Suberb performances both from the leads and the assembled extras on yet another Altman masterpiece. Here he subverts the excepted modes of the Western genre with Beatty as the non-heroic McCabe and Christie as third-rate Madam. Life in the West probably was like this, but never is in the films. find out more...

Tom, a middle class Princeton student and ardent socialist, despises the glamorous social whirl enjoyed by some of his upper class Manhattan peers. But when he's befriended by the cynic Nick, the philosophical Charlie, party girl Sally and Austenite Audrey, who meet almost every night to talk about social mobility, play bridge and philosophise, he reluctantly becomes intrigued by and involved with their decadent lives. And he finds a soul mate in Audrey, who without his knowledge falls in love w find out more...

David Thewlis delivers an incredible performance as the clever and sarcastic Johnny. On the run from reality he turns up at his old girlfriend's house in London, where he proceeds to cause havoc. An inspired mix of script and improvisation with masterful direction, Leigh has taken a dark and inward look at life on Britain's bottom rung. Superb. find out more...

Ray Winstone makes a mesmerising anti-hero in Gary Oldman's grim portrait of routine domestic violence in working-class Britain. Set in the grim surroundings of a South London tower block, Kathy Burke is heartbreakingly brilliant as the abused and battered wife of Winstone's volatile middle-aged loser. Hard-going but well worth it. find out more...

A visually brilliant film about teenage gangs in America's urban wasteland. The leader of a small dying gang, Rusty James, lives in the shadow of the memory of his absent, older brother - The Motorcycle Boy. His mother has left, his father drinks, school has no meaning for him and his relationships are shallow. One of Coppola's two adaptations of S E Hinton novels, 'The Outsiders' being the other. A great performance from Dillon and an awesome soundtrack. find out more...

Miles is a 30-something failed writer: embittered, frustrated and emotionally impotent. His one love is wine and though his fondness long ago crossed into alcoholism he is nonetheless a genuine connoisseur. Mile's best friend, Jack, is a hormonal teenager disguised as a man approaching middle age. Together this mismatched pair set off on a road trip through the vineyards of California, a last shout before Jack's financially advantageous marriage. Two unlikable, stunted characters and a lot of a find out more...

Sweeping romantic drama of epic proportions. Fiennes's WWII pilot lays badly burned and in the care of an army nurse. As the unnamed, stiff-upper-lipped "English Patient" begins to recover, memories emerge of a past life as an archaeologist/cartographer in the Sahara, and a passionate affair with a married woman, Katharine. Though Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel simplifies, jettisons and changes certain elements of the original story, it remains a rich, complex, entran find out more...

Steve Buscemi ("Reservoir Dogs", "Fargo") makes his directorial debut, casting himself as the kind of scrounging, shitespouting sleazeball everyone avoids down the pub. A terminal loser, his future looks even worse when he inherits an ice-cream van and a teenage Lolita offers her assistance. Brilliant. find out more...

Ex-child star Jane is a has-been losing her looks, who lives in a decaying Hollywood mansion with her younger sister, who had previously surplanted her as a movie star. An absolutely brilliant study of sibling rivalry, shattered dreams and power dynamics within relationships. Davis and Crawford at their best in this adaptation of a classic Henry Farrell novel. find out more...

Burton and Taylor in a screen version of the kind of love-hate relationship which they were famous for in private, a kind of on-screen therapy. Taylor gives what is probably her finest performance as the blowsy harridan Martha, while Burton is not quite so hammy as usual as her angst-ridden college professor husband. The verbal fireworks that occur when they invite a young couple to dinner are surprisingly convincing. A must see classic. find out more...