Certain Women

 

Certain Women 2016

• Director: Kelly Reichardt
• Based on stories by Maile Malloy
• Cast: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone, James Le Gros, Jared Harris, Sara Rodier, Rene Auberjornois
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Laura Dern – The Fault in Our Stars, Star Wars the Last Jedi, Wild, I Am Sam, Citizen Ruth, A Perfect World, Jurassic Park, Wild at Heart
• Michelle Williams – The Greatest Showman, Wonderstruck, Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn, Shutter Island, Brokeback Mountain, Imaginary Heroes, station Agent, The United States of Leland, A Thousand Acres
• Kristen Stewart – Clouds over Sils Maria, Twilight, The Runaways, Welcome to the Rileys, Jumper, Into the Wild, Undertow
• Jared Harris – Fringe, Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Igby Goes Down, Lost in Space, Last of the Mohicans
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 25 September 2022      

       Laura (coincidentally – Dern): a small-town lawyer in Montana with a lunch-time lover Ryan (Le Gros) who wants to end things and a client Will (Harris) who hounds her daily, won’t listen to what she says and ends up taking a hostage and she’s the one to talk him down.

       Gina (Williams): alienated from her husband Ryan and daughter Guthrie (Rodier), trying to build an authentic old stone house, depressed about the lack of interest, even opposition from her family.

       Jamie (named the Rancher in the credits but for some reason Jamie in the subtitles) (Gladstone): has a winter job at a rancher seeing to the horses. Happens to attend an evening class in school law and forms a one-sided friendship with the teacher Elizabeth (Stewart) who a four-hour drive each way, twice a week, to teach the class.

       These stories of four women and one man, desperately lonely, struggling, exhausted but enduring, are riveting. Why do so some people write such hatefully negative reviews? Fine, if you find it boring and slow. No, there’s no action, it’s unusual, we all have different taste in films. No one says you’ve got to like it but why are you so mean and vicious about it? Do I detect macho misogynism?

       Fortunately, many others like it. I’m one of them. It’s beautifully minimalistic, visually wonderful, profoundly simple, and brilliantly acted.      

5* of 5  

 

 

 

The Conspirator

The Conspirator 2010

• Director: Robert Redford
• Seen by this director: The Milagro Beanfield War
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Danny Huston, Colm Meaney, Alexis Bledel, Johnny Simmons
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James McAvoy – X-Men etc, Atomic Blonde, Glass, Split, Victor Frankenstein, Filth, The Last Station, Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Wanted, Starter for 10, The Last King of Scotland, Macbeth Re-Told, Inside I’m Dancing, Bright Young Things, White Teeth
• Robin Wright – Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman, The Congress, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Breaking and Entering, Nine Lives, White Oleander, The Pledge, How to Kill Your Neighbour’s Dog, Forrest Gump
• Tom Wilkinson – The Lone Ranger, Hotel Marigold 1&2, The Ghost Writer, Valkyria, Michael Clayton, Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Girl with Pearl Earring, Before You Go, Shakespeare in Love, Wilde, The Full Monty, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Sense and Sensibility, Prince of Jutland, In the Name of the Father
• Kevin Kline – My Old Lady, As You Like It, A Prairie Home Companion, Wild Wild West, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ice Storm, Dave, Chaplin, The January Man, A Fish Called Wanda, Cry Freedom, Silverado, Sophie’s Choice, Hamlet
• Evan Rachel Wood – Into the Forest, Across the Universe, Practical Magic
• Justin Long – probably something
• Danny Huston – too many to mention
• Colm Meaney – One Chance, Parked, Layer Cake, Intermission, The Van, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, The Last Mohican, The Commitments
• Johnny Simmons - The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• Why? James McAvoy.
• Seen: 24 September 2022      

       1865. The American Civil War is ending with a bitter victory for the Union. Instead of the victory party, the President and the First Lady attend the theatre.

       War hero Frederick Aikin (McAvoy) wants to put the war behind him and practice law.

       Historians and most everybody know what happened at the theatre. There was no doubt that it was John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Lincoln but the conspiracy behind it is less clear. One of the accused conspirators was Mary Surratt (Wright) who ran the boarding house where many of them lived.

       Aikin is assigned to defend Surratt, something he is most reluctant to do, being convinced of her guilt. Senator Reverdy Johnson (Wilkinson) demands of him that he respect the law stating that everyone has the constitutional right to a fair trial. Aikin finds himself caught up in the need to give her one as the trial proceeds and he is met with compact hostility from the prosecution.

       It’s a fascinating perspective on this historical event. McAvoy can and always does play any role with bravura and it’s possibly Wright’s best performance. 

4½ * of 5

 

 

  

Triangle

 

Triangle 2009

• Director: Christopher Smith
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Melissa George, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon, Rachel Carpani, Emma Lung, Liam Hemsworth
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Melissa George – The Slap, Derailed, The Limey
• Liam Hemsworth - The Hunger Games x 4
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 23 September 2022      

       Scary movies don’t usually scare me. Maybe this one will.

       A boat called Triangle, six young people on a sea outing, a freak storm, rescue by a mysterious ship. These are the ingredients.

       It’s not scary but it is suspenseful. Not worth all the stars many have given it, it’s still decent Friday evening entertainment. 

3* of 5   

 

 

 

 

Cleaner

 

Cleaner 2007

• Director: Renny Harlin
• Seen by this director – Long Kiss Goodnight, Die Hard 2
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Ed Harris, Eva Mendes, Luis Guzman, Keke Palmer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Samuel L Jackson – 51^st State, Glass, 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
• Ed Harris – Cymbeline, Snowpiercer, Gone Baby Gone, Copying Beethoven, A History of Violence, The Human Stain, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, Pollock, Glengarry Glen Ross
• Eva Mendes – Once upon a Time in Mexico
• Luis Guzman – lots of films
• Why? Samuel L Jackson
• Seen: 22 September 2022

      

       Tom (Jackson) is not just any cleaner. He cleans homes where people have died, sometimes violently. He’s a widower with a teen-aged daughter Rose (Palmer).

       He gets a homicide case, and he soon realises that something is off about it. He tries to stay out of it but is soon dragged into it.

       Any film with Jackson and Harris has merit but that’s about all this one has going for it. Boring story, typical corrupt cop stuff. 

2 * of 5   

 

 

 

 

 

The Men Who Stare at Goats

 

The Men Who Stare at Goats 2009

• Director: Grant Heslov
• Seen by this director: The Squid and the Whale
• Based on book by Jon Ronson
• Cast: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Waleed Zuaiter
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan McGregor – Doctor Sleep, Trainspotting 2, American Pastoral, Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars etc, Big Fish, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• George Clooney – Hail Caesar, Tomorrowland a World Beyond, Gravity, The Descendants, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Intolerable Cruelty, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, The Perfect Storm, O Brother Where Art Thou?
• Jeff Bridges – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Orange County, Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld
• Kevin Spacey – The Life of David Gale, The United States of Leland, The Shipping News, Play it Forward, American Beauty, Midnight in the Garden of God and Evil, LA Confidential, Seven, The Usual Suspects, Glengarry Glen Ross, Working Girl
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit, Seabiscuit, The Big Lebowski, The Fantastic Baker Boys, The Last Picture Show
• Why? The title, Ewan McGregor
• Seen: 20 September 2022      

       The title has fascinated me since the film came out, but I still have no idea what it’s about. I’m expecting an absurd comedy. Oh yes, I’m expecting a lot from the goats. I like goats, though I don’t really know any.

       It starts with, ‘More of this is true than you’d believe.’ Sounds promising.

       Journalist Bob (McGregor) goes to Iraq to report on the war where he meets Lyn (Clooney) who is a member of the super-secret unit New Earth Army, a unit that practices paranormal skills, invisibility, the ability to walk through walls and kill things by staring at them. It all started in the 80’s and the Soviets were doing it too.

       Absurd? Yes. Funny? Yes. More true than I believe? Probably. The army did some weird stuff back then, and no doubt still is.

       Clooney is at his best, McGregor is always good as a screw-up. An extra * for the soldiers calling themselves Jedi and McGregor’s character having no idea what a Jedi is. Ha ha.

       Like all good comedies it’s also sad and like all absurd tales about the military, it’s also scary.      

4* of 5    

PS It might have been 5* if it didn’t fail the Bechdel test so miserably.

PPS The goats are lovely.

 

Two Hands

 

Two Hands 1999

• Director: Jordan Gregor
• Seen by this director: Ned Kelly
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Heath Ledger, Bryan Brown, David Field, Tom Long, Tony Forrow, Rose Byrne
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Heath Ledger – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Dark Knight, Casanova, Brokeback Mountain, The Brothers Grimm, Ned Kelly, The Monster’s Ball, A Knight’s Tale, 10 Things I Hate about You
• Bryan Brown – Australia, Gorillas in the Mist, Cocktail, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
• Rose Byrne – X-Men Apocalypse, I Give It a Year, X-Men First Class, 28 Weeks Later, Sunshine, The Dead Girl, Casanova, Star Wars Episode II
• Why? Heath Ledger
• Seen: 19 September 2022      

       Jimmy (Ledger) hustles customers into a strip joint in Sydney but he gets a new job for the local Boss (Brown) delivering ten thousand dollars. He screws up when two kids find the stash and spend it. The Boss and his gang are now after Jimmy, who has fallen for Alex (Byrne) the sister of a friend. Poor Jimmy is not the smartest baby gangster in the world and one bad thing follows another.

       The whole story is told by a grey long-haired bullet-ridden ghost.

       What an odd, somewhat amusing little film. What a start for the Legendary Ledger.

       Gangster films are not my thing, even gangster comedy films but it’s entertaining in parts. 

2 ½ * of 5   

 

 

Johnny English Strikes Again

 

Johnny English Strikes Again 2018

• Director: David Kerr
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Emma Thompson, Adam James, cameos by Michael Gambon and Charles Dance
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Rowan Atkinson – Mr Bean’s Holiday, Johnny English 1&2, Keeping Mum, Love Actually, Black Adder, Mr Bean, Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Ben Miller – What We Did on Our Holiday, Doctor Who, Primeval, John English
• Olga Kurylenko – Quantum of Solace, Paris je t’aime
• Emma Thompson – Effie Gray, Last Christmas, The Children Act, Alone in Berlin, The Love Punch, Beautiful Creatures, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee, Stranger than Fiction, Angels in America, Love Actually, Wit, The Winter Guest, Sense and Sensibility, In the Name of the Father, The Remans of the Day, Much Ado about Nothing, Peter’s Friends, Howards End, Dead Again, Impromptu, Henry V, Fortunes of War, Tutti-Frutti
• Adam James – Much Ado about Nothing, Doctor Who, Hustle, Last Chance Harvey, Bonekickers, Cold Lazarus
• Why? The other two.
• Seen:  18 September 2022      

       With Emma Thompson as Prime Minister this is bound to have some class.

       When a cyberattack reveals the identities of all the British Secret Service’s agents Johnny English is summoned out of retirement as a teacher (who secretly teaches the kids espionage) to discover the villain.

       Of course, it’s silly, that’s it’s raison d’etre. Atkinson is still unsurpassable in hilarious nonsense and the spoofs on spy movies and high tech are funny.

       Let’s not get too serious here, nobody expects, or wants, dreary, intellectual, pretentious Ingmar Bergman here.

       I’m laughing out loud. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

Margot at the Wedding

Margot at the Wedding 2007

• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Seen by this director: The Squid and the Whale
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, Flora Cross, Ciarán Hinds, John Turturro, Halley Feifer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Nicole Kidman – Big Little Lies, Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Lion, Genius, Queen of the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Australia, The Golden Compass, Fur, The Interpreter, Birth, Cold Mountain, The Human stain, The Hours, Dogville, The Birthday Girls, The Others, Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Billy Bathgate

o   Jennifer Jason-Leigh – Annihilation, The Hateful Eight, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, Fast Times at Ridgemont High

o   Jack Black – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Orange County, Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld

o   Ciarán Hinds – First Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter, Life During War Time, Hustle, Hallam Foe, Amazing Grace, Calendar Girls, Road to Perdition, Titanic Town, Cold Lazarus, Some Mother’s Son, Mary Reilly, Seaforth

o   John Turturro – God’s Pocket, The Miracle at St Ana, Flight of the Conchords, Romance & Cigarettes, Secret Window, The Man Who Cried, O Brother Where Art Thou, Cradle Will Rock, The Big Lebowski, Clockers, Barton Fink, Jungle Fever, Miller’s Crossing, Mo’ Better Blues, Desperately Seeking Susan

o   Halley Feifer – Flight of the Conchords, The Squid and the Whale

• ·       Why? I remember it as good.
• Seen: Once before. Now: 17 September 2022       

       Margot (Kidman) and her son Claude (Pais) have come to her parental home for the wedding of her sister Pauline (Jason Leigh) to Malcolm (Black). They have not spoken for years, and their hostilities are still close to the surface though they claim to be happy to see each other. Margot is not impressed by the loutish, depressed loser Malcolm, and it seems she’s in the process of leaving her own husband Jim (Turturro).

       For some reason I’ve been seeing a lot of films about wealthy white dysfunctional American families lately. Probably because there are a lot of them, often with actors I like. There’s no doubt that the acting here is first-rate, but I don’t remember the film being so bizarre. That’s probably why I liked it the first time. These people are seriously disturbed.

       I really don’t know what to think this time. I’ll decide the rating tomorrow.

       It’s now tomorrow and because it’s so bizarre I’ve decided to give it 

4* of 5   

  

Mary Shelley

 

Mary Shelley 2017

• Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
• Wadja (The Green Bicycle)
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Dillane, Maisie Williams, Derek Riddell, Hugh O’Connor, Douglas Booth
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Elle Fanning – Maleficent, Ginger & Rosa, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Reservation Road, Babel, Taken
• Joanne Froggatt – Downton Abbey, A Street Cat Named Bob, Filth, Still Life
• Stephen Dillane – The Hours, Hamlet
• Maisie Williams – Doctor Who
• Derek Riddell – Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Doctor Who, Much Ado about Nothing Re-Told
• Hugh O’Connor – The Fall, Chocolat, Hotel Splendide, My Left Foot
• Douglas Booth - Jupiter Ascending, The Pillars of the Earth, From Time to Time
• Why? Mary Shelley
• Seen: 16 September 2022      

       Frankenstein is one of the best novels ever written. The life of Mary Shelley was filled with loss and hardship. The story of how Frankenstein came about is one of the most fascinating in literature history. This film is as dull as dishwater. Fanning is absolutely wrong for the part. Anyone would have been better, Felicity Jones. Billie Piper, Jodie Whittaker, Keira Knightly, Saoirse Ronan, Jenna Coleman…. Booth is a pretty poetry-spouting boy band boy. The film just goes on and on. I keep thinking, ‘Come on, come on, get to that stormy night!’ And then it just zips past it.

       How can this be by the same director as Wadja, which was brilliant?

       Because it is sometimes pretty to look at and because it’s about one of the most important authors in the 19th century it gets 

2 * of 5, but I am bitterly disappointed.  

 

Playing by Heart

 

Playing by Heart 1998

• Director: Willard Carroll
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Dennis Quaid, April Grace, Patricia Clarkson, Gena Rowlands, Madeleine Stowe, Michael Emerson, Jon Stewart, Ryan Phillippe
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gillian Anderson – UFO, The Fall, Robot Overlords, L’enfant en haut, The Last King of Scotland, Tristram Shandy, The X Files
• Ellen Burstyn - Walking across Egypt, Main Street, Interstellar, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Requiem for a Dream, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The King of Marvin Gardens, The Last Picture Show
• Sean Connery – The Rock, In the Name of the Rose, The Time Bandits, Robin Hood, The Man Who Would Be King, James Bond
• Angelina Jolie- Maleficent, Beyond Borders, The Tourist, Wanted, Changeling, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Girl Interrupted
• Dennis Quaid - Smart People, The Words, American Dreamz, In Good Company, Day after Tomorrow, Far from Heaven, Postcards from the Edge, Great Balls of Fire, Enemy Mine
• April Grace – The Hunger Games, Fame, Fringe, I Am Legend, The Assassination of Richard Nixon
• Patricia Clarkson – Maze Runner etc, The Bookshop, Main Street, Learning to Drive, Shutter Island, Lars and the Real Girl Good Night and Good Luck, Six Feet Under, Dogville, Station Agent, Far from Heaven, The Green Mile
• Gena Rowlands - Paris je t’aime, Hysterical Blindness, Night on Earth, Light of Day, Gloria, Faces
• Madeleine Stowe – The 12 Monkeys, The Last of the Mohicans
• Michal Emerson - Lost
• Ryan Phillippe – Igby Goes Down, Crash, Gosford Park
• Kristin Wiig – The Martian, Paul, Flight of the Conchords
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 15 September 2022      

       Love, loneliness, illness, flirtation, husbands, wives, death, mothers, sons, listeners, talkers, guilt, secrets, denials, AIDS, new love, old love, loyalty, infidelity.

       A string of vignettes with a string of stars. Best is Jolie as a flighty, babbling cat-loving, club-hopper with a big heart, and Anderson as a lonely, stiff-upper-lip theatre director. Most annoying are Connery who is stoically cheerfully soon going to die of a brain tumour, and Burstyn who is already gearing up to her pathetic weepiness of later rolls.

       The others are somewhere in between, so it sort of averages out to average, but Jolie is worth 5* and raises the whole thing to

 3* of 5   

 

 

Hawaii, Oslo

 

Hawaii, Oslo 2004

• Director: Eric Poppe
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Trond Espen Seim, Jan Gunnar Röise, Evy Kasseth Rösten, Stig Henrik Hoff, Silje Torp, Petronella Barker
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? The title
• Seen: 13 September 2022      

       This is really a case of having no idea what to expect. A Norwegian film I’ve never even heard of. But that title, I’ve just got to see it.

       It’s the hottest it’s been in Oslo for a long time. Leon (Röise) is terrified of meeting his old girlfriend Åsa (Rösten) after eleven years. Vidar (Seim), his mentor at the mental hospital supports and encourages him. Then we have Frode (Hoff) and Milla (Torp) who have just had a baby with a fatal heart defect with a tiny chance to survive if they can raise thousands and thousands for surgery in a private American clinic. Then we have two boys, their suicidal mother, a romantic ambulance driver, a brother in prison for armed robbery…

       The stories and characters weave together. Words like ‘heart-breaking,’ and ‘heart-warming’ come to mind but they’re too trite. Aren’t they? But that’s what this film is. It’s a real gem. I hope you can find it and see it. 

4 ½* of 5   

 

 

 

 

Layer Cake

 

Layer Cake 2004

• Director: Matthew Vaughn
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Sally Hawkins, Tom Hardy, Jamie Foreman, Burn Gorman, George Harris, Colm Meaney, Ben Wishaw
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Craig – Knives Out, James Bond etc, Defiance, The Golden Compass, Infamous, Road to Perdition, Hotel Splendide, Elizabeth
• Sienna Miller – High-Rise, Stardust, Factory Girl, Alfie
• Michael Gambon – Victor & Abdul, The Hollow Crown, The Casual Vacancy, Quirke, Quartet, Harry Potter etc, Doctor Who, The King’s Speech, The Book of Eli, Cranford, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Gosford Park, Longitude, Sleepy Hollow, Mary Reilly
• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water, Maudie, The Hollow Crown, x+y, Great Expectations, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, An Education, Happy-Go-Lucky, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake
• Tom Hardy – Venom, Dunkirk, The Revenant, Legend, Mad Max Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Inception
• Jamie Foreman – Hustle, Doctor Who, Sleepy Hollow, Elizabeth, Nil by Mouth
• Burn Gorman – Imperium, Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises, Bonekickers, Colour Me Kubrick
• George Harris – Harry Potter
• Colm Meaney – One Chance, Parked, The Van, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, The Last Mohican, The Commitments
• Ben Whishaw – James Bond etc, London Spy, Suffragette, The Zero Theorem, Cloud Atlas, Richard II, The Tempest, Bright Star
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 12 September 2022      

       XXX (Craig) is a businessman who just happens to deal in cocaine. He’s successful, and rich, and he’s going to retire after his next deal.

       That’s what he plans but things rarely go according to plans.

       What makes this run-of-the-mill bad guy drug film is seeing the pre-Bond Craig, Hawkins in a small roll as a gun-toting druggie, Whishaw as a wimpy wannabe tough guy, Harry Potter’s fellow magician from the Ministry of Magic, aka George Harris, as a nasty powerful drug deal middleman, not to mention Dumbledore as a sleazy zillionaire.

       Other than that, it’s definitely not my cup of tea. Yawn. For these actors only 

2 * of 5   

 

 

Z for Zachariah

 

Z for Zachariah 2015

• Director: Craig Zobel
• Seen by this director: 3 episodes of The Leftovers
• Based on book by Robert C O’Brien
• Cast: Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Margot Robbie – The Suicide Squad, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mary Queen of Scots, Terminal, I Tonya, The Wolf of Wall Street, About Time
• Chiwetel Ejiofor – Doctor Strange, The Martian, 12 Years a Slave, Dancing on the Edge, 2012, Children of Men, Kinky Boots, Serenity, Love Actually, Dirty Pretty Things, Amistad
• Chris Pine – Wonder Woman, Into the Woods
• Why? Robbie and Ejiofor
• Seen: 11 September 2022      

       Ann (Robbie) lives alone on the family farm in the mountains. Her family has left to find survivors after a nuclear apocalypse. John (Ejiofor) shows up, contaminated, but he has medication, and she brings him back to health. Together they work to expand the farm. She is a devout Christian, he is a scientist, an atheist, but this does not prevent them from becoming very close.

       Then Caleb (Pine) shows up. Also a devout Christian. A decent man. Maybe.

       It’s an unusual post-apocalyptic film. Low-key but suspenseful. Tension grows. Two Christians and an atheist. Two men and a woman. Two whites and a black (though this plays no real part in the drama). Three humans surviving.      

       Robbie and Ejiofor live up to my high expectations. Pine isn’t bad. The film’s weakness is that it’s too much love triangle and not enough post-apocalypse. But it’s still worth seeing. 

3 ½ * of 5   

 

 

Walk Hard - the Dewey Cox Story

 

Walk Hard – the Dewey Cox Story 2007

• Director: Jake Kasdan
• Seen by this director – Orange County
• Based on book: no
• Cast: John C Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Raymond J Barry, Margo Martindale, Honeyboy Edwards, Kristin Wiig, a glimpse of Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory), Jack Black appears uncredited as Paul McCartney
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John C Reilly – Kong Skull Island, A Prairie Home Companion, The Aviator, Chicago, The Hours, The Good Girl, The Gangs of New York, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
• Margo Martindale – many films
• Kristin Wiig – The Martian, Paul, Flight of the Conchords
• Why? Music
• Seen: 10 September 2022      

       For some reason I was expecting a normal film (I hadn’t realised until now that it’s the same director as the dreadful Orange County). I began to suspect that I was mistaken when little Dewey slices his brother in half with a machete and the upper half told him that now he had to do something doubly great for the both of them.

       It’s a spoof on Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, the Beatles – Jack Black as Paul McCartney is brilliant; the Beatles episode is the only good one really. Some bits are amusing but it’s mostly just ridiculous. John C Reilly sure can sing though. 

2 ½ * of 5   

 

Kriget (A War)

 

Kriget (A War) 2015

• Director: Tobias Lindholm
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Pilou Asbaek, Tuva Novotny
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Pilou Asbaek – Ghost in the Shell, Lucy
• Tuva Novotny -Annihilation, Jalla! Jalla!
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 29 August 2022      

       Claus Michael (Asbaeck) is a Danish soldier in Afghanistan. His wife Maria (Novotny) is home in Denmark raising the three kids. They speak briefly and irregularly and frustratingly on the phone.

       What’s the point of this film? War is hell? War is meaningless? Bad decisions lead to the deaths of soldiers and civilians? Soldiers suffer guilt and trauma from killing? It’s hard to judge who the enemy is? Wives and kids at home have it rough too?

       Don’t we know all this?

       Maybe we need to be reminded. The film is well done with good acting and no frills. It’s a good film, just not the kind that moves me, a life-long pacifist and peace activist. 

3 ½* of 5   

 

 

 

Jurassic Park

 

Jurassic Park 1993

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Seen by this director: Ready Player One, BFG, War of the Worlds, Catch Me If You Can, AI, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Schindler’s List, Hook, The Colour Purple, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Sugarland Express, The Duel
• Based on the book by Michael Crichton
• Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Ariana Richards, Samuel L Jackson, Wayne Knight
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sam Neill – Blackbird, A Long Way Down, Skin, Little Fish, The Piano
• Laura Dern – Big Little Lies, Star Wars the Last Jedi, Wild, The Fault in Our Stars, I Am Sam, October Sky, Citizen Ruth, A Perfect World, Wild at Heart
• Jeff Goldblum – Mortdecai, Igby Goes Down, Independence Day, The Fly, Silverado
• Richard Attenborough – Elizabeth, Hamlet
• Bob Peck – Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Surviving Picasso, Macbeth
• Ariana Richards - Tremors
• Samuel L Jackson – Glass, The Hateful Eight, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, 51^st State, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Wayne Knight – Hail Caesar, Third Rock from the Sun, JFK, Dead Again, Born on the Fourth of July, Dirty Dancing
• Why? A classic
• Seen: Once before. Now 8 September 2022      

       It will be interesting to see if this dinosaur film is as good as the more recent British series Primeval which I liked very much. I’m quite sure I’ve seen Jurassic Park, but I don’t remember it at all, which doesn’t really bode well, does it?

       You probably know the story. If not, Google it. A park with live cloned dinosaurs is owned and run by an eccentric zillionaire (Attenborough), who invites sceptical scientists (Dern, Neill and Goldblum) to visit and endorse it. There are kids and murderous dinosaurs and cute dinosaurs and a human villain.

       My question is why in the world does almost every review on IMDb give it 10* or at least 7*? The characters are uber-annoying. Even Samuel L Jackson is lacklustre in a nothing role. It’s not even exciting. Most of the time I was surfing on my mobile.

       My advice: see Primeval instead. I like Sam Neill, though, Richards is good as the girl and the dinosaurs are well done, so instead of 1* it gets     

 2* of 5   

 

 

 

Save the Last Dance

 

Save the Last Dance 2001

• Director: Thomas Carter
• Seen by this director – Swing Kids, TV series
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Fredro Starr, Terry Kinney, Bianca Lawson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julia Stiles – Silver Lining Playbook, Mona Lisa’s Smile, O, Hamlet, 10 Things I Hate about You, Wide Awake
• Sean Patrick Thomas – Honeydripper, The Fountain
• Kerry Washington – Django Unchained, The Miracle at St Ana, The Dead Girl, The Last King of Scotland, Ray, The Human Stain, The United States of Leland, Bad Company
• Fredro Starr – Clockers
• Terry Kinney - Devil in a Blue Dress, The Last Mohican
• Bianca Lawson – The Feast of All Saints, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Why? Dance
• Seen: 7 September 2022      

       Sara Johnson (Stiles) auditions at Juilliard’s dance school on the same day her mother is killed in a traffic accident. She moves to Chicago to live in a squalid flat with her musician father (Kinney) and is enrolled in a nearly all-black school where she is completely out of her depth. With the help of Chenille (Washington) and her own lippy attitude she starts finding her way. Her dancing skills and Chenille’s brother Derek’s (Thomas) willingness to teach her street dancing don’t hurt.

       It’s a teen film with all the expected clichés and stereotypes and some viewers hate it with a vengeance. Why? It’s flawed, yes, but it’s good. It deals with racism and sexism credibly. It’s fun at times and I like the dancing.

       It’s no Billy Elliot, but almost! 

4* of 5   

    

 

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

 

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot 2018

• Director: Gus Van Sant
• Seen by this director: Milk, Paris je t’aime, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho
• Based on book by John Callahan.
• Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Udo Kier, Sunny Suljic
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Joaquin Phoenix – Joker, Two Lovers, Reservation Road, Walk the Line, Hotel Rwanda, Gladiator
• Jonah Hill – Hail Caesar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, The Invention of Lying
• Rooney Mara – Lion, Social Network
• Jack Black – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, Orange County, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld
• Udo Kier – Iron Sky, Melancholia, Manderlay, Modigliani, Dogville, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Johnny Mnemonic, My Own Private Idaho
• Sunny Suljic – The House with Clocks in the Walls, Mid90s
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 6 September 2022      

       John Callahan (Phoenix) is an alcoholic whose life changes drastically when an accident puts him a wheelchair. Despite the damage to his hands, he becomes a renowned, if controversial, cartoonist. True story, well, truish.

       The film goes back to John’s wild ‘before’ life when he and his drinking buddy Dexter (Black) drink. And drink. And drink. Until Dexter crashes the car, leaves John paralysed from the chest down, and walks away without a scratch. We follow John through rehab, AA meetings, his continued drinking, his anger, and bitterness.

       It’s funny, non-sentimental (mostly) and filled with good supporting characters. Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal.        

4* of 5