20th Century Flicks, Bristol

The Interrupters, all former gang members, bring 500 years of prison time to the table. As members of the experimental anti-violence programme CeaseFire, they aim to intervene in conflicts before they explode into violence. At their heart is Ameena Matthews, an ex-gang enforcer and daughter of a notorious gang leader who launches herself into the middle of erupting conflicts, using her rhetorical gifts to cool the h find out more...

44 INCH CHEST (2009)

Certification18 Our Rating

A rather nasty, foul mouthed and violent abduction drama about a bunch of stereotypical London thugs/gangsters kidnapping and torturing a young French waiter who's been shagging a mate's missus... and all pretentiously played out with theatrical Pinteresque pauses - yuk. find out more...

A BETTER TOMORROW (1994)

Certification18 Our Rating

John Woo's first film has all the hallmarks of his later brand of violent, choreographed gunplay. A revenge actioner with Chow Yun Fat as Mark, who teams up with his imprisoned friend's brother, a cop, to defeat his previous bosses, the notorious yakuza crimelords. Action packed. find out more...

A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005)

Certification18 Our Rating

Coining the new term 'action noir' in Korea, director Kim Ji-woon follows up his extraordinary features A Quiet Family and A Tale Of Two Sisters with this blackly comic thriller. Lee Byeong-heon stars as sartorially elegant Sun-woo, a unique character with a curious lifestyle - he's not only the proprietor of a hotel bar but also the right-hand man to the powerful gang leader, Mr Kang. When Kang suspects that his beautiful young mistress Hee-soo might be messing around with another man, he enlis find out more...

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)

Certification18 Our Rating

In the small backwater town of Millbrook, Tom Stall lives an uneventful but contented life. A loving father, husband and the owner of a small but bustling cafe' he's a pillar of his little community. When two sadistic robbers threaten Tom his staff and his customers, one fateful night, he reacts without mercy. Hailed as a hero, Tom is uncomfortable with his new status and when strangers arrive from the city it becomes increasingly obvious why, it would seem Tom has a past and oh boy it ain't a p find out more...

A PROPHET (2009)

Certification18 Our Rating

Malik is the anti-hero of this somewhat mystical mini-epic of a movie. Just turned adult, illiterate, lacking a clear-cut ethnic identity, he finds himself doing 6 years in a prison run on the inside by a violent Corsican gang with the connivance of corrupt staff. With the guidance of the ghost of a now dead inmate Malik learns not just to read and write but to deal with the power politics of gangsterhood and it is his success at the latter that allows him to emerge from prison... There is a s find out more...

A SENSE OF FREEDOM (1979)

Certification18 Our Rating

Jimmy Boyle was a young Glaswegian hard man born into, and fully embracing, a life of crime. When Jimmy was imprisoned for murder his first reaction was rage, but while incarcerated he experienced an epiphany and embarked on a journey as far removed from his earlier infamy as it was possible to get. Based on Jimmy Boyle's own life �A Sense Of Freedom' is a powerful, often brutal, tale of redemption. find out more...

AGITATOR (2004)

Certification18 Our Rating

An epic tale of violence from cult director Takashi Miike follows the bloody spiral of three Yakuza gangs as they position for dominance. The careful machinations of the bosses are thrown off course by the vengeful path embarked upon by one unhinged but fiercely loyal lieutenant when his guvner is killed in the escalating gunplay. Brutal, stylish and at times darkly comic The Agitator is one of Miike's most episodic tales, despite its relatively short time scale. find out more...

ALPHA DOG (2005)

Certification15 Our Rating

With the swimming pools, drugs, girls and parties come a bunch of spoilt young brats who seem to take their cues from 'American History X' and black inner city gangster movies. They tattoo themselves, build their bodies, call their girls bitches, sell drugs, fight and use guns. Violence, drugs, language, this movie has them in bucketloads, even sex raises its head. Plotwise; headcase Jake owes lots of drug money to drug lord's son John and John kidnaps Jake's younger brother as a hostage. Kid br find out more...

AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007)

Certification15 Our Rating

1970s; Harlem hood Frank Lucas has hijacked the New York heroin business by dealing directly with the Chinese growers in SE Asia and importing large amounts of the drug inside the caskets of soldiers killed in Vietnam. However his nemesis, flamboyant, tenacious and unbribable narcotics cop Richie Roberts, is on his tail and is determined to bring him down. find out more...