by Chris Bright

Before They Were Big Stars

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) – Robert Downey Jr pre-Iron Man

Short Term 12 (2013) – Brie Larson pre-Captain Marvel

Bronson (2008) – Tom Hardy, also a hard watch

June Bug (2005) – Amy Adams

Before They Were Big Directors

Brick (2005) – Rian Johnson

Fruitvale Station (2013) – Ryan Coogler

Gone Baby Gone (2007) – Ben Affleck

Bottle Rocket (1996) – Wes Anderson

Films Based On Books

Wonder Boys (2000) – Great cast

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) – Similarly great cast

Primal Fear (1996) – A young Edward Norton

High Fidelity (2000) – Watch this before you see the new Hulu series

Submarine (2010) – Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, ‘Travel Man’) makes auspicious, very cool directing debut

Films Based on Plays

Carnage (2011) – Cast to die for and a director who shall remain nameless

Doubt (2008) – John Patrick Shanley adapts own play

Closer (2004) – directed by the late, great Mike Nichols

Easy Watch

Adventureland (2009) – Set in the ’80s

Captain Fantastic (2016) – Need ideas for home schooling?

Lars & The Real Girl (2007) – A less-sexy Ryan Gosling

Nebraska (2013) – Will Forte in a non-comedic role

Harder Watch

Starred Up (2013) – About troubled youth

Mommy (2014) – About troubled youth

This Is England (2006) – About troubled youth

Good Time (2017) – About a fun park… Kidding, it’s also about troubled youth

Black Comedy

The Guard (2011) – from the brother of the guy who made Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Mississippi Grind (2015) – Ben Mendelsohn & Ryan Reynolds team up

I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017) – It’s on Netflix

Listen Up Philip (2014) – Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss

Sci-Fi Done Well

The Infinite Man (2014) – Aussie!

Moon (2009) – Directed by David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones

Another Earth (2011) – Brit ‘The OA’ Marling

About Time (2013) – from the guy who brought you Love Actually

Synecdoche, New York (2008) – Charlie Kaufman with Philip Seymour Hoffman

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) – Tom Cruise’s last decent non-franchise film

Cops & Robbers

Out of Sight (1998) – Steven Soderbergh

Hell Or High Water (2016) – Chris Pine can act

Inside Man (2006) – A Spike Lee Joint

Den Of Thieves (2018) – Gerard fucking Butler

Wind River (2017) – from the writer of Hell or High Water

Foreign Language

Parasite (2019) – Last year’s Best Picture winner

The Raid (2011) – Bloody action at its best

Force Majeure (2014) – Remade this year with Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Will Ferrell

Toni Erdmann (2016) – Long run-time but worth it

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) – Documentary

End Of The World Vibes

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) – from the director of Hustlers, but better

Life Is Beautiful (1997) – um….

Brigsby Bear (2017) – Luke Skywalker is in it

Good TV You May Have Missed

Misfits (2009, UK version)

Bored To Death (2009)

The League (2009)