Maria Full of Grace (2004)

A superb Spanish-language drama written and directed by Joshua Marston. 

Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a 17-year-old Colombian girl who quits her deeply unpleasant job removing thorns from roses and becomes a drug mule tasked with transporting swallowed drug pellets to New York City. Of course, the job isn't as simple as she has been promised.

It's extremely gripping, and it works as a thriller as well as a human-interest story. Catalina Sandino Moreno is absolutely superb in the lead role, as is Yenny Paola Vega, who plays her friend.

While it's a very sad film, there's a hugely satisfying conclusion.

Gangs of New York (2002)

One of Martin Scorsese's lesser works. As a fan, I found this a big disappointment.

Fragmented and unfocused, it tells the story of the feuding Catholic and Protestant groups in the New York of the 1860s. At the same time, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks revenge from William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), who killed his priest father (Liam Neeson).

Scorsese tries to tell too many stories and loses track of the multiple threads.

There's slightly naff Irish music running through the film, which drags on for 167 minutes.

DiCaprio doesn't get to act much, which is a missed opportunity, and Cameron Diaz (who plays his pickpocket girlfriend) doesn't bring a great deal to the role.

There was possibly a great film in here somewhere, but possibly it got lost in the edit.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Directed by Blake Edwards and adapted from a teleplay, this is an excellent portrayal of alcoholism and its destructive role on a couple’s relationship.

Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick are entirely convincing as a young, seemingly happy couple who slowly learn that they simply cannot be together, such is the destructive effect their addictions have on themselves and one another. 

Their downward spiral makes for slightly gruelling, if hypnotic watching.

Custody (2017)

Award-winning French drama about the fallout of marital separation on an 11-year-old child (Thomas Gioria).

It's brilliant but thoroughly depressing, without even a hint of optimism as a domestic conflict escalates into physical danger. 

The small cast's remarkable performances highlight the horrors of a broken family and the damage it can inflict on the kids.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Superb courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger. 

James Stewart plays a brilliant but unconventional former district attorney, who acts as a defence lawyer for a suspected murder. 

There are plenty of quirky and strange characters, and dialogue is also attractively offbeat – particularly given the repeated reference to "panties". 

Every actor is remarkable, and there are memorable performances by Lee Remick (as the ambiguous Laura Manion), Ben Gazzara (as Lt. Frederick Manion) and George C. Scott (as the prosecutor Claude Dancer). Especially memorable is the judge played by Joseph N. Welch (a real-life lawyer). 

There's also an excellent soundtrack by Duke Ellington.

Christine (1983)

John Carpenter's superb adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel about a haunted car. It also functions as a teen drama.

It's scary, thanks to expert pacing and also Carpenter's ominous, exciting music. The film looks terrific, too, and is visually striking.

It's in love with America: a celebration of cars, cheerleaders, drive-ins, and rock 'n' roll.

As well as the horror element, it's a story about friendship and growing up. There's very strong characterisation. Keith Gordon plays Arnie Cunningham, the nerdy boy who buys the 1958 Plymouth Fury and is quickly possessed by her. John Stockwell plays his friend Dennis, and Alexandra Paul plays Leigh Cabot, a new girl at school that both Arnie and Dennis are drawn to. Harry Dean Stanton plays the investigating detective.

Finding Neverland (2004)

Intriguing (partial) biopic of the writer J.M. Barrie. 

Barrie is played unexpectedly well by Johnny Depp. Kate Winslet plays Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the widow he falls in love with and maintains a platonic relationship with, while becoming a sort of father to her children. In the meantime, he’s working on the Peter Pan play that will make his name, and which is inspired by the family he has become so attached to. 

It’s quite a touching story. “Neverland” works as a metaphor for make-believe/imagination and also for Heaven. There’s a strong performance by Julie Christie, as Sylvia’s strict and frosty mother. Dustin Hoffman is refreshingly unselfconscious as Charles Frohman, the play’s producer. 

It would be easy to criticise the film’s extremely sanitised portrayal of terminal disease, but it’s a story all about the imagination so it therefore seems to make sense that gritty realism is held at bay.

Evolution (2001)

Comedy sci-fi directed by Ivan Reitman. 

Arizona college professor (David Duchovny) and his geologist pal (Orlando Jones) investigate the site of a meteor landing. Exploring the site they encounter life-forms with the ability to evolve at high speed. Before long, all civilisation is at risk. 

Julianne Moore plays an epidemiologist who keeps tripping over and bumping into things, while Dan Ackroyd is the state governor, keen to avert an embarrassing disaster.

It’s extremely silly, but it’s quick-witted and there are enough laughs to keep you hooked in until the end.

The Wings of the Dove (1997)

Historical drama adapted from the 1902 Henry James novel and directed by Iain Softley. 

The wealthy American heiress Milly (Alison Elliott) is dying. Her friend Kate (Helena Bonham-Carter) schemes to inherit her money via a love triangle with her boyfriend Merton (Linus Roache). But inevitably things don’t go to plan. 

It's enjoyable but there are a couple of flaws. The first is that Milly never seems especially unwell. The second is that Merton doesn’t seem charming enough to have two women in love with him. What’s the appeal?

In places, more depth was needed to explore characters and their motivations. For example, Kate’s strict, stuffy aunt (Charlotte Rampling) is something of a caricature without being fully explained. This may be because the novel had to be condensed for the screen. 

That said, it's lavishly shot and generally well acted.

Nowhere Boy (2009)

Biopic of the teenage John Lennon, directed by artist Sam Taylor-Wood.

Growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s, Lennon (Aaron Johnson) is torn between his solid, strict, practical Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his flighty mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), who gave him up to live with her sister. 

Wisely, it keeps to the emotional drama: the story of Lennon’s musical development mostly takes place in the background. I feared that it would be a sentimental and/or simplistic account of the heartache that led to his rise to fame, but the film explores his complicated relationships with nuance and subtlety.

House at the End of the Street (2012)

Directed by Mark Tonderai, this is a psychological thriller with suggestions of the supernatural.

A teenage girl (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother (Elisabeth Shue) move to a new neighbourhood. They learn that a nearby property was the scene of a double killing by a 17-year-old girl, whose older brother still occupies the house. But of course nothing is as it seems.

The film suffers from being directed at teenagers. There’s little depth, with the usually brilliant Lawrence giving a merely adequate performance. The slightly tortured twists of the plot don’t satisfy, either, and there’s not a great deal to enjoy.

Hide and Seek (2005)

Psychological thriller directed by John Polson.

New York psychologist Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro) finds his wife dead in the bathtub, after what seems like a suicide. David takes his nine-year-old daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) to upstate New York, where they can live in a big spooky house miles from anywhere. But when Emily makes friends with “Charlie”, who may or may not be imaginary, events quickly take a sinister turn... 

While De Niro is somewhat wasted in the role, it’s a tense drama with horror tropes and it keeps you guessing until the big reveal towards the end.

The Help (2011)

Historical drama set in Mississippi in 1963. 

Skeeter (Emma Stone), an aspiring author, decides to write a book on African-American maids and the struggles they face on a daily basis.

Directed by Tate Taylor, this film is adapted from the popular 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett. Despite good storytelling and some remarkable performances by Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Viola Davis, it’s sentimental and simplistic. There’s also an unfortunate “white saviour” aspect. Given the importance of the Civil Rights movement, you wish there had been a more nuanced and subtle treatment of the topic.

Suspect (1987)

American legal mystery thriller.

Cher stars as lawyer Kathleen Riley. Liam Neeson plays Carl Wayne Anderson, a homeless Vietnam vet who she defends. Dennis Quaid, meanwhile, is an agribusiness lobbyist. 

Cher is great, with an undeniable presence, and to the credit of director Peter Yates the film is never formulaic. But there are too many red herrings for the story to truly satisfy. And it's never entirely clear why the plot required Neeson's character to be deaf and dumb.

Best in Show (2000)

Absolutely hilarious and finely drawn mockumentary about the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show and the fairly extreme dog-owners who are drawn to enter their pets. It’s directed by Christopher Guest of Spinal Tap fame and it follows a similar format – interviews and clips of the characters as we get to know them and their predicaments.

The ensemble cast is absolutely pitch perfect, mining the seriousness of the dog show for all the possible comedic value. The vanity of these dog owners is exposed with continually funny consequences.

Doubt (2008)

Compelling drama adapted from the stage play by John Patrick Shanley. 

It’s 1964. At a catholic school, the priest, Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is slandered by Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), who accuses him of an inappropriate relationship with a black student. Meanwhile, a young and impressionable history teacher, Sister James (Amy Adams), is inadvertently drawn into this tangled mess.

Viola Davis plays the child’s mother with depth and empathy. 

It’s fascinating stuff, and you are quickly drawn in by Streep’s intensity as a terrifying, vindictive, almost witch-like fanatic.

I felt slightly disappointed by the ending, although I’m not sure how else it could played out.

Last Orders (2001)

Written and directed by Fred Schepisi, this is a disappointing adaptation of Graeme Swift‘s Booker Prize-winning novel. 

When Alex (Michael Caine) dies, his friends and son honour his final wishes by travelling to Margate to scatter his ashes from the end of the pier. In undertaking this journey, they consider their memories of him and their feelings for each other, past and present.

Somehow, what works beautifully on the page fails to translate to the screen.

Graeme Swift's elegant weaving together of different times and places makes perfect sense in a written context. But filmed, the multiple time frames and young/old juxtapositions seem clunky. Plus, the cheesy music by Paul Grabowsky is jarring and inappropriate. 

Helen Mirren is solid as Jack’s wife Amy. Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Tom Courtenay just do what they always do.