Admit One DailyNear Dark marked Kathryn Bigelow out as a director to watch, but it came a bit too early for Admit One Daily. Not so this excellent follow-up. Plenty more Bigelow to come in the weeks and months ahead.
Not content with producing some of the biggest films of all time, Frank Marshall thought he’d have a go at Directing too. Not a bad first effort this. Unless you’re scared of spiders, of course.
Small aliens misinterpret a Halloween broadcast as a real invasion and head to Earth. That’s the film.
Matthew Broderick finds himself in another mob-adjacent story playing against a megastar co-star — this time Marlon Brando no less. Looking back at the reviews it seems critics liked it a lot, but clearly it didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
One of those films where you walk out of the cinema knowing you’ve seen something special. Scorsese firing on all cylinders, with a cast at the top of their game. Hard to believe this lost Best Picture to Dances with Wolves.
There’s a scene in this where a load of bikes suddenly shoot across a crossroads at night. I don’t know why, but it made a big impression on me at the time and it’s still the only thing I can clearly remember about the film.
Once again we’re safely in late 80s/early 90s territory with this Nora Ephron-penned Steve Martin/Rick Moranis mob comedy. The New York Times called it “a truly funny concept and a disappointment on the screen”, which probably explains why I barely remember it.
I enjoyed this far more than the recent Masters of the Air TV series. Great cast, great characters, great story. Michael Caton-Jones is another one of those directors who seemed destined for greatness but somehow faded away.
This low-budget debut from Richard Stanley was absolute catnip to me and my mates in the early 90s. We were convinced he was going to be the next James Cameron. Then The Island of Dr. Moreau more or less killed his career.
Alan Parker feels like one of those directors who’s largely been forgotten, which is strange given how many fantastic films he made in the 80s and 90s. This is one of his best. Unsurprisingly, given the subject matter, it’s attracted its fair share of controversy over the years, but taken simply as a film, it’s great.
