David Fincher's homage to Hitchcock (the North By Northwest title sequence, Howard Shore's score, the Rope/Vertigo-like apartment-as-stage conceit) finds Jodie Foster as the beleaguered mum trying to stay one step ahead of Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam and Jared Leto's housebreakers
Roland Joffé's 1989 movie examines America's wartime race to develop the atomic bomb by focusing on the relationship between General Groves (a bullish Paul Newman) and haunted genius Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), but dilutes the intensity by opening out to sketch in other players (including John Cusack and Laura Dern). Still, this is worthy, sombre, respectable drama.
Anthony Minghella's Civil War epic has plenty of razzle: spectacular opening sequence; deserter Jude Law's trans-American journey to Nicole Kidman; leery sheriff Ray Winstone; doughty Calamity Jane farmhand Renée Zellweger; and a plethora of star cameos. And yet, bar some early 'war is hell' pomposity, it's a disappointingly hollow experience
Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy is one of the standard bearers for 'arthouse' cinema. And though the movies occasionally hint at self-importance (in Zbigniew Preisner's intrusive scores and the colour-coded shooting style), Kieslowski's steely control of storytelling always keeps the narratives fiercely compelling
Amiable comedy westerns starring James Garner, from 1969 and 1971. In the first he brings order to a lawless gold-rush town; in the second he's a conman passing off his sidekick (Jack Elam) as a deadly gunslinger. Both are droll delights, with amazing supporting casts that include Bruce Dern and Walter Brennan
Enjoyably hammy sub-Hitchcock suspense thriller from 1982 in which Klaus Kinski's plan to kidnap the grandson of a wealthy American explorer is thrown into chaos, placing him and co-conspirators Oliver Reed and Susan George under siege by a black mamba. Kinski is suitably unpleasant, as is the wince-inducing moment when Ollie receives a fatal snake bite where no bloke wants to be bitten.
Made in 1993 and directed by Ray Müller, this three-hour documentary features extensive interviews with Hitler's favourite director (then a sprightly 90), responsible for such brilliant but pernicious propaganda as 1934's Triumph Of The Will. Wonderful, horrible stuff, especially watching her squirm at Müller's inquisitions regarding her enthusiasm for Nazism.
After pushing Emily Watson and Björk through relentless pain and suffering in previous films, Lars Von Trier mercilessly harasses glutton-for-punishment Nicole Kidman in another sprawling, love-it-or-hate-it lo-fi epic. She's a mystery woman on the run who shelters with a curious community, only for the comfort to sour. Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall and Chloë Sevigny look puzzled
Peter Fonda's cool Captain America rides across America with the wired Billy (Dennis Hopper), encountering hippies, rednecks and Jack Nicholson as dipso lawyer George Hanson. It looks as mythically beautiful as it did back in '69. And Hanson's campfire speech about Amerika is more chillingly relevant than ever.
