My VHS Collection

Better than the original, thanks mainly to an expanded role and a great performance from Christina Ricci as Wednesday.

Stunning neo-noir from Lawrence Kasdan, showing in his directorial debut that he's capable of much more than just knocking George Lucas' stories into screenplay shape.
The plot is right out of ye olde booke of movie cliches but it's the dialogue (you're not too bright, I like that in a man), the performances of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner and the chemistry between them that really makes this work.

Arthur Penn's definitive telling of the story of this outlaw couple is now almost 40 years old but stands up to scrutiny thanks to Penn's stylish (and daringly violent for the time) shooting and the performances of his eclectic and accomplished cast. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are excellent as the titular couple but the performances of Michael J Pollard, Gene Hackman and a brief but funny turn from Gene Wilder in his debut add colour. The cast of characters are hugely engaging company and it's always sad to see the ending of the movie, despite the fact you probably know it going in.

A guilty pleasure. Rather than update the TV show (which, being English, I've never seen) the Brady's are simply transplanted as their 1970's selves into the 90's. Good natured, very funny and well cast.

Kinda fun while it lasts, forgettable the instant it finishes.

It's as subtle as being hit with a baseball bat for two hours while your assailant screams "Drugs are BAD" at you but Christiane F is an undeniably powerful film.
Natja Brunckhorst (just 14 or 15 when the film was made, and appearing several years younger) is outstanding as Christiane giving an astonishingly adult and intelligent performance that anchors the film and ensures that it's always riveting.
Also excellent is Thomas Haustein, who appears never to have made another film, something of a waste on this evidence.
The film gets a touch repetitive towards the end and stops dead early on when director Ulirich Edel (later to make Last Exit to Brooklyn and Body of Evidence) takes us to a David Bowie concert for five pointless minutes (and I say this as a great Bowie fan).
Unwaveringly unpleasent and shocking it may be but it's refreshing that the filmmakers choose not to sugarcoat the story at all and nothing that takes place within the film can match, for sheer shock value, the caption at the end that reveals it is a true story.

A failure from David Cronenberg, but since it's Cronenberg it is at least an interesting failure and has a couple of strong performances, most notably Holly Hunter's.