Inhale

 

Inhale 2010

• Director: Baltasar Kormákur
• Seen by this director: Adrift
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Diane Kruger, Sam Shepard, Rosanna Arquette, Mia Stallard, Jordi Mollá, Vincent Perez, Cesar Ramos, Kristyan Ferrer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Dermot Mulroney – The Mountain Between Us, Burn After Reading, Jolene, Undertow, About Schmidt, Living in Oblivion
• Diane Kruger – Inglourious Basterds, Good-bye Bafana, Copying Beethoven
• Sam Shepard – Many
• Rosanna Arquette – Many
• Mia Stallard – The Space Between Us, Paul
• Why? Possibly good
• 28 January 2024 

       Paul (Mulroney) and Diane’s (Kruger) daughter (Stallard) is in acute need of new lungs but there are hundred ahead of her in the queue. Their doctor (Arquette) tells them there may be another way. Illegal. In Mexico.

       It has moments of suspense and ethical dilemma but much of it drags and it comes off as a conflict between rich white Americans and sleazy violent criminal Mexicans in a Hollywood action film. 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

All About Steve

 

All about Steve 2009

• Director: Phil Traill
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, Ken Jeong, DJ Qualls, Keith David, Beth Grant, Katy Mixon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock – many
• Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born, Joy, American Hustle, Silver Lining Playbook, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Words, Case 39, He’s Just Not that into You
• Thomas Haden Church – The Peanut Butter Falcon, Sideways
•  DJ Qualls – Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, Lost
• Keith David – many.
• Beth Grant – Donny Darko, Speed, No Country for Old Men, Little Miss Sunshine and others.
• Why? Bullock and Cooper.
• 27 January 2024 

       Mary (Bullock) constructs crosswords. She knows everything and talks constantly, spouting out obscure facts about…everything. She meets Steve (Cooper) and falls madly in love with him. She follows him to all his jobs – he’s a news cameraman – though he tries to make it clear that he’s not interested.

       This is a really stupid film. Bullock is zanier than ever, almost unendurably so. But then something happens and I find that I’m liking it. Bullock and Cooper manage to pull it off.

 

2 ½* of 5  

 

 

 

The Incredible Hulk

 

The Incredible Hulk 2008

• Director: Louis Leterrier
• Seen by this director: Now You See Me
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Edward Norton – Alita, Birdman, Moonrise Kingdom, The Invention of Lying, Pride and Glory, The Illusionist, Frida, Fight Club, American History X
• Liv Tyler – Ad Astra, The Leftovers, The Ledge, Lonesome Jim, Lord of the Rings, Armageddon
• Tim Roth – many, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• William Hurt – many.
• Why? The cast and I remember it as being good.
• Seen: Once before. Now 26 January 2024 

       When Bruce Banner’s (Norton) pulse reaches a certain pace he gets very big, very green and very violent. The Hulk. When the film opens he’s hiding out in Brazil, waiting for a cure. But the US Army is after him, wanting to turn him into a weapon.

       He returns to the US and seeks up his fellow scientist and lover Betty (Tyler).

       You know, I think it’s Ang Lee’s version I remember. Tyler isn’t right as Betty, with her little girl breathy voice. I’m pretty sure I remember Jennifer Connelly in the role and she was, as always, very good.

       Norton and Roth are always good and the film is interesting enough but not at all as good as I remember the other one being. 

2 ½* of 5  

 

 

Blood and Glory

 

Blood and Glory 2016

• Director: Sean Else
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Stian Bam, Charlotte Salt, Grant Swanby
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Grant Swanby – Invictus, Mandela, Blood Diamond
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 24 January 2024 

       During the Anglo-Boer War a group of Boer freedom fighters are imprisoned in a British camp under brutal conditions. Through twists and turns they form a rugby team to play against the British team. Supposedly based on a true story.

       Keep in mind, however, that the Boers hated blacks and were convinced that slavery was acceptable. They eventually lost the war but retained power in South Africa, creating Apartheid and perpetuating the system into the 90’s. Remember too, that the land they were defending from the Brits had been stolen by them from the South Africans. So they were hardly heroes.

       The film might have been watchable if it had been about real heroes, but it’s just propaganda. Because I watched it to the end: 

1* of 5  

 

 

 

Final Destination

 

Final Destination 2000

• Director: James Wong
• Seen by this director: An episode of The X Files
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Seann William Scott,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ali Larter – Legally Blonde
• Seann Williams Scott – My Life As a Loser
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 22 January 2024 

       Alex (Sawa) is on his way to Paris with his high school French class. Just before take-off he hallucinates that the plane crashes. He panics, gets into a scuffle with other students, they’re all thrown off the plane, which crashes on take-off.

       One by one, those who left the plane with him die in bizarre accidents. Alex and one of the others, Clear (Larter) try to interpret Death’s design. Can they cheat Death?

       It teeters between clever and silly, just like The X Files (see above, it was also written by two writers of The X Files).

       Somewhat entertaining but not overwhelming.     

 2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

Winter's Bone

 

Winter’s Bone 2010

• Director: Debra Granik
• Based on the book by Daniel Woodrell
• Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garrett Dillahunt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games, X Men, Passengers, Joy, American Hustle, Silver Lining Playbooks, Like Crazy
• John Hawkes – The Peter Butter Falcon, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, Everest, Contagion, Lost, The Miracle at St Ana, Miami Vice, Taken, The Perfect Storm, A Slipping Down Life, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Garrett Dillahunt – Where the Crawdads Sing, Widows, 12 Years a Slave, Any Day Now, The Road, Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men
• Why? A good film.
• Seen: Once before. Now 21 January 2024

        Ree (Lawrence) takes care of her little brother and sister and their catatonic mother in a ramshackle house in the Ozarks. They have no money and little food. When the sheriff (Dillahint) tells her that her father has signed over the house and property as bail when he was arrested for making meth and now he’s missing and they’ll lose everything if he doesn’t show up for the trial, Ree starts looking for him. Her aggressive uncle Teardrop (Hawkes) warns her to stay out of it, as do all the neighbours. It starts getting ugly and violent.

       Utterly depressing.

       Lawrence, in her first major role, shines as the grim, determined kid who never quits. No wonder she got to play Catniss.

       It’s a very good and well-done film with good acting, but I find it so heavy and dismal, despite the somewhat happy ending, and the people are so mean-spirited – they no doubt support Trump – that I just can’t give it the rating it deserves.    

3* of 5  

 

 

Kvinden i buret (Keeper of Lost Causes)

 

Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden i buret) 2013

• Director: Mikkel Nörgaard
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Fares Fares, Sonja Richter
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Nikolaj Lie Kaas – The Whistleblower
• Fares Fares – Chernobyl, Rogue One, Jalla jalla
• Sonja Richter - Bron
• Why? Fares Fares
• Seen: 19 January 2024

                Carl (Lie Kaas) is a cop who nobody likes to work with and after recovering from an ambush he’s put into Department Q to finish off cold cases, not solve them, just close them off. He resents it and hates it. He resents and hates his new partner too, Assad (Fares), even though he’s a nice guy and a good cop, although he’s also been demoted to Q for reasons not given.

       Carl immediately breaks the rules by choosing a case to actually solve, that of a missing woman Merete Lynggaard (Richter), a supposed suicide.

       Flashbacks tell what happened to her.

       It’s a complex story of crime, of two competent but incompatible cops with issues, of infighting on the force. Danish noir, it’s been called, a good description. But Fares Fares is Swedish, and speaks Danish.    

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything, Everything

 

Everything, Everything 2017

• Director: Stella Meghia
• Based on the book by Nicola Yoon
• Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Ana de a Leguera
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Amandla Stenberg – Dear Evan Hansen, The Darkest Minds, The Hunger Games
• Nick Robinson – Kong Skull Island, The Fifth Wave
• Why? I like the author
• Seen: 18 January 2024

        Maddy (Stenberg) is 18 years old and hasn’t been outside the house for most of her life. She suffers from an uncommon form of SCID which means that any common bacteria would kill her. The house where her widowed mother, Pauline (Rose), a doctor, is sealed as tight as a hospital infection ward. Then a boy, Olly, (Robinson) moves in next door.

       They start a friendship by waving through their windows, texting, phoning, and then Maddy breaks all the rules, they meet in person, and the predictable happens. They fall in love.

       There are enough surprises and twists to keep it from being too banal and the two leads do so well that it works better than most teen romance films.    

 3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saving Grace

 

Saving Grace 2000

• Director: Nigel Cole
• Seen by this director: Last Tango in Halifax, Made in Dagenham, The Calendar Girls
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, martin Clunes, Tchéky Karyo, Jamie Foreman, Bill Bailey, Valerie Edmond, Diana Quick, Phyllida Law
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brenda Blethyn – Vera, London River, Atonement, Little Voice, Secrets and Lies, Henry Vi Part One, King Lear
• Craig Ferguson – Born Romantic
• Martin Clunes – Shakespeare in Love, Swing Kids, Jeeves and Wooster
• Tchéky Karyo – A Long Engagement, Nikita, Australia, The Bear
• Jamie Foreman – Hustle, Doctor Who, Sleepy Hollow, Elizabeth, Nil by Mouth
• Bill Bailey – Hustle, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, Black Books
• Diana Quick – The Living and the Dead
• Phyllida Law – Copying Beethoven, The Winter Guest, Before the Rain, Much Ado About Nothing, Peter’s Friends, The Life and Death of King John
• Why? I remember enjoying it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 15 January 2024 

       Grace (Blethyn) is a middle-aged widow whose late husband has left her nothing but a grieving mistress (Quick) and an enormous debt. She can’t do much about the mistress except have her over for a drink (but she proves useful later) but the debts she can pay when she helps her gardener Matthew (Ferguson) save his sickly marijuana plants. She’s an excellent gardener and she comes up with a plan.

       Soon the whole Cornish village knows what she and Matthew are up to but as the pub owner says, they are just upholding the village tradition of not giving a fig (he uses another word) for obeying the law.

       It’s a good-hearted comedy in the best British tradition with eccentric characters, absurd scenes and a top-notch cast.    

 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between Two Worlds

 

Between Two Worlds 2021

• Director: Emmanuel Carrér
• Based on the book by Florence Aubenas
• Cast: Juliette Binoche, Hélène Lambert, Didier Pupin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Juliette Binoche – many
• Why? Binoche. The subject
• Seen: 14 January 2024                      

        Marianne (Binoche) has left Paris and gone underground in Caen, working as a cleaner. She’s a writer gathering material for a book exposing the terrible conditions for cleaners and other low-paid workers. It’s not just the low wages, it’s the disrespect, the insecurity, the long hours early and late, the heavy work.

       She makes friends but it can never be real friendship. She can always go back to her comfortable Parisian life. They cannot. And what will happen when they find out? Because they will. They are desperate. She is not.

       Marianne means well but is it hollow benevolence? Will her book change anything or will the exploitation of the cleaners lead only to few tsk tsks from bourgeois readers, giving them a chance to pity the poor workers and feel good about themselves for being polite to them for a while but not doing a thing to change the oppressive exploitive system?

       Yet, books like these have brought about changes, some improvements. Maybe it’s a step towards real change?

       The film is good.

 4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martian Child

 

Martian Child 2007

• Director: Menno Meyjes
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: John Cusack, Bobby Coleman, Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Cusack –many  
• Amanda Peet – 2012, X Files I Want to Believe, Igby Goes Down, Ellen Foster
• Sophia Okonedo –many including The Hollow Crown
• Joan Cusack – The Perks of Being a Wallflower, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Runaway Bride, Cradle Will Rock, Corrina Corrina
• Oliver Platt – Ginger & Rosa, 2012, Frost/Nixon, Postcards from the Edge
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 13 January 2024                      

        David (Cusack the brother) is a widower, a successful sci fi writer and the newly adoptive father of Dennis (Coleman), a boy who says he is from Mars. David’s sister Liz (Cusack the sister) is seriously worried that the kid is too weird and David can’t handle it. Sometimes David agrees, other times the lonely widower and the seriously socially disturbed boy connect.

       It could be sappy and it’s predictable but Cusack and Coleman make it work.

 3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plague Town

 

Plague Town 2008

• Director: David Gregory  
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Josslyn DaCrosta, Erica Rhodes, David Lombard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 11 January 2024                       

       A dysfunctional American family seeking their Irish roots find instead some scary deformed kids in the night forest. There’s a lot of running around in the woods in the dark, a lot of violence and gore, plenty of creepiness but not a lot of sense. An explanation of sorts at the end bu

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carolina

 

Carolina 2003

• Director: Marlene Gorris
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, Alessandro Nivola, Randy Quaid, Edward Atterton, Azura Skye, Mika Boorem, Jennifer Coolidge
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julia Stiles – Silver Linings Playbook, Omen, Mona Lisa’s Smile, O, Save the Last Dance, Hamlet, 10 Things I Hate about You, Wide Awake
• Shirley Maclaine – Downton Abbey, Rumour Has It, In Her Shoes, Postcards from the Edge, Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment, Sweet Charity, Gambit, Around the World in 80 Days, The Trouble with Harry,
• Alessandro Nivola – Selma, American Hustle, Ginger & Rosa, The Darwin Awards, Junebug, Love’s Labour’s Lost
• Edward Atterton – Firefly
• Azura Skye – Grimm, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 28 Days, EDtv
• Mika Boorem – Riding in Cars with Boys, The Education of Little Tree
• Jennifer Coolidge – Promising Young Woman, American Dreamz, Legally Blonde
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 10 January 2024                      

        Carolina (Stiles) works in TV when she hasn’t been fired. She has an eccentric family headed by her brash, vulgar grandmother (Maclaine) and a best friend/neighbour Albert (Alessandro) who write steamy romance novels under the name Daphne Something. He’s in love with her and she’s got a hot, rich British boyfriend.

       Not really my cup of tea.  

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mina drömmars stad

 

Mina drömmars stad 1976

• Director: Ingvar Skogsberg
• Based on the book by Per Anders Fogelström
• Cast: Eddy Axberg, Britt-Louis Tillbom,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Eddie Axberg – Nybyggarna, Utvandrarna, Här har du ditt liv
• Why? We read the book in our Swedish book circle.
• Seen: Once before. Now 9 January 2024               

        Fifteen year old Henning Nilsson (Axberg) walks into Stockholm in the mid 1800’s to find work. This is his story. Poverty, hunger, back-breaking work for little pay, or even worse, no work at all. But also happiness with his wife Lotten (Tillbom) and their children, friendship, solidarity, the slow endangered beginning of the working class waking up to the oppression crushing them.

       Based on one of the most beloved novels in Sweden and narrated by the author Per Anders Fogelström himself, it’s a Swedish film typical of the 70s, slow-moving, heavy, but emotional and gripping.

 4 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phone Booth

 

Phone Booth 2002

• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Seen by this director: Phantom of the Opera, Veronica Guerin, Flawless, A Time to Kill, The Client, The Lost Boys
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherlund , Forest Whittaker, Radha Mitchell, Katie Holmes
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Colin Farrell – many
• Forest Whittaker – many
• Katie Holmes – Woman in Gold, Batman Begins, The Gift, The Ice Storm
• Why? Colin Farrell
• Seen: 8 January 2024  

        Stu (Farrell) is a fast-talking PR man who finds himself in one of NY’s last phone booths, talking to his girlfriend Pam (Holmes). As he leaves, the phone rings and he answers it. The Voice (Sutherland) tells him that if Stu leaves the phone booth he, the Voice, will kill him. He knows everything about Stu and his wife Kelly (Mitchell) and if Stu doesn’t obey, he might kill her too.

       The voice kills a guy trying to use the phone booth. Cops are involved. The Voice enjoys it, makes Stu say things to embarrass the cops or he’ll kill them too.

       Tense, suspenseful and clever. My advice? Don’t answer the phone in the phone booth.

      3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur and Mike

 

Arthur and Mike 2012

• Director: Dante Ariola
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Colin Firth, Emily Blunt, Anne Heche, Lucas Hedges
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Colin Firth – many
• Emily Blunt – many
• Anne Heche – Donnie Brasco
• Lucas Hedges – Mid90s, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Ladybird, Manchester by the Sea, Moonrise Kingdom, Dan in Real Life
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 6 January 2024  

        Arthur (Firth) isn’t his real name but it’s the one on the fake passport he buys before faking his suicide, leaving ex-wife, son (Hedges) and girlfriend Heche). In the motel he stays in the first night he encounters Mike (Blunt), also not her real name, who has overdosed. He takes her to the hospital.

       Thus begins this offbeat, melancholy and somewhat unpleasant road movie about two people trying to escape their lives.

       It could have been good and at times Firth and Blunt make it work but as it progresses even they can’t save it. Especially when the side theme of golf takes over. Golf bores me.

       

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Better Through Chemistry

 

Living Better Through Chemistry 2014

• Director: Moore & Possementier
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Jane Fonda, Ray Liotta, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Schwartz, Ken Howard, Jenn Harris, Harrison Holtzer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sam Rockwell – many
• Olivia Wilde – Life Itself, Conversations with Another Woman
• Michelle Monaghan – Gone Baby Gone, North Country
• Jane Fonda – many
• Ray Liotta – many
• Norbert Leo Butz – Dan in Real Life
•  Why? The cast
• Seen:  6 January 2024

        Doug (Rockwell) is a nice pharmacist with an assertive award-winning bicyclist wife (Monaghan), a sullen trouble-making son (Holtzer) and an overbearing father-in-law (Howard). He’s a push-over and then he meets Elizabeth (Wilde), a beautiful, rich, pill-popping trophy wife. They become passionate lovers. He starts popping pills too and they come up with an idea. He is a pharmacist, after all…

       It’s funny and sad and Sam Rockwell makes it worth watching.

       3* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Father

 

The Father 2020

• Director: Florian Zeller
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Coleman, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots Rufus Sewell, Ayesha Dharker
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anthony Hopkins – many including Titus
• Olivia Coleman – The Favourite, Murder on the Orient Express, Broadchurch, The Night Manager, The Thirteenth Tale, I Give It a Year, Tyrannosaur, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, The Office
• Mark Gatiss – The Favourite, Christopher Robin, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Absolutely Fabulous the Movie, Our Kind of Traitor, London Spy, Victor Frankenstein, Wolf Hall, Being Human, Starter for 10, Bright Young Things, Birthday Girl
• Olivia Williams - Victoria & Abdul, Hanna, The Ghost Writer, An Education, Tara Road, Born Romantic, The Sixth Sense, The Postman
• Imogen Poots – I Kill Giants, A Long Way Down, Filth, Fright Night, Jane Eyre, 28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta
• Rufus Sewell – many including The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told
• Ayesha Dharker – Doctor Who, Colour Me Kubrick, Star Wars
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  5 January 2024

        The father (Hopkins) suffers from severe dementia. He lives with his daughter Anne (Coleman). Or does he? He has a carer. Or does he? He likes her. Or maybe he doesn’t. Who is she? She’s not the same as yesterday. What is this place? Is it his flat? Anne’s flat? Somewhere else? Anne is moving to Paris. No, she isn’t. But she is.

       Dementia seen from the inside. Tragic. Terrifying.

       Beautifully acted. Worthy of all the stars.

       

5* of 5