Saint Jack (1979 Peter Bogdanovich)

The indescribable Ben Gazzara plays a sort of Casablanca's Rick in Singapore, though in this version - as friend Denholm Elliott comments - he's a 'ponce'. He's lovely to him and everyone else e.g. to old lady 'don't stay up with your Mah Jong too late', but gets mixed up with gangsters who don't like him opening his own 'house'.

Peter and Ben did a lot of 'research' with the local girls, who end up in the film (giving some of them enough money to go home), and rewrote the script - the ending, in which Ben is supposed to deliver to Peter a speech about why he doesn't go through with the blackmail scheme, was reduced to 'fuck it', and is all the more successful - an interesting writers' note. Based on Paul Theroux novel.

Shot with grainy realism by Robby Müller.

Daisy Miller (1974 Peter Bogdanovich)

The film that turned the tide against PB is a comedy of manners which becomes a tragedy, not just in itself but because star Barry Brown was only a few years away from suicide.

Cybill Shepherd is excellent - long takes are noteworthy - as chattering flirt who meets Brown in Vevey, and lures him to Rome. Mildred Natwick is his no-nonsense mother, Cloris Leachman is her's, with Eileen Brennan as a spiteful friend.

In the introduction to the film PB describes how he had set up the funeral scene, then couldn't film it.

Verna Fields cut it, Alberto Spagnoli shot it, and Frederic Raphael has adapted the Henry James novel.

The Ipcress File (1965 Sidney J Furie)

Because I wanted to see the young Michael Caine (who's excellent) combined with his mate John Barry (a terrific, haunting theme, but a slightly disappointing score).

It's as though Furie has made the film with the strategy of trying to obscure the action with as many things as possible - in one hilariously OTT scene, he shoots over the shoulders which are the main part of the frame. Also a plethora of very low angles. It's all very amusing now, though Otto Heller's photography is outstanding, particularly in shots that really use the full width of the Panavision ratio, as evidenced here:

"Peekaboo!"

With Gordon Jackson, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Martin Scorsese)

Very well written, satirical screen play by Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire ), based on Jordan Belfort's book, contributes to one of Scorsese's funniest films (especially in protracted quaalude scene - 'luckily I managed to get the car home without a scratch' had us laughing all weekend). Leo is absolutely sensational in title role (should have won the Oscar over McConaughey), Jonah Hill ain't half bad either (he was also Oscar nominated).  Margot Robie does a creditable New Yorker, Rob Reiner in good support as the Wolf's father (it's a shame the scene in which he becomes extremely annoyed because someone has phoned up, then unaccountably speaks in a British accent, isn't repeated throughout the film). With Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler (FBI), Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumley (excellent; our secret weapon), P.J. Byrne, Kenneth Choi, Brian Sacca, Henry Zebrowski.

My fear was that the three hour running time signified Scorsese's usual excessive indulgence, and that the inevitable story would be rise to success / fall to nothing like Boogie Nights - but no, it fair zips along and keeps the inexorable (dealt with briskly) towards the last 25 minutes.

Thelma is cutting quite loosely - she's not bothered about invisible editing, only catching the right bits of performances and making it move.

I don't think Robert Richardson's retired (he's only 59) but Rodrigo Prieto shot it in Panavision. Usual good music choices and constantly moving camera.

The Cat's Meow (2001 Peter Bogdanovich)

PB was not involved in the script or production - for me it somehow fails to ignite. Good lead performances - Eddie Izzard as Chaplin, Joanna Lumley a writer, Edward Herrmann as WR Hearst and Kirsten Dunst his mistress - and intriguing story set aboard WR's yacht in 1924.

Features the rich photography you'd expect from Bruno Delbonnel. And an incredibly good and long dissolve - from a coffin to the yacht.

Sabrina (1954 Billy Wilder)

Charles Lang lights from the inside out.

I think of Marcel Hillaire every time I crack an egg. And, do you know what? He's right. It is all in the wrist.

Absolutely peerless screenplay full of endlessly quotable lines.

A true classic. A gem of a film. Or, as I observed in January 2009, 'This Fabergé egg of a film'.

Some Came Running (1958 Vincente Minnelli)

Filled with "one-ers" (long takes without cuts), giving actors the chance to breathe - Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine in particular stand out, Martin has less to do. One of a series of fifties mainstream Hollywood pictures which subvert the Golden Age's view of perfect small town Americana. Here everything's rotten: Sinatra's desperate alcoholic failed writer, Martin's health, Arthur Kennedy's marriage, Martha Hyer's ability to relate .. actually MacLaine as the most pathetic character is the one who most wants to improve herself, and dies happy... And Sinatra's relationship with niece Betty Lou Keim is his salvation.

A perniciously sad, long (137 min) film, adapted by John Patrick and Arthur Sheekman from novel by James Jones resulting in a shaded, opaque story. Shot by MGM regular Bill Daniels (in CinemaScope and Metrocolor), giving us a beautifully dark kiss, with moody Elmer Bernstein score. Thoughtful direction with exciting, feverish finale. Staging of characters in final funeral is telling.

Martin sure does pack a lot of booze in his suitcase!

They All Laughed (1981 Peter Bogdanovich)

One of those totally underrated and unknown comedy masterpieces, like Avanti, written by Bogdanovich and co-star Blaine Novak, last reviewed here. It remains very fresh and lovable, like a puppy.

PB claims it was made 'in the camera' in fascinating interview by Wes Anderson, clearly a big fan. In this Bogdanovich says it is his favourite of all his films.

Unforgettable cast: Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn, John Ritter, Patti Hansen (who just lights up her scenes and everyone around her), Dorothy Stratten, Blaine Novak, Linda MacEwen, George Morfogen and Colleen Camp ("I can't cook a thing, but I know where everything is").

The director has made She's Funny That Way, co-written with ex-wife Louise Stratten, which has a great cast: Imogen Poots, Owen Wilson, Cybill Shepherd, Joanna Lumley, Lucy Punch, Rhys Ifans... And one of the executive producers and backers is ... Wes Anderson! Can't wait.

A Little Romance (1979 George Roy Hill)

Can't argue with own review.

The stealing of the cinema front of house photo is I think a Truffaut reference - and therefore it's no surprise that Georges Delerue scored many of his films and Pierre-William Glenn shot a couple of them.

A warm, simple, charming film.

William Reynolds was the editor: The Godfather, The Sting, The Sand Pebbles, The Day the Earth Stood Still etc.

Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007 Zach Helm & scr)

Slight film has Dustin Hoffman as a magical toy store owner, Natalie Portman his assistant (who's struggling to write her first concerto, and actually never gets there), Jason Bateman an accountant and Zach Mills a boy who can't make friends. If you removed all the VFX, it wouldn't be a very long film, and therein lies part of the problem. As I was watching this I was thinking how sublime a children's film is The Railway Children, featuring no special effects. It also ends rather abruptly.

Nicely shot though, by Roman Osin.

Old Dogs (2009 Walt Becker)

Floppy Disney soap in which Robin Williams finds out he has kids, and must look after them; John Travolta is his friend and partner, and one of the kids is really his - Ella Bleu Travolta.

The Double (2013 Richard Ayoade & co-scr)

Inhabits the same dystopian nightmare world as Brazil - and for that reason is initially rather hard to swallow. Kafkaesque story (Dostoyevsky, in fact) has two great performances from Jesse Eisenberg; features Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, Yasmin Paige, Noah Taylor and Craig Roberts (all three in Submarine ), James Fox, Cathy Moriarty, Phyllis Somerville (Little Children ); with fleeting appearances by Chris O'Dowd, Paddy Considine, Sally Hawkins and (most amusingly) Chris Morris.

Very dark; quite funny in places; somewhat puzzling. Extremely stylishly made. Great music by Andrew Hewitt, photography by Erik Wilson  and editing in the noticeable style of Chris Dickens and Nick Fenton (all also from Submarine ). Has a truly bizarre soundtrack featuring ?Chinese pop songs, and a nasty seventies synthesizer in faux TV show moments.

Apparently filmed in a disused bit of Wokingham Business Park. Like Bladerunner, a film that makes you yearn for sunshine. Interesting detail that Adoyade couldn't see if the double Jesse scenes had worked until they'd come back from compositing.

Script originator Avi Korine based it on his own feelings of invisibility in New York. "I am a ghost."

Midnight in Paris

I cannot stay away from this film - well it was almost a year ago.

Woody's always loved magic (Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Shadows and Fog, Stardust Memories ).

What's Up Doc? (1972 Peter Bogdanovich)

Bogdanovich pulls off a thirties screwball comedy - no mean feat (not as easy as it looks).

Ryan O'Neal and Barbara Streisand essentially are Grant and Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. This film though may be funnier than the old ones, incorporating as many silent gags as mad moments of dialogue. In particular, the car chase with ladder and plate glass is inspired. And "Use your charm" one of the crooks is told, to distract the old improbably-dressed lady - so he kicks her in the shin!

With Austin Pendleton, Madeline Kahn, Michael Murphy.

Written by Buck Henry (The Graduate, Catch 22 ), David Newman and Robert Benton (both Bonnie and Clyde ), shot by Laszlo Kovacs, edited by Verna Fields. Has a proper credits sequence with shots of actors identified by name. Also terrific stunt work (Barbara hanging outside of hotel; crash into the bay).

World's Greatest Dad (2009 Bobcat Goldthwait & scr)

Different. Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara (the horrible teenager), Naomi Glick (Ginger), Henry Simmons (teacher), Alexie Gilmore (girlfriend), Evan Martin (the friend), Lorraine Nicholson (goth).

Skyfall (2012 Sam Mendes)

What I said last time, only the Shanghai scenes really are fabulously shot!

Plenty of good writing but yes, too long (143 minutes). Refreshingly eschews sex altogether; concentrates instead on loyalty between Bond and M.

Really great idea to bring in Mendes and his team, resulting in a rather different (and better) Bond film. Mendes' Bond 24 is apparently in rewrites.

Also features the best credit scene ever, by Daniel Kleinman, and the best song in ages.

Editing credit is shared with Kate Baird, presumably related to Stuart in some way.

The Devil's Knot (2013 Atom Egoyan)

Odd sort of romcom if you ask me. Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon barely share any screen time, she doesn't seem to like him for most of the film, and they don't get together in the end. Plus, the sub-plot about who murdered three boys seems like a bit of a downbeat story.

I found the film pale, dull and badly conceived.

Mrs Doubtfire (1993 Chris Columbus)

"I could have sworn this was directed by Sydney Pollack" I mused. "And where's the TV show she's in?" I was, of course, thinking Tootsie. This is the other one, in which Sally Fields behaves most unreasonably (for no good reason), requiring Robin Williams to dress as the eponymous lady, cueing several laboured gags.

Pamela Westmore, who makes up Sally Field here and Sandra Bullock in everything, is of course one of the Westmore dynasty (granddaughter of Wally).

I could have sworn Mrs Doubtfire's first name is Euvaginia.

Howard Shore's music is a bit yucky.

The Honorable Woman (2014 Hugo Blick)

Hugo Blick's follow-up to his sensational The Shadow Line is this equally sensational, timely and incisive look at the Israel-Palestine situation, viewed through the eyes of orphan Jewish business owners Maggie Gyllenhaal and Andrew Buchan, over eight hours.

Gyllenhaal is magnetic: her usually stoical face keeps you guessing whether it will suddenly start laughing, or crying, or even remaining stoical.

With great sound design (the sort you rarely find anywhere), an exciting way of cross-cutting between scenes, dark photography of the politico-noir school of the seventies (think The Parallex View ) and brilliant details, such as the chess piece that lands perfectly upright.

Blick's revitalisation of Stephen Rea is put to good use again. Great strong female characters abound, in particular Lubna Azabal as Gylenhaal's Palestinian friend, Janet McTeer as the expedient boss of MI6, Eve Best an FBI agent, Katherine Parkinson and Linday Duncan. Igal Naor is the suspicious long-term family friend, Tobias Menzies the faithful bodyguard, Nicholas Woodeson the Jewish intelligence guy who plays chess with Rea, and John Mackay the great private investigator.

Shot by Zac Nicholson and George Steel, edited by Jason Krasucki (Parade's End, The Shadow Line, Glorious 39, Generation Kill ), music by Martin Phipps.

Morocco must be getting a lot of location work these days.

The Love Punch (2013 Joel Hopkins & scr)

From the writer of Last Chance Harvey, though this is more like a Day-Hudson movie made by late period Blake Edwards: though lacking both style and wit it is enjoyable if the brain is in neutral. Over-directed and over-edited film breaks up the performances, and widescreen really doesn't help either.

Pierce Brosnan and ex Emma Thompson journey to Cap d'Antibes to steal a diamond from Louise Bourgoin who's about to be married in it; friends Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie are enlisted to help.

At one point Celia Imrie says 'motherfuckers' but it's over-dubbed as 'melon farmers' - presumably to get the film its 12 certificate.

The Shopworn Angel (1938 H.C. Potter)

Jimmy Stewart's mom made the best apple pie in the world; after she died, no one else's was good enough. Will good time girl / performer Margaret Sullavan fall for this? It's not as clear-cut as you might expect, and nor is involvement of sugar daddy Walter Pidgeon, in lead-up to WW1 posting (1917), triggered by a fabulous, feverish montage sequence by Slavo Vorkapich in which newspapers become waves.

Dana Burnet's story "Private Pettigrew's Girl" was filmed before in 1928, with Gary Cooper. Here it's adapted by Waldo Salt. Now we're over at MGM, we're in the confident hands of Joseph Ruttenberg (who won his first Oscar that year for The Great Waltz ), and recognise Sam Levene and Nat Pendleton from Thin Man films; also with Hattie McDaniel (the year before her monumental triumph in GWTW ), who's allowed to be in fairly sassy mood:

Sullavan: "Answer the phone!"
Hattie: "I did, but it jus' keeps ringin'."

Two Weeks Notice (2002 Marc Lawrence & scr)

Post 9/11 New York comedy is quite fun, with Grant somewhat unbeliveably playing a powerful business magnate who hires activist lawyer Sandra Bullock. Lawrence hasn't done a lot. Childs Restaurant Building was made NY Landmark in 2003.

Bringing out the Dead (1999 Martin Scorsese)

Requiring more of Thelma Schoonmaker we return to Marty's mean streets of New York, in the hands of Paul Schrader, from a novel by Joe Connelly based on his own ten years' experience as a paramedic. In febrile, frankly astonishing film we repeatedly had to stop and rewind scenes edited at all manner of arbitrary film speeds, dazzlingly shot by Robert Richardson in Panavision. 'Dream' (drug) sequence is amazing and makes me think of Michael Powell (Hoffman and The Red Shoes ).

Nicolas Cage is magnetic as the burned out driver, supported by John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore and finding some salvation with Patricia Arquette. Could have been overwhelmingly bleak without flashes of black humour e.g. accusing coma patient.

The Age of Innocence (1993 Martin Scorsese)

Marty shows us his New York of the 1870s. Not really known for being an emotional director, he certainly conveys the hypocrisy and insidious sadness of Edith Wharton's story, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 (adapted by the director and Jay Cocks). Daniel Day Lewis (excellent) is to marry Winona Ryder, but falls for (literally) scarlet woman Michelle Pfeiffer. With Miriam Margolyes, Richard E Grant, Alec McCowen (Travels with My Aunt, Frenzy), Geraldine Chaplin, Norman Lloyd (Saboteur).

Marty sets up many intricate shots and details, giving Thelma Schoonmaker the material to develop sequences made up of elegant dissolves, matching the mood of the piece. Shot by Michael Ballhaus (with son Florian assisting) with a handsome score by Elmer Bernstein, film is a great success.

Features probably the only fade to yellow in film history.

Doc Hollywood (1991 Michael Caton-Jones)

Based on book "What.. Dead Again?" by Neil Shulman, adapted by Laurian Leggett, written by Jeffrey Price, Peter Seaman and Daniel Pyne - with that many writers it should be passably entertaining, and it is more than that.

Michael J Fox is the titular medic who falls for Julie Warner (I know, who?) whose dramatic naked opening appearance and lines are laughably missing from ITV's version. Town characters include David Ogden Stiers, Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda (good; she seems to have retired, unfortunately), Frances Sternhagen, Roberts Blossom (judge), Barnard Hughes and Eyde Byrde as the nurse.

Amusement with car repairs, pig etc. And why not?

Calvary (2014 John Michael McDonagh)

Certainly hooks you in right from the off. Sinewy, brilliantly written and performed film addresses all sorts of issues and in Brendan Gleason portrays the antithesis of the corrupt, child-abusing Irish Catholic priest - a type who we are reminded does actually exist (and from that point of view, it's quite refreshing). Has the same terrific sense of humour as The Guard but is considerably darker, deceptive, in fact, in the same way as Giu La Testa. One or two minor niggles over the editing (particularly in climactic scene) and feel it may have been over-directed (in church hall scene there are two too many shots) but these don't really detract from film's corrosive power and intelligence, which left me really moved.

With Kelly Reilly, Chris O'Dowd, Aiden Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach de Bankolé, M Emmet Walsh.

Shot by Larry Smith and cut by Chris Gill.

Leatherheads (2008 George Clooney)

Bloody good stab at Golden Age comedy-romance with Clooney pitted against Renée Zellweger and super footballer John Krasinski. Well put together, good, enjoyable script by Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, beautifully shot (in a tinted pallette) by Newton Thomas Sigel and well cut by Stephen Mirrione again (whose assemblage in Clooney-Zellweger nightclub scene is a lucious series of dissolves). Clooney puts it all together with bounce and isn't afraid to show himself looking stupid. Composer Randy Newman and producer Grant Heslov appear in bit parts.

Peter Gerety stands out as the commissioner brought in to professionalise football in 1925, an interesting bit of history we're not familiar with, like that of The Monuments Men (and, come to think of it, Good Night and Good Luck ). Leading me to deduce that Clooney - as well as his other outstanding talents - is a covert history teacher.

The Big White (2005 Mark Mylod)

Premise of film - that cash strapped Robin Williams passes off body he's found in the garbage as his dead brother, to collect the insurance - is of course daft, but Collin Freisen's screenplay has interesting stuff going on, with Williams' sweet relationship with kooky Holly Hunter, insurance investigator Giovanni Ribisi and phone psychic girlfriend Alison Lohman, friendly kidnappers Tim Blake Nelson and W Earl Brown, and finally, the long-missing violent and unpleasant brother Woody Harrelson.

James Glennon (Alexander Payne's Election and About Schmidt ) catches the Alaskan scenery well; Julie Monroe (Mud ) cut it.

The World According to Garp (1982 George Roy Hill)

It's not even been a year since we last watched this quixotic flamenco of a film.

I had never realised that the old gentleman who so memorably says "I will not have the word sperm spoken in this house!" is none other than Hume Cronyn.

To Have and Have Not (1944 Howard Hawks)

In tribute to Lauren Bacall, who has died aged 89, her debut is the film which brought Bogie and her together, aged 19, and it's a blast. Written by Jules Furthman and novelist William Faulkner (the source for Sirk's The Tarnished Angels) loosely based on Hemingway's novel, features some really crackling dialogue such as Bogie's Steve saying "I need to loosen her clothes" to which Slim comes back "You're doing all right with her so far", and other similar exchanges

I love the moment where Steve confronts the man who is going to skip town without paying him: it looks like he's about to hit him but at the crucial moment, Slim lights his cigarette for him - so smooth. Also the way that people constantly interrupt each other, especially Slim (actually Hawks' wife's nickname) interrupting Steve, and the way they are always throwing things at each other and perfectly catching them.

Walter Brennan ("Now I'll have the two of you to take care of") great fun as Steve's alky co-sailor (why these two are together is never explained), Hoagy Carmichael also boasts great empathy with Bacall, Dolores Moran is the knockout other woman.

Of Bacall's famous wiggle at the end (which we had to watch three times) "I did it spontaneously when we were rehearsing. Hawks liked it and wanted me to do it." (Mark Cousins, Scene by Scene 2002.)

Shot by Sid Hickox with moody lighting, the uncredited music is by Franz Waxman, future director Christian Nyby edited.

Good Will Hunting (1997 Gus Van Sant)

In memory of Robin Williams, who committed suicide at the weekend, and who we will now always see had sad eyes behind the humour.

"It's not your fault."
"For 10 seconds I have the best part of the day."
Minnie Driver's Irish joke.
"I live with my three brothers."
"The bad stuff reminds you of the good things you were too busy to notice."

Van Sant directs much of the time in close-up, thereby robbing himself of the effect that shot size can bring, but it seems to work to me, and provides intense scenes. Editor Pietro Scalia knows when not to cut great moments of acting, thereby contributing to Williams' Oscar. Considering Matt Damon and Ben Affleck apparently wrote the screenplay in order to get some acting work, they must have been rather pleased that it won. Other nominations were for Driver (a very natural performance, as always, her giggles always sound so real but then she'll make you cry), the always watchable Van Sant, film, Damon, Scalia, song (Miss Misery) and music (Danny Elfman). Titles by the legendary Pablo Ferro and shot by Jean-Yves Escoffier.

There's a fight scene edited at varying speeds - I'm sure there's a 'slow mo' shot in there that is just people pretending to move slowly. That might appear to be a stupid thing to say, until you remember those 'freeze frames' in My Own Private Idaho which are the actors standing still. Scalia, a Sicilian, won Oscars for JFK (with Joe Hutshing) and Black Hawk Down, also nominated for Gladiator.

The Awful Truth (1937 Leo McCarey)

According to Peter Bogdanovich (in Who the Hell's in it?), the film that introduced the screwball version of Cary Grant that is so familiar, as he tries to divorce Irene Dunne.

Film features the then highest paid animal actor in Hollywood, Asta (actually 'Skippy'), and Ralph Bellamy who then aged 33 had already appeared in dozens of films and would continue to do so until his final performance in Pretty Woman aged 86.

It's pretty funny: written in the screwball style; Grant and Dunne amusing; good stuff with Asta and a bowler hat; cuckoo clock; Grant's dancer friend's dance. McCarey also directed Duck Soup and so it seems similar stylistically. Shot by Joseph Walker for Columbia and written by Viña Delmar, from Arthur Richman play.

Back to Bogdanovich, there's a great story on Hitchcock from McCarey in his directors' book:

I had the idea one day of making a film with him [Hitch] as an actor. I wanted to direct him in a horror film. We spent a lot of time together discussing it, but we never found a moment when we were both free. I wanted him to commit the perfect crime in the film. He was fascinated by the idea...

Pretty Woman (1990 Garry Marshall)

Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Hector Elizondo (his finest hour), Ralph Bellamy. It was quite a shock to see the latter 53 years younger in the following night's The Awful Truth.

Ralph Bellamy's last performance

Hector Elizondo

Not a bad debut for J.F. Lawton - it must have made him somewhat bankable.

Howards End (1992 James Ivory)

For such a quintesentially British film of E.M. Forster's novel, I always forget that Ivory was American, producer Ismail Merchant Indian, and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala... no, not Indian, she was actually born in Germany! And that it was shot 10 minutes up the road at Peppard Common (which is why - Q suddenly conjectures - the Red Lion next door is always so busy).

What a story, marvellously acted by all concerned especially Emma Thompson (winning Oscar), Helena Bonham-Carter, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Samuel West (Any Human Heart) as the unfortunate Leonard Bast (the scenes between him and Nicola Duffett are wonderfully natural). With Adrian Ross Magenty, Jemma Redgrave, James Wilby, Prunella Scales.

It's gorgeously shot by Tony Pierce-Roberts and edited by Andrew Marcus and Oscar-nominated Richard Robbins' score, which is so good at giving the story momentum, is also beautiful.

Fades to black during scenes most unusual.

"The north star goes round and round and you go round and round with it".

And, after the classic line "What lovely houses you have all over the place" you might if laughing too much miss "It was in the wrong part of Shropshire".

The Knack (1965 Richard Lester)

If any further proof was needed that Lester had seen and was inspired by Louis Malle's crazy and influential Zazie dans le Métro (1960), this film is surely it, particularly in its chase scene. It is dazzling, extremely funny (especially in the cutaways of 'normal' British people commenting on unrelated matters, some of which are actually Tony Gibbs cleverly overlaying pre-recorded sound on clips which look like people saying the lines) and actually quite frightening in the critical scene where ingénue Rita Tushingham is submissed by cool ladykiller Ray Brooks, while Michael Crawford and Donal Donnelly stand on helpless.

'Rape' scene is also really funny and the whole thing is fucking brilliantly edited by the genius Tony Gibbs, who uses all the tricks (many lined up by Lester, obviously, e.g. chase moment with multiple doors). Weirdly - or perhaps not so weirdly - there's even foreshadowing of some of the editing effects from Performance, to come later (1969). Q says it's the most fun she's seen in editing. Also loved the white room and the bed that as it's being pushed magically becomes white! (This whole scene led to a Monkees version of the same thing.)

Lots and lots of location London also fun.

Great score by John Barry, seriously good black and white photography from David Watkin, very funny screenplay by Charles Wood, based - believe it or not - on a play, by experimental theatre writer Ann Jellicoe.

Strange that the MGM release is not anamorphic.

Those end credits sure look like acid tabs to me.

Sideways (2004 Alexander Payne)

Payne and Jim Taylor have adapted Rex Pickett's novel. Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church on a sort of California stag wine-tasting holiday before the latter's marriage hook up with Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen.

"If anyone mentions Merlot I'm leaving!" Giamatti running down hill, slugging bottle of wine. The sadness of the alcoholic (moment where he steals from mother). A light at the end of the tunnel.

The usual team: Kent, Papamichael, Tent.

Excellent.

Nebraska (2013 Alexander Payne)

Another calm reflection on families and relationships, Payne's writer this time is Bob Nelson, who had written practically nothing before he won his Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Subtle writing in which we learn bits and pieces about these people's past lives gradually.

Payne is another of those directors who has built a good team round him: thus Phedon Papamichael for the lovely B&W Panavision (arguably, B&W has got as good as it's ever going to get); Kevin Tent one of our slow fade editors; Rolfe Kent's simple, mournful music.

Bill Forte and Bob Odenkirk are the sons, June Squibb as wife, Bruce Dern the dysfunctional father, both also very good. And Stacy Keach as a bastard.

It was when I realised the final shot is a clear homage to Paper Moon that I made the mental leap that the parallels don't end there...

Runaway Bride (1999 Garry Marshall)

Runaway Bride opens with Julia Roberts riding a horse whilst acting. I'm just saying.

Unfairly panned reteaming of Pretty Woman stars and director is very well written (Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott) and produced comedy. Lots of reviewers thought it was rubbish - no idea why. Has a particularly nice way of observing smaller character parts.

With: Joan Cusack, Hector Elizondo, Rita Wilson, Paul Dooley, Christopher Meloni.

On camera - Stuart Dryburgh (Panavision). Editor - Bruce Green.

We notice that Julia has her own bum editor.

Song for Marion (2012 Paul Andrew Williams & scr)

Terence Stamp comes out of himself after Vanessa Redgrave dies, through music, with help of Gemma Arterton. Film is OK.

One Fine Day (1996 Michael Hoffman)

Funny, successful romcom in classic style. Clooney rated script (Terrel Seltzer and Ellen Simon) and director Hoffman in contributing to his first major studio film. That he was a success in it was no surprise to anyone who'd seen E.R.

Michelle Pfeiffer.

A Long Way Down (2014 Pascal Chaumeil)

Wasn't entirely convinced by story's premise on reading Nick Hornby's novel, which has been adapted by Jack Thorne, best known for the two This is England sequels. So, Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul find themselves all on the same roof, planning to commit suicide.

Film is emotional, and fun.

With Sam Neill, Rosamund Pike, Tuppence Middleton.

The Big Wedding (2013 Justin Zackham)

Zackham has adapted French film Ma Frère se Marie by Jean-Stéphane Bron & Karine Sudan.

Not as bad as I was expecting, with good turns from deNiro, Sarandon and Keaton.

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941 Sam Wood)

Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Spring Byington, SZ Sakall, Edmund Gwenn, William Demarest, Rebecca's Florence Bates.

Funny overlooked Golden Age comedy written by Norman Krasna - hilarious scene in police station (with Edward McNamara, also a cop in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Regis Toomey). Great cast. Sam Wood a talented director, e.g. cramming the frame in beach scene (the same trick from his 1935 Night at the Opera), interesting compositions and angles throughout.

Difficult now to be certain, but it appears that the Romanée-Conti 1903 which nobody likes was from "a messed up wine year of unsatisfactory quality by the cold weather. The wines were watery and short also within young years. No wine has survived well from this weak volume today and one therefore hardly finds drinkable copies." (Source: european-fine-wine.com.)

Shot by Harry Stradling.

Not to be confused with The Devil in Miss Jones, which is another matter all together!

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943, released '44, Preston Sturges & scr)

The most remarkable thing about this mad, screwball, censor-defying, racy and hilarious comedy is that it is composed of so many long takes, often with old pro cameraman John Setiz masterfully tracking couple Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton down the town's streets - indeed sometimes the odd cutaway really interrupts the pacing, which has given the editor little to do.

Though it has a great all-round cast including William Demarest, Porter Hall, Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff, we usually agree that Diana Lynn's older-than-her age sister steals the film.

Her (2013 Spike Jonze & scr)

Frequently astonishing, mad, Oscar/BAFTA-winning, funny script has you frequently open-mouthed as Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his computer's operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johanssen, who is excellent. (The great Amy Adams is in it too.) It was amusing that she won Best Actress at the Rome Film Festival, especially when you think that Italian films are usually dubbed (she was ineligible for the Golden Globe who rule that you must be visible, which would have just made Claude Rains OK for The Invisible Man!)

Hearing Scarlett reminded me of Woody Allen saying how funny she was, and that whatever smart joke he came out with she would go one better.

Problem with a film of such a weird concept is knowing how to stop / get out of it. Ultimately it can rather disappear into its own crazy world.

The Monuments Men (2014 George Clooney)

Why was this so slagged off? OK, it does seem a bit fragmented at the start, but essentially it's The Magnificent Seven but fighting Nazis to regain art treasures, not a normal subject matter, though will ring bells with anyone who has seen Sydney Pollack's strange 1969 film Castle Keep.

No, we thought it had a lot of lively, funny moments, e.g. scene where Damon is standing on an unexploded mine. And some seriousness too. A good balance.

Written by Clooney with his co-producer Grant Heslov, shot by Phedon Papamichael, edited by Stephen Mirrione who has cut all of Clooney's films, scored by Alexandre Desplat.

With Hugh Bonneville, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Kate Blanchett. And in a nice touch, George's dad Nick plays his older self at the end.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974 Sidney Lumet)

Having one of the most amazing casts ever assembled it's a slight shame we don't see more of Bisset, Connery et al. However we can't complain, and nor can Bergman, who won Oscar - note how in the key scene with her, Anne Coates doesn't cut at all - it's one sensational uninterrupted sequence. Compare this to a few scenes later - the Belgian sleuth roughly interrogating Vanessa Redgrave, and the intervention of Sean Connery - quite an amazing moment of cutting from our Ms Coates (we had to watch it not twice but three times), once again beautifully shot in super-diffused style by Geoffrey Unsworth, who I would have guessed had won more BAFTAs than anyone else ever (five), though I see that a certain W. Allen has received eight!

Albert Finney (who with writer Paul Dehn won Oscars) is so good that you forget it is he most of the time.

And not credited above, George Coulouris (Citizen Kane), Colin Blakely.

Benefits enormously from Richard Rodney Bennett's music - memorably queasy in the flashback scenes but bursting into majesterial melody when the train pulls out.

The Sapphires (2012 Wayne Blair)

We were expecting a comedy with singing, and didn't expect the emotional punch the film delivers, nor indeed the good singing. Chris O'Dowd is an alcoholic manager of aborigine group comprising Kylie Belling, Miranda Tapsell, Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy.

Labor Day (2013 Jason Reitman)

Reitman's script is based on Joyce Maynard (who at age 18 had affair with J.D. Salinger) book of the same name. Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Clark Gregg, J.K. Simmons. It's extremely well cut by Dana Glauberman (using some nice dissolves), and we were shocked when the meaning of the flashbacks became clear; nicely shot by Eric Steelberg and scored by Rolfe Kent, exactly the same team in fact as Up In the Air.

We were feeling quite sick with dread, especially when Gattlin's new girlfriend evokes the memory of Bonnie and Clyde.

Don't Bother to Knock (1961 Cyril Frankel)

Not the Marilyn Monroe thriller; instead the energetic Richard Todd is a randy slut who falls out with his girlfriend June Thorburn because she won't shag him, then goes round Europe, rather easily getting into the knickers of Nicole Maurey, Elke Sommer and other women, who then all come to stay in his Edinburgh apartment (luckily of a reasonable size) and thereby complicate matters further with aforementioned Thorburn. That is, incredibly, Rebecca's Judith Anderson as his swinging older lady friend, plus Ronald Fraser and John Le Mesurier in support, with fleeting appearances by Graham Crowden, John Laurie, Kynaston Reeves and Carry on Cleo's Amanda Barrie. We thought we also recognised Fulton Mackay as a waiter, but he's not credited as such.

Music is by Elisabeth Lutyens - it's rather different from the norm. She was a pioneer of discordant music and thus I suppose wrote the very strange bit that is performed to an audience of about two! Anne Coates cut it, invisibly, and Geoffrey Unsworth is on camera. More about those two later... Interestingly Frederic Raphael provided additional dialogue...

Must have been quite risqué when released.

In the French Style (1962 Robert Parrish)

Featuring the fabulous Jean Seberg, who was persecuted to death, and who kept making us think of Scarlett Johannson, in clearly two conjoined stories about the same expat in Paris, written by Irwin Shaw, who one presumes spent some time there. In the first she is romanced by a somewhat odd young man, Philippe Forquet; a few years later her dad Addison Powell comes to visit and she's in love with intense Stanley Baker while scarily the surgeon she's going to marry instead is the spit of daddy (who comes out with line "I don't drink, but when I'm retired I'm going to soak it up and let my hands shake like Autumn leaves").

Jack Hedley is another lover, Thunderball's Claudine Auger has a bit part as his girlfriend, Moustache is the barman.

It's rather good and actually is set in Paris, as viewed by the prolific Michel Kelber.

Sony release shows opening credits in 1.66:1 then crops it to 1.85:1, which is frankly a stupid thing to do.

We Bought a Zoo (2011 Cameron Crowe)

Yes, yes.

http://nicksfilmjottings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/we-bought-zoo-2011-cameron-crowe.html

A Single Man (2009 Tom Ford)

Is Tom Ford the best-dressed film director ever? he's certainly the least prolific, showing no sign at all of venturing into his second film, the first being based on a Christopher Isherwood story he always loved. Colin Firth is simply sensational (winning BAFTA but missing Oscar) and we really believe in the romantic relationship between him and the fleetingly glimpsed Matthew Goode. Julianne Moore and Nicholas Hoult are there to help him not end his life at the end of the day.

The warming up of scenes (Eduard Grau) is absolutely beautiful, never seen this before except of course in Vertigo... Psycho is referenced in a big poster, Abel Korzeniowski's music is also reminiscent of the former. Slow motion scenes e.g. when Firth kisses the dog, sound (only sound is rain when he visits Julianne with the terrible news).

Now Voyager (1942 Irving Rapper)

Bette Davis sags under the weight of Perc Westmore's eyebrows, but Paul Henreid comes along with two cigarettes, thereby changing smoking fashion (at least for the moment). Casey Robinson has adapted a novel by Olive Higgins Prouty, and Claude Rains is perhaps the most sympathetic doctor ever. The wonderful Max Steiner tells us what to feel, but we don't care, bathed in Sol Polito's light. The horrendous mother is Gladys Cooper, and it's a true five hankie number.

Rapper, not known for much in this household, lived until 101.