"High Rise", directed Ben Wheatley

Movie, 2015

If setting this dystopian drama in the 1970s is slightly puzzling, then it's a detail in a film which builds effectively before snapping and ratcheting the tension and the incidents. By no means a comfortable watch, this is a blatant and not-so-subtle piece, but one which really gets its hooks in and lays on an effective moral story. Some comic moments and some which are stark, though overall, this is a hugely effective, watchable movie.

Image by Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42833418

"The Apartment", directed Billy Wilder

Movie, 1960

Unquestionably funny comedy - the best sort - which pulls laughs from a great script and leading players, and yet does so by lightly hopping over heavy duty 20th century loneliness, alienation, infidelity, prostitution, ethics, depression, chauvinism and bullying, to name just a few. Because the film's so watchable, the corrupt world becomes acceptable and romanticised, really nailing home a few points which may or may not have been intended. Unrelenting and well-paced - a light comedy packing a huge sledgehammer under its surface.

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"Symposium", by Muriel Spark

Novel, 1990

Wonderful satire offering flashbacks of a group of largely unlikable acquaintances trying to work through burglaries, prejudices, wills and weddings. This slim book starts at a cracking pace, landing the reader right into the story, but manages to build with a horror and focus sharpening towards a clever conclusion. This is a book containing a wonderfully eccentric collection of nuns, mad uncles and thieves and really grips the reader and builds a thick, stimulating atmosphere. Not a particularly cuddly read, but an enthralling one all the same.

"The Lobster", directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Movie, 2015

Relentless, surreal film in which single people have forty-five days, under a strict regime in a strange hotel, to find a loving relationship or be turned into an animal. Events unfold and are, at turns, striking and brutal, with a few jaw dropping moments, but more often , an uneasy sense of a fil trying to be too odd and profound. The mood, throughout, is despairing and yes, there are laughs, but they're often dragged out of set-ups that are a little too brutal.

"I'm So Excited!" directed by Pedro Almodovar

Movie, 2013

Edgy grown-up comedy harking back to the director's earlier works, but lacking the bite and empathy. Much of this stems from wafer-thin characters, whose various and slightly tired sexual and religious mores seem tacked onto canvasses still, nonetheless, feeling empty. While the idea of a circling plane unable to land is a good one and there are some occasional glimmers of hope, overall, this film feels hugely formulaic and almost a self-parody. Not the director's best work by a long way; barely a cut above a Carry-On.

"Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert Heinlein

Novel, 1961

Epic story of the return to Earth of the Man from Mars and how he fares with and influences power and religious structures. This is a fairly tough read, with plenty of outdated, corny dialogue and a very male orientated outlook, but beyond all this and the occasionally uncomfortable hyper-enthusiasm for free love, there are some interesting ideas, blistering satire against the excesses of capitalism and more besides. If there's some cod philosophy, at least there's some thinking and provocation, and the wavering undercurrent of order versus anarchy is compelling.