Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
(Jay Roach, 1997)
As the 1990s found time to recycle every single decade in one, Mike Myers' brand of
character comedy found full expression by resurrecting Swinging London. Whether playing
Powers, the "ultimate gentleman spy", or his neurotic nemesis Dr Evil, Myers throws off nifty
cultural asides, killer scatological set-pieces and indelible catchprases: "Oh behave!"
L'Avventura
(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
Distilling the essence of "ennui", Antonioni's audacious movie frustrates as much as it
engages, resembling an apparently straightforward mystery (wealthy young woman goes
missing, friends look for her) then allowing it to dissipate under the protagonists' soulless selfabsorption.
It has been dismissed as a "nothing happens" type of movie, but it's a provocative
portrait of modern emptiness.
Babe
(George Milller, 1995)
George "Mad Max" Miller's penchant for cute animal flicks doesn't stop with penguins, as per
last year's Happy Feet - he also adapted and directed this surprisingly heartfelt tale of about a
pig reprieved from death row and adopted by a sheepdog. It skirts glutinous kids'-movie
cliches, subtly flagging up its message of nonconformity and tolerance instead.
Babette's Feast
(Gabriel Axel, 1987)
Set in picturesque sepia-toned 19th century Denmark, this is the movie equivalent of dinner at
the Brothers Grimm. Awash with a gently puritanical sensibility, it pares religion to its most
spiritual form, with food as a sumptuous example of how to serve God, when French civil war
refugee Babette thanks her new community with a feast fit for a king.
Back to the Future
(Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
Few things are as enjoyable, or as rare, in the movie world as a smart crowd-pleaser. A
relentlessly entertaining time travel tale that heaps paradoxes and conundrums upon hapless
Michael J Fox. Zemeckis was quite the subversive back then, smuggling in such risqué
elements as Fox fighting off amorous advances from the girl who would later become his
mother.
Bad Boy Bubby
(Rolf De Heer, 1993)
Fans of provocative cinema should track down this Australian one-off, that starts out bizarre
and only gets stranger. A 30-year-old man has been kept locked indoors by his mother for his
entire life. And used as her sex slave. When he escapes, there's no telling what could
happen.
Bad Day at Black Rock
(John Sturges, 1955)
The train stops in the Black Rock desert and a one-armed Spencer Tracy gets off. He has a
medal to deliver to a war hero. But Black Rock has forgotten this man and is now as grim as
Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. What's a one-armed man to do . . . ?
Bad Lieutenant
(Abel Ferrara, 1992)
"Gambler. Thief. Junkie. Killer. Cop." They forgot "Conflicted Catholic" and "Defiler of the
Altar," but hey, who's counting? Harvey Keitel gives a masterclass in depravity, redemption
and loss as an addicted, corrupt cop enduring a staggeringly unpleasant tailspin of a
weekend. Abel Ferrara at his most outrageous and, weirdly, most controlled.