Oh the mountain of must see movies and my humble attempts to scale it...

Progress will be compiled at the end of each month and films are listed in order of preference. 

Monkey Business

Howard Hawkes (1952)

With Cary Grant playing a bumbling scientist whose chimpanzee accidently discovers the elixir of youth, this screwball comedy looks so off the wall it would be fair to assume that particular genre was coined merely to describe it. A young Marilyn Monroe, in a supporting role, offers a great example of her often overlooked comic timing and Grant is his usual brilliant self in the lead role, barking down phones and running amok with endless charm. Grant embodies all the old-school Hollywood heart throb traits, only rivaled perhaps by his mate Jimmy Stewart, but- to paraphrase a better critic than myself- while we love to see him win the girl, when he's slipping on an olive we love him all the more.

Umberto D.

Vittoria De Sica (1952)

4 years after his timeless Bicycle Thieves changed the cinematic landscape, Vittoria De Sica delivered this slightly more sentimental, but still starkly neo-realist effort which follows the trials of the titular Roman pensioner and his beloved dog Flike.  Umberto struggles with social welfare and a cruel landlady as decency seems to fade from the world around him. De Sica’s style looks a touch more decorative here than on previous outings but the director’s dark edge remains, shooting many scenes on the Roman streets and sugar-coating none of his disillusionment with Italian society.

There’s Always Tomorrow

Douglas Sirk (1956)

A decade after their seminal work in Billy Wilder’s peerless noir Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyk were reunited here as, respectively, an underappreciated toy manufacturer and the old flame who returns to town. Gushing with all the melancholic longing that a title like that might suggest and with a vintage tender performance from Stanwyk this late Douglas Sirk effort has all the trappings of the melodramist’s best.

You Can Count On Me

Mark Lonergan (2000)

Mark Ruffolo plays a weary looking vagabond who takes a trip home to squeeze some cash from his sister (Laura Linney) but instead ends up playing father figure to her sheltered son (excellent Rory Culkin). Small town America; middle class problems; everyone grows: Lonergan’s film is a clear early omen of what we call the “Sundance film” today and bursting out from that particular festival, it may have even started the trend.