A Man Called Hero (1999)
Ambitious Wu Xia film set among Chinese immigrants to the US where director Andrew Lau takes to the fantastical action with some flair
A Man Who Was Superman (2008)
There was a spate of superheroes with no powers films with Kick-Ass and Super. Before these, there was this South Korean based-on-a-true-story film about a delusional man who believes he is Superman
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
British director Michael Powell creates the most visually stunning of all 1940s afterlife fantasies in lush Technicolor, depicting a heaven of dazzling architectural marvels
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
Amid Kenneth Branagh’s dynamic cinematic revival of Shakespeare in the 1990s, there was this all-star adaptation of Shakespeare’s whimsy about fairy enchantments. An okay adaptation but it is eclipsed by other superior versions of the story
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005)
Under the umbrella title ShakespeareRetold, one of several Shakespeare plays that were reimagined in modern-day settings by the BBC. Here Shakespeare’s tale of fairy enchantments and romantic mix-ups is reimagined in a British holiday camp
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014)
A filmed version of Julie Taymor’s staging of the Shakespeare play. Classic theatre is not to everybody’s tastes but forget standard interpretations, Taymor opens the play up with both an extraordinary visual flair and a bare minimalism that proves astonishing in its freshness
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)
Adaptation of the Shakespeare play about fairy enchantments made for tv by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies. In many regards, Davies goes with a standard interpretation; in others – like portraying Athens as a fascist dictatorship – he offers radical reinvention
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982)
One of Woody Allen’s slighter films, a sexual rondeau set at the turn of the 20th Century, although mostly riffing on Allen’s familiar sexual neuroses. Contains minor fantasy elements.
A Million Days (2023)
Ambitious and yet contained film set on the eve of a space mission where the commander realises that the A.I. has started going wildly off-book
A Minecraft Movie (2025)
A live-action film based on the popular Minecraft videogame with Jack Black and Jason Momoa venturing into a brick-based otherworld
A Monster Calls (2016)
The story of the relationship between a giant monster and a boy whose mother is dying of cancer, this is perhaps the darkest children’s film ever made. The film is the weaker than the award-winning book it is based on because it never replicates the extraordinarily stark black-and-white illustrations of the original
A Monster in Paris (2011)
Charming French animated film about a genteel singing monster. Nothing profound but is beautifully animated and sweetly appealing in all the right places
A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Brit Marling is one of the most intelligent creative faces of the 2010s/20s. Here she co-writes, co-directs and stars in a murder mystery set in the tech world
El Monstro del Mar! (2010)
Australian exploitation homage that comes out as a collision between Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! and a monster movie. A low-budget gets in the way at times but the film kicks in with a far more authentic recapturing of the spirit of trash cinema than Tarantino did in the similar Death Proof (*)
Il Mare (2000)
South Korean film about a couple exchanging letters across time that later underwent a Hollywood remake as The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock
La Machine (1994)
French thriller in which psychiatrist Gerard Depardieu trials an experimental device that allows him to swap bodies with a serial killer only for the killer to get free and steal his life
M (1931)
Fritz Lang was an extraordinary director of the silent era and this was his first sound film loosely based on a series of child murders. Peter Lorre gives an amazingly craven performance as the hunted killer.
M (1951)
The Hollywood remake of Fritz Lang’s classic film about how the criminal underworld hunts a child killer because it is bad for business. Lang’s film is a classic but this comes with visuals maybe even superior to Lang’s version and is highly underrated
M3gan (2022)
Horror film about an artificially intelligent doll that resembles one of the Big Eyes paintings, which proceeds to go full-on Terminator
M3gan 2.0 (2025)
Sequel to the killer doll film that is a much better work than its predecessor
Ma (2019)
Blumhouse production with Octavia Spencer as a stalkery mad woman who befriends a group of teens in an elaborate revenge plot. Quite what people though they were making is a scratch of the head as it emerges as a wildly inflammatory racial work that seems all over the map
Maboroshi (2023)
Anime that is a variant on Groundhog Day about a town that becomes caught in a time pocket following an industrial accident with the residents forced to live in the same day
Mac and Me (1988)
A shameless and derivative copy of E.T., featuring one of the dopiest looking aliens ever designed for a film
Macabre (1958)
The first of the films from William Castle that were set around outrageous promotional stunts – here he took an insurance policy out against audience members dying of fright. The film entirely belies its promise to scare an audience to death; in fact, feels is more of a film noir thriller than a horror film
Macabre (1980)
The directorial debut of Mario Bava’s son Lamberto, a supposedly based on true life tale about a woman who keeps her late lover’s severed head in the fridge
Macabre (2009)
Indonesian copy of the basics of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre that emerges as one of the most enthusiastically gore-drenched bloodbaths in ages
Macario (1960)
Mexican film made to celebrate the Day of the Dead wherein Death befriends a poor peasant and bequeaths him a gift of a gourd of healing water. While not terribly sophisticated on a technical level, the film is carried over this by its story that works as a pure and simple fable
Machete Kills (2013)
Robert Rodriguez escalates his earlier Mexican-themed action film into an insanely creative comic-book overflowing with science-fiction devices (and homages). The casting alone is side-splitting and Rodriguez’s nonsensical absurdism wins the day
Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)
A documentary about the US exploitation film industry in the Philippines in the 1970s filled with mind-boggling anecdotes that uncover a wild west of ragged, unregulated filmmaking
Maciste in Hell (1925)
Fascinating artifact from the silent era. One of the original Italian muscleman films in which the titular strongman is whisked down to Hell where efforts are made to seduce him into staying
Mad About Men (1954)
A sequel to the charming British mermaid comedy Miranda with Glynis Johns again owning the show with her flirtatiously coy sparkle
Mad at the Moon (1992)
A film filled with enormous possibilities, a Western in which a woman gets married only to find that her husband is a werewolf
Mad Bomber in Love (1992)
Rather amusing Australian black comedy about a mad bomber who makes all his flatmates prisoner
Mad Detective (2007)
Quite the maddest Hong Kong film once has ever seen featuring a detective who can see people’s inner personalities. No film in recent memory has led such a delirious dance with an audience
Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969)
The original Filipino exploitation classic, this pumps the 1940s mad scientist film up with gore, toplessness and tropical locations. It proved a reasonable hit but remains surprisingly dull and sedate despite all of this
Mad God (2021)
Phil Tippett, creator of effects on Star Wars and Jurassic Park, creates a unique, unclassifiable stop-motion animated film set in an industrial nightmare world
Mad Heidi (2022)
The famous children’s character gets a sarcastic puncturing in this amusingly gonzo OTT exploitation take
Mad Love (1935)
The Hollywood remake of The Hands of Orlac, a classic of the genre featuring a fascinatingly demented performance from Peter Lorre
Mad Max (1979)
The first of the Mad Max films and a considerable jolt if one comes to it after any of the sequels. While they are exhilarating post-apocalyptic comic-books, this is an altogether different film – a grim and violent road movie more in the vein of Death Wish
Mad Max 2 (1981)
A sequel that makes an extraordinary leap over its predecessor. It created an entire genre of films – even its own design and clothing aesthetic,. And is one of the most kinetic and exciting action films ever made
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
The third of the Mad Max films sees the series becoming increasingly more mainstream in focus, along with the conscious resignation that it is impossible to top the previous film
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
30 years in the making and the results are sensational,one of the best films of the year. An action film so relentlessly foot-to-the-floor and full of kinetic wildness that it blows all its contemporaries away and sets the bar anew, while the vision of the future it creates is something utterly out of this world
Mad Monster Party? (1967)
Absolutely delightful stop-motion animated homage to the Universal Famous Monsters, which places tongue perfectly in cheek
Madagascar (2005)
Enjoyably silly DreamWorks animated film concerning a group of talking zoo animals that are released into the wilds of Africa for the first time. This spawned a series of sequels
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
It is hard to find enthusiasm going into this – the Madagascar series was a cute idea first time around but has been stretched more than its worth by the sequels. Nevertheless, the film works at you with a colourful light-heartedness and energy that is hard to resist
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
Reasonable sequel to DreamWorks’ Madagascar that determines to give each of the characters their own story
Madame Hyde (2017)
A gender-flipped version of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story with Isabelle Huppert is a teacher who is walked over in every aspect of her life before she is changed by a strange electrical discharge
Madame Web (2024)
Another of the films spun off from Sony’s hold on the Spider-Man copyright, this has been called the worst Marvel Comics superhero film ever
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)
Martin Scorsese produces and narrates a documentary about the directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Made in Heaven (1987)
A quite magical film in which Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis fall in love in the afterlife and then try to find the other after they are reborn
Madhouse (1974)
An attempt to copy the Dr Phibes films with Vincent Price as a horror actor facing a series of killings on the set of his comeback film
Mads (2024)
French horror film shot all in a single unbroken take as a deadly infection, possibly a zombie outbreak, spreads all around town
Maggie (2015)
If the phrase ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie film’ is not capable of getting you excited, then you’re visiting the wrong site. This is surprisingly good, the complete opposite of anything we expect of either a Schwarzenegger or zombie film, where he can even be said to be giving a serious performance for once
Magic (1978)
Muchly under-appreciated film with Anthony Hopkins as a performer dominated by his ventriloquist’s dummy. Great direction from Richard Attenborough, fantastic script and performances
Magic Cop (1990)
One of the crazy Hong Kong blends of supernatural and slapstick, featuring a detective who employs supernatural methods to fight drug dealers that are using the resurrected dead as couriers
Magic in the Mirror (1996)
One of the best children’s films from Charles Band, an utterly bizarre effort about a world through a magic mirror ruled by talking ducks
Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play (1996)
Sequel to the delightfully madcap Magic in the Mirror set in a world of talking ducks
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Woody Allen’s 45th film and one of his slighter – the story about rationalist Colin Firth debunking medium Emma Stone but becoming convinced of her powers amid a romance. This feels like a creaky 1930s drawing room drama, while the two leads fail to generate any sparks
Magic in the Water (1995)
Likeable Canadian-made children’s film where Mark Harmon and kids come to rescue of a lake monster
Magnolia (1999)
The third film from Paul Thomas Anderson, a series of occasionally interlinking stories and character sketches, featuring some great performances from name actors. Underlining everything is a fascination with the inexplicable and the works of Charles Fort
Mahabharat (1965)
India. 1965. Crew Director/Special Effects – Babubhai Mistry, Screenplay – Pt. Madhur & Vishwanath Pande, Story – Ramash Vaidya & Narotam Vyas, Dialogue – Madhur & C.K. Mast, Producer – A.A. Nadjadwala, Photography – Narendra Mistry & Peter Parreira, Music – Chitsagupta, Songs – Bharat Vyas, Optical Effects – Dahayabhai & Gordhambhai, Makeup – Sawant […]
Maid to Order (1987)
1980s light fantasy comedy where spoilt rich girl Ally Sheedy wakes up in a world where nobody recognises her and is forced to take a job as the maid
Maid-Droid (2008)
Really odd, even at times touching, Japanese film about a man’s thwarted attempts to have sex with his android maid. An odd hybrid of sf and pinku film that eventually gets derailed as its director heads off into a series of particularly whackadoodle misogynistic remonstrations
Majin, Monster of Terror (1966)
One of the more unusual Japanese monster movies, one that operates just as much a samurai film, concerning the stone god of a mountain that awakens to defend downtrodden peasants
Making Contact (1986)
Roland Emmerich’s second film, a confused oddity about a kid who gains psychic powers and whose toys come to life
Making Mr Right (1987)
Susan Seidelman romantic comedy where Ann Magnuson finds the answers to her love life with android John Malkovich
Making Waves (1994)
Ridiculous erotic film with pretensions to being a relationship drama with angels and talking seagulls
Malediction (1990)
Bert I. Gordon film with Robert Forster searching for a missing girl before finding she was dealing with the occult
Maleficent (2014)
Another in the early 2010s fad for fairytales rewritten as dark adult fantasy films – in this case, a version of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (as opposed to the original fairytale version) told from the viewpoint of the witch. Nicely produced, not much substance – the most interesting parts are when it gets to mess around with the fairytale
Maleficent, Mistress of Evil (2019)
Nobody much liked Maleficent but did make a reasonable amount of money, hence we get this sequel. The surprise is that in the hands of Norwegian director Joachim Rønning, it is far better than anything one expected
Malefique (2002)
Effective and unusual French film in which four prisoners in a jail cell discover an occult tome in the walls and start reading its spells thinking it can offer a means of escape. The film soon develops an anything-can-happen wildness
Malevil (1981)
An entry among the spate of early 1980s nuclear war films. This concerns the residents of a small French village who are sheltered in a wine cellar when the bomb drops and their efforts to survive after
Malibu Shark Attack (2009)
While the B killer shark movie is a genre that has tried to become as willfully absurd as possible in recent years (as per the whole Sharknado phenomenon), this is one entry that plays itself seriously – as such, it works passably and generates okay tension in places
Malice in Wonderland (2009)
A modernised retelling of Alice in Wonderland in which Alice takes a colourfully surreal trip through an urban landscape and criminal underworld
Malice@doll (2001)
Perversely original anime about a sex robot in the aftermath of civilisation who is transformed into a human. Imagine Pinocchio by way of H.R. Giger
Malicious (2018)
Another in the spate of films with copycat sinister-sounding adjectives for titles we have had since Insidious. This concerns a pregnant woman finding that the fetus she is carrying has been replaced by an evil spirit.
Malignant (2021)
After overseeing a growing list of worthless sequels and spinoffs, James Wan is back in the director’s chair and goes batshit crazy
Malpertuis (1972)
Exquisitely arty work from Harry Kumel where a young man is drawn into a strange house where reside the Greek gods
Mama (2013)
A Guillermo Del Toro produced ghost story that fails to go anywhere. The promise of the film’s trailer falls apart in the hands of a novice director who blows all of his scares
Mama Dracula (1980)
Produced not long after the success of Young Frankenstein, this was a Belgian-made parody of the vampire film that falls into excruciating slapstick. Louise Fletcher is absurdly miscast as Countess Dracula
Man Bites Dog (1992)
One of the very first Found Footage films, an hilarious Belgian-made black comedy with Benoit Poelvoorde as a cheerful serial killer who demonstrates his techniques to a film crew
Man Facing Southeast (1986)
An extraordinary Argentinean film about a patient in his asylum who calmly insists that he is an alien and begins to affect the inmates. Later uncreditedly ripped-off as K-PAX.
Man in the Attic (1953)
The fourth film version of The Lodger with Jack Palance as a new lodger that a family believe might be Jack the Ripper This has neither the style or the melodramatic intensity that the other major versions of the story did
Man Made Monster (1941)
One of overlooked, latter day entries in the great era of Universal Monster movies. Lionel Atwill is on wonderfully demented form as a mad scientist who turns Lon Chaney, Jr. into an electrified human dynamo and the effort is made with better care than most of the B movies of the decade
Man of Steel (2013)
With Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan under one roof, a reboot of Superman could hardly go wrong could it? Not entirely bad but I spent the first half of the film irritated at its throwing great chunks of comic-book canon out the window and the second half bored with the mass destruction orgy that drags on and on
Man on a Swing (1974)
Fascinating, little seen film with Joel Grey giving an amazingly captivating performance as a possibly fraudulent psychic offering to help a murder investigation
Man Vs. (2015)
The amusing idea of a mimicry of a Bear Grylls-type wilderness survival reality show – but with the addition of a monster.
Man’s Best Friend (1993)
Film about a dog that has been experimentally crossbred with DNA from other animals that proceeds to go amok. The film proceeds to collapse into the completely ridiculous
Man-Thing (2005)
The forgotten bastard child among the huge spate of Marvel Comics adaptations during the mid-2000s, a film based on their swamp-dweller, albeit one that largely throws out most of the comic-book
Manborg (2011)
Produced on a budget of $1000, this is a miracle of no-budget filmmaking. Intended as a homage to/parody of 80s/90s cyborg action films, this contains some extremely accomplished effects posing and a sidesplitting ear for the era’s dialogue cliches
Mandibles (2020)
Another of Quentin Dupieux’s bizarrely deadpan comedies in which two amiable idiots discover a fly that is about the size of a dog
Mandrake, The Magician (1939)
The first screen appearance of the famous comic-book stage magician superhero in a serial adaptation
Mandy (2018)
Nicolas Cage goes all Death Wish and slaughters a cult that murdered his wife. A regular revenge film is transformed by director Panos Cosmatos into something bizarrely primal with a thunderously over-emphatic score and blood red lighting scheme
Manhater (2005)
Low-budget film about a demon slaughtering a woman’s ex’s. Despite being made by industry professionals, this looks like an amateur-made film
Manhattan Baby (1982)
Lucio Fulci film about a series of supernatural deaths caused by an Egyptian amulet. An Incoherent and plotless mess filled with random supernatural effects and occasional gore scenes
Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945)
Fifteen chapter serial about a villain who transforms into a dead pirate captain. Filled with wonderfully exciting action set-pieces and cliffhangers
Manhunter (1986)
The very first Hannibal Lecter film. Under Michael Mann, this comes with a stylistic flourish very different to what the films became when Anthony Hopkins took the role
Maniac (1963)
One of the psycho-thrillers made by Hammer Films during the early 1960s. The absurdly contrived plot is blatantly borrowed from Les Diaboliques, although eventually produces passable tension
Maniac (1980)
Muchly reviled slasher film that has undeniable effect in its determination to go all the way. I would argue that it is actually a far better film than Friday the 13th
Maniac (2012)
Controversial remake of the 1980 psycho film. The remake’s unique take is that everything is shot in first-person from the point-of-view of the killer. If this were a work not so determined to push the modern gore envelope, it would almost be a psycho film filtered through an arthouse aesthetic