casualco.com | Our Own 60 Greatest Films

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick and is a satirical science fiction film adaptation of the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, about Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), a charismatic, psychopathic delinquent whose pleasures may include classical music (especially Beethoven), theiving, rape and ultra-violence. He is the leader of a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs - from the Russian term for, 'friend'. Alex narrates most of the film in ' Russian Nadsat'.
This cinematic adaptation was co-written and produced by director Kubrick, it's a tame affair that acts as a social commentary about psychiatry, youth gangs, and other contemporary social, political,subjects in a dystopian, future Britain. The controversial cult masterpiece was withdrawn (not banned) by Kubrick himself in Britain following copycats and media reactions, it remained so until after his death and was finally re-released in the UK in 2000

GOODFELLAS (1990)
Scorsese's masterpiece crime drama.
Based on the non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. The film follows the rise and fall of three gangsters, spanning three decades.
Goodfellas performed well at the box office, grossing $46.8 million domestically, well above its $25 million budget; it received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards but only won one for Pesci in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
The film is a cult classic deserving of it's reputation, very well shot, slick photography and a superb supporting soundtrack of Soul, Rock and Jazz. The large ensemble cast will be recognisable from other mob based film and television, notably the Sopranos.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST (1975)
An adaptation of the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The movie was the first to win all five major Academy Awards.
Cuckoo's Nest is frequently called one of the greatest films in the history of American cinema and that it is.
A fresh viewing of this film regardless of whether you've seen it before, never fails to blow you away, any geekish list you may have created in your head becomes all muddled up as Jack Nicholson's greatest performance to date carries one of the most spectacular and thought provoking movies ever made.
In 1993, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.
The film was shown in Swedish cinemas between 1975 and 1987 — twelve years, which is still a record.

KES (1970)
British film from director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by the Barnsley born author Barry Hines in 1968.
The film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films.
The film focuses on Billy Casper, who has little hope in life beyond becoming a coal miner and is bullied both at home, by his physically and verbally abusive brother, Jud, as well as at school. Both the film and the book provide an authentic portrait of life in the mining areas of Yorkshire of the time.
Kes is genuine, it's gritty, funny, poignant, tells a story of a time and place people would rather forget, yet strangely look back upon fondly.
This film shows school as we knew it, school as it was, it's spot on, and let's not forget the best PE lesson ever captured in the history of cinema. Kes is Kes, it's shown in schools, it's heart-breakingly great.

NUTS IN MAY (1976)
Written and directed by Mike Leigh, originally broadcast as part of the BBC's Play for Today series. It is the comical story of a nature-loving and rather self-righteous couple's exhausting battle to enjoy what they perceive to be the idyllic camping holiday. Misunderstandings, awkward clashes of values and, inevitably, explosive conflicts are the uncomfortable scenarios that occur when more open-minded and fun-loving guests pitch their tents nearby.

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (1962)
tells the story of a rebellious youth (Tom Courtenay), sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery, who rises through the ranks of the institution through his prowess as a long distance runner. During his solitary runs, reveries of his life and times before his incarceration lead him to re-evaluate his privileged status as the Governor's prize runner

WILD AT HEART (1990)
Directed by David Lynch, a crazy road movie Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern lead an ensemble cast, and includes bizarre, almost supernatural events and off-kilter violence with sometimes overtly heavy allusions to The Wizard of Oz and strong references to Elvis Presley. Based on the Barry Gifford Pulp novel, released to mixed reviews, this is a classic Lynch movie, worth watching for Willem Defoe's Bobby Peru alone.

IVANS XTC (2000)
Hard hitting independent film Directed by Bernard Rose shot on digital camera about the last day in the life of LA agent Ivan Beckman, played by Danny Huston.
It's based on Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The film also stars Peter Weller as Beckman's megastar client Don West in a dark tale of Hollywood's excess you seldom see.

FARGO (1996)
1996 American neo-noir film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The film is about a car salesman who hires two men to kidnap his wife for $80,000. Small-town police chief Marge Gunderson investigates the crime, which sets off a chain of murders.
The film stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare and Harve Presnell.
Fargo earned seven Academy Award nominations, winning twofor Best Original Screenplay for the Coens and Best Actress in a Leading Role for McDormand. The film also won the British BAFTA Award and the Award for Best Director for Joel Coen at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS (1999)
Directed by Shane Meadows, and co-written by frequent Meadows collaborator Paul Fraser.
The film stars Andrew Shim as Romeo Brass, Ben Marshall as Gavin Woolley and Paddy Considine as Morell. It marked the screen debut of Considine, who went on to star in Meadows' 2004 film, Dead Man's Shoes.
It was nominated in three categories at the 1999 British Independent Film Awards.

CITY OF GOD (2002)
Brazilian crime drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins which was based on a true story. It depicts the growth of organized crime in this Rio de Janeiro suburb, between the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and criminal Knockout Ned.

LA HAINE (1995)
French black-and-white film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, released in 1995. It is released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although its American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live in the banlieues of Paris. The title derives from a line spoken by one of them, Hubert:
"La haine attire la haine!", "hatred breeds hatred."

RAINING STONES (1993)
Directed by Ken Loach and starring Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey and Gemma Phoenix. It tells the story of a man who cannot afford to buy his daughter a First Communion dress, and makes disastrous choices in trying to raise the money.
Arguably Ken Loach's finest film, absolutely spot on, an amazing role for Bruce Jones later to be more familair for his work on Coronation Street.

RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO (1986)
Directed by Alan Clarke, a gritty and very northern film set during Thatcher's grim Britain, follows two West Yorkshire schoolgirls Rita and Sue who have a sexual fling with a married man, Bob. It is adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her 1982 stage play of the same name. Its portrayal of 'ordinary' people's lives made it a cult film soon after its cinematic release. A superb film which has stood the test of time, controversial, hilarous and utterly convincing, there are some fantastic standout performaces from a great cast, not least from the late Wille Ross as Sue's drunken father. .

TRADING PLACES (1983)
Academy Award-nominated 1983 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis.
Louis Winthorpe III is a successful Philadelphia commodity broker with mansion, manservant and girlfriend to match. Billy Ray Valentine is a hustling beggar. Winthorpe's employers, the elderly Duke brothers, make a bet which switches the pair. Thinking Billy Ray will prosper and Winthorpe will turn to a live of crime.

BUFFALO 66 (1998)
Vincent Gallo's semi-autobiographical full-length motion picture debut. The retro look, do it yourself sensibility and the comic mixture of irony and sentimentality, as well as the casting and music, have caused the film to be strongly identifiable with late-1990s hipster culture.
Gallo and Christina Ricci star in the lead roles with a fine supporting cast. Gallo also composed and performed much of the music for the film.

THE DEERHUNTER (1978)
In Clairton, a small working-class domicile in Western Pennsylvania during the late 1960s, Russian-American steel workers Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken), are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military servic in the Vietnam war. Whilst dealingwith controversial issues such as drug abuse, suicide, infidelity and mental illness. The infamous Russian Roulette scene is difficult, yet compelling viewing
The film won five Academy Awards.

QUADROPHENIA (1979)
London, 1965. Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company's mailing division. Only when he's together with his friends, a 'Mod' clique, cruises London on his motor-scooter and hears music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', he feels free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world.
Phil Daniels plays working-class Jimmy, the drug-induced Mod, who hates his job and is misunderstood by his parents. But by night, he comes alive, with the all-nighters, his pills and his scooter-riding friends. Always on a high, life can't get any better. Then there's the Brighton scooter run, where both Mods and Rockers converge, ending in the battle of the cults on Brighton Beach

RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
Quentin Tarantino's debut film. It portrays what happens before and after a botched jewel heist. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, incorporating many themes that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, dialogue, profuse profanity, and a nonlinear storyline.
The film has become a cult classic.It was named "Greatest Independent Film of all Time" by Empire.

PLATOON (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, John C McGinlay, Keith David, and Kevin Dillon.
The story is drawn from Stone's experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam and was written by him upon his return as a counter to the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1986.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
American comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who refers to himself as "the Dude".
After being mistaken for a multimillionaire who has the same name, Lebowski is commissioned to deliver a million-dollar ransom in order to secure the release of the millionaire's kidnapped trophy wife. The plan goes awry, and the Dude's friend Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) further complicates the ordeal.

TRUE ROMANCE (1993)
Romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast; It is billed as a "love story", albeit an unconventional one, as the plot revolves around drugs and violence. Clarence Worley and Alabama Whitman attempt to start a new life for themselves using cocaine stolen from Alabama's former pimp and find themselves on the run from the Mafia.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Hollywood crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore. It tells the story of two New York City policemen who are trying to intercept a heroin shipment coming in from France. It is based on the actual, infamous "French Connection" trafficking scheme. It stars Gene Hackman (as pork pie hat-wearing New York City police detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle), Fernando Rey (as the villain French heroin smuggler Alain Charnier) and Roy Scheider (as Jimmy's partner Buddy "Cloudy" Russo).

TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA (2002)
Directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel written by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The film features William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, John Pankow, among others. Wang Chung composed and performed the original music soundtrack. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter.
To Live and Die in LA features arguably the best car chase in any film, ever.

GROSSE POINT BLANK (1997)
American comedy movie, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time.
Martin Blank is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. On the advice of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he attends his 10th year High School reunion.
The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits from the 1980s.
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THE JERK (1979)
American rags-to-riches-to-rags comedy film of belated self-discovery. This was Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh and Jackie Mason.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Jerk the 48th greatest comedy film of all time. This film is #20 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies.

THE GRADUATE (1967)
Directed by Mike Nichols, based on the 1963 novel by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College.The film tells the story of Ben Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), a recent university graduate with no well-defined aim in life, who is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), and then falls in love with her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross)
It ranked as the ninth greatest film of all time on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies.

GUMMO (1997)
Cult film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The film stars Nick Sutton and Jacob Reynolds. Set in Xenia, Ohio, a real small town that was hit by a tornado in 1974. The film, however, was not actually shot in Xenia. The film depicts Xenia as the home of various oddball and sometimes disturbing backwater characters. The loose narrative follows several main characters, interrupted by vignettes depicting the other denizens of the town.

DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
Directed by George A. Romero, the second film made in Romero's Living Dead series, Dawn of the Dead contains no characters or settings from its predecessor, and shows in larger scale the apocalyptic effects a zombie epidemic would have on society. In the film, a plague of unknown origin has caused the reanimation of the dead, who prey on human flesh. Several survivors of the outbreak barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall.

STAND BY ME (1986)
Directed by Rob Reiner, The title comes from a song with the same title by Ben E. King (which plays during the closing credits), while the story itself is based on the novella The Body by Stephen King. Coming of ageadventure-drama, four young boys set off on a quest to find the body of Ray Brower - hit by a train in a bid for stardom in their small local town,but in the mean time each of the boys learn more about themselves in a tale of bonding and self discovery.

THE SHINING (1980)
Supernatural thriller film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Though not initially successful, the film has had status as a cult film for years. Now being frequently ranked as one of the best horror films in history and its iconic imagery deeply embedded throughout popular culture, The film stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer Jack Torrance, Shelley Duvall as his wife, Wendy, and Danny Lloyd as their son, Danny.

THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY (1966)
Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles.
To this day, Leone's effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described as European cinema's best representative of the Western genre film, and Quentin Tarantino has called it "the best-directed film of all time.

THE GODFATHER (1972)
American 1972 crime thriller film film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, With a stellar cast including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan.
The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

THE GODFATHER II (1973)
The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the rise to power of the young Vito Corleone. The film stars Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, and Robert DeNiro..
The Godfather Part II was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro in the role of the young Vito Corleone.

GET CARTER (1971)
Michael Caine stars as Jack Carter, a London based mobster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the North Eastern English city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The film was based on Ted Lewis' 1969 novel Jack's Return Home. Ranked 16th on the BFI Top 100 British films of the 20th century, Get Carter is the quintessential British Gangster film, not to be confused with the ridiculous Sly Stallone re-make from 2000, which by all intents and purposes ought to be ignored.

THE LIFE AQUATIC (2004)
Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film, The offbeat comedy stars Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer.
In this ensemble cast, Steve Zissou sets out to exact revenge on the "jaguar shark" that ate his partner Esteban. Murray's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated
Very stylishly shot film, with a soundtrack featuring Seu Jorge performing David Bowie songs in Portuguese on the acoustic guitar..

WITHNAIL AND I (1986)
Written and directed by Bruce Robinson, it is based on his life in London in the late 1960s.
The main plot follows two struggling unemployed young actors, Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and “I” (Paul McGann) who live in a squalid flat in London in 1969 while waiting for their careers to take off. Needing a holiday, they obtain the key to the country cottage belonging to Withnail’s flamboyantly gay uncle Monty and drive there. The holiday is less ‘recuperative’ than they expected, and tests their friendship.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
Space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. It was the second film released in the Star Wars saga, being followed by Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and the fifth in terms of internal chronology.
The film is set three years after the destruction of the Death Star. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and the rest of the Rebel Alliance are being pursued by Darth Vader and the elite forces of the Galactic Empire.

Here we have our hand picked top 60 films, in truth it could have easily been a hundred, a hundred and fifty even, with a few notable omissions and a few surprise additions, it's one difficult task to pick.
We feel we've done this justice, with the classics and cult and a handful of our fave indie films too.
Words & images: Chas Devlin.

That's All Folks...

THE WICKER MAN (1973)
Harrowing cult British film, filmed in Scotland, combining thriller, existential horror and musical genres, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars Edward Woodward, Sir Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland. The Wicker Man is generally very highly regarded by critics and film enthusiasts. The climax of this film makes for difficult viewing, a true horror.
Ignore the US Nicolas Cage remake.

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future is a clever film, hopping from a family film to a modern day time travel fable, done well. Set in both 1985 and 1955 Back to the Future tells the story of Marty Mcfly trying to repair history and bring his parents together in love.
This film was huge at the time, and remains a cult classic, films of this ilk produced today don't really make the grade, it's certainly not a kid's film.

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
Based on Stephen King's novel, 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis 'Red' Redding.
Shawshank is now ranked highly in many 'Greatest movie lists', hailed by critics and film goers, but was beaten hand's down at the 1994 Academy Awards by Forrest Gump.
The ultimate prison breakout / buddy movie.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Directed by Jonathan Demme, starring
Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine and Brooke Smith. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, his second to feature Dr. Hannibal Lecter, brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer.
Silence of the Lambs was a huge hit winning five Oscars, including Best Actress, Actor and Film.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984)
Mock rockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the fictional British heavy-metal band Spinal Tap. The film satirizes the wild behavior of a rock band on tour in the US promoting their new album 'Smell the Glove', filmed by Director Mart DiBergi played by Reiner himself. Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest still tour in character as Spinal Tap. The Comic Strips 'Bad News' from the same era which actually preceded Tap makes very similar and hilarious viewing .

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE (1995)
Coming of age dark comedy from Director Todd Solondz, less familar to his other controversial works Storytelling (2001) and Happiness (1998)
Dollhouse tells the tale of the unpopular
Dawn 'Wienerdog' Weiner, a seventh grade middle class New Jersey girl, where she is bullied in school and deals with crushes and rejection along with family problems such as having inattentive parents, sibling rivalry, and the kidnapping of her sister.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
The ultimate action-adventure movie and head and shoulders above it's following three sequals.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford stars as Indiana Jones a full time archaeologist and part time treasure hunter.
Jones takes on the nazis in a fictional sub-plot preceding World War Two, in the search for the Ark of the Covenant, whilst attempt to make their army invincible, they find it with genuinely scary face melting consequences.

THE LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)
Written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team in multiple roles.
Life of Brian tells the story of Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born a few doors down from Jesus Christ and subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.
The film is regarded as one of the funniest ever made, yet remains controversial with it's satirical and blasphemous slant on the New Testament.
The film was banned in Aberystwyth for 30 years.

THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)
Starring James Cagney and directed by William A. Wellman. The movie relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld in prohibition-era urban America.
Cagney was forever labelled with the 'tough guy' image, despite winning an oscar for the decidedly pleasant Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), he was never really able to shake it off.
Tony Soprano can be seen enjoying the film in an episode of the cult televison show.

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
Directed by John Landis and starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Auguttter.
The movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup which gives the film a real edge over the crap and overused CGI in modern day movies.
Financers believed that Landis' script was too frightening to be a comedy and too funny to be a horror film.

THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951)
Directed by Charles Chrichton and scribed by T.E.B Clarke, from West London's famous Ealing Studios way back in '51. British cinema were doing twists and turns in our movies before Tarantino was even conceived.The always reliable Alec Guinness plays Mr Holland aka 'Dutch' a timid, paranoid but very reliable bank clerk. Be-friending a new lodger at his residence - Mr Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), together they hatch the perfect plan to steal gold bullion and mould it in the shape of Eiffel Tower souvenirs in order to smuggle them away from Britain and the black market.Such a simple but clever and successful plan cannot possibly
go wrong can it?

THE PIANIST (2002)
Directed by Roman Polanski adapted from Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography, this multi award winning film charts the collapse of one man's world during the outbreak of the Second World War and the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.
This harrowing and brutal films shows the true horrors largely through one man's eyes as he encounters the mass genocide of Jewish population unravel before him, as their rights are taken away from them as they are forced into a squalid Warsaw ghetto at the hands of the sadistic Schutzstaffel.

DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)
Produced, written and Directed by Spike Lee who also stars amongst the great ensemble cast including Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Frank Vincent, and Samuel L Jackson in this box office success from the back end of the eighties which was nominated for two Oscars.
During the hottest day of the year, tensions in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant are quickly rising, with such a diverse mix of people, blacks, whites, Hispanic and Korean, this film tells it like it is in an unflinching way as racial tension in the inner city comes to a head. Public Enemy's Fight the Power hit single of the same year provides the soundtrack via Radio Raheem's (Bill Nunn) boom box in this clever slice-of-life social commentary which will certainly never date.

COME AND SEE (1985)
Directed by Elem Klimov, is a 1985 Soviet war movie and deeply psychological horror drama set during the Nazi German occupation of the Belarussian SSR, in 1943. Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova star as the protagonists Florya and Glasha. The film title derives from The Apocalypse of John, Chapter 6. With such a tough subject at hand this film obviously pulls no punches. This is a true horror film, it's scary because it happened.

SCUM (1979)
Directed by Alan Clarke, this cinematic version was released after the BBC refused to screen the original 1977 television 'Play for Today version deemed to brutal for a televison audience and deemed 'unrealistic' by the powers that be.
Scum launched the careers of several young British actors including Phil Daniels, Ray Burdis and Mick Ford, and of course, most notably Ray Winstone in the lead role as Carlin the young ruffian entering the brutal world of borstal, he we see Carlin's journey as he rises to the top taking on the system head on.
Scum was a controversial film upon it's release and has dated very well, exposing the old fashioned institutions and all their flaws in Britain of that time.
I first saw this when I was at school, it hit me harder than Pongo Banks ever could, it's brutal, it's ruthless it's stood the test of time, and is something we can be proud of.

PANS LABYRINTH (2006)
Guilermo Del Toro has created this excellent gothic fairytale for grown ups, set agains the post-war era of Franco's Spain. Told through the eyes of Ophelia, a young girl who's moved to a military outpost commanded by her ruthless new stepfather. Powerless and lonely in a place of great danger, she confronts monsters of both the other world and the existing human world. Here she meets Pan, a fantastical creature who challenges her with three tasks which he claims will reveal her true identity.

APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
Based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse now is the haunting vision of Director Francis Ford Coppola. Award winning in multiple categories, a true epic, set during the vietnam conflict revolves around two US Army special operations officers, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent into the jungle to assassinate the other, the rogue and presumably insane Colonel Kurtz played by Marlon Brando. Napalm, Valkryies, surfing, the Doors and Dennis Hopper this film has it all and was as epic to produce behind the scenes as the final cut, Sheen had a heart attack, Brando had a hissy fit, the sets were destroyed by torrential rain.

MIDNIGHT RUN (1988)
Following suit with what could certainly be deemed another buddy movie, Midnight Run is an excellent tale, cheesy and ever so slightly dated, and one you could argue wouldn't be as great without Bobby DeNiro, but it's the cleverly teamed chemistry of he and Charles Grodin which really makes this tick. Jack Walsh (DeNiro) is an ex-cop bounty hunter who's task it to take Jonathon Mardukas (Grodin) a sensitive accounted who's wanted by the mob, Jack has to deliver him from New York to LA, on time and alive. Sounds like a piece of cake, but it's anything but, as it turns into a real cross country chase, with the FBI and the mob hot on their tale, two unlikely cohorts actually become friends.,

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)
From the late, great John Hughes, Planes, trains tells the story of uptight ad exec Neal Page (Steve Martin) trying to get home for Thanksgiving, he crosses paths with the bumbling and buffoonish, albeit kind hearted shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy), a simple journey home becomes the most farcical of farcery, not helped as these opposites clash with hilarious consequences, but they eventually get home in one piece..
This is essentially a buddy movie, and a real seasonal favourite, very quotable and memorable too, I'd go so far as to say it's even a bit of a tear jerker at the end, maybe that's because the superb John Candy left this planet far too soon..

THE GOONIES (1984)
There's not a single person of our generation who hasn't seen, or doesn't like the Goonies, it's a kid's film, but it isn't really, I'll still love this when I'm fifty and no doubt so will my children. The Goonies has it all, the camaraderie of young pals, the mobsters, the sense of adventure, treasure, Pirates, Corey Feldman and Sloth.
We all wanted to be Goonies when we were kids, it's magical, it shouldn't really work, but by jove! it does.
The Goonies helped launch the careers of several young actors, some went on to huge things, others didn't, but they will all be fondly remembered for what is essentially a family film. This is one of those (almost) unique films I can watch from start to finish at any given time, even now, right now. So, no funny looks, The Goonies is in there, no arguments.

BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997)
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Southern California in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the screenplay focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes the popular star of pornographic films and finds himself slowly descending into a nightmare of drug abuse when his fame draws him into a crowd of users and abusers Mark Wahlberg gives a career defining performance as Dirk Diggler, clearly based on John 'Wadd' Holmes.I've told friends this is as good as Goodfellas, albeit with a seventies bongo slant, they laugh, I doubt myself, then watch it again, and realise I'm right, it's epic, the cast is superb, the shots are silky and yeah, a bit 'Scorsese', doesn't matter though, it's fucking faultless.

MEAN STREETS (1973)
One of Martin Scorsese's earlier films, set in the cool backdrop of 70's New York City. A glimpse of what was to come with a long standing associtation of mob films.. Charlie (Keitel) a small-time member of the wiseguy community who collects protection money. His friends Tony and Michael are part of the community, but his other friend Johnny Boy is unreliable and therefore must be shunned.
De Niro won the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Supporting Actor for his role.
Watching Mean Streets it's evident that many filmakers have taken inspiration or even ripped off this great film.