Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
A bunch of blowhard actors play a bunch of blowhard real estate salesmen playing macho status games. I mean if you're in the mood this character study has an impeccable ensemble cast where they inhabit these characters in consummate fashion. Jack Lemon's particularly great. Features peak Kevin Spacey. Not really much of a story though.
The Apartment (1960)
Black comedy pinnacle. With a view to getting promoted, insurance officer Bud Baxter (Jack Lemon) lends out his apartment to a bunch of senior executives so they may participate in their extramarital affairs. Shenanigans ensue but with grim consequences. Whilst The Apartment is funny and clever it presents a bleak vision of urban modernity and the decline of moral values. Written and directed brilliantly by Billy Wilder and co-scripted by IAL Diamond. Jack Lemon pulls off incredible virtuoso performance along with Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, the stunning set design, the cinematography, the fashions and...
Con Air (1997)
Absurd OTT action nonsense of the highest calibre. An array of miscreants, some of America's most reprehensible criminals, are gathered together on one aeroplane what could go wrong? Well everything. Some of the silliest action fun to ever be seen on a cinema screen. Action heroes used to be somewhat likeable, here though, the film makers poking fun, deliberately want us to cheer on the twerpiest smug fuck US Marshall (John Cussack) and the relatively unappealing Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) who is meant to be the movie's hero. Then Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi) the vile evil genius serial killer escapes into the night for a giddy ending, after all it was the 90s.
Great Expectations (1946)
Dickens brought to the screen by the master David Lean. Great set design, costumery, atmosphere, actoring etc. all captured by spectacular cinematography.
This Is England (2006)
With a backdrop of Thatcher, mass unemployment and The Falklands war. A 12 year old working class kid Shaun gets drawn into an older gang who are a loose conglomeration of misfits generally identifying with the skinhead subculture and its adjacent trends of mod, two-tone, oi, new romantic and whatever else. The gang soon becomes divided when Combo is released from prison and appears with his racially divisive views. A tragedy unfolds... it's a credit to the director Shane Meadows that this didn't end up as preachy propaganda. Supreme acting from terrific ensemble and empathetic film making guarantee you are watching some of the best 21st century cinema.
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
A groundbreaking cringe-comedy cult movie written by Neil Simon and directed by Elaine May. Unlikeable characters do unlikeable things in unlikeable black comedy. Surely this can't be as bad as I think it is. Perhaps our appetite for insufferable characters who we'd normally love to hate, has waned because parliament and social media has overloaded us with actual real life living contemptible creatures that we are now at our wits end of tolerance.
Dead Mans Shoes (2004)
Is this Shane Meadows' masterpiece? A classical depiction of revenge and redemption set in dilapidated and neglected rural England. Week men with no moral integrity commit an atrocity but they will be held accountable for their actions because ultimately they are responsible for them. A peak in early 21st century film making.
Cinderella Man (2005)
He's Irish, He's a boxer. He's down and out in New York city. It's the great depression. He needs to feed his wife and kids and pay the electric. He gets a second chance for a big fight. He is Russell Crowe and you can't deny he's pretty bloody good at the ole actoring thing... even when it's cheesy shit like this. Also this is just an excellent cinematic boxing spectacle.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Garish, lurid, bawdy, over the top and a whole lotta wrong fun. A bit of the old ultra violence, a little of the old in-out in-out and a bit of the old Ludwig Van. Fifty years later with the election in the Uk of a dull un-statesman-like prime-minister, who hates his own fellow Englishmen, A Clockwork Orange remains relevant as a satire on authoritarian governments and bureaucratic control. Every frame is iconic, Malcom McDowell as Alex is iconic and well the whole thing is iconic.
Brief Encounter (1945)
One of the most perfectly realised movies ever. This is so beautifully made you don't even realise it's doing that noir circular flashback, end at the start thing. It's a diabolical romance without being a diabolical romance. Two ordinary middle aged and middle class people are caught in a moral dilemma as they are unwittingly swept up in a delicious forbidden romance. Great characters wonderfully portrayed by top actors. Can't really fault this understated and charming film, everything's in the right place.
Rollerball (1975)
Managerial elites from the ruling corporation control every aspect of rollerball (a cross between handball, roller derby and speedway no less) champion Johnathan E's life, sound familiar? This paranoid futuristic dystopian saga with James Caan roller skating is supreme kitch-a-delia of the most turgid variety. Not as much fun as it used to be now we're living the nightmare where ruling corporations like Black Rock have more wealth and influence than most countries and oligarch's are nefariously pulling all sorts of strings that we are powerless to stop.
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