The Naked City (US, 1948)

Excellent noir crime thriller with many interesting street scenes in and around Manhattan.

His Kind of Woman (US, 1951)

Interesting film which mixes some very noir parts and other rather un-noir elements, particularly Vincent Price's extended theatrical histrionics towards the end.

Purge (EE/FI, 2012)

A reasonably good and probably quite rare depiction of the occupation/genocide in Estonia, entirely devoid of light relief.

The Fifth Season/La Cinquième Saison (BE/NL/FR, 2012)

Visually very strong and convincingly bizarre but unremittingly and sometimes screechily depressing.

Winter Go Away/Zima, Otkhodi! (RU, 2012)

Vaguely interesting early Spring documentary from the entrenched oligarchy that is modern RU.

The Iceman (US, 2012)

A reasonably good thriller about real-life killer and hitman Richard Kuklinski whose operations continued for close on 40 years.

Una Noche/One Night(CU/US/UK, 2012)

3 young Cubans embark on a journey fraught with considerable danger.

Narrow Margin (US, 1952)

Good noir thriller, set aboard a train, with some unforeseen swerves. Marie Windsor is fabulous as the original protectee.

Good Vibrations (IE/UK, 2012)

A very difficult film to get right. Thankfully, the script avoids 'deep' or academic/sociological statement-making in respect of the troubles/sectarianism or the 'meaningfulness' of punk in favour of the spontaneity of punk and indeed of Belfast and its people. Richard Dormer is excellent as Good Vibes mogul Terri Hooley whose huge-hearted 'caution to the wind' was beset by personal and financial difficulties.

Dans la Maison (FR, 2012)

Too easy to wholly dismiss as pretentious, boring, intellectual and arty, but it's certainly in that vein. Expected more but was ultimately glad when this ended.

The kind of film which would confirm the suspicions of anyone skeptical about arthouse or 'foreign' cinema.

Betty (FR, 1992)

First Chabrol in over 2 months. Based on the novel by Georges Simenon, it relates the story of the unfortunate eponymous lost soul and other characters frequenting an intriguingly bizarre and slightly seedy nighttime locale Le Trou.

Marie Trintignant is solid as the beautiful, fragile, alcoholic Betty. Notable also for the re-appearance of the still eminently presentable former sex symbol (and by this stage long time divorcee of the director), Stéphane Audran. The very ending is a tad confusing, but this film remains a slightly underrated piece from Chabrol's later period.

End of Watch (US, 2012)

2 rookie cop buddies (one Caucasian the other Latino) on the beat in gritty LA. It's not a bad film but there are lots more like it.

Silver Linings Playbook (US, 2012)

If as a twenty-something last decade you enjoyed Garden State, then this one's for the thirty-something you.

A conventional romance, sure, but it's got at in an orignal, offbeat and heartwarmingly articulate way, and it's a beter movie than its 00's counterpart.

Hard to see how anything's gonna top this this year.

No (CL/FR/US 2012)

This naturalistic documentary-like feature traces the effective popular opposition to Pinochet's regime.

The film succeeds is in looking like it was from 1988, both it terms of props, costumes and visual effects.

Deservedly talked-up, this is one of the year's better films.

Stephen Dwoskin - Various Shorts - Anthology Film Archive NYC Retrospective

ALONE (US, 1963)
ASLEEP (US, 1961)
CHINESE CHECKERS (1964)
NAISSANT (US/UK)
SOLILOQUY (UK, 1964)
ME MYSELF AND I (US/UK, 1967)
DIRTY (UK, 1967)

Art for art's sake and....zzzzzz....

If you really could be bothered, have a look here.

Worth it though for a visit to the austere red-bricked AFA building, which was once a courthouse, and fields an otherwise excellent programme.

Dupa Dealuri/Beyond the Hills (RO/FR/BE, 2012)

Long, bleak and grim tale of orphaned friends, largely taking place in a monastery of orthodox nuns outside of smalltown RO.

Proof though that the fall of the iron curtain has not signalled the end of very good-looking films from Eastern Europe.

Leviathan (FR/UK/US, 2012)

Vivid nocturnal tones and a unique 'there' angle punctuate this almost wordless documentary about the grimly unglamorous world of sea trawler fishing.

Man of Iron/Czlowiek z Zelaza (PL, 1981)

A 'there and then' account of the rise of Solidarity, focussing one of its leaders, an ordinary and unassuming young man of the people, and a disposable Party investigator who's put on the case.

A valuable document of the dictatorship period and winner of 1981's Palme d'Or.

The Basketball Fix (US, 1951)

Available in the film noir section of the archive.org website, it's not a bad little film, but more of a sports crime drama than a noir.