Space Cowboys (2000)

Four elderly test pilots are brought out of retirement to save the world from an armed Russian satellite. This unlikely premise unites Clint Eastwood (who also directs), Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner. 

During the training process there are age-related jokes aplenty (Eastwood seems obsessed by the topic) before the four guys actually go into space and things get (relatively) serious. 

A few flaws. The Russian plot is never really explained. Also, the despatching of the bombs is oddly never shown. Were those graphics outside of the budget? Or did something get mangled in the edit? 

James Garner seems underused. 

Marcia Gay Harden is good as the scientist Sara Holland, who becomes Tommy Lee’s unlikely love interest. 

Hardly a classic, but it’s a good-natured romp with some enjoyable comic moments.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

A gripping and disturbing war drama directed by Michael Cimino.

Three Slavic-American friends (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage) find their simple, low-key lives are shattered after they are shipped off to fight in Vietnam. 

Brilliantly, the film establishes a long set-up in their hometown. You get to know the characters and their context. The war segment is merely the second part of the film. The third part then deals with what happens after they come home – the emotional fall-out of everything they've experienced.

Meryl Streep is excellent as a companion from their pre-war existence. De Niro and Walken are at their very best: highly convincing as young men under unbearable pressures. There's a strong anti-war message, handled with subtlety, but it seems to be primarily a story about friendship and the strength of the human soul.

The Russian roulette sequences won't be quickly forgotten.

Black Swan (2010)

Brilliant, engaging drama about a young ballet dancer (Natalie Portman), who gets the lead role in a new production of Swan Lake. Her manipulative and abusive teacher drives her to increasingly extreme actions in the name of training her for the role. She also has a controlling mother to contend with.

Portman is excellent as the ambitious but conflicted dancer who undergoes a remarkable transformation into the swan in the interests of achieving technical perfection. 

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, it’s filmed in a striking way, with tropes from horror films cleverly deployed to add suspense and scary drama.

The Lady in the Van (2015)

Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation of Alan Bennett’s memoir about an eccentric old lady who takes up residence on his Camden Town driveway. 

Alex Jennings plays Bennett. Maggie Smith is superb in the lead role, giving a suitably cantankerous and unlikable yet intelligent performance. I found the gimmick of two Alan Bennetts (as writer Alan talks to regular-guy Alan) an unwieldy distraction. Introducing the real Alan Bennett in a tricksy cameo at the end was further self-indulgent silliness. 

To the film's credit it doesn't sentimentalise the original material (there's plenty about toilet matters), and it reveals psychological depths that a lesser director might have ignored in favour of lazy farce. It also looks at middle-class guilt and how people behave when confronted by difficult situations that puncture the veneer of social normality.

I was pleased to see Rising Damp's Frances de la Tour as one of the neighbours.

Open Range (2003)

Awkward and stilted western directed by and starring Kevin Costner. 

Costner and Robert Duvall play a pair of nomadic cowboys known as “freegrazers”. 

It’s slow and the thin plot doesn’t warrant the extended 139-minute running time. Costner proves the general rule that actors cannot direct (the only exceptions being Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen). He has little sense of moving things along or building character. Instead, it’s like a fifth-rate homage to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

The one saving grace is Annette Bening as the doctor’s sister.

Love Is All You Need (2012)

Light romantic drama from Denmark, directed by Susanne Bier. 

Philip (Pierce Brosnan) is a hard-hearted businessman. Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is a hairdresser recovering from cancer treatment. They pair meet when their children are due to marry in Italy, and they fall in love despite various obstacles. 

Contrary to what the generic title and packaging might suggest, it’s surprisingly enjoyable and subtle, with some nice observations about the way families behave.

Blood Work (2002)

Enjoyable thriller starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. 

The plot features a retired FBI agent attempting to catch a killer. The twist is that he is suffering heart problems, which make it even more difficult.

Eastwood is great, as always. In fact, this could have worked as the next Dirty Harry film, although the main character is perhaps too compassionate to be Callahan. 

There are strong female characters – notably Anjelica Huston as Dr. Bonnie Fox. Jeff Daniels also co-stars.

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

Light drama adapted from the novel by Karen Joy Fowler. A group of women (and one man) congregate monthly to discuss the novels of Jane Austen. They find the minutiae of relationships detailed in those books mirror their own love lives. 

The writing seems clever on one level – the intertextuality of plots – but the characters are mainly annoying. Especially unbearable is Kathy Baker as Bernadette, who knits a lot and looks smug, but isn’t given a plot thread of her own. 

Emily Blunt is probably the best of those in the ensemble cast, but even she is only given trite dialogue.

A Room with a View (1985)

Produced by the Merchant Ivory team, this adaptation of E.M. Forster's 1908 novel is arguably the ultimate costumer.

A young woman named Lucy Honeychurch navigates relationship troubles and the social restrictions of Edwardian England.

Helena Bonham Carter is immensely lovable in the main role.

There's so much subtle, gentle wit on display, and the Italian locations look lavish.

Surprisingly, Forster seems to work much better on film than on the page (see also Howard's End, which also starred H.B.C.). Rich and vibrant characters come alive through a sparkling script. Simon Callow is excellent as the Reverend Mr Beebe. Judi Dench is also on top form as the novelist Eleanor Lavish. 

The rest of the all-star cast includes Julian Sands, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott and Daniel Day-Lewis.

Prisoners (2013)

A gripping and terrifying thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve. 

In Conyers, Pennsylvania, two girls go missing – believed to be abducted. Their families begin to disintegrate under the strain, with one of the fathers (Hugh Jackman) resorting to increasingly extreme behaviour. 

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the local detective, desperately trying to find the girls despite the community and his own boss working against him. 

It’s brilliantly written, acted and photographed. There’s a genuinely creepy look to the rainswept houses and streets. 

Themes of religion, family and community run through the narrative, adding depth and texture.

Jackie (2016)

Directed by Pablo Larraín, this is a sort of biopic about the wife of John F. Kennedy in the days before and after his assassination. 

Like all the best biopics, it doesn’t attempt to cram a complete life story into two hours. Instead, it zooms in on one moment in that life and uses it to explore the character in depth. 

It’s impressionistic, without losing sight of dialogue and storytelling. Natalie Portman gives the performance of a lifetime as Jacqueline Kennedy. 

It’s sad and disturbing, perfectly capturing her mixture of shock, anger and loss.

The Mission (1986)

A remarkable drama directed by Roland Joffé and written by Robert Bolt.

Plot (borrowed from online): "18th century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American Indian tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal."

Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons star. 

The jungle setting is visually stunning.

It's powerful and moving, especially given that it's based on true events.

The stirring music is by Ennio Morricone.