The War of the Roses (1989)

Black comedy directed by Danny DeVito, who also plays a lawyer narrating the plot. The story deals with a couple, Oliver and Barbara Rose, who plan to divorce but cannot agree on who will keep their large house. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner are reunited from Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, both of which also featured DeVito, although this is a very different kind of film. As the couple’s rivalry intensifies, they end up effectively trying to kill each other.

The comedy isn’t really funny enough, with some of the slapstick seeming very extreme. It badly needs more laughs. Instead, it’s certainly interesting and memorable but it’s tonally quite peculiar.

The Awakening (2011)

Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart, a professional debunker of supernatural phenomena, who is sent to a school where spooky goings on have been reported. As she begins to investigate ghostly sightings, it becomes clear that she is involved in these events in deeper ways than she realises. 

Directed by Nick Murphy, this is a genuinely creepy thriller that follows the first rule of horror: what you don’t see is scarier than what you do see. 

Imelda Staunton is excellent as a member of staff at the school, while Dominic West is pretty good as one of the teachers who becomes romantically involved with Cathcart.

On the down side, too much happens in the last 10 minutes, so the ending does seem a little rushed. And the deliberately ambiguous ending may frustrate.

Miss Potter (2006)

Directed by Chris Noonan, this is a biopic of Beatrix Potter focusing on the early part of the writer/illustrator’s career. 

I enjoyed it because Renée Zellweger is always so watchable, but it’s very thin on plot. And the addition of animated sequences in which Potter’s art comes to life are clunky and awkward. I found them a little patronising, too. We can see for ourselves that she regards her characters as “living” things because Zellweger’s acting makes it clear. We don’t need it spelled out in such a literal manner. 

On the plus side, Ewan McGregor is much better than usual. And there are some sweet moments detailing the couple’s romance. But ultimately Miss Potter feels like a branding exercise on behalf of the Beatrix Potter estate.

The Net (1995)

Directed by Irwin Winkler, this is a trashy but enjoyable thriller starring Sandra Bullock as a geeky computer expert whose identity is stolen and erased. Jeremy Northam plays the villain who initially seduces her before trying to kill her. 

While it’s very basic in some ways, and we never really learn what the villains were planning to do, there are genuine thrills and surprises along the way. The fairground sequence is highly effective. And it was difficult to predict the ending. The filmmakers wrestle with how to make typing on a computer keyboard look exciting and just about make it work with fast edits and unusual close-ups. 

As always, Sandra Bullock is highly watchable.

Vera Drake (2004)

Written and directed by Mike Leigh, this is an excellent drama about a 1950s working-class Londoner (Imelda Staunton) who illegally performs abortions out of a well-meaning wish to help young girls. Vera has a tight-knit family who know nothing of what she does and whose lives are completely transformed by the discovery. 

Imelda Staunton is superb in the lead role, adding depth and emotional complexity to the moral issues explored by the script. The fall-out of her actions and the devastating effects on Vera and her family are brilliantly examined by Mike Leigh, with his usual intelligence and empathy.

Career Girls (1997)

Brilliant comedy-drama written and directed by Mike Leigh. It tells the story of two student friends, played by Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman, who reunite after six years apart. 

They are complex characters, and the actors give astonishingly vivid performances to bring them to life. There’s so much twitchy energy when they’re on screen together that you don’t know where to look.

It would have been a masterpiece except for some plot problems. The pair keep bumping into people they knew years ago. This just doesn’t happen in a city as large as London. And for a story grounded in social realism, three major coincidences is two too many.

Comfort & Joy (1984)

Gentle comedy directed by Bill Forsyth with that director's usual offbeat wit and strong sense of place. 

A local radio DJ (Bill Paterson) becomes involved in a dangerously escalating feud between two rival ice-cream companies. 

It’s funny, but with moments of drama. Claire Grogan (credited as C. P. Grogan) plays a young woman working in the Mr. Bunny ice cream van and doesn’t get enough lines of her own. 

As with Local Hero, the locations are evocative and there’s a keen intelligence to the script.

Secrets & Lies (1996)

Absolutely masterful drama directed by Mike Leigh. The members of a family find out things about each other that transform their lives as secrets and lies are revealed. Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall star as siblings. Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars as Hortense Cumberbatch, an optometrist seeking her birth mother.

Leigh cleverly unpeels layers of the story, letting you know more about the characters and how they interrelate. It’s brilliantly shot, too. A party in the garden is framed like a play, with everyone in shot and everyone doing something at the same time. It’s fascinating to watch and definitely has the feel of a stage play. But, at the same time, the realism is such that it never seems “theatrical”.

Firefox (1982)

A truly terrible film directed by Clint Eastwood, who stars as a military pilot tasked with stealing a thought-controlled Soviet fighter aircraft.

It’s confusingly plotted. The acting is hammy. There’s a total lack of dynamism. Clint is alone for much of the film so has no one to play off or interact with. Indeed, he has to talk to himself most of the time. Meanwhile, stilted, static scenes of grumpy army generals standing around talking does not make for good drama.

A fundamentally misconceived mess.

Magic (1978)

Anthony Hopkins is at his absolute best in this riveting drama about a ventriloquist, Charles “Corky” Withers, whose dummy (“Fats”) appears to take him over. It cleverly walks a tightrope between a psychological thriller and a horror film. Is it all in the ventriloquist’s mind? Or is there a genuinely supernatural element, with the dummy actually coming to life? That question is eventually answered but not before you’ve been put through a terrifying roller-coaster. 

Magic was presumably influenced by Dead of Night, which had a section that explored a similar scenario. 

The film is brilliantly directed by Richard Attenborough. Burgess Meredith (the Penguin from the Batman TV show) is excellent as Corky’s agent, Ben Greene, who soon learns that nothing is quite as it should be.

Pollock (2000)

Absolutely excellent biopic of Jackson Pollock, starring Ed Harris in the title role. The film examines the man’s life and work, exploring his addictions and mental health while also examining the innovations of his art. 

Marcia Gay Harden is perfect as his wife, the painter Lee Krasner, in a role that’s satisfyingly developed.

Harris, who also directs, does a great job of articulating the artist’s gifts and his mental struggles, often at the same time. It can’t have been an easy role, but he convinces in the part to the extent that it’s impossible to imagine any other actor doing it so well.

Jennifer Connelly plays Ruth Kligman, who Pollock had an affair with shortly before his death in a car accident.

A Most Violent Year (2014)

Excellent thriller directed by J. C. Chandor and set in the early 1980s. 

Oscar Isaac stars as a New Yorker whose business – selling oil – is threatened by corruption and violence. Jessica Chastain plays his tough wife – a complex, brilliantly drawn character, whose father has a dubious criminal background. 

It has a Martin Scorsese feel and the choice of urban locations is superb. The title doesn’t quite work, though, as it could be applied to countless other thrillers.