1960s; young scouser Jude crosses the Atlantic and meets upper class Lucy in this musical tale of two star-crossed lovers set against the raging waters of the volatile 60s counterculture movement; race riots, Vietnam, civil rights, protest, music, drugs, dance, art, hippies and psychedelia. Over 30 Beatles songs are woven into the plot together with visual allusions to their films and, with cameos from Bono and Eddie Izzard, this weird, loud and colourful montage will either have you breaking ou find out more...

Immaculate costumes, a brilliant script and two star-crossed lovers in a battle of wits in this tale of the unconsummated romance between Thailand's reformist King Mongkut (Rama 4) and Anna Leonowens, his son's English tutor. All this set a backdrop of court intrigue against the still running Rama dynasty. Very good. find out more...

Set during the cultural revolution in China we follow two urbane young men after they are dismissed to a remote, but beautiful, mountainous corner of the country to re-learn the basic tenets of Chairman Mao's communist ideology. At first depressed by their predicament, the two lads soon perk up when they come across a hidden selection of western literature, a find they eagerly share with the curious and beguiling local seamstress. They also survive by telling stories, making music and pulling te find out more...

George is a Glaswegian bus-driver, free spirited and pissed off with his job, Carla is an emotionally scarred, impoverished refugee and 2/3rds of this film is an uplifting tale of their romance. The last 1/3rd, in Nicaragua, is where they find their destinies. This is also a savage indictment of US policy. find out more...

David Lean's epic romance set against the turbulant backdrop of the Russian revolution. One man's struggle for moral political and personal survival amidst the complex web of intrigue and tangled loyalties that accompanied the fall of the Tsar.

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A mournful elegy by a 38-year-old bourgeois playboy, writer and liberal who remained in Cuba after Castro's successful revolution while his family, friends and wife all fled for greener pastures in the US. In fragmented narration we learn of his love life, his failure to cling on to what he had, his inability to identify with the revolution's achievements and his quick appreciation of its downsides; 'You are not a counter-revolutionary, you are not a revolutionary, you are nada'. find out more...

An intelligent, thoughtful, highly engaging biopic of Harvey Milk, the San Francisco based idealist, who became the first openly gay activist to run for political office in the US. Before his assassination Milk was a leading cog in the battle for civil rights for the gay community, as in the 1978 fight against Proposition 6, which could have banned gay and lesbian individuals from teaching in schools. The story may have been a terriby tragedy, but the tone of the movie is upbeat and vibrant, Gus find out more...

This ambitious and addictive BBC drama, tracing thirty years in the lives of four working class friends from Newcastle starting in 1964, is at least as good as any of the current much lauded series emanating from the US. Mary's mistake, Nicky's idealism, Geordie's escape to London and Tosker's ambition are played out against a backdrop of social change, police corruption and swinging times. find out more...

A wonderful tale of a girl's passage from childhood to adulthood, a time that coincided with the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and his replacement by the tyranny of a fundamentalist theocracy. find out more...

State of Play is a classic conspiracy thriller that promotes the belief that New Labour has betrayed the longing for a new ethical politics, replacing the sleaze scandals of the Major years with more of the same. The script, the dialogue and the acting are all top drawer in this gripping, pacey, multi-layered tale of ambitious and talented young men tragically failing. find out more...