the damned united (2009)

"Well, I might as well tell you now. You lot may all be internationals and have won all the domestic honours there are to win under Don Revie. But as far as I'm concerned, the first thing you can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest fucking dustbin you can find, because you've never won any of them fairly. You've done it all by bloody cheating."
The story of the stupidest appointment in football management ever. Leeds United were at the top of their game, when manager Don Revie (Colm Meaney) is offered and takes the England post. Cue the board having a brain embolism and appointing the one man who hates everything that Leeds has done, Brian Clough (Michael Sheen). Cloughie sets out to mold the players and club into a side he would be proud to manage, using the worst man management the world will ever see. 44 days later he was looking for another job.
A fictional account of a real event. This updates the dark and brooding book, into something more akin to a comedy, whilst never loosing sight of the drama that is central to the story.

juno (2007)

"I've taken like three pregnancy tests, and I'm forshizz up the spout."
Juno (Ellen Page) is a wise-cracking teenager, who sleeps with a friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), with the inevitable result of getting pregnant. Once over the shock, she decides to have the child and give it up for adoption to a couple she finds and vets. Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman), are desperate to adopt and everything is going swimmingly until Juno learns that Mark is planning to leave Vanessa.
Articulate, sensitive and funny. But once over the initial delight one starts to realise that this hip liberal view of middle class middle America glosses over so much. Still it worked at the time.

event horizon (1997)

"The ship brought me back. I told you she won't let me leave - she won't let anyone leave."
2047, seven years after the launch of the Event Horizon, a spacecraft that was meant to achieve faster-than-light travel. Unfortunately it has now reappeared lifeless, on the outer edges of our solar system and a team lead by Dr. Weir (Sam Neil) and Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) are sent to recover it and discover what happened.
Interesting if not engaging sci-fi horror that ticks along with a soundtrack by Orbital.

control (2007)

"Side effects include: drowsiness, apathy, and blurred vision... I'm taking two."
Biography of Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) the singer of Joy Division, who brought new levels of greyness to music in the post-punk '70's, but unfortunately committed suicide before their first tour of America, and thus created a legend and a myth that still hangs over Manchester to this day.
Corbijn brings his own distinctive style to bear on the story of Ian Curtis, brooding and moody.

what have they done to your daughters? (1974)

AKA Coed Murders. La polizia chiede aiuto.
"Well that's two dead now. Always assuming that this is not chicken blood."
When the Police investigate an apparent schoolgirl suicide they start to uncover a teenage prostitution racket with high powered connections and a crash helmeted serial killer.
An effective and suspenseful thriller, enlivened with a wonderful soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani.

mystery train (1989)

"Hey, everybody! Check your guns at the bar!"
Three intertwined stories set in Memphis, centered on the seedy Arcade hotel in a bad part of town. First we meet a young Japanese couple desperate to see Graceland, and the Sun Studios. Then we watch Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi) as she tries to kill time before her flight out of town. Lastly we have Johhny, Will Robinson and Charlie the Barber (Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles and Steve Buscemi). A trio that end up at the hotel after botching a liquer store hold up.
Jarmusch's interesting work brings together three disperate tales and intertwines the atmosphere of the city into the fabric of the stories.