T-Z

T

The Talented Mr Ripley – a closeted man envies and loves his rich friend so much he murders him and takes his identityDirector: Anthony Minghella
Cast: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow

Tár
– a conductor is wrapped in scandal in this mesmerising film, open to multiple interpretations
Director: Todd Field
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant
Taxi Driver – a desperate nobody fixates on a woman, a Presidential candidate and a child prostitute. Gripping, essential.Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cybil Shepherd, Jodie Foster
The Ten Commandments – DeMille’s swan song, the biggest, campiest, most famous Biblical epic of them allDirector: Cecil B DeMille
Cast: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter
Ten Rillington Place – excellent true-life crime drama, focusing on John Christie and the wrongful execution of Timothy EvansDirector: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Richard Attenborough, John Hurt, Judy Geeson
Tender Mercies – a reformed country and western singer searches for joy in Chekovian dramaDirector: Bruce Beresford
Cast: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley
Tenet – a secret agent is hired by a secret organisation, in this undefinable mix of Bond and time travelDirector: Christopher Nolan
Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh
Terminator 2: Judgment Day – superior sequel: a cyborg travels back in time to save the future leader of the human resistanceDirector: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
Terminator: Genisys – second attempt to kickstart the franchise, a messy, personality-free disasterDirector: Alan Taylor
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtenay
Terminator: Dark Fate – surely one final time to relaunch the franchise, a better movie but a box-office disasterDirector: Tim Miller
Cast: Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Terms of Endearment – Best Picture winning tearjerker about the fractious relationship between a mother and daughterDirector: James L Brooks
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson
Tess – beautifully shot and tragic (if a little long) Hardy adaptation, filmed in France (for obvious legal reasons)Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson
The Testament of Dr Mabuse – Lang’s masterful, chilling mix of psychological ghost-story and gangster filmDirector: Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke
Thank You For Smoking – a corporate lobbyist is a mouthpiece for the smoking industryDirector: Jason Reitman
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes, Maria Bello
Their Finest – making of a nation moving WW2 picture, the brain child of an undervalued female scriptwriterDirector: Lone Scherfig
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy
Thelma and Louise – iconic feminist movie, as two women go on the run after killing a would-be rapistDirector: Ridley Scott
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel
The Theory of Everything – sanitised but heart-warming Stephen Hawking biopic, focusing on his marriageDirector: James Marsh
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox
There Will Be Blood – one of the greatest film of the decade, a ruthless oil man will sacrifice anything for fortuneDirector: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J O’Connor
They Made Me a Fugitive – don’t get confused with Odd Man Out… impressive man on the run dramaDirector: Alberto Calvalcanti
Cast: Trevor Howard, Sally Jones, Griffith Jones
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? – savage satire on cruel entertainment, sometimes heavy-handedDirector: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Gig Young
The Thing – on an Antarctic base, a shapeshifting alien hunts down the crew. Body horror classic.Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilfrid Brimley, TK Carter
Things to Come – HG Wells utopia future has flat dialogue but great visuals in this sci-fi curiosityDirector: William Cameron Menzies
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson
The Third Man – one of the greatest films ever made, a naive American finds out unfortunate facts about his dead friendDirector: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli
Thirteen Lives – the astonishing rescue of a group of boys from caves in Thailand brilliantly dramatisedDirector: Ron Howard
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman
This Sporting Life – a self-loathing rugby player struggles to express his feelings in this hard-hitting kitchen sink dramaDirector: Lindsay Anderson
Cast: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel
Thor: Ragnarak – hilarious Marvel film, that brilliantly reinvents Thor as someone lighter, funnier and tragicDirector: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett
Thor: Love and Thunder – smug, unfunny, self-satisfied adventure, takes all the wrong lessons from RagnorakDirector: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – a mother campaigns for justice for her murdered sonDirector: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson
Three Colours: Blue – first of this legendary trilogy: the wife of a composer is consumed with grief by his deathDirector: Krzysztof Kieślowski
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Emmanuelle Riva
Three Colours: White – a husband has everything taken from him by his cheating wife and plans revengeDirector: Krzysztof Kieślowski
Cast: Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos
Three Colours: Red – final, and greatest, film in the trilogy: a student and a retired judge form an unlikely bondDirector: Krzysztof Kieślowski
Cast: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Lorit
Three Days of the Condor – after his whole team is killed on his bosses orders, a young CIA analyst tries to find out whyDirector: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow
The Three Musketeers – rousing, swashbuckling fun with jokes, great Sunday afternoon entertainmentDirector: Richard Lester
Cast: Michael York, Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston
Through a Glass Darkly – a woman suffering schizophrenia doubts God’s existence in this Bergman Oscar-winnerDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow
Thunderball – Bond searches for lost nuclear weapons and spends a lot of time underwater in a film I’ve often found boringDirector: Terence Young
Cast: Sean Connery, Alfredo Celi, Claudine Auger
Tick… Tick… Boom – Jonathan Larsen worries his chances of making his mark are fading, in this loving musical tributeDirector: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús
Time After Time – HG Wells builds a time machine and chases a fleeing Jack the Ripper to 1970s San FranciscoDirector: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen
Time Bandits – a young boy joins a group of time travelling dwarves in this wonderful fantasy for history buffsDirector: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker
The Time Machine – disastrously awful version, made worse by being directed by Wells’ Great-GrandsonDirector: Simon Wells
Cast: Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – brilliant, atmospheric adaptation of Le Carré’s Mole-hunt classicDirector: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch
To Catch a Thief – Cary Grant is the retired thief falsely accused of a new crime in his luscious but middle-road HitchcockDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
Tokyo Story – a retired couple are ignored by their children in one of the greatest, and simplest, films ever madeDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Cast: Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara
Tom Jones – Best Picture winning sex-farce about a rogueish adopted son of a country squire, which tries way to hardDirector: Tony Richardson
Cast: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith
Tomorrow Never Dies – Bond goes up against a media tycoon, planning to start a war for ratings. Brosnan on top formDirector: Roger Spottiswoode
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh
Tootsie – a difficult actor finds work disguised as a woman and winning a part on a TV soap. Superb, smart comedyDirector: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr
Top Gun – Cruise flies planes and Goose dies: that’s the basic sum of the plot of this mega smash-hitDirector: Tony Scott
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer
Top Gun: Maverick – Tom Cruise flies again in this much-better-than-the-original sequelDirector: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm
Top Hat – classic Astaire and Rogers dancing, in glorious top hat and tailsDirector: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
Topsy-Turvy – brilliant Gilbert and Sullivan biopic, also a wonderful celebration of the power and magic of theatreDirector: Mike Leigh
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall
Total Recall – action satire; in a dytopian future, a man has a fantasy of being a spy on Mars: but what if its actually true?Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone
Touch of Evil – late Welles masterpiece about a corrupt cop in a Southern border-town, dealing with murder and mayhemDirector: Orson Welles
Cast: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles
The Towering Inferno – does exactly what it says on the tin, in this classic all-star disaster film.Director: Irwin Allen, John Guillermin
Cast: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway
Toy Story 4 – not sure there was a reason to make a fourth film, and this doesn’t really supply oneDirector: Josh Cooley
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts
Trading Places – a banker and tramp’s lives are turned upside down in this very 80s slice of comedyDirector: John Landis
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis
The Tragedy of Macbeth – glorious, imaginative and compelling version one of the best Shakespeare filmsDirector: Joel Coen
Cast: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Corey Hawkins
The Train – a French resistance fighter frustrates a German general, stealing France’s art legacy by train Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Trainspotting – iconic film about addiction: Scottish youngsters cope with drug dependenceDirector: Danny Boyle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – simply horrible, horrible film that plumbs almost every crude depthDirector: Michael Bay
Cast: Shia LeBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – brilliant gold hunting drama of obsession, greed and mistrustDirector: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – sentimental tear-jerker on the tough life of an Irish-American family Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Peggy Ann Garner, Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn
The Trial – paranoia bought brilliantly to a film in a Kafka adaptation easier to admire than likeDirector: Orson Welles
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Orson Welles
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – solid, crowd-pleasing film about the trial of Democratic activists in 1968Director: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Edjie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Triangle of Sadness – rather obvious satire on the super-rich, as a yacht cruise turns into Lord of the FliesDirector: Ruben Östlund
Cast: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Dolly de Leon
Triple 9 – thieves plan to get away with a heist by distracting the cops by killing another cop somewhere elseDirector: John Hillcoat
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Antony Mackie, Casey Affleck
Trouble in Paradise – two con artists in a relationship decide to con a rich woman: not helped when he falls in love with herDirector: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall
Troy – revisionist Trojan war epic. One of those epic films I have a real soft spot forDirector: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
True Grit – Wayne wins the Oscar as an eye-patched Marshal in a film already old-fashioned when it was releasedDirector: Henry Hathaway
Cast: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell
The Truman Show – a man unwittingly lives in an invented world and is actually the star of a reality TV showDirector: Peter Weir
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Natasha McElhone
Trumbo – biopic of the Hollywood scriptwriter, blacklisted and forced to work anonymouslyDirector: Jay Roach
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane
The Turning Point – two ballet dancers – one who retired young, one near the end of her career – deal with old resentmentsDirector: Herbert Ross
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine, Tom Skerritt
12 Angry Men – a single juror tries to win over the rest in one of the greatest trial dramas ever madeDirector: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J Cobb, Ed Begley
12 Monkeys – a time-travelling criminal is sent back 40 years to 1996 to find the origins of a world-ending virusDirector: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt
Twelve O’Clock High – a hot shot general tries not to buckle under pressure commanding a WW2 bomber wingDirector: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe
Twentieth Century – a theatre producer tries to cajole his former star to return with him to BroadwayDirector: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly
23 Paces to Baker Street – despite the title, this murder mystery about a blind man has nothing to do with Sherlock HolmesDirector: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me – spin-off of the TV series, Lynch reclaims it with added weirdness and darknessDirector: David Lynch
Cast: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Mädchen Amick
Twister – storm chasers flirt and flee from the winds in this deeply silly disaster filmDirector: Jan de Bont
Cast: Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes
The Two Popes – Benedict XVI meets with the future Pope Francis, in this witty, excellently acted odd-couple movieDirector: Fernando Meirelles
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins

U

U-571 – American sailors steal the Enigma machine so their code breakers can crack it. Didn’t go down well in the UKDirector: Jonathan Mostow
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Bill Paxton
Unbroken – a POW survives incredible suffering and being stranded at sea during WW2Director: Angelina Jolie
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund
Uncut Gems – a luckless gem dealer needs a big score to clear his gambling debts in this electric comedy thrillerDirector: Benny & Josh Safdie
Cast: Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox
Under Fire – well-made but naive film about Nicaragua that pulls its punches and settles for melodramaDirector: Roger Spottiswoode
Cast: Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy
Unforgiven – brilliant Best Picture winning Western: a retired killer is lured back and slowly finds he can still killDirector: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
A United Kingdom – an African Prince marries a British woman but they face huge obstacles to stay togetherDirector: Amma Assante
Cast: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Terry Pheto
The Untouchables – FBI Agents take on Al Capone in this superb cops and robbers film (with added Eisenstein homage)Director: Brian de Palma
Cast: Kevin Coster, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia
Up in the Air – a consultant who flies across America, firing people for downsizing companies, questions his choicesDirector: Jason Reitman
Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
Us – creep horror as a woman encounters a sinister doppelganger of herself – is there a dark mystery behind it?Director: Jordan Peele
Cast: Lupita N’yongo, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph
The Usual Suspects – a mismatched gang of crooks are recruited by a mysterious mastermind. But who is he?Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri

V

Vampyr – nightmareish vampire movie, full of haunting images and unexplained terrorsDirector: Carl Theodore Dreyer
Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schitz, Rena Mandel
Venom – utterly unoriginal comic book antics, saved by Hardy’s inventive performanceDirector: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Vera Drake – a 1950s abortionist is arrested in this superb social issues drama, possibly Leigh’s best filmDirector: Mike Leigh
Cast: Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Peter Wight
Vertical Limit – dreadful Wages of Fears rip-off, as mountainers carry explosives up a mountain to dig out stranded friendsDirector: Martin Campbell
Cast: Chris O’Donnell, Bill Paxton, Scott Glenn
Vertigo – a detective has fear of heights and an obsession with the woman he’s been hired to follow. One of the greatest films ever made.Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara bel Geddes
Vice – terrible, smug and obvious Dick Cheney polemicDirector: Adam McKay
Cast: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell
Victim – a closeted lawyer is blackmailed in this pioneering drama on gay rightsDirector: Basil Dearden
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Sims, Derek Price
Victoria and Abdul – sentimental and feeble royal friendship drama, that has nothing interesting to sayDirector: Stephen Frears
Cast: Judi Dench, Ali Farzal, Tim Pigott-Smith
The Vikings – swashbuckler about a Viking prince and a Saxon slave with a mysterious backgroundDirector: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
The Virgin Spring – a senseless killing leads to loss of faith in Bergman’s challenging but essential ‘other’ Medieval filmDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Birgitta Pettersson
Vita and Virginia – Virginia Woold and Vita Sackville West fall in love and have an affair in this odd filmDirector: Chanya Button
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabella Rossellini
Volcano – dreadful, predictable and very silly disaster film as a volcano erupts under LA. What are the odds?!Director: Mick Jackson
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche

W

The Wages of Fear – penniless workers have to drive explosive chemicals over dangerous terrain in this gripping thrillerDirector: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cast: Yves Montard, Charles Vanel, Folco Lilli
Waiting Women – three women share stories of their marriage in Bergman’s experiment with form and genreDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Anita Björk, Eva Dahlbeck, Maj-Britt Nilsson
Walk the Line – heartfelt Johnny Cash biopicDirector: James Mangold
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reece Witherspoon
Walkabout – dreamlike coming-of-age story set in the Australian outbackDirector: Nicolas Roeg
Cast: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil
War and Peace – Hollywood produces it’s simplified, romantic version of Tolstoy – Gone with the SnowDirector: King Vidor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer
War of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar seeks revenge after tragedy hits his family, during a war between man and apeDirector: Matt Reeves
Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn
WarGames – a computer wants to play a game: unfortunately the game is Thermonuclear war…Director: John Badham
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood
Watch on the Rhine – dated at the time anti-Nazi film, too wordy and not dramatic enoughDirector: Herman Shumlin
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Lucile Watson
Watchmen – reverent graphic novel adaptation that captures the visuals but not the depthDirector: Zach Snyder
Cast: Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode
The Water Diviner – after his sons are MIA after Gallipoli, a father travels to Turkey to find their bodiesDirector: Russell Crowe
Cast: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Dylan Georgiades
Waterloo – practically a reconstruction of the battle, shot on a massive scale; the sort of film I’m a sucker forDirector: Sergei Bondarchuk
Cast: Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles
WaterWorld – a mutant mariner helps a woman and child in a water-soaked dystopian world. Legendary box office bomb.Director: Kevin Reynolds
Cast: Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn
The Way Back – in the 1940s men escape from a Siberian Gulag and walk across Asia to freedomDirector: Peter Weir
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan
West Side Story – Best Picture winning classic musical about dancing street gangs with some of the best dancing you’ll ever seeDirector: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno
West Side Story – vibrant and dynamic remake that places Puerto Rican culture more at its heartDirector: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist
The Westerner – Ford western bromance between a cowboy and Judge Roy BeanDirector: William Wyler
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport
The Whale – dishonest, disingenuous, manipulative, sentimental – a dying obese man tries connect with his daughterDirector: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau
What We Do In the Shadows – very funny spoof, as a group of vampires house-share in New ZealandDirector: Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Cast: Taika Waititi, Jermaine Clement, Jonathan Brudgh
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? – two sisters feud over the past in the first ever “hag horror”Director: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
What’s Love Got to Do With It? – hard-hitting Tina Turner biopic, passionately actedDirector: Brian Gibson
Cast: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne
White Heat – Cagney makes it to the top of the world as possibly the most psychotic gangster this side of GoodfellasDirector: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien
The White Ribbon – chilling parable: a village in 1900s Germany faces a series of outrages possibly carried out by childrenDirector: Micheal Haneke
Cast: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Burghart Klaußner
The White Tiger – a poor Indian works as a chauffeur for a rich couple and is asked to take the blame for their mistakesDirector: Ramin Bahrani
Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Rajkummar Rao
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – a married couple play psychological games with themselves and their guestsDirector: Mike Nichols
Cast: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
Widows – the wives of a gang of late-criminals, have no choice but to complete the final heist they plannedDirector: Steve McQueen
Cast: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki
The Wife – a celebrated writer picks up a Nobel Prize: but how much of his success should actually be credited to his wife?Director: Björn Runge
Cast: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater
Wild – a woman wants to recover from grief and addiction by an epic hike: a lot more than just Eat, Pray, HikeDirector: Jean-Marc Vallée
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski
Wild at Heart – a released killer and his girl go on the run in this dark and irritating Lynchian filmDirector: David Lynch
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd
The Wild Bunch – a bunch of old cowboys rage against the dying of the light in this hugely violent, brilliant WesternDirector: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan
Wild Rose – an irresponsible cleaner with a powerful voice dreams of being a country and western singerDirector: Tom Harper
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo
Wild Strawberries – an aged doctor reflects on life and loss in Bergman’s surprisingly optimistic road-trip movieDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin
Wilde – biopic, with a perfectly cast Fry, that sometimes feels a little uncertain on its attitudes and toneDirector: Brian Gilbert
Cast: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle
Wilson – Zanuck’s dream project, a very earnest biography of Woodrow WilsonDirector: Henry King
Cast: Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Cedric Hardwicke
The Wind That Shakes the Barley – Loach mourns the loss of the Socialist Republic of Ireland in the 1920sDirector: Ken Loach
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham
Wings – silent WW1 flying action film and buddy movie, the first Best Picture winner: pilots love the same woman but become friendsDirector: William A Wellman
Stars: Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen
The Winslow Boy – handsome, faithful Rattigan adaptation as a father works for justice for his sonDirector: David Mamet
Cast: Nigel Hawthorne, Jeremy Northam, Rebecca Pidgeon
Winter Light – a priest despairs over his lost faith in Bergman’s profound and thoughtful masterpieceDirector: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Max von Sydow
Witness – an Amish boy witnesses a murder. A detective goes undercover to protect him and falls in love with his motherDirector: Peter Weir
Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas
Witness for the Prosecution – Agatha Christie courtroom drama adaptation, with one of the best twists everDirector: Billy Wilder
Cast: Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power
The Wolf of Wall Street – a Wall Street crook takes almost as man drugs as he steals dollars in this electric classicDirector: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
The Wolverine – the clawed superhero searches for peace in Japan – but of course doesn’t find itDirector: James Mangold
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tak Okamoto
The Woman in Black – a widowed solicitor explores a haunted house. Good jump horror film with a too young starDirector: James Watkins
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer
Woman in Gold – cosy Philomena rip off: woman and her lawyer fight for a painting stolen from her family in WW2Director: Simon Curtis
Cast: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl
The Woman King – warrior women in 1820s Africa fight to protect their kingdom in a punchy action epicDirector: Gina Prince-Bythe
Cast: Viola Davis, Thusu Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega
Women in Love – two couples struggle for love and happiness in this arty and odd DH Lawrence adaptationDirector: Ken Russell
Cast: Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Jennie Linden
Women Talking – admirably well-meaning feminist drama, but it doesn’t succeed as well as it mightDirector: Sarah Polley
Cast: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckely
Wonder Woman – Wonder Women fights an evil German General in WW1: not as revolutionary as it claimsDirector: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, David Thewlis
Wonder Woman 1984 – unfairly criticised sequel, in many ways more fun and engaging than the firstDirector: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristin Wiig, Pedro Pascal
Wonka – family-friendly film repackages Dahl in the style of Paddington. Fun but not quite distinctive enough.Director: Paul King
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Hugh Grant
Working Girl – a secretary has business smarts – but her ideas stolen by her female boss – in this Wall Street comedyDirector: Mike Nichols
Cast: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver
The World is Not Enough – Bond gets involved in mysterious threats to a pipeline – but who can he trust?Director: Michael Apted
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle
The Wrong Box – old-school farce full of mistaken identity and black comedy, sometimes tries a little too hardDirector: Bryan Forbes
Cast: John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine

X

X-Men: Apocalypse – the heroes take on a super powerful mutant aiming to destroy the world (again) in a series rapidly running out of ideasDirector: Bryan Singer
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
X-Men: Dark Phoenix – final flourish of the prequel films, with all ideas finally gone, though not as bad as all thatDirector: Simon Kinberg
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain

Y

Yankee Doodle Dandy – all-singing, all-dancing Broadway legend biopicDirector: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
You Only Live Twice – Bond goes to Japan and meets Blofield. Connery looks like he wants to be literally anywhere elseDirector: Lewis Gilbert
Cast: Sean Connery, Donald Pleasance, Akiko Wakabayashi
Young Mr Lincoln – myth-making ‘origins story’ for America’s greatest PresidentDirector: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver
The Young Victoria – affectionate costume drama on the romance between Victoria and AlbertDirector: Jean-Marc Vallée
Cast: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany
Young Winston – handsome biopic covering the early years of Winston Churchill, from cradle to maiden speech at the commonsDirector: Richard Attenborough
Cast: Simon Ward, Robert Shaw, Anne Bancroft
Youth – a retired composer rebuilds relations with his daughter at a Swiss retreat for the rich and famousDirector: Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz

Z

Zardoz – in the future a slave hunter discovers he is the tool of the Gods. Or something. Crazy sci-fi, as bad as it soundsDirector: John Boorman
Cast: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman
Zero Dark Thirty – morally dubious Hunt for Bin Laden film, that (inadvertently?) builds a strong case for tortureDirector: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle
Zodiac – three men hunt for the Zodiac Killer in Fincher’s masterful true-crime thriller about the dangers of obsessionDirector: David Fincher
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jnr
The Zone of Interest – chilling Holocaust movie, brilliantly designed and directed, that keeps horror off screenDirector: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Christian Freidel, Sandra Hüller
Zorba the Greek – a Brit learns to become Greek from a larger-than-life peasant in a tonally confused filmDirector: Michael Cacoyannis
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas, Lila Kedrova
Zulu – a small group of British soldiers stand firm against overwhelming orders in this non-triumphalist Zulu war filmDirector: Cy Endfield
Cast: Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Jack Hawkins