A Band Apart: Greatest Films Poll (2011)

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which I drew up a couple of months ago (reproduced underneath the main results below), already feels (inevitably) out of date.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Pulp Fiction (1994)
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
4. Stalker (1979)
5. Persona (1966)
6. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
7. Mirror (1975)
8. City Lights (1931)
9. The Godfather (1972)
10. Apocalypse Now (1979)
11. À Bout de Souffle (1960)
12. Vertigo (1958)
13. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
14. 8½ (1963)
15. Citizen Kane (1941)
16. Andrei Rublev (1966)
17. Psycho (1960)
18. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
19. Come and See (1985)
20. M (1931)
21. The Seventh Seal (1957)
22. The Shining (1980)
23. Wild Strawberries (1957)
24. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
25. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
26. Seven Samurai (1954)
27. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
28. Metropolis (1927)
29. In the Mood for Love (2000)
30. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
31. Blow Up (1966)
32. La Dolce Vita (1960)
33. Casablanca (1942)
34. Blue Velvet (1986)
35. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
36. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
37. Dead Man (1995)
38. Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
39. The Four Hundred Blows (1959)
40. Barry Lyndon (1975)
41. Wings of Desire (1987)
42. Goodfellas (1990)
43. Chinatown (1974)
44. Sunrise (1927)
45. 12 Angry Men (1957)
46. Blade Runner (1982)
47. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
48. The Big Lebowski (1998)
49. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
50. L'Eclisse (1962)
51. Rashomon (1950)
52. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
53. Le Samourai (1967)
54. The Conformist (1970)
55. The Third Man (1949)
56. Sátántangó (1994)
57. Solaris (1972)
58. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
59. Rear Window (1954)
60. Double Indemnity (1944)
61. Last Year in Marienbad (1961)
62. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
63. Raging Bull (1980)
64. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
65. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
66. Ordet (1955)
67. Paths of Glory (1957)
68. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
69. Schindler’s List (1993)
70. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
71. Tokyo Story (1953)
72. Some Like It Hot (1959)
73. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
74. Modern Times (1936)
75. Se7en (1995)
76. Dogville (2003)
77. The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
78. Viridiana (1961)
79. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
80. Annie Hall (1977)
81. L'Atalante (1934)
82. Dekalog (1989)
83. The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
84. Woman of the Dunes (1964)
85. There Will Be Blood (2007)
86. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
87. Chungking Express (1994)
88. Pather Panchali (1955)
89. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
90. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
91. Days of Heaven (1978)
92. Badlands (1973)
93. Alien (1979)
94. L'Avventura (1960)
95. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
96. Fight Club (1999)
97. Manhattan (1979)
98. The Ascent (1977)
99. Cries and Whispers (1972)
100. The Thin Red Line (1998)
101. Landscape in the Mist (1988)
102. The Last Picture Show (1971)
103. Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
104. La Règle du Jeu (1939)
105. The Graduate (1967)
106. Playtime (1967)
107. The General (1927)
108. Three Colours: Blue (1993)
109. The Tree of Life (2011)
110. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
111. Back to the Future (1985)
112. Death in Venice (1971)
113. The Great Dictator (1940)
114. Léon (1994)
115. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
116. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
117. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
118. Fargo (1996)
119. City of God (2002)
120. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
121. The Sacrifice (1986)
122. Lost Highway (1997)
123. Amadeus (1984)
124. Sansho Dayu (1954)
125. Orpheus (1950)
126. Last Tango in Paris (1972)
127. Nosferatu (1922)
128. Eraserhead (1977)
129. Three Colours: Red (1994)
130. 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)

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CFB's Top 40 Films of 1998 (2011)

1. The Thin Red Line (1998)
2. The Big Lebowski (1998)
3. Happiness (1998)
4. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
5. Run Lola Run (1998)
6. The Truman Show (1998)
7. Gods and Monsters (1998)
8. Festen (1998)
9. Dark City (1998)
10. A Simple Plan (1998)
11. American History X (1998)
12. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
13. Show Me Love (1998)
14. Pleasantville (1998)
15. Pi (1998)
16. Central Station (1998)
17. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
18. The Opposite of Sex (1998)
19. Elizabeth (1998)
20. Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
21. The Last Days of Disco (1998)
22. Black Cat, White Cat (1998)
23. Rushmore (1998)
24. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
25. The Red Violin (1998)
26. Eternity and a Day (1998)
27. Out of Sight (1998)
28. The Apple (1998)
29. Velvet Goldmine (1998)
30. An Autumn Tale (1998)
31. Buffalo ‘66 (1998)
32. Xiao Wu (1997)
33. The Idiots (1998)
34. Wild Things (1998)
35. Primary Colors (1998)
36. Inquietude (1998)
37. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998)
38. Last Night (1998)
39. The Dream Life of Angels (1998)
    There’s Something About Mary (1998)

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

1. Cabaret Balkan (1998)
2. Christmas in August (1998)
3. The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)
4. 42: Forty Two Up (1998)
5. Mr. Zhao (1998)
6. Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998)
7. Of Freaks and Men (1998)
8. The Terrorist (1998)
9. The Farm: Angola, USA (1998)
10. The Last Days (1998)
11. Confession (1998)
12. Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998)
13. Barrio (1998)
14. Dr. Akagi (1998)
15. Flammes (1998)
16. Secret Défense (1998)
17. Flatworld (1998)
18. Talking Heads 2 (1998)
    Billy’s Balloon (1998)
19. Ruskin (1998)
20. The Quarry (1998)
21. Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998)
22. Jeanne et le Garçon Formidable (1998)
23. Place Vendome (1998)
24. David and Lisa (1998)

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Fawlty Towers: Series 2 (1979)

Essential Viewing

UK

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

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Fawlty Towers: Series 1 (1975)

Essential Viewing

UK

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

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Northern Exposure: Season 2 (1991)

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

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Northern Exposure: Season 1 (1990)

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

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Couples Retreat (2009)

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

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Grown Ups (2010)

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

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The Walking Dead: Season 1 (2010)

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 a very promising 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 what they hear 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

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Blow Out (1981)

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

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The Trip (2010)

Recommended

UK

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

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Blotto (1930)

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

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Our Wife (1931)

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

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Our Relations (1936)

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

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Saps at Sea (1940)

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

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You're Darn Tootin' (1928)

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

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Below Zero (1930)

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

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Pardon Us (1931)

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

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The Battle of the Century (1927)

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

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The Hoose-Gow (1929)

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

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Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

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

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Putting Pants on Philip (1927)

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

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Their First Mistake (1932)

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

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Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)

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

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Scram! (1932)

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

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Duck Soup (1927)

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

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The Second Hundred Years (1927)

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

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Call of the Cuckoo (1927)

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

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45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)

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

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Night Owls (1930)

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

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The Turning Gate (2002)

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

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In the Cut (2003)

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

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Scenes from the Suburbs (2011)

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

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Dolphin Boy (2011)

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

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I Killed My Mother (2009)

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

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Perrier's Bounty (2009)

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

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The Invisible Woman (2009)

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

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