The Killing of a Sacred Deer

 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer 2017

• Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
• Seen by this director: The Favourite, Dogtooth
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone, Sunny Suljic, Raffey Cassidy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Colin Farrell – The Gentlemen, Widows, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Winter’s Tale, Total Recall, Fright Night, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, In Bruges, Intermission, Daredevil
• Nicole Kidman – Big Little Lies, Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Lion, Genius, Queen of the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Others, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Australia, The Golden Compass, Fur, The Interpreter, Birth, Cold Mountain, The Human Stain, The Hours, Dogville, The Birthday Girls, Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Billy Bathgate
• Barry Keoghan – Dunkirk
• Sunny Suljic – Mid-90s, Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot
• Raffey Cassidy – Tomorrowland a World Beyond, Dark Shadows
• Why? Kidman, Farrell, the title.
• Seen: 27 November 2022      

       Steven (Farrell) is a cardiac surgeon. Anna (Kidman) is an ophthalmologist. They have two children, Kim (Cassidy) and Bob (Suljic). Steven has befriended a boy Martin (Keoghan) and takes him home to meet the family.

       It has an odd feeling, with a stilted formal dialog, but then I see that it’s the same director as Dogtooth which is Weird Film Number 1. If I remember correctly I gave it 1*/5* because I couldn’t decide if I loved it or hated it.

       Here there is a constant sense of impending danger, accentuated by heavy dramatic music.

       It’s horrible and utterly fascinating. It’s definitely not a 1* film. Could it possibly be a 5* film? Possibly. Very possibly. What else could I give it? What would I possibly want to change or make different? Oh yes, I would delete the pervy and unnecessary sex scenes.

       So. 

4 ½ * of 5 

 

The Personal History of David Copperfield

 

The Personal History of David Copperfield

• Director: Armando Ianucci
• In the Loop
• Based on the book by Charles Dickens
• Cast: Dev Patel, Peter Capaldi, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Aneurin Barnard, Darren Boyd, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Bronagh Gallagher, Jairaj Varsani, Ben Whishaw
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Dev Patel – Hotel Mumbai, Lion, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Chappie, Hotel Marigold 1&2, Slumdog Millionaire
• Peter Capaldi – Doctor Who, World War Z, In the Loop, Modigliani, Shooting Fish, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Local Hero
• Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange, Hail Caesar, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Moonrise Kingdom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Broken Flowers, Thumbsucker, Young Adam, Beach, Orlando
• Hugh Laurie – The Night Manager, Black Adder, Sense and Sensibility, Jeeves and Wooster, Peter’s Friends
• Aneurin Barnard – Dunkirk
• Darren Boyd – Fortitude, The World’s End, Kiss Me Kate
• Bronagh Gallagher – The Guernsey Literature and Potato Peel Pie, Society, Tamara Drewe, Sherlock Holmes, Tara Road, Mary Reilly, Pulp Fiction, The Commitments
• Ben Whishaw – London Spy, Spectre, Sky Fall, Cloud Atlas, King Richard, The Tempest, Bright Star
• Why? The cast. The book
• Seen: 26 November 2022 

       If you don’t know the story, read the book. It’s lovely.

       Here Patel plays the adult David and narrates his story, popping in and out of scenes from his childhood. Capaldi is a wonderful Macawber and Gallagher is good as Mrs Macawber. Swindon is Miss Trotwood, Hugh Laurie is Mr Dick and Whishaw is Uriah Heep. Enough said.

       It’s exuberant, boisterous and beautiful. It’s the best version of the book I have ever seen. 

5 * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Young to Die

 

Too Young to Die 1990

• Director: Robert Markowits
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Juliette Lewis, Brad Pitt, Michael Tucker, Emily Longstreth, Michael O’Keefe
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Juliette Lewis – August Osage County, The Darwin Awards, Hysterical Blindness, Strange Days, The Basketball Diaries, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, Romeo Is Bleeding
• Brad Pitt – Ad Astra, Once upon a Time in Hollywood, 12 Years a Slave, Inglourious Basterds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, World War Z, Babel, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Full Frontal, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, Twelve Monkeys, True Romance, Johnny Suede, Thelma and Louise, The Dark Side of the Sun
• Why? Brad Pitt
• Seen: 24 November 2022 

       At thirteen Amanda (Lewis) is repeatedly raped by her step-father. Her mother blames her and runs off with the step-father. At fourteen Amanda marries her boyfriend, who deserts her after three months. She goes looking for him but runs into the predatory Billy (Pitt) who gets her into a strip club and drugs. When she flees from him she runs into nice decent Mike (O’Keefe), moves in with him, falls madly in love with him, and then he kicks her out because she’s too young.

       As the film opens she’s being arrested for murder, defended by an earnest but not completely competent lawyer (Tucker). So murder, but of Billy or of Mike?

       It’s a grim story, well acted especially by the then sixteen-year-old Lewis. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grigris

 

• Grigris 2013
• Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Souleymane Démé, Anäis Monory
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Neither of them
• Why? Good reviews and dance.
• Seen: 23 November 2022

       Souleymane Démé seems to be playing himself in this film. His nickname is Grigris and he’s a terrific dancer though one of his legs is atrophied and partially paralysed. He falls in love with a hooker, Mimi (Monory). He gets in trouble with petrol smugglers. Essentially it’s just a romantic gangster/love story, and thus, not very interesting. What makes it worth seeing is the glimpse into life in Chad, a country of which I know nothing, and the magnificent dancing. Otherwise, a disappointment. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Place II

 

A Quiet Place II 2002

• Director: John Krasinski
• Seen by this director: A Quiet Place I
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinsky, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Emily Blunt – A Quiet Place I , The Girl on the Train, Snow White Huntsman Winter’s War, Into the Woods, Edge of Tomorrow, Looper, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Young Victoria, Sunshine Cleaning, Dan in Real Life, The Jane Austen Bookclub, Gideon’s Daughter, My Summer of Love
• John Krasinski – A Quiet Place I,  Dream Girls, Holiday
• Millicent Simmonds – Wonderstruck, A Quiet Place I
• Noah Jupe - A Quiet Place I
• Cillian Murphy – Dunkirk, The Party, Transcendence, The Dark Knight Rises, Broken, Inception, Perrier’s Bounty, The Dark Knight, Sunshine, Breakfast on Pluto, Batman Begins, Cold Mountain, Girl with Pearl Earring, Intermission, 28 Days Later
• Djimon Hounsou – The Tempest, Blood Diamond, The Island, In America, Gladiator, Amistad
• Why? I liked the first one.
• Seen: 22 November 2022

       Day 474. Evelyn (Blunt), and her children (Simmonds and Jupe) realise that they can no longer stay at the farm and set out silently to find the people who have lit a fire on top of the next mountains. The trek is fraught with danger but they survive and find Emmett (Murphy), their former friend and neighbour. At first he is hostile and tries to send them away.

       The daughter Regan (Simmonds) thinks she knows how to find help and leaves in the night. Evelyn appeals to Emmett on their old friendship to go after her. She must stay with injured Marcus (Jupe) and the newborn baby.

       Like Part I, it’s slow, suspenseful and dramatic. It doesn’t always make sense but it’s a good sequel. I hope there will be a Part III. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nightwatch

 

Nightwatch 1997

 

• Director: Ole Bornedal
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Ewan Macgregor, Nicke Nolte, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin, Alex Koromzay
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan Macgregor – Christopher Robin, Doctor Sleep, Trainspotting 2&1, American Pastoral, Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Island, Star Wars etc, Big Fish, Young Adam, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Shallow Grave
• Nick Nolte – Paris je t’aime, Hotel Rwanda, Lorenzo’s Oil, Prince of Tides, 48 Hours, Rich Man Poor Man
• Patricia Arquette – Human Nature, Ed Wood, True Romance, The Indian Runner
• Josh Brolin – Dune, Hail Caesar, True Grit, Milk, No Country for Old Men, The Dead Girl
• Why? Ewan Macgregor
• Seen: 21 November 2022 

       Martin (Macgregor) is a law student who gets a job as night watch at a morgue, expecting an easy gig where he can read and study all night.

       It gets creepy fast (duh) because there’s a murderer of prostitutes on the loose and there are corpses (duh) and Martin is scared…

       He has an obnoxious macho friend James (Brolin) who sets Martin up with a hooker Joyce (Koromzay) because he thinks it’s funny. So far the film seems pointless and offensive.

       It’s clever though. Twisted but clever. And it gets exciting. Seriously flawed but by the ends it’s not bad. 

2½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battleship Potemkin

 

Battleship Potemkin 1925

• Director: Sergei Eisenstein
• Based on the book: no
• Why? The Classic of all classics
• Seen: Once before. Now 20 November 2022

 

       You have no doubt seen the baby carriages bouncing down the steps in Odessa but have you seen the film? It is so much more than this scene, as magnificent as it is.

       It’s 1905. The spirit of revolution is sweeping across Russia. The sailors aboard the Potemkin mutiny against the brutal tyranny on board and ally themselves with the workers and townspeople of Odessa.

       The film is simply brilliant. It’s not only a dramatic and suspenseful story but it captures the excitement and rage, despair and hope of the time. Every single scene of this black and white silent masterpiece is beautifully and artistically created. For the visuals alone the film cannot, I dare say, be surpassed.

       I am not a proper cineaste. I have no degrees in film analysis. But I love film as an art form, as a teller of stories, as a conveyor of the essence and complexity of humanity.

       Battleship Potemkin has it all. See it. Then see it again. And again. 

5* of 5. No, actually, 10* of 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Place

 

A Quiet Place 2018

• Director: John Krasinski
• Based on the book:no
• Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinsky, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Emily Blunt – The Girl on the Train, Snow White Huntsman Winter’s War, Into the Woods, Edge of Tomorrow, Looper, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Young Victoria, Sunshine Cleaning, Dan in Real Life, The Jane Austen Bookclub, Gideon’s Daughter, My Summer of Love
• John Krasinski – Dream Girls, Holiday
• Millicent Simmonds – Wonderstruck
• Why? Emily Blunt
• Seen: 19 November 2022 

       Evelyn (Blunt), her husband Lee (Krasinksi) and their children (Simmonds, Jupe and Woodward) have survived a global plague of creatures by being silent. The creatures attack and kill at the slightest sound.

       They live on a farm and make do. Silently. They communicate mostly in sign language.

       Unlike most scary movies this one is scary because the characters are worth caring about. It’s also slow and contemplative so when the danger approaches it’s scary.

       The acting is serious and strong. It’s not completely logical and the characters don’t always act with the greatest of intelligence, but it is, after all, just a scary movie, not a science documentary.

       I just ordered the sequel. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Nature

 

Human Nature 2001

• Director: Michel Gondry
• Seen by this director: Flight of the Conchords, Be Kind Rewind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Based on the book: no, but written by Charles Kaufman
• Cast: Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Peter Dinklage, Mary Kay Place, Robert Forster, Rosie Perez, Miranda Otto
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tim Robbins – Then She Found Me, Catch a Fire, The Secret Life of Words, War of the Worlds, Mystic River, High Fidelity, Mission to Mars, The Shawshank Redemption, Twister, Bull Durham
• Patricia Arquette – Ed Wood, True Romance, The Indian Runner
• Rhys Ifans – Harry Potter, The Boat that Rocked, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The Shipping News, The 51^st State, Notting Hill
• Peter Dinklage – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, X-Men Days of Future Past, Station Agent
• Mary Kay Place – Lonesome Jim, Girl Interrupted, Being John Malkovich, Manny & Lo, Citizen Ruth, New York New York
• Robert Forster – London Has Fallen, Breaking Bad, The Descendants, Jackie Brown
• Rosie Perez – Riding around with Boys, Fearless, White Men Can’t Jump, Night on Earth, Do the Right Thing
• Miranda Otto – War of the Worlds, Doctor Sleep
• Why? Enjoyed it the first time
• Seen: Once before. Now 19 November 2022 

       Lila (Arequette) has a malady that gives her hair all over her body. She flees society to live peacefully in the forest with other furred creatures. Puff (Ifans) was brought up as an ape by his father who believed he was an ape. Nathan (Robbins) is dead but he still hates apes. He and Lila meet while he’s still alive. They become lovers. While on a walk in the woods they encounter Puff. Lila flings off her clothes and gives chase. Nathan takes Puff to his lab to teach him to be civilised where the ape man is given the name Puff by Nathan’s flirtatious assistant Gabrielle (Otto).

       Love complications ensue as nurture is attempted to override nature.

       Of course it’s absurd. That’s the point. Humans, nature, human nature, and the absurdity of it all.

       It’s fun but sillier than I remember. However I’m a big fan of both Robbins and Ifans. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up in the Air

 

Up in the Air 2009

• Director: Jason Reitman
• Seen by this director: Juno
• Based on the book by Walter Kirn
• Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynsky, Danny McBride
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• George Clooney – Hail Caesar, Tomorrowland a World Beyond, Gravity, The Descendants, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Intolerable Cruelty, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, The Perfect Storm, O Brother Where Art Thou?
• Vera Farmiga – Skin, The Conjuring, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Breaking and Entering
• Anna Kendrick – Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Twilight
• Jason Bateman – Paul, The Invention of Lying, Juno
• Melanie Lynsky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Ella Enchanted
• Why? Good reviews. George Clooney
• Seen: 18 November 2022 

       Ryan Bingham (Clooney) works for a company who help other companies to fire employees. He flies from city to city ruining people’s lives, finances and self-esteem. He gives lectures on how to unload your personal baggage, both things and people.

       He meets Alex (Farmiga) in a hotel bar. They flirt by boasting about their high status lives and start a fly-around-the-county-trying-to-be-in-the-same-city-at-the-same-time affair.

       He has a sister who’s getting married but he tries to have as little to do with his family as possible.

       Then Ryan himself is booted when his company takes on a hotshot newcomer Natalie Keener (Kendricks) who proposes firing all the fliers and doing the firing online. He’s given the job of teaching her how he does it in person.

       I really hate the corporate world. Clooney shows us why we should.

       It has its humorous moments but it’s a serious film. My rating below will reflect if it has a good ending or not. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monster's Ball

 

Monster’s Ball 2001

• Director: Marc Forster
• Seen by this director: Christopher Robin, World War Z, Quantum of Solace, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Yasíin Bery (Mos Def), Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Coronji Calhoun
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Billy Bob Thornton – Love Actually, Intolerable Cruelty, Levity, A Simple Plan,Sling Blade, Dead Man, The Stars Fell on Henrietta
• Halle Berry – X-Men etc, The Call, Cloud Atlas, Frankie & Alice, Things We Lost in the Fire, Die Another Day, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Jungle Fever
• Heath Ledger – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Dark Knight, Brokeback Mountain, Casanova, The Brothers Grimm, Ned Kelly, A Knight’s Tale, Two Hands, 10 Things I Hate about You
• Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) – Cadillac Records, Be Kind Rewind, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Why? I remember it as good
• Seen: Once before. Now 17 November 2022 

       Hank (Thornton) and his son Sonny (Ledger) are prison guards, scheduled to carry out the electrocution of Laurence (Combs), who we see saying a final good-bye to his wife Letitia (Berry) and son Tyrell (Calhoun). We follow them all in the hours and minutes leading up to the execution itself.

       I’ll stop there because anything else I could tell would be a spoiler.

       It’s a powerful and painful film about racism, sexism, hatred, love, grief, an ugly and inhumane penal system, life crises and cruel, failed family relationships. It’s also a film about deeply flawed, damaged and hurting individuals who manage to find remnants of their basic humanity to make a connection and help each other back from the abyss.

       It’s not completely logical and there are other weaknesses in the characterisations but it’s at least as good as I remember it. Halle Berry is well worth the accolades. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbroken

 

Unbroken 2015

• Director: Angelina Jolie
• Based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand
• Cast: Jack O’Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson, Finn Wittrock
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jack O’Connell – ’71, United, This Is England
• Miyavi – Kong Skull Island
• Domhnall Gleeson – Star Wars, The Revenant, Brooklyn, Ex Machina, About Time, Harry Potter, True Grit, Never Let Me Go, Perrier’s Bounty
• Wittrock – Judy, La La Land, Winter’s Tale
• Why? I’m a sucker for the Olympics and Jolie usually makes good film.
• Seen: 16 November 2022 

       Sigh. Another war film. Hopefully this one will not be a) too nationalistic b) filled with endless battle scenes c) totally male dominated d) macho e) religious.

1. Fighter pilot dropping bombs on Japan.
2. Trouble-making/bullied school kid.
3. Track star, running faster than the bullies.
4. Still bullied, called a damn dago, but officially fastest runner in the US. Off to the Olympics.
5. Germany 1936. The kid, Louie (O’Connoll), astonishes the world by winning the gold and breaking the world record.
6. Back to WWII. The plane crashes into the sea. Louie, Phil (Gleeson) and Mac (Wittrock) survive. Rubber raft for days and days. Storms, sharks, sunburn, starvation.
7. Rescue. POW camp. Sadistic guards.

        OK, I thought it was the other way around. POW first, then Olympics star. Never mind. No more spoilers. What about a-e?

       a) Not too bad, considering the subject. b) too many in the beginning. c) totally, but again, the subject. d) not so bad, again, the subject. e) well, yeah.

       It’s a skilfully crafted film, engaging at times, but I can’t help wondering why Jolie chose this from all the possible films to make. I probably won’t need to see it again. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mia Madre

 

Mia madre 2015

• Director: Nanni Moretti
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Giulia Lazzarini, Nanni Moretti, Beatrice Mancini
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Turturro – The Miracle at St Ana, God’s Pocket, Margo at the Wedding, Romance & Cigarettes, Secret Window, The Man Who Cried, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Cradle Will Rock, The Big Lebowski, Clockers, Barton Fink, Jungle Fever, Miller’s Crossing, Mo’ Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 15 November 2022 

       Margherita (Buy) is making a film about workers striking because they’re losing their jobs. Her mother (Lazzarini) is dying. Her brother (Moretti) is carrying the practical burden and is supportive of Margherita, who has a teen-aged daughter (Mancini). Barry (Turturro, speaking Italian sometimes), is the star of her film, his annoying exuberance and constant untruthful bragging about his work with Kubrick driving her to distraction. She is pressured from all sides and exhausted.

       The film is a finely nuanced and realistic portrait of a midlife crisis that many, especially women, will recognise. Sadly, it’s not the emotional powerhouse I expected, considering the subject. Margherita Buy, however, is excellent. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Has Fallen

 

London Has Fallen 2016

• Director: Babak Najafi
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Alon Aboutboul, Melissa Leo
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gerard Butler – Coriolanus, Phantom of the Opera, Tomorrow Never Dies, Mrs Brown
• Aaron Eckhart – Sully, The Rum Diary, Rabbit Hole, The Dark Knight, Conversations with Other Women, Erin Brockovich
• Morgan Freenan - 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
• Angela Bassett – Black Panther, Akeelah and the Bee, Music of the Heart, Contact, Strange Days, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Malcom X, Boyz n the Hood
• Melissa Leo – Frozen River, Oblivion, The Space Between, Welcome to the Rileys, Veronica Mars, 21 Grams, Homicide Life on the Streets, The Ballad of Little Jo
• Why? Morgan Freeman. London.
• Seen: 14 November 2022 

       This sounds dreadful. Why did I buy the DVD? Well, see above. Is it as bad as some critics say? I can admit to some curiosity.

       My least favourite story lines: American presidents, family mush, political thrillers, endless security details, lots of bombs and shootings, car chases, mindless macho violence. This has it all.

       I’m bored to tears.

       It could be worse, I suppose, but I can’t think of how. Oh, yes, if there was a dog in it. There isn’t but that doesn’t win any prizes. Is it so bad that it’s funny? Not even that. What in the world are Morgan Freeman and the other decent actors doing in this mess? Can I find anything in it so I can give it 1* at least?

       Nope.

       Isn’t there a law against making really rubbish films with ‘London’ in the title? 

0* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24-Hour Party People

 

24-Hour Party People 2002

• Director: Michael Winterbottom
• Seen by this director: Genova, Tristram Shandy, Jude, Go Now
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Steve Coogan, Shirley Henderson, Paddie Considine, Lennie James, John Simm, Andie Serkis, Ron Cook, Sean Harris, many cameos
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Steve Coogan – Northern Soul, Philomena, Tristram Shandy, Coffee & Cigarettes
• Shirley Henderson – Trainspotting 1&2, Filth, Life During Wartime, Doctor Who, The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told, Harry Potter, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Hamish Macbeth, Rob Roy
• Paddie Considine – Journeyman, The Girl with All the Gifts, Macbeth, Pride, The World’s End, Red Riding, Hot Fuzz, My Summer of Love, In America, Born romantic
• Lennie James – Blade Runner 2049, Get On Up, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Les Misérables, Lost in Space
• John Simm – Doctor Who
• Ron Cook – Red Riding, Hot Fuzz, Doctor Who, The Merchant of Venice, Chocolat, Secrets and Lies, The Singing Detective, Richard III, Henry VI Parts 1,2, and 3.
• Sean Harris – Macbeth, Prometheus, Brighton Rock, Red Riding.
• Why? I remembered liking it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 13 November 2022      

Once again my memories are skewed. I’m thinking of The Last Days of Disco. Never mind. This is about the punk era in Manchester. Steve Coogan plays the legendary Tony Wilson who more or less brought Sex Pistols, Joy Division and others to the world’s attention. Sort of a rock-mockumentary with a lot of good music, some good acting, a clear (if chaotic can be clear) picture of the mad music scene and the social and economic upheaval of the times, it goes on too long to be really good. But it’s weird, and weirdly endearing.      

3½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricki and the Flash

 

Ricki and the Flash 2015

• Director: Jonathan Demme
• Seen by this director: Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs, Swing Shift, Artists Against Apartheid, Springsteen videos.
• Based on the book: no.
• Cast: Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Sebastian Stan, Nick Westrate, Audra McDonald
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Meryl Streep – Big Little Lies, Mamma Mia 1&2, Suffragette, Into the Woods, August Osage County, A Prairie Home Companion, Angels in America, The Hours, Marvin’s Room, The Bridges of Madison County, Postcards from the Edge, Ironweed, Out of Africa, Silkwood, Sophie’s Choice, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Kramer vs Kramer, The Deer Hunter, Holocaust
• Rick Springfield – His music videos
• Kevin Kline – My Old Lady, The Conspirator, As You Like It, A Prairie Home Companion, Wild Wild West, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ice Storm, Dave, Chaplin, The January Man, A Fish Called Wanda, Cry Freedom, Silverado, Sophie’s Choice, Hamlet.
• Mamie Gummer – Cake, Taking Woodstock
• Wendy Crewson – On the Basis of Sex, Room
• Why? Julie Christie
• Seen: 12 November 2022      

If you’ve seen Mamma Mia you know Meryl Streep can sing. Here she plays Ricki, a middle aged rock singer who, with her band the Flash, performs in bars.

Her ex-husband Pete (Kline) phones to tell her that their daughter Julie (Gummer) is in the middle of a divorce crisis and needs her. Off she goes, back to Indiana. Pete lives in a luxurious mansion with his new wife Maureen (McDonald) while Ricki can’t even pay the cab fare. Julie and her two brothers (Stan and Westrate) hate Ricki for abandoning them to pursue her music career.

Ah, so it’s not so much a rock film, but a dysfunctional family film. A pity. Ricki tries hard. Streep tries hard. Maybe a little too hard. It feels strained, forced. There’s a little too much sweet feel-good and I hate weddings.

But it is dramatic, and at times funny. It’s rock music. They do some good covers. And Bruce Springsteen’s ‘My Love Will Never Let You Down’ raises it by a *.      

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Away from Her

 

Away From Her 2006

• Director: Sarah Polley
• Seen by this director: No others yet, but I recently saw her in The Secret Life of Words. She was brilliant. I would like to see more directed by her.
• Based on the short story by Alice Munro.
• Cast: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsett, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson, Kristen Thomson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julie Christie – Glorious 39, The Secret Life of Words (see above), Finding Neverland, Harry Potter, Hamlet, Memories of a Survivor, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Go-Between, Petulia, Dr Zhivago, Far from the Madding Crowd, Fahrenheit 451, Darling
• Gorson Pinsett – Pillars of the Earth, The Shipping News
• Olympia Dukakis - Steel Magnolias, Working Girl, Moonstruck, John and Mary
• Michael Murphy – X-Men the Last Stand, Nashville, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, McCabe and Mrs Miller, M.A.S.H., TV series
• Wendy Crewson – On the Basis of Sex, Room
• Why? Julie Christie
• Seen: 12 November 2022      

Fiona (Christie) and Grant (Pinsent) live in a cottage in northern Ontario. They have a loving marriage. She is suffering from advancing Alzheimer’s. He knows it. She knows it. She tries to be brave and cheerful and realistic, and makes the decision to move to an upscale nursing home. He is devastated.

As her condition worsens, Grant watches Fiona disappear from him and their life together, which he realises from her alienation wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

Depressing, yes. Much of a similar situation I have seen close-up. But it’s so well done and the acting is so good that I am in awe. It is possibly Christie’s most stunning performance, and that’s saying a lot.      

4 ½ * of 5