Louis Feuillade | 62 mins | DVD | PG
Second instalment of the early French film serial, adapted from a long-running series of pulp novels.
Fantômas is a criminal adept at disguise and avoiding capture by police inspector Juve. It’s full of crazy schemes and action set pieces, which means it’s actually a great deal of fun, relatively fast-paced and densely plotted, exciting and deliberately amusing (though, as with anything this old, there are things to point and laugh at if you’re so inclined). It also looks stunning for its age, with a stable and crisp picture, which incidentally makes great use of colour tinting (for example, turning from blue to yellow when someone switches on a light).
It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in early cinema this is one of the most entertaining examples I’ve seen. As you may have guessed, we were shown this as part of my degree; off the back of it I’ve ordered the DVD of the full serial.
I never got round to watching the rest of Fantômas, though I’ve been meaning to ever since… (story of my life.)
I’ve always been a bit wary of Chan’s films: he’s renowned for using comedy in his action (to help break away from the frequently-applied “new Bruce Lee” label), which isn’t really to my taste; but after we were shown an impressive clip from this in a lecture I felt I had to give it a go.
Noir-wannabe, adapted from the James Ellroy novel based on a real, unsolved case. That case is far from the focus here: from the start the apparently-central crime is anything but, meaning the biggest let-down is that events barely follow the eponymous story.
Recent adaptation of Patrick Süskind’s popular novel, often considered unfilmable because of its focus on the sense of smell. Tykwer covers for that with strong cinematography, with sumptuously rich visuals and a judicious use of close-ups to evoke beauty or disgust as appropriate (the early birth scene in a fish market is particularly rancid — do not watch this right after eating!)
Jock-tastic ’80s-style surfing-based crime thriller. If you’ve seen 
An all-star cast lead Scorsese’s Oscar-winning remake of Hong Kong action thriller 
There’s a nagging sense that you’re watching a student short film for large chunks of Brick, especially at the start. This is accompanied by a niggling worry that it’s also been vastly overrated.
Heat will probably always be best remembered for two things: the excellent running shoot out on the streets of L.A., and De Niro and Pacino on screen together for the first (and, so far, last) time.
Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers, in this ‘true crime’ biopic. The film focuses on her 9-month relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci, which is also the period in which she killed several men (many of them, especially initially, not undeserving of their fate).
This all-star sequel to the 
100Films.co.uk 