Rialto Channel presents A Month of Sin throughout February featuring wicked, steamy feature films filled with a variety of sinful behavior for you to indulge in. The month wraps up with one of the most controversial and sinful films of 2014, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol I and II. The critics are divided – is this Von Triers’ best or worst film? You decide on Saturday 28^th February, if you dare.

Here are my picks for the week:

Rialto Channel presents A Month of Sin throughout February featuring wicked, steamy feature films filled with a variety of sinful behavior for you to indulge in. The month wraps up with one of the most controversial and sinful films of 2014, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol I and II. The critics are divided – is this Von Triers’ best or worst film? You decide on Saturday 28^th February, if you dare.

Here are my picks for the week:

The Bridge
Starring: Sofia Helin & Kim Bodnia
Directors: Henrik Georgsson, Charlotte Sieling & Lisa Siwe
Screening: Tuesday 10^th February, 7.25pm

I love Scandinavian crime thrillers, and I’ve watched a lot of them, but few start off as disturbingly as this one does. If you missed last weeks premiere, don’t panic, The Bridge’s resident ruthless killer is only just getting started. It all kicked off when the Chair of the Malmo City Council was found dead right on the Danish-Swedish border on the Øresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo. Detective Saga Norén of Malmo CID is forced to team up with Danish colleague Martin Rohde after they discover the body had been cut in half. The top half of the body is that of the high profile politician, but the lower body belongs to a Danish prostitute. Grotesque, chilling and gripping this BAFTA nominated television show is excellently shot and well acted. So much so that Hollywood has created their own version of The Bridge starring Diane Kruger.

Adult World
Starring: Emma Roberts, Evan Peters & John Cusack
Directed by: Scott Coffey
Screening: Saturday 14^th February, 8.30pm

Actor turned director Scott Coffey’s second feature film is a quirky, satirical, coming of age comedy that discussed art and fame, and the crushing reality that life after college isn’t all you thought it would be. Adult World tells the story of Amy, a budding young poet and college grad who takes a job in a sex shop to get by. Julia Robert’s niece Emma Roberts plays the young idealistic writer and her perky, over the top performance is nicely counter-weighted by the ever cool and sardonic John Cusack as her idol, a poet and college professor.

Dirty Wars
Starring: Jeremy Scahill
Directed by: Rick Rowley
Screening: Rialto Documentary, Thursday 12^th February, 8.30pm

It’s clear from the box office success of American Sniper, the horrific actions of Isis and America’s continuing involvement in the Middle East that the conversation on the ‘War on Terror’ is far from over. Just how frighteningly far from over it is, is revealed in this 2014 Oscar nominated documentary Dirty Wars. This is cinematographer, director and editor Rick Rowley’s third documentary focused on war in the Middle East, and this time around he teams up with acclaimed investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill to uncover the actions of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Scahill narrates the film giving it a personal touch, but keeps us focused on the facts with in-depth reporting that takes us from Afghanistan to Yemen and Somalia. We’ve learnt more about JSOC over the last couple of years and some of the material covered here will be familiar to you. However Scahill and Rowley’s crime thriller-like presentation keeps you gripped to this important and disturbing film.