Mr & Mrs Smith

 

Mr & Mrs Smith 2005

• Director: Doug Liman
• Seen by this director: Edge of Tomorrow, Jumper
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brad Pitt - Many
• Angelina Jolie – Many
• Why? Curious
• Seen:  26 May 2024 

       You probably know the story. Jane (Jolie) and John (Pitt) fall in love and get married. After a few years the glow has faded and they seek help from a marriage counsellor. What neither of them knows is that the other is a professional assassin.

       It’s clever and entertaining, especially if you like the stars. There’s no doubt that there’s chemistry between them.

       If you don’t think too hard about it, it’s enjoyable until it goes on far too long with way too much shooting. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard II Globe version

 

Richard II Globe version 2015

• Director: Simon Godwin
• Based on the play by William Shakespeare
• Cast: Charles Edwards, David Sturzaker, Anneika Rose
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Charles Edwards – The Crown, Sherlock, Philomena, Longitude
• David Sturzaker – The Merchant of Venice
• Anneika Rose – Line of Duty
• Why? Shakespeare
• Seen:  25 May 2024 

       In London recently I saw Ian McKellan as Falstaff in a 4-hour production combining Henry IV Parts One & Two. My addiction to Shakespeare was re-ignited, especially the History Plays, which start with Richard II. If you don’t know the story, Google it.

       I have not seen the Globe version. I love the Globe. I do not always love their productions. How will they deal with this one?

       It is no easy task to make Act One interesting and comprehensible (sorry, Shakespeare) and sadly this production does not succeed. If I hadn’t read the plays several times and seen several film versions I would not have a clue. Very hammy, as well.

       And thus it continues. Mostly one-note melodrama with plenty of shouting. There are moments of genuine emotion, mostly from Edwards, but I’m sorry to say that this production does not move me.

 

3 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad Samaritan

 

Bad Samaritan 2018

• Director: Dean Devlin
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Kerry Condon, Carlito Olivero
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• David Tennant – Many especially Doctor Who, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing…
• Robert Sheehan – Mortal Engines, Fortitude, Misfits, Red Riding etc
• Why? David Tennant
• Seen:  24 May 2024 

       Two small-time crooks Sean (Sheehan) and Derek (Olivero) break into Cale’s (Tennant) house. This proves to be very dangerous.

       Sadly, it turns into the kind of film I don’t like.  As much as I love Davis Tennant and as brilliant as he is at playing psychotic killers, I wish he wouldn’t. Such a cliché. Sheehan is good too but that doesn’t help.

       I fast forwarded much of it. It breaks my heart but 

1 ½ * of 5  

 

 

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Walkabout

 

Walkabout 1971

• Director: Nicolas Roeg
• Seen by this director: The Man Who Fell to Earth
• Based on the book by James Vance Marshall
• Cast: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jenny Agutter – Queen of the Desert, Glorious 39, Love’s Labour’s Lost,
• David Gulpilil – Australia, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Crocodile Dundee
• Why? I remember liking it.
• Seen:  Once before. Now 23 May 2024 

       A girl (Agutter) and her little brother (Roeg) are abandoned in the Australian outback. They are rescued by an aboriginal boy (Gulpilil).

       Much of the film is like a nature documentary, as beautiful as it is harsh and deadly.

       It’s not as good as I remember it. There is a bit of the Noble Savage about it and a long unnecessary scene with the girl swimming naked. There is, in fact, a tone of sexism throughout.

       An odd mix that doesn’t lead anywhere. Maybe in the 70s it seemed radical. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monsieur Ibrahim et des fleurs du Corane

 

Monsieur Ibrahim et des fleurs du Corane 2003

• Director: Francois Dupeyron
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Omar Sharif, Pierre Bolanger, Gilbert Melki, Lola Naymark, Anne Suarez
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Omar Sharif – Hidalgo, Doctor Zhivago, The Yellow Rolls Royce, Lawrence of Arabia
• Why? Omar Sharif and possibly good
• Seen: 20 May 2024 

       A fifteen-year-old boy (Bolanger) has sex with the local prostitutes and becomes friends with the local shopkeeper (Sharif).

       Problem: coming of age films often bore me. This is no exception.

       Problem: too much religion.

       Problem: Hookers with hearts of gold – quelle cliché.

       Problem: I don’t much like the kid and the shopkeeper is kind of creepy.

       Is there anything good about it? Well, the glimpses of Parisian social realism is interesting and the rock’n’roll music is fun.

       Mais, non, c’est pas bon. Desolée.      

 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

On Chesil Beach

 

On Chesil Beach 2017

• Director: Dominic Cooke
• Seen by this director: The Hollow Crown
• Based on the book by Ian McEwan.
• Cast: Billy Howle, Saoirse Ronan, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Emily Watson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Billy Howle – Dunkirk
• Saoirse Ronan - many
• Anne-Mary Duff – Suffragette, Before I Go to Sleep, Nowhere Boy, The Last Station, Notes on a Scandal, The Magdalena Sisters
• Emily Watson - many
• Why? The book and the cast
• Seen: 19 May 2024 

       Florence (Ronan) and Ed (Howle) are completely mismatched but they fall deeply in love after meeting at a CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament for you kids) meeting in London in 1962. They marry and spend their wedding night in a hotel on Chesil Beach.

       They are both virgins, they’re afraid and they don’t know what to do.

       It’s a gentle, awkward, tender and sad film. The cast is wonderful. I believe I actually like the film better than the book. 

4 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barely Lethal

 

Barely Lethal 2015

• Director: Kyle Newman
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Samuel L Jackson, Sophie Turner, Jessica Alba, Toby Sebastian, Dove Cameron, Rachel Harris, Jason Drucker
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
• Samuel L Jackson - many
• Sophie Turner – Game of Thrones, X-Men Dark Phoenix + Apocalypse, The Thirteenth Tale
• Jessica Alba - Dark Angel
• Toby Sebastian - Game of Thrones
• Why? Samuel L Jackson
• Seen: 18 May 2024 

       A Pentagon school for little orphan girls to teach them to become ice-cold friendless assassins is where it all starts. Hardman (Jackson) is the teacher. Agent 83 (Steinfeld) is sent on missions around the world from the age of 16, the top of her class. But she longs for a normal teenage life. She disappears herself, adopts a normal (yeah, right) family and enrols in high school, disguised as an exchange student from Canada.

       It’s somewhere between cringe-awful-American-high-school- flick, a little sweet, a little funny. Quite a high nerd factor, often mean, predictable but with a twist or two.

       Add all that together – I’m not too good with maths – and I actually kind of like it. The cast make it work.      

3* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London River

London River 2009

• Director: Rachid Bouchared
• Seen by this director: Indigénes
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Sotigui Kouyaté, Sami Bouajila
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brenda Blethyn – Vera, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Saving Grace, Little Voice, Secrets and Lies, Henry VI Part One,
• Sotigui Kouyaté – Dirty Pretty Things
• Sami Bouajila – Rouge, Indiginés, The Siege
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 17 May 2024 

       Elizabeth (Blethyn) lives a quite rural life on Guernsey. There is a bombing in London with many fatalities and she becomes worried when her daughter Jane doesn’t return her calls. She goes to London the try to find her.

       Meanwhile, Ousmane (Kouyaté) is in London looking for his missing son Ali. A photo leads them to one another. Elizabeth is very upset over Ousmane’s blackness and the fact that Jane was studying Arabic with Ali. It is discovered that Jane and Ali were living together. Elizabeth is appalled by the Muslims in Jane’s life, but her continued search for Jane brings her into repeated contact with Ousmane. Her racism is gradually overruled by their shared worry, grief and understanding.

       Such a powerful, heartfelt film.      

5 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A Thousand Kisses Deep

 

A Thousand Kisses Deep 2011

• Director: Dana Lustig
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Dougray Scott, Emilia Fox, David Warner, Allan Corduner
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jodie Whittaker – Doctor Who, Journeyman, Trust Me, Broadchurch, Adult Life Skills, Black Sea, Good Vibrations, Attack the Block, Marchlands, Perrier’s Bounty, The Babes of St Trinian
• Dougray Scott – Doctor Who, My Week with Marilyn, United, To Kill a King, Ever After, Deep Impact
• Emilia Fox – Merlin, Keeping Mum, The Pianist
• David Warner – Many
• Allan Corduner – Woman in Gold, Utopia, Dancing on the Edge, Defiance, Vera Drake, The Merchant of Venice, Daniel Deronda, Topsy-Turvy
• Why? Jodie Whittaker
• Seen: 16 May 2024 

       Mia (Whittaker) finds herself in a time warp through which she can observe and even participate in her past, especially her painful obsession with the gorgeous but married and violent musician Ludwig (Scott).

       The story understandably gets muddled with Mia running into her younger self and trying to give her advice, and her young drunken mother (Fox), but it’s captivating. Whittaker is good as always, as is the rest of the cast, and Lily the cat is beautiful.      

3½ * of 5