Despite Lumet's home-spun pincer movement on the espionage/conspiracy genres, cliché still sneaks up and nips the film into submission.

For anyone who appreciates artistic integrity and is interested in genuinely independent films, the prolific and highly personal work of John Sayles is essential viewing.

Jonathan Demme's follow-up to "Swimming To Cambodia" is a typically entertaining diversion.

Surprisingly watchable for the third sequel and despite its general predictability it's entertainingly inventive.

This was controversial at the time and that put alot of people off, believing that the film was probably all hype, but this is a respectful and complex work of fiction around the concepts of the biblical character and his life.

Good idea to cast the brat pack in a Western but this was badly realised and altogether a bit flat.

A mercenary display of product placement and a bad advertisment for filmmaking.

Cruise oozes as much charm as in Top Gun and The Colour of Money, but the mix of bar-acrobatics and Caribbean love isn't anywhere near strong enough to get you drunk.

Getting the best out of a middling novel, Romero finds new, less gruesome avenues for his skills.

Landis' latest keeps you laughing not with it's originality (of which there is little) but with it's confidence to out-joke it's predecessors on this much-trodden ground.

Entertaining family movie for rainy nights and Christmas holidays.

Ultimately lost in it's own contrivances, Big Business still manages a few laughs thanks to it's big name leading lady.

As a crowd-pleasing comedy it works. But it really could have been so much more.

Strays slightly from the formula and therefore loses some of its mindless fun credentials.

None of the energy of Mick Dundee's first foray has crept into this sequel, despite it being so close on the heels of the original. A must for lovers of the weathered outback and the even-more weathered Paul Hogan only.

Willow is not without its charms - the effects are more than special, the set-pieces suitably epic but it just doesn't fulfill the promise of certain other fantasy films.

A no-holds-barred assault on hollywood cop sensibilities that could have benefited from more comic diversions.

All pout and pose, with no spine to speak of; a beast with no back.

An otherworldly tale of childhood and a definitive work of imagination.

An insipid '80s nostalgia piece really, held together by Fox's performance and several neat turns from his support.

The combination of Neil Simon and Mike Nichols has the pair of them back to somewhere near their best.

Pretty terrible sequel in every respect.

Vice Versa knows its place and, rather than attempting anything oddball, sticks close to the body swap formula in order to gain a decent smattering of laughs. No classic, but a watchable comedy that will find an audience.

Impeccably mounted and played, this is gastro-cinema at its most sensual and intoxicating.

Thoroughly charming, and thoroughly deserving of its cult status.

Frantic is Polanski's most satisfying film since Chinatown, and one of the best traditional thrillers to come down the pike in quite some time.

Appealing, emotional and with a strong enough performance by Rice-Edwards as the boy in his own little war-free world.

Good performances, but If you're looking for an uplifting tale of hope against despair, look elsewhere.

Louis Malle, possibly at his best here. The drama is subtle but affecting.

Entertaining and ambitious horror hokum, slightly tarnished by a disappointingly obvious "shock" ending.

It’s arguably every bit as good as Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita.

In another variation on a theme, this plodding drama may have its heart in the right place but, along side a gaggle of angst-ridden Hughes dramas of the period, fails to stand out amongst the crowd.

Average example of MadMaxploitation.

Road movies should be pleasurable and free-spirited, but Candy Mountain drags too much weight around.

One of Levinson's best films, and one of Hollywood's best films on the whole Vietnam subject.

The small screen doesn't quite do justice to the rich visuals but with an incredible story and fine performances, it is still a compulsive and moving epic.

You end up with this perky but pointless rehash of the cute alien format that became embedded in the late ‘80s.

In a film tracing the endless battles between style and substance, Brooks delivers both in abundance.

A classic screwball comedy that draws its inspiration from the 1930's genre. The jokes are quick and amusing enough to carry it through it's hour-and-three-quarters. Russell and Hawn have fun with the characters which comes through and makes it all the funnier.

As with Platoon, Stone captures the horrific essence of an environment and transfers it to us without the need for prior knowledge. Dazzling filmmaking.

Always a spoof rather than a homage, this comedy soon realises there's only so many laughs you can plunder from the heavy premise and the repetitive carriages.

Spielberg's technical ability is very clear, with much to appreciate on close examination.

Another aching heartbreaker of a film by Berri that absorbs and rewards the audience for sticking with Manon on her sun-beaten quest.

A warm, mature offering from Hughes, with Martin's restraint a perfect counterpoint to Candy's enormous (and enormously amusing) fooling around. You'll find sympathy here, but just as many calamitous antics as you'd expect in any Hughes vehicle.

Charming and watchable. The three leads show their comedy potential.

Driven by cliches and almost completely ignoring the psychological growth of the children coping with the loss of their parents, it doesn't take long for this to descent into meaningless schlock.

Never managing to look more hi-tech or further on from 1987 than, well, Hi-tech trainers, this Arnie vehicle still runs it's bloody course without dropping many gears. A brainless, breathless thrill.

Only stony hearts won't be moved by Attenborough's vivid, if occasionally sentimental, evocation of a great well of human potential cruelly snubbed out.

Not as closely controlled as My Beautiful Laundrette, but still a purposeful cross-cultural comedy that raises a few questions alongside the few laughs.

Convincingly sozzled performances but, like Bukowski's poetry, there is little meaningful here to take away.

There are no gothic extravagances in Kathryn Bigelow's bone-dry, style-rich, noir-steeped vampire western. Instead it comprises a fascinatingly modern take on blood sucking mythology, shedding tradition to examine the creatures as human counterparts.

A patchwork of a movie that ultimately knows where it's going, but doesn't really know how to get there.

Rich in atmosphere, its leisurely pace dwells on repressed passions in Edwardian society.

Two absolutely riveting performances and a smart reversal of the usual male-female stalker scenario leave behind a nasty taste and an unforgettable cinema experience.

A slicky edited, white knuckle ride to the depths of depravity.

A fun night in with the tellybox, but then it never claimed to be anything more.

As a direct tribute to the dignity of the solider facing attacks on both their bodies and their souls it puts things in a salutary context.

Chris Cooper's superb performance and numerous authentic details makes this a little gem.

A simple, elemental tale that makes breaking the heart seem like the easiest and most natural thing a filmmaker can do to his audience. Which, of course, it isn't.

Good performances from a strong cast and paranoid plotting enough to keep even the staunchest of remake nay-sayers quiet. Hitchockian production with a modern twist.

Nice performances, a useful script and a dignified ending all boost this film's appeal, but it is the workable simplicity of the premise that really does it.

Sharper than a stake in it's genre references, The Monster Squad appeals to cinephile as well as teen sensibilities.

The first film to be based on a line of toys, this might not be the last, but it'd take something awful to replace it as the worst.

A comic take on Rear Window, Badham's latest has the acting talent to carry it over the sizeable gulfs in plot to an end product that brings laughs aplenty.

The Lost Boys remains a supremely watchable example of something the '80s did right.

After the fizzle of the later Roger Moore Bonds, The Living Daylights brings in a new 007 in Timothy Dalton, who manages the Connery trick of seeming suave and tough at the same time, and tried to get away from the weak comedy in favour of proper international intrigue.

Predictably awful fourth installment.

A dedicatory, sometimes sombre recreation of the career of 50s teen-throb Richie Valens, which feels like a personal project by director Luis Valdez.

It was this love of mayhem combined with a biting comic attack on neo-fascist corporatism - most notably seen in the TV ads for products like the apocalyptic board game Nuke 'Em - which helped raise Robocop above the common sci-fi herd.

Significantly worse than the rest of the series, this film is one of the worst flops in recent cinema.

Strays from the boundaries of believability a little too much to be regarding anything other than a throw-away comedy.

It doesn't have the dark edge of Joe Dante's other works, but brilliant performances by Martin Short and Meg Ryan make it a joy from start to finish.

Fun spoof but it's been surpassed in the TV-series film spoof since then.

Subtlety had never been Brooks’ thing, but even blunt blows need to be well aimed, and while Spaceballs doesn’t exactly miss its targets, it certainly bounces off them embarrassingly.

Warm, charming comedy with one of the best one-liner scenes that remains a classic.

Fans can mouth the words of Grant's big speeches along with him, relishing every viperish turn of phrase...this is and always will be a perfect dark comedy and a student staple.

Superb performances, exquisite direction and that Ennio Morricone score create an authentic 1920s Chicago feel and a hugely entertaining crime drama.

A disquieting tale set in the grim realities of trashy America. Some great, often insane performances make it a memorable trip.

A decent snapshot of pre-Beatle Britain, this is much more a fact-based gay melodrama than a trenchant portrait of Joe Orton's life, loves and art.

Although downbeat, this celebration of the US military is done so expertly you forget that at the time it is set Coppola's idea of a great film was You're A Big Boy Now.

Pallid doesn't do it. This is offensively bad in every department and should be left to rot in a vault somewhere.

There are flaws aplenty, but also some effective, old-fashioned Western style performances and a spectacularly over the top finish.

Typically paper thin, the plot and the morality are blown away by the charms of the leading man and a soundtrack that has been hand-picked to get an audience on side. Unadulterated silliness, but harmless fun.

Citizens On Patrol might well have been subtitled When The Rot Set In.

This uneven but well-researched film takes a much more sober and realistic view than the Rambo-esque capers, of the hardships endured by shot-down Americans in conditions that were anything but Hilton-like.

Likeable Robert Townsend — who also co-wrote and directed — is a delight in this patchy but consistently enjoyable chronicle of a young black actor’s efforts to crack Hollywood.

Humerous, but doesn't gel as well as Levinson's previous efforts.

Hilarious, madcap comedy from the Coen brothers that demonstrates just why they are the kings of quirk.

The gaudily gory, virtuoso, hyper-kinetic horror sequel/remake uses every trick in the cinematic book, and confirms that Bruce Campbell and Raimi are gods.

The pace never slows, the jokes never miss and the stunts never disappoint in this macho-dream of an actioner.

A diabolical treat with Rourke and De Niro in fine form.

Arguably the most imaginative of the horror franchise, with a fair number of truly resonant scenes.

A pallid shopfloor fairytale with absolutely no magic to speak of, other than the spark in Kim Cattrall's eyes.

The two stars are very good, doubtless enjoying their high fashion outfits, and the script has one clever plot reversal in the third act, but it really could have done with a few more thrills (the motives for the killings lead to necessarily slow plot development), either in the murder or the sexual perversity departments.

Humane and perceptive memoir from Allen, with a pleasant visual nostalgia and the usual slew of impressive performances.

Leslie Dixon’s script is effective, though sometimes seems stranded between the domestic humour and the big issues being played out. Still, engaging, undemanding stuff.

Slightly weird, occasionally funny thriller.

Some of the slower tunes tend to grind but the sort of musical/ retro irony is still amusing in places. Not if you don't like dentists though.