Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994 Mike Newell)

WH Auden made us cry.

Wow. It's 20 years old. Simon Callow steals the film.

We don't like Andie Macdowell's character.

We're not Married (1952 Edmund Goulding)

Nunnally Johnson wrote five stories based on realisation that couples aren't in fact married, with mixed results:

Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen (who we've just enjoyed in Full House) are a bickering morning radio show couple (whose show is 99% ads in Hollywood dig at the competition).

Marilyn Monroe is beauty queen (not married) to David Wayne (also Full House), who had a lot of silly ideas about who would be the boss in the relationship: events backfire on him but he doesn't care - he's married to MM...

Paul Douglas (can't recall why he's so familiar) fantasises (in a series of dissolves) about being with other women, though he's fortunate enough to be married to Eve Arden - silly man.

Louis Calhern finds himself being set up for divorce by Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Eddie Bracken needs to get married to Mitzi Gaynor - quick.

Victor Moore and Jane Darwell are the couple who haven't married anyone properly in the first place.

Shot by Leo Tover, music Cyril Mockridge.

20th Century Fox again. Reasonably good.

Wild Bill (2011 Dexter Fletcher & scr)

Charlie Creed-Miles (excellent), Will Poulter, Sammy Williams, Liz White, Marc Warren, Andy Serkis (also excellent).

Written with Danny King, shot by George (son of Anthony) Richmond, who's been a camera /steadicam operator for interesting world-class cameramen on Children of Men, Cassandra's Dream, Quantum of Solace and War Horse.

Ex con learns to clean toilet, amongst other things, in beautifully simple, effective urban tale, a most auspicious debut.

Man's Favourite Sport (1964 Howard Hawks)

Hawks proved he could still make a 30s style studio-bound screwball comedy in the 60s, with Paula Prentiss delightful as the same kind of destructive character as Hepburn's in Bringing Up Baby. With Rock Hudson, Maria Perschy ('Easy'), John McGiver, Charlene Holt ('Tex'), Roscoe Karns (His Girl Friday, Old Acquaintance), Norman Alden ('John Screaming Eagle').

Features of course the director's trademark scenes of people gathered together in a single shot.

How on earth they pulled off the bear on a motorbike I have no idea.

Great fun.

O. Henry's Full House (1952)

Narrated by John Steinbeck.

"The Cop and the Anthem" scr. Lamar Trotti
Charles Laughton, David Wayne, Marilyn Monroe
Directed by Henry Koster
Ph. Lloyd Ahern
Anti-climactic

"The Clarion Call" scr Richard L Breen
Dale Robertson, Richard Widmark
Directed by Henry Hathaway
Ph. Lucien Ballard

"The Last Leaf" scr Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts
Jean Peters, Anne Baxter, Gregory Ratoff
Directed by Jean Negulesco
Ph. Joe MacDonald
Sweet and sad.

"The Ransom of Red Chief" scr (uncredited) Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer & Nunnally Johnson
Fred Allen, Oscar Levant, Lee Aaker
Directed by Howard Hawks
Ph. Milton Krasner
Easily the most enjoyable story.

"The Gift of the Magi" scr Walter Bullock
Farley Granger, Jeanne Crain
Directed by Henry King
Ph. Joe MacDonald

Hot Fuzz

Last time.

Sensationally edited by Chris Dickens, who recently worked on The Double and has edited Suite Française for the BBC and a new version of Macbeth with Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

What's Up Doc? (1972 Peter Bogdanovich)

And now to Bogdanovich's version of Bringing Up Baby - of course it's not as good, but Streisand and O'Neal are perfectly matched in the Hepburn-Grant model. Much clever timing of opening and closing hotel doors and bag switching, with a fabulous chase sequence through San Francisco streets, a stand-out gag that riffs on silent comedy featuring a ladder and a plate of glass, and some terrific stunt driving into the Bay.

Michael Murphy, Madeline Khan, the treasurable Austin Pendleton, Phil Roth, Kenneth Mars and the ghastly-dressed Mabel Albertson (Barefoot in the Park).

Shot by Laszlo Kovacs.

Only Angels Have Wings (1939 Howard Hawks)

Grant is surprisingly tough as boss of South American airline - gets some way towards Saint Exupery's thoroughly frightening aviation stories in Wind, Sand and Stars, published the same year. With Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell, Richard Bartlemess, Sig Ruman ('Dutchy'), Rita Hayworth, Allyn Joslyn, a parrot (who's clearly checking out Hayworth at one point) and a donkey.

Fabulous photography by Joseph Walker on the ground and Elmer Dyer up in the air. Written by Jules Furthman.

A thoroughly enjoyable and at times tense experience with Hawks in full male-buddy mode and shooting with the most simple and graceful of set-ups.

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983 Terry Jones)

Last watched 1 July 2012. It was nominated for the Palme D'Or at Cannes but won the Grand Jury Prize (of the panel I only recognised Henri Alekan and Karel Reisz, the only Brit),

During the brilliantly choreographed Every Sperm is Sacred number I though Fellini would have loved it. Then in the school scene it seemed like we were in Buñuel territory. I also had suggestions of If... and AMOLAD before going back to the first two (the Death scene is clearly nodding to Bergman) and by the ending I was seeing Cocteau in the hand holding the flowers. Knowing how the Pythons loved the New Wave I wouldn't be surprised if these references were genuine. Even 'A tiger? In Africa?' appears in Polanski's Che?

John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin (whose sergeant major is perhaps his best performance ever and always leaves me helpless with laughter), Eric Idle and Terry Jones (both fabulous women), Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland.

Shot by Peter Hannan.

Bringing Up Baby (1938 Howard Hawks)

You should be neither too drunk nor too sober to seriously enjoy BUB. Splendid, exuberant film in which Grant and Hepburn both give atypical but fabulous performances - he as the dithery, absent minded professor and she as the nutty absent-minded leopard gatherer. Very simply filmed, plot defies description. One of Russell Metty's first films, scored by the ubiquitous Roy Webb. Charlie Ruggles gives great performance as leopard 'specialist'. Laughs abound like nettles in a nettle garden.

With the fabulous Skippy (Asta), and a fabulous leopard.

Scene where Hepburn is singing 'I can't give you anything but love, baby' to a savage leopard which is on the roof of psychiatrist's house, who thinks she's crazy, one of many gems.

Screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde contains classics such as "Don't you find it a bit cold without your gun?" and "I was born on the side of a hill".

Cinematographers who didn't win Oscars

Arthur Edeson
John Seitz
Emmanuel Lubezki *
Roger Deakins **
Sacha Vierny
Henri Decae
Robert Burks - oh yes he did - To Catch a Thief.
Gordon Willis

* P.S. 22/3/17 - as Chivo has now won three in a row I think he can safely come off this list!

** 3/9/19 Yes, yes - Bladerunner 2049... 1/1/21 1917..!

The Odd Couple (1968 Gene Saks)

It's the lines underneath the lines you have to listen out for.

"Didn't you think Felix looked edgy?"
"No, I thought you looked edgy."

A Little Princess (1995 Alfonso Cuaron)

We were feeling mushy. Richard LaGravenese and Elizabeth Chandler have adapted Frances Hodgson Burnett's story, given lush (though entirely artificial) staging by Cuaron and favourite cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. The fact that it's studio set gives it a welcome old-fashioned feel as well.

The young cast are well handled by the director. Liesel Matthews, Elenor Bron, Liam Cunningham.

Nicely edited by Steven Weisberg (also Akzeban and Great Expectations ).

From Time to Time (2009 Julian Fellowes & scr)

He has adapted Lucy M. Boston's novel into a fine film. I liked the way the older time period was evoked by a brighter colour pallette. Alan Almond shoots with a nice amount of old school diffusion.

Alex Etel is the ghost-seeing boy, Maggie Smith delivering great lines with panache as his gran, Pauline Collins the kindly housekeeper. With Timothy Spall, glowering Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville and - also from Downton - Allen Leech. Unfortunately Kwayedza Kureya's only film, as he's rather good.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997 George Armitage)

Story Tom Jankiewicz, scr him, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink & John Cusack.

John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Alan Arkin, Jeremy Piven, Joan Cusack, Hank Azaria.

Love the scenes with Cusack and Aykroyd - like the latter in this more than anything else.

Lots of gleeful shooting.

Armitage is from the Corman stable, but hasn't done much.

Film is very successful, and fun.

The Railway Children (1970 Lionel Jeffries & scr)

Last watched it on 6/2/11 and the fact that (Jenny Agutter had told us) Sally Thomsett at 20 was actually older than her and had to be told not to smoke or drive her car to work as it was undermining credibility. She plays the young sister very well, it has to be said. She was mainly on TV '64-78. Baxter is a rare '73 film also made by Jeffries, finally on DVD, which she's also in. It was only a couple of years before she was playing the village minx in Straw Dogs.

In GQ's Films that Make Men Cry, two people independently named the scene where Jenny reunites with Dad at railway station with words 'Daddy, my Daddy' (for the record, A.A. Gill and Simon Mills).

Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, William Mervyn. Put together with style and well written.

A beautiful, warm and sweet film that keeps going (loved Q's description to my mum: 'A warm hug of a film'). Lots of weeping in Edwardian (1905, to be precise, also when it was first published in serial form in The London Magazine ) classic.

Novel: E. Nesbit. A first will only set you back five hundred quid.

In the Line of Fire (1993 Wolfgang Petersen)

Anne Coates' invisible editing received Oscar and BAFTA nominations - certain scenes such as finale are truly wonderful to watch; she's also doing something interesting cutting between zoom ins. I thought the music was only OK before I knew it was Morricone, but no problem at all with John Bailey's very professional lighting.

Clint Eastwood is the elderly secret service agent trying to protect president from serial killer John Malkovich, having unlikely affair with Rene Russo (well, no more unlikely than Cooper and Hepburn I suppose). Script (Jeff Maguire) is good - he hardly wrote anything. How do you write a good screenplay then hardly write anything? By writing very slowly...

I knew that glass roof was going to be significant. Petersen was a bit obvious there maybe.

Dylan McDermott, John Mahoney.

The Darling Buds of May (1991 - 1993)

When life is shit, there's nothing like a good dose of the Larkins to cheer things up. David Jason is the irrepressible Pop but Pam Ferris steals most scenes as 'Flo Daisy Parker', to give her her full name. Catherine Zeta Jones is the fiery Mariette and Philip Franks 'Charlie' (the scene in which he deals with the advances of sister-in-law Abigail Rokison is very sweet).

You don't normally get such a lot of good bird sounds, in feature-length episodes.

Scene in which Pop and Ma recover from terrible dinner in freezing house by enjoying a full English in the bath is one of our favourite scenes (it's in 'When the Green Woods Laugh').

With Moray Watson (the 'General'), Kika Mirylees ('my old firework') and occasional people like Anna Massey.

Many writers have adapted the H.E. Bates stories, including Bob Larbey.

The American (2010 Anton Corbijn)

A cool film which seems to unofficially have its heart in Melville's Le Samourai but is in fact based on a novel by Englishman Martin Booth, "A Very Private Gentleman" (1990).

Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli (Father, tons of credits).
Ph Martin Ruhe in Panavision (washed out).

August 2011 review was 'Violante is yummy and there's a good sex scene. Don't tell me the butterfly is CGI."

Crazy Stupid Love (2011 Glenn Ficarra, John Requa)

Written by Dan Fogelman, Steve Carell is taught how to pull women by Ryan Gosling, following his wife Julianne Moore's dismissal. Rich imagery from Andrew Dunn. Jonah Bobo good as kid who falls for babysitter Analeigh Tipton, but best twist features 'Nanna' Emma Stone! The love scene between her and Gosling is really sweet, and ironically 'PG-13'.

Black Widow (1987 Bob Rafelson)

Needed Conrad Hall, cinematography is sensational. Film has amazing red / green colour coding throughout (also a purple theme) as the girls get closer. Theresa Russell an extraordinary actress, so natural in everything, Debra Winger good also. With Sami Frey, Nicol Williamson, James Hong, Dennis Hopper. Written by Ronald Bass.

No Strings Attached (2011 Ivan Reitman)

By the weirdest coincidence we then watch a film by the former director's father, and it's funnier. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher are sex buddies who become more. Kevin Kline is outrageous father, Ophelia Lovibond is ex. Dana Glauberman again edits, Rogier Stoffers is on camera (in Panavision).

Scene where he awakes naked in Portman's apartment, and various people claim he's had sex with them, is funny.

Young Adult (2011 Jason Reitman)

Charlize Theron gives a good performance as self-centred woman obsessed by her ex (Patrick Wilson), who is happily married; Patton Oswalt befriends her.

Familiar people behind camera - Eric Steelberg, Dana Glauberman, Rolfe Kent. Written by Diablo Cody.

It isn't funny, though. Dog is extremely neglected.

Chef (2014 Jon Favreau & scr)

"Ah, it's a musical" I realised after the umpteenth song brought the story no further forward. This was evident from the beginning, when we see Favreau cooking all night, a scene that would have bored non-foodies - I would have liked some voiceover there, a monologue, but this happens too often. Plot is also silly - why does he cook that great meal, and not invite the food critic over to taste it? Waste of scene. Utterly predictable too.

Robert Downey Jr steals film in short role as investor. John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine), Scarlett Johansson, Emjay Anthony, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Oliver Platt.

It is, in fact, half-baked.

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978 Philip Kaufman)

Perfectly set in the paranoia / conspiracy theory decade of 1970s America, W.D. Richter's rewrite of Jack Finney novel is a sinewy and sneaky affair, composed in a most interesting style by Kaufman and DP Michael Chapman, who went for an "old black and white horror movie in colour".

Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum star, with Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel (from the original) having cameos.

What Women Want (2000 Nancy Myers & prod)

Written by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake, film about man who can hear women's thoughts is triumphantly funny and incisive, though we were playing a fun game around who else would have suited the lead: Clooney, for sure, but would also have been fun to see Downey, Cary Grant (obviously impossible) or even Hugh Laurie in the role.

Support from Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Judy Greer.

Stardust (2007 Matthew Vaughn)

How can you not love a film in which Robert de Niro plays a gay pirate? Answer: you can't. Beautifully written script, by Vaughn and Mrs Ross Jane Goldman finds Charlie Cox and Claire Danes in mythical kingdom pursued by Mark Strong and other baddies, Fantastic cast also features Nat Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer (who's great), Joanna Scanlon, David Kelly, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Mark Heap, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Sarah Alexander, Mark Williams (great as a goat), Dexter Fletcher and Ricky Gervais.

Shot by Ben Davis, edited by Jon Harris (The Two Faces of January).