Observe and Report (2009)

Best AvoidedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: Jody HillCinematographer: Tim OrrComposer: Joseph StephensCast: Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Anna Faris, Dan Bakkedahl, Jesse Plemons, John Yuan, Matt Yuan, Celia Weston, Collette Wolfe, Randy GambillWhen a local police detective starts stepping on his toes, both professionally and personally, Ronnie, the head of security at a large shopping mall, who secretly dreams of one day becoming a police...

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Lovely Rita (2001)

Cautiously RecommendedAustria/GermanyFeature FilmWriter/Director: Jessica HausnerCinematographer: Martin GschlachtCast: Barbara Osika, Christoph Bauer, Peter Fiala, Wolfgang Kostal, Karina BrandlmayerDespite featuring some rather bland photography and generally awkward performances, Hausner’s feature debut, a portrait of a sullen, unloved teenaged girl, is never less than fascinating if not exactly accomplished viewing, as it follows her various...

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Episodes (2011-)

UK/USATelevision SeriesCreators: David Crane, Jeffrey KlarikCast: Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Greig, John Pankow, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Mircea MonroeCrane and Klarik’s satirical culture-clash comedy, revolving around the move of a pair of married comedy writers to Los Angeles to remake their successful British sitcom, unsettlingly mixes acerbic yet warm and farcical humour with moments of often dourly serious drama.Series 1 (2011) Inappropriate...

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United States of Tara (2009-)

USATelevision SeriesCreator: Diablo CodyCast: Toni Collette, John Corbett, Rosemarie DeWitt, Keir Gilchrist, Brie Larson, Patton OswaltThough seldom credible and often quite illogical, this family comedy-drama, revolving around the mother’s dissociative identity disorder, has an emotional honesty and believability that makes it as affecting as it is funny and unpredictable.Season 1 (2009) Tara, having recently made the decision to come off her medication...

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Caprica (2009-2010)

USATelevision SeriesCreators: Remi Aubuchon, Ronald D. MooreCast: Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz, Paula Malcomson, Sasha Roiz, Polly Walker, Brian Markinson, Hiro KanagawaFollowing a devastating terrorist attack, which robbed both of them of loved ones, two families – the Graystones and the Adamas – play key roles in the birth of the Cylons, in Aubuchon and Moore’s sadly short-lived prequel to Battlestar Galactica...

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Modern Life (2008)

Highly RecommendedFranceFeature DocumentaryOriginal Title: La vie modernDirector/Cinematographer: Raymond DepardonFeaturing: Raymond Privat, Marcel Privat, Alain Rouvière, Cécile Rouvière, Marcel Challaye, Germaine Challaye, Paul ArgaudDepardon’s strikingly photographed, gently revealing, and achingly sad portrait of rural life – the third part of a trilogy, the first two parts of which remain unseen in the UK – explores the lives of a number of...

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Men of a Certain Age (2009-)

USATelevision SeriesCreators: Ray Romano, Mike RoyceCast: Ray Romano, Scott Bakula, Andre Braugher, Matt Price, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Richard Gant, Braeden Lemasters, Brian J. White, Brittany Curran, Jon Manfrellotti, Penelope Ann Miller, Emily Rios, Carla GalloRomano and Royce’s moving drama follows the lives of three life-long friends – a recently divorced party store owner with a gambling problem, a car salesman with a tendency to over-eat who struggles...

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Berlin, 2011

Golden BearA Separation (2011)Jury Grand Prix - Silver BearThe Turin Horse (2011)Silver Bear for Best DirectorUlrich Köhler, Sleeping Sickness (2011)Silver Bear for Best ActressThe actresses of A Separation (2011)Silver Bear for Best ActorThe actors of A Separation (2011)Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic ContributionWojciech Staron & Barbara Enriquez, The Prize (2011)Silver Bear for Best ScriptJoshua Marston & Andamion Murataj, The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)Alfred-Bauer PrizeIf Not Us, Who (2011)In CompetitionCome Rain, Come Shine...

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Party Down (2009-2010)

USATelevision SeriesCreators: John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, Paul Rudd, & Rob ThomasCast: Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr, Lizzy Caplan, Megan Mullally, Jane LynchThis gentle, pathos-laden, and oft hilarious workplace comedy follows the ups and downs of a group of Los Angeles-based caterers – a ragtag mix of aspiring and failed actors, comedians, and writers – as they cater various oddball parties and events.Season 1 (2009) Freshly...

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CFB's Top 30 Films of 1967 (2011)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)The Graduate (1967)Belle de Jour (1967)In Cold Blood (1967)Playtime (1967)Le Samourai (1967)In The Heat of the Night (1967)Cool Hand Luke (1967)Weekend (1967)The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)Mouchette (1967)Wait Until Dark (1967)How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)The Dirty Dozen (1967)Point Blank (1967)Oedipus Rex (1967)The Jungle Book (1967)Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)Two for the Road (1967)The Red and the White (1967)You Only Live Twice (1967)Marketa Lazarova (1967)Two or Three Things I Know About...

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CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1967 (2011)

Poor Cow (1967)Caprice (1967)Happy Gypsies (1967)The Stranger (1967)Two in the Shadow (1967)Eye Myth (1967)Japan’s Longest Day (1967)Games (1967)Silence and Cry (1967)Smashing Time (1967)Report (1967)Half a Sixpence (1967)Stop Look and Listen (1967)Hurry Sundown (1967)Ulysses (1967)A Colt Is My Passport (1967)Privilege (1967)The Fox (1967)The Day the Fish Came Out (1967)The Plea (1967) ...

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Better Off Ted (2009-2010)

USATelevision SeriesCreator: Victor FrescoCast: Jay Harrington, Portia de Rossi, Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, Isabella AcresFresco’s inspired, laugh-out-loud funny series follows the misadventures of five amoral employees of a giant, evil corporation, Veridian Dynamics, which manufactures everything from unbreakable plates and aerodynamic bagels to weaponised pumpkins and cowless beef, all whilst treating its workers like disposable...

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Drowning Not Waving (2009)

Not RecommendedUKShort Television FilmSeries Title: Moving On (2009-2010)Director: Gary WilliamsWriter: Sarah DeaneCinematographer: Len GowingComposer: Steve WrightCast: Christine Tremarco, Jo-Anne Knowles, Richard Armitage, Sharon DuceEllie, heavily in debt, and forced to put her house up for sale, becomes seduced by the glamorous lifestyle of her new boyfriend John, whom she believes to be a property developer despite being warned of his drug-dealing...

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Bully (2009)

RecommendedUKShort Television FilmSeries Title: Moving On (2009-2010)Director: Gary WilliamsWriter: Mark PyeCinematographer: Len GowingComposer: Steve WrightCast: Mark Womack, Lee Boardman, Julia Ford, Claire Keelan, Jack Ryan, Luke RoskellBully begets bully begets bully, in this well acted, boldly scored, and convincingly written if a little too easily resolved tale of two neighbouring families – long-term friends, just back from holidaying together...

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The Rain Has Stopped (2009)

Not RecommendedUKShort Television FilmSeries Title: Moving On (2009-2010)Director: Gary WilliamsWriter: Karen BrownCinematographer: Len GowingComposer: Steve WrightCast: Sheila Hancock, Bhasker Patel, Emma Lowndes, Paul Fox, Claire HackettLiz, long widowed, meets the Nepalese Damar, a proud former Gurkha, whilst on holiday in Torquay, and the two are soon planning to marry; but their union, and Damar’s presence in the country, is resented by ungrateful...

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Lost (2004-2010)

USATelevision SeriesCreators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, & Damon LindelofCast: Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Kim Yunjin, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Dominic Monaghan, Henry Ian Cusick, Harold Perrineau, Elizabeth MitchellThe first season is essential viewing, after which it loses its way somewhat, with its various MacGuffins taking over and becoming the show’s...

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Time Out's 100 Best British Films (2011)

Don’t Look Now (1973) The Third Man (1949) Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) Kes (1970) The Red Shoes (1948) A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Performance (1970) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) If… (1968) Trainspotting (1996) Naked (1993) Brief Encounter (1945) The 39 Steps (1935) The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) Withnail & I (1987) Black Narcissus (1947) A Canterbury Tale (1944)...

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Black and Blue (1992)

Cautiously RecommendedUKTelevision FilmSeries Title: Screen One (1989-1994)Director: David HaymanWriter: G.F. NewmanCinematographer: John DalyComposer: Bob LastCast: Christopher John Hall, Linus Roache, Martin Shaw, Iain Glen, Ray Winstone, Don Henderson, Rowena King, Fraser James, Clive WedderburnA young black police officer is brought in from Plymouth to go undercover on a South London council estate (which looks suspiciously like Liverpool) ostensibly to investigate the murder of a prominent solicitor, but instead uncovers rampant racism and...

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The Freebie (2010)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/ Director: Katie AseltonCinematographer: Benjamin KasulkeComposer: Julian WassCast: Katie Aselton, Dax Shepard, Ross Partridge, Frankie Shaw, Bellamy Young, Sean NelsonWhen a thirty-something married couple realise that they have not had sex for a number of months they begin to discus the idea of allowing each other to have a guilt-free one night stand, which they naively believe will reignite their loving but stagnant...

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Boardwalk Empire (2010-)

USATelevision SeriesDeveloper: Terence WinterCast: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Paz de la Huerta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Anthony Laciura, Paul Sparks, Dabney Coleman, Gretchen Mol, Greg AntonacciBased on, though often rather loosely, Nelson Johnson's fact-based book, Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic...

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For Jafar Panahi & Mohammad Rasoulof

This protest film, Untitled, was created by an Iranian filmmaker whose identity and location is protected by Cine Foundation International. It forms part of the campaign initiated by CFI calling for the release of imprisoned film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, and wider reform of human and democratic rights in Iran. It is paramount that the identity of this filmmaker remains undisclosed until such time as the current regime in Iran has been removed, and clear democratic government takes its place.The filmmaker has issued this statement—"For...

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The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films (January, 2011)

In the Mood for Love (2000) Mulholland Dr. (2001) A One and a Two... (2000) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Spirited Away (2001) There Will Be Blood (2007) Lost in Translation (2003) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) A History of Violence (2005) Talk to Her (2002) Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Far from Heaven (2002) Sideways (2004) The Hurt Locker (2008) The Social Network...

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