Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

Bad Santa
(Terry Zwigoff, 2003)
Inebriated, foul-mouthed, child-hating, criminally intent Billy Bob Thornton gleefully desecrates
everything the shopping malls hold dear. Plumbing new depths in festive vulgarity, it's
definitely not for the children, but it is hilarious, and ultimately, it has a heart.
Badlands
(Terrence Malick, 1973)
Malick's first feature instantly established him at the forefront of the Movie Brat generation,
and rightly so: his hyper-alienated study of two teen thrill-killers (loosely based on the
Starkweather-Fugate) was perfectly in tune with its times. There's a L'Etranger-esque quality
to the blank, seemingly motiveless need for violence; it's strangely funny, too.
Bagdad Café
(Percy Adlon, 1987)
Very often the best films about the US come from non-Americans . Bavarian Adlon places an
efficient German hausfrau in a dwindling Mojave diner to turn its fortunes around. Jack
Palance's dignified role as a patron eminded casting directors to start putting him back into
good movies.
Bambi
(David Hand, 1942)
Many a grown-up can still be reduced to tears by the plight of the young deer and his doomed
mother, but Disney's woodland coming-of-age story is less sentimental and more primal than
you'd think. Animation experts watch and weep, too; the pioneering "multi-plane" technique
brings the story to life perfectly.
Bande À Part
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
In what's perhaps Jean-Luc Godard's most audience-friendly film, two guys fall in love with
not just a girl but the money she might lead them to. The signature scenes are a Charleston
dance sequence and a record-setting dash through the Louvre, but the zany action races
toward a shocking finale.
Bandit Queen
(Shekhar Kapur, 1994)
Based on the true-life tale of "India's most feared outlaw", Poolan Devi, Bandit Queen doesn't
make for easy viewing. Although Devi herself campaigned to have Kapur's film banned
(arguing that there was more to her life story than "sniveling" and being "raped") the film
remains a powerful expose of caste in India and a gripping revenge movie to boot.
Barbarella
(Roger Vadim, 1968)
Along with Cat Ballou, this is the high tide of Jane Fonda's almost forgotten pre-feminist,
transparent-miniskirt-and-gogo-boots bimbo period - a louche, campy, wildly over-the-top scifi
spoof from serial Svengali Roger Vadim. Unpardonable in so many ways, and therefore
unmissable.
Barry Lyndon
(Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
Kubrick's Thackeray adaptation is a staggering vision of the 18th century aristocracy,
switching from cluttered detail to reveal yet another stunning composition in which the
protagonists - snotty Irish aristocrats, suspicious Prussian mercenaries and Ryan O'Neal's
ambitious arriviste - are situated. Kubrick is at his most imperious here, but it suits a thrilling
European grand canvas.
Barton Fink
(Joel Coen, 1991)