Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece still looks fantastic and is just as chilling as ever. 

Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley, a warrant officer on the cargo ship Nostromo. The ship picks up a signal from a moon, indicating unexpected life. While investigating, the crew accidentally adopt an alien creature that threatens not just all of them but humanity itself.

Weaver is great in the main role – tough but compassionate, and smart and intuitive in a way that her colleagues aren’t.

It works because it’s mostly about the suspense rather than the monsters, although what you do see of the aliens is terrifying enough.

A long line of sequels and prequels would follow as Alien developed into a franchise, but none of them came close to this original.

Carlito’s Way (1993)

Superb crime thriller.

Al Pacino plays Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican ex-con who is trying to make a fresh start. But his post-prison efforts to clean up are thwarted by a corrupt, drug-addicted lawyer friend (a suitably sleazy Sean Penn) and other remnants of his former criminal lifestyle. 

The story is told in flashback so we know what happens from the very beginning – which is a shame, in a way – but it’s fascinating to see how the plot winds back around to that point. 

Penelope Ann Miller is superb as Pacino’s love interest, who helps to redeem him. Brian DePalma’s direction is imaginative, utilising unusual angles and a fresh feel. Pacino as usual is hugely watchable – magnetic even – and oddly funny at the same time. It’s a masterful performance – one of his best.

The Hunt (2012)

Superb Danish drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg. 

Mads Mikkelsen stars as a nursery school teacher wrongfully accused of abusing one of the children in his care. 

It’s harrowing to watch his life fall apart as a result of a story made up by a child. Mikkelsen is extremely compelling in this heartbreaking role, which can’t have been easy to film. 

The almost documentary quality makes it seem even more real. It's a mark of the sophistication of the filmmaking that there's space for humour and warmth while addressing such a difficult topic.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Romantic comedy directed by Sharon Maguire and starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. It’s co-written by Richard Curtis and adapted from the popular 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. It’s also a sort of reinterpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

It’s funny in places, although Hugh Grant is given all the best lines. Colin Firth seems less well catered for in terms of the script, with the unfortunate result that you aren’t rooting for him when the plot suggests that you should be. Zellweger has a bumbling charm, and is perfect as the heroine everyone can relate to, even if her English accent doesn’t sound quite right. 

Some of the references wouldn’t have made it to a modern-day film, which makes it all the more interesting now. 

Gemma Jones is absolutely awful as Bridget’s mother – a misconceived role, badly handled. Jim Broadbent is marginally better as her father, but he’s not given a great deal to go on.

Phoenix (1998)

Highly watchable crime thriller directed by Danny Cannon. 

Ray Liotta plays Harry Collins, an Arizona detective whose gambling addiction is getting him into trouble. His three colleagues in the same department also have their own problems and their needs don’t always coincide. 

I like the way that Harry is portrayed as a deeply moral character, despite the mess he’s in. This nuanced script allows him to add real depth to the performance. 

Angelica Huston is excellent as Leila, the mother of a girl he nearly dated and someone he becomes quickly attached to.

You guess fairly on that there’s not going to be a happy ending, but it is at least a satisfying ending.

Michael Collins (1996)

Biopic of Michael Collins (played by Liam Neeson), the revolutionary Irishman who leads a guerilla force against the UK during the Irish War of Independence.

Neil Jordan directs, but it doesn’t feel like a Neil Jordan film. 

For some reason, I found it difficult to sustain interest. The narrative didn’t make a strong enough case for why these events were important or why we should care. And it doesn’t explain how Collins, out of so many people, rose to prominence. 

Liam Neeson wasn’t at his best. Julia Roberts has charm but was underused as his love interest. The accents were distracting – especially in the case of Alan Rickman’s awkward portrayal of Éamon de Valera. Only Stephen Rea, as Ned Broy, was truly convincing.

Beautiful Creatures (2001)

Usual drama/thriller directed by Bill Eagles. 

Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch star as two women victimised by men – until they take the law into their own hands. 

It’s a black comedy that’s a sort of Glasgow-based Thelma and Louise. But unlike that film, it doesn’t develop the relationship between them fully enough. There are some good lines and it’s well plotted, though. But with additional work it could have been so much better.

Premonition (2007)

Sandra Bullock stars in this mystery thriller directed by Mennan Yapo. 

Linda is told that her husband has died in a car crash. When she wakes up the next morning, he’s still alive and it’s as if nothing has happened. But then she wakes up again and he’s still dead. Is she dreaming? Is she losing her mind? This alternating pattern repeats itself, with Linda trying to piece together which of these realities is real while simultaneously trying to prevent her husband from dying. 

There are elements of Groundhog Day and Memento about it, but the premise is intriguingly original and I was fascinated to see how it would play out. 

Premonition touches on themes of freewill and determinism, love and trust, faith and belief. 

The semi-religious aspects that develop towards the end made me wonder if it was funded by the Catholic church.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

An intelligent, compassionate drama directed by Tom Ford. 

Amy Adams, as usual, is absolutely perfect in the role of Susan Morrow, an L.A. art gallery owner leading a wealthy but shallow life. Out of the blue she is sent the manuscript of a novel written by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). Reading this narrative sets her off on a series of reflections on her own life. 

We also get to see the drama of the novel itself, in which the “fictionalised” Gyllenhaal and his fictionalised wife (Isla Fisher) and daughter are terrorised by a gang who force them off the road at night in West Texas. It’s harrowing stuff. 

A third thread explores how Susan and Edward came together and fell apart. 

The multiple connected stories are handled beautifully, with no confusion about what’s happening where or when. The transitions between the various plot lines are expertly realised, with the director finding images and motifs that mirror and echo each other. There’s emotional depth in the performances as well as some episodes as terrifying as any thriller. 

One point deducted for slightly intrusive music, and also for the horrible opening sequence of naked obese people dancing.

The Next Three Days (2010)

An intelligent thriller directed by Paul Haggis. 

Russell Crowe stars as a man who wants to spring his wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of prison after she’s wrongly convicted of murder. It’s fascinating because he’s a school teacher – not your standard film action hero – and he makes mistakes.

It’s tense and exciting. To the film’s credit, there are sufficiently imaginative twists that I could never guess where the plot was going. 

Crowe has an elaborate chart on his wall revealing all of his illegal plans and I found that slightly ridiculous, but the fate of this chart is cleverly worked into the story in such a way that makes you appreciate it. 

Liam Neeson has a curious cameo as an expert at escaping from prisons. I thought he would return to the film at some point but he only features in that one scene.

Inside Man (2006)

Directed by Spike Lee, this is an unusual and original thriller focused on a hostage siege during a New York City bank robbery. 

Clive Owen masterminds the heist. Denzel Washington is the detective and hostage negotiator, who finds that the case is stranger than his usual tasks. Jodie Foster plays a mysterious power broker who tries to help the bank’s founder Christopher Plummer protect something in his safe deposit box. 

It’s edgy and dynamic, and also occasionally funny. 

The music by jazz musician and trumpeter Terence Blanchard is oddly jarring at times, but it works. 

The three leads are all at their best, although I would have liked more dialogue from Clive Owen.

The Hurricane (1999)

Directed and produced by Norman Jewison, this is a biopic of the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who was falsely imprisoned for a New Jersey murder because of racial prejudice. 

Denzel Washington is excellent in the main role, with a compelling intensity that makes him highly watchable. Vicellous Reon Shannon is good, too, as Lesra Martin – the young man who identifies with Rubin and befriends him after reading his autobiography. Unfortunately, the secondary plot about the boy’s carers – a group of three Canadians who help him get a fair trial – is leaden and awkward. When we see them pinning notes on their noticeboard that say things like “Liar” and “Guilty”, it becomes clunky and almost laughable. It’s as if there are two films badly sandwiched together – a hugely powerful character study that elegantly tackles weighty themes, and a rather pedestrian B-movie about some amateur investigators. Even more odd is that it’s never explained why the three Canadians live together. What’s their domestic arrangement? Are they romantically connected? Friends? Members of a liberal communal-living project? On the plus side, you get to hear Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” and even see an archive clip of Bob himself. 

It’s a shame it’s all a bit of a mess, because the best parts – such as Hurricane talking about transcending his confinement – are genuinely inspiring.