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The Horse Soldiers

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Another Cavalry Movie from Ford, and this time Johnny Reb's in the firing line as Yankee Colonel Wayne leads his troops on a demolition mission and kidnaps feisty southern belle Constance Towers. Here Ford's portentous 'Civil War is Hell' message doesn't quite gel with his trademark tomfoolery-drunken gags, funny fistfights and casual misogyny. The resulting film is strangely blank.

Another Cavalry Movie from Ford, and this time Johnny Reb’s in the firing line as Yankee Colonel Wayne leads his troops on a demolition mission and kidnaps feisty southern belle Constance Towers. Here Ford’s portentous ‘Civil War is Hell’ message doesn’t quite gel with his trademark tomfoolery-drunken gags, funny fistfights and casual misogyny. The resulting film is strangely blank.

Closely Observed Trains

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From the brief heyday of the Czech new wave, Jiri Menzel's 1968 Oscar winner (Best Foreign Language Film) retains much bawdy charm and a bravely downbeat ending. A young railway station apprentice in a small town, oblivious to the climax of WWII, longs to get laid, finding relief with a comely Resistance fighter. More witty, imaginative and romantic than it sounds.

From the brief heyday of the Czech new wave, Jiri Menzel’s 1968 Oscar winner (Best Foreign Language Film) retains much bawdy charm and a bravely downbeat ending. A young railway station apprentice in a small town, oblivious to the climax of WWII, longs to get laid, finding relief with a comely Resistance fighter. More witty, imaginative and romantic than it sounds.

Holes

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Quirky, intelligent kids movie about a young offenders' prison camp where the inmates have to dig huge holes in the Texas desert each day, since the warden (Sigourney Weaver) is hoping to discover an outlaw's missing gold. A great cast (John Voight, Henry Winkler, Eartha Kitt), and an utter delight.

Quirky, intelligent kids movie about a young offenders’ prison camp where the inmates have to dig huge holes in the Texas desert each day, since the warden (Sigourney Weaver) is hoping to discover an outlaw’s missing gold. A great cast (John Voight, Henry Winkler, Eartha Kitt), and an utter delight.

A Zed And Two Noughts

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Early Peter Greenaway movie ('85), from when his undeniable visual genius wasn't yet smothered by pretentiousness. Zoologist twin widowers (!) mourn their wives but begin an affair with a survivor of the crash which killed them, whose leg's been amputated. And set the animals free from the zoo. Homages to Vermeer, a Michael Nyman score, and relentless perversity with a point. Exhilarating!

Early Peter Greenaway movie (’85), from when his undeniable visual genius wasn’t yet smothered by pretentiousness. Zoologist twin widowers (!) mourn their wives but begin an affair with a survivor of the crash which killed them, whose leg’s been amputated. And set the animals free from the zoo. Homages to Vermeer, a Michael Nyman score, and relentless perversity with a point. Exhilarating!

The Testament Of Dr Mabuse

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Eleven years after his original expressionist classic, Dr Mabuse The Gambler, this 1933 sequel from Fritz Lang, banned by the Nazis for its political undertones (Mabuse/Hitler parallels), follows the titular crime lord's activities from beyond the grave, and features the original Lynchian'creepy velvet curtain' scene, plus one of cinema's first breakneck POV car chases.

Eleven years after his original expressionist classic, Dr Mabuse The Gambler, this 1933 sequel from Fritz Lang, banned by the Nazis for its political undertones (Mabuse/Hitler parallels), follows the titular crime lord’s activities from beyond the grave, and features the original Lynchian’creepy velvet curtain’ scene, plus one of cinema’s first breakneck POV car chases.

The Italian Job

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This not-as-crap-as-you'd-fear rehash of the much-loved '60s caper, with director F Gary Gray ensuring it isn't all just gung-ho car-chase action, throwing in stylish backdrops and a good joke or two for good measure. A shame, then, that the charisma-free Mark Wahlberg leads, and perhaps they should've opted for a fresh title, but a stellar cast including Ed Norton, Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland can't be all bad. Lively enough.

This not-as-crap-as-you’d-fear rehash of the much-loved ’60s caper, with director F Gary Gray ensuring it isn’t all just gung-ho car-chase action, throwing in stylish backdrops and a good joke or two for good measure. A shame, then, that the charisma-free Mark Wahlberg leads, and perhaps they should’ve opted for a fresh title, but a stellar cast including Ed Norton, Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland can’t be all bad. Lively enough.

Intolerable Cruelty

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Since the career peaks of Fargo and The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers' previously astonishing career momentum has noticeably faltered. O Brother, Where Art Thou? had some good things going for it, but is probably best remembered for its soundtrack. And as for The Man Who Wasn't There...well, nice lighting is probably the best you can say about a film utterly stifled by stylistic affectation. Intolerable Cruelty, meanwhile, is their most mainstream movie to date?a misfiring comedy starring George Clooney as a rich but jaded divorce attorney who falls for Catherine Zeta-Jones' voracious gold-digger. Clooney is at first sleek, shark-like and very funny, and when he's on screen Intolerable Cruelty is passably entertaining. But the material is so desperately thin he's soon floundering, and so is the film, which slowly deflates around him. Undistinguished.

Since the career peaks of Fargo and The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers’ previously astonishing career momentum has noticeably faltered. O Brother, Where Art Thou? had some good things going for it, but is probably best remembered for its soundtrack. And as for The Man Who Wasn’t There…well, nice lighting is probably the best you can say about a film utterly stifled by stylistic affectation.

Intolerable Cruelty, meanwhile, is their most mainstream movie to date?a misfiring comedy starring George Clooney as a rich but jaded divorce attorney who falls for Catherine Zeta-Jones’ voracious gold-digger. Clooney is at first sleek, shark-like and very funny, and when he’s on screen Intolerable Cruelty is passably entertaining. But the material is so desperately thin he’s soon floundering, and so is the film, which slowly deflates around him. Undistinguished.

Solomon And Sheba

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Po-faced but spectacular Biblical epic starring Yul Brynner (with hair) as the legendarily wise king who risks losing the throne of Israel by making whoopee with the saucy-but-pagan queen of Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida). George Sanders plays the villain (hurrah), the cast-of-thousands battle scenes are impressive and the unintentionally hilarious 'orgy' is an absolute must-see.

Po-faced but spectacular Biblical epic starring Yul Brynner (with hair) as the legendarily wise king who risks losing the throne of Israel by making whoopee with the saucy-but-pagan queen of Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida). George Sanders plays the villain (hurrah), the cast-of-thousands battle scenes are impressive and the unintentionally hilarious ‘orgy’ is an absolute must-see.

The Balcony

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Another brave taboo-buster from Joseph Strick, tackling Jean Genet's play in 1964 with the kind of cast that has you pinching yourself: Shelley Winters, Peter Falk and a youthful Leonard Nimoy. In a brothel that's a hideaway from the war outside, Winters is a fearsome madam and Nimoy's a rebel leader. Surreal and grubbily saucy, though the low budget shows its cracks at times.

Another brave taboo-buster from Joseph Strick, tackling Jean Genet’s play in 1964 with the kind of cast that has you pinching yourself: Shelley Winters, Peter Falk and a youthful Leonard Nimoy. In a brothel that’s a hideaway from the war outside, Winters is a fearsome madam and Nimoy’s a rebel leader. Surreal and grubbily saucy, though the low budget shows its cracks at times.

In America

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Intensely felt melodrama collides with saccharine world view in this tale of an Irish immigrant family who attempt to begin life anew in an '80s Manhattan filled with friendly junkies and hackneyed racial stereotypes (see Djimon Hounsou's savage-but-wise African artist). Top performances from Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton are undercut by director Jim Sheridan's squishy screenplay.

Intensely felt melodrama collides with saccharine world view in this tale of an Irish immigrant family who attempt to begin life anew in an ’80s Manhattan filled with friendly junkies and hackneyed racial stereotypes (see Djimon Hounsou’s savage-but-wise African artist). Top performances from Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton are undercut by director Jim Sheridan’s squishy screenplay.

Frida

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Straining to balance bog-standard biopic with anarchic art expression, Julie Taymor's biopic of Frida Kahlo is crammed with exquisite cinematic diversions (dream sequences, hallucinations, animated Kahlo paintings) while simultaneously stultified by the need to plod through Kahlo's life with startling apathy. Wild teen, bus crash, crippled, Diego Rivera, lots of sex, arguments, affair with Trotsky, big show in Mexico, the end.

Straining to balance bog-standard biopic with anarchic art expression, Julie Taymor’s biopic of Frida Kahlo is crammed with exquisite cinematic diversions (dream sequences, hallucinations, animated Kahlo paintings) while simultaneously stultified by the need to plod through Kahlo’s life with startling apathy. Wild teen, bus crash, crippled, Diego Rivera, lots of sex, arguments, affair with Trotsky, big show in Mexico, the end.

Spirit Of ’64

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A fine British example of the kind of '60s gothic thriller more commonly associated with post-war Hollywood (Sunset Boulevard, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?), this finds Richard Attenborough creepily convincing as the weak-willed husband of deluded clairvoyant Kim Stanley, cajoled into abducting a child in a preposterous scheme to legitimise her supernatural abilities. First released in 1964, Bryan Forbes' psycho-drama remains a powerful and all too believable morality tale (disturbing echoes of the Moors and Soham murders), irredeemably chilling in its splendidly unhinged John Barry score and the terrifying on-screen insanity of Stanley herself. Others in Carlton's crop of '60s Brit-flicks include All Night Long, Victim, Hell Drivers and The League Of Gentlemen (that's the brilliant Jack Hawkins heist comedy?nowt to do with Royston Vasey).

A fine British example of the kind of ’60s gothic thriller more commonly associated with post-war Hollywood (Sunset Boulevard, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?), this finds Richard Attenborough creepily convincing as the weak-willed husband of deluded clairvoyant Kim Stanley, cajoled into abducting a child in a preposterous scheme to legitimise her supernatural abilities.

First released in 1964, Bryan Forbes’ psycho-drama remains a powerful and all too believable morality tale (disturbing echoes of the Moors and Soham murders), irredeemably chilling in its splendidly unhinged John Barry score and the terrifying on-screen insanity of Stanley herself. Others in Carlton’s crop of ’60s Brit-flicks include All Night Long, Victim, Hell Drivers and The League Of Gentlemen (that’s the brilliant Jack Hawkins heist comedy?nowt to do with Royston Vasey).

Ripley’s Game

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Amazing how rapidly John Malkovich has plummeted from exquisite art-house bloom to a kind of Graham Norton version of Donald Pleasance, but his teetering vanity is quite well suited to Liliana Cavani's absurd yarn. This time, Ripley is pseuding it up among the renaissance treasures of Italy's Veneto region, and takes his revenge on tactless English picture-framer Dougray Scott by turning him into a reluctant serial killer. Diverting but hugely forgettable.

Amazing how rapidly John Malkovich has plummeted from exquisite art-house bloom to a kind of Graham Norton version of Donald Pleasance, but his teetering vanity is quite well suited to Liliana Cavani’s absurd yarn. This time, Ripley is pseuding it up among the renaissance treasures of Italy’s Veneto region, and takes his revenge on tactless English picture-framer Dougray Scott by turning him into a reluctant serial killer. Diverting but hugely forgettable.

Daisy Miller

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One of the turkeys which derailed Peter Bogdanovich's career. Hubris-fuelled on the back of runaway success, he cast other half Cybill Shepherd as the Henry James heroine who flits around 19th-century Europe falling in love and dying. The costumes are fine, but there's no feel for what was anyway a mediocre James story, and no momentum. Cybill's a fish out of water. A pretty folly.

One of the turkeys which derailed Peter Bogdanovich’s career. Hubris-fuelled on the back of runaway success, he cast other half Cybill Shepherd as the Henry James heroine who flits around 19th-century Europe falling in love and dying. The costumes are fine, but there’s no feel for what was anyway a mediocre James story, and no momentum. Cybill’s a fish out of water. A pretty folly.

A Good Marriage

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Eric Rohmer's 1981 movie stars B...

Eric Rohmer’s 1981 movie stars B

The End Of Summer

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A Kyoto skyscraper is contrasted with a crematorium chimney, gravestones abound, as do sinister black crows. And yet despite the lugubrious undertow of this, Yasujiro Ozu's penultimate movie (made two years before his death), there's a warmth to the tale of the Kohayagawa family, their ailing business and their eccentric patriarch that somehow transforms post-war angst into sublime acceptance.

A Kyoto skyscraper is contrasted with a crematorium chimney, gravestones abound, as do sinister black crows. And yet despite the lugubrious undertow of this, Yasujiro Ozu’s penultimate movie (made two years before his death), there’s a warmth to the tale of the Kohayagawa family, their ailing business and their eccentric patriarch that somehow transforms post-war angst into sublime acceptance.

Blood Shot

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Walter Hill's astonishing, hallucinatory western was a box office disaster on its release in 1995. Tragically so, because this account of the life and death of James Butler Hickok, legendary army scout, sometimes lawman, gambler and gunfighter, is one of the best American movies of the '90s?a film about myth and legend: history as half-truth, lies and exaggeration. Brilliantly played by a bewhiskered, cantankerous Jeff Bridges, this Wild Bill is an elemental force, running out of time. In a series of tremendously violent flashbacks, Hill shows us Bill in his gunfighter pomp?ferocious, terrifyingly intransigent. However, by the time he gets to the teeming hell of Deadwood, where he will die, Bill's weary of everything, especially what he's become. He's 39, going blind, lost in ominous opium dreams, waiting for someone to fill his boots with blood. The film's last scenes assume a grim, desolate absurdity, the conclusion to a long-running joke provoking the kind of point-blank shoot-out Hill does better than anyone.

Walter Hill’s astonishing, hallucinatory western was a box office disaster on its release in 1995. Tragically so, because this account of the life and death of James Butler Hickok, legendary army scout, sometimes lawman, gambler and gunfighter, is one of the best American movies of the ’90s?a film about myth and legend: history as half-truth, lies and exaggeration.

Brilliantly played by a bewhiskered, cantankerous Jeff Bridges, this Wild Bill is an elemental force, running out of time. In a series of tremendously violent flashbacks, Hill shows us Bill in his gunfighter pomp?ferocious, terrifyingly intransigent. However, by the time he gets to the teeming hell of Deadwood, where he will die, Bill’s weary of everything, especially what he’s become. He’s 39, going blind, lost in ominous opium dreams, waiting for someone to fill his boots with blood. The film’s last scenes assume a grim, desolate absurdity, the conclusion to a long-running joke provoking the kind of point-blank shoot-out Hill does better than anyone.

Liebestraum

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Possibly Mike Figgis' least-known film, this moody 1991 erotic mystery is like Stormy Monday set in Binghamton, NY. A writer visits his dying mother and uncovers secrets about a 30-year-old murder while shagging his friend's wife. It looks sexy, but the moodiness leads to tedium, and Kim Novak's heinously wasted.

Possibly Mike Figgis’ least-known film, this moody 1991 erotic mystery is like Stormy Monday set in Binghamton, NY. A writer visits his dying mother and uncovers secrets about a 30-year-old murder while shagging his friend’s wife. It looks sexy, but the moodiness leads to tedium, and Kim Novak’s heinously wasted.

Max

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Munich, 1918, where (fictional) art dealer Max Rothman (John Cusack) befriends and encourages the young artist Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). But Max is Jewish... Even if the overall results are a bit glib and predictable, both of the central performances are terrific?especially Taylor, whose Hitler is a creepily believable human being.

Munich, 1918, where (fictional) art dealer Max Rothman (John Cusack) befriends and encourages the young artist Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). But Max is Jewish… Even if the overall results are a bit glib and predictable, both of the central performances are terrific?especially Taylor, whose Hitler is a creepily believable human being.

The Four Feathers

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Shekhar Kapur directed this third version of AEW Mason's regimental romance about the Sudanese war. Unfortunately, his ambitions to turn it into a critique of British imperialism are drowned under James Horner's glutinous score and colourless performances from the vapid Heath Ledger and chums. Notable exception?Djimon Hounsou, as the noble nomad who saves our brave English boys from a fiery desert hell. There's also one great battle scene.

Shekhar Kapur directed this third version of AEW Mason’s regimental romance about the Sudanese war. Unfortunately, his ambitions to turn it into a critique of British imperialism are drowned under James Horner’s glutinous score and colourless performances from the vapid Heath Ledger and chums. Notable exception?Djimon Hounsou, as the noble nomad who saves our brave English boys from a fiery desert hell. There’s also one great battle scene.

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