Copycat (1995)

An academic specialist on serial killers (Sigourney Weaver) lives a life of agoraphobic terror after being attacked by a psycho 13 months previously. But she has to face her worst fears when two San Francisco cops (Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney) seek her help in tracking down a brutal “copycat” killer. 

It’s tense and dramatic, and there’s a fairly major twist about two thirds in that I certainly didn’t see coming.

Weaver and Hunter are both excellent, but the latter is particularly strong and brings real depth to the role.

Raising Arizona (1987)

Unusual comedy drama about a couple who kidnap a quintuplet.

Beneath the slapstick humour there’s a real tragedy about a desperate, childless pair and the lengths they will go to to make a family.

Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter are superb in the key roles. You feel Hunter's longing and completely identify with her, despite the criminality of their actions. It’s just a shame that the usual Coen brothers grotesques appear (John Goodman features as an escaped convict), turning this into a sort of farcical black comedy and robbing it of poignancy.

About a Boy (2002)

Uneven comedy/drama adapted from a novel by Nick Hornby. 

The clunkily named Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a moneyed-up consumer who lives a selfish life alone, protecting himself from commitments. He begins preying on single mothers in order to find a date (a quite disturbing trait that the film seems OK with) and ends up making friends with a 12-year-old boy with a suicidal mum (Toni Collette). The boy/man relationship, inevitably, teaches him to be less selfish and ultimately helps him to find a meaningful romance – with Rachel Weisz. 

Hugh Grant is as appealing as always but the big problem is the boy, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), who is both unconvincing as a character and oddly difficult to like. Several elements in the story lack the all-important ring of truth. In particular, it’s never explained why Will is so disengaged from society. Is he depressed? Why? What’s the unresolved issue with his father that’s briefly alluded to but never explored? The script is too shallow to get inside these questions and make the characters three-dimensional and “real”. It seems like a fifth-rate imitation of a Richard Curtis film. 

The soundtrack is by Badly Drawn Boy and works well.

Larry Crowne (2011)

Strange – and strangely enjoyable – romantic comedy that’s neither especially funny nor romantic. 

Tom Hanks plays a middle-aged man who loses his job and goes to college to educate himself. There, he develops a friendship with a much younger woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and also with his teacher (Julia Roberts). Both of these relationships transform him. Before long, he’s riding a scooter with a gang, wearing more fashionable clothes and sporting a less fusty haircut. 

It’s odd because the tone is so unusual. Parts of it are like a gentle drama. There’s subtle wit, but it doesn’t really emerge until the second half – and even then there are few laughs. Also, there are elements of the story that simply don’t ring true. 

But Hanks and Roberts are appealing and you find yourself rooting for them to get together, so the film must be doing something right. I found myself liking it a lot, despite not thinking it quite worked.

The Bodyguard (1992)

Surprisingly poor and amateurish thriller. It earned millions, but it has a "made for TV" quality about it.

Kevin Costner plays an ex-Secret Service agent hired to protect a singer named Rachel (Whitney Houston). 

Unfortunately the plot is full of holes, the characters lack motivations for their actions, and the acting is mostly terrible. Gary Kemp is particularly awkward as Whitney’s brash English publicist. Houston is oddly unlikeable throughout. The film would have worked better if you could relate to her. Only Costner impresses. 

The plotting is leaden and you can see the twists before they arrive. I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about but I couldn’t. And to add insult to injury you have to hear Whitney murdering Dolly Parton’s once-beautiful “I Will Always Love You”.

The Favourite (2019)

Costumer with a refreshing lack of that genre's conventions.

It's 1711 and England is at war with France, but Queen Anne of England (Olivia Colman) is unwell and depressed, comforted by 17 rabbits that act as a replacement for the children she lost. Her aide and secret lover Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) tries to influence her and – by extension – run the country. But this uneasy balance is upset when Sarah's younger cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, and begins her own intense relationship with the queen... 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos takes this volatile situation and mines it for maximum drama and the blackest comedy. It's both horrifying and very funny. Shots are framed from odd angles, so that even someone walking down a corridor carries a sense of menace. There's also a highly effective soundtrack that uses elements of drones and ambient noise to build atmosphere – sometimes disturbingly so.

The acting from all three leads is first-rate, with Colman, Weisz and Stone delivering performances of a lifetime. You can totally believe all of them.

It's a sharp, intelligent and innovative film that should be treasured.

Once (2007)

Sweetly touching drama set in Dublin. 

An ambitious busker in his thirties (Glen Hansard) meets a Czech girl in her twenties (Markéta Irglová), and they are mutually attracted – despite complicated romantic histories. He was cheated on by his girlfriend, while she was left to care for her baby after her husband left her. They grow closer through a shared passion for music, and begin coming to terms with the past.

It works because it seems so incredibly real. That’s partly because of the low budget and partly because of the high quality of the actors and the script. The songs are perfectly suited to the story, too. Irglová is particularly compelling. She conveys so much depth in her facial expressions alone. And her shy, understated dialogue has the ring of truth – for example, a scene in which they discuss a final meeting that she declines: “We’d just hanky panky if I come now…And that would be nice…Very interesting.”

It’s full of surprising, funny and revealing moments like this. And it’s emotionally rich and open without resorting to sentimentality or standard “love story” tropes.

It was later adapted into a stage play, which I saw performed in London, but the film feels more fresh and original.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Unusual comedy thriller directed by Shane Black. 

An inept private eye (Ryan Gosling) and a brutal enforcer (Russell Crowe) investigate a missing girl in late-1970s Los Angeles. 

It’s a strange film. The humour is as dark as it gets, with an uneasy violence behind it. Crowe’s character seems equally capable of cold-blooded murder and compassion, and that makes for an awkward mix – probably deliberately so. The emotional development, based around Gosling’s relationship with his teenage daughter, cones across as shallow and unconvincing.

The party section was especially well done, and the action is expertly presented, but overall – despite some genuine laughs – it’s little too slick to fully engage. And off-puttingly, a tubby Crowe looks uncannily like John Goodman throughout.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Remake of the bizarre 1974 film by H. B. Halicki, directed by Dominic Sena. 

Nicolas Cage plays Memphis Raines, who has to save his brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) from dangerous gangsters by stealing 50 cars in one night. He’s helped by his old criminal pals (who of course are all good guys really) and his old flame (an awkwardly awful Angelina Jolie). 

It’s extremely silly, but – unlike the original – it has a proper plot and characters with motivations and interactions, even if those characters (like villain Christopher Eccleston) are ridiculous. There’s even a script, albeit one that might have been written by a 12-year-old boy. 

The lighting is conspicuously styled with lots of blue and yellow shades, and while that might be atmospheric it makes the film less “realistic”. The original looked far more real, mainly because it was built around actual footage of real situations. 

What holds it all together and makes it worth seeing (once) is Nicolas Cage, who has a bottom-line charisma and presence.

Changing Lanes (2002)

Superb drama directed by Roger Michell.

Samuel J. Jackson plays Doyle Gipson, an insurance salesman and recovering alcoholic fighting for custody of his children. Ben Affleck plays Gavin Banek, a lawyer engaged in shady dealings in the firm of his father-in-law (Sydney Pollack). The two men’s lives collide, literally, when they have a minor road crash in New York. This event sets in motion a sequence of escalating dramas, giving them both the worst day of their lives. 

It’s extremely powerful because it engages on a moral level, exploring what happens to reasonable people in unreasonable situations. Jackson and Affleck are at their best. The supporting characters, including Gipson's wife Valerie (Kim Staunton) and his AA sponsor (William Hurt), are also excellently drawn. 

I couldn’t imagine how the ending could satisfy, but somehow they pulled it off.

Submarine (2010)

Comedy-drama about Oliver Tate, a 15-year-old boy (played by Craig Roberts), his life at home and school, and his relationship with his classmate Jordana (Yasmin Paige). In parallel, the film examines his parents’ failing marriage and his mother’s relationship with “mystic” Graham. 

It’s quirky and unusual. Some of the narrative is handled in a slightly tricksy manner, but it works because it’s from Oliver’s perspective. 

There’s a huge emotional range. It’s funny and sad. It’s realist and also fantastic. Not really like anything else I've seen.

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Superb escape drama directed by Don Siegel. 

Clint Eastwood plays Frank Morris, who plans to escape from the maximum-security prison island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. 

It’s tense and atmospheric, but also compassionate. Eastwood doesn’t say much, as usual, but he conveys a lot with his eyes and face. Patrick McGoohan plays the sadistic warden.

It’s based on a true story, making it more fascinating. And I really like the open-ended nature of the ending.

Notting Hill (1999)

Romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis. 

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) works in a travel bookshop in Notting Hill. One day a famous actress (played by Julia Roberts) walks in. They begin an unlikely romance, but fame and other matters complicate their relationship.

It’s a sweet and funny love story. Grant and Roberts are both excellent. As with other Curtis narratives, a bunch of friends and relatives act as a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on the action and helping to move it along. These are all excellent in their own right. 

Grant is particularly appealing in this role. He seems so relaxed and at ease that his scenes are just a pleasure to watch. 

Rhys Ifans is a little too silly as his flatmate, and you cannot believe that someone as sensitive and gentle as Thacker would like or tolerate him. 

Also on the down side, there’s conspicuous product placement. And the music (Boyzone, Ronan Keating) is often terrible enough to take you out of the story. 

But ultimately it’s slick and charming. The characters come alive and the romance is touching.