Film (122)

The best political films are those that hit close to home while delivering an engrossing narrative through fully-formed characters. There is so much room for experimentation within the genre - although, in most cases, if the film veers too far into surreal territory, it loses much of its political significance. There are many British filmmakers who have taken inspiration from domestic politicians to create powerful pieces of cinema, and we've chosen three of the very best today.

On 12 June 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark debuted and launched a Hollywood icon onto a waiting world. Three subsequent movies refused to prove the accepted wisdom that the franchise’s popularity was diminishing.

After the limited success of 2016’s all-female Ghostbusters, whose reasonable box office was stifled by its massive production budget of $144 million, it was a brave move to reinvent another much-loved franchise in the same gender-swapping way. Still, that’s what Warner Bros. has done with the latest chapter of the Ocean’s saga, Ocean’s Eight. That bravery has been more than rewarded, as the new movie has already passed the Ghostbusters total box office, despite having less than half the budget.

Having recently celebrated its 40th birthday, we have to go quite a way back to when Dallas first hit the air in 1978. What’s perhaps most surprising about it all is that the show still holds up. In fact, it’s quality enough drama to be on prime time television today, even amidst the supposed golden age of television. Despite the series being made a quarter of a century ago, the characters and stories are just as compelling as they were then. Hagman’s performance is delicious, and Duffy is on point. Some of the other performances can be over-acted, certainly; but it was the 80’s after all, so it’s forgivable.

Screenwriter and novelist GF Newman (22nd May 1948) best known for the creation of TV character Judge John Deed (2001-2007) starring the talented and versatile Martin Shaw, a maverick judge who forgoes the usual pomp and circumstance associated with our legal system, in particular the courtroom, and New Street Law (2006-2007), a drama about two rival law firms of barristers based in Manchester,