20th Century Flicks, Bristol

Monty Brogan was a dealer of some repute, but his time is up and in only 24 hours he will be incarcerated at the nation's pleasure for seven long years. With the small amount of time left to him Monty decides to attempt some kind of redemption, a journey that will take in his estranged father, his alienated friends and a little unfinished business. No more entertaining than many of Spike Lee's films (and I like his stuff) this is perhaps one of his most mature pictures, devoid of much of the pr find out more...

ADAPTATION (2002)

Certification15 Our Rating

Charlie Kaufman is a screen writer struggling to adapt Susan Orlean's best selling novel "The Orchid Thief". As he tries to get to grips with his work Charlie must also deal with his twin brother/alter ego(?) Donald, a problem compounded by the gradual but seamless blending of reality and fiction. A surreal tale which defies the imagination of us mere mortals, Adaptation is an intelligent, crackingly performed, hilarious and perceptive flick, Spike Jonze's second feature lacks the "you what!!?" find out more...

ALL OR NOTHING (2002)

Certification15 Our Rating

Set over one weekend we follow the dramatic turn of events that overtakes taxi driver Phil and his disillusioned family. It is only imminent tragedy that finally brings them together in an act of altruistic love that had begun to seem beyond them. All or Nothing is classic Mike Leigh, a social satire that's as emotionally demanding as it is bittingly funny. nominated for the Palme D'or at Cannes this is an intelligent and perceptive observation, but while Topsy Turvy promised an expansion of Lei find out more...

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (2006)

Certification15 Our Rating

Talented young sketch artist Jerome Platz escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art college. Here his ambition is to become, like his hero Picasso, the world's greatest artist. Unfortunately the beauty and craft of Jerome's portraiture are not appreciated in an art class that he finds bewildering and bogus, neither his harsh judgments of his classmates' efforts nor his later attempts to create pseudo-art of his own win him any admirers, though he does attract the attentions of his dream find out more...

BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS (1979)

Certification12 Our Rating

Dennis Potter's play is set in the Forest of Dean on a summer day in 1943. Seven children go out to play. The seven children are all played by adult actors to act as 'A magnifying glass to show what it's like to be a child'. find out more...

BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1984)

CertificationPG Our Rating

A small time theatrical agent finds himself dragged into a Mafia hitman's telescopic sights after inadvertently doing his job. A return to comedy for Allen, although not a return to slapstick, in this whimsical piece which is funny, sad and nostalgic. find out more...

BROKEN FLOWERS (2005)

Certification12 Our Rating

Don Johnston is a man with nothing, apart from money that is, when he receives an anonymous letter from one of his many ex-loves informing him that he is the father of her teenage son. At the urging of his neighbour, Don is forced from his lethargy and sent on a journey of discovery. Each unannounced visit to his former girlfriends is a fascinating insight into these women's present and an intriguing observation of Don's past, a man who seems to have long ago dispensed with the need for any demo find out more...

CARAVAGGIO (1986)

Certification12 Our Rating

"I am dying in time to the splash of their oars - if arms as steady as these had embraced me in life...". This film is Jarman's vision of the life of the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573 - 1610). Caravaggio revisits periods of his tempestuous life in a series of deathbed flashbacks and prose-poem voice-overs, focusing particularly on the intense relationship between himself and a couple who model for him in Rome, Lena and Ranuccio. This sexual and violent love triangle eve find out more...

CLOSER (2004)

Certification15 Our Rating

One couple seesawing between love and indifference, togetherness and separation, the callow actions of one bring another in to the equation and soon there are four. The one who controlled the situation gradually becomes cuckold to the guest he unwittingly invited and as the tables turn so the transient and compromised nature of love makes its tenuous nature clearer. Closer is Mike Nichols adaptation of Patrick Marber's acclaimed play and a sophisticatedly brutal thing it is too; nicely acted but find out more...

CRADLE WILL ROCK (2000)

Certification15 Our Rating

Set in the 1930s and based around real events, we follow a diverse group of characters and events in depression hit New York. The young Orson Welles, with a group of equally idealistic and determined actors, sets about trying to stage a performance of the infamous left leaning musical 'Cradle Will Rock'. This has an awesome cast and is strikingly visualised, but Robbins has perhaps bitten off more history than it is possible to chew on in one two hour movie. Nevertheless a powerful and absorbi find out more...