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THE BEST MOVIES TO STREAM AT HOME |
| The best movies on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky Cinema, BBC iPlayer, All 4, Disney+ and more |
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| THE BEST MOVIES CURRENTLY STREAMING |
| Previous recommended movies, listed below |
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CITIZEN KANE  |
| Orson Welles utterly unmissable 1941 acting and directing film debut, aged just 25, is recognised by most critics as "the greatest film of all time" and has been digitally hoovered to pristine effect. Inspired by the real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, its tale of will to power, excess and hubris has deep resonances today. (Black & White). |
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| Fritz Lang's "talkie" debut from 1931 is a masterpiece in the truest sense, and voted the best German film of all time. Based on a true story, it follows the hunt for a notorious child-killer in Berlin by organised criminals, whose activities are being disrupted by police investigations into the case. The Nazis - whilst not in power until 2 years later - tried to have the film banned, thinking Lang was targetting them (Black & White + Subtitles). |
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| Sticking closely to the plot, Joseph Losey relocated the story to L.A. in 1951 (Black & White). |
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SINGIN' IN THE RAIN |
| Dazzling in its perfection, this sublime 1952 brilliantly restored Technicolor musical puts the artistry of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds & Donald O’Connor on full, joyful display in the most enjoyable 102 minutes you’ll ever encounter in a cinema. Never, in the whole history of American cinema, has such a collection of talents come together at the peak of their abilities to generate such an enjoyable and clever movie. |
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BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN |
| Portraying the true story of a sailors' revolt on board a battleship, and the subsequent massacre of the Odessa citizens who had come to greet it in port, Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent Soviet propaganda masterpiece remains one of the most influential films ever made. If you only ever see one silent film, this is the one it should be. (Silent + Black & White). |
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THE THIEF OF BAGDAD |
| A ground-breaking early Technicolor movie from 1940, which is one of the most delightful fantasies ever put on film. A wonderfully atmospheric 'Arabian Nights' adventure for children of all ages - the last major movie started in England before the outbreak of the Second World War, and the last fantasy film released before America's entry into World War II. |
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THE THIEF OF BAGDAD  |
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| Douglas Fairbanks is magnetic in this fun early adventure (Silent + Black & White). |
| THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD |
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| Steve Reeves stars in the English-language Italian remake "Il Ladro di Bagdad". |
THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD  |
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| Peter Ustinov and Roddy McDowall camp it up in the fourth screen version. |
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SUNSET BLVD. |
| Legendary director Billy Wilder's witty, brilliantly constructed perfect 1950 Tinseltown satire in which silent-movie siren Gloria Swanson delivers one of the greatest of all film performances as a wild-eyed recluse driven mad by her fall from Hollywood stardom. (Black & White). |
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REAR WINDOW |
| Disguised as a riveting comedy thriller, Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 flawless, essential classic study of voyeurism starring James Stewart & Grace Kelly has often been imitated, but never equalled - all those windows, shaped like movie screens, each containing a mini-drama of its own. |
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BODY DOUBLE  |
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| Brian De Palma combines the plots of "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" in this 1984 update. |
| REAR WINDOW |
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| Christopher Reeve and Daryl Hannah star in this TV movie remake. |
DISTURBIA  |
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| "Rear Window" remixed for the 2007 YouTube generation with Shia LaBeouf. |
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THE GODFATHER |
| Francis Ford Coppola's flawless 1972 Oscar-winning masterpiece (no.2 in IMDB's Top 250 Best Films list) traces the handover of power within the Corleone mafia family, from the old world values of Don Vito (Marlon Brando) to his son, the white sheep (Al Pacino). |
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| THE GODFATHER PART II |
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| The only sequel to match the original in winning an Oscar for best picture (no.3 in IMDB's Top 250), many believe the 1974 movie to be even better than the first. Alternately prequel and sequel, it interweaves the stories of a young Don Vito (Robert De Niro) in 1921 with his son (Al Pacino) in 1958. |
| THE GODFATHER PART III |
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| Set in 1979, the belated, ill-advised 1990 return to the story is a crime worse than any committed by the Corleone family, despite strong performances from Al Pacino and Andy Garcia. |
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A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH |
| David Niven out-dashes the dashiest as an RAF squadron leader who appears to be doomed when his bomber crashes, only to be given a last-minute reprieve, his fate to be decided by a celestial tribunal. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's 1940 enduringly rich and strange romantic fantasia Technicolor masterpiece is one of the most audacious, and frankly bonkers, courtroom dramas ever committed to film. |
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THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS |
| One of the most celebrated and politically influential films of all time. Gillo Pontecorvo's important epic 1966 reconstruction of the 1954-57 Algerian revolution was banned in France until 2003. Employing only one professional actor alongside some of the real life revolutionaries, this is without doubt the most authentic historic film ever made. (Black & White + Subtitles). |
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| A FILM WITHIN HISTORY |
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| 2019 documentary which explores the making of the film. (Subtitles). |
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Dr. STRANGELOVE |
| Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 nuclear holocaust satire "Dr Strangelove - or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," starring Peter Sellers at the peak of his powers in a multi-personality performance. It is a puzzling, unsettling surreal comedy of errors played out with a deadly straight face. (Black & White). |
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PSYCHO |
| One of the most celebrated films in history, this 1960 thriller inspired by the real life gruesome career of the Wisconsin serial killer, Ed Gein, is easily the most shocking film produced by the "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock, and widely regarded as his best film, certainly his most imitated and perhaps his most influential. (Black & White). |
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| PSYCHO II |
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| A two-decades-on sequel might sound like a terrible idea, but this 1983 film is a smart, blackly-comic thriller with Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles returning to their old roles. |
| PSYCHO III |
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| Anthony Perkins stars in and directs a rather mean-spirited 1986 second sequel. |
PSYCHO  |
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| Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen and William H Macy star in Gus Van Sant's 1998 film whose sole merit is being the strangest remake in cinema history. Same script, same score, same angles, same six week shooting schedule and hilarious modern references. |
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APOCALYPSE NOW |
| Francis Ford Coppola's jaw-dropping 1979 horrifying but visually incredible Vietnam masterpiece, in which Martin Sheen travels up the Mekong river to terminate Marlon Brando's appalling rebel command "'with extreme prejudice". Notable faces in support include Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, and Laurence Fishburne. Coppola restored and extended the movie in 2001 with "Apocalypse Now Redux" and in 2019 with "Apocalypse Now Final Cut," |
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VERTIGO |
| Recently voted the best movie of all time in the highly prestigious BFI international critics poll, James Stewart & Kim Novak star in Alfred Hitchcock's most disturbing masterpiece; the intense 1958 romantic thriller about a former police detective who becomes obsessed with a hauntingly beautiful woman. |
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| OBSESSION |
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| Brian De Palma 1976 sexy thriller openly pays more than a nod to "Vertigo". |
| HIGH ANXIETY |
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| Mel Brooks 1977 parody of Hitchcock's greatest hits with an emphasis on "Vertigo". |
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CHINATOWN |
| A movie of near perfection, Roman Polanski's never-bettered searing noir masterpiece from 1974 sees Jack Nicholson give one of his best performances, playing a 1930's private eye who pokes his nose rather too deeply into the lives of Faye Dunaway and her corrupt father, John Huston. The best private eye movie ever made, it was recently named the greatest film ever made by a panel of Guardian and Observer critics. |
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| THE TWO JAKES |
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| 'Chinatown' was intended by scriptwriter Robert Towne to be the first of a trilogy about corruption in Los Angeles, but production of the second film was much delayed and only emerged in 1990, with Jack Nicholson himself as director. The third film was never made. |
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LOVERS ROCK |
| Taking place over one night in the 1980s, at a dance party in West London, the second film from British director Steve McQueen's 2020 "Small Axe" series is the only one of the five not to be based on true events and is instead a soulful love letter to the West Indian dance scene in the form of a smattering of different stories told throughout . |
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ALIEN |
| Ridley Scott's 1979 intergalactic horror masterpiece remains one of the most influential films in history and made Sigourney Weaver’s name. A beautiful revolutionary haunted house in space thrill-ride that stuns you with shock after shock. Celebrated equally for its H.R. Giger designed set, the organic innards of a derelict spaceship and its ghostly egg chamber. |
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| ALIENS |
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| James Cameron's perfect 1986 sequel connects irrefutably with the events of the original (even to the point of starting exactly where the drama left off, albeit 57 years later), and surpasses its predecessor in terms of sheer spectacle. |
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DUMBO |
| Arguably the most underrated of Walt Disney's cartoon features, this classic 1941 animation tells the story about a circus elephant born with freakishly large ears, who rises from miserable ugly ducklinghood to superstardom, when it is discovered that he can fly. |
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| DUMBO |
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| Tim Burton’s overcomplicated live-action and CGI remake of the beloved classic. |
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TOP HAT |
| If you want only one Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie, then this classy, Oscar-nominated Depression-era escapism musical from 1935, with great tunes, witty choreography, and a screwball confused identities plot is obligatory viewing. (Black & White). |
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SCHINDLER'S LIST |
| Steven Spielberg's outstanding Holocaust drama, which won seven Oscars in 1993, including best picture, tells the real life story of Second World War entrepreneur Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson), whose operation to supply the German war effort led him to be the unexpected saviour of more than 1,000 Jewish factory workers in Krakow. Also starring Ralph Fiennes & Ben Kingsley. (Black & White) |
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THE 39 STEPS |
| Perhaps the finest of Alfred Hitchcock's British films, his marvellously inventive 1935 thriller sees Robert Donat get dragged into an espionage conspiracy after an outing to a London music hall and ends up in Scotland handcuffed to an icy blonde Madeleine Carroll. (Black & White) |
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| THE 39 STEPS |
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| Kenneth More stars in this remake which is given a contemporary twist. |
| THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS |
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| Robert Powell & John Mills star in this re-remake has exciting stunts on Big Ben. |
| THE 39 STEPS |
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| A BBC TV movie which goes back to the original plot of the 1915 novel. |
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JAWS |
| A young Stephen Spielberg created maximum suspense - and perhaps his finest film - in 1975 with this adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestseller about a great white shark terrorising a New England beach resort; the scariest sea saga ever filmed. |
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| JAWS 2 |
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| Whilst Spielberg may have departed for the 1978 follow-up, Roy Scheider is amongst the original cast who reappear for this sequel which still has sufficient bite. |
JAWS 3D  |
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| Renamed 'Jaws III' for TV and stripped of the one gimmick (3D) that made it - arguably - acceptable in cinemas, the 1983 sequel is a right royal turkey. |
| JAWS - THE REVENGE |
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| Starring Michael Caine, this 1987 flop is often named the worst sequel in the history of Hollywood. |
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THE WIZARD OF OZ |
| A peerless Judy Garland stars in one of Hollywood's quintessential productions; this extraordinary musical adaptation of L Frank Baum's classic 1900 fable (it was actually the 8th version) is probably the most beloved fantasy film of all time and the ultimate family picture. |
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| THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ |
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| The earliest surviving film version of the novel from 1910 (Silent. Black & White). |
| THE WIZARD OF OZ |
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| A young Oliver Hardy stars in the 1925 silent slapstick (Black & White). |
| THE WIZ |
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| Diana Ross stars as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow in this fun adaptation of the musical, which in 1978 was the most expensive movie musical ever made. |
| RETURN TO OZ |
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| Panned on its release in 1985, the creepiest Disney film ever to grace the screen. |
| OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL |
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| Disney's 2013 reimagining of the classic - directed by Sam Raimi and starring James Franco and Mila Kunis - is a surprisingly magical treat. |
| LEGENDS OF OZ |
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| "Dorothy's Return" is a 2014 kid-friendly chirpy animation with the voices of Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Jim Belushi & Martin Short. |
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LAWRENCE OF ARABIA |
| Movie-making on the grandest scale and winner of 7 Oscars, David Lean's 1962 historical epic masterpeice still astonishes and has never looked more beautiful. A magisterial portrayal of one of Britain's most enigmatic yet charismatic heroes, TE Lawrence, whose precise role in the Arab revolt against the Turks during the First World War still perplexes military historians. |
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| A DANGEROUS MAN |
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| "Lawrence After Arabia", starring Ralph Fiennes, was a 1992 TV movie sequel. |
| LAWRENCE AFTER ARABIA |
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| Brian Cox stars in this new story of the last years of T. E. Lawrence’s life, due for release in March 2021 |
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VIRUNGA |
| Oscar-nominated documentary from Manchester University graduate Orlando von Einsiedel (produced by Leonardo diCaprio), which follows activists who work together to keep th,e Congolese park, which is home to many of the world’s remaining 800 mountain gorillas, from being exploited by a British petroleum company and poachers. Investigative journalism that moves like an action thriller. |
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UNFORGIVEN |
| Winner of four Oscars, including best picture and director in 1998, Clint Eastwood's captivating instant classic is quite simply, one of the finest Westerns ever made. It is a magisterial film, a lean fable of great moral complexity, immaculately acted by a large cast including Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris and Oscar-winning Gene Hackman alongside Clint himself. |
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| UNFORGIVEN |
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| Faithfully transposing the story to 1880's Japan, Lee Sang-il extremely closely re-imagined Clint Eastwood's western as a samurai film, in a 2013 remake so good that it almost equals the original. |
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP |
| Arguably the finest British film made during the second world war, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's 1942 wonderful salute to British decency was initially banned in the UK by Winston Churchill. A touching portrait of a friendship that bridges national boundaries, this is one of British cinema's undisputed masterpieces. |
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CASABLANCA |
| One of the most romantic films that Hollywood has ever produced, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, produce one of the most magnetic screen pairings in history in this timeless 1942 love story wrapped inside a gripping wartime thriller, written with such wit and meaning that it's still quoted (and misquoted) decades later. (Black & White). |
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| CABO BLANCO |
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| Charles Bronson stars in this strange, unsatisfying 1980 remake of "Casablanca". |
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THE QUIET MAN |
| John Ford's 1952 Oscar-winning charming romantic comedy sees John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in Ireland, rather than Monument Valley, as a boxer looks for some peace by returning to his family's roots only to upset the local big landowner. Perfect Sunday afternoon viewing. |
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NORTH BY NORTHWEST |
| A justifiable masterpiece, Alfred Hitchcock's thrilling and comical 1959 adrenalin-fuelled Cold War action blockbuster sees Cary Grant as the personification of suaveness playing a debonair ad executive mistaken for a US agent by sinister foreign forces led by James Mason. |
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STAR WARS |
| From a galaxy far, far away, the endlessly imitated but never rivalled opening instalment of George Lucas's original space opera trilogy, which tells the timeless tale of good versus evil with ground-breaking special effects for 1977, and a dazzling array of intergalactic characters. Essential viewing and, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest films ever made. |
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| THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK |
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| For many people, the 1980's follow up to George Lucas's "Star Wars", is the best film of the initial trilogy. Not a sequel as such, but the next part of a continuing story, it marks enormous progression both in terms of the mythos of the series and in the filmmaking quality itself". |
THE RETURN OF THE JEDI  |
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| Although the weakest of the three, the 1983 conclusion to George Lucas's original "Star Wars" trilogy is still essential viewing and a a superb movie. The introduction of the cutesy Ewoks, making it a particular favourite with younger viewers. |
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RIO BRAVO |
| Faultless, freewheeling and funny, John Wayne, Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson star in arguably Howard Hawks' greatest film; a majestically paced Technicolor western, from 1959, in which a small town sheriff enlists the assistance of a lush, a cripple and a young gunslinger to keep the brother of a ruthless land baron locked up until the marshal arrives. |
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| EL DORADO |
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| Howard Hawks used the same plot with John Wayne & Robert Mitchum in 1966. |
| RIO LOBO |
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| Howard Hawks and John Wayne made yet another variation on "Rio Bravo" in 1970. |
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THE LAST PICTURE SHOW |
| A heartbreakingly young-looking Jeff Bridges & Cybill Shepherd star alongside Oscar-winners Ben Johnson & Cloris Leachman in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 coming-of-age masterpiece, based on Larry McMurtry's novel, set in a small, dusty, windblown dying town in Texas during 1951, at the time of the Korean war. The soundtrack from Hank Williams and others is also a joy. (Black & White). |
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| TEXASVILLE |
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| Peter Bogdanovich reunited the cast in 1990 for Larry McMurtry's sequel. |
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BRINGING UP BABY |
| Reknown as the definitive screwball comedy, there are few pleasures cinema has on offer that are more enjoyable than this damn, damn funny romantic comedy of Hollywood’s golden age, starring Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant, two of the most popular 'serious' actors around in 1938, making fools of themselves. (Black & White). |
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| WHAT'S UP DOC? |
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| Peter Bogdanovich essentially remade "Bringing Up Baby" with Barbra Streisand in 1972. |
| WHO'S THAT GIRL |
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| Madonna stars in this woeful 1987 attempt at "Bringing Up Baby". |
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L.A. CONFIDENTIAL |
| Acted to perfection with more twists than you can shake a stick at, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basenger, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe & Danny DeVito star in this complex multi-layered 1950s detective story which requires some concentration to keep up with the subtle plot twists and coded dialogues. The excellent script won an Oscar in 1997, as did its leading lady. |
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NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD |
| George A. Romero's hugely influential 1968 horror movie in which a ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a bloodthirsty, flesh-eating breed of monsters who are ravaging the East Coast of the United States. (Black & White). |
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| DAWN OF THE DEAD |
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| George A Romero's 1978 astoundingly violent sequel - the first of five - is seen by many as the greatest zombie fantasy of all time. |
| THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD |
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| "Night Of The Living Dead" co-writer John Russo offered an alternate continuity to the original film in 1985 with this enjoyable horror comedy, which also spawned its own series. |
| NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD |
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| George A Romero updated his own script for Tom Savini's highly acceptable 1990 remake. |
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PARASITE |
| Bong Joon Ho's multi-Oscar winning gasp-inducing masterpiece⁽ᴹᵃʳᵏ ᴷᵉʳᵐᵒᵈᵉ⁾ that manages to scratch every cinematic itch you have and offers more up you didn’t know you had. The ideal way to experience the South Korean auteur’s awards-garlanded, international box-office smash is with as little prior knowledge as possible. |
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THE CONVERSATION |
| With one of his greatest performances, Gene Hackman stars in Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 immaculate thriller - a small masterpiece he made in the same year as "The Godfather II" - as a lonely and paranoid surveillance expert who is paid to eavesdrop on an affair. |
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| BLOW OUT |
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| John Travolta stars in Brian De Palma's 1981 homage to "Blow-Up" and "The Conversation". |
| ENEMY OF THE STATE |
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| Not officially related, Gene Hackman also stars in what is effectively a 1998 continuation. |
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THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY |
| Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach star in Sergio Leone's 1966 classic Spaghetti Western; a grisly-brilliant story of three amoral gunslingers in the parched American west on the trail of hidden Confederate gold, described by Quentin Tarantino as "The Greatest Film of All Time". |
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KING KONG |
| The 1933 masterpiece that more or less invented the monster film and the disaster movie in one go, this abiding take on 'Beauty and the Beast' has a mythic power that belies its years and has beome long established as part of modern folklore. (Black & White). |
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| SON OF KONG |
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| Also released in 1933, the official sequel took a more light-hearted approach. |
| MIGHTY JOE YOUNG |
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| The original team reunited 17 years later for this kiddie matinee reprise. |
| KING KONG vs GODZILLA |
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| Japanese studio Toho's 1963 spin off was aimed at children. |
| KING KONG ESCAPES |
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| A second spin off from Japanese studio Toho's in 1967. |
| KING KONG |
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| Dino De Laurentiis remade the original film with Jessica Lange & Jeff Bridges. |
| KING KONG LIVES |
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| Dino De Laurentiis returned in 1986 with an awful sequel |
| MIGHTY JOE YOUNG |
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| Charlize Theron stars in this family friendly remake of the 1949 film. |
| KING KONG |
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| Epic escapism. Naomi Watts, Jack Black & Adrien Brody star in Peter Jackson's 2005 passionate remake of the RKO classic which has everything of the original movie to the power of a hundred. It’s a stunning technical achievement although arguably less haunting and affecting than the stop-motion effects of the 1933 film. |
| KONG: SKULL ISLAND |
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| Tom Hiddleston stars in this 2017 quasi-update of the 'King Kong' story. |
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ON THE WATERFRONT |
| Seminal classic which won eight Oscars in 1954, including "Best Picture", "Best Actor" (Marlon Brando), and "Best Director" (Elia Kazan). Set amongst the union crime, corruption and underworld infiltration of New York's docks, the film was seen by many as a defiant attempt by Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg to justify their actions in ratting out former colleagues to the McCarthy witch-hunt, for their involvement with the Communist Party. (Black & White). |
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RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK |
| The orginal 1981 product of the near-Holy trinity of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas & Lawrence Kasdan, in which Harrison Ford stars as an unorthodox archaeologist searching Egypt for the fabled Ark of the Covenant and finds himself up to his neck in booby-trapped caves, snake chambers, Nazi spies, religious demons, damsels in distress and even a spot of romance. |
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| INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM |
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| The 1984 follow-up, set in 1930's India, is a trifle overblown and unsubtle, but it still has great sets, fun performances and terrific action including a wild rollercoaster ride through a mine. |
| INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE |
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| The masterstroke in the 1989 instalment was the introduction of Sean Connery as Indy's crotchety dad and the return of the Nazis as the baddies. |
| THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL |
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| Released 19 years later, in 2007, Indy finds himself entangled in a 1950's Soviet plot in this minor triumph minor triumph plucked from the jaws of disappointment. |
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CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON |
| You may never see a more beautiful movie - and certainly no more majestic film has yet been made than Ang Lee's multi-Oscar winning arthouse kung-fu movie from 2000 which defies pigeon-holing by succeeding as a love story, an action movie, a fantasy and a period drama with influences as diverse as John Ford , Akira Kurosawa , and 'The Matrix'. |
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| SWORD OF DESTINY |
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| With a script seemingly written by algorithm, Wo-Ping Yuen's dour but easily digestible 2016 follow-up comes across like a poor episode of Game of Thrones. |
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2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY |
| Awesome, influential, mind-blowing, cool, obsessional, pretentious Stanley Kubrick’s must-see 1968 science-fiction film, which was unlike any seen before, still towers, monolith-like, out on the high planes of the oh-so-verdant film landscape, and remains the greatest film that no one understands. |
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GOODFELLAS |
| A masterwork on every artistic level, Martin Scorsese's most visceral movie from 1990 is a genuine challenger for the title of greatest Mafia flick ever made. Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta and an Oscar-winning Joe Pesci star in this unflinching depiction of the real-life wiseguy turned snitch, Henry Hill. |
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SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON |
| Released in 1949, the most flamboyantly colourful of John Ford's John Wayne Cavalry & Indians Westerns, winning an Oscar for cinematography that expertly captures the breathtaking epic grandeur of Monument Valley. |
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THE TERMINATOR |
| Damn close to perfect, James Cameron's 1984 nerve-bludgeoning, slickly executed sci-fi thriller, set in a post-apocalypse Los Angeles, propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger to stardom as a time-travelling cyborg sent back in time to assassinate the mother of an unborn enemy. |
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| TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY |
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| Arnie is back, in James Cameron's 1991 sequel which set a new cinematic standard for stunning, computer graphic special effects, and later spawning a disappointing franchise. |
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LAURA |
| Otto Preminger's masterful and fascinating whodunnit film noir romance from 1944. in which a New York detective investigates the brutal murder of a much-adored beautiful society girl. If you've never seen it, don't miss it. (Black & White) |
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THE SEARCHERS |
| Described by New York magazine as the most influential movie in American history, John Wayne gives his finest performance as a racist in John Ford's powerful and thought-provoking Wild West Odyssey, a masterpiece western of revenge and reconciliation which touches the heart of racist darkness and cleanses itself in the process. |
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| SEARCHERS 2.0 |
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| 2007 road trip comedy from Alex Cox which pays tribute to the John Ford movies. |
| MALIGLUTIT / SEARCHERS |
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| "The Searchers" was adapted in 2016 for this Canadian Inuit version. |
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WITHNAIL AND I |
| Endlessly quotable, touching, and funny, Richard E Grant, Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths deliver perfect performances in this 1987 British cult classic about two young jobless actors living on the edge of reality in 60's London, who decide to go for a small retreat to The Lake District. |
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CALL ME BY YOUR NAME |
| A full-hearted Oscar-winning romantic masterpiece from 2017. Set in 1980s Italy, it's a film that’s at once light, joyful and emotionally devastating, with deeply affecting central performances as a romance blossoms between a 17-year-old student (Timothée Chalamet) and the older man (Armie Hammer) hired as his father's research assistant. |
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THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS |
| Thrilling and scary in equal measure, Anthony Hopkins and Jody Foster are outstanding in Jonathan Demme's 1991 masterpiece adaptation of Thomas Harris's novel about a serial killer, an FBI student and the hunt for a murderer. One of only three movies to win the Big 5 Oscars: Best Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Picture. |
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| MANHUNTER |
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| Brian Cox was the original Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann's 1986 adaptation of Thomas Harris's source material "Red Dragon". |
| HANNIBAL |
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| Ridley Scott's 2001 deeply disappointing sequel continues the story. |
| RED DRAGON |
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| Hopkins, Edward Norton & Ralph Fiennes star in this 2002 remake of prequel "Manhunter" |
| HANNIBAL RISING |
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| The 2007 prequel attempts to explain Hannibal Lecter's upbringing. |
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MARRIAGE STORY |
| Noah Baumbach's 2019 Oscar-nominated incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson were also shortlisted for the Oscar, whilst support from Alan Alda and Laura Dern saw the latter win Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. |
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HAMILTON |
| The cultural event of Lockdown – it might even break the internet - the small screen version of the biggest theatre phenomenon of the last decade is a beautifully photographed original cast stage performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's smart, witty, funky hip hop musical about 18th-century American revolution, immigration, ambition and love. |
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THE BAND WAGON |
| Vincente Minnelli's perfect backstage Technicolor musical from 1953, about an ageing star trying to make a comeback in a Broadway show written by his friends, features Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse. Nominated for three Oscars, and regarded as one of the best MGM musicals, it heavily influenced Michael Jackson (who pay tribute to the film on no less than four albums). |
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HOMECOMING |
| "A Film by Beyoncé" is one of the all-time great concert docs that goes behind the scenes of her landmark 2018 Coachella headline set - when she became the first African-American woman to headline the festival - with an extraordinary 200-person show that paid tribute to America’s Historically Black University Colleges and their homecoming parades. |
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TOY STORY |
| Pixar's 1995 perfect animated extravaganza was the first ever full-length computer animated feature. Tom Hanks & Tim Allen provide the voices to a great adventure story that will not only entertain children but can also be enjoyed as a jokey parable by adults. |
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| TOY STORY 2 |
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| There's no need to have seen the first movie to enjoy the 1999 follow-up, which is less of a sequel but more an upgrade in software refinement. |
| TOY STORY 3 |
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| Pixar's third rummage in the toy box in 2010, delivers more appealing fringe benefits. |
| TOY STORY 4 |
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| The 2019 instalment caters both for children too young to have seen its predecessors and for adults who’ve grown up (or grown older) watching the previous films. |
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PANDORA'S BOX |
| Bold for its time, the 1929 classic, "Die Büchse der Pandora" is a masterly mix of expressionism and street realism, that ranks among the undisputed masterpieces of German silent cinema, catapulting American actress Louise Brooks to cinematic icon status with her performance as an insatiable femme fatale who murders her husband and tangos with a lesbian countess. (Silent. Black & White). |
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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING |
| One of the finest pieces of Hollywood filmmaking this century, Peter Jackson deservedly won the best director Oscar for this 2003 powerful and enchanting concluding episode to his massively ambitious 9 hours 18 minutes adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, with Mancunians amongst the strong cast including Dominic Monaghan, Ian McKellen, Bernard Hill, & Andy Serkis. It's important to watch the two previous instalments first... |
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| THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING |
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| Funny, scary and, totally involving, 2001's first instalment of the Tolkein trilogy, genuinely looked like nothing ever seen before and remains one of the finest pieces of Hollywood filmmaking this century. |
| THE TWO TOWERS |
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| 2002's second essential chapter is both funnier and darker than the first film, and certainly more action-packed. |
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BRIEF ENCOUNTER |
| Voted the best romantic film of all time, David Lean & Noël Coward's 1945 masterpiece (filmed just up the road in Carnforth) about a passionate yet unconsummated relationship between a married woman and a married doctor that struck a deep chord with wartime Britain. (Black & White). |
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| BRIEF ENCOUNTER |
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| Richard Burton and Sophia Loren star in this pointless TV movie remake. |
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THE TRUMAN SHOW |
| One movie you can pronounce a modern classic with absolute confidence, this ingenious satirical comedy drama from 1999, starring a suitably restrained and criminally Oscar-overlooked Jim Carrey, living in the idyllic island community of Seahaven - although the less we tell you about the plot the better, as this is an extraordinary experience from start to finish. |
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MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO |
| One of the most beloved family films of all time and arguably the best Japanese animated film ever, this otherworldly tale is a definitive work of imagination and a charming tale that draws on the childhood experiences of genius director Hayao Miyazaki, and is the film that first brought him to international attention. An animated achievement almost without parallel. |
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A TASTE OF HONEY |
| Beautifully shot in black-and-white on Salford locations, and set in dank bedsits amid the grimy smokestacks, and polluted canals, this ground-breaking 1961 social realist comedy drama, based on Shelagh Delaney's play, sees a mousey Rita Tushingham in her screen debut as a hilariously vulgar Salford lass encountering pre-marital promiscuity, cross-racial romance and homosexuality. |
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RIO FERDINAND: BEING MUM AND DAD |
| Extraordinarily brave and moving BAFTA-winning documentary which follows Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand following the death of his wife from breast cancer, aged 34. It is totally and tragically compelling, and certainly helpful to others going through grief, whilst to everyone else, it’s simply a very moving, very human film. |
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24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE |
| Steve Coogan stars as Tony Wilson in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 hilarious true story of Factory Records, The Hacienda and the Madchester music scene. Also starring Andy Serkis, Peter Kay, Paddy Considine, Christopher Eccleston, John Simm, Shirley Henderson, Lennie James, John Thomson, Rob Brydon, Ralph Little and Dave Gorman amongst many other famous Mancunian faces. |
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RAINING STONES |
| Bruce Jones and Ricky Tomlinson star in one of Ken Loach's most effective films, from 1993, which shows the increasingly desperate measures an unemployed Manchester man is willing to take in order to raise the cash for his daughter's communion dress. |
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BILLY LIAR |
| Filmed in Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne and Bradford, this must-see faultless blend of social realism and satirical fantasy is a kitchen-sink classic - an adaptation of Keith Waterhouse’s novel -starring Tom Courtenay as an undertaker's assistant who escapes from his mundane ‘grim oop North’ existence into an imaginary Swinging Sixties land, where he is supreme dictator. |
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THE CLASS OF 92 |
| Absorbing documentary that is remarkable not just for being an excellent film about Manchester United fans turned footballers David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary & Phil Neville, but for being about so much more, including Manchester and Britain itself in the 1990s. Engrossing for any admirer of the beautiful game, but for United fans, it's unmissable. |
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