Rear Window (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1954, cert PG)
One of Hitchcock’s smartest tricks was turning his whole audience into voyeurs in the classic thriller Rear Window. James Stewart’s Jeff, a photographer recuperating from a broken leg, passes the time by observing his neighbours behaviour, beginning to suspect one of murder. Stewart’s twitchy busy body and his implausible love interest Grace Kelly are hypnotic as the amateur sleuths, sublime cinema and one of Hitchcock’s best.
Mon 27 Aug 11am at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Rebecca (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1940, cert PG)
Frankly, a film that convinced us that should incredible wealth ever come our way we’ll manage just fine without the servants. The ghastly Mrs Danvers, played with exquisite malevolence by Judith Anderson, is right up there with nurse Ratched in the annals of on screen female cruelty.  The cloying presence of Rebecca is suffocating for both viewer and the fragile Joan Fontaine, the second Mrs. de Winter, as Hitchcock cranks up the tension to almost unbearable levels. A classic of cinema and one of the best in Hitchcock’s formidable oeuvre.
Wed 29 Aug 8pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk/

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (dir: Nick Park, 2005, cert U) Scratch ‘n Sniff screening
Nowhere else in town is offering such incredible olfactory cinematic thrills this week as Wigan’s Wensleydale loving Wallace and his loyal canine sidekick Gromit tackling a plague of rabbits and saving the annual vegetable competition. Crammed to breaking point with a jackhammer assault of gags, Nick Park’s film is well deserving of its Oscar for best animated feature. As part of the Anim18 season enjoy the duo’s enduring eccentricity with a special scratch and sniff screening featuring such great smells as bunny burping and stinking bishop.
Fri 31 Aug 2pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £4 macbirmingham.co.uk

Slave to the Grind (dir: Doug Brown, 2018, cert 18)
Strap in, down tune and get ready for a nuclear blast through one of the most extreme musical genres to ever melt a set of woofers and shatter your eardrums as Doug Brown’s Kickstarter funded documentary trawls through the history of Grindcore. Birmingham’s own Napalm Death were there from the start as hardcore punk and thrash metal collided in a blitz of searing violent noise and social commentary. Possibly impenetrable for outsiders, fans of the genre will love it.
Fri 31 Aug 8.30pm at The Mockingbird, Custard factory, Birmingham B9 4AA £9 veezi.com

Top Gun (dir: Tony Scott, 1986, cert 18) + brunch
Thrilling testosterone fuelled romp from peerless pop action director Tony Scott as a baby faced Tom Cruise spills though the skies in a whirlwind of adventure, romance and cheesy dialogue. Enjoy Mach speed level mayhem with Goose, Maverick, Iceman and the rarely mentioned Chipper, and enjoy a delicious brunch with choices including avocado toast, pancakes and waffles. “Let’s turn and burn!”
Sat 1 Sep 11am at The Mockingbird, Custard factory, Birmingham B9 4AA £29.95 veezi.com

Pretty in Pink (dir: Howard Deutch, 1986, cert 15) w/ Barbara Nice
The mac’s excellent Sundown cinema season comes to a close in a fug of Brat Pack ennui as Molly Ringwald’s Andie struggles through high school, relationships and the prom. A near perfect confection as John Hughes’ bristling script, pitch perfect soundtrack and the fresh faced energy of Ringwald combine to make one of cinema’s most enduring romantic comedies. Hosted by Kings Heath housewife and mother of five Barbara Nice.
Sat 1 Sep 7.15pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH  £10 macbirmingham.co.uk

Alien (dir: Ridley Scott, 1979, cert 18)
As terrifying now, almost four decades after that unforgettable tagline, ‘In space no one can hear you scream’, seduced cinemagoers into the dark bowels of The Nostromo and the dripping horror of H. R. Giger’s unsettling imagination. Scott’s restrained pacing engenders a quiet terror missing from the gung ho sequels and is all the more frightening for it, that audiences squirmed uncomfortably at a blinking radar dot is testament to the film’s almost unbearable tension.
Sat 1 Sep 8.30pm at The Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10.50 www.theelectric.co.uk