Dysfunctional Families
Perhaps because it's something nearly all of us can relate to (apart from The Bradys), messed-up families have always been a popular subject for filmmakers in all genres. Whether you're playing it for laughs ('Arrested Development', 'Go For Zucker'), drama ('Kramer vs Kramer', 'Nil By Mouth'), or thrills ('The Quiet Family', 'Olivier, Olivier') the family dynamic is a deep well of ready-made love/hate relationships, seething resentments and hidden secrets. What more could a filmmaker, or a film-watcher, ask for!
The Godfather CODA ( Blu-ray ) (1990)
7.6/10
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Br...
The absorbing Corleone saga continues with Al Pacino's attempt to remove himself from the world of crime, and how fate and circumstance draw him back... Read more
The Little Gangster ( Le Petit Criminel ) (1990)
7.1/10
Director: Jacques Doillon
Starring: Richard Anconina, Clotilde Courau, Gerald Thomassin, Jocelyne Perhirin
The 'petit criminel' of the title is an unhappy child to an alcoholic mother who sees a glimmer of hope in the news of a missing discovered older sist... Read more
Dottie Gets Spanked (1994)
7.3/10
Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Evan Bonifant, Robert Pall, Julie Halston, Barbara Garrick
Writer/director Todd Haynes made this stylish, tender-hearted short between his critically acclaimed features 'Poison' and 'Safe', and the deeply pers... Read more
Life is Sweet (Blu-ray) (1990)
7.5/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Claire Skinner, Jim Broadbent
Another slice of working-class life focusing on an endearing couple and their iconoclastic twin daughters - one of whom is waist-deep in self-loathing... Read more
The Unsaid (2001)
6.7/10
Director: Tom McLoughlin
Starring: Andy Garcia, Sam Bottoms, Trevor Blumas, Linda Cardellini, Teri Polo, Vincent Ka...
Andy Garcia stars as Kansas psychologist Dr Michael Hunter who quits his practice following the suicide of his teenage son. Disturbed by the death, wi... Read more
I'm Losing You (1998)
5.2/10
Director: Bruce Wagner
Starring: Rosanna Arquette, Frank Langella, Andrew McCarthy, Elizabeth Perkins, Amanda Don...
Adapted from his acclaimed novel Bruce Wagner directs this unsettling look at a wealthy L.A. family dealing with death and dysfunction. Frank Langella... Read more
Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
6.9/10
Director: Christine Jeffs
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub...
Rose (Amy Adams) had a bright future ahead of her, but several failed relationships and one child later, she is squandering her potential in the subur... Read more
Father Of The Bride (1950)
7.2/10
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, Leo G C...
This comic, sentimental gem stars Spencer Tracy as a dad, coping with one emergency after another, as daughter Elizabeth Taylor prepares to walk down... Read more
Father's Little Dividend (1951)
6.7/10
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Don Taylor, Billie Burke
This sequel to the 1950 comedy hit 'Father of the Bride' finds Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett returning as Stanley and Ellie Banks, the parents of new... Read more
Step Brothers (Blu-ray) (2008)
6.9/10
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott, Kath...
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly had so much fun on 'Talladega Nights' they decided to re-team in this goofball gross-out comedy. They play a couple of... Read more