Sleeping Dogs

 

Sleeping Dogs

• Director: Adam Cooper
• Based on the book by Noel Streatfield
• Cast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csosas, Tommy Flanagan, Thomas M Wright, Harry Greenwood, Pacharo Mzembe
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Russell Crowe – many
• Karen Gillan – Guardians of the Galaxy etc, The Circle, Doctor Who
• Marton Csosas – Loving, Spider-Man, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Kingdom of Heaven
• Harry Greenwood – The Nightingale
• Why? Russell Crowe
• Seen: 30 March 2025

             Roy Freeman (Crowe) is a former police detective with severe Alzheimer’s who has had experimental neurosurgery. He is contacted by a legal rights organisation who wants him to look into a death row case.

            So how much is he going to remember?

            It’s an interesting concept and Crowe is always good but it’s just a detective story. Not bad but not remarkable. I guessed the twist about halfway through. 

2½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ballet Shoes

 

The Ballet Shoes 2007

• Director: Sandra Goldbacher
• Based on the book by Noel Streatfield
• Cast: Emma Watson, Yasmine Paige, Lucy Boynton, Emilia Fox, Victoria Wood, Richard Griffiths, Marc Warren, Lucy Cohu, Gemma Jones, Harriet Walter, Eileen Atkins
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Most of them - many
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  29 March 2025 

            Through odd circumstances three orphaned girls end up in a London ballet academy in the period between the two world wars.

            With a splendid cast playing a plethora of eccentric characters, the film is much better than expected. 

3½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bird Box

 

Bird Box 2018

• Director: Susanne Bier
• Seen by this director: The Night Manager, Things We Lost in the Fire
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson 
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock - many
• Trevante Rhodes – Moonlight
• John Malkovich - many
• Sarah Paulson – Run, Glass, 12 Years a Slave, Mud, Down with Love
• Why? Sci fi, Sandra Bullock
• Seen: 28 March 2025 

             It starts with mass suicides in Europe. Meanwhile artist Malorie (Bullock) is pregnant and very not ecstatic about it. Then the bad stuff starts happening in California too. Mass panic. Mass suicide. Mass hallucinations. Malorie is rescued by Tom (Rhodes) and they find shelter in a private home with a motley group of other refugees.

            Six years later Malorie is fleeing in a row boat down a river with two children. They are all blindfolded.

            Back and forth in time. Survival. Conflict. Fear. Distrust. Even a rather nice love story.

            Actually it’s pretty good. Decent story, solid acting, believable characters. 

3½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smilla's Sense of Snow

 

Smilla’s Sense of Snow 1997

• Director: Bille August
• Seen by this director: Good-bye Bafana, Les Misérables
• Based on the book by Peter Hoeg
• Cast: Julia Ormand, Gabriel Byrne, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent, Tom Wilkinson, Richard Harris
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Most of them – many
• Why? The cast and the book
• Seen: Once before. Now 27 March 2025              

       A little Inuit boy from Greenland, living in Copenhagen falls to his death from the roof. Smilla (Ormand), a neighbour, half-Inuit, also from Greenland, doesn’t believe it was an accident. She knows her snow.

      She digs into it and finds much that is suspicious with roots in the mining industry on Greenland.

      A most unusual murder mystery with a terrific main character and a lovely cast. Somewhat unlikely ending but still 

3½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love and Other Drugs

 

Love and Other Drugs 2010

• Director: Edward Zwick
• Seen by this director: Blood Diamond
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Judy Greer, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• All of them – many
• Why? Gyllenhaal and Hathaway
• Seen:  26 March 2025 

            Jamie (Gyllenhaal) is a charming womaniser who works as a pharmaceutical salesman. He meets young and beautiful Maggie (Hathaway) who has Parkinson’s disease. They have wild frenzied sex. A lot.

            Theoretically I have nothing against a rom com about Parkinson’s or the evils of the pharmaceutical industry. However. These are really obnoxious people. The film isn’t funny or romantic. Nor does it seem to know much about Parkinson’s. Believe me, I know about Parkinson’s. Did they just pull a disease-of-the-week out of a hat?

            There was one minute of accuracy, mild digs at the American health system and a few moments of good acting, therefore 

2* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay

Stay 2005

• Director: Marc Forster
• Seen by this director: Christopher Robin, World War Z, Quantum of Solace, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• All of them – many
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  25March 2025  

 

            Sam (McGregor) is a psychiatrist. His girlfriend Lila (Watts) is an artist who once attempted suicide. Henry (Gosling) is a disturbed college student, currently Sam’s reluctant patient.

            The more disturbed Henry becomes, the more Sam questions his own grasp on reality. It seems that Henry can see into the future, and sees dead people. I have a feeling it’s going to end like Sixth Sense – Sam is really Henry and they’re both dead, or something like that.

            Whatever. It’s atmospheric and suspenseful and, of course, well-acted.

 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

  

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

 

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

• Director: Ramin Bahrani
• Based on the book by Ray Bradbury
• Cast: Michael B Jordan, Michael Shannon, Lily Singh
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael B Jordan – Black Panther 1 & 2, Last Stop Fruitvale Station, The Wire
• Michael Shannon – many
• Why? The original and the book
• Seen:  24 March 2025 

            The original Truffaut film of the 1960s, with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie, is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It is with some trepidation that I see this but I will try to give it a fair chance.

            The basic story is here. Reading is illegal, books are burnt, book owners hunted down and severely punished. But there is resistance.

            I find myself almost as enthralled as by the Truffaut version. The acting is strong, the visuals, action and tone are appropriate to the 2020s. And frighteningly, it has much more relevance in these dreadful days of Trump and Musk than the 60s version.

            Well done, Ramin Bahrani. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things 2020

• Director: Charlie Kaufman
• Seen by this director: nothing he directed but many that he wrote for film
• Based on the book by Iain Reid
• Cast: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Colette, David Thewlis, Guy Boyd
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter, Women Talking, Judy, Chernobyl, Wild Rose, The Tempest (on stage at the Globe in London and on DVD)
• Jesse Plemons – Judas and the Black Messiah, Breaking Bad, Paul
• Toni Colette - many Abbey, The Turn of the Screw
• David Thelis – many
• Why? The cast and the book
• Seen:  23 March 2025 

            The young woman, possibly named Lucy or something else, (Buckley) is thinking of ending things with her new boyfriend Jake (Plemons) even though he’s nice and smart and kind of cute. She thinks this while riding with him in his car through farmland to meet his parents for the first time.

            She finds that things on the farm are brutal, even creepy. And especially weird. His parents (Colette and Thewlis) are nice but very weird. And they keep shifting in age from middle-aged to very old and dying, to young and normal parents. Jake is weird too, sullen one moment, violent the next, sweet the next.

            Many reviewers hate this film. I could never hate any film with Buckley and Colette, even if it is incomprehensible. It has a Waiting for Godot feel. Very profound but what is it about? I like that kind of thing.

            It’s even weirder than the book. 

4½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

Eurovision Song Contest Fire Saga

 

Eurovision Song Contest Fire Saga 2020

• Director: David Dobkin
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Will Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens, Mikael Persbrandt, Pierce Brosnan
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Will Farrell – Barbie, Stranger than Fiction
• Rachel McAdams – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse, Doctor Strange, Spotlight, About Time, Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, Slings and Arrows
• Dan Stevens – Beauty and the Beast, Summer in February, Downton Abbey, The Turn of the Screw
• Mikael Persbrandt – as few as possible
• Pierce Brosnan - many
• Why? I’m an ESC nerd
• Seen:  22 March 2025 

            Young Lars from Iceland sees ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 – as indeed, we did a few days after immigrating to Sweden, having no clue what the ESC was but becoming instant patriots when Sweden won – and swears he will one day win the ESC. His dad (Brosnan, with a dreadful Icelandic accent) ridicules him.

            Years later Lars (Ferrell) is approaching middle age but still dreams of winning the ESC with his childhood friend (probably not his sister) Sigrit (McAdams.

            Ferrell is absolutely terrible in this role. It essentially ruins what is otherwise a silly but loveable film. Dan Stevens is as far from Downton Abbey as he can get as the outrageously gorgeous ‘there are no gays in Russia’ Russian singer who courts Sigrit to become his singing partner.

            It pokes loving fun at the whole thing, a parody so close to the real thing that we almost believe it. The participation of such real life ESC participants like Salvador Sobral, Bilal Hassani, Alexeander Rybak, Conchita, John Landvik, Netta, only adds to its appeal.

            Oh if only they’d chosen someone else than Will Farrell. Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Jake Gyllenhaal, Adam Driver, Ryan Gosling, James McAvoy – anybody but Will Farrell! Unlikely, however, since he was one of the writers. Let’s pretend he’s not in it and give the film 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

Joker Folies à deux

 

Joker Folie à deux 2024

• Director: Todd Phillips
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Joaquin Phoenix - many
• Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born
• Brendan Gleeson - many
• Catherine Keener – Get Out, Captain Philips, Enough Said, The Soloist, Genova, Into the Wild, Being John Malkovich, Living in Oblivion, Johnny Suede
• Why? Joker
• Seen:  21 March 2025                    

             Everyone loved Joker, me included. Everyone (almost) hates this. Me? I don’t know yet but I love Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and theoretically, it’s OK with me to make it a musical.

            The Joker Arthur (Phoenix) is in a mental hospital awaiting trial. Is he crazy or not? He joins a music therapy choir and meets Lee (Gaga) and they find that they are soul mates.

            It is certainly a change from Joker. I think that’s the main problem for many viewers. It’s not like Joker, it’s its own film. It’s a love story about two severely disturbed individuals, i.e. they’re both bonkers.

            It’s not easy to watch or follow but Phoenix is, as always, brilliant, and Gaga once again demonstrates start quality.

            Kudos to Philips for daring to make this film. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

The Lobster

 

The Lobster 2015

• Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
• Seen by this director: The Favourite, The Killing of the Sacred Deer, Dogtooth
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Ashley Jensen, Ariane Labed, John C Reilly, Ben Whishaw
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Most them - many
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  20 March 2025 

            Singles are not acceptable in this world. If your partner dies or divorces you, you are imprisoned in a luxury hotel and given 45 days to find a suitable partner, ie a partner who shares a characteristic with you, for example nose bleeds or a limp. If you don’t succeed, you will be turned into an animal of your choice.

            David (Farrell) is there because his wife left him. He’s with his dog Bob, who is actually his brother, who didn’t find a partner within the 45 days. David’s choice, should he also fail, is to become a lobster.

            I have seen many a bizarre films but this one…

            I love it. 

5 * of 5

 

The Lost Daughter

 

The Lost Daughter 2021

• Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Based on the book by Elena Ferrante
• Cast: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Mescal, Jack Farthing
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Olivia Colman - many
• Jessie Buckley – Women Talking, Judy, Chernobyl, Wild Rose, The Tempest (on stage at the Globe in London and on DVD)
• Dakota Johnson – The Peanut Butter Falcon, Cymbeline, Social Network
• Ed Harris – many
• Peter Sarsgaard – An Education, Elegy, Jarhead, Stephen Glass, Dead Man Walking
• Paul Mescal – Aftersun
• Why? Colman and Buckley
• Seen:  19 March 2025 

            For some reason I never became enthralled by Ferrante’s books like most readers seem to have done, but I expect Colman, Buckley and Harris to do something good with this.

            Leda (Colman) is a professor of literature on holiday in Greece. Her quiet beach is invaded by obnoxious, loud Americans. Seeing the daughter of one of the women (Johnson), disturbing memories return to Leda of the time when her daughters were small and she was struggling with the demands her small girls placed on her, with building a demanding career and with dealing with husband and lover.

            It is of course relevant to young women’s lives today and I’m sure many viewers can relate to both the young and the older Leda. Choosing to have neither children nor a lover, it all seems remote to me, though Colman and Buckley, as the young Leda, are superb and some of the isolated scenes are very gripping, which raise it to

 

3 ½ * of 5

No Man of God

 

No Man of God 2021

• Director: Amber Sealey
• Based on the book:  no
• Cast: Elijah Wood, Luke Kirby
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Elijah Wood – Everything Is Illuminated, The Hobbit LotR etc, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Deep Impact, The Ice Storm
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen:  16 March 2025 

            Serial killer are neither my favourite people nor my favourite characters in films. Ted Bundy is a name I recognise as a serial killer but I couldn’t tell you where or when or who. Nor do I much care.

            This film is based on transcripts and tapes of interviews FBI criminal profiler Bill Hagmeier (Wood) did with Bundy (Kirby) while he was on death row. The goal: to understand the mind of a serial killer.

            Doesn’t this kind of sound like The Silence of the Lambs? Interesting enough but does it expand our understanding? Not mine anyway.

            Good acting – our little Elijah is a long ways from Frodo – make it watchable but just barely. It’s unpleasant. 

 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Square

 

The Square 2017

• Director: Ruben Östlund
• Seen by this director: Triangle of Sadness, Turist, Gitarrmongot
• Based on the book:  no
• Cast: Claes Bang, Elizabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Claes Bang – Bron, Rejseholdet
• Elizabeth Moss – Top of the Lake, High-Rise, Madmen, Girl Interrupted, Anywhere but Here, A Thousand Acres
• Dominic West - many
• Terry Notary – Nope, Kong Skull Island
• Why? Ruben Östlund
• Seen:  16 March 2025 

            Christian (Bang) is the curator for the prestigious Stockholm art museum, the X Royal.

            Art, money, elite, homeless, beggars. If you want more of a summary than that, check out IMDb. I’m not going to analyse this, or even describe it. The film has been met by lavish praise and countless awards, including the Palme D’or at Cannes, as well as many ‘Huh?’s. It’s called a satire. It’s called reactionary. It’s called a lot of things.

            I have like the Östlund films I’ve seen. Quite a lot. This one? I really don’t know. Is it actually going somewhere? Is there some important message here? I have no idea but I’m kind of fascinated. And kind of bored. And kind of fascinated.

            Because I think I’ll like it more next time I see it because maybe I’ll understand it more, I give it

 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris

 

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris 2022

• Director: Anthony Fabian
• Seen by this director: Skin
• Based on the book by Paul Gallico
• Cast: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Jason Isaac, Alba Baptista, Ellen Thomas, Lucas Bravo, Rose Williams, Anna Chancellor
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Lesley Manville – The Crown, Let Him Go, River, Mr Turner, Another Year, Sparkle, Vera Drake, Secrets & Lies
• Isabelle Huppert – The Lacemaker, The Pianist
• Jason Isaac – Harry Potter, Case Studies
• Why? Lesley Manville
• Seen:  14 March 2025 

            War widow Ada Harris (Manville) makes her living cleaning for rich people and taking in sewing. She sees a beautiful £500 Dior frock at one of her client’s (who is very reluctant to pay Mrs Harris’s wages) and falls in love. She wants a Dior frock.

            Counting her small savings doesn’t help but winning on a dog race, getting a reward for turning in an expensive ring to the police, and suddenly getting ten years’ back pay in war widow’s pension do. Off to Paris she goes.

            Charwoman meets snobby Parisian fashion, shocking some, charming others.

            A sweet little bagatelle with a sharp class conflict. Manville is perfect as the warm-hearted, feisty, outspoken working class char with dreams. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant

 

Elephant 2003

• Director: Gus van Sant
• Seen by this director: Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Milk, Paris je t’aime, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Duelen, Carrie Flynn, Kristen Hicks, Nathan Tyson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? The subject
• Seen:  13 March 2025 

            Almost like a documentary, the film follows individual American high school students around their school day. Long close-ups, long moments following them down the many school corridors from behind. Quiet teen angst, teen romance, teen identity confusion, teen bullying, teen BFFs puking in the girls’ lav after lunch, teen boys ordering automatic rifles from post order and watching documentaries on Hitler. Just a normal school day.

            Then the shooting begins. Students die. Teachers die.

            Reminiscent, though not officially based on, the Columbine shootings in Colorado in 1996, before school shootings became a thing, it’s a slow, quiet, powerful blow to the solar plexus. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coherence

 

Coherence 2013

• Director: James Ward Byrkit
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Elizabeth Gracen, Laurene Scafaria, Hugo Armstrong, Lauren Maher
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Nicholas Brendon – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Why? Sci fi, good reviews
• Seen:  12 March 2025 

            Eight friends, some exes of some of the others, meet for a dinner party. Meanwhile, a comet is passing overhead. Things start happening.

            Weird parallel universes, doppelgangers, two of everybody. Then three. Quantum stuff.

            This is one of the most bizarre films I’ve seen. Don’t ask me to explain anything. Don’t ask me to rate it. But I will anyway because I kind of like it.

            Does anyone know when the next visible comet is going to pass earth? 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mammoth

 

Mammoth 2009

• Director: Lukas Moodysson
• Seen by this director: Tillsammans 99, Tillsammans, Fucking Åmål
• Based on the book : no
• Cast: Gale García Bernal, Michelle Williams, Marifa Necesito, Sophie Nyweide
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gale García Bernal – Old, Babel
• Michelle Williams – Venom, The Greatest Showman, Wonderstruck, Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn, Shutter Island, Brokeback Mountain, Station Agent, The United States of Leland, A Thousand Acres
• Sophie Nyweide – Noah, Margot at the Wedding
• Why? Moodysson and Williams
• Seen:  11 March 2025 

            Gloria (Necesito) is nanny to Jackie (Nywiede) with two small sons of her own back in the Philippines. Jackie’s mum is an emergency room surgeon. Her dad Leo (García Barnal) is a highly successful, and rich, computer game inventor, now on his way to Thailand to make more money, though he’s not really money hungry.

            Rich vs poor, privileged vs struggling, the West vs the rest of the world, outrageous wealth vs abject poverty, global capitalism vs the survival of the planet, power vs exploitation.

            It’s an ambitious film and Moodyson makes it work well enough, showing that everyone is unhappy in this lousy system. For that it’s worth 5*. Unfortunately, it’s kind of boring with too many clichés and not very likeable characters. I like the elephant though. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In My Father's Den

 

In My Father’s Den 2004

• Director: Brad McGann
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Matthew McFadyen, Miranda Otto, Emily Barclay, Colin Moy, Jodie Rimmer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matthew McFadyen – Deadpool & Wolverine, Pillars of the Earth, Robin Hood, Frost/Nixon, Death at a Funeral
• Miranda Otto – Lord of the Rings etc
• Why? Rave reviews
• Seen:  10 March 2025 

            Renowned but burnt-out war correspondent Paul (McFadyen) returns to New Zealand for his father’s funeral. He and his brother Andrew (Moy) have old unresolved conflicts but he’s quite the hero among the locals. There’s an old flame Jax (Jodie Rimmer), whose daughter (Barclay) might be his, a disturbing thought.

            Earnest and thoughtful, it’s what is called a slow burner. A lot of not very much happens for an hour or so and then a lot happens. It pulls together quite dramatically. Patti Smith’s music is worth a * of its own.

 

4* of 5