A crisply satisfying tale of espionage from cinema's master of suspense.

A stark and intense film, Jeanne d'Arc is renowned for its sparse shooting style - which focuses in on Falconetti's face with such relentless fascination that everything else (sets, props, secondary characters) disappear from view.

This is a painfully moving story about uncompromising friendship and uncontrollable love - not so much unrequited as undeserving and unfulfilled.

Clear an evening and indulge yourself in one of the few films that can justifiably be called an epic.

If you are at all interested in the history of cinema, or the influence of 20th century politics on the medium, then this film is a must-see, although over an hour of Soviet propaganda is likely to test the patience of modern viewers.

There are great concert movies and great socio-political documentaries, but Summer of Soul combines both in one gloriously entertaining and intellectually astute film.

The thin, conventional storyline is swept along by the imaginative, urgent style with its then innovative jump cuts, overlapping dialogue and handheld camerawork. A landmark film, it forever changed perceptions of cinema.

With Sutherland and Christie in fine form it all adds up to one of Roeg's finest films and an undeniably key work in British cinema.

American society, in all its strengths and missteps, has been a major theme for both Pynchon and Anderson, and it grounds Anderson's dazzler of a film, giving it an emphatic, unmistakable political charge.

It's hard to over sell a movie that is so supremely confident in writing and direction. Despite an almost audience-annihilating run time of nearly two and a half-hours, it is consistently absorbing.

A landmark in the history of cinema that turns melodrama into high art with the story of a hard-up farmer (George O'Brien) whose affair with a city girl (Margaret Livingston) leads him to the brink of killing his doting wife (Janet Gaynor).

The documentary style allows Spielberg to deliver his message without preaching. The clever use of light and shade also makes it visually stunning.

Combining some wonderful song and dance routines with a cast of memorable characters, Meet Me in St Louis is certainly one the best Hollywood musicals ever. It's also one of the least ostentatious.

The finest movie ever made about the narcissistic hellhole that is Hollywood.

It is universal and emotional enough to hypnotise anyone who has been alone in a city, or been spellbound by a film on the subject.

A significant precursor to the same film-maker's North by Northwest, it remains a supremely entertaining and accomplished work in its own right.

A visually rich and morally ambiguous parable of our recent history, it is a paean to decency in an indecent age and a timelessly potent satire of class and nationalism.

Dreams of the future merge with memories of the past as a fascinating array of imagery is conjured to the screen. The effect is sometimes confusing - but always beautiful - and eventually intertwines to a singular life-confirming realisation that cuts through the madness and embraces it.

Each time it is shown, this extraordinary film embraces a new generation of children who succumb to its magic.

David Lean ably directed Noel Coward's script for this intensely passionate film in which almost nothing happens.

In some ways, the film resembles an abyss-black absurdist comedy sketch or a video art installation. It could be said that its sole observation is the continual co-existence of grotesque cruelty and blithe workaday life, but it makes that observation with such rigorous formal control and unblinking dedication that its power to shock never diminishes.

Like any decent slasher movie, there's something unsettling about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that goes beyond the blood and gore. [4 star rating for DVD only]

Set in the military dictatorship of 1970s Brazil, this buzzy crime drama, which has premiered in Cannes, "makes up in pulpy excitement what it lacks in subtlety", and "bursts with sex, shoot-outs and sleazy hitmen".

It Was Just an Accident is a taut and twisting revenge thriller loaded with heavyweight ethical quandaries. It is heartbreakingly explicit about what the well-drawn characters have suffered, but it asks whether they can ever be justified in using the same methods – abduction, torture – as their oppressors.

Gerwig’s smart, delightful film seems on its way to becoming a classic.

It's a vibrant, joyous piece of technical accomplishment that's probably one of the most relentlessly innovative films you'll ever see.

The sufferings were well worth it, and the Pythons delivered a classic comedy.

This may be Miyazaki's most expansive and magisterial film. If it is not the most instantly stunning, that might be because he takes the time to deliver worlds within worlds, layers under layers, to create an overwhelming experience by the end.

Anora fizzes with energy and laugh-out-loud moments, but it isn't recommended for anyone with high blood pressure. It builds into the kind of hectic farce in which not just one person is stressed: everyone is stressed.

One of the best literary adaptations ever made.

Haigh and his cast, including Paul Mescal as Adam's new lover, give this film about loss, enduring love and hope for the future such truth and poignance that it is easily among the best of the year.

Widely regarded as the best excursion for Jacques Tati's alter ego Monsieur Hulot, this whimsical comedy builds on the work of American silent stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, to produce a French variation on the art of slapstick.

By turns funny, sad and romantic, it's a work that confirms Ray's formidable reputation as a world film maker of the highest order.

It's boldly imaginative and his most mature work yet.

The searing Paths Of Glory continues to impress with its striking blend of formal brilliance, economical storytelling and emotional directness.

This comedy gem features some of [Chaplin's] funniest scenes, including him eating his boot.

A comic epic, Hidden Fortress focuses not on the high drama of the aristocrats' escape, but on the slapstick antics of the faint-hearted peasants as they whinge and moan their way through the countryside.

Sensitively written and acted, beautifully shot, and with a charming, sparingly used score, Minari is so engaging that it's easy to forget how radical it is.

Marty Supreme has such scope, ambition and humour that its flaws, as with those off-screen Timmy exploits, are easy to overlook.

It's a film which shimmers with intelligence, and if the plot isn't clear until the very last scene, well, it's worth the wait. When that scene arrives, the purpose of every previous scene snaps into sharp focus, leaving you with the urge to go back to the beginning and watch the whole thing again.

It's a great comedy, with a message that works in context, the flophouses of life's downside contrasting with Hollywood's absurd hedonism.

Originally shot in black and white, then switching to CinemaScope early in production, Rebel Without A Cause is a brilliant, iconic movie.

A witty, playful intelligent film as enjoyable as it is influential.

This is one of the truly outstanding works of post-war European cinema.

Full of haunting, iconic images and a touch of hopeful humanity, The Seventh Seal is cinema at its most artful, a philosophical meditation on the meaning(lessness) of this mortal coil.

Leigh's strategy of taking us into his characters' world without prelude or explanation, letting the revelations and backstory waft out, help make his films feel authentic. He seems to have a magical ability to make the everyday captivating to watch

Adapted from a melodramatic novel by James M Cain, it is a magnificent blend of film noir and feminine soap, glossily crafted by Michael Curtiz whose versatile achievements included Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Lanthimos may get carried away, but the results are daringly outrageous and often hilarious.

Director David Lean achieves a fine balance of creating complex characters from a fine cast, while keeping the pace up throughout this long movie.

Watching the film now, almost half a century after its first screening, it's easy to see why it upset so many people "Cairo Station" is a pressure cooker of lust, jealousy, and psychosis.

Withnail & I has an air of authenticity only reality could give, and Robinson could only tell MacKerrell's story once. There could never be another Withnail.

The film takes place largely in two down and dirty rooms, the recording studio and a basement where the band rehearses, but it doesn’t feel stage bound. Wolfe finds the right balance between letting Wilson’s trademark monologues flow and shooting them in a cinematic way that keeps the film moving.

McDormand’s commanding, deeply empathetic performance holds the film together. She is so convincing and unaffected that it feels as if Fern is another non-actor whom Zhao magically gets to be natural on screen.

It has the ring of a tall tale that has been told in pub after pub, gathering weird new details every time, until it has become a part of Irish folklore. It's a story that you'll want to hear – and tell – again and again.

Reed's take on the material is innovative, letting realism blur into an anaemic, soul-searching delirium.

Across the Spider-Verse leans into the artificiality of its world: its central, postmodern concern is how the multiverse will be affected by the tangled web of various Spider-Man narratives. If you don't happen to be a universe-hopping comic-book superhero, it's hard to relate to any of it.

The Kiwi native proved he had more up his sleeve than trashy schlock.

Black Narcissus has an erotic charge that's to this day been so often lacking in British cinema.

Produced by David Selznick, Rebecca is a delirious Gothic melodrama, swimming with queer undercurrents

There are some fine gory moments in "Carrie", but the real shocks come from the slick emotional exploitation employed by director Brian De Palma.

The story has its moments of suspense, especially when Nina's child wanders off from the beach. But the soul of the film exists in the small exchanges and tensions between characters.

No Other Choice isn't just Park's funniest film, but his most humane, too – and that's quite something for a comedy as violent as this one.

Full of energy, wit, passion and tragedy, looking backward and forward at once, it is one of the most moving films of the year.

Wayne and O'Hara create a fine rapport, with good performances that build to a truly satisfying climax.

Shot with an eye for the grimy beauty of the underworld and utterly merciless to its characters, The Asphalt Jungle is a biting, bitter espresso of a movie.

Made in 1979, the film has aged superbly, the shock of its violence and acuity of its insights still retaining their punch. True, its lengthy running time is demanding and the momentum does dip in the second half, but it's held together by cool-headed technique and Ken Ogata's imposing lead performance.

It is a difficult film - slow-paced, unashamedly theatrical and heavily laden with philosophy – yet a profoundly satifying one: a rewarding display of filmmaking mastery that forms a mystical and enigmatic coda to a legendary career.

The investigation is exquisitely constructed, with a stream of revelations, some pulse-pounding action and continuous glimmers of wry humour. It's also a model of elegance and restraint.

Stalker is an epic and frequently puzzling inquiry into freedom and faith, which unfolds in an unspecified totalitarian society.

Ozu's pared-down visual style facilitates our involvement with these 'ordinary' characters, who are struggling to reconcile their feelings of duty and desire, and to accept life's inevitable changes.

Intriguing, clever, and often surprisingly funny there's plenty to please in this thriller, that remains fresh and original.

It's true that many viewers have already fallen under its spell, but Zhao and O'Farrell have stripped away so much of what makes the novel magical – the time-travelling structure, the hypnotic prose rhythms, the internal monologues and the tiny, tangible details – that what's left is no more profound or authentic than any other costume drama set in ye olde days.

The more you think about it, the more of a muddle Soul seems to be. But what a gorgeous muddle it is. It may not be wholly satisfying, but it is exhilarating in its ambition, superbly animated, and brimming with affection for its characters and their milieu.

It is a small movie with steep odds against it, but it is also extraordinarily accomplished.

Even before the panda-monium begins, the film is a hilarious, life-affirming treat.

MGM's lavish adaptation of Enid Bangold's evergreen novel is an at times winsome but nonetheless enjoyable yarn that remains a popular favourite among adults and children alike, dealing as it does with the notion of endeavour and the conviction of pursuing one's dreams.

Sadistically beautiful and viciously exciting, welcome to true terror with Dario Argento's shockingly relentless Tenebrae.

Al Pacino takes on police corruption in the gritty Serpico, a film that's entirely dominated and driven by Pacino's empowered performance.

A thrilling espionage adventure chock full of iconic characters, set pieces and one-liners.

As unbalanced as it might be, One Night in Miami is a well-acted history lesson and a sincere tribute to the men, their friendship, and their inspiring cultural importance. It’s just that King and Powers’ treatment of that outstanding premise hasn’t quite made the leap from stage play to big-screen film; it has landed in TV-movie territory instead.

The film's message may be a clichéd staple of comic books - with great power comes great responsibility - but it's handled with sincerity and skill.

A true sci-fi classic.

Coming on like an art-house Dead Calm (on which it was clearly an influence) Polanski's drama is slow-moving to the point of inertia, but patient viewers will appreciate the creeping tensions and Oedipal undertow. Not easily accessible, but a film whose scenes and themes stick with you.

A poignant, heartfelt tribute to a vibrant New York subculture and its flamboyant acolytes, captured on grainy celluloid, shortly before it got appropriated and streamlined by the mainstream.

A cheesy but good-humoured voiceover adds to the charm, while the events on-screen can often be exciting and fascinating to watch.

Cinema rarely gets this close to poetry in motion.

The actors keep the film going, at times by sheer magnetic on-screen presence even when the screenplay lets them down.

Da 5 Bloods is Spike Lee at his mature best, made with his distinctive, passionate voice and kinetic artistry.

Compared to most US action adventures, The Northman is adventurous and distinctive. It feels compromised, but the great stuff outweighs the not-so-great stuff. To see or not to see? If that is the question, the answer is: see it.

A touchstone for many of the sub-standard gangster films Britain mercilessly churns out today, The Long Good Friday is classy fare and superior viewing to its modern counterparts in every way.

The script is so economical, and the acting so beautifully natural (especially by Dambrine, a remarkable discovery), that Close feels less like a drama than a tapestry of fragments from a candid documentary.

Klute still perhaps stands as Pakula's finest moment. Informed in part by the conventions of film noir - duplicitous female, ambitious private investigator, and murky goings on of the sexual variety - Klute manages to distill them all into something highly original and distinctly unsettling.

It's such an entertaining film that it's easy to overlook the fact that the comedy only works because it depicts structural racism in such an exaggerated black-and-white manner.

Craig's performance is wily and joyful, and the film's biggest flaw is that there is too little of him, as Johnson often turns the spotlight from Blanc to other characters.

Tom Cruise's seventh Mission: Impossible film is an unusual mix of high-tech and low-tech, of ultra-modern and defiantly traditional.

No other film this year will get more people talking, or more people crying.

If more attention had been paid to plot and characterisation, this would have been a great rather than a good movie. Even so, it stands as a cinematic landmark. Without it there may well have been no Dirty Harry or The French Connection.

With its Gothic atmosphere and deeper themes, Wake Up Dead Man has a darker tone than the previous Knives Out films. Yet it is also the funniest and most playful so far.