Miss Congeniality 2 Armed and Fabulous

 Miss Congeniality 2 Armed and Fabulous 2005

• Director: John Pasquin
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, William Shatner, Enrique Murciano, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Diedrich Bader, Treat Williams, Eileen Brennan
• 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, 28 Days, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Regina King – The Leftovers, Ray, Boyz n the Hood
• William Shatner – Star Trek, Miss Congeniality
• Heather Burns – Manchester by the Sea, Miss Congeniality, You’ve Got Mail
• Treat Williams – 127 Hours, Hair
• Why? Miss Congeniality
• Seen: 27 February 2022

             Having heard less than high praise for this, my expectations are not high, but I hope it will be fun anyway.

       Grace Hart (Bullock) is famous after film 1 and she’s asked to be the new promo face for the FBI. She’s just as inappropriate as she was for the beauty pageant, and she gets a new stylist Joel (Bader). Where’s Michael Caine when we need him?

       Her new partner/bodyguard Sam Fuller (King) can’t work with anyone else because of her violent aggression. She and Grace thoroughly despise each other.

       The story is about the kidnapping of Cheryl (Burns) and Stan (Shatner), fellow contestant and emcee in film 1.

       It is funny. I love the Dolly Parton bit and the Tina Turner scene.

       I like it as much as the first one, not the least because it’s about friendship and not romance. 

3* of 5.

 

Johanna

 Johanna 2005

• Director: Kornél Mundruczo
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Orsolya Toth
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Sounded interesting
• Seen: 26 February 2022      

       A modern opera in Hungarian about drug addiction, what could be more entertaining?

       Johanna (Toth) is a drug addict. She steals drugs from a hospital, gets caught by a doctor who keeps her there and trains her as a nurse.  Her treatments of her patients are unorthodox, to say the least, but she cures them. She’s called a saint by the patients and whore by her colleagues.

       What a bizarre film. Long facial close-ups, long cellar-like corridors and stairways. The hospital is like something from the 19^th century. It’s filmed in black and white and vivid greens. Religion, Madonna-whore, messianic sacrifice. The whole thing is surreal. I don’t know what to think. I don’t like it but it’s… different. 

2 * of 5   

 

Beyond Borders

 Beyond Borders 2003

• Director: Martin Campbell
• Seen by this director: Casino Royale, Golden Eye, Homicide Life on the Street 2 episodes
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Clive Owen, Angelina Jolie, Linus Roache
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Extras, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Man, Derailed, Closer, Gosford Park, Croupier
• Angelina Jolie – The Tourist, Changeling, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Girl Interrupted
• Linus Roache– Yonkers Joe, Batman Begins, Seaforth
• Why?  Good cast.
• Seen: 20 February 2022 

Nick (Owen) is a doctor who goes from one refugee camp to another in desperate attempts to save lives. In one of these in Ethiopia he meets wealthy socialite Sarah (Jolie) who has come to the camp with all her savings invested in food. At first, he regards her as a flighty ignorant socialite but though she returns to her husband (Roache) in England she starts working for the UNHCR. Nick and Sarah’s paths meet throughout the years and they have a passionate love affair.

      It gives a grim and in many ways no doubt accurate picture of the danger and despair of relief worker and refugee camps. It’s a grim and dramatic film. Owens and Jolie are very good.

A little Doctor Zhivago-y at the end but strong, nevertheless. 

4* of 5

 

Chain Reaction

 Chain Reaction 1996

• Director: Andrew Davis
• Seen by this director: The Fugitive, Holes
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Keanu Reeves – John Wick, The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The House by the Lake, A Scanner Darkly, Thumbsucker, Matrix x3m, Sweet November, The Gift, Feeling Minnesota, Johnny Mnenomic, Speed, Much Ado about Nothing, My Own Private Idaho, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures
• Morgan Freeman – Lucy, Transcendence, Oblivion, The Dark Knight Rises, Invictus, The Dark Knight, Wanted, Gong Baby Gone, Batman Begins, Million Dollar Baby, Bruce the Almighty, Levity, Nurse Betty, Amistad, Moll Flanders, Seven, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood, Driving Miss Daisy, and others
• Rachel Weisz– The Favourite, The Deep Blue Sea, The Fountain, The Constant Gardener, About a Boy, Beautiful Creatures, Sunshine
• Why?  Good cast.
• Seen: 20 February 2022

The world (way back in ’96) is on the brink of environmental catastrophe (if they only had known how close in reality, and we’re even closer now). Machinist Eddie (Reeves), mysterious powerful person (Freeman) and physicist Lily (Weisz) are working on new technology at (sort of) the University of Chicago. So far, the tests have failed then Eddie comes up with the solution. The plan is to share it freely to the world. Villains have other ideas. They blow up the whole eight-block area, the prototype with it.

Eddie and Lily are framed, and the chase starts.

People really love to hate this film and almost everybody on IMDb give it rock-bottom ratings. I disagree. I find it an intelligent and still timely thriller, never mind some holes in the logic. The three leads are good as always and it’s very exciting. 

4* of 5

 

 

O Brother Where Art Thou?

 O Brother Where Art Thou? 2000

• Director: Coen Brothers
• Seen by these directors: Hail Caesar, Inside Llewyn Davis, True Grit, A Serious Man, Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men, Paris je t’aime, Intolerable Cruelty, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, Arizona Junior
• Based on Homer’s Odyssey
• Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, Chris Thomas King
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• George Clooney – Hail Caesar, Tomorrowland, Gravity, The Descendants, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Intolerable Cruelty, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, The Perfect Storm
• John Turturro – God’s Pocket, Margo at the Wedding, Romance & Cigarettes, Secret Window, The Man Who Cried, Cradle Will Rock, The Big Lebowski, Clockers, Barton Fink, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Tim Blake Nelson – American Violet, The Darwin Awards, Holes, The Good Girl, Hamlet,
• John Goodman - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Atomic Blonde, Kong Skull Island, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Inside Llewyn Davis, Dancing on the Edge, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Artist, My First Mister, The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, Sea of Love, Arizona Junior
• Holly Hunter – Top of the Lake, Nine Lives, Levity, Moonlight Mile, A Life Less Ordinary, The Piano, Arizona Junior
•  Why?  Remember it as being very good. Good cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 11 February 2022 

The unlikely adventures of three escaped prisoners in the state of Mississippi during the Depression. It is based on Homer’s Odyssey, Coen brothers style. It’s absurd, no surprise there, but it’s not really funny. Mostly it’s sad. And it has an unpleasant tone of contempt for its characters which takes some of the fun out of watching it. Even though most of them deserve it.

I really detest this kind of music.

What are two Minnesotans doing making a film about the Deep South?

It’s not the masterpiece I remembered, nor is it the best Coen brothers film. 

3* of 5

 

 

Guns Akimbo

 Guns Akimbo 2019

• Director: Jason Howden
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Ned Dennehy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Radcliffe – Escape from Pretoria, Imperium, Victor Frankenstein, What If?, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter x 8, December Boys, Extras, David Copperfield
• Samara Weaving – Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri
• Ned Dennehy – The Eagle, Tyrannosaur, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I
• Natasha Liu Bordizzo - Hotel Mumbai
• Why? Daniel Radcliffe
• Seen: 13 February 2022      

       Miles (Radcliffe, speaking AmE) is a nerdy nobody loser until he finds Skizm on Internet, a website where murder takes place online in the form of a contest. It’s wildly popular. Miles makes a comment that the admins don’t like so they break into his home, knock him out, surgically attach guns to his hands and force him to compete against their current champion Nix (Weaving). She has recently escaped from a prison for the criminally insane.

       Is this going to be a violent parody à la The Running Man or is there some serious message lurking?

       It is kind of funny watching Miles trying to do normal things, like opening doors, using his phone, pissing. Oh yes, he also has big fluffy tiger paws for slippers.

       I guess it’s a comedy. He tries to get help from his ex-girlfriend Nova (Bordizzo) but for some reason she’s freaked out by his guns/hands.

       It’s all sent on the website and the viewers, millions all over the world, love it.

       It is actually funny. And exciting. And it almost has a message. I’m not sure what it is but…Violence kills? Our society breeds violence? Well, that it does. Our society loves violence? Well, here I sit…

       From funny to grim. Radcliffe is outstanding as always. A strong film in its bizarre way.

 4 * of 5

 

Back to the Future 3

 Back to the Future Part III 1990

• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Seen by this director: Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Contact, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Romancing the Stone, I Wanna Hold Your Hand
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Lea Thompson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael J Fox – Mars Attacks, Light of Day, Back to the Future I&II
• Christopher Lloyd – Wit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Mary Steenburgen - The Help, Honeydripper, The Dead Girl, I Am Sam, Philadelphia, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
• Lea Thompson – Back to the Future
• Why? The last in a trilogy
• Seen: 12 February 2022      

       My expectations on this one are not high. If there’s anything more unenticing than a western, it’s a spoof of a western.

       Yep, they’re back in 1885. Never mind the witless story. Doc, with his ‘Great Scotts’ and constant shouting, is increasingly annoying.

       Entertaining though. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

Falsk som vatten

 Falsk som vatten (False as Water) 1985

• Director: Hans Alfredsson
• Seen by this director: Den enfaldige mördaren
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Malin Ek, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Marie Göranzon, Stellan Skarsgård, Örjan Ramberg, Lotta Ramel, Philip Zandén, Magnus Uggla
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Malin Ek – Bröderna Mozart, on stage in Stockholm as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (she was absolutely brilliant!)
• Sverre Anker Ousdal – Fleksnes
• Marie Göranzon – Den bästa av mödrar, Jag är nyfiken gul
• Stellan Skarsgård – 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, Den enfaldige mördaren
• Örjan Ramberg – on stage in Stockholm as Prospero in The Tempest (he was awful)
• Philip Zandén – 438 dagar, Bröderna Mozart, Ronja Rövardotter, on stage in Stockholm as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion
• Why? Stellan Skarsgård
• Seen: 12 February 2022      

       Äktenskapsbrott, poeter, förläggare, familjer, svartsjuka, odrägliga typer.

       Många kända skådespelare finna med men de är så unga att jag knappt känner igen dem. Är det verkligen Stellan Skarsgård, den där magre vidrige typen?

       Det är svårt att förstå varför kloke, snälle Hans Alfredsson gjorde en sån film med dessa osympatiska personer. Malin Ek är dock utmärkt som den neurotiska poeten och filmen har en viss spänning. Dessutom utnyttjas det stockholmska vinterlandskapet på ett bra sätt.

 3 * av 5   

In English: Adultery, poets, publishers, families, jealousy, dreadful people.

Many of the actors are well-known in Sweden but they’re so young that I scarcely recognise them. Is that really Stellan Skarsgärd, that skinny off-putting whinger?

It’s hard to understand why the wise and kind Hans Alfredsson made a film with such unlikeable characters. Malin Ek is excellent, though, as the neurotic poet and the film is quite exciting at times. The winter landscape of Stockholm is put to good use, too.

 

Road to Perdition

 

Road to Perdition 2002

• Director: Sam Mendes
• Seen by this director: 1917, Skyfall, American Beauty
• Based on graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Raynor
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tom Hanks – The Circle, Sully, Cloud Atlas, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Catch Me If You Can, Road to Perdition, Cast Away, The Green Mile, You’ve Got Mail, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own, Joe and the Volcano, Punchline
• Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight, Annihilation, Margot at the Wedding, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Paul Newman – The Tower, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Torn Curtain, Paris Blues, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hud
• Daniel Craig – Knives Out, Bond etc, Defiance, Infamous, Hotel Splendide, Elizabeth
• Ciarán Hinds – First Man, The Woman in Black, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter, Life During Wartime, Margot at the Wedding, Hallam Foe, Amazing Grace, Calendar Girls, Titanic Town, Jane Eyre, Ivanhoe, Cold Lazarus, A Mother’s Son, Mary Reilly, Circle of Friends
• Stanley Tucci – The Hunger Games, Fortitude, Jack the Giant Slayer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Life Less Ordinary, Life During Wartime, The Pelican Brief, Billy Bathgate
• Jude Law - Genius, Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, Hugo, Contagion, Repo Men, Sherlock Holmes, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Sleuth, The Holiday, The Aviator, Closer, Alfie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Colm Mountain, eXistenZ, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Gattaca, Wilde
•  Why?  Remember it as being very good. Good cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 11 February 2022

1931. Midwest America. Young Michael (Hoechlin) lives with his parents (Hanks and Jason Leigh) and little brother in a nice big house. Michael finds out the hard way what his dad does for a living. He’s an enforcer for the local mob and when things go wrong Michaels Sr and Jr must flee for their lives.

This might be the first film I saw with Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Ciaràn Hinds and Stanley Tucci and the last with Paul Newman. With that cast plus Tom Hanks and Jennifer Jason Leigh, how can it not be excellent?

It is. It’s so much better than other mafia films. It has The Godfather 1-3 beat by miles. It’s almost Shakespearean in its psychological drama. 

4* of 5

 

Benda Bilili

 Benda Bilili 2010 

• Director: Renaud Barrett and Florent de la Tullaye 
• Documentary
• Why?  Music
• Seen:  6 February 2022

A wonderful documentary of the incredible journey of a group of homeless and physically handicapped musicians from Congo Kinshasa to international success on music stages. The extreme poverty and economic oppression are painful to see. In the shadow of admiration of the musicians and joy at their success I feel anger that not everyone is given this chance, and that the poverty and oppression abound in the first place.  Our world has wealth enough to prevent it. 

4 ½ * of 5

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

 Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool 2017

• Director: Paul MacGuigan
• Seen by this director: Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock
• Based on the memoirs of Peter Turner
• Cast: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Kenneth Cranham, Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Barber
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Annette Bening – Ginger and Rosa, The Kids Are All Right, Being Julia, American Beauty, Mars Attacks!, Richard III, The Grifters
• Jamie Bell – Rocketman, Skin, Fantastic Four, Filth, Jane Eyre, The Eagle, Defiance, Jumper, Hallam Foe, King Kong, Dear Wendy, Undertow, Billy Elliot
• Julie Walters – Mamma Mia 1&2, Secret Garden, Before You Go, The Hollow Crown Henry IV Parts One and Two, Henry V, Harry Potter 1-8, Becoming Jane, Driving Lessons, Wah-Wah, Calendar Girls, Billy Elliot, Titanic Tow, Intimate Relations, Prick Up Your Ears, Educating Rita
• Kenneth Cranham – Made in Dagenham, Valkyria, Merlin, Hot Fuzz, A Good Year, Hustle, Born Romantic, Our Mutual Friend, RPM, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
• Vanessa Redgrave - The Butler, A Song for Marion, Coriolanus, Atonement, Girl Interrupted, Wilde, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Playing for Time, Out of Season, The Devils, Howards End, The Ballad of Sad Café, Prick Up Your Ears, O What a Lovely War, Isadora, Camelot, Blow-Up
• Frances Barber - The Bookshop, Vicious, Doctor Who, Friday Night Dinner, Hustle, Still Crazy, Twelfth Night, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
• Why?  Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, the title
• Seen:  5 February 2022 

In 1979 the young British actor Peter Turner (Bell) and the legendary American actor Gloria Grahame begin a tumultuous love affair in Liverpool. Two years later she returns to Liverpool and Peter and his parents (Walters and Cranham), dying of cancer.

Flashbacks alternate with scenes of her illness and the care given by the Turners. It’s very emotional.

We have recently seen a couple of films with Grahame. She was wonderful as Ado Annie in Oklahoma. I didn’t know this film was about her when I bought it. I’m so glad I did. Both Bening and Bell should have been given Oscars for this. 

4 ½ * of 5

 

New York New York

 New York New York 1977

• Director: Martin Scorcese
• Seen by this director: The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo, Shutter Island, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Bringing Out the Dead, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Liza Minelli, Robert De Niro, Clarence Clemons
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Liza Minelli – Arthur, Cabaret, Tell Me That You Love Me Junie Moon
• Robert De Niro – Joy, Silver Linings Playbook, Stardust, Extras, Flawless, Great Expectations, Jackie Brown, Cop Land, Marvin’s Room, Heat, Frankenstein, Awakenings, Stanley and Iris, Brazil, 1900, Taxi Driver, Hi Mom
• Clarence Clemons – live, in concert, several times
• Why?  Liza Minelli
• Seen:  4 February 2022

WWII is over, New York is celebrating, music is jumping, and people are dancing. Hot shot Jimmy (De Niro) fancies himself and hustles women. When he gets to Francine (Minelli) she resists at first, then gives in. What a surprise.

This is very off-putting. Maybe the music will redeem it.

Not much. It’s about a woman in a destructive relationship with an egomaniac abusive man who says, ‘I love you.’

It’s not even interesting.

It gets a couple of stars because Clarence Clemons (playing trumpet!) is in it, because Minelli is a good singer – her rendition of the title song is strong – because the other music is OK and because the ending is slightly better than the rest. 

2* of 5

 

Escape from New York

 Escape from New York 1981

• Director: John Carpenter
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernst Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, Isaac Hayes, Season Hubley, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kurt Russell – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight, Overboard, Silkwood, Swing Shift
• Ernest Borgnine – something, I’m sure
• Donald Pleasance - something, I’m sure
• Harry Dean Stanton – many
• Isaac Hayes – his music
•  Why?  Sci fi classic
• Seen:  3 February 2022 

Manhattan has become a high-security prison. The president (Pleasance) has been kidnapped and there are nuclear weapons involved and the world is in danger. Snake (Russell), war hero and major thief, is coerced into rescuing the president within 22 hours.

The concept is mildly appealing, but Snake is an obnoxious macho type with a fake tough-guy voice and the story is boring with lots of holes in the logic. Simple-minded puerile rubbish. There are some nice gloomy visuals and Kurt Russell has pretty hair but otherwise, no way the masterpiece some fans would have it. 

1* of 5