Steven Mears

Smoke gets in your eyes: Robert Altman’s jazz-infused noir finds the late legend Harry Belafonte in a role that slyly inverts his public persona as a committed and compassionate activist

Gale force: Francis Ford Coppola’s intimate, semi-improvised character study features a nuanced performance from the late, great James Caan

Fit to print: Wes Anderson’s star-packed anthology The French Dispatch, though a bit too finicky, acheives moments of genuine grace

Trailblazing: the recently departed Ned Beatty gives a tour de force of soul-stirring restraint in Tom Gilroy's 2000 drama

Richard Brooks, USA, 1962; Warner Archive, Blu-Ray

Ken Loach is the Bernie Sanders of filmmakers: he hammers us with problems we’d rather not face, and his message has never wavered

The actor adds to a nuanced gallery of irascible authority figures in Ford v Ferrari and Little Women

Take me home: the star of Wild Rose on her Irish upbringing and her newfound love for country music

In Tom Harper’s film, Jessie Buckley ecstatically announces herself as a protean performer of limitless potential

A starry cast does its best to distract from Asghar Farhadi's thematic architecture, but it's as conspicuous as the drones that hover about the proceedings

Taking the long view: the star looks back at a career working with directors such as John Huston, Roman Polanski, Claude Chabrol, and more

Feast and famine: the director of A Bread Factory and The Grief of Others talks about his richly conceived works, self-distribution, Tyne Daly, independent film, and more

(Patrick Wang, USA, In the Family LLC, Opened on October 26)

The Complete Hal Roach/Thelma Todd/ Patsy Kelly Comedy Collection

(Wes Anderson, USA, Fox Searchlight, Opening March 23)

Extra time: Frank and Eleanor Perry’s tender portrait of two patients in a mental asylum rejects disillusionment and cliche

(Guillermo del Toro, USA, Fox Searchlight, Opens December 1)

Lost in the game: on the two very different screen adaptations of Edith Wharton’s sumptuous and tormented novel of Gilded Age New York

Learning to laugh: a man of letters who brought his unique brand of humor to the screen

(Director: Noah Baumbach, Country/Distributor: USA, Netflix, Opening: October 13)