Films Discussed in 2026

About the introductions and star ratings

Junebug – 28/05/26

Like so many of my favourite obscure independent movies Junebug (2005) is a small-scale domestic drama which skilfully laces the interpersonal conflicts with wry observational comedy. Both elements emerge naturally from the clash of cultures between the polished metropolitan couple and the down to earth rural relatives that the husband persuades his wife to drop in on. To refresh my memory I’ve dropped in briefly on the occasional scene – Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams as the sisters-in-law trying to bridge the jarring gap between art dealer Madeleine’s posh British accent and the southern twang of the pregnant homebody Ashley – Ben McKenzie as the brother Johnny who has stayed put, maintaining a sullen profile and wishing the intruders gone. Added to the family dynamics in this engaging first feature film of only two directed by Phil Morrison is the real reason for the venture into the North Carolina hinterland – Madeleine’s wish to display the work of local self-taught artist David Wark in her Chicago “outsider art” gallery, a plan which may be easier conceived than achieved.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418773

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/junebug

The Beat That My Heart Skipped – 28/05/26

Unusually, The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De Battre mon Coeur s’est Arrêté)(2005) is a remake of a long forgotten film slated by the critics at the time, the 1978 American production Fingers starring Harvey Keitel. And the basic premise might seem improbable – Thomas, a 28-year-old real estate broker with aspirations to become a concert pianist pursues both metiers with equal determination and dedication – but director Jaques Audiard’s boldness brings it off with conviction and panache. In this stylish and visceral crime drama the gritty realism is leavened by Tom’s unlikely sideline. That the hands wielding the baseball bat to evict vulnerable squatters from buildings scheduled for redevelopment are also those of a pianist is, for me, a brilliant image at the centre of the film. Romain Duris delivers a great performance in the starring role, as does Niels Arestrup as his criminal father and other supporting actors.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411270

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beat_that_my_heart_skipped

Far from the Madding Crowd – 07/05/26

I can’t see any of the flaws in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) that some critics complain of. Whether on a small black and white TV or the big screen it’s held me entranced from the first mutually respectful stand-off between Julie Christie as the wilful Bathsheba and Alan Bates as the solid Gabriel Oak, through more than two and a half hours of agricultural toil and harmony punctured by the tumultuous interventions of Terence Stamp as the swashbuckling Sergeant Troy and Peter Finch as the landowning neighbour William Boldwood. With John Schlesinger directing from a Frederic Raphael script based on Thomas Hardy’s powerful novel and with Nicholas Roeg wielding the camera the talents brought together seem almost too good to be true. Still, they all need to click to produce the magic and, in my view, sixty years ago in the Dorset countryside they did.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1007105-far_from_the_madding_crowd

Ball of Fire – 07/05/26

Two worlds collide in the exceptional screwball comedy Ball of Fire (1941) directed by Howard Hawks. Like Meet John Doe, released in the same year, it pairs Gary Cooper as the good-natured, unworldly innocent opposite Barbara Stanwyck as the fast talking street-wise siren whose lack of scruples set him up for a fall. Here Cooper is surprisingly convincing as the awkwardly upright Professor Bertram Potts while Stanwyck trips gaily through the closeted quarters where he lives and toils with seven older professors on an encyclopaedia, distracting them with her sassy charm. The scriptwriters Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder are also a classic pairing, with several other gems to their combined names. They confidently construct a setting laden with humorous potential and allow the entire professorial menagerie a turn to shine, along with a host of varied characters, from garbage collector and housekeeper to gangsters and highly-strung heiress. For me this is one of those rare examples in any genre of a film that gets better and better as it goes along.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033373/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ball_of_fire

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir – 16/04/26

What I recall enjoying particularly about The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) is some sparkling dialogue – laced, in the words of a contemporary critic, with “salty expressions” – and a brooding coastal atmosphere with swirling mist as the backdrop for an unexpectedly touching romance. The late Captain Daniel Gregg and the bereaved Mrs Muir from London find themselves occupying the same creaky old house much to their mutual consternation. As in a number of other well-loved films directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz the leading actors give performances beyond their usual bounds. I revelled in the confrontations and assignations between Gene Tierney as the uncommonly pretty young widow and Rex Harrison as an unusually dapper if irascible sea dog, and I was caught up in their predicament as reality intruded. Third on the bill is George Sanders, an actor I always enjoy watching in these well-scripted classic Hollywood productions. I barely remember his role but I’m sure it involved some entertaining rivalry with the ghost.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039420/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghost_and_mrs_muir

Hidden – 16/04/26

The enviable Parisian lifestyle of an attractive couple – played by my favourite French actor Daniel Auteuil and the ever watchable Juliette Binoche – is tainted by the inexplicable actions of an unknown stalker. The invisible, perhaps imagined persecution, gets to the husband Georges in particular, affecting his behaviour at work as well as towards his wife. He digs deeper, and dangerously, remaining as unprepared as the viewer for the shock in store. Hidden (Caché) (2005) is a Michael Haneke film, designed to make you feel uncomfortable, to experience the “deep-seated collective malaise” of modern society, in this case through the medium of a gripping neo-noir drama. The formidable German-born writer/director achieved even greater acclaim with The White Ribbon (2009) and Amour (2012) but I’ve shied away from these subsequent projects as they sounded too bleak for me. I’m happy to recognise an inspired auteur on the basis of this one brilliant work that exercises the talents of Auteuil and Binoche in their prime.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387898/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cache_2005

Double Indemnity – 26/03/26

The palpable tension in the air between the protagonists of Double Indemnity (1944), remains with me forty years or so after watching this renowned classic of film noir, probably on a late-night BBC transmission. I shared the romantically entwined plotters’ fear of discovery. Did I want them to abort the plan or go through with the desperate deed? All the ingredients of the genre are here, whipped up into a particularly rich brew by the talents involved – director Billy Wilder, who adapted the screenplay along with Raymond Chandler from the novel by James M. Cain, cameraman John F. Seitz and the trio of stars, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, all of whom were stepping outside their comfort zone and needed persuasion to take on their unaccustomed or unflattering roles. It’s more than high time for me to see this legendary crime drama again.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/double_indemnity

Shine – 26/03/26

Who had heard of either David Helfgott or Geoffrey Rush before 1996? Certainly not me. The latter’s energetic but deeply touching portrayal of the former in the biopic Shine of that year brought fame to both and deservedly won the Oscar for Rush. Huge credit is also due to director Scott Hicks who conceived the project, screenwriter Jan Sardi, and Noah Taylor who plays the adolescent Helfgott. There are delightful turns by John Gielgud as the mentor who prepares the nervous young pianist for his headline performance of the notorious “Rach 3” and Lynn Redgrave as the woman who befriends him many years later. From a gloomy home atmosphere in Melbourne to London privations and glamour to mental institutions and casual performances in bars this is a turbulent ride in which we share the excitements and anguish of a talented, troubled man, while being treated of course to some glorious piano playing. I’ve found it a compelling watch both times so far.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117631/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shine

Glengarry Glen Ross – 05/03/26

Playwright David Mamet’s incisive, witty and brutally frank exposés of the American male psyche in pursuit of money, sex and the sheer satisfaction of trampling over your rival to achieve your goal, reached its zenith, or nadir in terms of the behaviour depicted, with his 1983 play set in a cut-throat real-estate office. For the film version of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) director James Foley insisted on box-office stars to play the major roles of office manager, motivational trainer and four salesmen who fight over the leads (unwary investors to be manipulated into signing a deal) and who regale each other with their methods of achieving closure. Boy did he get his wish! Never in the history of cinema has such a modest indoor scene been the setting for such a roster of renowned actors (too many to name here) to flex their muscles and show their mettle in close-quarter combat. The distinctive personalities and conflicting agendas in Mamet’s brilliant script make for a claustrophobic drama of the highest order in this production. I’m amazed it achieved only a single Oscar nomination.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glengarry_glen_ross

Snow Cake – 05/03/26

Snow Cake (2006) is small independent film set in the snow drifts of Ontaria that might have been frozen beneath them without reaching the screen were it not for Alan Rickman accepting the leading male role and enlisting Sigourney Weaver as his co-star. No surprises in Rickman playing the decent, considerate but guilt-ridden visitor to the remote township of Wawa, but it was initially a bit of a shock to see Weaver looking so plain as the unworldly resident he has come to see. It’s a credit to the much lesser-known director Marc Evans and two scriptwriters that my growing interest in the characters and how their relations would develop soon banished the apparent bleakness of their situation. The critics seem a bit sniffy but I’m with the majority of ordinary punters in finding this a highly involving domestic drama with some original twists, a good mix of the serious and humorous, and of course beautifully acted by the two principals as well as the supporting actors. I’ve said almost nothing about the story, leaving it as virgin territory for the first-time viewer to discover.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448124/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/snow_cake

King’s Game – 12/02/26

I’ve never watched a Nordic noir TV series but if any of them are as good as the Danish political thriller King’s Game (Kongekabale) (2004) I admit I’ve been seriously missing out. Rather than guns and detectives, the focus of this intelligent and gripping film is on dark intrigue in the corridors of power and a journalist who stumbles on something suspicious. With great precision and plausibility writer/director Nikolaj Arcel and his team have conjured up a fictional Watergate on a smaller scale and an investigation full of suspense and jeopardy that takes over the life of the workaday reporter who may have bitten off more than he can chew. I seem to recall that I was able to follow the twists and turns as the mystery unfolds – a rare bonus – and the pay-off in the culminating scene was fabulous. I’m not surprised that this movie swept the board in the national awards of its home country, winning the prize for best film as well as director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editor and three other categories – thankfully sufficient domestic success for it to be released in this country. I was fortunate enough to catch it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378215/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kings_game

Back to Black – 12/02/26

Though inhabiting the same city as the celebrated jazz/soul/R&B/pop phenomenon Amy Winehouse, she was little more than a name to me during her tragically short career and I may not have listened to any of her songs. This perhaps made me the perfect customer for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic Back to Black (2024), a strong successor in my view to the director’s better received Nowhere Boy (2009) about the teenage years of John Lennon. To my fresh eyes it was an intriguing and disturbing mix that held me in its sway – the uneasy family background, a pure ambition clashing with commercial pressures, then derailed by alcohol, drugs and an all-consuming romance. The unexpected bonus was to be transported by the music itself. Finally I heard what all the fuss was about and enjoyed some of the pieces in full-length performances by the astonishing Marisa Abela, who even the knowledgeable fans agree achieves an amazing incarnation of her subject, including a stage presence and vocal mimicry founded on months of intensive training. A worthy tribute that was highly watchable for this viewer.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21261712/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/back_to_black

It’s Love I’m After – 22/01/26

Of the 88 films directed by Archie Mayo, from silent shorts in 1917 to the last and perhaps weakest Marx Brothers vehicle in 1946, two stand a head clear of the rest according to their IMDb rating, partly thanks to the delicious pairing of Leslie Howard and Bette Davis at the head of the cast in both of them. Apparently the two stars did not get along on set, adding spice to their volatile relationship as a theatrical couple in It’s Love I’m After (1937). This top-class romantic comedy bordering on drawing room farce also showcases Olivia de Havilland as the adoring fan who becomes a mixed blessing for the great Basil Underwood, played by Howard with his customary debonair panache. Davis issues her withering put-downs in a more light-hearted vein than usual, competing for the limelight as Underwood’s stage partner and official lover Joyce Arden. The wryly amused observations of manservant Digges, played by Eric Blore, who often popped up in this kind of role, add to the fun. I thoroughly enjoyed this very witty frolic when I caught it at the BFI about twenty years ago.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029058/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/its-love-im-after

L.A. Confidential – 22/01/26

The epitome of cool and machismo respectively, Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe, established stars still on the rise towards the peak of their fame, take on the roles in L.A. Confidential (1997) of morally dubious cops amongst the general corruption and brutality of the Los Angeles Police Department. The acting pedigree runs deep in this cracking crime thriller directed by Curtis Hanson, with an ensemble that includes Kim Basinger, Guy Pearce and Danny De Vito. The tense relationships between the distinctive characters, the 1950s setting rendered with a winning combination of style and grit, the Oscar winning script in which the gradual revelation of a murky mystery leads to a satisfying dénouement, all contribute to the high reputation that this adaptation of James Ellroy’s 1990 potboiler enjoys. I remember nothing more of the plot, only that the movie held me in its grip as it seems to have done almost everyone else who’s seen it. With slight trepidation as to the violence that might erupt at any moment during the two and a quarter hours’ running time, I look forward to revisiting this undoubted classic of the genre.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la_confidential

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