Paddington

 

Paddington 2014

• Director: Paul King
• Based on the books by Michael Bond
• Cast: Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Geoffrey Palmer, Matt Lucas, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water, Maudie, The Hollow Crown, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Made in Degenham, Never Let Me Go, An Education, Happy-Go-Lucky, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake
• Hugh Bonneville – Downton Abbey, Breathe, The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, From Time to Time, Glorious 39, Lost in Austen, Bonekickers, Filth, Daniel Deronda, Notting Hill, Frankenstein
• Julie Walters - Secret Garden, Mamma Mia 1&2, 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
• Jim Broadbent - Filth, Cloud Atlas, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Another Year, The Young Victoria, Hot Fuzz, Vera Drake, Gangs of New York, Moulin Rouge, Topsy-Turvy, Little Voice, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Richard III, The Crying Game, Enchanted April, Life is Sweet, Brazil, Black Adder
• Geoffrey Palmer – The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, As Time Goes By, Anna and the King, Tomorrow Never Dies, Mrs Brown, The Madness of King George, Black Adder, A Fish Called Wanda, Fawltey Towers, O Lucky Man, The Saint
• Matt Lucas – Doctor Who, Little Britain
• Nicole Kidman – Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Genius, Queen of the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Margo at the Wedding, Fur, The Interpreter, Birth, Cold Mountain, The Human Stain, Dogville, The Hours, Birthday Girl, The Others, Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge, Practical Magic, Batman Forever, Billy Bathgate
• Peter Capaldi – David Copperfield, Doctor Who, World War Z, In the Loop, Modigliani, Shooting Fish, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Neverwhere, Local Hero
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 26 March 2023      

       You’ve probably seen this long ago, maybe even read the books when you were a kid. I’m always way behind the times. It wasn’t so very long ago that I started noticing that some great actors are in the films and even more recently discovered that they are based on books.

       Anyway, a young bear arrives in London from darkest Peru and is taken in by the kindly Mrs Brown (Hawkins) and the very reluctant Mr Brown (Bonneville). He takes the name Paddington after the station because his bear name is impossible for humans to pronounce.

       Adventures, misadventures, misunderstandings, dangers, and wonders abound and as you can see from the cast there are marvellous supporting roles.

       It’s quite marvellous altogether. Better late than never. 

4* of 5   

 

 

 

 

I Am Not Your Negro

 

I Am Not Your Negro 2016

• Director: Raoul Peck
• Based on the writings of James Baldwin
• Cast: It’s a documentary narrated by Samuel L Jackson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• It’s a documentary.
• Why? The subject.
• Seen: 26 March 2023      

       James Baldwin’s written words are narrated by Samuel L Jackson and interspersed with interviews and speeches by Baldwin himself. Clips from the 50s, 60s and 70s alternate with scenes of police brutality against blacks in the 21^st century. Things are only getting worse.

       Nothing is sugar-coated. The grim truth as Baldwin presents it is that white America is terrified, ignorant, blind and unconsciously or violently racist. Not every single individual but the institutions, the structure of society and its economy.

       It could be a very important film if the white people who need to know this were to see it, understand it, accept its truth and be strong and humane enough to try to change themselves and the society that benefits them at the cost of people of colour. 

5* of 5   

 

 

 

The Ledge

 

The Ledge 2011

• Director: Matthew Chapman
• Seen by this director: Slow Burn
• Based on the book:  no
• Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Terrance Howard, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Charlie Hunnam – Pacific Rim, Children of Men, Cold Mountain, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?
• Terrence Howard – Prisoners, The Butler, Ray, Crash, Dead Presidents
• Liv Tyler – Ad Astra, The Leftovers, Lonesome Jim, Lord of the Rings etc, Armageddon
• Patrick Wilson – The Conjuring, Prometheus, Lakeview Terrace, Phantom of the Opera, Angels in America
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 25 March 2023      

       Gavin (Hunnam) is a hotel manager, an atheist and a flirt who hides his grief over the loss of his daughter and wife. When the film opens, he is standing on a ledge, ready to jump. Hollis (Howard) is the detective trying to talk him out of committing suicide and struggling with the recent revelation that he is not the father to his children. Shana (Tyler) is a student, a musician, a recently hired cleaner at Gavin’s hotel, a former hooker and junkie, Gavin’s new neighbour. Joe (Wilson) is Shana’s husband, a homophobic fanatical Christian.

       With flashbacks Gavin tells Hollis how he came to be on the ledge and why he is being forced to commit suicide. It’s a surprisingly strong film, intelligent, thoughtful and suspenseful, with an unusually frank conflict between atheism and religion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film in which the protagonist is an atheist. More of that, please. 

4* of 5   

 

 

Ragtime

 

Ragtime 1981

• Director: Milos Forman
• Seen by this director: Amadeus, Hair, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Based on the book by E.L. Doctorow
• Cast: James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E Rollins Jr, Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn, Kenneth McMillan, James Olson, Mandy Patinkin, Mary Steenburgen, Debbie Allen, Robert Joy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James Cagney – something, no doubt
• Elizabeth McGovern – Woman in Gold, Downton Abbey, Angels Crest, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, If Not for You, Racing for the Moon
• Brad Dourif - Alien, Mississippi Is Burning, Dune, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, various TV series
• Mandy Patinkin – Dead Like Me, Lulu on the Bridge, Impromptu, Daniel
• Mary Steenburgen – Song One, The Help, Honeydripper, The Dead Girl, I Am Sam, The Grass Harp, Philadelphia, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Back to the Future
• Robert Joy - The Shipping News, Waterworld, Desperately Seeking Susan, Atlantic City
• Why? I mixed it up with Kansas City
• Seen: 24 March 2023      

       What a mishmash story. Turn of the century New York, Rich white family, abandoned black baby, young black piano player, free spirit ex showgirl divorcée, poor immigrant. It’s not as though it’s hard to follow the story, it’s just that I’m not sure it’s being told in the right way. Racism is naturally an important subject but it gets lost in all the rest.

       I read the book years ago but to tell the truth I was as little impressed by it as I am by this film.

 

2 ½ * of 5   

 

 

The Blind Side

 

The Blind Side 2009

• Director: John Lee Hancock
• Based on book by Michael Lewis
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sandra Bullock – The Heat, Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Lake House, Miss Congeniality 1&2, Crash, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 28 Days, Practical Magic, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Quinton Aaron – Be Kind Rewind
• Why? Bullock
• Seen: 17 March 2023

 Leigh Ann (Bullock) is a bossy sexy rich white Christian Republican businesswoman who takes on Big Mike (Aaron), a large black homeless, nearly mute, and underachieving student and outstanding athlete.

There’s an enormous risk that this film is going to be a saccharine sweet holier-than-thou film about good-hearted privileged white folks who are shocked by the poverty, drugs and crime on the other side of town and get all self-righteous about charity but give nary a thought to changing the system that gives them their privileges.

It is. And oh yes, it’s a true story.

Bullock and Aaron are good, but the film is Bullock’s worst, of those I’ve seen. 

2 * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Flowers

 

Broken Flowers 2005

• Director: Jim Jarmusch
• Seen by this director: Only Lovers Left Alive, Coffee and Cigarettes, Dead Man, Night on Earth, Mystery Train, Down by Law
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Julie Delpy, Sharon Stone, Alexis Dziena, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Ryan Donowho
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Bill Murray – Zombieland 1&2, Moonrise Kingdom, Darjeeling Limited, Coffee & Cigarettes. Lost in Translation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Hamlet, Cradle Will Rock, Rushmore, Ed Wood, Groundhog Day, What about Bob, Ghostbusters, Tootsie
• Jeffrey Wright – The Hunger Games, Only Lovers Left Alive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Cadillac Record, Quantum of Solace, Angels in America, Hamlet, Presumed Innocent
• Julie Delpy – Before Midnight, Two Days in New York, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, The Red Film, The White Film, The Blue Film
• Frances Conroy – Shelter, Stay Cool, Six Feet Under, Sleepless in Seattle, The Scent of a Woman, Billy Bathgate 
• Jessica Lange – Big Fish, Titus, A Thousand Acres, Rob Roy, Frances, Tootsie, The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Chloë Sevigny – The Snowman, Love & Friendship, Manderlay, Dogville, American Psycho, The Last Days of Disco
• Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange, Hail Caesar!, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Moonrise Kingdom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Thumbsucker, Young Adam, Adaption, Beach, Orlando
• Ryan Donowho - Bandslam
• Why? Jarmusch
• Seen: Once before. Now 16 March 2023 

There’s a conflict here for me. I generally like Jarmusch’s films, and I don’t like Murray. My memories of seeing this film before are vague, but I don’t think I liked it. But I also think it’s worth a second chance.

Don (Murry) is a white sad sack IT millionaire whose latest girlfriend has left him because he’s a Don Juan. He gets an anonymous letter from someone who claims to be an old girlfriend who had a son by him, and the son is on his way to find him.

            Don’s Ethiopian neighbour and friend Winston (Wright) is an enthusiastic amateur detective and wants to find out who the woman is. Don couldn’t care less but gives Winston a list of possibles. Winston digs up the addresses and sends Don on an odyssey to find them, telling him not to forget to bring flowers.

            It’s OK, I guess. Conroy, Lange and Swinton, unrecognisable in long black hair and heavy make-up, help, and the pointless meandering story slowly pulls me in. The main problem is Murray. He engenders zero sympathy and interest. Christopher Walken or Johnny Depp would have been so much better in the role. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

Katherine

 

Katherine 1975

• Director: Jeremy Kagan
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Sissy Spacek, Art Carney, Henry Winkler, Jane Wyatt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sissy Spacek – The Help, North Country, The Grass Harp, JFK, Carrie (maybe)
• Art Carney – something, no doubt
• Henry Winkler – something, no doubt
• Jane Wyatt – something, no doubt
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 15 March 2023 

Katherine (Spacek) from a rich, white, American family becomes involved in radical political activist groups. With each group she understands more and more about oppression and discrimination and war and becomes angrier and angrier.

Told as a docudrama with all the above as flashbacks interspersed with short scenes from 1972 as she makes her way to bomb a bank, this is a made-for-TV movie. Heavy stuff for the 70s and it is still powerful. The poor quality of the DVD and the lack of subtitles make it hard to catch everything but that’s not the film’s fault. 

4 * of 5

 

 

 

 

Ett öga rött

 

Ett öga rött 2007

• Director: Daniel Wallentin
• Based on novel by Jonas Kassam Khemeri
• Cast: Youssef Skheriy, Hassan Brijani, Evin Ahmad, Anwar Albayati, Asmaa Houri
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Hassan Brijani – Tusenbröder
• Why? The book.
• Seen: Once before. Now 14 March 2023 

When Halim’s (Skheriy) mother (Houri) dies of ALS, his father (Brijani) becomes obsessed with rejecting his Moroccan roots and embracing Swedishness to an absurd and embarrassing degree. Halim misses his mother and insists on being an immigrant, resists being integrated.

More and more Halim loses control in the deepening conflict with his father and his own confused identity. The film starts with light-hearted, absurd, and colourful humour and darkens into deep sorrow. It’s a loving and sensitive homage to the rich and chaotic zone populated by both reluctant and enthusiastic new Swedes.

Khemeri is one of the most renowned authors in Sweden, often writing about the complexity of being an immigrant, especially for the kids of immigrants. 

4 * of 5

 

 

 

Tower Block

 

Tower Block 2012

• Director: David Beaton and James Nunn
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell, Jamie Thomas King, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey, Jill Baker
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sheridan Smith – The Quartet, Hysteria
• Jack O’Connell – Unbroken, ’71, This Is England
• Jamie Thomas King – Mr Turner, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Marchlands, The River King
• Ralph Brown – The Boat that Rocked
• Why? Possibly good
• Seen: 13 March 2023 

In a tower block marked for demolition only the top floor is occupied. A sniper starts picking the residents out through the window, one by one. The survivors flee to the corridor and are trapped.

Exciting? Oh yes. Also grim, well-acted with good characters and a decent psychological study of a disparate group forced together in a fatal crisis. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

Volver

 

Volver 2006

• Director: Pedro Almodóvar
• Seen by this director: Todo sobre mi madre, perhaps others.
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre, Leando Rivera
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Penelope Cruz – Murder on the Orient Express, Pirates of the Caribbean, Elegy, Blow, Todre sobre mi madre
• Why? Almedóvar.
• Seen: 12 March 2023 

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an Almodóvar film and I’m not sure how many I’ve seen. Whatever I’ve seen it was better than this one, whose only purpose seems to be to show how beautiful Penelope Cruz is. Which she is, but this film is chaotic, boring and senseless. 

Many people love it, giving it 9-10*. I don’t. 

2* of 5

 

 

Predator 2

 

Predator 2 (1990)

• Director: Stephen Hopkins
• Seen by this director: Lost in Space
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Rubén Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Danny Glover – 2012, Be Kind Rewind, Honeydripper, Dreamgirls, Manderlay, The Exonerated, Beloved, Bopha!, Lethal Weapon, The Colour Purple, Silverado, Witness
• Gary Busey – something, probably
• Rubén Blades – Once upon a Time in Mexico, Cradle Will Rock, Mo’ Better Blues
• Bill Paxton – The Circle, Edge of Tomorrow, A Simple Plan, Titanic, Twister, Aliens, Terminator, Streets of Fire
• Why? Danny Glover
• Seen:  8 March 2023. Completely inappropriate for International Women’s Day.      

       The first Predator film was ridiculously bad but I bought this one at the same time and I do like Danny Glover so I will give it a try.

       In the first fifteen minutes there’s more shooting than in WWII, all observed by the shimmeringly invisible alien. It’s LA and there’s a drug war going on. And then it becomes a war between the alien and Danny Glover.

       Is it better than the first one? Marginally. The ending is somewhat cool. But it’s one of Glover’s worst films. 

1½ * of 5

 

 

The Weight of Elephants

 

The Weight of Elephants 2013

• Director: Daniel Borgman
• Based on book by Sonya Hartnett
• Cast: Demos Murphy, Angelina Cottrell, Catherine Wilkin, Matthew Sunderland, Hannah Jones
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matthew Sunderland – The Nightingale
• Why? The title.
• Seen:  7 March 2023      

       Young Adrian (Murphy) lives with his no-nonsense gran (Wilkin) and kind but mentally ill uncle ((Sunderland). He’s lonely, bullied, and worried about three children who have gone missing. A kind of friendship is formed with the two little girls who move in next door but the burdens of the adults weight heavily on the children.

       It’s well-done and the acting is good, especially by the children, but it’s too depressing to really like.

 3* of 5

 

 

Case 39

 

Case 39 (2009)

• Director: Christian Alvart
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: Reneé Zellweger, Ian McShane, Jodelle Ferland, Bradley Cooper, Callum Keith Rennie, Adrian Lester, Kerry O’Malley, Cynthia Stevenson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Reneé Zellweger – Judy, Cold Mountain, Down with Love, Chicago, White Oleander, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Nurse Betty, Reality Bites
• Ian McShane –Game of Thrones, John Wick, Jack the Giant Slayer, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Pillars of the Earth
• Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born, Joy, American Hustle, Silver Lining Playbook, The Words, He’s Just Not that into You
• Callum Keith Rennie – Snow Cake, The Butterfly Effect, eXistenZ
• Adrian Lester – Mary Queen of Scots, Euphoria, London Spy, Hustle, Merlin, Bonekickers, Doomsday, Being Human, As You Like It, Day After Tomorrow, Hamlet, Born Romantic, Love’s Labour’s Lost
• Cynthia Stevenson – Private Practice, Dead Like Me, Six Feet Under, Happiness
• Why? The cast.
• Seen:  6 March 2016      

       Overworked child services worker Emily (Zellweger) has 38 active cases when her boss Wayne (Lester) lays case 39 on her desk. A little girl, Lily (Ferland), is in danger from her parents and Emily saves her life. Things get complicated when Lily wants to move in with Emily.

       Oh. It’s a scary movie with satanic evil.

       Never mind that I don’t believe in evil demons. I could accept them if the film was good.

       Sadly, it’s not. What a waste of a strong cast on a bad story. 

2* of 5

 

 

Life of Pi updated March 2023

 

Life of Pi 2012

Updated March 2023

• Director: Ang Lee
• Seen by this director: Taking Woodstock, Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility
• Based on book by Yann Martel
• Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Irrfan Khan – Slumdog Millionaire, The Amazing Spiderman, Darjeeling Limited, The Namesake
• Tabu – The Namesake
• Rafe Spall – The World’s End, Prometheus, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, A Good Year
• Gérard Depardieu – La Vie en Rose, Paris je t’aime, Boudu, Hamlet, Jean de Florette
• Why: the book
• Seen: January 6, 2013, at the movie theater with Hal, B-I and ÖB. Now 4 March 2023. 

Oh what a film!  What an achievement! When one of the best novels ever written becomes one of the best movies ever made – well. Once in a while the universe slips into a moment of harmony.

Who could have believed it – a novel that was impossible to film. A shipwrecked boy in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.

No, they don’t become friends. This is not a kid’s-pet-of-the-week movie. It’s an existential action drama about life and nature. And it’s incredibly exciting and beautiful. Overwhelming ocean storms, glorious skies, explosively surging whales. And, of course, a snarling clawing tiger.

One asks oneself how they do all that. Or not.  It’s easy enough to just accept the wonder of it.

Read the book. Then see the movie. Hindu-Christian-Muslim Pi promised his story would make his listener believe in god. It didn’t. It went one better. It made me believe, in case I didn’t already, in the impossible artistic achievements of us humans. 

10* of 10. 

Update 4 March 2023. Well, it seems I liked the film the first time. Of course, on the big screen it was overwhelming. It was overwhelming enough on the TV screen. Maybe I won’t go so far as 10* of 10 this time, but I’m very happy to give it 5* of 5.

 

 

Belfast

 

Belfast 2021

• Director: Kenneth Branagh
• Seen by this director: All Is True, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella, Thor, Sleuth, The Magic Flute, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, In the Bleak Midwinter, Frankenstein, Much Ado about Nothing, Peter’s Friends, Dead Again, Henry V 
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Caitríoni Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan
• Jamie Dornan – The Fall
• Judie Dench – All Is True, Murder on the Orient Express, Victoria & Abdul, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Hollow Crown, Bond etc, Hotel Marigold 1&2, Philomena, Vicious, My Week with Marilyn, Jane Eyre, Cranford, Nine, Notes on a Scandal, Mrs Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, The Shipping News, Chocolat, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown, Hamlet, Henry V, A Handful of Dust, 84 Charing Cross Road, A Room with a View, Macbeth
• 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
• Colin Morgan – Humans, The Fall, The Living and the Dead, The Laughing King, Legend, Testament of Youth, The Tempest, Quirke, Merlin, Parked, The Island, Doctor Who
• Why bought: Branagh
• Seen: 24 March 2023. 

Belfast 1969. Young Buddy (Hill) is growing up in a Protestant family - Mum (Balfie), Dad (Dornan), brother (McAskie), grandmother (Dench) and grandfather (Hinds) - where there are still Catholic families. The kids all play together but adult men riot violently to get rid of them. Soldiers, barbed wire, music and dancing, firebombs, football, arguments, discussions, threats, roadblocks - all in the street. Buddy is confused but life goes on. A fanatical neighbour (Morgan) threatens them, and Buddy takes refuge in the cinema and theatre.

      It’s more or less Branagh’s autobiography and is no doubt the best non-Shakespeare film he’s made.

 4 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

Burning

 

Burning 2018

• Director: Lee Chang-Dong
• Seen by this director: Phantom of the Opera, Veronica Guerin, Flawless, The Client, The Lost Boys
• Based on the story by Haruki Murakami
• Cast: Yoo Ah-In, Jeon Jong-seo, Steven Yeun
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Rave reviews
• Seen: 23 February 2023.      

       Oh, based on a short story by Murakami, one of my favourite authors. That’s a bonus.

       Or not. I just remembered that I usually don’t like short stories, not even Murakami’s. Almost an hour into the film I have no idea what it’s about.

       Two young men and a young woman in South Korea. I think we’re supposed to suspect that one of the men killed the woman. Some reviewers think it’s a profound statement on class society but if so, it’s too deep for me.

       There’s a nice cat though (it is, after all, Murakami), so 1* for that and another one just because. 

2* of 5

 

A Time to Kill

 

A Time to Kill 1996

• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Seen by this director: Phantom of the Opera, Veronica Guerin, Flawless, The Client, The Lost Boys
• Based on the book by John Grisham
• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt, Charles S Dutton, Brenda Frisker, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Patrick McGoohan, Ashley Judd, Tonea Stewart
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matthew McConaughey – The Gentlemen, The Dark Tower, Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, EDtv, Amistad, The Lincoln Lawyer
• Samuel L Jackson – The 51^st State, Glass, The Hateful Eight, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Crash, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Miss Congeniality 1&2, 28 Days, Practical Magic, Two Weeks Notice, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Kevin Spacey – The Men Who Stare at Goats, Superman Returns, The Life of David Gale, The United States of Leland, The Shipping News, Pay It Forward, American Beauty, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Usual Suspects, Glengarry Glenn Ross. Working Girl
• Oliver Platt - Ginger & Rosa, 2012, Frost/Nixon, Casanova, Postcards from the Edge, Working Girl
• Charles S Dutton – American Violet, Honeydripper, Secret Window, Alien 3
• Brenda Fricker – Tara Road, Milk, Inside I’m Dancing, Veronica Guerin, My Left Foot
• Donald Sutherland – Ad Astra, The Hunger Games 1-4, The Eagle, The Pillars of the Earth, Cold Mountain, A Dry White Season, Klute, Johnny Got His Gun, M*A*S*H, Ordinary People
• Kiefer Sutherland – Melancholia, Dark City, The Lost Boys, Stand by Me
• Tonea Stewart – Mississippi Is Burning
• Ashley Judd – Frida, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Double Jeopardy, Heat, Smoke
• Why? Worth seeing again.
• Seen: Once before. Now 21 February 2023.      

       Deep South, USA. Two young drunken white racists rape and nearly murder a little black girl. She survives and there are witnesses. The two rapists are arrested. The girl’s father Carl Lee (Jackson), knowing from similar cases that they will go free, kills them. Young, struggling, white lawyer Jake (McConaughy) defends him in the murder trial. The power-hungry and unethical DA (Spacey) is out for the death penalty. Jake gets unexpected help from an eager law student Ellen (Bullock).

       For a film about racism, the KKK, the complexity of justice, it mostly offers white voices, although Carl Lee actually points this out to Jake towards the end, lifting the film. The sexual tension between Jake and Ellen is an unnecessary Hollywood-type distraction and lowers it.

       Otherwise, it’s a decent film, well-structured for excitement with strong performances, especially by Jackson and McConaughy. The ending is strong and lifts it up again. 

4 * of 5

The Lincoln Lawyer

 

The Lincoln Lawyer 2011

• Director: Brad Furman
• Based on the book by Michael Connelly
• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, William H Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Peña, Bob Gunton, Frances Fisher, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Mason
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matthew McConaughey – The Gentlemen, The Dark Tower, Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, EDtv, Amistad, A Time to Kill
• Marisa Tomei – Crazy Stupid Love, The Wrestler, Alfie, Chaplin, My Cousin Vinnie
• William H Macy – Room, Cake, Sea Biscuit, Happy Texas, Pleasantville, Fargo
• Ryan Phillippe – Igby Goes Down, Gosford Park
• John Leguizamo – Cymbeline, The Miracle at Santa Ana, The Happening, Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Julia, Carlito’s Way
• Michael Peña -The Martian, Ant-Man, Babel, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The United States of Leland, Roswell
• Frances Fisher – this and that
• Bob Gunton – this and that
• Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad, Total Recall, Contagion, Drive, Little Miss Sunshine
• Laurence Mason – Public Enemies, The Crow, True Romance
• Why? Possibly worth seeing again.
• Seen: Once before, but I don’t remember it. Now 20 February 2023.      

       Mick Haller (McConaughey) is a smart-ass defence lawyer who works out of his Lincoln (a car, in case you, like me, are not up on cars), who works only for money, the more the better. He takes on a super-rich client accused of violence and sexual assault.  He soon realises the guy is guilty.

       As a story it’s only so-so. Tomei and Macy lift the film, but their roles are trite. A twist or two holds the interest but it’s not really my kind of film. 

2 ½ * of 5