peter Lord, Nick Park
Cinematographers: Tristan Oliver, Frank Passingham
Composers: Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell
Cast: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson, Tony Haygarth, Benjamin Whitrow, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Jane Horrocks

Though hamstrung considerably by the horribly inexpressive faces of its feathered protagonists, Lord and Park’s stop motion feature debut, which follows the escape attempts of a coop full of chickens, aided by a brash American circus rooster, who hope to escape the nefarious Mrs. Tweedy's new pie machine, still makes for some good, parodic entertainment. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, UK, USA | No comments

El Topo (1970)

Posted on 07:15 by khali
Recommended
Mexico
Feature Film
Original Title: El topo
Writer/Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Cinematographer: Rafael Corkidi
Composers: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Nacho Méndez
Cast: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, Brontis Jodorowsky, Robert John, Jacqueline Luis, Julien de Meriche, Paula Romo

A wandering gunslinger abandons his perma-naked seven-year-old son to be with a woman that he has just met, who challenges him to kill the desert’s four greatest gunfighters in order to earn her love, before becoming a Christ-like figure to a mountain dwelling community of incest-induced cripples, in Jodorowsky’s frequently hilarious, irony-drenched, and generally rather bonkers allegorical western. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Mexico | No comments

Sunday, 14 November 2010

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Posted on 04:47 by khali
Best Avoided
USA/UK
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Wes Craven
Cinematographer: Jacques Haitkin
Composer: Charles Bernstein
Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, John Saxon, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri

Filled with crummy dialogue, hammy performances, and dodgy effects work, Craven’s admittedly stylish tale of a murdered serial killer enacting vengeance upon the children of his killers through their dreams provides, in some parts at least, good, camp, unintentionally funny, post-pub entertainment – in other parts, though, it is merely embarrassing. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Pieces of April (2003)

Posted on 03:20 by khali
Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Peter Hedges
Cinematographer: Tami Reiker
Composer: Stephin Merritt
Cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sean Hayes

April, the black sheep of the family, now living in a rundown area of New York, is busily preparing dinner for her soon-to-arrive parents and siblings when she realises that her oven isn’t working, leaving her to search desperately amongst her neighbours for a spare one to use, hoping to make what may be her mother’s final Thanksgiving (she is suffering from cancer) perfect, despite the fact that they have never got on together, in Hedges’s gentle, affecting, and (despite its somewhat hokey premise) generally quite delightful comedy-drama – some of the humour misses a little, though. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Heartbreaker (2010)

Posted on 03:01 by khali
Not Recommended
France/USA
Feature Film
Original Title: L'arnacoeur
Director: Pascal Chaumeil
Writers: Jeremy Doner, Yohan Gromb, Laurent Zeitoun
Cinematographer: Thierry Arbogast
Composer: Klaus Badelt
Cast: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, François Damiens, Héléna Noguerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jacques Frantz

Against his better judgement (the case doesn’t strictly meet with his usual criteria), but made necessary by financial need, Alex, a man who offers a service to break up relationships by seducing the female party, agrees to come between a beautiful heiress and her handsome English fiancé, but matters are complicated somewhat when he gradually finds himself falling for her, in Chaumeil’s charmingly played and sporadically entertaining yet horribly predictable and decidedly lightweight rom-com. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, USA | No comments

Friday, 12 November 2010

A Colt Is My Passport (1967)

Posted on 04:53 by khali
Recommended
Japan
Feature Film
Original Title: 拳銃は俺のパスポート
Director: Nomura Takashi
Writers: Nagahara Shuichi, Yamada Nobuo, Fujiwara Shinji
Cinematographer: Mine Shigeyoshi
Composer: Ibe Harumi
Cast: Shishido Jō, Kobayashi Chitose, Fujio Jerry, Fukae Shoki, Yamada Zenji, Esumi Eimei, Hongō Jun

After killing a gang boss at the behest of a rival, Shuji, an expert hitman, and Shun, his more naïve accomplice, find the act of leaving the country particularly difficult, a task made even more so when the two gangs join forces, leaving them (but for a kind maid) all on their own, in Nomura’s stylish and suspenseful gangster film-cum-pseudo western. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Japan | No comments

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Posted on 04:32 by khali
Highly Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Spike Jonze
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Cinematographer: Lance Acord
Composer: Carter Burwell
Cast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Orson Bean

A talented but struggling puppeteer, forced to take a job as a file clerk, discovers a portal that leads directly into the brain of John Malkovich, allowing whoever travels through it to see the world through the eyes of the renowned actor for 15 minutes, which he, along with his wife and an attractive work colleague (whom they both fall for), look to exploit, in Jonze and Kaufman’s intelligent, imaginative, and often hilarious existential comedy-drama. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Brazil (1985)

Posted on 03:48 by khali
Highly Recommended
UK/USA
Feature Film
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown, Tom Stoppard
Cinematographer: Roger Pratt
Composer: Michael Kamen
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Jim Broadbent

A mild mannered records clerk, the only child of a wealthy and powerful family, reluctantly finds himself on the way to the top when his mother finagles him a promotion to Information Retrieval; but after meeting the girl of his dreams, a suspected terrorist, his future suddenly seems quite bleak, in Gilliam’s frequently hilarious, hugely visually imaginative, and ever relevant dystopian fantasy. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Thursday, 11 November 2010

The Song of Lunch (2010)

Posted on 07:34 by khali
Recommended
UK
Short Television Film
Director: Niall MacCormick
Writers: Niall MacCormick, Christopher Reid
Cinematographer: Jan Jonaeus
Composer: Srdjan Kupjel
Cast: Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson

Adapted from Christopher Reid’s 2009 narrative poem, a pathos-laden look at the horrors of middle-age, MacCormick’s sensual short film depicts a boozy, acrimonious lunch between a cynical book editor and an old flame, whom he has not seen for fifteen years, in one of their old haunts. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Film, UK | No comments

Clean, Shaven (1993)

Posted on 02:59 by khali
Highly Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Lodge Kerrigan
Cinematographer: Teodoro Maniaci
Composer: Hahn Rowe
Cast: Peter Greene, Robert Albert, Megan Owen, Jennifer MacDonald, Molly Castelloe

A schizophrenic ex-con, desperately searching for his estranged daughter, and a grizzled detective, searching for a the killer of a young girl, arrive in a small coastal town at about the same time, with their paths seemingly destined to cross, in Kerrigan’s disquieting and horrific yet compassionate portrait of severe mental illness. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Posted on 13:00 by khali
Highly Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director/Composer: Clint Eastwood
Writers: William Broyles Jr., Paul Haggis, James Bradley, Ron Powers
Cinematographer: Tom Stern
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough, Melanie Lynskey

Three US Marines, captured in an iconic photograph of a flag raising in the midst of the battle for Iwo Jima, cope markedly differently with the fame and attention heaped upon them by a war weary nation during a war bonds fundraising tour, in Eastwood’s horrific, affecting, and painfully authentic feeling exploration of propaganda, the myth of heroism, and the multifaceted tragedies or war and its aftermath. Iain.Stott

See also Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Slave of Love (1976)

Posted on 04:36 by khali
Recommended
Soviet Union
Feature Film
Original Title: Раба любви
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Writers: Fridrikh Gorenshtein, Andrey Mikhalkov-Konchalovskiy
Cinematographer: Pavel Lebeshev
Composer: Eduard Artemiev
Cast: Yelena Solovey, Rodion Nahapetov, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Oleg Basilashvili, Konstantin Grigoryev, Nikolai Pastukhov

Whilst the 1917 revolution rages across the country, Olga a popular silent film star, in balmy southern Russia filming her latest opus, falls in love with the production’s cameraman, a covert revolutionary who awakens her political consciousness, and becomes increasingly involved in the uprising, in Mikhalkov’s stylish and wistfully romantic period piece. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Soviet Union | No comments

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Posted on 03:38 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Composer: Nicholas Hooper
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter, Bonnie Wright, Frank Dillane

There’s more romance and humour, and the starry cameos continue to rack up, but this sixth Hogwarts film, in which we learn more about Lord Voldemort’s past and of his potential weakness, sees Harry Potter (and the film series) essentially treading water, patiently setting up the climactic battles set to follow in the final films. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

The Prestige (2006)

Posted on 03:11 by khali
Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Priest
Cinematographer: Wally Pfister
Composer: David Julyan
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Samantha Mahurin, David Bowie, Andy Serkis

Nolan’s gorgeously shot, expertly structured, and slyly entertaining adaptation of Priest’s late 19th century set science fiction novel depicts the obsessive rivalry that builds up between two successful magicians, former friends and colleagues, after the onstage death of one of their wives, following their increasingly desperate attempts to one-up each other. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Posted on 06:30 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: David Yates
Writers: Michael Goldenberg, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: Slawomir Idziak
Composer: Nicholas Hooper
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Evanna Lynch, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs

With the ministry disinclined to believe his account of the return of Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter spends the majority of his fifth year at Hogwarts fighting bureaucracy, wilful ignorance, and political backbiting rather than evil, in this latest instalment of the popular series, its darkest and most accomplished episode to date. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Monday, 8 November 2010

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Posted on 08:49 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: Mike Newell
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: Roger Pratt
Composer: Patrick Doyle
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Pattinson, Miranda Richardson, Timothy Spall, David Tennant

When Harry Potter becomes the surprise fourth competitor in The Triwizard Tournament, a potentially deadly magical contest between three schools to find the year’s champion wizard, not everyone (including Harry himself) is overly pleased by the perplexing and vaguely troubling turn of events, in this pleasingly dark and relatively scary fourth Hogwarts film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Posted on 06:13 by khali
Cautiously Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: Michael Seresin
Composer: John Williams
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Emma Thompson, Tom Felton

When convicted murderer Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban prison, rumours of his allegiance to Lord Voldemort and hatred of Harry Potter begin to circulate, leaving one and all to fear for the life of our bespectacled young hero, in this playful, imaginative, and stylish third Rowling adaptation. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Sunday, 7 November 2010

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Posted on 08:06 by khali
Not Recommended
USA/Germany/UK
Feature Film
Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: Roger Pratt
Composer: John Williams
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Christian Coulson

Though the effects and juvenile performances have largely been improved upon, this second Harry Potter adaptation is generally less entertaining than the first one, due in no small part to the interminable, gooily sentimental final ten minutes; never the less, its gently humorous, adventure laden core makes it, in the main, diverting enough. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Germany, UK, USA | No comments

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Posted on 07:45 by khali
Not Recommended
USA/UK
Feature Film
Original Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cinematographer: John Seale
Composer: John Williams
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Ian Hart, Tom Felton

After living the first eleven years of his life with his non-magical aunt and uncle, following the death of his witch mother and wizard father, Harry Potter, unaware of his mystical heritage, is whisked off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he is soon making new friends and enemies, and getting into various scrapes and adventures, in this amiable, mildly diverting adaptation of Rowling’s popular children’s book. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments
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      • Paranoid (2000)
      • The Telegraph's 50 Most Underrated Films of All Ti...
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