It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Writers: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Ned Vizzini

Cinematographer: Andrij Parekh

Composers: Broken Social Scene

Cast: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Viola Davis, Zoë Kravitz, Thomas Mann, Aasif Mandvi, Bernard White, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan, Jeremy Davies

A 16-year-old New Yorker naïvely relates to us the story of the five days he spent in a psychiatric facility, which he entered voluntarily following suffering vaguely suicidal feelings, telling us of the quirky characters that he met and the life-changing situations that he experienced, thinking of it all as being some kind of adventure, whilst never really seeing the devastated lives that surround him, in this hugely likable, distinctively shot, and strongly acted comedy-drama, which features a particularly eye-catchingly nuanced performance from Galifianakis. Iain.Stott

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Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)

Best Avoided

Australia

Feature Film

Director: Stuart Beattie

Writers: Stuart Beattie, John Marsden

Cinematographer: Ben Nott

Composers: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek

Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Ashleigh Cummings, Andy Ryan

When seven teenaged friends return from a weekend camping trip deep in the wilderness, they discover that a foreign army has invaded their town, with all the town’s residents having been interned, and set about transforming themselves from innocent kids to ruthless guerrilla fighters, in this overblown, clichéd, and decidedly inane action film, which has little but the odd moment of humour to recommend it. Iain.Stott

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The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival: 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films (2011)

1. A City of Sadness (1989)
2. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
3. A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1985)
4. Days of Being Wild (1990)
5. Spring in a Small Town (1948)
6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
7. A One and a Two (2000)
8. Dust in the Wind (1986)
9. Dragon Inn (1967)
   In the Mood for Love (2000)
10. The Love Eterne (1963)
    The Terrorizer (1986)
11. Vive l'Amour (1994)
    Yellow Earth (1984)
12. A Touch of Zen (1969)
13. Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996)
14. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
15. Infernal Affairs (2003)
16. In the Heat of the Sun (1994)
17. Street Angel (1937)
18. Chungking Express (1994)
    Red Sorghum (1987)
19. The Wedding Banquet (1993)
    The Goddess (1934)
    The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)
20. Happy Together (1997)
21. The Sandwich Man (1983)
    At Dawn (1968)
    Rouge (1988)
22. Actress (1992)
    Farewell My Concubine (1993)
    That Day, on the Beach (1983)
    Fist of Fury (1972)
    Lust, Caution (2007)
23. Xiao Wu (1997)
    A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
    The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
24. Execution in Autumn (1972)
    Cape No. 7 (2008)
25. Spring River Flows East (1947)
26. The Blue Kite (1992)
    The Puppetmaster (1993)
    Darkness and Light (1999)
27. The Mission (1999)
    Still Life (2006)
    To Live (1994)
    The Arch (1970)
28. Goodbye Darling (1971)
    Kung Fu Hustle (2005)
29. Let It Be (2005)
    Beautiful Duckling (1964)
    The Highway (1934)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Ashes of Time (1994)
    Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
30. An Autumn's Tale (1987)
    Growing Up (1983)
31. The Way of the Dragon (1972)
    The Spooky Bunch (1980)
    Old Well (1987)
    Made in Hong Kong (1997)
    Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
    The Way We Are (2008)
    No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (2009)
    Blind Shaft (2003)
32. Shaolin Soccer (2001)
    Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
    Strawman (1987)
    The Private Eyes (1976)
    Drunken Master (1978)
    Story of a Mother (1973)
    Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)
33. In Our Time (1982)
    Jade Love (1984)
    Sun, Moon and Star (1962)
    The One-Armed Swordsman (1967)
    A Chinese Odyssey (1994)
    Summer Snow (1995)
    A Borrowed Life (1994)
    Platform (2000)
    Summer Palace (2006)
    Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004)
34. Blue Gate Crossing (2002)
    Not One Less (1999)
    Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
    Crazy Stone (2006)
    Hill of No Return (1992)
    The River (1997)
    He Never Gives Up (1978)
    Boat People (1982)
35. The Last Message (1975)
    The Blue and the Black (1967)
    Two Stage Sisters (1965)
    Little Toys (1933)
    The Lin Family Shop (1959)
    Crossroads (1937)
    Police Story (1985)
    Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
    The Hole (1998)
    Devils on the Doorstep (2000)

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Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989)

Recommended

UK

Television Mini-Series

Director: Beeban Kidron

Writer: Jeanette Winterson

Cinematographer: Ian Punter

Composer: Rachel Portman

Cast: Charlotte Coleman, Emily Aston, Geraldine McEwan, Kenneth Cranham, Celia Imrie, Margery Withers, Cathryn Bradshaw, Tania Rodrigues, Freda Dowie, Elizabeth Spriggs

A young girl with a shock of red hair, brought up by her fanatical Pentecostal adoptive mother in a sleepy Lancashire town, struggles to find her own way in life – that of a young lesbian – against the repressive nature of her surroundings, in this gently humorous though occasionally harrowing BBC drama, which benefits greatly from some strong performances, though the editing sometimes jars. Iain.Stott

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The Day of the Triffids (1981)

Recommended

UK/Australia

Television Mini-Series

Director: Ken Hannam

Writers: Douglas Livingstone, John Wyndham

Cinematographer: Brian Clemett

Composer: Christopher Gunning

Cast: John Duttine, Emma Relph, Maurice Colbourne, Jenny Lipman, Desmond Adams, Gary Olsen

Following a spectacular comet shower, which has left the majority of the world’s population without sight, Bill Masen and a number of others who have remained unaffected attempt to rebuild society whilst avoiding the eponymous flesh eating plants, which are no longer safely under lock and key, in this entertaining, solidly acted, and distinctively scored if rather episodic adaptation of Wyndham’s novel, which certainly can’t count special effects as being amongst its numerous strong points. Iain.Stott

John Wyndham's novel was subsequently adapted as The Day of the Triffids (2009).

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Bored to Death (2009-)

USA

Television Series

Creator: Jonathan Ames

Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, Ted Danson, Heather Burns, John Hodgman

A young writer, struggling to follow up his vaguely successful first novel, sets himself up as an unlicensed private detective, and, often in the company of his cartoonist best friend and middle-aged lothario sometimes boss, gets into various low-key scrapes and adventures, in this often hilarious, frequently outlandish, and generally amiably unpredictable series.

Season 1 (2009)

After being dumped by the love-of-his-life for not giving up weed and white wine, Jonathan Ames, a young writer struggling to write his second novel, advertises himself as an unlicensed private detective, and sets about living life-after-Suzanne, in this very promising if mildly inconsistent first season.

Season 2 (2010)

Whilst Ray struggles to deal with Leah’s dumping of him, and George is forced to confront his own mortality, Jonathan, having had to pay back the advance on his rejected second novel, takes on yet another job, when he begins teaching at a local college, in this bigger, funnier, and more outlandish second season. Iain.Stott

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32A (2007)

Not Recommended

Ireland/Germany/USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Marian Quinn

Cinematographer: P.J. Dillon

Composer: Gerry Leonard

Cast: Ailish McCarthy, Sophie Jo Wasson, Orla Long, Riona Smith, Shane McDaid, Aidan Quinn, Orla Brady, Jared Harris

A 13-year-old girl with a minor obsession for bra sizes abandons her three closest friends when she starts dating a much older boy, a mistake she is soon forced to deal with, in this gentle and likable yet never entirely convincing coming-of-age tale, which features performances of mixed quality from its young cast. Iain.Stott

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Boy (2010)

Recommended

New Zealand/USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Taika Waititi

Cinematographer: Adam Clark

Composers: The Phoenix Foundation

Cast: James Rolleston, Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu, Taika Waititi, Moerangi Tihore, Haze Reweti, Rajvinder Eria, Cherilee Martin

Boy, an 11-year-old Michael Jackson fanatic with a vivid imagination who lives with his Nan, brother, and cousins in a dilapidated farmhouse on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, is reunited with his emotionally-stunted, fresh-out-of-prison father, and soon finds his romanticised views of him shattered, in this agreeably whimsical and strangely light-hearted look at often quite dark subject matter. Iain.Stott

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Let Me In (2010)

Recommended

USA/Sweden/UK

Feature Film

Director: Matt Reeves

Writers: Matt Reeves, John Ajvide Lindqvist

Cinematographer: Greig Fraser

Composer: Michael Giacchino

Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono, Elias Koteas, Dylan Minnette, Jimmy 'Jax' Pinchak, Nicolai Dorian

A lonely, bullied 12-year-old boy from a broken home, whose mother drinks herself to sleep every night, falls for the girl next door, an enigmatic creature who turns out to be a vampire, in this affecting, sensual, and beautifully acted film, which – as with Tomas Alfredson’s version, which this perhaps slightly improves upon – is let down somewhat by an occasionally distracting score that jars with its otherwise agreeably restrained aesthetic. Iain.Stott

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Ten Canoes (2006)

Recommended

Australia/Italy

Feature Film

Directors: Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr

Writer: Rolf de Heer

Cinematographer: Ian Jones

Cast: Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Dayindi Gulpilil Dalaithngu, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Minygululu, Frances Djulibing, David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu, Sonia Djarrabalminym, Cassandra Malangarri Baker, Philip Gudthaykudthay

A young man who covets the youngest of his elder brothers three wives is told a story of a similar situation from his ancestry, whilst on an overnight fishing trip, by said brother, telling of mysterious strangers, kidnappings, sorcery, and mistaken identity, in this informative and formally stimulating if occasionally slightly awkwardly acted film, which has quite the sting in its tale. Iain.Stott

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Parks and Recreation (2009-)

USA

Television Series

Creators: Greg Daniels, Michael Schur

Cast: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Jim O'Heir, Paul Schneider, Retta

Using the same mockumentary format as their version of The Office, only with much less outlandish characters, Daniels and Schur’s warm and funny series follows the exploits of the Parks and Recreation department of the local government of a small Indiana town.

Season 1 (2009)

Members of the Parks and Recreation department, along with a determined local resident, attempt convert an abandoned, unsightly, and rather dangerous pit into a new park, an act that proves bizarrely tough to accomplish, in this gently funny and promising first season.

Season 2 (2009-2010)

Leslie begins to make some progress with Lot 48, Ann and Mark begin to date, Tom suffers through a divorce, Andy finally gets a job, April falls for Andy, Ron sees his dreams of cutbacks come to fruition, whilst Jerry and Donna do their best to stay out of things, in this beautifully written second season, filled with well-rounded characters and strangely credible storylines. Iain.Stott

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CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1992 (2011)

1. Careful (1992)
2. Food (1992)
3. Tribulation 99: Alien (1992)
4. Crush (1992)
5. Prime Suspect 2 (1992)
6. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1992)
7. Memento Mori (1992)
8. Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase (1992)
9. Rispondetemi (1992)
10. Actress (1992)
11. Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1992)
12. Hyenas (1992)
13. Once Upon a Time, Cinema (1992)
14. Guelwaar (1992)
15. La Course a l’Abime (1992)
16. Bolero (1992)
17. Omnibus (1992)
18. The Beach (1992)
    The Boys of St. Vincent (1992)
19. Monster in a Box (1992)

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CFB's Top 40 Films of 1992 (2011)

1. Unforgiven (1992)
2. The Player (1992)
3. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
4. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
5. Howards End (1992)
6. Husbands and Wives (1992)
7. The Crying Game (1992)
8. Malcolm X (1992)
9. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
10. The Quince Tree Sun (1992)
11. Un Coeur en Hiver (1992)
12. One False Move (1992)
    Porco Rosso (1992)
13. The Long Day Closes (1992)
14. Leolo (1992)
    Lessons of Darkness (1992)
15. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
16. Light Sleeper (1992)
17. A Few Good Men (1992)
18. Bad Lieutenant (1992)
19. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
20. Aladdin (1992)
21. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
22. Passion Fish (1992)
23. Orlando (1992)
24. Hard-Boiled (1992)
25. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
26. Braindead (1992)
    A Tale of Winter (1992)
27. Jamon Jamon (1992)
28. Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
29. Army of Darkness (1992)
30. Gas, Food Lodging (1992)
31. Shadows and Fog (1992)
32. Benny’s Video (1992)
33. Belle Epoque (1992)
    Basic Instinct (1992)
34. The Stolen Children (1992)
35. A League of Their Own (1992)
    Scent of a Woman (1992)

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The Office (2005-)

USA

Television Series

Developer: Greg Daniels

Cast: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Creed Bratton, Oscar Nuñez, Paul Lieberstein, Ed Helms, Craig Robinson

This gently satirical and pathos-laden yet trouser-soilingly funny remake of the Gervais/Merchant BBC programme of the same title follows, in the form of a fly-on-the-wall mockumentary, the workers of the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin, Inc Paper Company as they go about their daily routines, capturing the juvenile pranks and inane conversations that make their time there just about tolerable.

Season 1 (2005)

This frequently hilarious first season doesn’t stray far from its BBC source material, concentrating winningly on the sophomoric japes of the eponymous institution’s bored inhabitants, underlined with a dash of pathos.

Season 2 (2005-2006)

The second season of this consistently funny and perceptive workplace comedy sees it gently surpass its BBC progenitor, as it gradually teases out fully rounded characters from behind their often misleading public facades, tickling the funny bone and caressing the emotions whilst it does so.

Season 3 (2006-2007)

Jim’s move to Stanford proves to be short lived when his new branch is merged with his old one, awkwardly bringing to the fore past feelings and painful memories, in this entertaining if rather patchy third instalment of the increasingly silly workplace comedy, with the mixture of cringe-inducing humour, gentle satire, delicate character study, and pathos-laden romance being not quite so well balanced as before.

Season 4 (2007-2008)

Jim and Pam have finally got together and Ryan has taken over from Jan at corporate, however it’s pretty much business as usual at Dunder Mifflin, with the office continuing to provide a fertile breeding ground for pranks, parties, unlikely romances, and occasionally even a little bit of work, in this consistently entertaining and delightfully silly fourth season.

Season 5 (2008-2009)

Michael continues to insult and alienate just about everyone that he comes across, forever trying to be everyone’s friend, instigating wild ideas; yet, with sales figures confounding expectations, he manages to keep his job, but when a no-nonsense manager is appointed at corporate genuine tensions arise, in this consistently funny and slightly more restrained-than-previous fifth season.

Season 6 (2009-2010)

A wedding, a birth, and a company buyout ensure that this sixth season is certainly one of the series more incident-packed years, but it is also probably its weakest (though certainly not weak), with a number of underwhelming episodes – particularly mid-season – which detract somewhat from its better moments, which are still abundant enough to recommend it. Iain.Stott

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Community (2009-)

USA

Television Series

Creator: Dan Harmon

Cast: Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash

An unlikely, disparate group of people become friends at a rather rubbish community college and indulge in various pop culture-parodying high jinks, in Harmon’s inventive and frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious if slightly lightweight and occasionally vaguely sentimental sitcom.

Season 1 (2009-2010)

After it turns out that his degree was somewhat less than authentic, Jeff Winger, a vain selfish lawyer, is disbarred and forced to enrol in community college in order to earn a legitimate degree, where he forms a Spanish study group with the intention of seducing a comely classmate, but instead reluctantly finds a new circle of friends, in this promising and hugely likable first season. Iain.Stott

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Hattie (2011)

Cautiously Recommended

UK

Television Film

Director: Dan Zeff

Writers: Stephen Russell, Andrew Merriman

Cinematographer: Ian Moss

Composer: Stephen McKeon

Cast: Ruth Jones, Robert Bathurst, Aidan Turner, Jeany Spark, Jay Simpson, John Bell, John Reader

This well-acted, low-key BBC drama details the slow, strange disintegration of Hattie Jacques and the impossibly nice John Le Mesurier’s marriage, which began when she took a young lover, continued when said toy-boy moved in as a lodger, persisted when the two Johns (the lover was also called John) swapped beds, and came to fruition when the future Sgt. Wilson moved in with the future Mrs. Hancock, all without the press getting the merest hint of a sniff of it. Iain.Stott

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The Queen (2006)

Not Recommended

UK/France/Italy/USA

Feature Film

Director: Stephen Frears

Writer: Peter Morgan

Cinematographer: Affonso Beato

Composer: Alexandre Desplat

Cast: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings, Helen McCrory, Mark Bazeley, Roger Allam, Sylvia Syms

Following the death of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, The Queen, who merely wishes to grieve privately with her family, is gradually and reluctantly persuaded by the recently elected “Labour” prime minister to become a part of the hysterical mourning of an increasingly and irrationally sentimental British public, in this much-lauded though only mildly effective film, which is generally well crafted though always not entirely credible. Iain.Stott

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The School of Rock (2003)

Cautiously Recommended

USA/Germany

Feature Film

Director: Richard Linklater

Writer: Mike White

Cinematographer: Rogier Stoffers

Composer: Craig Wedren

Cast: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Joey Gaydos Jr., Miranda Cosgrove, Kevin Clark

Just kicked out of his own band and threatened with eviction by his flatmate (at the behest of his pushy girlfriend), Dewey Finn, a rock-obsessed drifter, lucks into a substitute teaching job at an elite prep school, initially with the intention of making a quick buck, but is soon transforming his charges into an anti-establishment, hard-rocking band of 10-year-old musicians, with the intent of entering a Battle of the Bands competition, in this generally pleasingly silly though terribly lightweight comedy, with a large, polarising central performance from Black. Iain.Stott

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Weeds (2005-)

USA

Television Series

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Kevin Nealon, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Perkins, Allie Grant, Andy Milder, Romany Malco, Tonye Patano, Demián Bichir, Enrique Castillo

Kohan’s hilarious, unpredictable, and increasingly outrageous series follows the ups and downs of Nancy Botwin (Parker, excellent), a widowed suburban housewife who turns to small-time drug dealing in order to continue to be able to afford the lifestyle to which she and her family had become accustomed before the death of her husband.

Season 1 (2005)

The first season of Showtime’s addictive comedy drama, following the day-to-day life of a widowed suburban housewife turned small time drug dealer, is, thanks in the main to the perennially wonderful Parker, often hilarious, occasionally moving, and generally thoroughly entertaining.

Season 2 (2006)

The second season of this consistently entertaining series, following the day-to-day life of a widowed suburban housewife turned small time drug dealer, continues to elicit tears of laughter and joy, as business and personal relationships become ever more entwined and complicated.

Season 3 (2007)

As proceedings continue to darken for middle-class suburban housewife turned drug dealer Nancy Botwin, in this wonderfully entertaining third season, so too, conversely, does the show’s tone continue to lighten; there is little now remaining of the first season’s emotional heart, but the show isn’t noticeably hindered by this as it continues to slowly reinvent itself as outré black comedy.

Season 4 (2008)

In this consistently entertaining and often hilarious fourth season, with their old life burnt to the ground, the Botwins and various associates head for Ren Mar, near San Diego, to begin a new life: Nancy turns to drug trafficking and begins a relationship with the mayor of Tijuana; Andy and Doug try their hands at becoming Coyotes; Silas goes into business for himself and begins an affair with a woman pushing 40; Shane reinvents himself as a sexy psychopath; and Celia’s life just goes from bad to worse.

Season 5 (2009)

The fifth season of Jenji Kohan’s jet black comedy is somewhat more sober than of recent, re-injecting some of the drama from its more sombre beginnings, mixing outlandish plot developments with convincing human drama and delicious dark humour, as Nancy Botwin and her expanding family continue to straddle the US/Mexican border.

Season 6 (2010)

Following Shane’s little indiscretion, the Botwins hit the road, on the run from cops ‘n’ crims alike, determined to leave their life of crime behind them, an ambition they are soon forced to abandon, in this inconsistent though still generally very entertaining sixth season, which manages to survive a mid-season lull with a number of excellent episodes. Iain.Stott

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Sherlock (2010-)

UK/USA

Television Series

Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Loo Brealey, Rupert Graves, Zoe Telford, Vinette Robinson, Mark Gatiss, Andrew Scott

Gatiss and Moffat’s updating of the characters and stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – bringing together Sherlock Holmes, a brilliant but socially inept consulting detective, and John Watson, a former military doctor, to solve the crimes that no one else can, least of all the police – deftly mixes together intricate, absorbing plots, well-drawn characters, and gentle, winning humour.

Series 1 (2010)

Holmes and Watson investigate a series of apparent suicides, a string of Chinese gang deaths, and a succession of crime puzzles set by a mysterious, anonymous bomber, in this inventive, polished, and very promising first series. Iain.Stott

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Cape Fear (1991)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writers: Wesley Strick, James R. Webb, John D. MacDonald

Cinematographer: Freddie Francis

Cast: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck

After completing a fourteen-year sentence for battery, Max Cady, a muscle-bound, be-inked psychopath, with his mind set upon revenge, relocates to the hometown of his former lawyer, whom he believes (with some justification) has wronged him, and sets about terrorising him and his family, in Scorsese’s highly stylised and vaguely overblown though thoroughly compelling remake of J. Lee Thompson’s 1962 film, which adds a certain level of moral ambiguity to the original's straight thriller plot. Iain.Stott

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NY-Lon (2004)

Recommended

UK

Television Mini-Series

Directors: Otto Bathurst, Keith Boak, Anya Camilleri

Writers: Simon Burke, Anya Camilleri

Cinematographers: Dick Dodd, Kevin Rowley, Peter Sinclair

Composer: Hal Lindes

Cast: Rashida Jones, Stephen Moyer, Rachel Miner, Navin Chowdhry, David Clayton Rogers, Emily Corrie, Christine Adams, James Bird

Two mismatched young lovers – he, an unpredictable investment banker from a south London working class family, with a set of traditional East-End values; she, a sensible, principled part-time employee of a small, independent record store, hiding away from her middle-class upbringing in New York, who also works as a night school literacy teacher for the city’s have-nots – serendipitously meet in a bar and spark up an intense long-distance relationship, which sees the pair regularly jetting across the Atlantic for hot sex and copious arguments, in this charismatically acted and vaguely flashy yet deceptively layered mini-series. Iain.Stott

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Iron Man (2008)

Not Recommended

USA/Canada

Feature Film

Director: Jon Favreau

Writers: Mark Fergus, Matt Holloway, Art Marcum, Hawk Ostby, Hawk Ostby, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber

Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique

Composer: Ramin Djawadi

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir

The wealthy playboy head of an arms manufacturing company, kidnapped by a group of terrorists whilst on a trip to Afghanistan, and forced to build a missile for them, builds instead a flying metal suit that he uses to escape, which he subsequently – now a changed man – develops for use in his quest to right his previous wrongs, in this mildly diverting comic book movie, which is perhaps just a little too fond of the death and destruction that its main protagonist rails against. Iain.Stott

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Tarnation (2003)

Recommended

USA

Feature Documentary

Writer/Director/Cinematographer: Jonathan Caouette

Composers: John Califra, Max Avery Lichtenstein

Featuring: Jonathan Caouette, Renee Leblanc, Rosemary Davis, Adolph Davis

Jonathan Caouette's film presents a dazzling, visceral, and painfully honest piece of self-portraiture (albeit, one told in the third person), which chronicles his life – through a wealth of archive, self-shot footage – from his troubled beginnings in Houston to his escape to New York, detailing his mother’s mental health problems, his abuse in foster homes, his uneasy relationship with his maternal grandparents, and his own emotional troubles. Iain.Stott

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In Comparison (2009)

Recommended

Germany/Austria

Feature Documentary

Original Title: Zum Vergleich

Director: Harun Farocki

Writers: Harun Farocki, Matthias Rajmann

Cinematographer: Ingo Kratisch

Starting in Burkina Faso, before moving on to India, and then Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and composed of a number of a long, static shots, Farocki’s fascinating, understated documentary examines the making, carrying, and laying of bricks across the world, which, as it moves north, illuminates the increasingly safer and more efficient nature of industrialisation, whilst noting the gradual disappearance of chatter, laughter, women, children, and eventually men, as it does so. Iain.Stott

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The Blind Side (2009)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: John Lee Hancock

Writers: John Lee Hancock, Michael Lewis

Cinematographer: Alar Kivilo

Composer: Carter Burwell

Cast: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head, Lily Collins, Ray McKinnon, Kim Dickens, Adriane Lenox, Kathy Bates

A homeless Memphis teenager, as big, strong, and loving as he is poor and hopeless, gets taken in a by a rich family whose children go to the same school, and goes onto become a much admired American footballer, courted by all the big colleges, in this hugely likeable though strangely lightweight and even vaguely irreverent adaptation of Michael Lewis’s fact-based book. Iain.Stott

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Last Days (2005)

Essential Viewing

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Gus Van Sant

Cinematographer: Harris Savides

Composer: Rodrigo Loprest

Cast: Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Nicole Vicius, Ricky Jay, Ryan Orion

Based (in part, at least) on the final few days of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain’s life, Van Sant’s sensually unhurried, bizarrely humorous, and decidedly moving portrait follows the dishevelled Blake (Pitt, painfully good) as he stumbles around his eerie mansion and the surrounding woods, making snacks, playing music, communing with nature, and mumbling away to himself, as he approaches his grisly demise. Iain.Stott

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