Fukushima 50

 

Fukushima 50 (2020)

• Director: Setsurô Wakamatsu
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ken Watanabe, Riho Yoshioka
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ken Watanabe – Inception
• Why? History we remember.
• Seen: 19 February 2023      

       There are many reasons why nuclear power is a disastrous idea. Earthquakes and tsunamis are among them.

       Despite the drama and fear of the real event, the film itself is rather boring. It’s chaotic (which is reasonable) with a lot of shouting by characters we don’t get to know or care about, and a myriad of technical details. If you want the story of what actually happened, Google it.

       It doesn’t directly deal with the question of nuclear power’s to be or not to be, but it hints at nature being stronger than human folly and glimpses of wind turbines and solar cells in the closing credits might be a subtle message. But our planet doesn’t have time for subtlety, does it? 

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slaughterhouse Five

 

Slaughterhouse Five 1972

• Director: George Roy Hill
• Seen by this director: The World According to Garp, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii
• Based on the book by Kurt Vonnegut Jr
• Cast: Michael Sachs, Ron Liebman, Eugene Roach, Sharon Glans, Valerie Perrine, Holly Near
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael Sachs – Sugarland Express
• Eugene Roach – something, I’m sure
• Valerie Perrine – Superman 1&2, Lenny
• Holly Near – The Mod Squad, All in the Family
• Why? The book
• Seen: 18 February 2023      

       How in the world can this book be made into a film? We’ll soon see.

       The story, which follows the book faithfully, in brief: Hapless Billy Pilgrim (Sachs) jumps back in forth in time and space (TARDIS, anyone?) with no control, from his present life in the 60s with a wife and two grown children, to a galaxy far away where he lives in a bubble to entertain the Tralfamadorians, to WWII, to the psychiatric hospital, to Dresden during the bombing.

       If it follows the book faithfully, why is it so flat? The acting is mostly hammy but the real problem is the lack of a narrator (the book has one, an ‘I’ who appears only very infrequently and is no doubt Vonnegut himself) to laconically juxtapose absurdities, despair and horrors and to say ‘so it goes’ at every mention of death.

       I respect the attempt, but it is far from the masterpiece that the book is. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darkest Hour 2017

 

Darkest Hour (2017)

• Director: Joe Wright
• Seen by this director: Hanna, The Soloist, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane, Joe Armstrong
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gary Oldman – The Space Between Us, The Dark Knight Arises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter, The Book of Eli, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Friends, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, Léon, Romeo Is Bleeding, True Romance, Dracula, JFK, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Prick Up Your Ears, Sid and Nancy, Meanwhile
• Kristin Scott Thomas – Tomb Raider, The Party, My Old Lady, The Invisible Woman, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Contre toi, Elle s’apellait Sarah, Nowhere Boy, The Other Boleyn Girl, Il y’a longtemps que je t’aime, Keeping Mum, Man to Man, Gosford Park, The English Patient, Richard III, Angels and Insects, A Handful of Dust
• Lily James – Yesterday, Mamma Mia 2, The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society, Downton Abbey, Cinderella, Broken
• Ben Mendelsohn – Ready Player One, Rogue One, The Dark Knight Rises, Black and White, Vertical Limit
• Ronald Pickup – Hotel Marigold 1&2, Hustle and many other series
• Stephen Dillane – Mary Shelley, Game of Thrones, The Hours, Hamlet
• Joe Armstrong – The Hollow Crown, Hustle, Rose & Maloney
• Why? Gary Oldman
• Seen: 17 February 2023      

       Winston Churchill was a controversial figure during his life and since. I acknowledge his importance during the war, but I have never liked him and have always wondered if his way was the only way. Never mind. History is what it is, and Gary Oldman is one of my biggest favourites so it will be very interesting to see what happens when he and Churchill merge.

       And merge they do. Oldman is almost unrecognisable in this role and that’s why he won the Oscar. There are half a dozen roles he should have won an Oscar for but that’s another question.

       The film? It covers his first month as Prime Minister and it is at moments boring, at other moments quite dramatic (thanks to Oldman). It has a strong sense of hero worship propaganda.

 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ordinary People

 

Ordinary People 1980

• Director: Robert Redford
• Seen by this director: The Conspirator
• Based on the book by Judith Guest
• Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, Elizabeth McGovern, M Emmett Walsh, Dinah Manoff, Fredric Lehne
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Mary Tyler Moore – The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Dick van Dyke Show
• 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
• Timothy Hutton – The Ghost Writer, Secret Window, Beautiful Girls, Iceman, Daniel
• Judd Hirsch – this and that
• M Emmett Walsh – this and that
• Elizabeth McGovern – Downton Abbey, Woman in Gold, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Angels Crest, Racing with the Moon, If Not for You, The Handmaid’s Tale
• Why? Mary Tyler Moore
• Seen: 16 February 2023      

       Wealthy, white suburban Chicago family, Beth (MTM), Calvin (Sutherland), and troubled son Conrad (Hutton) struggle to maintain a veneer of normalcy after the older son Bucky died in an accident. Conrad has tried to commit suicide and spent some months in a psychiatric hospital. He is now seeing Dr Berger (Hirsch).

       The family is falling apart.

       It is quite powerful, and the acting is good but the dialog is often trite and simplistic.

       Still, I’m glad I’ve finally seen it. It only took 43 years. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Children

 

The Children 2008

• Director: Tom Shankland
• Seen by this director: episodes of The Leftovers, The Fades
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley, Hannah Tointon,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Eva Birthistle – Brooklyn, Breakfast on Pluto, Trust
• Stephen Campbell Moore – Red Joan, The Lady in the Van, Johnny English Reborn, Amazing Grace, Hustle, Bright Young Things
• Jeremy Sheffield – Last Chance Harvey
• Why? Possibly Good.
• Seen: 15 February 2023      

       Happy family reunion for Christmas in rural England. Happy for everyone but sullen teen-aged Casey (Tointon) and sickly little Paulie. The other little kids are having fun and the adults laugh a lot but there are tensions and undertones of resentment.

       And Paulie gets weird. And weirder. And the cat disappears. The other children get sick, then mean, then violent.

       And it gets a little scary.

       A lot scary. Some good visuals too. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reservoir Dogs

 

Reservoir Dogs 1992

• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Seen by this director: Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill 1&2, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Harvey Keitel – Moonrise Kingdom, Inglourious Basterds, Be Cool, Lulu on the Bridge, Copland, Clockers, Smoke, Pulp Fiction, The Piano, Sister Act, Thelma and Louise, The January Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
• Tim Roth – The Hateful Eight, Selma, The Liability, Broken, To Kill a King, The Planet of the Apes, Gridlock’d, Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Michael Madsen – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight, 45 RPM, Kill Bill, Pauly Shore Is Dead, Donny Brasco, Thelma & Louise, The Doors, Almost Blue
• Steve Buscemi – Paris je t’aime, The Sopranos, Romance & Cigarettes, Big Fish, 28 Days, Fargo, Living in Oblivion, Pulp Fiction, Billy Bathgate, Barton Fink, Mystery Train
• Quentin Tarantino – Like Alfred Hitchcock, he pops up now and then
• Why? Tarantino
• Seen: once before. Now 14 February 2023.      

       The first time I saw this, I didn’t know that Tarantino was a Thing. Maybe because it’s his first film and he wasn’t a Thing yet. By now I’ve seen most of his films and I’ve liked them all. I remember liking this one too and it’s been on my ‘must-see-again-immediately-list’ for several years. So – now.

       A gang of tough guys call themselves Reservoir Dogs, but their planned heist goes very wrong.

       There’s plenty of violence, no surprise there. Plenty of talk. In fact, almost all talk. Not a single woman and only one person of colour. Very white macho. It’s far from as good as his later films and I’m not really sure why I liked it the first time. Well, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi of course. And it does have something, a hint of coming genius. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drive

 

Drive 2011

• Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
• Based on the book by James Sallis
• Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ryan Gosling – First Man, Blade Runner 2049, La La Land, Crazy Stupid Love, Lars and the Real Girl, Fracture, Half Nelson, The United States of Leland
• Carey Mulligan – Suffragette, Far from the Madding Crowd, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Great Gatsby, Never Let Me Go, Public Enemies, An Education, Doctor Who
• Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad, Total Recall, Contagion, Little Miss Sunshine, Third Rock from the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, I Know My First Name Is Steven
• Oscar Isaac – Suburbicon, Dune, Star Wars, Annihilation, X-Men Apocalypse, Ex Machina, Inside Llewin Davis, Robin Hood
• Christina Hendricks – Mad Men, God’s Pocket, Ginger & Rosa
• Ron Perlman – many, I’m sure.
• Why? Ryan Gosling and reviews
• Seen: 11 February 2023      

       Ryan Gosling is a mysterious unnamed Driver who works for Shannon (Cranston) as a mechanic, a stuntman and a car racer. He works for himself as a getaway driver.  We learn nothing about him but his expertise behind the wheel. He’s taciturn but helpful, gentle but violent. He falls for his neighbour Irene (Mulligan) and her little son Benicio (Leos) and befriends her husband Standard (Isaac) when he’s released from prison.

       And that’s when things get complicated. It’s an action film, yes, with criminals and car chases and violence, but it is so much better than the average actions film. The characters have depth, and it is unpredictable. It’s beautifully filmed, and often low-key with such moments of explosive intensity that my heart is at times actually pounding.

       The cast is good. Gosling is brilliant. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Walk

 

The Walk 2015

• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Seen by this director: Cast Away, Contact, Forest Gump, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I Wanna Hold Your Hand
• Based on the book by Phillipe Petit
• Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte le Bon, Ben Kingsley, Clément Sibony, César Domboy, James Badge Dale
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Snowden, Knives Out, Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, 500 Days of Summer, Miracle at St Ana, The Lookout, Brick, Third Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You
• Charlotte Le Bon – The Hundred Foot Journey
• Ben Kingsley – Hugo, Shutter Island, A House of Sand and Fog, Death and the Maiden, Schindler’s List, Gandhi
• Clément Sibony – The Hundred Foot Journey, The Tourist
• César Domboy - Un sac de billes
• James Badge Dale – The Lone Ranger, World War Z
• Why? Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• Seen: 9 February 2023      

       Yes, I vowed I would never watch this film. No, I have not lost my fear of heights. Yes, I’m going to watch it with my eyes closed.  I’m doing it for you, Joseph.

       But with a French accent? Hmmm.

       True story. Phillipe Petit (JG-L) is a wire walker who defies several laws, including gravity, to walk a wire stretched between the newly built Twin Towers of New York City’s World Trade Centre.

       It seems to be a …comedy? Phillipe narrates the whole thing from childhood, to busking in Paris etc, etc, which is a pity because he’s very irritating. For the first time ever, I don’t like a JG-L character (although I’ve seen far from all his films).

       Why didn’t they cast French actors?

       It’s actually kind of boring. The James Bond type of music is annoying. Oh, why didn’t they just make a serious film?      

2* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Weeks Notice

 

Two Weeks Notice 2002

• Director: Marc Lawrence
• Seen by this director: Music and Lyrics, Miss Congeniality 1&2
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Alicia Witt, Dana Ivey, Robert Kline, Heather Burns, David Haig, Dorian Missick, Jason Anroon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Crash, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Miss Congeniality 1&2, 28 Days, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Hugh Grant – The Gentlemen, Cloud Atlas, Music and Lyrics, American Dreamz, Love Actually, About a Boy, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Sense and Sensibility, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Remains of the Day, Impromptu
• Heather Byrns – Manchester by the Sea, Miss Congeniality 1&2, You’ve Got Mail
• David Haig – Hustle, Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Why? Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant
• Seen: 8 February 2023      

       Lucy (Bullock) is a Harvard attorney determined, to the point of sit-down strikes and jail, to stop Big Business destroying the Community Centre. Big Business, in the shape of George (Grant), through minimally believable circumstances, hires her. Lucy is extremely intelligent and eloquent but quite square. George is a suave but a shallow womanising extremely rich snob.

       Guess what happens. The question is, will it be entertaining to watch?

       Bullock is being Bullock, Grant is being Grant and that’s what gives this mediocre story some entertainment value. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suburbicon

 

Suburbicon 2017

• Director: George Clooney
• Seen by this director: Good Night and Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Noah Jupe, Karimah Westbrook, Leith M Burke, Tony Espinosa
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matt Damon – The Martian, Interstellar, Elysium, Contagion, True Grit, Invictus, The Informant, The Brothers Grimm, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Bourne Identity, Dogma, Good Will Hunting
• Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right, The Hunger Games, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, I’m Not There, Children of Men, The Hours, Far from Heaven, The Shipping News, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Surviving Picasso, The Fugitive, Benny and Joon
• Oscar Isaac – Dune, Star Wars, Annihilation, X-Men Apocalypse, Ex Machina, Inside Llewin Davis, Robin Hood
• Noah Jupe – The Night Manager
• Karimah Westbrook – The Rum Diary, American Violet, Save the Last Dance
• Why? The Coen Brothers (writers) and George Clooney.
• Seen: 6 February 2023      

       The perfect white suburb in the US in the 50s, then a black family moves in. The white community is appalled, furious, indignant. The white boy Nicky (Jupe) plays baseball with the black boy Andy (Espinosa) but the white adults harass the black family, even resorting to violence.

       Meanwhile, there is drama in Nicky’s family. And the question arises. Is this a family drama, a comedy, a murder mystery, a political satire, a parody (of Fargo)? All of the above? You never know with the Coen Brothers. Or George Clooney for that matter.

       Funnily enough, it all seems to pull together, but to measure up to Fargo it needs a Macy, a Stormare, a Buscemi and above all a McDormand.

       Even without them, though, it’s pretty good.      

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turist (Force Majeur)

 

Turist 2014

• Director: Ruben Östlund
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Johannes Bah Kunke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren, Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius, Karin Myrenberg Faber, Brady Korbet, Johannes Moustos
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Johannes Bah Kunke – Äkta Människor
• Kristofer Hivju – Game of Thrones, After Earth
• Brady Korbet – Clouds over Sils Maria, Melancholia
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 5 February 2023      

       With all the hype around Ruben Östlund I can’t help but be curious. He’s the pride of Sweden at the moment, after all, with all his Oscar nominations. So, let’s take a look.

       A Swedish couple and their two small children are on a skiing holiday in the Alps. On their second day they’re having lunch on the hotel terrace when a controlled avalanche suddenly isn’t in control but races towards them. They panic and run. They are unharmed but their happy holiday is suddenly not so happy anymore.

       This is not a disaster film, nor a skiing film, but a film about the expectations and demands we put on each other and on ourselves, and what happens when reality tears them apart. It’s an unusual film. If it’s typical Östlund I can’t say but I will definitely be seeing more by him.           

4* of 5 

PS It seems there is an important gender analysis in there, as well as a class and environmental analysis of the ghastly luxurious skiing industry but I’m a little too overwhelmed by the film at the moment. It will have to wait until next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stronger

 

Stronger 2017

• Director: David Gordon Green
• Seen by this director: Undertow
• Based on the book by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter
• Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Life, Prisoners, Proof, Brokeback Mountain, Day after Tomorrow, The Good Girl, Donnie Darko
• Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black, Woman in Gold
• Miranda Richardson – Testament of Youth, Hatty Potter, Made in Degenham, Young Victoria, Paris je t’aime, Gideon’s Daughter, Wah-Wha, Phantom of the Opera, The Hours, Black Adder, Sleepy Hollow, Dance with a Stranger
• Why? Gyllenhaal and Maslany
• Seen: 4 February 2023      

       Jeff (Gyllenhaal) loses both legs to the Boston Marathon Bomber in 2013 but what he witnessed just seconds before the bomb went off helped the FBI catch the bombers, which makes him a hero. While struggling with rehab he has to deal with publicity, public appearance and his boisterous hard drinking and argumentative family. It’s his ex-girl friend Erin (Maslany) who understands what he’s going through and gets him through the nightmare.

       Gyllenhaal and Maslany as well as Richardson as Jeff’s pushy loud-mouthed mother make this an emotional powerhouse.      

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super 8

 

Super 8 (2011)

• Director: J J Abrams
• Seen by this director: Star Wars, Lost
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, Ryan Lee, Zack Mills, Riley Griffiths, Ron Eldard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Elle Fanning – Mary Shelley, Maleficent, Ginger & Rosa, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Reservation Road, Babel, Taken
• Kyle Chandler – First Man, Manchester by the Sea, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Day the Earth Stood Still, King Kong
• Ron Eldard – A House of Sand and Fog, Ghost Ship
• Why? Sci fi lite
• Seen: 3 February 2023      

       Four boys and a girl are making a zombie film to enter in a film festival.

       Just that sentence itself sends out warning signals but I’ll give it a chance.

       They happen to witness and film a train wreck and there is an alien involved.

       It’s not bad, actually, thanks to Joel Courtney who is appealing as the young main character, and Fanning who, as we have seen in other films, is a good child actor, though totally wrong for the role as Mary Shelley. Some of the smaller roles are good too, especially Eldard. The story is entertaining and for a Friday evening sci fi lite it fulfils its mission admirably. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dry

 

The Dry 2020

• Director: Robert Connolly
• Based on the novel by Jane Harper
• Cast: Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell, John Polson, Julia Blake, Bruce Spence, William Zappa, Matt Nable, James Frecheville, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Joe Klocek, BeBe Bettencourt, Miranda Tapsell
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Eric Bana – Hanna, The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Other Boleyn Girl,
• Genevieve O’Reilly – Snowman, Rogue One, The Fall, Forget Me Not, Young Victoria, Star Wars III; Matrix
• Keir O’Donnell– The Runaways, Lost
• Julia Blake – X-Men Origins Wolverine
• Why? The author.
• Seen: 3 February 2023      

       Federal cop Aaron (Bana) returns to his hometown in rural Australia for the funeral of his childhood friend who has apparently killed his family then himself. It’s not that simple, and Aaron stays to look into things, but an old tragedy haunts him and the hostile town still blames him.

       Another book by Jane Harper, The Lost Man, is one of the few police novels, or novels at all, that I rated 5* on Good Reads. The book behind this was not as all as good. In fact the film is much better – slow, deliberate, atmospheric. It’s well acted by all, and the tension builds up so slowly that even the climax sneaks up on you.

       This is one instance when the film is better than the book. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Boy

 

Old Boy 2003

• Director: Park Chan-Wook
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Choi Min-Sik, Yoo Ji-tai, Kang Hye-jeong
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Choi Min-Sik – Lucy
• Why? Its reputation
• Seen: 28 January 2023      

       Dae-su Oh (Min-Sik) is held captive in a hotel room for 15 years with no explanation. He is released, still with no explanation, and now he’s filled with a deep lust for revenge.

       Also with no explanation, an address on Kungsgatan in Stockholm is showed, and that is the coolest thing, being I’m a Swede, about the film. I can understand that many viewers love the film. I usually enjoy this kind of meaningless surrealistic film but this one is just off enough that I found it boring and dozed off towards the end. 

2* of 5

 

 

 

Fear of Rain

 

Fear of Rain 2021

• Director: Castille Landon
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Madison Iseman, Katherine Heigl, Harry Connick Jr, Israel Broussard, Eugenie Bonderant, Julia Vasi, Enuka Okuma
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Katharine Heigl – Roswell
• Why? Of possible interest.
• Seen: 1 February 2023      

       Rain (Iseman) suffers from a kind of schizophrenia with severe hallucinations. Her parents Michelle (Heigl) and John (Connick) are in despair but try desperately to help and support her so that she doesn’t need to be institutionalised.

       At school her friends have turned against her, afraid that her craziness is catching, or only because they are cruel. A new boy Caleb (Broussard) befriends her and is the only one who believes her when she says that her neighbour, who happens to be their weird English teacher (Bonderant), is holding a child captive in the attic. Everyone else says she’s hallucinating. But is she hallucinating Caleb too?

       Some viewers object to the offensively unrealistic view of mental illness but I don’t know. From close personal experience of hallucinations in the family, I know they can take any and all forms and can be very scary. I find the film riveting and the acting convincing. Yes, there are some glitches and faulty editing but I like it.      

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lakeview Terrace

 

Lakeview Terrace 2008

• Director: Neil LaBute
• Seen by this director: Nurse Betty
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington
• 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
• Patrick Wilson – The Conjuring, Prometheus, Phantom of the Opera, Angels in America
• Kerry Washington – Django Unchained, The Miracle at Santa Ana, The Dead Girl, The Last King of Scotland, Ray, The Human Stain, The United States of Leland, Save the Last Dance
• Why? Samuel L Jackson
• Seen: 31 January 2023      

       Widowed LA cop Abel (Jackson) is strict with his two resentful kids. A new couple Lisa (Washington) and Chris (Wilson) move in next door in the comfortable suburb. Abel doesn’t like the fact that Chris is white. He is jovial and smiley and vicious.

       There is a lot of tension in this complex story. There are difficult racial, gender and political issues. It’s no doubt realistic but it’s also hateful, and whatever point it’s trying to make, it’s not made.

       The whole neighbourhood will probably go up in flames anyway as there are repeated references to the approaching forest fires.

       It wallows in poison. The acting is good (can SLJ be anything but good?) but I just don’t like the film.

2 ½ * of 5

PS Personally I’m cheering for the forest fires, nature’s way of fighting back against greed and crimes against the environment.