French director Erick Zonca wanted to make a film which would begin as a portrait of a woman then slowly change gears and become a thriller about kidnapping and violence. Zonca has completely succeeded as his 2008 film Julia is a particularly impressive character piece which organically develops into something rather more generic in its second half.

Erick Zonca's Julia (2008) is an excellent pastiche of the thrillers directed by John Cassavetes. Tilda Swinton provides a memorable performance in the titular role of Julia - the constantly dissembling alcoholic.

Written and presented by Mike Dawson.

Although nowadays, what comes to mind when the spoof genre is discussed is the Scary, Epic, and Superhero Movie franchise, at one time it would be Airplane and Blazing Saddles, Naked Gun and Hot Shots. Black Dynamite taps into this vein of comedy. Like all of the above, it is played totally straight, yet is over the top in its silliness from beginning to end, and it works like a charm.

Structure is often considered to be of vital importance to the process of creating a narrative. Structure has been meticulously examined and explored in relation to drama for thousands of years. Famously the process began with Aristotle’s Poetics, the oldest surviving analysis of dramatic principles and effectively the birth place of critical theory in relation to literature and theatre, critical theory which would eventually be applied to cinema.

Actor turned writer director Mia Hansen-Løve’s second feature film Father of My Children (Le père de mes enfants) is an excellent example of a two-act film.

Written and presented by Mike Dawson.