The red-jacketed, Method-pouting James Dean steals every scene, but the ensemble playing is nothing short of exemplary.

Beautifully directed with a lovely visual lyricism, this film packs a western punch with perfect performances and a fine script.

On the strength of only two films, McDonagh and Gleeson are a director/star team on a par with Ford/Wayne, Fellini/Mastroianni or Scorsese/De Niro. Calvary is gripping, moving, funny and troubling, down to an uncompromising yet uncynical finish.

Moving and atmospheric, this quest tale is among the best of its kind.

A miracle of a film. It feels like Bong Joon-ho’s already extraordinary career has been building to this: a riotous social satire that’s as gloriously entertaining as it is deeply sardonic.

A much-maligned and misunderstood classic, this is one of Kubrick's finest movies.

A beguiling and beautiful film about a total toerag, Red Rocket is a unique character study: Mikey Saber will charm your socks off, and you’ll hate him for it.

Even though he was just staring out, Kubrick instantly mastered the crime genre. A stunning film.

Terrific: tough, exciting, funny, gorgeous and bewitchingly acted, this is darn close to perfection.

Both funny and touching, this showcases Chaplin at his best.

Astonishing cinematography and brilliantly played, this certainly one of the most influential crime movies in history.

An outstanding film, showcasing a great performance, at once celebrating, analysing and criticising an important writer and his major book. You'll appreciate it more if you've read "In Cold Blood" recently and have seen enough footage of the real Truman Capote to know Hoffman is underplaying.

Among the most purely entertaining films of the year, which cuts its laughter with a dose of Celtic melancholy. It still delivers cop/action requirements - shoot-outs, revenges, daring deeds - and chances are, we'll be quoting lines from this forever.

Ideal Sunday afternoon fare.

What lifts it out of the doldrums is Kieslowski's fascinating use of reflections, focusing techniques and camera angles to give the somewhat pedestrian material a profound and otherworldly East European feel.

Oz’s influence is boundless. Spellbinding stuff.

Necessary holocaust movie made for a Western audience. At times over sentimental when the subject matter hardly needs any dressing up, this is a beautifully crafted, hopeful movie.

James Cameron has surfaced with a cosmic marine epic that only he could make: eccentric, soulful, joyous, dark and very, very blue. Yes, he’s still leagues ahead of the pack.

Now, it's a slower film, with a little more intellect and sentiment, but perhaps the added time to think will make you feel less overwhelmed.

At once a devastating, curiously uplifting inhuman drama and a superbly crafted genre exercise, Let The Right One In can stand toe-to-toe with Spirit Of The Beehive, Pan's Labyrinth or Orphee. See it.

Pacino simmers in this daring and brilliantly constructed treatise on the many facets of a crime.

A touching and tender adaptation that does justice to a book which means so much to so many. An enduring, superbly performed triumph.

Despite a little dating around the edges this is a truly superb example of its genre and a cinema classic.

One of the definitive mystery chillers of all time. Poignant, beautiful and devastating.

A shining example of everything Hollywood falling into place, and a masterpiece of cinema.

One of the Nouvelle Vague's boldest achievements.

A delightfully offbeat reminder of how inventive and witty blockbusters seemed when you were a kid.

Ozon weaves another spellbinding tale that mingles the real and imaginery with terrific effect.