An all time classic 60s movie glamourising the real life story of the Barrow gang who terrorised the American South in the early 30s. 'Reclaiming the American gangster movie, after it had been stolen by the Nouvelle Vague, Penn's film was so successful (and so imitated) that it inevitably met with some grudging devaluation. But it's still great, half comic fairytale, half brutal fact, it reflects the essential ambiguity of its heroes by treading a no man's land suspended between reality and fant find out more...

Based on Anthony Burgess's novel, Clockwork Orange is a profoundly disturbing movie focusing on the mind-numbing amorality and brutality of gang-leader Alex and the even darker machinations of a government that wants to control him. Striking, masterful, seriously in your face, Clockwork Orange is deservedly up there with some of Kubrick's best work. find out more...

Hard-hitting yet darkly humourous dissection of the male psyche, from the director of "Se7en" and "The Game". Ed Norton is the Narrator, a socially inadequate white collar worker who frequents self-help groups for the terminally ill, despite being fit as a fiddle. After this particular avenue of pleasure is denied him, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who believes the point of life is to explore self-destruction and experience the pleasures of violence. find out more...

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...

A disenchanted Vietnam vet becomes a New York taxi driver and lets the violence and squalor around him explode in his mind. One of the most atmospheric films ever made about urban alienation. Foster's first film and the one which almost resulted in Ronald Reagan's assassination when he was President - it must be good! find out more...