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Latest Staff Picks

The films listed below are Alice's Latest Staff Picks, finding their way into this category generally as a result of agreement between staff that they have real merit for one reason or another. Most titles represent a safe choice for those that find choosing a film difficult or are bewildered by Alice's depth and breadth... For personal Staff Picks, you are cordially invited to take a journey into the mind's eye of Alice's movie mavens by clicking on the 'Staff Favourites' link (stage left). Click on the Alice Guide of your choice, and take an ushered journey through the looking glass and into their personal cinematic wonderland.

Pecking Order (2017)

7.4/10
Director: Slavko Martinov

Pecking Order ventures behind the scenes at the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam and Pigeon Club as it enters its 148th season and prepares for the Nation... Read more

The Lobster (2015)

7.1/10
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: John C Reilly, Rachel Weisz, Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman, Ben Whishaw, Ashley J...

In the world of Yorgos Lanthimos wily jet black satire of socially enforced coupledom, single adults are required to find a partner within 45 days or... Read more

Pleasantville (1998)

7.5/10
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: J T Walsh, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, William H...

A kind of "Wizard of Oz" in reverse as two 1990's teenagers become trapped in the golly-gee suburban fantasy world of a 1950's sitcom, where everythin... Read more

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

7.9/10
Director: Ken Loach
Starring: Briana Shann, Hayley Squires, Dave Johns, Dylan McKiernan

British cinemas social realist enters his eighties with a second Palme d'Or to his name after the Cannes Jury this year awarded his feisty new film... Read more

The Shape of Water (2017)

7.4/10
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: David Hewlett, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Mich...

Elisa is a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes fore... Read more

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

7.1/10
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Raffey Cassidy, Barry Keoghan

Cincinnati cardiologist Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) lived an ordinary existence with his wife (Nicole Kidman) and kids...but on the quiet, he mainta... Read more

Isle of Dogs (2018)

8/10
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Akira Takayama, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Courtney B Vance, Edw...

When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off alon... Read more

Loving Vincent (2017)

7.9/10
Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
Starring: John Sessions, Chris O'Dowd, Saoirse Ronan, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Turner, Helen Mc...

In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's fina... Read more

The Fifth Element (1997)

7.7/10
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker

A dazzling, imaginative tale set in the 23rd century where a cabbie (Bruce Willis) finds himself involved with a strange woman (Milla Jovovich) who mi... Read more

Submarine (2010)

7.3/10
Director: Richard Ayoade
Starring: Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Sally Hawkins, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige

Young Oliver Tate's coming of age is coming even sooner than expected. Prone to daydreaming, listening to French crooners, and indulging other self-ab... Read more