fear of a black hat (1994)

"We anti-violent. Anyone says different, I'll bust a cap in their ass."
Spoof documentary on the rise and fall of NWH (Niggaz with hats) featuring the talents of Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff), Tasty Taste (Larry B. Scott) and Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence).
A gangsta rap take on Spinal Tap, which hits most of its targets and crucially is funny.

dirty harry (1971)

"Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"
San Francisco is in the grip of fear, with a maniacal sniper called Scorpio (Andrew Robinson) taking pot shots at random people, demanding a ransom to stop. Enter Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) who is given the case with his new partner Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni). Will Callahan get his man, or will his ability to get up the noses of the liberal city bigwigs, due to his strong arm tactics, see him pulled off the case?
Eastwood and Siegel bring the no-nonsense anti-hero out of the spaghetti western and position him in modern day (at the time) liberal America. He went on to become our favourite right wing, law unto himself detective, but he gets results damn it!

caligula (1979)

AKA Caligola.
"Hail Caesar."
The life and times of the Roman emperor Caligula (Malcolm McDowell), showning his rise to power, subsequent decent into madness and the bizarre lifestyle he cultivated, before the political elite decide they've had enough and depose him. All in gloriously violent and perverse detail.
A film that everyone wants to disown but that wont go away. Mainly due to the a list actors involved (including John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole) and the story surrounding its creation, and how Guccione decided to spice it up a little by adding his own creative touches to the orgy scenes. Don't listen to most who say offhand that this is appalling, there is a good film in here, it just needs you to find it. It is overlong, and badly shot in places, but despite itself it has something about it.

prick up your ears (1987)

"The plebs at their simple pleasures."
A journalist looks into the life of playwrite Joe Orton (Gary Oldham), his rise to fame and subsequent violent death at the hands of his boyfriend Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina). Both move to London to achieve fame as actors, but move into writing, but whilst Orton becomes fated and famous, Halliwell is stuck in the flat brooding and paranoid, as Orton's success takes him further and further from Halliwell.
A wonderful biopic focused on the complexities of relationships. Who knows why these two quite different characters hooked up together, but their dynamic helped Orton to write some fascinating plays, before Helliwell brought it all crashing down. And for all its tragedy, there is true comedy in there as well, as the pair observe and comment on the everyday activities and people around them.

the trollenberg terror (1958)

AKA The Crawling Eye. Creature from Another World. The Creeping Eye. The Flying Eye. Trollenberg Horror.
"I believe that he was sent down the mountain with the express idea of killing Anne Pilgrim."
Anne and Sarah Pilgrim (Janet Munro and Jennifer Jayne) make the acquaintance of Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker) on a train through the Swiss Alps. Anne insists that they get off at Trollenberg when it is announced as the next stop. By co-incidence Alan is also stopping there, to visit a friend, Prof Crevett (Warren Mitchell), who runs the local observatory. Anne soon starts talking about climbers who have gone missing recently on the mountain, she seems to know a lot about it for some reason, but how? Meanwhile Alan visits the Professor and he's soon told of the disappearances and a mysterious, radioactive cloud spotted moving around the mountain.
An enjoyable pulp sci-fi/horror, that makes the most of the small budget.

sebastiane (1976)

"The waters sing when the young God rises."
A partial re-relling of the life of the Roman legonariare Sebastiane (Leonardo Treviglio) who became a Christian saint when he was martyred for his beliefs, or is because he doesn't put out for the centurian who has obviously taken a shine to him?
Gay sexploitation from Jarman, featuring lots of male nudity. It is elevated to arthouse levels by the script being entirely in latin.

not wanted on voyage (1957)

"That'll be four shillings for the perfume."
Cruise liner that has two scheming stewards (Ronald Shiner and Brian Rix) aboard, doing anything they can to earn some extra money from the hapless passengers. Along the way they unwittingly get involved with two jewel thieves, (Griffith Jones and Catherine Boyle).
Passable but unremarkable comedy, that provides nothing new or particularly entertaining.

dillinger (1973)

"Shoot Dillinger and we will figure out a way to make it legal."
John Dillinger (Warren Oates) is a bank robber in depression era America. After five FBI agents are killed by Dillinger's gang, the Bureau and in particular agent Mel Purvis (Ben Johnson) target him and attempt to hunt him down. Whilst they wait for Dillinger to make a mistake Purvis takes out several other mobsters, but Dillinger's exploits are making him and his gang folk heroes, which makes life difficult for Purvis.
The fictionalised account of the last days of the real life bank robber John Dillinger, but the film focuses on and is as much about Melvin Purvis as Dillinger, and his dogged pursuit of gangsters. This manages to provide action, whilst also giving some insight into the personalities and motivations of the main characters. How true these depictions are to real life is open to some debate, but it makes for fine entertainment.

innocents in paris (1953)

"You don't speak conversational French. What is the point of it!"
Six different people, with different reasons for being in Paris, catch the plane from London for a weekend. All find their visit changes them in some way.
The cream of British actors pack out this charming little film including Alastair Sim, Ronald Shiner, Claire Bloom and Margaret Rutherford, which is as much an ode to Paris as a comedy. Entertaining, though by no means a classic.