Get Out (dir: Jordan Peele, 2017, cert 15)
Not only is Get Out a fresh and original horror film it also fearlessly pokes a stick into the glibly dangerous racism of white middle class suburbia. English actor Daniel Kaluuya excels as Chris Washington the black boyfriend of a privileged white girl meeting her parents for the first time. Their cringe making ‘some of my best friends are black’ attempts at bonding are all too familiar and make for uncomfortable viewing. But that’s just the start. An aching dread seeps gradually through every pore of the movie building to an unforgettable climax. A stunning directorial debut from Jordan Peele.
Mon 20 Mar to Thu 23 Mar at Everyman, 116 The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF  £13.50 www.everymancinema.com
Fri 24 Mar to Thu 30 Mar at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Contact (dir: Robert Zemeckis, 1997, cert PG)
An intelligent and thought provoking sci-fi drama about alien contact that demands repeated viewings to resolve the head scratching moments it engenders. A perfect confluence of faith, science and politics starring a dogged Jodie Foster as scientist Ellie who is the first to hear a message from space, a scene that is beautifully staged. Contact is a challenging and philosophical piece of cinema that will engage your brain and possibly make it hurt. But is it all a hoax?
Tue 21 Mar 6.30pm at Birmingham LGBT, 38/40 Holloway Circus, Birmingham B1 1EQ Free www.journeyfilmclub.co.uk

Akira (dir: Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988, cert 15)
Films don’t come much more influential than this. Otomo’s beautifully animated film bulldozed the anime genre into the mainstream. Cartoons could be serious with adult themes. When the bullets fly people get killed, punches land on faces and blood flows copiously. Based on Otomo’s own 2,000 page manga comic book of the same name; we follow Tetsuo, a weakling who is suddenly imbued with super human psychic powers which he puts to violent use against his enemies. In a bizarre case of life imitating art the film is set in a dystopian future just before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Guess where the 2020 Olympics are being held? Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.
Wed 22 Mar to Thu 23 Mar at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham  B9 4AA  £7  ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Evil Dead 2 (dir: Sam Raimi, 1987, cert 15)
For the sequel to the gruelling original, Sam Raimi produced one of the most grotesquely hilarious splatterfests in movie history. Transposing the slapstick thrills of the Three Stooges into that cabin in the woods was a stroke of absolute genius. Chin on legs Bruce Campbell’s finest moment is as the chainsaw wielding Ash, laughing maniacally as the Deadite onslaught takes it toll and his own severed hand tries to kill him. An unrelentingly inventive laugh gore riot.
Fri 24 Mar 6pm & 8pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham  B9 4AA £7 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Ghost in the Shell (dir: Mamoru Oshii, 1995, cert 15)
Viewing Ghost in the Shell on a big screen should be high on your cinematic to do list. The beautifully rendered quest by Section 9 to locate the mysterious hacker the Puppet Master is an eye popping visual feast. Disconnect your consciousness and plug it into a shell, you won’t regret it. We also recommend avoiding the enormously negative brain augmentation that watching the remake will undoubtedly foster.
Fri 24 Mar 8.30pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Tootsie (dir: Sydney Pollack, 1982, cert 15)
Harborne’s very own Circle Cinema Club returns with another imaginative weekend double bill, First up is Tootsie with Bridge of Spies screening later. The magic of Sydney Pollack’s comedy Tootsie is that when Dustin Hoffman is playing ‘Dorothy Michaels’ she is believable as a character in her own right and much preferable to Hoffman’s real character the despairing Michael Dorsey. There are plenty of good natured laughs to be had as well as a few well aimed shots at an industry predicated on sexism. Tootsie is a delightfully charming film with a wonderful soap opera busting denouement.
Sat 25 Mar 4pm at Circle Cinema Club, Moor Pool Hall, The Circle, Harborne B17 9DY price TBA www.facebook.com

Headshot (dir: Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto, 2016, cert 18)
Indonesian cinema has made a name for itself in producing full on extreme piledrivers of movies brimming with sadistically choreographed and bone crunching mayhem. Iko Uwais, who you may remember from the balletic bloodbath of The Raid, kicks and punches his way through a viscerally unrelenting stream of shocking violence. There is a plot in there somewhere about an amnesiac’s past life coming back to haunt him but you’ll be far too absorbed in the on screen jackhammer butchery to care very much. Intense.
Sat 25 Mar 1pm & 3.30pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham  B9 4AA £7 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Bridge of Spies (dir: Steven Spielberg, 2015, cert 12)
The second part of Circle Cinema’s double bill is Spielberg’s complex espionage drama based on the true story of the 1960 exchange between the United States and Russia of downed U2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers and convicted KGB agent Rudolf Abel. Spielberg ratchets up the tension to unbearable levels in the build up and Tom Hanks is born for these kind of roles as the dogged and scrupulously decent everyman charged with brokering the whole deal. Classic cinema and we look forward to Circle’s next double bill.
Sat 25 Mar 7pm at Circle Cinema Club, Moor Pool Hall, The Circle, Harborne B17 9DY price TBA www.facebook.com

Enter the Dragon (dir: Robert Clouse, 1973, cert 18)
The greatest kung-fu film ever starring the beautiful and iconic slim line chop socky genius of Bruce Lee. So full of classic fight sequences, drop dead one liners and pearls of Jeet Kune Do wisdom we don’t know which one to mention first. You will just have to go yourselves and don’t forget to marvel at the pneumatic afro of Jim Kelly. Bullshit Mr. Han Man.
Sat 25 Mar 6pm & 8.30pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham  B9 4AA £7 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Around the World in Eighty Days (dir: Michael Anderson, 1956, cert U)
For the second weekend in succession the mac has laid on a classic of Technicolor adventure. Harking back to pre-television times when cinema was still a magical and mysterious medium. Huge budget, huge cast, huge everything, some ten thousand extras were used in just one scene. Quintessential English gentleman Phileas Fogg, who could only be played by David Niven, accepts a wager to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. What follows is an enthralling star studded romp through continents featuring an incredible forty cameos, our favourite being Buster Keaton as a train conductor. Look out for Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward and host of other familiar faces.
Sun 26 Mar 2pm at the mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £8 macbirmingham.co.uk