City of Angels (1998)

A remarkable romantic drama. Nicolas Cage is an angel, who guides the dying to heaven. In a Los Angeles hospital, he meets a human doctor (Meg Ryan) and they fall in love. He then has to decide whether to give up eternal life and become human in order to be with her.

It’s loosely based on Wings of Desire (1987), but the theme of interspecies love reminds me a little of the mermaid saga Splash.

It’s subtle and nuanced. There’s something very pure and focused about the way it primarily deals with two characters and excludes sub-plots and other distractions.

Cage is perfect as an angel discovering what it is to love, possessing all the calm intensity you would expect of a supernatural being. Ryan is well-cast, too, so you can really believe in their romance.

The film excels in exploring the sensual qualities of pleasure and pain that angels are denied. The ending is satisfyingly not what you expect, and it’s moving without turning into sentimental slosh.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Meryl Streep is the editor of the highly influential New York fashion magazine Runway. Anne Hathaway plays the young assistant who risks becomes corrupted by the glitz and superficiality of that world.

It’s a sort of morality story (with a slight flavour of Working Girl) – will she remain true to herself or will she be seduced by the dark side?

The direction by David Frankel is fresh and fast, and the film zings along at a decent pace.

Streep is excellent as the intimidating, hard-nosed boss, and Hathaway is believable as the wide-eyed youngling. Emily Blunt is also pretty good as the bratty other assistant.

District 9 (2009)

Astonishing alien film that brings huge intelligence and empathy to its subject.

A vast alien spaceship arrives and hovers over Johannesburg. The aliens on board (given the derogatory name “prawns” by humans) are herded up and forced to live in a fortified slum.

When, years later, Multinational United (MNU) begin aggressively relocating the aliens outside the city, the foolish Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) becomes infected by a fluid that begins to turn him into one of them. But rather than care for him, the authorities realise his huge value because his altered DNA means that he can now activate the aliens’ superior weapons. He therefore has the potential to unlock a huge leap forwards in military technology...

The film is presented in fake-documentary style that makes it seem incredibly real.

It’s pretty clear that the treatment of aliens as inferior beings is an allegory of South Africa’s Apartheid.

A lesser treatment could have quickly dissolved into a tacky aliens vs. humans shoot-’em-up, but while this is indeed violent it never takes the obvious or gratuitous path. And it’s a clever twist that the only kindness on display is interspecies as the fugitive human and persecuted aliens start to help each other.

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

The title says it all. An absolutely stupid film that ends up being very funny. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels play two of the most infantile people imaginable. But they are well-meaning, too, and care about each other. They become accidentally involved in a crime involving the kidnap of the husband of an heiress (Lauren Holly) and leave a trail of destruction in their wake while attempting to travel to Aspen (it’s a sort of road movie) in order to return a suitcase full of money.

It works because the humour is kind. You laugh at their absurdity and vulnerability. I’ve never been a fan of crass jokes about toilets, but these characters are so well drawn that even the “laxative overdose” scene is compelling.

Stupid as they are, you root for them because you recognise a little of yourself in their daftness and because it’s difficult to resist the warmth of their friendship.

American Sniper (2014)

Powerful and disturbing Iraq War drama that tells the story of “the most lethal sniper in US military history”. Bradley Cooper plays Chris Kyle, who becomes more and more damaged by each of his four tours of duty. Sienna Miller plays his wife (and mother of his children), seeing the man she loves ruined by post-traumatic stress disorder.

It’s violent and bloody as you’d expect from a film with this title and subject matter. I was surprised it was only a “15” given that you see children being shot and some other very harrowing images.

Director/producer Clint Eastwood has it both ways in the sense that he shows the evils of war and senseless brutality of violence but simultaneously documents a culture that fails to learn from its mistakes and continues to celebrate the use and ownership of guns. In Trump’s America it seems more relevant than ever.

Star Trek (2009)

J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the iconic franchise injects new vitality into the tired space saga. It deals briefly with the early life of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), introduces the other key characters and effectively ends where Gene Roddenberry’s 1960s TV series begins.

Kirk is established as a super-confident, highly talented liability who ends up captaining the Enterprise. In parallel the film explores his relationship with – and the character of – the young Spock (Zachary Quinto). In particular, it probes the psychological complexity of his half-Vulcan, half-human origins. Does he have emotions or doesn’t he? Leonard Nimoy also appears as the older Spock, explained via a complicated time-travel narrative.

The character of Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is better developed than it was in the TV show, and Simon Pegg adds extra quirkiness to Scotty.

The effects are remarkable and the large-scale space scenes look impressive.

The only real flaw is that the villains – the tattooed Romulans – aren’t especially convincing. For baddies to be scary they need to seem real.

That aside, it’s a highly entertaining romp.

Joy (2015)

Highly intelligent drama – with welcome flashes of subtle comedy – directed by David O. Russell, who also made the excellent Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle with the same actors.

Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) invents a “miracle mop” that seems destined to transform her fortunes, but she has to deal with complex family matters and business sharks out to rip her off. Lawrence is as compelling as ever, while Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Isabella Rossellini are all impressive in supporting roles.

It’s a testament to how well the film was made that a demonstration of mop functionality can work as the dramatic and emotional high point. It’s also to be applauded that the obvious Lawrence/Cooper romance option was not pursued, and a more nuanced relationship between the pair was explored instead.

Like Russell’s other films, music is hugely important and the late 1960s/early 1970s soundtrack selections (Stones, Buffalo Springfield, etc) were expertly chosen.

I also like the way the film offered a very unexpected twist to its narration about two thirds of the way through...

Speed (1994)

Terrific action thriller. The concept is simple: a Los Angeles city bus is armed with a bomb that will detonate if the vehicle’s speed dips below 50 mph. Cute, funny Sandra Bullock is the passenger who becomes the heroic driver. Keanu Reeves is the cop jumping aboard the bus to save her and the other passengers while trying to defeat the crazed villain (Dennis Hopper). He’s helped by fellow cop Jeff Daniels, who is as reliably watchable as ever.

With exceptional pacing, the film ramps up the tension from the start and somehow sustains it for 111 minutes.

Some of the dialogue is weak, with a silly Bond-like quip about death that could have been skipped, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s so full-on in terms of excitement that you are swept away by the rush of energy. And the blossoming romance story is developed just enough to make you engage with the characters. It’s telling, though, that only Reeves is shown on the DVD cover, despite Bullock being every bit as integral to the film.

Spartacus (1960)

I had never seen this Stanley Kubrick classic, so was curious. It deserves all the hype, pretty much. Kirk Douglas is shiny and reasonably charismatic in the lead role. Jean Simmons is appealing as his delicate love interest, often shown in soft focus. The smouldering scenes in which the pair fall in love at the gladiator training centre are remarkable because almost no words are exchanged between them. Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov make up what is the very definition of an all-star cast. They are all on excellent form, but Curtis seems weirdly underused despite being built up as important because he’s different to the others.

At over three hours – and with amazing crowd scenes with hundreds of extras amassing for battle on huge landscapes – it’s epic in every sense.

Like many classics, it’s odder than you might expect. The lighting is all over the place, with some strangely illuminated interior scenes jarringly placed amid the exterior locations. There are also some peculiar scenes showing “ordinary life” within the slave camp. The senate is surprisingly small and low-key for a film that specialises in grand gestures. But it works because it keeps the themes of idealism (the idea of Rome) and political corruption (greed for power) on a scale you can relate to.

There’s a fascinating scene in which bisexuality is alluded to. Crassus says to Antoninus: “It is all a matter of taste, isn't it? And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals. My taste includes both snails and oysters.” Strong stuff for a “PG”, as are the gory moments and the points at which Jean Simmons tastefully de-robes.

Tackling big issues of freedom, democracy and class, it’s a rich film. There’s a moving finale that manages to offer both a happy and a sad ending.

I, Tonya (2017)

Terribly sad biopic of Tonya Harding, the Olympic ice skater whose career was ruined by her ex-husband’s alleged involvement in the 1994 assault on her rival Nancy Kerrigan.

It’s a tragic tale of abuse, from childhood onwards, via a brutal, unloving mother (played by Allison Janney) and a violent husband (played by Sebastian Stan). The film is also a damning critique of the media, which turned her into a “punchline”, while being part of that media.

Margot Robbie is terrific in the lead role as the talented skater who just wanted to be loved.

The feel is a lot like American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street: fast edits, a loud rock soundtrack and fourth-wall talking to camera.

It's disturbing and gripping – a powerful drama that's excellently made – but, as always with these kinds of biopics, I’m left wondering if it might have been better to make a documentary film instead.

Citizen Kane (1941)

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and now I can. This film tackles big themes of power, celebrity, love, truth, integrity, loneliness, success, failure, ambition and folly. It’s radical in its patchwork flashback structure, and it pieces together the narrative like the jigsaws attempted by Kane’s second wife. It’s a mystery story – what did Kane’s dying words (“Rosebud”) mean? Plus, there’s huge technical innovation: it’s so imaginatively shot in terms of the use of light and shadow. It’s also a great story that’s no less relevant now.

Producer, co-screenwriter, director and star Orson Welles is riveting in the lead role. You realise that Leonardo diCaprio has learned a lot from his manner in this film.

The Robe (1953)

Watched on TV while on holiday, this is a sword-and-sandals biblical epic. Richard Burton is super-magnetic as the Roman Marcellus, who crucifies Jesus, only to have his mind and soul converted to Christianity. It’s fascinating to see how the topic is handled. You see Jesus’s feet, but not his face. The swelling orchestral music and choirs of angels make for a stirring soundtrack. The sets are elaborate and lavish. Jean Simmons is appealing as Diana, who is in love with Marcellus and, later, with Jesus. Victor Mature is Demetrius, the rogue slave who manages to convert his master. You can see how it’s going to end and it’s quite satisfying to watch that conclusion play out.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

Based on the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque, this is a powerful WWI drama that sets out to show war as a pointless, futile, cruel waste of life. Richard Thomas (“John Boy” in The Waltons) is excellent as the innocent young man who enlists in the German army and quickly has any illusions about the glory of battle dashed by the brutal reality of the experience. This message is underscored again and again as his friends meet horrible deaths and then when he returns home on leave – only to find that not one person sees through the myths of heroism and nationalism that are killing hundreds of boys each day for mere inches of land.

There’s an especially affecting scene in which our hero has to spend the night lying in a trench with the Frenchman he has just stabbed. Realising how much they have in common he tries to help the man, but it’s too late. The scene is brilliantly drawn out in a way that I don’t think would happen if this was made now. 

The film evokes the constant noise of battle, but – despite a lot of maimed bodies – doesn’t quite go far enough to depict the soul-destroying filth, disease and degradation that these men would surely have suffered in their daily lives. That said, it’s one of the most profound anti-war films I’ve seen.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Brilliant adaptation of the Harper Lee novel. A seductively appealing small-town atmosphere turns nasty when a lawyer (Gregory Peck) defends a black man framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The film cleverly tells several stories: the court drama, the wider race-relations issues of the American South, and also the mystery of “Boo” Radley, the unseen neighbour who ends up playing a significant role in their lives.

Gregory Peck is fantastic as Atticus Finch, the kind, calm and intelligent lawyer and father of Scout (the narrator) and Jim. Their friend “Dill” is also excellent. These three kids (Mary Badham, Phillip Alford and John Megna respectively) deliver some of the best child acting I've ever seen. You watch their youthful innocence being lost as they learn about the dangers and prejudices of the world around them. Sadder than this is that the story seems more relevant than ever in Donald Trump’s America.

9 to 5 (1980)

Office-based comedy about sexism in the workplace. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton are fairly entertaining in the main roles, playing against their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” boss (Dabney Coleman).

It’s badly let down by a terrible series of fantasy sequences in which each of the women plots their oppressor’s demise. These scenarios aren’t funny and are actually a little creepy. They spoil the momentum and take you out of the story. The film recovers when the real plot begins, but only just: it still fails to ring true. If these were three ordinary, decent people (as the plot tries to suggest), they would never kidnap someone and keep them chained up as a prisoner for weeks.

9 to 5 makes some good points about gender inequality, but Working Girl (1988), which owes something of a debt to this film, did it so much better.

I was fairly disappointed, having expected a classic. Dolly Parton’s theme song is, by some distance, the best thing about the film.

Down by Law (1986)

Hypnotic black and white comedy drama directed by Jim Jarmusch. Three men – Jack, Zach and Bob – find themselves unjustly held in a New Orleans jail and make their escape. It’s not really about “what happens”. Indeed, the escape takes seconds and isn’t detailed at all. It’s about their characters and the way their personalities interact.

The three stars, Tom Waits, John Lurie and Roberto Benigni, are all highly watchable and charismatic. Waits, in particular, has a twitchy, edgy magnetism.

When the film takes an unexpectedly romantic turn, it becomes something that lifts your spirits as well as makes you laugh. Nicoletta Braschi has been Benigni’s real-world wife since 1991 (they also starred together in Life Is Beautiful) and the scenes with them together are a joy.

It’s shot beautifully, too. You can freeze the DVD at any point and it looks like a striking photograph.

One of my favourite films.

The Great Escape (1963)

A classic, of course, but it’s a stranger film than you might think. I don’t like the relentlessly chirpy, intrusive music, which often trivialises the drama and turns it into farce. The tone just feels wrong. There’s often gentle wit in the script, so the music didn’t need to “jolly it up”.

Steve McQueen is highly watchable and charismatic. It’s impossible to rate his acting because he doesn’t really act at all. He has very few lines. Mostly, he just looks good and gets the most glamorous part (motorcycle chase, escape expertise, nice clothes).

Far more engaging were the characters played by Donald Pleasance (who is losing his sight) and James Garner (who cares for him).

The cast is the very definition of “all-star”: an amazing list of A-list names including James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson and David McCallum.

Most of the time the Nazis seem too kindly. And it was unrealistic that there was never a hint of dissent between the officers in the camp.

All that aside, the escape is genuinely exciting. And the ending – not what you might expect – is fairly satisfying.

Prizzi's Honor (1985)

The blackest black comedy about the Mafia isn’t really funny enough. It’s very slow, too. Although Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner and Anjelica Huston are all charismatic, they don’t have the material to work with. I found it tiresome to watch and it lacked the thrills of a good gangster drama as well as the laughs of a wittier film. Some of the motivations were unclear, too: what was in it for Kathleen Turner’s character? She didn’t marry Jack Nicholson for the money (she was already rich) and she didn’t love him either (she tried to kill him).

It was densely plotted and confusingly signposted, so I lost the thread a few times.

The pale and frail Mafia don played by William Hickey was a ludicrous character, neither funny nor scary. You never knew how you were meant to feel about him, which may have been the point.

This film gained strong reviews and is generally regarded as a classic. I couldn’t see what the fuss was about.

Licence to Kill (1989)

The second and final Timothy Dalton Bond film is surprisingly good – almost a proper thriller. Unusually, the plot has an arc that you can actually follow: Bond chases a drug baron, Sanchez, who injured his CIA pal Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and murdered Felix's wife. Bond has his licence revoked, but – seeking revenge – goes rogue with the sexy CIA agent Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell). In fact, Bouvier could be the strongest female lead in a Bond film since Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) – a three-dimensional character for a change. Only the extended presence of the ancient Desmond Llewelyn as Q in “field operative” mode tips this over into ludicrous territory, although Llewelyn is always enjoyable to watch.

Timothy Dalton seemed unloved as Bond, but he has a certain charm that makes him watchable. And unlike Pierce Brosnan, who acts with his hair, he actually gets his lines out in a convincing manner.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

On Valentine’s Day, 1900, a bunch of girls from an Australian boarding school go on a day out to the ominous Hanging Rock. It soon becomes clear that there’s an essential wrongness about the place. Clocks stop at midday and, amid the heat, the girls enter a kind of disorientated enchantment. Seemingly bewitched and in a trance, three of them disappear (plus one of their teachers, played by Vivean Gray – Mrs. Mangel from Neighbours). I last saw this film at least 30 years ago but the utterly haunting image of the girls in their white dresses – walking, somehow mesmerised, towards a fate that is brilliantly never explained – has stayed with me ever since.

Like all of the world’s most terrifying stories, this adaptation of the Joan Lindsay novel understands that the less you explain the more scary it becomes. The film works on multiple levels. It’s a supernatural thriller but also a historical drama that takes on issues of class division, female repression and sexuality, and social control inside and outside of institutions.

The music by Gheorghe Zamfir (panpipe) and Marcel Cellier (organ) is especially effective and goes a long way towards building the atmosphere. Sophia Coppola's film The Virgin Suicides, which covers similar themes, had an oddly similar kind of soundtrack (by Air), so was presumably influenced by this film.

Peter Weir’s direction is stunning: it’s shot in a way that really enhances the sense of dazed, ethereal bewitchment.

A masterpiece.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

I overcame my Steven Spielberg prejudice (haven’t liked one of his films since Duel or Jaws) to watch this World War II epic. The battle scenes are extremely dramatic – bloody and terribly tense – and he deserves credit for these. What I didn’t like was the “present day” segments that top and tail the film. I don’t think these were needed at all. (Titanic suffered from the same slightly naff device.) Also unnecessary was the soupy music that is laden onto so many scenes. This is intrusive and emotionally obvious, undercutting the realism.

The other fundamental flaw is that the film can never explain why the life of Ryan (Matt Damon) is important enough to be worth rescuing at such a high price in terms of human sacrifice, just as Miller (Tom Hanks) can never explain it to his men. (General George Marshall decides that Ryan should be saved because all three of his brothers were killed.) What about all the other men who were not favoured? Or is the point precisely that life and death decisions are always made arbitrarily by those in the upper ranks?

It’s a shame because there is so much that is remarkable about this as a war film. In particular, the recreation of the Omaha Beach battle (part of the Normandy landings) is astonishing in the way it depicts the merciless brutality that both sides faced. Knowing that this slaughter actually happened makes it genuinely painful to sit through.

WarGames (1983)

Genuinely exciting thriller about a teenager (Matthew Broderick) who accidentally triggers the countdown to nuclear armageddon by hacking into US military computers. It’s fascinating to watch now, given how things have changed in terms of technology.

There are some unbelievable moments – hacker left alone in a room in a high-security military installation with access to a computer – but overall the story is surprisingly timely and plausible. In 2019 we are at the mercy of automated systems. And with Donald Trump as president, this sort of crisis seems all too possible.

It’s highly entertaining, with more of a nail-biting escalation than most James Bond films. The pacing is excellent too: it never lets up.

Apart from Matthew Broderick’s distinctly odd parents, the film is well cast. Ally Sheedy is appealing as Jennifer Mack, the hero’s school-chum-turned-girlfriend, and John Wood is effective as the eccentric, damaged Dr. Stephen Falken, who invented the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) supercomputer.

There’s a happy ending, of course, but not before the moral – the futility of mutually assured destruction – has been firmly established.

The Big Short (2015)

This highly stylised account of the investment schemes devised in the weeks leading up to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 follows three parallel narratives featuring individuals who stood to gain by the collapse of the US mortgage market.

Complex financial concepts are often hard to grasp, so the film – being somewhat self-conscious and postmodern – has this terminology explained by walk-on celebs (Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain, Selena Gomez, etc) talking direct to camera.

It’s not as compelling as The Wolf of Wall Street, which was personality-driven and had the huge advantage of starring Leonardo diCaprio. This film is more about a situation, with the characters seeming secondary to the way it unfolds. That said, the semi-crazed actions of Christian Bale (as Michael Burry) are the most watchable element. Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt are difficult to empathise with. That’s surely intentional, but it does make for a less engaging narrative.

Ultimately, I think I would have preferred to watch a well-made documentary about the same events or a fully fictional account that could structure the story in a more satisfying way.

Touching the Void (2003)

Documentary film version of Joe Simpson’s 1988 memoir detailing Simpson and Simon Yates's 1985 climb of the 6,344-m (20,813-ft) Siula Grande in the Andes.

After reaching the summit, disaster strikes when Simpson breaks his leg on the way down. Yates heroically winches him down but when Simpson falls and is left dangling, Yates fears him dead and – about to plummet himself – considers he has no choice but to cut the rope...

The film tells the improbable story of how both men survived. It’s even more remarkable in the case of Simpson, whose leg was badly mangled and who was dangerously dehydrated as well as suffering hypothermia. He lost a third of his body weight during the ordeal.

It’s riveting to see the two climbers being interviewed about what happened, interspersed with convincing actor reconstructions of the climb. The psychology of their relationship is fascinating. They start out as casual friends. Then become colleagues who depend on one another for survival. When events take a darker turn, their relationship has to take on bigger ethical/existential aspects and seems to become simultaneously both intimate and remote.

The highlight, for me, was the section in which Simpson recalls being tormented by snatches of “Brown Girl in the Ring” going round and round in his head and remarking “I remember thinking, bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M.”

The DVD extras, unusually, are just as fascinating as the film – if not more so. One mini-film examines what happened next: the complex process by which they got down from base camp to eventual medical assistance. The other takes Simpson and Yates back to the Siula Grande as consultants on the making of the film and observes their reactions to returning to the site of the drama. Yates is very matter-of-fact about it all, or claims to be – you suspect he’s more affected than he lets on after all these years of notoriety as “the man who cut the rope”. Simpson, meanwhile, is profoundly disturbed by being forced to relive the moments in which he was absolutely certain he would soon die. It’s both moving and upsetting to watch him in this extraordinary situation.

Robin Hood (2010)

As with Gladiator, Ridley Scott directs and Russell Crowe is the main man. But the magic of that earlier film is not repeated.

It’s England in 1199 and there’s intrigue afoot, with a knight conspiring against King John of England (Oscar Isaac) with King Philip of France. Chaos and conflict ensue.

Rather than a simple tale of Robin Hood and his merry men, this is a fairly “serious” historical-drama treatment that deliberately veers away from the almost-pantomime silliness of the usual story – despite shoehorning in a lame, tokenistic Friar Tuck.

For a lengthy and sometimes complex film, there’s too little explanatory material and sometimes the narrative signposting is unclear. The motivations of Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong) and Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow) aren’t always evident.

Ridley Scott’s usual visual flair is on display (he’s particularly expert at large, intense battle scenes), but it lacks Gladiator’s “special” factor – perhaps because Scott takes on too much at the expense of a single, cohesive story. The film attempts to detail the Robin Hood legend, retell a slice of actual English history and develop a credible romance scenario. Cate Blanchett makes for a refreshingly tough Maid Marian and seems to have real chemistry with Crowe, so I would have preferred more of their relationship and less messy muddying of myth and reality.

Crowe is always highly watchable but his constantly changing accent – did he think he was from Scotland, Northern Ireland or Yorkshire? – was a distraction.

The plot seemed to be setting up a sequel (Robin Hood only becomes the outlaw figure of legend in the closing minutes), but – several years later – that’s looking less and less likely.

Coriolanus (2011)

Directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, this one alienated me at first and I hated it for about 45 minutes. Set in modern Rome (although it doesn’t look like Rome), but with Shakespearean language, it really seemed to jar. I also didn’t like the brutal, bloody violence or the visuals in general, and I found Vanessa Redgrave hammy and overwrought. I don’t have an issue with modernising Shakespeare (machine guns, mobile phones), but it seemed to lack context: the where, when and why of the action.

The film improved as it went on. Fiennes is always watchable. And the ongoing thread of depicting action through TV news footage was a nice touch. There was even the neat joke of Jon Snow presenting news reports in Shakespearean English.

The themes of war, loyalty, pride and politics and so on are as relevant as they ever were, but I still wish it had been set in Ancient Rome. Even better would have been to see Fiennes performing it on stage.

The Jerk (1979)

Wildly original comedy starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters. It brilliantly parodies the familiar rags-to-riches life story that makes up so many conventional narratives. There are some extremely funny moments, but for such an absurd story it’s also unexpectedly touching. The scene on the beach in which Navin (Martin) and Marie (Peters) sing to each other is hugely romantic, and the latter is particularly strong in this film.

There are many hilarious moments but my favourite is probably when Steve Martin reads out the “farewell” letter from Marie. It has got wet from the bathwater and the ink has run, so what he reads out is total gibberish.

A timeless gem that still seems fresh almost 40 years on.

The Main Event (1979)

The goodwill built up by Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal in the hilarious What’s Up, Doc? is quickly dispersed in this lame “comedy” that reunited the two stars. Streisand plays Hillary Kramer, a businesswoman who made a fortune through perfumes – only to have her profits embezzled by her accountant. O’Neal is a financial asset she inherits – a retired boxer who has to fight again to win back the money she is owed. This ludicrous scenario might not be a problem in itself but a bigger issue is that the film simply isn’t funny. Countless scenes fall flat. Often you’re not even sure if they are supposed to be funny. How much did the producer – Barbra’s boyfriend, the hairdresser Jon Peters – have to do with this mess? (While Peters is credited as Producer in the opening titles, Streisand appears to take all the credit for the film in the commentary on the DVD. This is especially ironic as she should have been washing her hands of the whole debacle. Elsewhere on the DVD menus she is credited as co-producer. But if she was, why wasn’t that made clear when this first showed in cinemas?)

Failed humour is one problem, but there are also dodgy themes about race and gender that really don’t feel right. At points there’s a prominent feminist theme, but at other times Streisand seems to be angling her bottom at the camera and showing off pointless costume changes far more than the plot requires. What exactly is this film trying to say?

The boxing narrative is fairly weird and never rings true, but then the inevitable love story (or “glove story”, as they call it) doesn’t seem to work either. Whereas Streisand absolutely sparkles in What’s Up, Doc?, here she cannot transcend the limitations of the script. And that script is so muddled and unconvincing that you’re left baffled rather than entertained.

Elysium (2013)

Dystopian sci-fi action thriller. It’s 2154, and Earth (specifically, Los Angeles) is a ruined slum whose inhabitants live in desperate poverty. Meanwhile on Elysium, a huge nearby space station, the elite citizens enjoy lives of luxury with advanced technology and healthcare bays that can cure seemingly anything. (The rich/poor social divide brings to mind The Hunger Games – plus, the shuttles look suspiciously similar.) A fairly convoluted plot sees this injustice and the social order challenged by a bunch of tech-savvy L.A. thugs.

Matt Damon plays the hero, Max Da Costa, who – dying of radiation poisoning – has Elysium’s data stored in a brain implant in exchange for a chance to travel there and be healed. Jodie Foster is the ruthless Defense Secretary Jessica Delacourt, who is out to stop him and who, script-wise, has little to get her teeth into. Alice Braga is Frey Santiago, Max’s childhood friend whose daughter also needs urgent medical treatment. As with Foster, she’s not given much to actually act with and the romance you expect to see never flourishes. Sharlto Copley is pretty awful as the one-dimensional nasty sleeper agent Kruger.

It’s extremely violent and there’s a lot of pointless swearing. The dialogue is banal at best. The film makes some interesting points about class and society, but risks becoming just another shoot-’em-up – albeit in a more exotic setting. You want to explore the miraculous environment of the space station, but instead have to watch sweaty men fighting and throwing hand grenades at each other. A shame, because somewhere in there is an intriguing idea that could have been developed in a much more sophisticated and rewarding way.

The Revenant (2015)

Unrelentingly grim and bloody tale of North American frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to survive against all the odds. It’s 1823, and desperate, isolated communities of trappers and hunters battle it out in the frozen wilds. Everything horrible you can imagine happening to Glass happens to him. He witnesses his wife’s murder. He’s attacked and badly maimed by a bear. He’s nearly smothered to death by a crazed colleague. He’s buried alive. He witnesses his son’s murder. He’s swept away in river rapids. He’s shot at. He falls off a cliff into a tree. And he has to sleep inside his dead horse (after pulling out the innards). Plus, he’s intent on exacting his revenge – whatever the cost.

It’s not exactly cheerful. But the film has a primal intensity that keeps you hooked. The scenery is stunning. And DiCaprio is watchable, even beneath the beard, blood, filth and fur. Ultimately, though, it’s too harrowing and brutal to constitute entertainment. It’s unclear what you’re meant to take away from it. I was left feeling troubled and disturbed.

What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

Ingenious “screwball” comedy starring Barbra Streisand (as Judy Maxwell) and Ryan O’Neal (as Howard Bannister). The script is hilariously sharp. The slapstick is spot-on. Produced, written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, it begins as farce and becomes increasingly ridiculous. Four identical-looking bags get mixed up in a San Francisco hotel. One contains top-secret documents, one contains expensive jewels, one contains rare igneous rocks and one contains Judy’s clothing and a dictionary. Endless mix-ups ensue, with Streisand and O’Neal eventually finding themselves being pursued by gangsters. There are countless laugh-out-loud moments. Streisand is as funny as she has ever been – an absolute delight. As a witty romp, with a dash of romance and plenty of absurdity, it’s pretty much unbeatable.

Passengers (2016)

Engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is accidentally awakened 90 years too early from long-term hibernation on the spaceship Avalon on the way to a colony planet with 5,000 passengers – a plot seemingly borrowed for Alien Covenant. Lonely, suicidal and craving company, he deliberately wakes up fellow passenger Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), thus essentially sentencing her to death on the trip with him. The film explores these moral issues as well as their complex relationship, which gets a lot more complex when she learns how she awoke. But then other things start to go wrong...

It’s a funny, scary, dramatic and romantic story that works because it’s so simple. The ship looks stunning, as do all the effects (a swimming pool during a gravity-loss malfunction), and the two main actors are perfect in the lead roles.

It’s clever the way the film parodies the bland commercial corporate-speak of the company organising the colony. Also appealing is the droid barman (Michael Sheen), who acts as a confidant to the characters and seems almost human. Rather than offering a cold, technological experience, the narrative focuses on the humanity of Jim and Aurora. It’s a delight to see a space film that’s so full of warmth.

Gladiator (2000)

This Ridley Scott-directed modern classic set in AD 180 seemed even better second time around. It looked more impressive at the cinema in 2000, but it moved me more deeply on DVD today in 2018. Russell Crowe is hugely charismatic as Maximus. He never lets you down, does he? Joaquin Phoenix is creepily compelling as the insecure, self-pitying Commodus (although, having seen I Walk the Line, I had to not think of him as Johnny Cash). In a less imaginative script this villain could have been a cardboard-cut-out baddie, but Gladiator is sophisticated enough that Commodus is sympathetic as well as repulsive. Connie Nielsen is excellent as the sister who Commodus wants an incestuous relationship with. The all-star cast also features Oliver Reed (shortly before his death), Richard Harris and Derek Jacobi.

I like the way it starts out as one kind of film (the story of a Roman general), then detours into the saga of a slave-turned-gladiator-turned-superstar-folk-hero, before somehow coming full circle as Maximus attempts to save Rome. To its credit, the film doesn’t take the obvious paths. The story seems to be pointing to one kind of resolution and surprises you more than once before the ending.

As a piece of riveting drama it’s pretty much unbeatable. Even though it’s long, I found it almost ridiculously exciting. There’s little you could change to improve it: stunning visuals, stirring music, an epic sweep, a nail-biting plot escalation and an emotional climax.

The Perfect Storm (2000)

Based on the true story written by Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm details the drama of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat from the small town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, that was caught in a storm of vast proportions in 1991.

It begins by setting out the characters of the crew, and the domestic backstory is strong. You get to know their hopes, problems and motivations, so that when they finally go to sea the real action plays out with individuals you actually care about. The relationships within the team on the boat are also explored. George Clooney plays the captain and Mark Wahlberg is the inexperienced fisherman with the most to lose.

On the plus side, the storm looks amazing. Whether CGI or models were used, the disaster scenario – tiny boat dwarfed by huge waves – looks completely real. On the down side, the classical music score is intrusive and self-consciously “epic” – even corny at times. That’s a shame, because wiser decisions had been made for a bar scene near the start that’s greatly enhanced by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley and Tom Waits on the jukebox. Plus, there are some ethical issues. The film made a lot of money at the box office but as far as I’m aware none of that went to the survivors’ relatives. In fact, two families of crew members sued the filmmakers over issues of accuracy. Much of the plot is conjecture anyway. No one will ever know what really happened.

All things considered, it was worth seeing. Would I watch it again? Probably not. But it did inspire me to read the book.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Historical naval drama set in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars and adapted from Patrick O’Brian’s popular fiction series. Russell Crowe plays Jack Aubrey, the captain of the English ship HMS Surprise intent on capturing the French ship Acheron. Crowe is charismatic, as ever, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that a captain so reasonable and jovial could simultaneously be so bent on pursuing an enemy. This feeling of implausibility grew as Jack Aubrey sacrificed so many of his crew for seemingly very little gain.

Plot and character motivation aside, the film does have a lot going for it. Paul Bettany is sympathetic and highly convincing as Aubrey’s friend Dr. Stephen Maturin. The baroque music the pair play together on cello and violin sounds wonderful. And the detail of life on the ship is well created, even if there does seem to be an endless supply of everything hidden somewhere within the confines of the small craft. The nature theme and the scenes in the Galápagos islands also added a layer of richness.

The two sections that will stay with me were the “Jonah” episode, in which a victimised midshipman commits suicide because he starts to believe he's bringing bad luck to the crew, and a harrowing moment in which a man overboard is left for dead when the captain has to cut the ropes of a collapsed sail that endangers the boat.

According to Wikipedia, the lack of women in the film makes it one of only “about 120 films made since 1934 with an all-male cast”.

Alien Covenant (2017)

Ridley Scott’s follow-up to Prometheus (the second in the Alien prequel saga) is an all-out space-action-horror affair. Michael Fassbender returns to the role of the creepy-genius droid David, but this time the same actor also plays a second, superficially similar droid with different programming.

A quick outline of the premise from Wikipedia: “In 2104, ten years after the Prometheus expedition, the colonization ship Covenant is seven years from reaching planet Origae-6, with 2,000 colonists in stasis and 1,140 human embryos in cold storage. The ship is monitored by Walter, an advanced android model that physically resembles David. When a shockwave damages the ship, Walter reanimates his 14 human crewmates, themselves couples/colonists. Ship's captain Jake Branson dies when his stasis pod malfunctions. While repairing the ship, the crew picks up a transmission of a human voice from a nearby planet, which appears eminently more habitable than Origae-6.”

The crew detour to the appealingly Earth-like planet, which, inevitably, is too good to be true. Before long, everything kicks off. As with Prometheus, the characters take stupid risks by walking around alone and with nothing to protect them. You just know someone is doomed when they wander off saying they will be back in a minute...

But the thrills are considerable. There are some remarkable scenes, such as an attempted take-off of the survivors’ rescue ship with the alien and the heroine Janet Daniels (Katherine Waterston) both clinging on to it. It’s like an action set-piece from a James Bond film, but set on another world and with monsters. The chase scenes in the Covenant corridors are also highly effective, but it lacks the haunting suspense and claustrophobia of the original Alien and is far less scary as a result.

The same themes about God, creation and the meaning of life are explored, but it’s tighter all round than Prometheus. It’s also more ambitious and convincing psychologically. Ridley Scott manages to have his cake and eat it, constructing a philosophical puzzler that simultaneously works as a guns ’n’ gore thriller.

Prometheus (2012)


Ridley Scott’s prequel to his Alien series is a philosophical sci-fi/horror hybrid. It looked beautiful at the cinema – the storm rolling in across an alien landscape was terrifying – but far less so on DVD. My favourite effect is when the investigators throw mapping hover-balls into the alien chambers and the laser/sonar-type scanning technology relays an instant 3D-hologram model of the caves back to the computers aboard the spaceship. Impressive. Plus, the hi-tech “self-surgery” scene is pretty harrowing.

There are some slightly baffling plot elements – why did old man Weyland of the Weyland Corporation have to hide on the mission he himself funded? – possibly to be clarified in subsequent instalments of the series. The film asks some Big Questions. Who are we? Why are we here? What is life? Is a creator the same thing as a god? Can we explain ourselves with science or do we still need religion?

Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are tremendous in the lead roles. It’s a nice touch that the latter’s character models himself on Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, which he watches while acting as caretaker on the long voyage of the Prometheus.

Guy Pearce is much less convincing as a decrepit old man. Why not simply use an elderly actor? The worst aspect is the bit-part characters, crew members Millburn and Fifield, who are so badly drawn and one-dimensional that you know from the very beginning they will have to meet a horrible, untimely death. This is a weakness of so many films that you would have thought Ridley Scott would have been able to avoid such a standard pitfall. Imagine how much more powerful the story would be if those minor characters convinced you they were real enough to make you care.

Another thing that simply doesn’t work is the lack of precaution the scientists take. They remove their helmets while investigating alien lifeforms, gleefully unconcerned that they may be exposing themselves to something very nasty indeed. Maybe that adds drama but it also makes the plot less convincing, and anything that makes you question the credibility of what you are watching erodes some of the magic.

And finally, maybe I missed something, but if the aliens seeded life on Earth in the first place (as the archaeologists’ discovery of cave paintings seemed to suggest), why did they want to return with their sticky black goo as a toxic weapon? Or will that all be explained in Alien Covenant?

Overall, it’s engaging without being satisfying.

Troy (2004)

Epic retelling of Homer’s Iliad. It’s Troy (Turkey) in the 13th or 12th century BC, when men will fight for honour, for king, for country – and for a beautiful woman. Brad Pitt plays beefy Achilles, an almost superhero-type warrior with an appropriately one-dimensional personality – he’s a mythological archetype, not a soap opera character. Orlando Bloom is weedy and ineffectual as Prince Paris, who unwisely stole Helen of Troy (Diane Kruger) from King Menelaus of Sparta (Brendan Gleeson). Eric Bana is credible as Paris’s loyal brother, the sensitive Prince Hector. And Peter O’Toole has a certain gravity as the brothers’ elderly father, King Priam. Meanwhile, Sean Bean is his usual Sean Beany self as Odysseus.

As a “sword and sandals” blockbuster, it’s effective in an unsubtle way. There are a lot of sweaty biceps – almost fetishistically displayed – and the huge battle scenes are impressive, even if they are computer-generated. In terms of the acting, it’s performed in a “high style” that’s often ridiculous but which somehow works. Again, it’s not subtle.

The famous Trojan Horse is relatively underplayed in the plot, which I liked. Also, it seemed more real because it was clearly a load of old wooden planks taken from their ships and hurriedly bashed together, rather than the finely crafted “horse” shape you often see in illustrations of the tale.

So is the film any good? I’m not entirely sure. But the source material – the decade-long Trojan War of Greek mythology – is rich and resonant enough that the story cannot really fail.

Working Girl (1988)

Intelligent and amusing Wall Street comedy-drama about a working-class stockbroker's secretary who dreams big. Like so many American films of this time, it is obsessed with social status and upward mobility. In many ways it’s a more sophisticated version of The Secret of My Success. Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford are tremendous in the lead roles, really seeming to relish their parts. The script is nuanced enough that even the villain (Weaver) is likeable. It’s wonderfully 1980s – the hairspray, the shoulder pads, the pop soundtrack (Chris De Burgh’s "Lady in Red", the Pointer Sisters’ "I’m So Excited"), the New York scenes – but it has dated well because it taps into timeless themes of class, aspiration and identity. And while there are farcical elements, it resists cheap laughs and never descends into mere slapstick. The pacing is perfect, too: it builds and twists at just the right speed to keep you engaged.

In addition to the big trio of lead actors, there’s an all-star cast also featuring Alec Baldwin, Joan Cusack, Kevin Spacey and Olympia Dukakis. There are even brief appearances by David Duchovny and Ricki Lake. The theme song is the rousing but horribly overproduced "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon.

The Martian (2015)

A sci-fi disaster/survival masterpiece based on Andy Weir's gripping 2011 novel. This is an incredible film – dramatic and terrifying, but also surprisingly funny and moving. 

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is stranded alone on Mars when a vicious storm forces his mission to be aborted and the rest of the crew have to abandon him in their escape. Much of the story details Watney’s attempts to stay alive on the planet by drawing on his resourcefulness and extraordinary positivity. He manages to extend his survival time by farming potatoes. Another major thread covers the NASA rescue plans being debated and prepared on Earth. Meanwhile, the original mission crew (with Jessica Chastain as the commander) are in transit back home when the opportunity to turn around and save Watney becomes a possibility...

There’s so much that’s great about The Martian:

• It looks amazing, like most of Ridley Scott's work. Those vast, red Martian landscapes are striking and seem incredibly real. 

• The music is perfectly chosen (Watney is stranded with a load of disco classics) and is expertly matched to various scenes. The collage segments set to David Bowie’s "Starman" and Abba’s "Waterloo" are among the absolute highlights of the film. 

• The casting is excellent: Sean Bean, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig are all ideal in their parts. Every character counts, and so does every line of dialogue.

• The drama is perfectly paced, building to an unbearable tension in the final moments. But despite that I found myself smiling or laughing for quite a lot of the 141-minute running time. 

One other thought: it's interesting that so many of the best films of the past few years – Arrival, Gravity, Moon, Passengers and this one – have all been sci-fi.

Revolutionary Road (2008)

This faithful adaptation of the 1961 novel by Richard Yates is a fairly bleak study of oppressive suburban conformity in 1950s America, and the perils of trying to dream your way outside of it. The Wheelers are played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who famously played the couple in Titanic. (Kathy Bates is also in both films.) In fact, it almost works as Titanic II, extrapolating how their lives might have evolved had Jack lived, married Rose and settled down to have a family. Suburban malaise is expertly depicted, with a sense of desperation and emptiness always at the edges of their wealthy, comfortable existence. From the outside, they are “special” – the “perfect couple” – but the rigid gender roles and social expectations of their time and place form an invisible prison they both rage against in different ways. Ultimately the unrelenting hopelessness of it all does become a bit overwhelming, even though that hopelessness is extremely well imagined.

Wild (2014)

Harrowing true-life account of Cheryl Strayed’s 1,000-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, adapted from her successful book. It’s fairly disturbing stuff, as the film chronicles her attempts to come to terms with bereavement, heroin addiction, abusive relationships and years of emotional pain. There’s a pessimistic message about men being predatory monsters. But then in Donald Trump’s America, maybe that’s the reality (see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45958023). The scenery is stunning. Music plays a big part, too, and I like the way Reese Witherspoon in the lead role often sings the songs on the soundtrack so that you seem to hear them on multiple levels. Simon & Garfunkel’s “El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)” acts as a recurring theme. There’s inevitably a sense of catharsis as Strayed survives multiple threats, completes the trail and looks forward to the rest of her life. Laura Dern is especially likeable as her positive-but-doomed mother and the flashback sections detailing various stages of their relationship make up the most powerful parts of the film. Somehow it wasn’t as moving as it might have been, although it’s difficult to pinpoint why. Perhaps it’s because Strayed doesn’t emerge as a particularly sympathetic character. But then why should she? It’s to the film’s credit that she’s not portrayed as some kind of saint.

Supergirl (1984)

A ludicrous mess. Kara Zor-El, the cousin of Superman, comes to Earth in pursuit of the Omegahedron – an orb with remarkable powers. This mystical ball falls into the hands of an evil witch called Selena who, for some reason, lives in a disused fairground with her annoying friend Bianca. It’s difficult to say whose acting is worse: Peter O’Toole, Peter Cook or Faye Dunaway all ham it up like mad, wrestling with a fundamentally flawed script. Unsure whether to play it for laughs or kitsch kicks, they flail around like pantomime actors who failed their am-dram audition. Helen Slater is actually quite appealing as Supergirl/Linda Lee. There’s a vulnerability and naivety that is endearing. And the sections in which she starts at school and befriends a girl called Lucy Lane – Lois Lane’s sister, amazingly enough – hint at another, more charming film with human-interest elements you can relate to. More of this would have been welcome. But it’s wildly uneven in tone and there are colossal holes in the plot logic. For example, when Selena first acquires her sinister powers she inexplicably puts aside the thoughts of world domination she has already shared with Peter Cook. Instead, she decides to kidnap a gardener, drug him with a love potion and then – when he wanders off – uses telekinesis to steer a construction vehicle through the streets to return him to her. Why? This is one of the few action sequences, but it’s still a small-scale affair involving a few cars, some burning tyres, a water tower and some hay blowing around the street. It certainly doesn’t have the epic scale of the first two Superman films, which seemed to use the whole Earth as their set. In fact, Supergirl seems relatively low-budget despite being made for $35 million by the same production team. Despite all the woeful elements, it was just about entertaining enough for me to make it through to the end. The flying sequences are a thrill, just as they always were with Christopher Reeve, and the rare moments in which Supergirl displays her powers are enjoyable. But the film could have been so much better.

The Imposter (2012)

Documentary about a 13-year-old Texan boy, Nicholas Barclay, who goes missing in 1994. More than three years later in 1997 he is “found” living in Spain and returns to the USA to live with his family. In fact, the family has taken in Frédéric Bourdin, a serial con-artist who is French, has a different eye colour and is several years older than the vanished child. His ears look totally different, too, as is noted by the private detective who begins looking into the case. Despite the additional involvement of the FBI, it takes almost five months for Bourdin to be found out. How the family could have believed this was Nicholas – or whether indeed they did believe it – is the subject of this riveting film. It expertly weaves together interviews with the family and the imposter himself and places these in context with subtle and clever reconstructions. Barclay’s sister made a big impression on me. Her account of travelling to Spain to retrieve her “brother” – and the countdown to the moment of their meeting – is horrifically compelling. And Bourdin himself – seemingly remorseless and even smug about his deceptions – is disturbingly charismatic. The most gripping and mind-boggling documentary I’ve ever seen.

Pete’s Dragon (2016)

I loved this Disney film when I saw it at the cinema and I loved it just as much two years later on a £1 charity-shop DVD. Pete, aged four, is orphaned when his parents crash their car on a remote forest road. He meets a green (sometimes invisible) dragon, who he befriends and lives with for six years before they are discovered by the outside world and everything changes... Not very promising on paper, but this simple film is surprisingly powerful and emotional. Robert Redford is endearing as the wise old man who believes in magic. His park ranger daughter (Bryce Dallas Howard) is convincingly sensitive as Pete’s new “mother”. Pete himself is played by Oakes Fegley, who delivers one of the strongest child-actor performances I’ve ever seen. There’s an ecology message (deforestation is not good) and the CGI effects are so sophisticated that you never once doubt what you are seeing. The soundtrack is brilliantly unDisney, with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, St. Vincent and Leonard Cohen all suiting the tender tone of the film perfectly. It’s difficult to say why this simple story of love and friendship ends up being so moving, but both times I have watched it I have been left feeling profoundly touched.

Chocolat (2000)

Romantic comedy-drama. Restless spirit Juliette Binoche and her young daughter arrive in a small and small-minded French town in 1959. She opens a chocolate shop and slowly begins to transform the lives of the locals with the exotic, seductive treats she prepares. The ever-reliable Judi Dench is her cranky old landlady, who suffers from diabetes and family discord. Johnny Depp is a river gypsy, fellow outsider and, inevitably, becomes her love interest. Alfred Molina plays Comte de Reynaud, the repressive mayor who regards everything Binoche does as a threat to his control of the town. Best of all is Lena Olin as the abused wife and pretty thief Josephine, who becomes her friend.

The film is slow to get going and I was close to giving up with it in the first 20 minutes. It eventually draws you in, despite being far from “my kind of thing”. There’s some silly semi-mystical fluff about the north wind, and at times it’s all a bit too polite and simplistic. Binoche uses chocolate like a benevolent drug dealer – part sorcerer, part Nigella Lawson. Plus, it wasn’t very imaginatively shot. There are weighty themes (prejudice vs. tolerance, imprisonment vs. freedom, religious oppression vs. true enlightenment) that might make you think a bit – but only a bit. Binoche is charming and easy to like, ultimately eroding any lingering cynicism.

La Bamba (1987)

Fairly straightforward biopic of Ritchie Valens, who famously died at the age of 17 in the same 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Lou Diamond Phillips is convincing and charming in the main role. Esai Morales is less credible and somewhat overwrought as his troubled ex-con brother Bob. Rosanna DeSoto plays their devoted mother, who helps Ritchie make it big, while Danielle von Zerneck is Ritchie’s sweet girlfriend Donna Ludwig (subject of his hit single “Donna”).

The film balances the story of two brothers with the brief, swift rise to fame of Valens. It tackles issues of race, class and poverty. The sub-plot about Donna’s father forbidding her to date Valens is not satisfactorily resolved, and there’s rather too much about the troubles of Bob, his girlfriend and their baby. That said, the story is a good one and our prior knowledge of how it will end adds tragic significance to each scene as the film unfolds.