Graffiti Bridge

 

Graffiti Bridge 1990

• Director: Prince
• Seen by this director: Under the Cherry Moon
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Prince, Morris Day, Ingrid Chavez
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Prince – Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon
• Morris Day – Purple Rain
• Why? Prince
• Seen: 21 April 2024 

       Prince was gorgeous, there’s no question about that, and he was a musical genius. I saw him in concert in Stockholm once upon a time. Very cool.

       According to some reports (I just read Sinead O’Connor’s Remembering), he wasn’t such a cool person.

       This film? Some kind of rivalry between greedy commercial club owner Morris Day (Day) and spiritual godly club owner Kid (Prince).  Non-story, horrible script, horrible acting.

       Prince, you may be not always be cool but you’re usually better than this. You should have stopped with Purple Rain or even Under the Cherry Moon, which I actually liked, unlike almost everybody else.

       Because he really is a cutie and there are snippets of good music:      

1 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Inheritance (Arvet)

 

The Inheritance (Arvet) 2003

• Director: Per Fly
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Ulrich Thomsen, Lisa Werlinder, Ghita Nörby, Karina Skands, Lars Brygmann
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ulrich Thomsen – Mortdecai, Fringe, Kingddom of Heaven, The World Is Not Enough
• Why? Danish. Good reviews.
• Seen: 20 April 2024 

       Christoffer (Thomsen) has gone against his family’s wishes and rejected leadership of its steel factories. He lives with his wife Maria (Werlinder), a rising star in Stockholm’s theatre world, and owns a high-class restaurant.

       When his father commits suicide he goes against Maria’s wishes and takes over the business which is deep in debt. She gives up a theatre contract and moves to Denmark with him.

       Good acting and all that but rich family intrigues, capitalist quibbles, hunting parties – it’s very hard to care. By the end I actively dislike the characters and the film.

       I guess all Danish films aren’t good.      

1 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pan

 

Pan 2015

• Director: Joe Wright
• Seen by this director: Darkest Hour, The Soloist, Hanna, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice
• Based on the characters by J M Barrie
• Cast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Adeel Akhtar, Kathy Burke
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Hugh Jackman – Many
• Garrett Hedlund – Inside Llewyn Davis
• Rooney Mara – Women Talking, Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot, Social Network
• Adeel Akhtar – The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Victoria & Abdul, Unforgotten, The Night Manager, River, Utopia
• Kathy Burke – Absolutely Fabulous the Movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Happiness, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Elizabeth, Nil by Mouth, Absolutely Fabulous, Sid and Nancy
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 19 April 2024 

       Peter (Miller) is left at an orphanage as an infant. Ten years later, during the WWII Blitz, he is kidnapped by Black Beard (Jackman) and off he goes in a pirate ship to Neverland.

       The film got very mixed reviews. No one loved it, some liked it it, some hated it. I’m one of the likers. Some hated the flirting with other films, for example Indiana Jones and Moulin Rouge, and the use of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, but that’s all part of the fun. The cast, as expected, is good. If you don’t think the Peter Pan story is sacred and shouldn’t have a prequel, and if you just want an entertaining film, ignore the whingers and see it.      

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Good Things

 

All Good Things 2010

• Director: Andrew Jarecki
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ryan Gosling – Many
• Kirsten Dunst – Many
• Frank Langella – Many
• Why? Ryan Gosling
• Seen: 17 April 2024 

       David (Gosling) is the oldest son of a very rich real estate New Yorker (Langella) who wants him to follow the same career path. Instead, David marries working class Katie (Dunst) and they move to Vermont to run a health food store. They’re happy but his father’s pressure breaks his resistance. He returns to NY in a suit and tie. His mental condition – already unstable since childhood when he witnessed his mother’s suicide – deteriorates as does his marriage to Katie.

       The story is told in flashbacks from the 70s and onwards in the framework of a trial, and it’s based on true events. It’s grim but well-acted and suspenseful, though it lags in the second half.

      3½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Night Watch

 

The Night Watch 2011

• Director: Richard Laxton
• Seen by this director: River, Fortitude
• Based on the book by Sarah Waters
• Cast: Claire Foy, Jodie Whittaker, Anna Maxwell Martin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Claire Foy – Women Talking, The Electrical Life of Louise Wain, First Man, Breathe,  The Lady in the Van, Wolf Hall, Being Human
• Jodie Whittaker – many, especially Doctor Who
• Anna Maxwell Martin – Line of Duty, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Bletchley Circle, Philomena, South Riding, Becoming Jane, Doctor Who
• Why?  Jodie Whittaker
• Seen: 15 April 2024 

       Told backwards in three episodes – 1947, 1944, and 1941. The acting is excellent, the scenography quite beautiful but the characters and stories are shallow and trite. Waste of good talent. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nanny McPhee

 

Nanny McPhee 2005

• Director: Kirk Jones
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and every other actor in Great Britain.
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• All of them, many times
• Why? I like it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 13 April 2024 

       A widower’s seven horrible kids scare away one nanny after another, trying to get their father’s attention. Enter Nanny McPhee.

       Ever so much more fun than sweet singing Mary Poppins.

       Emma Thompson can do anything and do it brilliantly. The whole cast makes this overworked story work beautifully.

       It’s just what I need this evening.      

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proxima

 

Proxima 2019

• Director: Alice Winocour
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Aleksey Fateev, Lars Eidinger, Sandra Hüller
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Eva Green – Euphoria, Miss Pergrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Dark Shadows, Perfect Sense, The Golden Compass, Casino Royale
• Matt Dillon – Crash, Beautiful Girls, Rumble Fish
• Lars Eidinger – High Life, Clouds over Sils Maria
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 12 April 2024 

       Engineer Sara (Green) has been chosen for the last space mission before sending people to Mars. She will be gone a year. Her little daughter (Boulant) will be living with Sara’s ex, the girl’s father (Eidinger).

       It’s not an action film, it’s all about the preparations for the flight and Sara’s relationship with her daughter. While it’s a worthy portrayal of the problems of working mothers being gone a long time, as a film it just doesn’t make a big splash. I can’t help but think, ‘I guess guy astronauts don’t have kids, huh?’

       Towards the end when Sara breaks quarantine to be with her daughter the film loses all credibility and essentially destroys the premise of a professional, scientific, serious astronaut.      

2* of 5