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.

Scottish director Lynne Ramsay is one of the current crop of exciting British film makers who’ve cut their teeth in feature filmmaking over the past ten years or so. After Graduating from the UK’s National Film and Television School in 1995 she wrote and directed a number of shorts including the excellent Gasman which is available on the Cinema 16: British Short Films DVD.

Lynne Ramsay's sophomore feature film Morvern Callar (2002) is a beautiful if aimless tale of a vacant super market employee who travels to Ibiza after her boyfriend commits suicide. The Guardian ranked this as the most under rated film of the last decade.

Written and presented by Mike Dawson.

American Director Peter Hyams has a fairly ghastly track record, after being given the unenviable task of directing 2010, the follow-up to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, he went on to make uninspired and sometimes downright awful Actioners like Timecop in 1994, Sudden Death in 1995, The Relic in 1997, End of Days in 1999, and The Musketeer in 2001. Other lesser known works in between have never made a massive splash in the box office or in critical circles.

Part conspiracy thriller, part science fiction, part action adventure. Peter Hyams' under rated 1977 fake-mars-landing centred feature film Capricorn One demonstrates what a talent Hyams had for high-octane action and witty dialogue early in his career.

Written and presented by Mike Dawson.

Film Noir is considered by many to be a genre of its time, generally speaking we think of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, 1940’s, 1950’s, private dicks, femme fatals, black and white photography, pronounced shadows and lots of smoking. Away from these stylish Hollywood crime films of 60 and 70 years past and we have the Neo Noir, an altogether rarer beast with few classics to its name and an often differing set of stylistic rules.

Carl Franklin's 1995 Neo Noir doesn't garner the same level of plaudits as the likes of China Town or L.A. Confidential, but it is an overlooked gem worthy of your attention.

What would you do if you met a young art student named Adolph Hitler in Austria in 1909? Knowing what this man would eventually do, despite his innocence at that present moment. Do you kill him to save millions or do you let him go? This question is central to the ethical conundrum of The Last Supper.

Stacy Titles' 1995 black comedy is a rare gem of a film which satirises political ideology rather than politics in general. Featuring great gags and a thought provoking central premise.