Manchester Theatre News & Reviews
This Week's Best Movie Releases & Discounted Manchester Cinema Tickets
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Below, we've rounded up the 15 best films currently screening in Manchester cinemas together with the 13 best releases new to the streaming services this week (Updated 7 Feb 2025):
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1 ~ THE BRUTALIST.
★★★★★ An astonishing film. ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★★ Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones star in a majestic historical epic from the director Brady Corbet. This may be the film to beat at the Oscars. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Brody is tremendous as a visionary architect in Corbet’s towering third feature, a state-of-the-US historical epic with the colour and fizz of a classical Hollywood comic drama. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ In a superb performance, Brody plays a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who comes to the US and begins a distinguished career under the patronage of a wealthy man. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Brody is Oscar-worthy in a mighty, discordant anthem to the birth of modern America. ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ A life writ large on the screen that deserves such maximalist treatment. ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ Brady Corbet’s seismic drama reaches for the sky as it surveys the soul of a man and a nation. There will be Oscars. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ It is impossible not to recognise The Brutalist as anything other than a filmmaking triumph. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ A staggering achievement in every conceivable way. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ An unmissable giant of a film that deserves all the Oscars. ~ NME
★★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ ~ The i.
★★★★✭~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
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2 ~ THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG.
★★★★★ This Oscar-nominated thriller is a blistering attack on the Iranian regime. If Mohammad Rasoulof was to make just one film worth having to flee Iran for, this gripping family thriller would be it. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ After fleeing arrest, Rasoulof has made this tense political parable-thriller about state paranoia and misogyny. No wonder Iran wants to lock up this brilliant dissident director. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ The exiled director’s story of officialdom’s misogyny and theocracy in his home country may be flawed, but its importance is beyond doubt. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
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3 ~ BRIEF ENCOUNTER ~ 80th Anniversary
★★★★★ One of cinema's classic love stories. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Co-adapted by Noël Coward from his own one-act play Still Life, this is one of the finest films ever made in Britain. Radio Times.
★★★★★ The loveliest period piece imaginable. ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ An irresistible romance with glorious old world values. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ If you can stomach the suspicious intimation that the lower classes have no emotional life and the excruciatingly affected portrayal of the English middle classes, you'll have, at the very least, a lump in your throat. Less cynical souls will weep buckets. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ It's a passionate romance, as exciting in its way as something by Hitchcock. It is Noel Coward's masterpiece. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
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4 ~ SEVEN (30th Anniversary 4K Restoration)
★★★★★ An intelligently scripted work of extraordinary style, upsetting power and narrative daring, Director David Fincher's brilliant postmodern crime thriller is a grim and disturbing tale about a vicious serial killer on the loose in an unnamed city. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Se7en is an example of classic horror thrills, up-ended and twisted into a bewildering and claustrophobic web of tension. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ A dark, gripping thriller which saves it's most shocking revelations for the final scenes. ~ Empire.
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5 ~ BEFORE SUNRISE (30th Anniversary Reissue)
★★★★★ Not a romcom, not a romantic drama, but just … a romance, a brief encounter on a train without heartache, a strange and wonderful moment-by-moment miracle that never seems cloying or absurd.
★★★★★ Richard Linklater’s film from 1995 is now re-released for its 30th anniversary, a stretch of time that gives us a chance to ponder the characters’ time-travel musings about their future selves. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ When American slacker Ethan Hawke meets French student Julie Delpy on a train to Vienna, the romantic sparks fly as they spend one eventful night together in Linklater's exhilarating drama. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Linklater’s brief encounter defies romantic convention. Undistracted by smartphones in 1995, Hawke and Delpy talk away one night in Vienna without resolution but with huge charm. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ Too intelligent to be soppy and too damn good to be ignored. While the loose, talkative style may not settle well with those of a more wham-bam persuasion, this most natural of love stories succeeds in feeding the noggin as well as warming the cockles. ~ Empire.
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6 ~ A REAL PAIN.
★★★★ Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs and stars in a film that manages to be ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ His story about two cousins on a Jewish tour to Poland is perfectly weighted between bleak and warm, poignant and irreverent. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ There is a lot going on in here, but Eisenberg is in full control. A Real Pain is funny and intelligent, a sort of buddy road comedy that knows when to laugh at itself and when to take matters seriously. ~ The Irish Independent.
★★★★★ The writer, director and actor effortlessly walks a tonal tightrope in this masterpiece about Jewish American cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland. But Kieran Culkin steals the show as the more mischievous cousin.~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Eisenberg has done the world a favour with this movie. At a time when empathy seems to be diminishing across the globe, he's delivered a touching, intelligent, funny and achingly sad tale of love, loss and grief. ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
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7 ~ HARD TRUTHS.
★★★★★ In his stunning new drama, Mike Leigh portrays living, breathing, flawed but good people, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste starring, in what is sure to be one of the best performances of the year. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Hard Truths is magnificent - the Oscars got it wrong; Jean-Baptiste deserved to be nominated for her leading role as the prickly, difficult Pansy in Leigh's towering study of everyday misery. ~ The i.
★★★★★ A moving return to the domestic miseries of North London. ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ The story of two siblings with very different attitudes to life, it's a potent examination of not only sisterhood but also marriage and mental ill health. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ A scorchingly funny drama of depression, rage – and love, anchored by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s incendiary performance, this portrait of a woman broken by grief is biting and bleakly witty. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ One of the most fascinating and rich characters in any film this century. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ Awards beckon. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
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8 ~ THE COLORS WITHIN.
★★★★ As sensitive as ever to teenagers’ growing pains, critically-acclaimed animator and director Naoko Yamada paints an exquisite rainbow of adolescent blues in this gentle tale of music and friendship. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ A magical adventure into the world of a young girl with synaesthesia, this wonderfully dreamy, pastel-toned animation has a quietly galvanising power that benefits from big-screen viewing. ~ The Telegraph.
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9 ~ CONCLAVE.
★★★★ A papal thriller that treads on eggshells, Conclave is one of the year’s most deftly balanced films. Pulpy and pensive in equal measure. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Sinfully entertaining and divinely provocative all while breaking bread on modern day power struggles. ~ RTE
★★★★★ Ralph Fiennes gives one of the performances of the year as a cardinal assailed on all sides in Edward Berger’s elegant adaptation of Robert Harris’s Vatican bestseller. ~ The Observer.
★★★★★ When the time comes to look back at his long career, a new high point has arrived in the form of this beleaguered papal gumshoe trying to solve a riddle. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★★ Berger’s account of cardinals battling to be the new Pope is a thrilling succession story, and the Oscar-worthy astonishing Ralph Fiennes is simply hypnotic. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ A high-camp gripper, like the world’s most serious Carry On film. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ The i.
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10 ~ SEPTEMBER 5.
★★★★★ When it came to the snubs on the recent Oscars shortlist, this excellent docudrama received just one nomination - Best Original Screenplay - when it deserved a handful. It also deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible. ~ RTE.
★★★★★ Dramatising the efforts of American TV network ABC to cover the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Tim Fehlbaum’s film transforms the unfurling chaos into a drum-tight procedural. ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ The story of the terrorist massacre – in which 11 Israeli hostages were killed by the Palestinian Black September group, dying along with five members of the group and one West German police officer – is retold by the Swiss director and co-writer as a taut, tense thriller. The film leaves it up to us to make what we will of modern parallels. ~ The Guardian.
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11 ~ BETTER MAN.
★★★★★ This Bonkers Robbie Williams chimp biopic is an unexpected triumph. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ An honest, entertaining and endlessly endearing spectacle that seems certain to play well with a crowd. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Even more than with The Greatest Showman, director Michael Gracey has created a fun, bombastic, brilliant choreographed and totally enthralling film. ~ Time Out.
★★★★ "This Robbie Williams chimpanzee biopic is a bananas gamble that pays off." ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
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12 ~ THE FIRE INSIDE.
★★★★ Barry Jenkins is back with a blazing biopic of Olympic boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields, featuring rising star Ryan Destiny and ‘Atlanta’ actor Brian Tyree Henry. ~ Independent.
★★★★ The story of the gold medal-winning boxer makes for a gutsy crowd-pleaser with a fantastic performance from Henry as her coach. ~ The Guardian.
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13 ~ NOSFERATU.
★★★★★ An earthy, erotic masterwork, Robert Eggers realises a lifelong dream in reimagining the tale of Count Orlok, with spellbinding results. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ One of the most profoundly frightening horror films in years, a magnificent Lily-Rose Depp is the convulsing, hysteric target of Bill Skarsgård’s vampire, in this star-studded adaptation co-starring Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe. ~ The Independent.
★★★★ A vampire film with 'so much to sink your teeth into. ~ BBC.
★★★★✭ ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
14 ~ BABYGIRL.
★★★★ A film that’s liable to get people talking, arguing and flirting. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ A raw, sexy and surprising examination of an illicit affair between a high-powered CEO and her much younger intern. ~ RTE.
★★★★★ Nicole Kidman’s 21st-century Fatal Attraction is a complete knockout. This electrifying film rewires current neuroses into a merciless torture machine. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ Director Halina Reijn portrays a torrid office affair in all its messy complexity – it's moving and darkly funny. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ A hot erotic mess. Bondage has seldom been as playful. ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ NME.
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15 ~ WICKED.
★★★★★ This candy-coloured treat of a Broadway adaptation is carried by the phenomenal talent of Ariane Grande and her co-star Cynthia Erivo. ~ The i.
★★★★★ If you're a Wicked fan, it's hard to imagine you could want anything more from this thrillifying film adaptation. Grande's and Erivo's performances as Glinda and Elphaba will have you defying gravity. ~ Total Film.
★★★★ The stars enchant as young rival witches in Jon M Chu’s impossibly slick first instalment of his two-part adaptation of the musical juggernaut. ~ The Observer.
★★★★ The smash stage musical by Stephen Schwartz - inspired by The Wizard of Oz - gets the film treatment with this opulent, if slightly indulgent, adaptation. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ What an enjoyable spectacle it is. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ NME.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
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ALSO SCREENING:
★★★✭ Presence.
★★★✭ A Complete Unknown.
★★★✭ Maria.
★★★✭ Dog Man.
★★★✭ Gladiator II.
★★★✭ Bring Them Down.
★★★✭ Paddington in Peru.
★★★ Companion.
★★★ We Live in Time.
★★★ Becoming Led Zeppelin.
★★★ Moana 2.
★★★ Wolf Man.
★★★ Mufasa: The Lion King.
★★★ Saturday Night.
★★✭ Flight Risk.
★★✭ Sonic The Hedgehog 3.
★★✭ Panda Bear in Africa.
★★ Love Hurts.
★✭ Here.
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NEW TO STREAMING:
(Updated 7 Feb 2025):
BBC iPLAYER ~ SOME LIKE IT HOT
~ 1960 Oscar Winner: Best Costume.
★★★★★ A milestone comedy to watch again and again. ~ Sky Cinema.
★★★★★ Close to perfect, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis keep this joyous Billy Wilder comedy fizzing from start to finish. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Clearly, the personality clashes both on- and off-screen didn't prevent this becoming a true film classic. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ A comedy masterpiece. Key to its success - along with its vivid characters and brilliant performances - is the snappy pace throughout. Non-stop gags, invention, twists and comic incident flow. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ For those who haven't seen it, "Some Like It Hot" is one of the greatest comedies ever. It is one of those rare movies where all the elements gel all the time. Wilder presents great comic scenes which soar on the back of originality and great timing and embrace both slapstick and super-sharp wit. The desert-island comedy bar none. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Possibly the best cross-dressing film of all time, Some Like It Hot is a testament to both the humor of hairy men in heels and Billy Wilder's ability to stretch a one-joke premise into a two-hour film. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ Superbly constructed, and with a trio of terrific lead performances to complement the sparkling script, Some Like It Hot offers up countless magical comedy moments... Not to mention one of the finest, and funniest, closing lines in cinema history. ~ Total Film. .
SKY CINEMA ~ CHINATOWN
~ 1975 Oscar Winner: Best Original Screenplay.
★★★★★ A masterpiece that repays any number of viewings. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Jack Nicholson gets more than he bargained for in this unforgettable Polanski classic. ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ Boasting some of the greats of Hollywood's '70s golden age on top form, this is a never-bettered noir masterpiece. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Time has lessened our sense that Roman Polanski’s unmissable 1974 superlative neo-noir is simply a pastiche of the classic 30s gumshoe thrillers – it now looks like a straightforward classic. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Polished off with beautiful cinematography and a brilliant Jerry Goldsmith score, "Chinatown" amounts to an amazing achievement of cinematic storytelling. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
NETFLIX & AMAZON PRIME ~ PULP FICTION
~ 1995 Oscar Winner: Best Original Screenplay.
★★★★★ As much pop as pulp, this is exhilarating stuff and clearly one of the best films of the 1990s. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Unmissable. The dialogue, the soundtrack, the sheer directionless excitement, Tarantino's mesmeric thunderclap of a thriller is still breathtaking and just as brilliant as it was [three] decades ago. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Since its 1994 release, it has inspired many imitators but even today, it's still strikingly bold and remains to be eclipsed, even by its creator Quentin Tarantino. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ A wildly entertaining and exhilarating adventure that's both thrilling and engrossing. ~ Sky Cinema.
★★★★★ Pulp Fiction will always be a cinematic adrenaline shot. It’s full of perfect Tarantino moments, with meta references, B-movie sleaze and a sheer sense of fun. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Brilliantly written and unfathomably cool, this would make a good case for most quotable crime movie of all time. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ None of its many imitators has yet come close to matching Pulp Fiction's impact. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ Twisted, kinky, bizarre – and that’s just the scene with The Gimp – even Quentin’s gourmet coffeemaking cameo doesn’t derail this pop culture classic. ~ Total Film.
AMAZON PRIME ~ JAWS.
~ 1976 Oscar Winner: Best Music (John Williams) + Best Sound + Best Editing.
★★★★★ Is there such a thing as a perfect film? One that knows what it wants to achieve and does it, flawlessly, artfully and intelligently? If so, then ‘Jaws’ is as good a candidate as any. ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ Peter Benchley's pulp bestseller is here turned into the scariest sea saga ever filmed, with Steven Spielberg creating maximum suspense in the first dark moments and then maintaining the momentum with his brilliant sleight-of-hand direction. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Spielberg's 1975 serial killer masterpiece leaves teeth marks. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Technically brilliant and charged with bone-tingling thrills. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Jaws is a marvel of detailed, economical storytelling. Its heart and hope never spill over, its dread and darkness never depart. ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ If ever there was an important example for how music can enhance a film it is "Jaws". John Williams' memorable score is used sparingly but its tone of impending terror is more responsible for the power of the film than the sightings of the beast itself. ~ BBC.
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FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ FARGO
~ 1997 Oscar Winner: Best Actress (Frances McDormand) + Best Original Screenplay.
★★★★★ A murderously good film, darkness and comedy coexist succinctly in the Coen brothers’ 1996 classic. ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ Still a work of gleaming brilliance, the Coens’ rereleased thriller about a pregnant police chief investigating a bungled kidnapping is a snowbound noir without cynicism; a macabre black comedy with purity at its core. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Written and directed with the verve, painstaking nuance and outrageously black humour that have become the mainstay of a Coen movie. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ The beauty of the film is in the subtle detail of the dialogue and performances which continue to enchant on repeat viewings. Visually, it is magnificent. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ While sweet-natured mirth is combined with deliciously twisted malice, and gory horror merges with offbeat humour, the whole is set against an extraordinary winter wonderland backdrop. The result is a modern masterpiece. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ By the way, an in-joke of the film is the statement that it is a true story. In fact, it isn't anything of the sort, but it is a handsome fiction. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ ~ The Times.
AMAZON PRIME ~ THE MIRACLE WORKER
~ 1963 Oscar Winner: Best Actress (Anne Bancroft) + Best Supporting Actress (Patty Duke).
★★★★★ This is a marvellously moving biopic about the youth of deaf, dumb and blind Helen Keller, and her remarkable teacher Annie Sullivan. ~ Radio Times.
AMAZON PRIME ~ A FISH CALLED WANDA
~ 1989 Oscar Winner: Best Supporting Actor (Kevin Kline).
★★★★★ This hilarious tale of criminal incompetence and transatlantic eccentricity is easily John Cleese's finest achievement since Fawlty Towers. A comedy which also has an underlying darkness that recalls the work of Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder. And praise doesn't come much higher than that. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Mixing acerbic Pythonesque humour with a sweet rom-com touch and wonderful comic performances, this may be the finest hour for any former Python. ~ Empire.
★★★★✭ One of the best black comedies of the 1980s, A Fish Called Wanda revels in poking fun at stereotypes: neither British nor Americans are ever completely off the hook. ~ All Movie.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ THE KILLING (1956 version)
~ 1957 BAFTA Nominee: Best Film.
★★★★★ This taut crime picture was one of the earliest films in the career of Stanley Kubrick, but something of the director's voice and characteristic preoccupations are already evident here. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Even though he was just staring out, Kubrick instantly mastered the crime genre. A stunning film. ~ Empire.
★★★★ Kirk Douglas was so impressed by this accomplished thriller based on Lionel White's novel Clean Break that he agreed to star in Kubrick's next project, Paths of Glory, the success of which set the seal on Kubrick's reputation.~ Radio Times.
AMAZON PRIME ~ PLATOON
~ 1987 Oscar Winner: Best Picture + Best Director (Oliver Stone) + Best Sound + Best Editing.
★★★★★ It took ten years for Oliver Stone to get his script made, but when this Vietnam War drama finally reached the screen it became a box-office smash and won four Oscars. This is a modern classic and a personal exorcism for its director, who went on to complete a trilogy of Vietnam movies with Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★✭ Platoon is remembered for the striking realism with which it recreated the Vietnam War from the viewpoint of the U.S. soldier. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ The grisly reality is brought to life by Stone's dialogue and emotion-charged combat scenes, raising thought-provoking questions of morality in this still-resonant classic. ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ It's by far Charlie Sheen's best performance. ~ Sky Cinema.
AMAZON PRIME ~ WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
1958 Oscar Nominee: Best Picture (Lost to The Bridge on the River Kwai) + Best Actor (Charles Laughton) + Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester) + Best Director (Billy Wilder) + Best Sound + Best Editing.
★★★★★ The definitive courtroom thriller, with two genuinely startling final-reel twists (they occur in the same scene). No spoilers here, obviously, but keep an eye on Marlene Dietrich. She was never better than she is here. ~ The Times.
★★★★✭ Reworking Agatha Christie's stage play, based on Christie's own short story, Witness for the Prosecution is multi-faceted director Billy Wilder's stab at the courtroom genre. ~ All Movie.
★★★★★ The whole plot is an intricate, slightly leaky bag of tricks, with a trademark "surprise" ending. But to conceal the cracks, Wilder throws up a variety of smokescreens and provides the broadest stage imaginable for Charles Laughton's barrister - a performance of epic extravagance, invention and downright hamminess. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
AMAZON PRIME ~ GROUNDHOG DAY.
~ 1994 BAFTA Winner: Best Screenplay.
★★★★✭ Comic perfection. ~ Empire.
★★★★✭ A charming and well-crafted comedy, Groundhog Day is that rare Bill Murray vehicle in which the material (and its execution) are every bit as good as the star's performance. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ Director Harold Ramis uses every cinematic trick in the book to keep what is essentially a one-gag movie brimming with life and fresh ideas. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Andie MacDowell was never more convincing and Chris Elliott is a dry delight as her lens-man. Murray and movie, meanwhile, are a mutual godsend. ~ Total Film.
SKY CINEMA ~ ZULU
~ 1965 BAFTA Nominee: Best British Art Direction
★★★★ Gripping from start to finish, Zulu has earned status among some critics as one of the finest war films ever made. ~ All Movie.
★★★★★ This is that rarity in films - an all-action, no-frills, straightforward re-creation of an heroic moment in history. ~ Sky Cinema.
★★★★★ Technically a revelation, this superb re-creation of the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift is a personal triumph for producer/director Cy Endfield and Welsh producer/star Stanley Baker. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ As a spectacular war film with a powerful moral dimension, Zulu pre-dates Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan by more than three decades. Like the defence of Rorke's Drift itself, its legend grows with the passing of time. ~ Empire.
NETFLIX & SKY CINEMA ~ STAND BY ME
~ 1987 Oscar Nominee: Best Adapted Screenplay.
★★★★★ Rob Reiner's bucolic, nostalgic drama is widely agreed to be one of the most successful adaptations of a story by horror master Stephen King - in this case, a novella called The Body from his primarily non-supernatural collection of stories, Different Seasons. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ This is as fresh and moving as it was when it was first released. Superbly acted...the classic of its genre. ~ Empire.
★★★★ Shawshank aside, this is the best non-horror Stephen King adaptation of the bunch. ~ Total Film.
BBC iPLAYER & NETFLIX ~ SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.
~ 1996 Oscar Winner: Best Adapted Screenplay.
★★★★★ The decision to hire Taiwan's Ang Lee to direct this adaptation of Jane Austen's first novel was truly inspired. Avoiding the chocolate-box visuals that cheapen so many British costume dramas, Lee brings a refreshing period realism to this tale of two sisters, allowing Emma Thompson's respectful Oscar-winning script to flourish. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ A beautifully-crafted, witty, moving film likely to overcome even the stiffest Austen prejudice. ~ Empire.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ NETWORK
~ 1977 Oscar Winner: Best Actor (Peter Finch) + Best Actress (Faye Dunaway) + Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight) + Best Screenplay.
★★★★★ This terrific 1976 news satire is an anatomy of American discontent, for which Peter Finch won a posthumous Oscar for his uproarious performance as a swivel-eyed news anchor – a cross between Billy Graham and Donald Trump. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Network is typical of the cool intelligence of '70s American cinema. Directed by Sidney Lumet with the sureness that typified his work back then, and graced by William Holden's best late performance, the show is still comprehensively stolen by Faye Dunaway's conniving and utterly convincing career woman. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Part of a cycle of 1970s conspiracy films and a sharp satire of the TV business, Network bitterly critiques corporate culture's impact on the spread of information and the resulting cult of the TV guru. ~ All Movie.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ MIDNIGHT COWBOY
~ 1970 Oscar Winner: Best Picture + Best Director (John Schlesinger) + Best Adapted Screenplay.
★★★★★ Superb performances and a compelling script have made this film a strange mix of Oscar-winner and Cult Classic. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Radical and deceptively playful. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Midnight Cowboy was the first and only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture, a fact that’s useful to know on trivia night. The unlikely buddy drama, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, remains a compelling study of poverty and loneliness. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ John Schlesinger won the best director Oscar for this tawdry, strident yet deeply affecting tale of a naive Texas stud striking up a relationship with a tubercular conman. And lest we forget, there's also a wistful score from John Barry and Harry Nilsson singing Everybody's Talkin' over the opening credits. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ A still potent stew of 60s sleaze, fifty years on, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman’s squabbling amid the squalor of low-rent New York remains a heartbreaking triumph. ~ The Guardian.
CHANNEL 4 ~ MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE
~ 1987 Oscar Nominee: Best Original Screenplay
★★★★★ This seminal 1980s movie launched a plethora of now distinguished careers, including those of director Stephen Frears and Daniel Day-Lewis. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ At times puzzling due to the diverse panorama of subject matter, the film nevertheless corners touchy issues more than it flinches them. ~ Empire.
CHANNEL 4 ~ THE STRAIGHT STORY
~ 2000 Oscar Nominee: Best Actor (Richard Farnsworth).
★★★★✭ A PG-rated, Disney-produced, family-friendly film from David Lynch seemed like a fairly questionable prospect at the time, but The Straight Story turned out to be the perfect choice for the director, allowing him to extricate himself from the nihilist-cool corner into which he'd been painted and make one of his best films in the process. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ Following the excesses of Lost Highway, Lynch is in mellower mood with this whimsical road movie that, nevertheless, slyly dissects middle-American mores with disarming precision. It's hard to imagine a gentler film, yet Lynch fully exploits the stately pace to gaze fondly upon life's rich pageant. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ This must be the slowest road movie ever made, which makes for a hilarious shot as cinematographer Freddie Francis pans up from the trundling Alvin to a magnificent sky and then pans down to show our hero has moved on only a few feet. ~ Empire.
NETFLIX & SKY CINEMA ~ THE NAKED GUN
★★★★★ The team behind Airplane! first turned their wicked talents onto the police force with the short-lived cult TV series Police Squad!, but it was this hilarious feature-length spoof that introduced Leslie Nielsen's inspired Frank Drebin to a worldwide audience. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ All in all, a balloon-sized hoot. ~ Empire.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ RAIN MAN
★★★★★ Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise give signature performances in this thoughtful, and hugely enjoyable, classic. ~ Empire.
★★★★ "Rain Man" is the kind of congenial multiple Oscar-winner that it seems churlish to dislike, although its execution is by no means virtuoso. What sets it apart from the norm is Hoffman's absorbing performance as idiot savant, Raymond Babbitt. In deference to this, director (and frequent Hoffman collaborator) Barry Levinson provides a soft touch to the relatively simple buddy movie formula. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Hoffman's savant is one of modern cinema's great triumphs: believable, unsentimental, often hilarious. But it's Cruise's character who has the greater emotional journey. ~ Radio Times.
AMAZON PRIME ~ TANTURA
A damning exposé of a nation unwilling to admit its primordial sins. ~ Los Angeles Times.
Alon Schwarz’s documentary explores the alleged massacre of a Palestinian village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and how it was subsequently covered up. The film is rather conventional in form but provides a troubling new perspective on Middle Eastern history that demands further viewing. ~ Hollywood Reporter.
Tantura makes for a fascinating, troubling watch, although it doesn’t altogether come across as rigorously objective, given rhetorical touches in both music and visuals. ~ Screen International.
AMAZON PRIME ~ FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.
~ 1972 Oscar Winner: Best Cinematography + Best Sound + Best Original Score (John Williams).
★★★★ This film version of one of the greatest, most heartbreaking of all Broadway shows really should have been no less than magnificent, given its source and the opportunities it presents to create movie magic. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ It was one of the last hurrahs of traditional big screen musicals. ~ Empire.
★★★★ It still stands up as an upbeat portrait of pre-revolutionary Russia, and will have you whistling If I Were A Rich Man for days. ~ Empire.
BBC iPLAYER ~ THE KEEPER.
★★★ The true story of Bert Trautmann, the German who played for Manchester City after the second world war, is a heartfelt blend of romance and football. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ If you're not a football fan you shouldn't disregard The Keeper. This isn't a sport film as such - it's the compelling story of a truly remarkable man. ~ RTE.
★★★ Bert Trautmann famously kept goal for 17 minutes with a broken neck during the 1956 FA Cup Final. But this engaging if slightly soapy biopic isn't really a sports movie; it's essentially a decent, old-fashioned love story set against an extraordinary backdrop of top-tier football and postwar anger and intolerance. ~ Radio Times.
★★★ ~ The Irish Independent.
★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★ ~ The Irish Times.
★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★ ~ Time Out.
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