Whitty Stuff

Director: Irvin Kershner
Screenplay: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz, James Earl Jones
Runtime: 124 Minutes

Original UK Release: 1980

★★★★★

After the tremendous success of Star Wars, a sequel was put into production under Lucas’s watch, with indie director Irvin Kershner being handed to reins...

Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenplay: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 154 Minutes

Original UK Release: 2008

★★★★★

After the successful renovation of the franchise with 2005’s Batman Begins, hopes were high and looking towards the promise of a bigger, grander future for the Dark Knight of Gotham - and T...

Director: Frank Darabont
Screenplay: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore
Runtime: 142Minutes

Original UK Release: 1994

★★★★★

The Shawshank Redemption is a masterpiece; there’s no sole secret as to why the film works as well as it does, it’s just a combination of distinguished ability, note-perfect performances and some compelling, genuinely in...

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, Bruce Willis
Runtime: 154 Minutes

Original UK Release: 1994

★★★★★

If Reservoir Dogs was the punch in the gut that American Cinema required to get it back on its feet, Pulp Fiction is the one tha...

Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino
Runtime: 145Minutes

Original UK Release: 1990

★★★★★

Unlike its inherent partner, The Godfather, Goodfellas is an almost intrinsic study into the lifestyle of its subject, Henry Hill. A story of smaller scale and world view than that of its sprawling ancestor, this is a vision of th...

Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Runtime: 115 Minutes

Original UK Release: 1981

★★★★★

Very much a companion piece to Star Wars, this is another attempt by Lucas and Spielberg to recapture the same nostalgia of the film serials of their youth. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the culmination of their labours, and it’...

Director: George Lucas
Screenplay: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, James Earl Jones
Runtime: 121 Minutes

Original UK Release: 1977

★★★★☆

After the initial failure of THX 1138, and the breakout success of American Graffiti, George Lucas set his sights on a more personal project.

Star Wars is an attempt by Lucas...

Director: Peter Jackson
Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Sala Baker
Runtime: 178 Minutes

Original UK Release: 2001

★★★★★

With the production of The Lord of the Rings, the landscape of modern...

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Screenplay: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson
Runtime: 116 Minutes

Original UK Release: 1985

★★★★★

Following up his recent genre play of Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis’ next picture came from the simplest of origins. A beautifully simple premise and story that, under the right execution, became in itself a defining an...

Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Hampton Fancher, David Peoples
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel
Runtime: 117Minutes

Original UK Release: 1982

★★★★☆
 

Inspired by Philip K. Dick’s story, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a monolithic philosophical tale that wraps itself around the roots of Greek traged...