In the build-up to the 1972 US elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward investigated what seemed to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters, the editor of the Post was prepared to run with the story and assigned Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. Their painstaking research found the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party and, eventually, into the White House itself and led to the downfall of Nixon. An intelligent and exciting dramatic reconstruction.< find out more...

Polanski has a go at the film noir detective thriller, very bleak, very twisted and very menacing it is to. Nicholson plays a private-eye in pre-war LA who is hired to pursue an adultery case, but finds himself embroiled in a complicated murder investigation. find out more...

Murder, magic and South African politics mix in a nightmarish world of mysticism and ritual slaughter. Drawn to the drought-ridden town of Bethany by the smell of death, shape-shifting 'Hitcher with No Name' (Burke) kills and dismembers a lonely young woman who picks him up. While the hitcher feeds off the despair of others, including fugitive wife Field, local policeman Mokae enlists the help of a half-mad, half-blind cinema projectionist in his search for a suspected serial killer. The non-lin find out more...

Stunning adaptation of James Ellroy's stylishly sinister 50s crime novel, cruelly robbed of its just desserts by a sinking ship at the Academy Awards farce. An awesomely authentic 1953 Los Angeles provides the backdrop, while the story focuses on a dodgy trio of LA's not-so-finest, united by mutual loathing, and all up to their necks in nefarious goings-on. Kim Basinger deservedly bagged the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her sultry Veronica Lake lookalike hooker, but all the performances are find out more...

Detective Leon Zat is assigned the case of a woman who has disappeared, but the further he delves the more complicated things become and the more people appear to be involved. The web of deceit seems to revolve around infidelity and the deeper Leon delves the more his trawl through humanity begins to affect his own personal world. Lantana is a grippingly intelligent psychological thriller, superbly performed and hypnotically atmospheric. find out more...

State of Play is a classic conspiracy thriller that promotes the belief that New Labour has betrayed the longing for a new ethical politics, replacing the sleaze scandals of the Major years with more of the same. The script, the dialogue and the acting are all top drawer in this gripping, pacey, multi-layered tale of ambitious and talented young men tragically failing. find out more...

The story continues in this gripping conspiracy thriller. find out more...

The original and best version of the detective thriller classic. Philip Marlowe is hired to investigate the gambling debts of a rich man's daughter, but is plunged into a twilight world of intrigue, blackmail and violence. Stylish and gripping. find out more...

This is, along with Hawks' The Big Sleep, easily the most intelligent of all screen adaptations of Chandler's work. Altman in fact stays pretty close to the novel's basic narrative (though there are a couple of crucial changes), but where he comes up with something totally original is in his ironic updating of the story and characters: Gould's Marlowe is a laid-back, shambling slob who, despite his incessant claim that everything is 'OK with me,' actually harbours the same honourable ideals as C find out more...

Treachery and deception in this classic film noir as various groups of low life characters try to lay their mits on the ancient treasure. Sam Spade is the honest fall guy. One of the best Hollywood films ever and certainly one of the best of its type. Initiated the move away from gangster movies. find out more...