The Raven

 The Raven 2012

• Director: James McTiegue
• Seen by this director: V for Vendetta
• Based on the book: No, but very loosely on Poe’s works
• Cast: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jimmy Yuill
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Cusack – The Butler, 2012, 1408, The Contract, Serendipity, High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich, Cradle Will Rock, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Grosse Pointe Blank, Stand by Me
• Alice Eve – The Decoy Bride, Starter for 10
• Luke Evans - The Girl on the Train, High-Rise, The Hobbit etc, Tamara Drewe, Robin Hood
• Brendan Gleeson – Alone in Berlin, Suffragette, Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter etc, In Bruges, Breakfast on Pluto, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, AI, My Life So Far, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, Braveheart
• Kevin McNally - The Man Who Knew Infinity, Legend, Downton Abbey, Valkyrie, Pirates of the Caribbean etc, Johnny English, Shackleton, The Pianist, Sliding Doors, Cry Freedom, I Claudius
• Oliver Jackson-Cohen – Bonekickers
• Jimmy Yuill – All Is True, The Magic Flute, As You Like It, Ladies in Lavender, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V
• Why? Poe and Cusack
• Seen: 29 May 2022      

       Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary

       Over the many quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore

       While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping….

 

       ‘The Raven’ is one of the few poems of which I can actually quote a verse or two. I’ve read and reread Poe since I was a kid.

       It’s with some trepidation that I start the film. I’m quite sure that it won’t live up to Poe’s greatness. On the other hand, I’m quite fond of John Cusack.

       The story, such as it is, borrows blatantly from Poe but turns it all into a gruesome murder-police film and a banal love story. It’s almost clever but also contrived, muddled and a bit boring.

       The main problem, it grieves me to say, is the miscasting of John Cusack. I simply can’t see him as Edgar Allen Poe in him, I see only John Cusack with a black goatee. Furthermore, Eve is tepid as the love interest and there is zero chemistry between her and Cusack.

       My advice: read Poe’s works instead. 

2 1/2* of 5.

 

 

.

 

 

Odds Against Tomorrow

 Odds Against Tomorrow 1959

• Director: Robert Wise
• Seen by this director: The Sound of Music, West Side Story, I Want to Live
• Based on the book by William P McGivern
• Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Ed Begley, Shelley Winters, Gloria Grahame, Will Kuluva, Kim Hamilton, Mae Barnes
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Harry Belafonte – BlacKkKlansman, Bobby, Swing Vote, Kansas City, Carmen Jones
• Robert Ryan – Something, no doubt
• Ed Begley – The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 12 Angry Men, TV series
• Shelley Winters – Alfie, A Patch of Blue
• Gloria Grahame– Oklahoma!, The Greatest Show on Earth, It’s a Wonderful Life
• Kim Hamilton – TV series
• Why? Harry Belafonte
• Seen: 28 May 2022      

       Three men in desperate need of money, Belafonte, Ryan and Bagley, plan a bank heist. Things go awry, starting when Ryan’s character reveals himself as a racist and Belfonte’s character is far from being an Uncle Tom. Strong stuff for the 50s. Character development of these three men and their women companions (Winters, Grahame and Hamilton) is strong.

       I love black and white films. I’ve been in love with Harry Belafonte since I was five years old. It’s a beautifully crafted film with a fine sense of detail. It’s suspenseful with a stunning ending. Do not miss this classic. 

5* of 5.

 

 

 

 

The Place

 The Place 2017

• Director: Paolo Genevese
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Valerio Mastandrea and many other great actors I’ve
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sadly, none
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 27 May 2022      

       The Place is a café in Rome. A mild-looking middle-aged man sits at a table with a thick writing book which he has filled with notations. Desperate people come to him for help. A man whose son is dying. A woman whose husband is suffering from sever Alzheimer’s. A nun who has lost her god. The man offers help, for a price. The father must kill a little girl. The woman must construct and plant a bomb, killing a required number of people. The nun must become pregnant.

       For example.

       A pattern emerges. The demands on one are connected to the needs of others. The man insists on hearing details of how the missions are being carried out. He is always calm, gentle but firm, and he always assures his supplicants that it’s their choice that their wishes be fulfilled but they must do exactly as he says.

       Who is this man? He never answers questions about himself. The nun wonders if he isn’t the devil. But then again, he might be God. With a very thick notebook.

       It’s brilliant. And it all takes place at one table in the Place. 

5* of 5  

 

 

Dead Presidents

 Dead Presidents 1995

• Director: Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes (the Hughes Brothers)
• Seen by these directors: The Book of Eli, From Hell
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddie Rodriguéz, Rose Jackson, N’Bushe Wright, Terrence Howard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Larenz Tate – Ray, Crash, The Postman
• Keith David – Cloud Atlas, Crash, Requiem for a Dream, Armageddon, Clockers, Bird, Bars and Stars, Platoon
• Chris Tucker – Silver Linings Playbook, Jackie Brown, The Fifth Element,
• Freddie Rodriguéz – Bobby, Six Feet Under
• N’Bushe Wright – I’ll Fly Away
• Terrence Howard – The Butler, Ray
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 26 May 2022      

       Young Anthony (Tate) starts as a numbers runner for the local bookie (Keith), then graduates and disappoints his parents, who want him to go to college like his older brother, by joining the Marines and going to Vietnam.

       War is hell, and hell follows him home to the Bronx. With a bleak future, doubts about what a black man was doing in Vietnam, and a growing sense of pointlessness and uselessness, he works out a plan. A plan involving dead presidents, which is street talk for cash.

       It’s a compelling story. You know from the start that it can’t go well. It’s sobering, hard-hitting and though provoking. 

4 * of 5.

 

 

Star Trek Generations

 Star Trek Generations 1994

• Director: David Carson
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Whoopie Goldberg
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Patrick Stewart – The X-Men etc, The Hollow Crown, Hamlet, Extras, Lady Jane, Hamlet, I Claudius
• William Shatner – Star Trek
• Malcolm McDowell – Doomsday, My Life So Far, Bopha!, O Lucky Man, A Clockwork Orange
• Whoopie Goldberg – Pauly Shore Is Dead, Absolutely Fabulous, Moonlight and Valentino, Corrina Corrina, Sister Act 1&2, Ghost, The Colour Purple
• Why? I’m trying to become a Trekkie
• Seen: Once before (it turns out). Now: 25 May 2022      

       Picard (Stewart) is now captain of the Starship Enterprise but Captain Kirk (Shatner) is lurking in another time line and they unite to save the universe. Or something. You don’t need to know the story if you’ve ever seen a Star Trek episode.

       With less than half an hour left to go, I realise that I’ve seen this already. I check my list. Yepp. In 2011. Two years before starting this blog.

       Sorry to say, it’s still not memorable. It’s just a long drawn-out episode, without the advantage of being new and original as it was in the 60s.

       Oh fistfights! Can’t even Star Trek resist stupid fistfights?

       Never mind.

       In honour of the original series 

2 * of 5.

 

 

Bagdad Café

 Bagdad Café 1987

• Director: Percy Adlon
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Marianne Sägerbrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufman, Monica Calhoun, Darron Flagg, George Aguilar, G Smokey Campbell, Apesanahkwat
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• CCH Pounder – Face/Off, Robocop 3. Benny and Joon, Postcards from the Edge, Prizzi’s Honor, TV series
• Jack Palance – Various Old Westerns, I suppose
• G Smokey Campbell – Devil in a Blue Dress
• Why? Enjoyable film
• Seen: Once before. Now 24 May 2022      

       German tourist Jasmine (Sägerbrecht) leaves her oaf of a husband and walks down the dessert road to the Bagdad Café where she finds the owner Brenda (Pounder) weepy and furious. Thus begins one of the unlikelier friendships in cinema.

       With a quirky supporting cast these two create a bittersweet oasis in the middle of Nowhere Dessert. The competition between German (could be Swedish as well!) coffee and American (‘brown water!’) is worth a * of its own. Pounder’s hair is great too.

       Sadly, it loses its way towards the end and goes on far too long. I’ve tried to love this film as much as many others do but so far, I can only like it. 

3* of 5.

 

 

 

Midnight Special

 Midnight Special 2016

• Director: Jeff Nichols
• Seen by this director: Take Shelter
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Martell, Sam Shepard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael Shannon – Knives Out, The Shape of Water, Man of Steel, Take Shelter, 8 Mile
• Joel Edgerton – The Gift, The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty, Kinky Boots, Star Wars III, Ned Kelly
• Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Levity, Virgin Suicides, Little Women
• Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman, Star Wars the Last Jedi + The Force Awakens, What If, Tracks, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Jaeden Martell - Knives Out
• Sam Shepard – August Osage County, Hamlet, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Pelican Brief, Steel Magnolias, Frances
• Why? It sounded interesting
• Seen: 22 May 2022      

       Eight-year-old Alton (Martell), who has special powers, is being hidden and protected by his father Roy (Shannon) and mother Sarah (Dunst). The boy is being hunted by the religious cult the Ranch, who has exploited him his whole life.  The FBI and NSA are also involved because it seems that Alton can hack into satellites and security systems with his X-ray eyes (or something like that). Paul (Driver) is a curious, kind and helpful agent.

       It’s an intriguing premise executed in a low-key high-suspense way, an intelligent and unusual sci fi film, with a strong human-interest factor. 

4* of 5.

 

 

 

 

 

Christiane F - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo

 Christiane F - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo 1981

• Director: Uli Edel
• Seen by this director: Episodes in Homicide Life on the Streets, Twin Peaks
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, Christiane Lechle
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? A modern classic
• Seen: 21 May 2022      

       This notorious and highly praised film is a hard-hitting, realistic, and sordid close-up look at teen-aged heroin addicts in Berlin in the late 70s.

       What rating can I possibly give it? For film quality and acting – 5*. As a really harrowing and depressing film experience – 0*.

       Do I recommend it? No, absolutely not. Yes, absolutely, it’s a must-see.      

0/5 * of 5  

 

Judas and the Black Messiah

 Judas and the Black Messiah 2021

• Director: Shaka King
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howrey, Dominique Thorne, Amari Cheatom, Khris Davis, Ian Duff, Caleb Eberhardt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Kaluuya – Widows, Black Panther, Get Out, The Fades, Doctor Who
• Lakeith Stanfield – Knives Out, Get Out, Short Term 12
• Jesse Plemons – Breaking Bad, Paul
• Darrell Britt-Gibson – The Wire
• Lil Rel Howery - Get Out
• Amari Chetom - Django Unchained
• Why? Daniel Kaluuya. The subject.
• Seen: 20 May 2022      

       The Black Panthers. Just think of how much good they did and how much more they could have done if they hadn’t been murdered, imprisoned and raided by the police and the FBI.

       This film tells the story of how small-time crook Bill O’Neal (Stanfield) is coerced into infiltrating the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers to spy on the leader Fred Hampton (Kaluuya). What Bill finds is that even more than military recruiting and training the Panthers provide free breakfast, free education, free health care for impoverished ghetto dwellers and are working to unite the oppressed of all colours in the revolution. But Bill’s white mentor Roy (Plemons) tells him that the Panthers are as bad as the Klan, sowing hatred and violence.

       So, whose side in Bill going to choose?

       This is a true story. And an excellent film. An important film. We all need to remember this. 

4 ½ * of 5.

 

 

 

Roseanna

 Roseanna 1993

• Director: Daniel Alfredsson
• Seen by this director: Millenniumtrilogin
• Based on book by Per Sjöwall och Maj Mahlöö
• Cast: Gösta Ekman, Kjell Bergqvist, Rolf Lassgård, Niklas Hjulström, Lena Nilsson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gösta Ekman – Den enfaldige mördaren, Picassos äventyr, ansikte mot ansikte, probably other Martin Beck films, countless clips from films and TV series.
• Kjell Bergqvist – Sally, Rid i natt, probably other Martin Beck films, countless clips from films and TV series.
• Rolf Lassgård  - En man som heter Ove, probably other Martin Beck films, countless clips from films and TV series.
• Niklas Hjulström – Millenniumtrilogin, probably other Martin Beck films
• Why? Jag läste om hela serien nyligen. I reread the whole series recently.
• Seen: 17 May 2022      

       En kvinna hittas död i Göta kanal. Martin Beck (Ekman) & kompani undersöker. Jag gillar inte polisprocedurfilmer i vanliga fall. Detta är inget undantag. Den är långtråkig. Boken var en av de intressantaste i serien men över lag har böckerna inte åldrats väl. 

       A woman is found dead in Göta kanal. Martin Beck, you know, the famous Swedish murder inspector, investigates with his famous colleagues. Police procedure films are boring. This one is too. The books didn’t hold up well for the second reading. 

2* of 5  

 

 

A Perfect World

 A Perfect World 1993

• Director: Clint Eastwood
• Seen by this director: Sully, Jersey Boys, Invictus, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Bridges of Madison County, Bird
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, T J Lowther
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kevin Costner – Molly’s Game, Man of Steel, Swing Vote, Rumour Has It, The Postman, Waterworld, Bodyguard, JFK, Robin Hood, Dances with Wolves, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Silverado, Stacey’s Knights
• Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby, The Bridges of Madison County
• Laura Dern – The Fault in Our Stars, Star Wars the Last Jedi, Wild, I Am Sam, Citizen Ruth, Jurassic Park, Wild at Heart
• Why? I remember it as being good
• Seen: Once before. Now 15 May 2022      

       Texas 1963. Butch (Costner) escapes from prison and takes a little boy, Philip (Lowther) hostage. It’s Texas Ranger Red’s (Eastwood) job to catch him. Criminologist Sally (Dern) is assigned to the case. Red is macho but his colleagues are worse but Sally is feisty and smart and gives as good as she gets.

       Surprisingly it works. It’s funny at times, grim at others, and often touching. Costner is at his best, Dern is good, Lowther is outstanding and even Eastwood is almost human.

       It’s no masterpiece but it goes deeper than the feel-good it appears to be at times.      

4* of 5  

 

 

Funny Games

 Funny Games 2007

• Director: Michael Haneke
• Seen by this director: Das weisse band, Cache, The Pianist
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Naomi Watts – The Glass Castle, The Impossible, King Kong, 21 Grams, Ned Kelly,
• Tim Roth – The Hateful Eight, The Liability, To Kill a King, Gridlock’d, Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Brady Corbet - Melancholia
• Devon Gearhart – Lost
• Why? Tim Roth
• Seen: 15 May 2022      

       Ann (Watts), George (Roth) and son Georgie (Gearhart) arrive at their luxurious summer home and find that their good friends and neighbours are behaving strangely.

       Two young men, supposedly guests of the neighbours, show up acting excessively polite but then they become threatening, then violent, then solicitous and polite again.

       Very creepy.

       Very, very creepy. Horrible. And extremely suspenseful. Almost unbearable.

       It is amazingly well done, but the question is: why make such a sadistic film?

       Warning – this is not a feel-good film. It makes Kafka look like a sit-com. 

3* of 5.

 

 

 

Frances

 Frances 1982

• Director: Graeme Clifford
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Kim Stanley
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jessica Lange – Broken Flowers, Titus, A Thousand Acres, Rob Roy, Tootsie, The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Sam Shepard – August Osage County, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Pledge, Hamlet, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Pelican File, Steel Magnolias
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 13 May 2022      

       Frances Farmer (Lange) was an outspoken teen-ager in the 30’s and grew up to be an outspoken film actor as an adult.

       It starts out strong but falls into the ‘tragic fall of Hollywood star’ category. Other films have done it better, most recently the brilliant Judy with Renée Zellweger.

       With that said, it is quite gripping at times and especially disturbing are the scene in the mental hospital. Lange is good although she sometimes resembles Jennifer Jason Leigh in Georgia. Or maybe Leigh imitated her.      

3 ½ * of 5 

 

 

 

 

Les Visiteurs

 Les visiteurs 1993

• Director: Jean-Marie Poiré
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Jean Reno, Christian Clavier, Valérie Lamercier
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jean Reno – Léon, La Femme Nikita, Le grand bleu,  
• Why? Remembered it as entertaining
• Seen: Once before. Now 12 May 2022      

       The French nobleman (Reno) and his trusty squire (Clavier) are transported through witchcraft from the 12^th century to present day France. I don’t remember the humour as being this infantile and slapstick. In fact, it’s unbearable. Fast forward is in order.

       How in the world can this be the greatest box office success in French film history?

       Maybe I’m just not in the right mood.      

1 * of 5   

PS I bought Les visiteurs II at the same time. Sigh.

 

The Fault in Our Stars

 The Fault in Our Stars 2014

• Director: Josh Boone
• Based on book by John Green
• Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Sam Trammel, Willem Dafoe, Lotta Verbeek
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
• Laura Dern – Star Wars the Last Jedi, Wild, I Am Sam, Citizen Ruth, A Perfect World, Jurassic Park, Wild at Heart
• Willem Dafoe – Lighthouse, Murder on the Orient Express, John Wick, Fireflies in the Garden, Paris je t’aime, American Dreamz, Manderlay, the Aviator, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, American Psycho, eXistenZ, Lulu on the Bridge, The English Patient, Wild at Heart, Cry-Baby, Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Is Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ, Platoon, Streets of Fire
• Why? The book was quite good.
• Seen: 10 May 2022      

       Hazel (Woodley) is seventeen and dying of cancer. At a really awful support group where the leader sings about Jesus that she hates but goes to because it makes her parents happy, she meets Gus (Elgort), eighteen and supposedly cured of cancer.

       So, this could be a really sappy film, or it could be well done. The book was unsappy and quite good.

       Problem 1: Gus is really annoying, and Elgort is not right for the part. At least he doesn’t match my image of him from the book.

       Problem 2: It’s way too talky with too many clichés.

       Problem 3: Hazel’s dad (Trammel) is too good-looking (yes, I’m shallow).

       Problem 4: It’s sappy.

       Problem 5: At the beginning Hazel promised this wasn’t going to be sugar-coated and romantic but realistic. She lied.

       Problem 6: Rich American white suburban kids who have their own cars suffer too, even die. I get that. But they’re still so privileged compared to almost everyone else in the world.

       Problem 7: It’s just a love story. Not very believable at that. Zero chemistry between them.

       Woodley is quite good though. It could have been worse, I suppose.      

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

Precious

 Precious 2009

• Director: Lee Daniels
• Seen by this director: The Butler
• Based on the book Push by Sapphire
• Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Paula Patton – Swing Vote
• Lenny Kravitz: The Hunger Games
• Why? Strong book. Strong film.
• Seen: Once before. Now 8 May 2022      

       Precious (Sidibe) longs to dance on MTV, longs to be married to her maths teacher, longs to be white, thin and beautiful. But she is sixteen, black, grossly overweight and pregnant with her second child. She fantasises about being a film star as her father rapes her. Her mother (Mo’Nique) abuses her, viciously, orally and physically.

       She is offered a place in an alternative school. She feels stupid bur her teacher (Patton) pushes her to believe in herself and learn.

       It’s painful to watch and I want to tell myself that it’s unrealistic and exaggerated. But I know it’s not. 

4* of 5.

 

 

 

Catch a Fire

 Catch a Fire 2006

• Director: Philip Noyce
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Mbuli
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Derek Luke – Antwone Fisher
• Tim Robbins – Then She Found Me, Tenacious D, The War of the Worlds, Mystic River, Human Nature, Mission to Mars, Cradle Will Rock, The Shawshank Redemption, The Hudsucker Proxy, Jungle Fever
• Bonnie Mbuliu - Invictus
• Why? The subject
• Seen: 6 May 2022      

       South Africa. Apartheid. The ANC. We’ve seen films about this before. This one is different because we are shown a young man (Luke) who tries to keep away from politics but is radicalised into joining ANC military training, as well as the private life of a white anti-terrorist cop (Robbins) who teaches his daughters to shoot, who tortures black prisoners and who believes he is doing the right thing.

       The historical conflict brings them together in a strong, dramatic, and well-acted film, based on real people.      

4 * of 5  

 

 

Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso 1988

• Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Phillippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Phillippe Noiret – Il Postino
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 26 April 2022      

       This is a nostalgic story about a little boy who loves cinema, an old man who talks to him about life, and the Italian village they live in. It seems that everyone in the world loves the film and hails it as a masterpiece. I find it trite, far too long and essentially uninteresting. And I am most certainly a film lover.      

2 * of 5  

 

 

  

The Professor/Richard Says Good-bye

 The Professor/Richard Says Good-bye 2018

• Director: Wayne Roberts
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Johnny Depp, Rosemarie Dewitt, Odessa Young, Danny Huston, Zoe Deutch, Devon Terrell, Ron Livingston
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Johnny Depp – more or less everything up to Murder on the Orient Express
• Rosemarie Dewitt – La La Land, Rachel Getting Married
• Danny Huston – Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, X Men Wolverine, Children of Men, The Constant Gardener, The Aviator, 21 Grams
• Zoe Deutch – Zombieland Double Tap, Beautiful Creatures
• Ron Livingston – The Fifth Wave
• Why? Johnny Depp
• Seen: 4 May 2022      

       Richard (Depp) is told he has advanced lung cancer and has only a short time to live. On the same day his daughter (Young) announces at the dinner table that she is gay which he applauds. His wife (Dewitt) ridicules the very idea. Then his wife tells him she’s having an affair and he laughs. He doesn’t tell them he’s dying.

       He informs his English students that he is no longer interested in teaching them so just leave and he’ll give them a C. The few who choose to remain are given special assignments, including having class at the local bar.

       His vulgar outspokenness about sex, drugs, alcohol, the school staff, and literature confound them, but they start to appreciate his basic decency and integrity.

       Finally. A role worthy of Depp’s acting skills. 

4* of 5.

 

 

 

 

 

Blackbird

 Blackbird

• Director: Roger Michell
• Seen by this director: Notting Hill, Titanic Town
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Anson Boon, Kate Winslet, Rainn Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Mia Wasikowska
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Susan Sarandon – Cloud Atlas, Emotional Arithmetic, Romance & Cigarettes, Alfie, Ice Bound, Moonlight Mile, The Banger Sisters, Igby Goes Down, Anywhere but Here, Cradle Will Rock, Dead Man Walking, Little Women, The Client, Lorenzo’s Oil, Thelma and Louise, White Castle, The January Man, Bull Durham, Witches of Eastwick, Atlantic City, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Sam Neill – A Long Way Down, Skin, Jurassic Park, Ivanhoe
• Anson Boon - 1917
• Kate Winslet – The Mountain Between Us, Contagion, The Reader, Holiday, Little Children, Romance & Cigarettes, Extras, Finding Neverland, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hideous Kinky, Titanic, Hamlet, Jude, Sense and Sensibility
• Rainn Wilson – Juno, Six Feet Under, Full Frontal, Almost Famous, Galaxy Quest
• Lindsay Duncan – The Leftovers, Sherlock, About Time, Merlin, The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, Lost in Austen, Starter for 10, Under the Tuscan Sun, Prick Up Your Ears
• Mia Wasikowska – Only Lovers Left Alive, Tracks, Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right, Defiance
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 30 April 2022      

       Rich white liberal dysfunctional family gather in a remote architecturally designed house on the shore when the mother Lily (Sarandon) is dying. They are aware that she has chosen to end her life because she can’t bear the indignity of dying of ALS (it’s not named but the symptoms and prognosis fit). The family’s attempts at staying upbeat waver. Lily herself is grimly macabre and unsentimental.

       It’s an American remake of the Danish Stille hjerte. I am not a fan of American remakes of European films and probably the Danish version is better but the cast does what it can with a rather banal script (despite the euthanasia subject).

       It does get quite dramatic, and the acting is very good. Against my better judgement I find myself giving it 

4* of 5.

 

 

Breakfast on Pluto

 Breakfast on Pluto 2005

• Director: Neil Jordan
• Seen by the director: The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa
• Based on book by Pat McCabe
• Cast: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Ruth McCabe, Ruth Negga, Liam Cunningham, Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Cillian Murphy – Dunkirk, Transcendence, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, The Dark Knight, Sunshine, Batman Begins, Cold Mountain, Girl with Pearl Earring, Intermission, 28 Days Later
• Liam Neeson – Life’s Too Short, Seraphim Falls, Batman Begins, Kingdome of Heaven, Love Actually, Gangs of New York, Star Wars, Les Misérables, Michael Collins, Rob Roy, Nell, Schindler’s List, Ruby Cairo, Excalibur
• Ruth McCabe – Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, Good Vibrations, Inside I’m Dancing, Intermission, Titanic Town, Circle of Friends, Takin’ over the Asylum, My Left Foot
• Ruth Negga – Ad Astra, World War Z, Misfits
• Liam Cunningham – Doctor Who, Merlin
• Brendan Gleeson – Alone in Berlin, Suffragette, Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter, In Bruges, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, AI, My Life So Far, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins
• Stephen Rea – V for Vendetta, Tara Road, Still Crazy, Fever Pitch, Michael Collins, The Crying Game, Life Is Sweet
• Ian Hart – Escape from Pretoria, Tristram Shandy, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter, Born Romantic, Longitude, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 29 April 2022      

       Patrick (Murphy) is a transvestite, possibly trans, possibly gay, whatever. That is not acceptable in the 70’s in the Catholic Northern Ireland. She’s had enough, off he heads for London, arriving after various adventures.

       I’m all for gender-bending and thumbing one’s nose at the Catholic church, or any church for that matter, but all this vampish girlishness with pouty lips, fluttery heavily mascaraed eyelashes and cooing voice is irritating no matter who’s doing it.

       Kitten, as she calls himself, will do anything to avoid seriousness, but seriousness hounds her. The IRA, homophobia, police brutality. He goes through it all in hazy dreaminess, possibly madness.

       Murphy is convincing, the music is mostly great, and there are some fun small roles (Brian Ferry, Mad-Eye Moody, for example).

       It hovers between moving and parody. By the end I’m almost won over, but it goes on too long and becomes too sugary at the end.      

3 ½ * of 5   

 

The Grifters

 The Grifters 1990

• Director: Stephen Frears
• Seen by the director: Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, Tamara Drewe, The Queen, Mrs Henderson Presents, Dirty Pretty Things, Liam, High Fidelity, The Van, Mary Reilly, Sammie and Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundromat,
• Based on book by Jim Thompson
• Cast: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, JT Walsh
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anjelica Huston – Darjeeling Limited, Seraphim Falls, The Royal Tenenbaums, Ever After, Prizzi’s Honor, Spinal Tap
• John Cusack – The Butler, 2012, 1408, The Contract, Serendipity, High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich, Cradle Will Rock, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Grosse Pointe Blank, Stand By Me
• Annette Bening – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Ginger & Rosa, The Kids Are All Right, Being Julia, American Beauty, Mars Attacks, Richard III, Postcards from the Edge
• Pat Hingle – A Thousand Acres, Norma Rae, TV series
• JT Walsh – Pleasantville, The Negotiator, Sling Blade, The Client, Red Rock West, Lethal Weapon, Good Morning Vietnam
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 28 April 2022      

       Is this film that old? John Cusack looks like a teen-ager! Here, he’s Roy, a small-time but successful grifter. Lily (Huston) is a racetrack grifter. Myra (Bening, also looking young) is an all-round grifter/hooker.

       Roy and Myra have known each other a couple of months and are lovers. Lily is Roy’s mother. They’ve been estranged for years but now she seeks him out. They’re still at loggerheads and she and Myra loathe each other.

       Behind the Bimbo façade, Myra is an expert at the long con. She wants Roy to become her partner.

       The film starts out light, but it soon turns grim, dramatic and violent.      

3 ½ * of 5