Tokyo Godfathers

Director: Shôgo Furuya and Satoshi Kon

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388473

Review: A masterclass in tone management with a set of characters that carries the film's momentum with vigour and wit.

Watch it if: You're ok with some fairly harsh realities.

And if you liked: Millennium Actress, Magnolia

Millennium Actress

Director: Satoshi Kon and Kô Matsuo

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291350

Review: Engaging and romantic throughout with a real sense of thrust and intrigue that carries a genuine emotional weight.

Watch it if: You want to see something that really says something with a meta-textual angle.

And if you liked: Perfect Blue, Decision to Leave

Abigail

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27489557

Review: Just buzzing with energetic fun from the get-go with plenty of twists and turns and a real sense of delight.

Watch it if: You're ok with a lot of cartoonish blood.

And if you liked: Ready or Not, From Dusk Till Dawn, M3GAN

Check this out: Dracula's Daughter

Monkey Man

Director: Dev Patel

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9214772

Review: Damaged by its length but sequence by sequence delivers some startling action and fascinating imagery.

Watch it if: You can handle some fairly brutal violence.

And if you liked: Only God Forvies, John Wick

Basic

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264395

Review: Over-twists itself towards the end but holds attention throughout with a fun plot and a buzzy sense of energy.

Watch it if: You're ok with something fun that doesn't necessarily hold up to scrutiny.

And if you liked: Joint Security Area, Rashomon, The Usual Suspects

Check this out: TITLE

10 to Midnight

Director: J. Lee Thompson

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085121

Review: Bizarre in its choices and perspectives but magnetic and thrilling on its own terms.

Watch it if: You can enjoy a text with extremely messy morality.

And if you liked: Dirty Harry, American Psycho, Black Christmas

The Prowler

Director: Joseph Zito

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082951

Review: Fairly run of the mill for the most part but delivers hard with its special effects.

Watch it if: You enjoy slasher films.

And if you liked: My Bloody Valentine, New Year's Evil, Black Christmas

The First Omen

Director: Arkasha Stevenson

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5672290

Review: At its best when not trying to reference the original with a strong sense of dread and some genuinely chilling moments.

Watch it if: You want something that goes for it.

And if you liked: The Omen, Hereditary

Rollerball (2002)

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246894

Review: Baffling from its opening moments with no sense of tension or danger and an absolutely flat lead performance.

Watch it if: You want something that will have you confused by every choice.

And if you liked: Point Break, Death Race 2000, The Running Man

Check this out: Rollerball

The 13th Warrior

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657

Review: Competently made and never fully flat but oddly anodyne in its presentation.

Watch it if: You want something that's not too distracting.

And if you liked: Beowulf (2007), Bone Tomahawk, Dances With Wolves

Check this out: Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155267

Review: A fun, breezy watch with a playful energy and attractive central chemistry.

Watch it if: You want something that keeps throwing turns at you.

And if you liked: Catch Me If You Can, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Trance

Check this out: The Thomas Crown Affair

Last Action Hero

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107362

Review: Interesting ideas at its core but never really gets beyond a half-baked or surface level.

Watch it if: You're curious about how a film like this hangs together.

And if you liked: Galaxy Quest, Small Soldiers

Love Lies Bleeding

Director: Rose Glass

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19637052

Review: Fully confident from frame one with an alluring atmosphere and a vibe that's unshakable.

Watch it if: You're ok with a lot of close-up syringe shots.

And if you liked: Good Time, Wild at Heart, A History of Violence

Medicine Man

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104839

Review: Hard to gauge the level of cultural sensitivity at play, but seems to have its heart in the right place with clear craft doing heavy-lifting at its core.

Watch it if: You want something that knows what it is.

And if you liked: Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves, Jungle 2 Jungle

The Hunt for Red October

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099810

Review: Engaging and thrilling with a complex plot that keeps you guessing and gorgeous use of colour.

Watch it if: You want something that carefully builds upon itself well.

And if you liked: Mission: Impossible, Goldeneye, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Check this out: The Hunt for Red October

Black Knight

Director: Gil Junger

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265087

Review: Nothing particularly engaging but nothing particularly offensive either apart from a few dips into areas of annoyance.

Watch it if: You want something reasonably distracting that doesn't ask much of you.

And if you liked: Army of Darkness, Tropic Thunder, A Knight's Tale

Dune: Part Two

Director: Denis Villeneuve

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15239678

Review: An absolutely dazzling display of spectacle and escalation with an overlaying sense of doom coupled with some truly disturbing abstract imagery.

Watch it if: You want to be challenged by a blockbuster.

And if you liked: Dune (2021), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Beyond the Black Rainbow

Check this out: Dune

Drive-Away Dolls

Director: Ethan Coen

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19356262

Review: A few decent laughs and not without charm but doesn't seem to really know what level to pitch itself with material that feels like faded imitations of earlier work.

Watch it if: You want something fairly light an inconsequential.

And if you liked: Raising Arizona, Dumb and Dumber

Hannibal Rising

Director: Peter Webber

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367959

Review: Just a bizarre plodding exercise in redundancy with mysteries that give up on themselves and a lead performance that hits its ceiling pretty early on.

Watch it if: You're a completionist.

And if you liked: Batman Begins, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Red Dragon

Check this out: Hannibal Rising

Poor Things

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230458

Review: Engrossing in its style and approach with a touching throughline and a large amount of affecting humour.

Watch it if: You're ok with a large amount of explicit sexuality.

And if you liked: 3000 Years of Longing, Pinocchio, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Check this out: Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer

Ferrari

Director: Michael Mann

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3758542

Review: Some interesting pieces and one incredible performance but never really lands on what it's trying to say or do.

Watch it if: You can handle a fairly brutal scene.

And if you liked: Foxcatcher, Top Gun

Nomads

Director: John McTiernan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091647

Review: Impossible to say anything adds up or even works but is enjoyable as an absolutely gonzo piece of nonsense that will keep you surprised at how weird its choices are.

Watch it if: You want something that will baffle you for its entire runtime.

And if you liked: Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Manhunter, Return of the Living Dead

Manhunter

Director: Michael Mann

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474

Review: Atmospheric and unnerving with a real sense of theme and its own unique voice.

Watch it if: You want a different angle on a serial killer detective movie.

And if you liked: The Dead Zone, A Clockwork Orange, Red Dragon

Check this out: Red Dragon

Director: Bradley Cooper

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276

Review: Flows in a very natural way with a real sense of warmth and curiosity that elevates it to real highs.

Watch it if: You want something more interested in emotional truth than flat realism.

And if you liked: Mank, Asteroid City, Behind the Candelabra

The Zone of Interest

Director: Jonathan Glazer

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7160372/

Review: Deeply haunting and crushing in its depiction of evil, with sound design and score that push the boundaries of what can be achieved.

Watch it if: You want something that connects past atrocities to the present day pretty cleanly.

And if you liked: Marie Antoinette, Under the Skin, Paths of Glory

Check this out: The Zone of Interest

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Director: James Wan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9663764

Review: A few hints of some interesting beats from one character but otherwise a weightless mess with no real stakes, emotion, or meaning.

Watch it if: You've ticked every box so far.

And if you liked: Wonder Woman 1984, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Aquaman

The Mirror Has Two Faces

Director: Barbra Streisand

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117057

Review: A complete disaster with no handle on tone or theme that spends its entire runtime contradicting itself.

Watch it if: You want to see how truly bizarre a light romantic comedy can be.

And if you liked: It's Complicated, The Truth about Cats and Dogs

Check this out: Le Miroir à deux faces

The Prince of Tides

Director: Barbra Streisand

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102713

Review: A little messy but largely in a way that enhances the themes, with a strong story and good chemistry between the leads.

Watch it if: You can handle one particularly rough scene that's not handled all that well.

And if you liked: Days of Heaven, Radio Flyer, Good Will Hunting, The Witness

Check this out: The Prince of Tides

Yentl

Director: Barbra Streisand

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086619

Review: Very clearly the exact film that was set out to be made, but filled with bizarre choices, incongruous with each other in a way that creates a confused whiplash.

Watch it if: You want to be baffled.

And if you liked: Silence

Check this out: Yentl

A Star is Born (1976)

Director: Frank Pierson

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075265

Review: Runs long towards the end but carries itself with a decent momentum and genuine charisma from the two leads.

Watch it if: You're ok with not fully understanding some of the musical choices.

And if you liked: Phantom of the Paradise, Ladies and Gentelmen, the Fabulous Stains

Check this out: A Star is Born

Godzilla Minus One

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23289160

Review: Engaging and engrossing from the get-go, with a genuine complex emotional core that carries everything through to its major thrilling moments.

Watch it if: You're ok with a blockbuster style film being patient with its emotional drama.

And if you liked: Godzilla, Godzilla (2014), Pacific Rim

I Love You to Death

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099819

Review: Some wild swings that absolutely do not land but brings such an odd and enjoyable energy that it manages to make itself work.

Watch it if: You want to see how weird a comedy can get while still remaining small.

And if you liked: So I Married an Axe Murderer, Dead Man on Campus

Check this out: Frances and Anthony Toto

The Boy and the Heron

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6587046

Review: More successful in its intriguing and mysterious sections than the rest but brings a bevy of ideas, tones and visuals that are hard to argue with.

Watch it if: You want something reasonably unpredictable.

And if you liked: Pan's Labyrinth, Return to Oz, Spirited Away

Check this out: How Do You Live?

Wonka

Director: Paul King

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6166392

Review: Dull and derivative with a few small laughs here and there but hampered by emotional beats that feel contrived and cynical.

Watch it if: You're really that curious.

And if you liked: Paddington, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory