Jonah Hill directs Sunny Suljic, Olan Prenatt and Na-kel Smith in this teen drama about an awkward kid becoming accepted by a group of skaters.

Yeah, this got me. Not the funniest, nor most intellectual teen movie made yet it hits a seam of truth beautifully and works that seam gloriously for its easy to digest running time. Hill captures all the doubt, hurt and conflict of trying to fit in with kids who don’t know who they are when you definitely don’t know who you are. These kids are united by skating… the drinking and the hanging out are what convince though. Hill gives us the tribal joy of rolling down a street lane together, the pain of realising how difficult it is for kids to articulate jealousy and loneliness. We get glimpses of alcoholism, self harm and poverty… not in an afterschool special finger wagging way… just to add to the reality. There’s a melancholy that overrides the nostalgia, a foul mouthed inarticulacy that smothers any scripted wit. It is film that will make you laugh out loud, wish you were there, wish you weren’t. It might well be the Dazed and Confused for this generation. It might well be almost as fine a piece of filmmaking as that genre pinnacle.

9

Vincenzo Natali directs Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint and David Hewlett in this sci-fi puzzler where a group of strangers wake up in a geometric cell maze full of booby traps.

Proof that great sci-fi cinema can make its limitations its core strength. Natali recycles the same set over and over, making it seem like an endless existential curse. Our leads have to decide which of six hatches to climb through next… is the next room safe? Does it lead anywhere? Do any of them lead anywhere? The cube design is rich… industrial yet functional. The screech and clanks of the hatches plus the iconic glowing wall panels all add to the oppression yet also embellish a rich fantasy setting. Sure the cast are basic, but they get across the escalating tensions and theories of exposition adequately enough. It makes for a tense, jerkingly gory thriller, one that is enjoyably rewatchable despite its singular set. Neat.

9

Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer direct Jason Clarke, John Lithgow and Sonia Maria Chirila in this remake of the Stephen King tale about a family who moves onto land with the unholy powers of resurrection.

A vast improvement on the first godawful stab at adapting this King bestseller. It is creepier, superior in its acting talent and playful in it twisty tweaks especially in the final third. That’s still not to say this update is entirely worthwhile. It is a story whose horrors lie in the imagination of the reader and visualising the revulsion and moral turmoil of its players will never have the same effect as what is left unshown in the book. Many King novels lend themselves to cinema, it is probably time to accept Pet Sematary is just not one of them.

5

Drake Doremus directs Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence in this romance about a couple, clearly in love, separated by immigration laws.

Directed so as to be a collage of “real” understated moments, this oscillates between powerfully affecting and bitty. The cast is winning, though it is hard to have too much sympathy for Yelchin’s Jacob when he pines for Felicity Jones while having Jennifer Lawrence as his emergency back-up. This feels more recognisable on the whole than most Hollywood romances.

6

Billy Wilder directs William Holden, Don Taylor and Otto Preminger in this POW drama where a low level racketeer is suspected of being a snitch to the Germans by his bunk mates.

A very bleak look at POW life, slightly camouflaged by the witty dialogue and some daft broad comedy moments. It doesn’t entirely shake loose of its stagey source material as a feature film. William Holden’s Oscar winning lead turn is exemplary though.

7

Abel Ferrara directs Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo and Paul Calderón in this week in the life of an irredeemable cop who takes and deals coke, is getting deeper in the hole with his bookies and has to solve the rape of a nun… a case that mirrors his own drug and faith fuelled perversion.

What starts out as transgressive and visceral, quickly becomes very one-note. Harvey does some drugs. Harvey gets nude. Harvey wanks at two girls he pulls over. This was a bête noire on release, a cult film accessible just when I was getting into less mainstream cinema. I was unimpressed by it at 13 and see little value in it at 39.

5

Rob Bowman directs Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey and Izabella Scorupco in this apocalyptic fantasy movie where dragons have driven modern humanity to the brink of existence.

London has become a dragon’s nest. US military skydivers think they have a way of killing them. Christian Bale just wants to keep his orphanage of very clean children out of the firing line. A film that was always going to be a better poster and trailer. The production design owes a lot to Alien3; sackcloth and industrial gothic. Hell, the score even steals the starbeast’s brass section’s urgent wail. And if it just stuck to physical looks then it would be an adequate actioner. The dragon effects are ropey though. McConaughey chews some scenery for the longueurs when the wispy polygon threat toddles off away from the narrative. And then it never really gets going. The finale feels particularly limited and truncated. Probably best you just imagine where this concept could go in your head for 90 minutes rather than sit through this passable grim fudge.

5

Frank Capra directs Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Lionel Stander in this tale of a small town eccentric who inherits a fortune and has to move to the city.

The thing about Capra is he goes dark really quick. For the first hour this a daft comedy, where much of the humour comes from straight talking everyman Cooper outwitting various wiseguys and corporate sharps. Then we get into the ‘socialism would help people’ message (admirable) and the courtroom drama to destroy our quirky, affable hero. Like It’s A Wonderful Life or Mr Smith Goes to Washington the lows our protagonist are pulled down to feel almost distastefully manipulative. Capra really tries to break his heroes, torture them with the very idea of themselves, before offering them or us any kind of quick redemption. I’m not sure Passion of the decent man holds up as entertainment these days quite so well.

7

Peter Weir directs Mel Gibson, Mark Lee and Bill Kerr in this Australian war drama where two young lads who meet at a running contest sign up for The Great War only to find themselves in a wasteful desert assault.

A very beautiful film. One that captures outback way of life as well as it does the fish out of water tragedy as the boys arrive in North Africa. There’s a sense of adventure and camaraderie to even the darkest moments. Weir adds spirit and humour to all the running and diving whether it be trench warfare or larrikin athletics meets. He’s helped by some gorgeous location widescreen photography by Russel Boyd and anachronistic use of music. Jean Michel-Jarre’s electronic Oxygen somehow adds to the mythical atmosphere. A young Mel Gibson puts in a fine bit of lead acting; laddishly restless in the early sequence, desperate by the end. The big inevitable finale is heart breaking. A masterpiece.

10

Cecil B DeMille directs Charlton Heston, James Stewart and Betty Hutton in this ensemble drama set around Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Not Academy Award for Best Picture worthy but still a perfectly serviceable afternoon killer. You get elephant parades and high wire stunts. Love hexagons and train crashes. Genuinely priceless documentary footage of the big top being raised and crowds being worked. A dozen big name cameos and James Stewart as a lovelorn clown with a dark secret who never removes his make-up. Forget all that though… as Gloria Grahame’s eighth billed elephant girl sets fire to the screen every time she appears. It makes you wonder why all the soapy back stabbing and powerplays aren’t over her?

6

My Top 10 James Stewart Movie

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1963)

2. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

3. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

4. Rear Window (1954)

5. Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

6. Winchester ‘73 (1950)

7. Rope (1948)

8. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

9. Vertigo (1958)

10. The Glenn Miller Story (1954)