Notorious (1946)

A spy movie at its essence - with a focus entirely on the spying. The deceit, lying and skulking around with little assurance of your own safety. There are no flashy action sequences here, in fact, most of the action takes place off screen. The information uncovered while sleuthing is sent to those who need it, while never being quite enough.

Starting slow, with a lot of bulky relationship building, the payoff comes in the second half when all of the performers revel in the depth of their subtlety, weaving their performanced nuances to create a gripping tapestry of fear and intrigue.

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

For some reason people seem to have a bad relationship with black and white films. There are many explanations as for the root cause of this, but the result is - it's a damn shame. A movie as solidly good as this should not be missed by anyone, for any reason.

At times crushingly sad, at times intriguingly honest, Sunset, for me, spoke less about the Hollywood system than just about companionship itself. Throughout the film that's all anyone yearns for - their individual goals for attaining this are different, but their lofty end goal is the same wholly relatable experience. Highly recommended.

The Apartment (1960)

What could have been another missable farce completely redeems itself by injecting, at just the right moment, a huge dose of reality into itself. There's no other way to describe it - it feels like the filmmakers asked themselves this: "What would happen in a screwball comedy if the character's actions actually had consequences?" And for that, I thank them.

This is a supremely warm, funny film and, the characters - even while the gravitas of their situation sinks in - they carry on with a forced smile, daring themselves to keep things light - and they, in a totally endering way, succeed. Highly recommended.

Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

The only reason I can see that anybody should watch this feature, is to find the source of all the parodies that this has created over the years. Everything here, from the acting to the staging, the set design and even the way its lit, everything conspires to make this feel like you should not be taking it seriously.

Meanwhile, the story itself putters along in the background being completely inconsequential to the film as a whole. The conceit is there just to get these great fighters together, but when they do, even the epic fight sequences feel lacklustre in execution.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Firstly, the cinematography (or is it Julius Friede and Mike Bellamy's coloring that's to praise?) and the music are the two stand-out attractions of this feature. The story itself is also fairly compelling. It's the individual elements that don't stack up.

For example, the singing women. Sure, anyone intelligent can see what they're supposed to be, but in the context of the film: Why don't they stop singing long enough to say hello? That and the recurring references to hair gel - at no point did this obsession get them in or out of trouble and so felt ridiculously tacked on.

Attack the Gas Station! (1999)

Comprising the events during one night at a gas station during the robbery and occupation by a group of four young hoodlums, Attack moves from scene to scene with a kinetic frenzy that surges through the entire film.

From start to culminating completion, the elements and events introduced one at a time eventually, as they grow increasingly beyond their control, pile up on top of another. Gang comes against rival gang, police come against all gangs, the staff become semi-enamoured with the initial muggers and everyone else is against the teens. Very frenetic and as funny as it is action packed.

Akira (1988)

The problem with the human body is that the jaw can only drop so far. Once its hit its limit, that's all there is to it. If you have any semblance of understanding the work involved in animation, you will realise this very quickly while watching Akira.

While I want to fault my initial viewing of the film on a confusing, multi-faceted plot, I just can't. I feel that it has all the components there to be amazing, but I wasn't ready for how the film doled out its wealth of information and intrigue.

This is definitely one to be revisited.