The Fifth Estate

 

The Fifth Estate 2013

• Director: Bill Condon
• Seen by this director: Beauty and the Beast, The Twilight Saga 1, Dreamgirls
• Based on the book: Daniel Domscheit-Berg
• Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Carice van Houten, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, David Thewliss, Dan Stevens, Jamie Blackley
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Benedict Cumberbatch – 1917, Sherlock, Richard III, Doctor Strange, The Imitation Game, 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Small Island, Creation, Atonement, Amazing Grace, Starter for 10To Kill a King
• Daniel Brühl – The Cloverfield Paradox, Alone in Berlin, Colonoa, Woman in Gold, Inglourious Basterds, Ladies in Lavender, Good-bye Lenin
• Carice van Houten – Game of Thrones, Repomen, From Time to Time, Valkyria
• Alicia Vikander – Tomb Raider, Euphoria, Ex Machina, Testament of Youth
• Peter Capaldi – The Personal Life of David Copperfield, Christopher Robin, Doctor Who, Paddington 1&2, World War Z, In the Loop, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Neverwhere, Local Hero
• David Thewliss – Wonder Woman, Legend, Macbeth, The Theory of Everything, Harry Potter, Veronica Decides to Die, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Omen, Kingdom of Heaven, Dinotopia, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith, Naked, Life Is Sweet
• Dan Stevens – Beauty and the Beast, Summer in February, Downton Abbey, The Turn of the Screw
• Jamie Blackley  - Misfits
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 27 August 2023      

       The story of Julian Assange (Cumberbatch) and Wikileaks, based on the book by his colleague Daniel (Brühl), thus rather slanted in favour of Daniel.

       For being a film about one of the most influential, brilliant and controversial individuals of our time, with a stellar cast, the first hour or so is surprisingly boring and confusing.

       There are dramatic and emotional scenes and the story behind Wikileaks is fascinating. Cumberbatch is convincing in the role he’s been given to play but for a film about revealing the truth, the truth of Assange and Wikileaks is certainly not revealed in the mishmash. 

3 * of 5  

 

 

Iron Man 3

 

Iron Man 3 (2013)

• Director: Shane Black
• Seen by this director: The Predator, The Nice Guys
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley, William Sadler
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert Downey Jr – Iron Man 1&2, Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, The Soloist, Zodiac, Fur, A Scanner Darkly, Good Night and Good Luck, Richard III
• Gwyneth Paltrow – Mortdecai, Thanks for Sharing, Iron Man 1&2, Avengers, Contagion, Two Lovers, Proof, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors
• Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda, Iron Man 3, Crash, The United States of Leland, Mission to Mars, Devil in a Blue Dress
• Rebecca Hall – BFG, Transcendence, The Awakening, Red Riding, Frost/Nixon, The Prestige, Starter for 10
• Jon Favreau – The Wolf of Wall Street, Iron Man 1& 2, Daredevil, Deep Impact
• Ben Kingsley-  The Walk, Hugo Cabaret, Shutter Island, Elegy, A House of Sand and Fog, AI, Anne Frank, Twelfth Night, Death and the Maiden, Schindler’s List, Dave, Gandhi
• William Sadler – The Mist, Roswell, The Green Mile, The Omen, The Shawshank Redemption
• Why? My addiction to superheroes
• Seen: 24 August 2023

             As usual with this kind of film I have no idea what the story is supposed to be or what the bad guys want but there are a lot of explosions and fancy gadgets. Tony Stark aka Iron Man (RD Jr) is having nightmares, insomnia, mutinous Iron Man suits and anxiety attacks. Which make his quite loveable.       

So never mind the story. I like this Iron Man.

 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

Freedomland

 

Freedomland 2006

• Director: Joe Roth
• Based on the book: by Richard Price
• Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe, Aunjaune Ellis-Taylor, Anthony Mackie, Clarke Peters, Domenick Lombarozzi
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Samuel L Jackson – so many
• Julianne Moore – Dear Evan Hanson, Suburbicon, Wonderstruck, The Hunger Games, Crazy Stupid Love, The Kids Are All Right, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Children of Men, The Forgotten, The Hours, Far from Heaven, The Shipping News and others
• Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie, The Sopranos, Then She Found Me, Copland, Homicide Life on the Street
• Ron Eldard – A House of Sand and Fog, Ghost Ship, Deep Impact, Super 8
• William Forsythe – for example Raising Arizona
• Aunjaune Ellis-Taylor – Get on Up, The Help, Ray
• Anthony Mackie – Ant-Man, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, American Violet, 8 Mile
• Clark Peters – Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, London Spy, John Wick, The Wire, Notting Hill, Mona Lisa
• Domenick Lombarozzi  - God’s Pocket, The Wire, Miami Vice·        
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 16 August 2023                     

       Brenda’s (Moore) car is hijacked with her little son in the back seat. Lorenzo (Jackson) is the detective assigned to the case.

       Otherwise it’s like an episode of Homicide Life on the Street and The Wire with half the same actors. Also racism, drugs, cop feuds. I’m in the process of re-watching Homicide so I keep expecting Bayliss or Pembleton or Howard to walk in.

       Then the story – not completely credible but never mind, it’s dramatic – and the acting take over. Moore is completely believable as the mentally unstable mother.

       Flawed, but strong. 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

Phoenix

 

Phoenix 2018

• Director: Camilla Ström Henriksen
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ylva Björkaas Thedic, Marie Bonnevie, Sverrir Gudnason, Casper Falck-Lövås, Kjersti Sandahl, Renate Reinsve
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Marie Bonnevie – Insomnia
• Sverrir Gudnason – Upp till kamp, Cleo
• Why? It sounded good
• Seen: 24 August 2023.      

       Jill (Björkaas Thedic), 13 years old, lives with her little brother Bo (Falck-Lövås) and mother Astrid (Bonnevie) in Oslo. Astrid is an artist and an unstable alcoholic. Jill’s father (Gudnason) is a musician and mostly absent.

       Jill feels responsible for her mother and little brother but when NO SPOILER, she can’t face it and pretends that nothing has happened.

       Jill’s dad comes for her 14^th birthday and she hopes, pretends, that he’ll make everything right.

       It’s a depressing portrait of a girl who struggles with burdens she’s too young to bear. Newcomer Björkaas Thedic is outstanding as Jill. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

Waterland

 

Waterland 1992

• Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal
• Seen by this director: an episode each of Homicide Life on the Street and Twin Peaks.
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jeremy Irons, Sínead Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Grant Warnock, Lena Headey, David Morrissey, John Heard, Pete Postletwaite
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jeremy Irons – Their Finest, The Man Who Knew Infinity, High-Rise, Beautiful Creatures, The Hollow Crown, The Words, Kingdom of Heaven, The Merchant of Venice, Being Julia, Longitude, Kafka, Australia, The French Lieutenant’s Woman
• Sínead Cusack – Camelot, V for Vendetta, Twelfth Night
• Ethan Hawke – many including Cymbeline and Hamlet.
• Lena Heady – Game of Thrones, Fighting with My Family, Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Brothers Grimm, Aberdeen, Remains of the Day
• David Morrissey – The Hollow Crown, South Riding, Red Riding, Doctor Who and others
• John Heard – The Sopranos, O, The Pelican Brief, Awakenings
• Pete Postlethwaite – The Constant Gardener, The Shipping News, Amistad, Brassed Off, Romeo & Julia, In the Name of the Father, Alien 3, Hamlet
• Why? I remember it as good.
• Seen: Once before. Now 22 August 2023.      

       Tom (Warnock and Irons), a history teacher, and his wife Mary (Headey and Cusack), a neurotic who obsesses about Jesus and not being able to have children, moved from England to the US twenty years ago. They are both haunted by their past. They met and became passionate lovers at the end of WWII.

       One of Tom’s students, Price (Hawke), is contemptuous of his history lessons so Tom starts telling stories of his and Mary’s past, more vividly than some students like, but teaching them a lot of history.

       Despite the somewhat banal story, the interweaving of a teacher reaching out to his students and the connection of the individual to history, it makes for a dramatic and atmospheric film with strong acting by all, especially Heady in her first film. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

I Kill Giants

 

I Kill Giants 2017

• Director: Anders Walter
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, Sydney Wade, Rory Jackson, Jennifer Ehle, Noel Clarke
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Zoe Saldana – Pirates of the Caribbean, The Words The Terminal
• Imogen Poots – A Long Way Down, Filth, Fright Night, Jane Eyre, 28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta
• Sydney Wade – Doctor Who, Marchlands
• Jennifer Ehle – The King’s Speech, The River King, Sunshine, Wilde, Pride and Prejudice, Backbeat
• Noel Clark – Doctor Who, Fisherman’s Friends, Storage 24
• Why? Possibly good.
• Seen: 21 August 2023      

       Barbara (Wolfe) is a geeky, weird bespectacled 12-year-old girl who lives with her older sister (Poots) and brother in a large house on the north Atlantic coast. She conducts meticulous, somewhat scientific, somewhat magical experiments into how to trap and kill giants. She stands up to school bullies and coolly rejects offers of help from the school psychologist (Saldana) because she has more important things to do. She reluctantly makes friends with Sophie (Wade), the new kid from England.

       It’s not a fun fantasy adventure film for kids. It’s a gripping drama of a courageous and intelligent young girl grappling with tragedy in her life. Wolfe is perfect in the role. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

The Terminal

 

The Terminal 2004

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Seen by this director: many
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Barry Shabaka Henry, Kumar Pallana, Zoe Saldana
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tom Hanks – Many
• Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago, Traffic, High Fidelity
• Stanley Tucci – many including A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Chi McBride – I Robot
• Diego Luna – Rogue One, Elysium, Milk, Frida
• Humar Pallana – Darjeeling Limited, Romance & Cigarettes, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore
• Zoe Saldana – Pirates of the Caribbean, The Words
• Why? Possibly good. Decent Cast. Spielberg.
• Seen: 20 August 2023      

       Airports stress me out and I hate flying. I’m not scared, I just hate it. So this is not a good start.

       Viktor Navorski (Hanks) arrives at JFK to find that his passport and visa are nullified because war has broken out in his country. He’s stuck in the International Transit lounge for days and weeks, caught in international bureaucracy.

       I assume it’s supposed to be a romantic comedy but it’s unfunny, trite, contrived, boring, and ridiculous. What in the world were Spielberg and the decent cast thinking?     

 1* of 5  

 

 

 

Birdwatchers

 

Birdwatchers (La terra degli uomini ross) 2008

• Director: Marco Bechis
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Pedro da Sílvia da Silva, Ambrosio Vilhava, Adamilson Concianza Verga, Alicélia Batista Cabreira, Claudio Santamaria, Fabiane Pereira da Silva, Chiara Caselli, Leonardo Medeiros
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Chiara Caselli – My Own Private Idaho
• Why? The subject.
• Seen: 19 August 2023      

       Alcoholism and teen suicides plague a reservation in Brazil. Rich white farmers with spoilt daughters live right next door. Racism, oppression, violence, resistance. The universal conflict between the descendants of colonial invaders and the indigenous people.

       It’s an interesting and important subject but the film is very slow and it often borders on the cliché. The ending is quite strong though and it’s worth seeing.     

 3* of 5  

 

 

Lonesome Jim

 

Lonesome Jim 2005

• Director: Steve Buscemi
• Seen by this director: episodes of The Sopranos and Homicide Life on the Street
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place, Kevin Corrigan, Seymour Cassel, Mark Boone Junior, Jack Rovello
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Casey Affleck – Light of My Life, Manchester by the Sea, Interstellar, Out of the Furnace, Gone Baby Gone, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Hamlet. Good Will Hunting
• Liv Tyler – Ad Astra, The Leftovers, Lord of the Rings, Armageddon
• Mary Kay Place – Human Nature, My First Mister, Girl Interrupted, Being John Malkovich, Citizen Ruth, Manny & Lo, New York New York
• Kevin Corrigan – Cymbeline, Winter’s Tale, Fringe, American Gangster, True Romance
• Seymour Cassel – something, I’m sure
• Mark Boone Junior – something, I’m sure
• Jack Rovello – The Hours
• Why? I liked it the first time.
• Seen: Once before. Now 18 August 2023      

       Jim (Affleck) returns home to his parents in Indiana after an unsuccessful stint in NYC. He’s a loser and knows it. He has no idea what to do with his life. His brother Tim (Corrigan) is also a miserable failure. Jim’s comforting words: ‘I’m a fuck-up but you’re a goddam tragedy.’ That kind of sums the whole film up. It’s a good film to see if you’re depressed because it’ll make you think, ‘At least my life isn’t as dreary as that.’

       I like it.   

 4* of 5  

 

Spontaneous Combustion

 

Spontaneous Combustion 1989

• Director: Tobe Hooper
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Brad Dourif, Cynthia Bain
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brad Dourif – Fringe, Lord of the Rings, Alien Resurrection, Jungle Fever, Mississippi Burning
• Why? I can’t remember
• Seen: 17 August 2023      

       What a bizarre film. Sam (Dourif) self-combusts and learns that his parents had taken part in a nuclear experiment and died from self-combustion when he was a baby.

       If this is an anti-nuclear power, the message is far from clear. I have rarely, if ever, seen such a collection of bad acting, but it almost seems to be deliberate, like it’s a parody of a 50s horror film. Maybe it is. IMDb informs me that it’s by the same director who made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which I have never seen and never will. This is so bad that it might be good. Or maybe it’s just bad. I can’t decide. 1* for my indecision, and 1* for the red Studebaker. We had a Studebaker when I was a kid, but it was green. 

2* of 5  

 

 

Cold Prey (Fritt vilt) (Kallt byte)

 

Kallt byte (Fritt vilt) (Cold Prey) 2006

• Director: Roar Uthaug
• Seen by this director – Tomb Raider, Bölgen
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ingrid Bolsö Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen, Viktoria Winge, Rune Melby
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Norwegian. Possibly good.
• Seen: 13 August 2023      

       Five 20-somethings, two couples and a single guy, snowshoe up a steep snowy Norwegian mountain in high spirits and snow board down. It’s all great fun until one of them crashes and breaks a leg. They’re forced to take shelter in an abandoned ski hotel. Convenient, buy why abandoned? At the height of the ski season?

       Oh, right, the film starts with a series of reports of the many missing people in the area since 1975.

       Something bad is going to happen.

       Finding booze, the youngster have a grand old time, not realising they’re in a scary film. A slasher, no less, according to IMDb. Yuck. I’m not a slasher fan.

       But that’s what it is. And scary. And actually quite good. If it wasn’t a slasher – 4* but since it is 

3½ * of 5  

 

 

 

Herself

 

Herself 2020

• Director: Phyllida Lloyd
• Seen by this director – Mamma Mia
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Clare Dunne, Molly McCann, Ruby Rose O’Hara, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Harriet Walter, Cathy Belton,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Harriet Walter - Doctor Who, Rocket Man, Star Wars the Force Awakens, London Spy, Downton Abbey, Young Victoria, Atonement, Babel, Bright Young Things, Keep the Aspidistras Flying, Sense and Sensibility
• Why? The director. Sounds good. Good reviews.
• Seen: 12 August 2023      

       Sandra (Dunne) has two small daughters (McCann and O’Hara) and an abusive husband Gary (Anderson). She finally leaves him but becomes desperate when she can’t find a place to live. For now she’s in a hotel paid for by family services. She finally decides to build her own house with the help and support of old friends and new.

       Problems abound, especially her husband who insists they should get back together and even takes her to court for custody of the girls.

       It’s a film filled with despair, cruelty, kindness, hope and resilience, performed by excellent actors, none but Walters previously known to me. 

4 ½ * of 5  

 

 

Iron Man 2

 

Iron Man 2 (2010)

• Director: Jon Favreau
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Clark Gregg, John Slattery
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert Downey Jr – Iron Man, Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, The Soloist, Zodiac, Fur, A Scanner Darkly, Good Night and Good Luck, Richard III
• Gwyneth Paltrow – Mortdecai, Thanks for Sharing, Iron Man, Avengers, Contagion, Two Lovers, Proof, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors
• Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda, Crash, The United States of Leland, Mission to Mars, Devil in a Blue Dress
• Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler, Once upon a Time in Mexico, The Pledge, Get Carter, Rumble Fish
• Scarlett Johansson – so many
• Sam Rockwell – Jojo Rabbit, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Seven Psychopaths, Moon, Frost/Nixon, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Samuel L Jackson – so many
• Clark Gregg-  Much Ado about Nothing, Iron Man, Avengers, Thor, 500 Days of Summer, The Human Stain, AI
• John Slattery – Ant-Man, Mad Men, Reservation Road, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Station Agent
• Why? My addiction to superheroes
• Seen: 11 August 2023           

       Tony Stark (Downey Jr) is still awful. Forgive me for noting that he’s acting like Donald Trump - arrogant, insulting, narcissistic… Granted, he’s better looking than Trump, but capitalist privatised peace? That’s a claim Trump would make.

       But we’re supposed to feel sorry for him because he’s dying. His Iron Man suit’s radiation is killing him.

       Yeah well, the first one started out bad too, so I’ll give it a chance. The villains played by Mickey Rourke and one of my favourites Sam Rockwell are annoyingly hammy and there is far too much violent action. That’s when I check my email and FB and snooze. But there’s some entertainingly snappy dialog and Robert Downey Jr is just so good in the role. Against my better judgement... 

3* of 5  

 

 

Aberdeen

 

Aberdeen 2000

• Director: Hans Petter Moland and Tony Spataro
• Seen by Hans Petter Moland – Ut og stjaele hester
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey, Ian Hart, Charlotte Rampling
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Stellan Skarsgård –  Ut og staele hester, Mamma Mia 1&2, Melancholia, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur, Dogville, The Glass House, Dancer in the Dark, Amistad, Good Will Hunting, Breaking the Waves, Hamlet, Den enfaldige mördaren
• Lena Headey – Game of Thrones, Fighting with My Family, Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Brothers Grimm, The Remains of the Day, Waterland
• Ian Hart– Escape from Pretoria, Mary Queen of Scots, Breakfast on Pluto, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter, Born Romantic, Liam, Longitude, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
• Charlotte Rampling - Dune, Melancholia, Never Let Me Go, Life During Wartime, Lemming, A Hard Day’s Night
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 10 August 2023      

       Helen (Rampling) is dying of cancer. She induces her tough daughter, coke-snorting, partying lawyer Kaisa (Headey) to go to Norway and fetch her father Tomas (Skarsgård), a drunk who Kaisa hates and hasn’t seen for years. It is not a happy reunion and the journey from Oslo to Aberdeen is a road trip in hell with flat tires, drunken vomiting, long hours of ferry and car, encounters with more or less helpful and/or malicious strangers - long enough for memories, old conflicts, old hurts and resentments to surface, entangling both Kaisa and Tomas more than ever in their love/hate relationship.

       It’s a heart-breaking, exceptionally well-acted gem. 

4 ½ * of 5  

 

Undertow

 

Undertow 2004

• Director: David Gordon Green
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Devon Alan, Kristen Stewart,  Eddie Rouse, Patrice Johnson, Shirley Appleby
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jamie Bell –  Rocketman, Skin, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Fantastic Four, Filth, Snowpiercer, Jane Eyre, The Eagle, Defiance, Jumper, Hallam Foe, King Kong, The Chumscrubber, Dear Wendy, Billy Elliot
• Josh Lucas – The Lincoln Lawyer, A Beautiful Mind, American Psycho
• Dermot Mulroney – The Mountain Between Us, Burn After Reading, Jolene, I Still See You, About Schmidt
• Kristen Stewart – Clouds over Sils Maria, The Runaways, Welcome to the Rileys, Twilight, Jumper, Into the Wild
• Why? Jamie Bell
• Seen: Once before. Now 8 August 2023      

       Chris (Bell) lives with his widowed father John (Muloney) and little brother Tim (Alan) on a small isolated pig farm in the American South. John is fed up with Chris, who’s always in trouble with the police or the neighbours. Tim suffers an anxiety disorder.

       John’s brother Deel (Lucas) shows up having been released from prison. The brothers have old festering conflicts and things go badly.

       It’s a grim and violent psychological family drama that has me hooked from the beginning. Made four years after Billy Elliot, it’s proof of what a versatile and skilled actor young Jamie Bell already is. 

4* of 5  

 

 

Eight Days a Week

 

Eight Days a Week - The Beatles Touring Years 2016

• Director: Ron Howard
• Seen by the director: Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, EDtv
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Documentary
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• The Beatles
• Why? Need you ask?
• Seen: 8 August 2023      

       Ah, nostalgia.

       A lot of this we’ve seen before, but put together like this? No.

       The touring years, 1963-1966.

       I was there, you know. Saw the first Ed Sullivan Shows. Saw A Hard Day’s Night when it came to the cinema in our little town (and about 25 times since then). I was at the St Paul-Minneapolis Airport to see them disembark and walk across the field.

       And I was at the Met Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, in August 1965.

       Thank you, Ron Howard. What can it be but 

5* of 5  

 

 

I Still See You

 

I Still See You 2018

• Director: Scott Speer
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Bella Thorne, Richard Harmon, Dermot Mulroney, Thomas Elms
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Dermot Mulroney – The Mountain Between Us, Burn After Reading, Jolene, Undertow, About Schmidt
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 7 August 2023      

       After an energy catastrophe something something, all the casualties remain as ghosts, at least in Illinois where high school student Veronica (Thorne) lives. The rest of the world isn’t mentioned.

       It can be disconcerting, especially when one of the ghosts, Brian (Elms) breaks the ghost rules and makes contact with her. It seems that Brian was a murderer, so it’s kind of a murder mystery too.

       I have nothing against ghosts, although there aren’t many ghost films I like. Exceptions are, for example, The Woman in Black, 1408, The Others, Beetlejuice, The Sixth Sense.

       This isn’t one of them. I’m having trouble suspending disbelief and it’s just not very interesting. Essentially it’s just a small US town everybody-is-white high school film with ghosts.

       It’s not a bad film, but it’s not good either, though are some decent visuals. 

2* of 5  

 

Proof

 

Proof 2005

• Director:  John Madden
• Seen by this director: Hotel Marigold 1&2, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gwyneth Paltrow – Mortdecai, Thanks for Sharing, Avengers, Contagion, Two Lovers, Iron Man, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors
• Jake Gyllenhaal - Life, Everest, Prisoners, Source Code, Zodiac, Day After Tomorrow, Moonlight Mile, The Good Girl, Donnie Darko
• Anthony Hopkins – Thor, The Wolfman, Bobby, The Human Stain, Titus, Meet Joe Black, Amistad, Surviving Picasso, Remains of the Day, Dracula, Howards End, Silence of the Lambs, 84 Charing Cross Road, Othello, The Elephant Man
• Hope Davis -  Genova, The Weather Man, About Schmidt
• Why? I remember it as being good.
• Seen: Once before. Now 6 August 2023      

       Catherine (Paltrow), aged 27, is going a little crazy after her father (Hopkins), a genius mathematician, who really was crazy, dies at the age of 63.

       His doctoral student Hal (Gyllenhaal) tries to help her in her grief. Her sister Claire (Davis), a successful NY currency analyst, comes to Chicago for the funeral and worries that Catherine has not only inherited the father’s genius for mathematics, but his insanity as well, which she probably has.

       Who would have guessed that a film (originally a play) about an extremely complex and revolutionary mathematical proof could be so enthralling? Paltrow gives her strongest performance. 

4 ½ * of 5  

 

 

Iron Man

 

Iron Man 2008

• Director: Jon Favreau
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Lelsie Bibb, Shaun Taub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, Sayed Badreya
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert Downey Jr – Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, The Soloist, Zodiac, Fur, A Scanner Darkly, Good Night and Good Luck, Richard III
• Gwyneth Paltrow – Mortdecai, Thanks for Sharing, Avengers, Contagion, Two Lovers, Proof, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors
• Terrence Howard – The Ledge, The Butler, Ray, Crash, Dead Presidents
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit, The Men Who Stare at Goats, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Sea Biscuit, The Big Lebowski, The Fabulous Baker Boys
• Clark Gregg-  Much Ado about Nothing, Avengers, Thor, 500 Days of Summer, The Human Stain, AI,
• Why? My addiction to superheroes
• Seen: 4 August 2023      

       Tony Stark (Downey Jr) is a smug sexist playboy who inherited his father’s weapon industry. He’s a great patriot and airily pleased with creating, manufacturing and selling murder machines, and with being a zillionaire.

       They have to make him this awful to show the contrast when, after a visit to Afghanistan and realising that his weapons actually kill people, he has a change of heart. He himself is injured and… insert desired details here… he becomes Iron Man, fighting evil, saving Afghan children from being killed by his weapons.

       Far too many details and silly story (ahem, this is about a superhero…) but Downey Jr pulls it off with aplomb. 

3* of 5  

 

 

Tigers Are Not Afraid

 

Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017

• Director: Issa López
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Nery Arredondo,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sadly, none of them.
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 3 August 2023      

       Part fairy tale, part grim realism, this film follows five kids in a Mexican city who escape reality and try to survive in the violent world of drug lords, where even the schools are closed because of the gun battles in the streets, through fantasy.

       Estrella’s (Lara) mother has disappeared, probably murdered by a gang, and comes back as a ghost, terrifying Estrella, who joins with four younger boys. Despite the dangers and their grief over murdered families, the children find friendship, solidarity, tenderness. They play, and dance, and have fun, and help each other.

       But I don’t expect a happy ending. 

4* of 5