Doctor Strange

 

Doctor Strange 2016

• Director: Scott Derrickson
• Also seen by this director: The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiewetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Child in Time, Sherlock, Richard III, The Hollow Crown, The Imitation Game, August Osage County, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Small Island, Creation, The Other Boleyn Girl, Atonement, Amazing Grace, Starter for 10, To Kill a King
• Chiewetel Ejiofor – The Martian, Dancing on the Edge, 2012, Children of Men, Kinky Boots, Serenity, Love Actually, Dirty Pretty Things, Amistad
• Rachel McAdams – About Time, Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, The Time Traveller’s Wife, Slings and Arrows
• Benedict Wong – Annihilation, The Martian, Prometheus, Johnny English Reborn, Sunshine, Tristram Shandy, Dirty Pretty Things, Wit
• Mads Mikkelsen – Arctic, Rogue One, Casino Royale
• Tilda Swinton – Hail Caesar, The Zero Theorem, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Moonrise Kingdom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading,  Michael Clayton, Broken Flowers, Thumbsucker, Young Adam, Adaption, Beach, Orlando
• Why? Recommended by friends.
• Seen: 29 November 2020      

       Impressive cast.

       Doctor Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch speaking AmE) is an extremely skilled neurosurgeon, charming, arrogant, rich and famous. When his hands are severely damaged in a car crash (cause by his own arrogance) he refuses to accept that he will never operate again.

       Kamar Taj, Nepal. Multi-universes. Super magic. Mind over matter.

       Loads of special effects (more than necessary). Stephen is amusing, one of Cumberbatch’s more likeable roles (unlike the rest of the world, I loathed Sherlock, and he was dreadful as Richard III). A bit of Harry Potter, a bit of Doctor Who, a bit of Batman, a bit of Primeval. It’s entertaining but astral fist fights are just as boring as material ones.

 2 ½* of 5

 

Glass

 

Glass 2019

• Director: M Night Shyamalan
• Seen by the director: Split, The Happening, The Village, Sixth Sense
• Based on book: no
• Cast: James McAvoy, Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sarah Poulson, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James McAvoy – Split, Filth, Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Starter for 10, Shakespeare Retold Macbeth, Inside I’m Dancing, Bright Young Things, White Teeth, X-Men
• Samuel L Jackson – The Hateful Eight, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Bruce Willis - Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Friends, The Siege, Armageddon, The Fifth Element, The Twelve Monkeys, Billy Bathgate, Pulp Fiction, In Country, Die Hard
• Anya Taylor-Joy - Split
• Sarah Poulson - Serenity
• Spencer Treat Clark – Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing, Mystic River, Gladiator
• Charlayne Woodard – Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Hair
• Why? Sequel to Split
• Seen: 28 November 2020      

       Kevin and all his DID personalities (McAvoy) are still out there murdering young women. David (Willis) walks around all day hunting him and other villains. He’s psychic. Amazingly he catches him/them. Even more amazing is that they are both locked up in a high security mental hospital, where Elijah (Jackson) also happens to be. They are all under the care of Dr Staple (Poulson) who is researching individuals who believe they are super-heroes.

       Casey (Taylor-Joy), one of Kevin’s victims in Split, gets involved.

       The story emerges only slowly, and the surprising twists don’t end until the last frame.

       Now is a fine time to discover that this is the third in a trilogy so now we’ve got to watch the first one! With Willis and Jackson.

      

4 * of 5   

 

 

The Nanny

 The Nanny 1965

• Director: Seth Holt
• Based on the novel by Marryam Modell (Evelyn Piper)
• Cast: Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, James Villiers, William Dix, Pamela Franklin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Bette Davis – The Winds of August, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Pocketful of Miracles, All About Eve, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,
• Jill Bennett – For Your Eyes Only, Moulin Rouge
• James Villiers - For Your Eyes Only
• Pamela Franklin – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, various TV series in the 60s
• Why? Bette Davis
• Seen: 22 November 2020      

       In a well-to-do but dysfunctional family the boy Joey (Dix) returns home after time in a home for disturbed children. The daughter in the family has died under mysterious circumstances.

       It’s Bette Davis and she’s a nanny so we immediately assume that she’s the villain. But Joey certainly seems to be a little monster, so whodunnit?

       It could be a manifesto to reveal unfair work conditions for child minders and servants, but I think it’s just meant to be a psychological thriller. The cast is very good, Davis is as Davis is and I am fond of black and white films. 

3* of 5.

 

A Chorus Line

 A Chorus Line 1985

• Director: Richard Attenborough
• Films seen by this director: Chaplin, Cry Freedom, Gandhi, O What a Lovely War
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Michael Douglas, Alyson Reed
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael Douglas – Wonder Boys, A Perfect Murder, The China Syndrome
• Alyson Reed – Ad Astra
• Why? Recommended by two friends who have danced in this musical.
• Seen: Once before. Now 20 November 2020      

       Even before Corona, dancers and other performers had a gruelling time making a living on their art. All those shattered dreams, clashing hopes, failed auditions. This film starts with the hundreds of hopeful dancers auditioning for a part. We follow a dozen or so individuals through the auditioning process, personal relationships alternating with conflicts and childhood traumas.

       Great set-up. Not so great result. The singing is forgettable as are the songs. There’s a lot of kicking and arm-waving in the dancing. The actors are hammy or unremarkable. Douglas and Reed in the lead roles are lacklustre as a romantic couple and shallow in their characterisation. I didn’t much like it the first time. I thought I might like it better this time, but I didn’t. 

2* of 5. Hal says 1*, he liked Michael Douglas even less than I did.

 

The Hateful Eight

 

The Hateful Eight 2015

• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Also seen by this director: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, Inglourius Basterds, Kill Bill 1&2, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoë Bell
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Samuel L Jackson – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Tim Roth – The Liability, To Kill a King, Gridlock’d, Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Kurt Russell – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Overboard, Silkwood, various series from the 60’s
• Jennifer Jason Leigh – Annihilation, Margot at the Wedding, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Walton Goggins – Maze Runner, Django Unchained, Miracle at Santa Ana, I’ll Fly Away
• Michael Madsen – he’s been in many films of which I’ve seen a few but I don’t really recognise him.
• Bruce Dern – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Silent Running, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, The Wild Angels, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, TV series
• Dana Gourrier – The Butler, Django Unchained
• Zöe Bell – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, Billy Elliot
•  Why? Tarantino, Jackson, Roth
• Seen: 15 November 2020      

       Another bounty hunter film. Fate brings Major Warren (Jackson) together with another bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) who is bringing cynical murderer Daisy (Jason Leigh) to be hanged in Red Rock. Fate brings them together with a mouthy racist confederate who claims to be the new sheriff of Red Rock. A blizzard forces them to stop at Minnie’s Haberdashery in the middle of wild west nowhere where they encounter British born Oswaldo Mobray (Roth) and a confederate general (Dern).

       People die. If you can imagine Tarantino working together with Agatha Christie, you might get the picture. Samuel L Jackson and Miss Marple.

       I would say that this is an unusual Tarantino but has any Tarantino film been usual? Still, even by Tarantino standards it’s strange. How good is it? On the one hand…. But on the other hand….

 

3*? 4*?

 

 

Grease

 Grease 1978

• Director: Randal Kleiser
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and many others
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Travolta – Be Cool, The Love Song of Bobby Long, The Thin Red Line, Face/Off, Get Shorty, Urban Cowboy, Saturday Night Fever
• Olivia Newton-John – nothing else
• Stockard Channing – Sparkle, Out of Practice, Bright Young Things, First Wives’ Club, Moll Flanders, Edie & Pen, Smoke, Six Degrees of Separation
• Why? Stockard Channing
• Seen: Once before. Now 14 November 2020      

       Make a list of every cliché you know about every American high school, stir in a couple dozen stereotypes, and some catchy (or not) show tunes, some relatively cool dance numbers, and there you have it.

       Grease. The classic and immensely popular film.

       It’s annoying.

       Odd, I remember liking it the first time. What in the world was I thinking? Channing is still good and it’s fun to watch Travolta dancing. Otherwise he is so not my type of hunk and Newton-John is so tepid, with such a weak voice, that she could just as well not be there.

       I didn’t much like the 50’s when they were happening either.

 

2* of 5.

 

Defiance

 

Defiance 2008

• Director: Edward Zwick
• Seen by this director: Blood Diamond, The Siege, Courage under Fire, Leaving Normal
• Based on book by Nechama Tec
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Mia Wasikowska
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Craig – Spectre, Skyfall, Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale, Infamous, Road to Perdition, Hotel Splendide, Elizabeth
• Liev Schreiber – The Fifth Wave, The Butler, Mental, Everyday Life, Repo Man, Taking Woodstock, Kate & Leopold, Hamlet
• Jamie Bell – Filth, Snowpiercer, Jane Eyre, The Eagle, Jumper, Hallam Foe, King Kong, Dear Wendy, Undertow, Billy Elliot
• Alexa Davalos – The Mist
• Mia Wasikowska – Only Lovers Left Alive, Tracks, Jane Eyre, Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right
• Why? Jamie Bell
• Seen: Once before. Now 13 November 2020     

       1941. The Nazis invade Belarus. Thousands of Jews are murdered or transported to the camps. Three brothers (Bell, Schreiber and Craig) take to the woods and to their dismay hundreds of Jewish refugees – men, women, old, young – flock to them. They are faced with starvation, illness, inner conflicts and the constant threat of the Nazis and collaborators. Some of them fight back, they all keep moving to survive.

       It’s not a perfect film. But it’s strong. Based on a true story.

      

4* of 5   

 

The Leisure Seeker

 

The Leisure Seeker 2017

• Director: Gavin Hood
• Based on the novel by Michael Zadoorian
• Cast: Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney, Daney Ivy, Dick Gregory
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Helen Mirren – Woman in Gold, Eye in the Sky, The Hundred Foot Journey, Brighton Rock, The Tempest, The Last Station, The Queen, Elizabeth, Calendar Girls, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, Gosford Park, Some Mother’s Son, The Madness of King George, The Prince of Jutland, Prime Suspect. Mosquito Coast, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Excalibur, Hamlet, O Lucky Man
• Donald Sutherland – Ad Astra, The Hunger Games 1-4, The Eagle, The Pillars of the Earth, Cold Mountain, A Dry White Season, Klute, Johnny Got His Gun, M*A*S*H
• Christian McKay – The Theory of Everything, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Daney Ivy – The Help, Homicide Life on the Street, Sleepless in Seattle, Postcards from the Edge, Dirty Rotten Scoundrel
• Why? Mirren
• Seen: 8 November 2020      

       Ella (Mirren) and John (Sutherland), an elderly couple, take off in their old Winnebago to parts unknown, to their adult children’s dismay.

       Ella is a friendly, chatty person from South Carolina who loves travelling. John is a former teacher who can spout long literary quotes but cannot always remember who Ella is. They are both suffering from John’s advanced and severe dementia and she is running away from her cancer treatments. They are a very loving couple.

       Yes, getting old is rubbish. Yes, being ill is rubbish. Mirren and Sutherland are pros. But as a whole it’s too lovey-dovey for me and the story gets awfully melodramatic, even silly. The film makers are trying too hard to push all the tear-jerker buttons. It doesn’t work on me.

       The music is good, though.

 2 ½ * of 5 (Hal says 3.)

 

 

Split

 

Split 2016

• Director: M Night Shyamalan
• Seen by the director: The Happening, The Village, Sixth Sense
• Based on book: no
• Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Hayley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Izzie Coffey
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James McAvoy – Filth, Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Starter for 10, Shakespeare Retold Macbeth, Inside I’m Dancing, Bright Young Things, White Teeth, X-Men
• Betty Buckley – The Happening
• Why? James McAvoy
• Seen: 7 November 2020      

       James McAvoy should never be the bad guy, he’s such a sweetie. But he certainly isn’t a sweetie here, he’s definitely the bad guy. In the first few minutes he kills a guy, kidnaps his daughter and two of her classmates and locks them up.

       He’s very, very creepy.

       He’s also charming and artistic.

       He’s also a woman. And a little kid. And more than 20 others.

       His psychiatrist (Buckley) believes that he and other DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) patients are the key to what we regard as supernatural.

       It’s grim and suspenseful and McAvoy with his skill at subtle facial expressions is convincingly in all the identities. It continues in a sequel which we also have on DVD.

       I like the film, but it loses ½ * because these three girls, in captivity for days, have clean hair and impeccable make-up. Why do film makers do that?

      3½ * of 5   

On the Basis of Sex

 

On the Basis of Sex 2018

• Director: Mimi Leder
• Seen by this director: Pay It Forward
• Based on the novel: no, but on a true story
• Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Sam Waterson, Kathy Bates, Cailee Spaeny
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Felicity Jones – Rogue One Star Wars, The Theory of Everything, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Hysteria, Like Crazy, The Tempest, Brideshead Revisited, Doctor Who
• Armie Hammer – The Lone Ranger
• Justin Theroux – Star Wars the Last Jedi, The Girl on the Train, Six Feet Under, American Psycho, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, I Shot Andy Warhol
• Sam Waterson – Homicide Life on the Street, I’ll Fly Away, The Killing Fields
• Kathy Bates – The Big Bang Theory, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Six Feet Under, About Schmidt, Third Rock from the Sun, Titanic, Dolores Claiborne, Fried Green Tomatoes, White Palace, Misery
• Why? The subject
• Seen: 6 November 2020      

       The world lost an amazing person when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died recently. She, her wisdom and fighting spirit are sorely missed.

       This is the story of her early career. In the 50’s Ruth (Jones) is one of the very few women in the Harvard Law School. Her education complete, she finds that she can’t get a job as a lawyer, so she becomes a law professor. But for years she longs to work as a lawyer.

       Finally, she steps into a courtroom.

       Jones carries this heavy role well. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Hammer, playing her husband. Though playing a sympathetic and supportive character, Hammer lacks charisma and screen presence. A pity.

       It’s not easy to make a dramatic film about law and I’m not fond of courtroom drama films but this one is important. And it is good. It’s just not a film to love. Admire and respect, yes.

 3½ * of 5.

 

Goldfinger in honour of Sean Connery

 

7 December 2014

Goldfinger 1964

• Director:  Guy Hamilton
• Based on the novels by Ian Fleming
• Cast: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Bernard Lee, Eunice Gayson, Lois Maxwell
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sean Connery – The Name of the Rose, The Rock, First Knight, Murder on the Orient Express, Goldfinger, Marnie, Dr No, From Russia with Love, The Longest Day and others of the early Bond films.
• Honor Blackman – Bridget Jones’s Diary, Colour Me Kubrick, The Virgin and the Gypsy
• Gert Fröbe – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Longest Day
• The others: in various old films and TV series
• Why? Curious. Hal and I saw several Bond films in a Bond festival in the early 70’s and enjoyed them. Sean Connery is the only Bond we have ever seen.  Friends have said later actors have been good too. And with Judi Dench they can’t be all bad.  So we bought the box...
• Seen:  Once previously. Now November 28, 2014. And now 1 November 2020.

 The music gets a star all by itself.  Who can ever forget the profound sensation of hearing Shirley Bassey sing “Goldfingah!” on the radio in the 60’s. What a classic.

The film?  We’ll see.

It’s a visual masterpiece.  Incredibly sophisticated. But what is that totally nerdy terry cloth play suit that Bond puts on at the pool? Total macho credibility loss.

That aside, it’s grimmer at times, funnier at times and the cars are car-ier. Wow. Thunderbirds. Mustangs. Aston Martins. I used to think they were so cool.

The golf is non-macho too but Oddjob’s hat trick is impressive.  I like the Swiss Alps and the granny with the machine gun. 

The story is as enjoyably absent as always but the techno-toys more than make up for it. The near castration of macho Double-O Seven by laser was quite suspenseful.

Pussy Galore?  Who got paid how much money for coming up with that name?  But she’s a pilot so I guess we have to take her seriously.

Filled with Bond icons it’s quite watchable in spite of its weirdness and customary absence of depth or logic.  Who cares about stuff like that? As before, I doze off in the middle but who cares about that either?

Radioactivating the Fort Knox gold? How devilishly clever.  It all gets ho hum towards the end though.  A pity.  All in all, a cut above the other two. But even with the song it’s just

2 ½ * of 5

PS After this third viewing, I’m afraid the negative outweighs the positive. The dozing off in the middle sort of took over. Visual masterpiece? I promise I wasn’t tripping when I wrote that but this time, unimpressive.  Maybe for the 60’s but no longer. Poor Sean Connery, being remembered for this stuff. This time 1 ½* and that’s giving the song a whole star.

 

Original review: https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/james-bond-goldfinger.html

Practical Magic

 Practical Magic 1998

• Director: Griffin Dunne
• Based on a book by Alice Hoffman
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Weist, Goran Visnjic, Aiden Quinn, Evan Rachel Wood, Margo Martindale, Chloe Webb
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Infamous, The House by the Lake, Crash, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 28 Days, A Time to Kill, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Nicole Kidman – Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Genius, Queen if the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Australia, Margot at the Wedding, Fur, The Interpreter, Cold Mountain, The Human Stain, Dogville, The Hours, Birthday Girl, Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut, Billy Bathgate
• Stockard Channing – Sparkle, Out of Practice, Bright Young Things, First Wives’ Club, Moll Flanders, Edie & Pen, Smoke, Six Degrees of Separation, Grease
• Dianne Weist – Rabbit Hole, Dan in Real Life, I Am Sam, The Birdcage, Edward Scissorhands, Footloose
• Goran Visnjic – Doctor Who
• Aiden Quinn – Elle s’appellait Sarah, Nine Lives, Music of the Heart, Looking for Richard, Stars Fell on Henrietta, Frankenstein, Benny and Joon, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Evan Rachel Wood – Across the Universe
• Margo Martindale – August Osage County, Beautiful Creatures, Management, Paris je t’aime, Million Dollar Baby, The Human Stain, The Hours, 28 Days, Homicide Life on the Street, Dead Man Walking, Lorenzo’s Oil
• Chloe Webb – Sid and Nancy
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Once before. Now 31 October 2020. Happy Halloween!      

       The women of the Owens family all have magic but the men who love them are cursed with the fate of dying an early death.

       Gillian (Kidman) leaves home for amorous adventures. Her sister Sally (Bullock) marries a local boy after a tiny love enchantment is cast by the sisters’ aunts (Channing and Weist). She has two daughters and is deliriously happy with her perfect, normal life.

       Until…

       It’s silly, funny, absurd but enjoyable fluff. 

3* of 5

 

 

The Great Debaters

 The Great Debaters 2007

• Director: Denzel Washington
• Seen by this director: Fences, Antwone Fisher
• Based on the novel: no, but on a true story
• Cast: Denzel Washington, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollet, Denzel Whitaker (not Forrest’s son but named after Denzel W), Forrest Whitaker, John Heard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Denzel Washington – Fences, The Book of Eli, Philadelphia, Antwone Fisher, The Siege, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Pelican File, Much Ado about Nothing, Malcolm X, Mississippi Masala, Mo’ Better Blues
• Denzel Whitaker – Black Panther
• Forrest Whitaker – Black Panther, Arrival, The Butler, The Last King of Scotland, Repo Men, Smoke, The Crying Game, Bird, Platoon, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Why? Denzel Washington
• Seen: Once before. Now 30 October 2020      

       Texas, 1935. Mr Tolson (Washington) is a professor in an all-black college, teaching his students about the Harlem Renaissance and getting together a debate team. He is also a secret union organiser of both black and white workers.

       There is both violence and racism in the film, of course, but also fighting spirit, determination, youthful dreams and romance.

       It has a bit of Hollywood gloss but it’s also a hard-hitting portrayal of racism and the fight against it. Flawed it may be but how can you not love this film?

 4 ½ * of 5.