Tim Robbins wrote, directed and stars in a film that exposes very cleverly the underbelly of US politics. He plays the charismatic Roberts, a right-wing "protest" singer, whose views begin to capture the nation's interest. Sinister machinations abound behind the scenes, and the documentary style works well. Funny too!

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A landmark in the history of the cinema; it was ranked Number 1 in the American Film Institute's 100 greatest films of all time in two polls (1998 and 2007) of more than 1,500 film industry movers and shakers and again by UK directors in a BFI poll. "Citizen Kane" narrates the rise and fall of a newspaper tycoon driven by a childhood obssession and is loosely based round the life of William Randolph Hurst, who tried to have it banned, but incorporates elements from the lives of other fat cats il find out more...

An American-German returns to the FDR in 1945 to work as a waiter on a new train, the previous one having been derailed but finds the changes superficial and the new consumerism cloaks sinister unbroken threads from the past. Haunting and hypnotic, literally. An art-house must-see.

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Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence. find out more...

Said and Khaled are good friends living in the war torn West Bank, they are also freedom fighters and have just been given the honoured, if unenviable, task of conducting a suicide mission in the heart of Tel Aviv. Remarkably, given the subject matter, Paradise Now retains a certain, if admittedly surreal, normality throughout much of the film and, though dark, there is a realistic, if doom-laden, vein of humour, even a whiff of romance. Director Hany Abu-Assad provides a welcome and much needed find out more...