Let Them All Talk

 

Let Them All Talk 2020

• Director: Stephen Soderbergh
• Cast: Meryl Streep, Gemma Chan, Dianne Weist, Candice Bergen, Lucas Hedges, John Douglas Thompson·       
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Four or five times before. Now 3 January 202022 May 2026      

        Award-winning author Alice (Streep) invites two friends from 50 years ago, Susan (Wiest) and Bert (Bergen), as well as her young nephew Tyler (Hedges) to sail to England on the Queen Mary 2. Alice’s agent Karen Chan) is also on the ship.

       It’s talky and meandering but the characters are engaging and the actors are, of course, well, they’re stars for a reason.      

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

Fiddler on the Roof update 2026

 

Fiddler on the Roof 1971 Update May 2026

• Director: Norman Jewison
• Based on stories by Sholom Aleichem
• Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Paul Michael Glaser, Ray Lovelock, Louis Zorich
• Why? an old favourite
• Seen: Four or five times before. Now 3 January 2020      

       Why is this a favourite? Briefly: it’s a musical, the songs are great and the lyrics clever. It’s history. There’s even a little revolution. What more could one ask? Well, a lot less religion would be nice but it’s relatively inoffensive.

      6 * of 7 (Hal says 4* of 5).

 

Update May 2026: 

I don’t usually get tired of musicals but that seems to be the case with this one. I don’t love it any more. Most of the acting is hammy and Tevye, the rabbi and Yente are actually irritating, as is the religion. Not at all as good as it was before but since some of the songs are good 3 ½* of 5

 

https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/2020/01/fiddler-on-roof.html

 

 

Remarkably Bright Creatures

 

Remarkably Bright Creatures 2026

• Director: Olivia Newman
• Cast: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm Meaney, Kathy Baker, Alfred Molina’s voice
• Why? The book
• Seen: 20 May 2026      

       Sally Fields is Tova, a night cleaner in an aquarium. Marcellus (Molina) is an octopus, a very intelligent octopus who is dying and longs to return to the sea.

       They become friends.

       Sally Fields is very good, as is Marcellus, but there’s far too much about the humans and not nearly enough about the octopus. Just like the book. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

• Director:  Jim Sharman
• Cast: Tim Curry, Susan Sarondon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O’Brien,  Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hinwood, Meatloaf·        
• Why? Cult film
• Seen: Once before. Now:16 May 2026           

   A cult film, yes, but is it good?

Not especially. Lame story, only OK songs, silly characters.

Nope.

2* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver!

 

Oliver! 1968

• Director:  Carol Reed
• Cast: Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Jack Wild·        
• Why? A musical
• Seen: Once before. Now 14 May 2026    

       This is not a musical I know well, only having seen it once before. The reviews are mostly glowing and it won an Oscar for Best Film.

       If I remember correctly I wasn’t that impressed.

       So far, only Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger has any charisma and his ‘Consider Yourself’, the only catchy tune, and then ‘Anything’ together with Nancy (Wallis) and the altogether too sweet Oliver (Lester) and hammy Fagin (Moody).

       Actually most of them are hammy, even the usually wonderful Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes. The songs are mostly mediocre and go on far too long. Oliver has a weak and reedy voice.

       Nancy singing ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ after being beaten by her lover Bill loses the film another *.        

2 /2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Je m'appelle Agneta

 

Je m’appelle Agneta 2026

• Director: Johanna Runevad
• Cast: Eva Melander, Claes Månsson, Björn Kjellman·       
• Why? Recommended by fellow film nerd MP
• Seen: 9 May 2026      

       Agneta (Melander), 49, loves France though she has never been there. She has worked for twenty years for the Swedish Traffic Administration when suddenly she loses her job. She applies for work as au pair for a Swedish boy who lives in Provence, and gets it. She leaves her doltish husband (Kjellman) and off she goes. Only the boy is an old homosexual man (Månsson) who doesn’t want an au pair. Of course they become best friends.

       Cosy feel-good but altogether too hammy and clichéd. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

Wuthering Heights 2026

 

Wuthering Heights 2026

• Director: Emerald Finnell
• Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper·       
• Why? The novel
• Seen: 8 May 2026

       How many film versions have I seen? How many times have I read the novel? Who can count?

       Margot Robbie as Cathy? Interesting.

       The reviews are almost unanimously harshly negative and I can agree that there are problems. First of all, everyone except Robbie and Elodi as Heathcliff, and he’s too pretty, are miscast. Particularly Latif as Edgar and Clunes as the father.

       Great freedom has been taken with the story, especially the erotic additions, which, to be honest, lurk throughout the entire novel, albeit far from implicitly.

       The novel’s great and tragic passion is there, though, and the visuals are spectacular.

       Flawed, yes, but quite brilliant.  

4* of 5

 

 

West Side Story 1961

 

West Side Story 1961

• Director: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
• Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn·        
• Why? It’s a musical
• Seen: Several times before. Now 1 May 2026                     

       It’s the dancing. And the songs, the ones that aren’t love songs, which are too sweet for me. But ‘America’, ‘Officer Krupke’, ‘Cool’, ‘A Boy Like That’.

       And the Shakespeare, of course.

       Sadly the film is badly flawed. Beymer is completely wrong and lifeless as Tony, and though I love Wood dearly, she’s too adorable here, and not convincing. Nor is their love affair. So 

5* of 5 for the good stuff and 1* for the bad.

 

 

The Outrun

 

The Outrun 2024

• Director: Nora Fingscheidt
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Stephen Dillane·        
• Why? Scotland
• Seen: 30 April 2026 

       Troubled by alcoholism and unemployed despite a Master’s in biology, Rona (Ronan) leaves London and her boyfriend Daynin (Essiedu), who has given up on her, and returns to her childhood home in Orkney. Her mother (Reeves) is a religious fanatic, her father (Dillane) is bi-polar.

       She fights the desperate urge to drink, and the urge to return to London.

       It’s as much a nature documentary on the magnificent Orkney Islands as a gripping portrait of a woman struggling with addiction. Ronan is, as always, outstanding.

       Do you know what a corncrake is? 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

The King and I

 

The King and I 1956

• Director: Walter Lang
• Cast: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders, Carlos Rivas
• Why? It’s a musical.
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 28 April      

       Yul Brynner is such a sweetie. Probably not completely realistic in this role though it’s based on a true story. The chemistry between Brynner and Kerr is entertaining. The visuals are lavish, the songs appealing.

       Hammy at times but I can’t help but love it a bit.      

4* of 5.

The Little Shop of Horrors

 

The Little Shop of Horrors 1960

• Director: Roger Corman
• Cast: Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Jack Nicholson·       
• Why? A classic
• Seen: 27 April      

       This is just silly. If you haven’t seen it or don’t know the story, look it up on IMDb. I can’t be bothered.

       For the very young and dorky Jack Nicholson     

1* of 5.

 

 

Your Sister's Sister

 

Your Sister’s Sister 2011

• Director: Lynn Shelton
• Cast: Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt
• Why? Possibly good
• Seen:  21 April 2026      

       Jack (Duplass) is a mess since his brother died a year ago and his friend Iris (Blunt) sends him to her father’s cottage to get his head straight. When he gets there, though, he discovers that her sister Hannah (DeWitt) is already there.

       Drinks lead to talk leads to bed leads to Iris showing up unexpectedly.

       It’s very talky but quite sweet. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

 

The Eyes of Tammy Faye 2021

• Director: Michael Showalter
• Cast: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield
• Why? Andrew Garfield
• Seen:  20 April 2026      

       American TV evangelist Tammy Raye Bakker (Chastain) – yuck. And she was born and raised in my hometown. Yuck.

       Poor kid. Brainwashed into evangelism as a child. She grows up to marry Jim (Garfield) and they become TV evangelists. Make lots of money, get famous. Drugs and scandals.

       It’s so sickening I have to fast forward. Too bad reality can’t be fast forwarded. Disgusting people, disgusting organisation. How can people fall for all this? Is the film meant to make us feel sorry for her? It doesn’t. See them as exceptions in the evangelical movement? They’re not.

       Both Chastain and Garfield overdo it. Or maybe underdo it. Tammy Raye and Jim were probably even worse.

       And the evangelists march on. It’s scary. 

2* of 5

 

 

 

The Kindness of Strangers

 

The Kindness of Strangers 2019

• Director: Lone Scherfig
• Cast: Zoey Kazan, Esben Smed, Jack Fulton, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, Andrea Risborough, Caleb Landry Jones, Tahar Rahim, Bill Nighy, David Dencik
• Why? Possibly good
• Seen:  14 April 2026      

       A series of vignettes about losers in New York, who through acts of kindness of strangers get by. It’s gripping and sad and unusual. It doesn’t hurt that Bill Nighy is in it. 

4* of 5

 

 

 

 

Kingsman the Secret Service

 

Kingsman the Secret Servilce 2014

• Director: Matthew Vaughn
• Cast: Colin Firth, Taron Eggerton, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Strong, Mark Hamill, Michael Caine
• Why? The cast
• Seen:  13 April 2026      

       Oh dear, a spy story. But what a cast. ‘Funny and violent’ are words often used in the reviews.

       Young, tough working class Eggsy (Eggerton) is recruited into the posh, violent, gentlemanly, upper class spy organisation Kingsman. Violent, yes, funny, not so.

       Fun to see the actors though. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

The Society of the Snow

 

The Society of the Snow 2023

• Director: J A Bayona
• Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Augustin Pardella, Matías Recalt, Esteban Rigliardi·       
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 8 April 2026      

       A plane crashes in the Andes. Among the passengers is a young team of Uruguayan rugby players with friends and relatives..

       The few who aren’t killed outright face impossible odds. Freezing temperatures, injuries, almost no food. How can they possibly survive?

       Harrowing moral questions, madness, despair, the cruellest of nature, and yet 16 of them lived to be rescued.

       The visuals are absolutely stunning.

       True story. 

4* of 5   

 

 

 

 

Leave the World Behind

 

Leave the World Behind 2023

• Director: Sam Esmail
• Cast: Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Kevin Bacon, Myha’la, Farah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans·       
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 4 April 2026      

       Executive producers: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama! 

       Amanda (Roberts) and Clay (Hawke) take a spontaneous holiday in a rented house near the sea. Late the first evening the owner George (Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) show up saying they need a place to stay because there has been a blackout in New York and they can’t get back. Amanda thinks it’s a con and is hostile.

       However, something weird is clearly going on.

       It’s thought-provoking, eerie, atmospheric and too realistic for comfort. The acting is excellent.        

4* of 5   

 

 

 

Delirium

 

Delirium 2018

• Director: Dennis Illadis
• Cast: Topher Grave, Patricia Clarkson, Genesis Rodriguez, Callan Mulvey, Robin Thomas
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 31 March 2026

       Tom (Grave) is released on parole after twenty years in a mental institution. His father has committed suicide and left him the family mansion. He is convinced his father hated him for what he and his brother had done when they were children.

       He’s alone in the mansion and scary ghostly things happen. Either the place is haunted, or he is still mentally ill, or it’s all really happening.

       Not completely logical but spooky and entertaining.      

3 * of 5   

 

 

 

 

Pet Sematary

 

Pet Sematary 2019

• ·        Director: Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer
• ·        Cast: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jeté Laurence
• ·        Why: Stephen King
• ·    Seen: 27 March 2026

Having recently read the book, and since films based on King can be good, I thought I’d give it a try.

A family moves to a remote home in a Maine forest. It’s Stephen King. It gets scary. The cat gets scary.

I haven’t seen the earlier version but this is a decent adaption. John Lithgow is good. Moral of the story? Don’t move to a house in the forest.

2 ½* of 5

 

Paris

 

Paris 2008

·        Director: Cédric Klapisch

·        Cast: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris

·        Why:  Binoche

·        Seen: Once before. Now 26 March 2026

Pierre (Duris), in his 30s, has a heart condition and even with a heart transplant he probably only has months to live. His sister Elise (Binoche), a single mother, moves in with him. We’re also told the stories of other Parisians.

I’m one of the few people in the world who doesn’t love Paris. I’ve been there three times and have no desire to go back.

Or even watch the rest of the film, actually. But I will, because I like Binoche.

 

2* of 5

 

The Secrets We Keep

 

The Secrets We Keep 2020

• Director: Yuval Adlar
• Cast: Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Chris Messina, Amy Seimetz·       
• Why? Noomi Rapace·       
• Seen: 14 March 2026      

       Maja (Rapace) is a Holocaust survivor. One day she sees the man (Kinneman) who raped her and killed her sister. She seeks revenge. But is it really him? Or is she crazy?

       The acting is strong, the tension high. It got very mixed reviews but I am gripped by it.  

4 * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Place Day One

 

A Quiet Place Day One 2024

• Director: Michael Sarnoski
• Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, Schnitzel and Nico the cats·       
• Why? Sci fi
• Seen: 26 May 2018      

       Samira (Nyong’o) is a cancer patient living in a hospice. She’s on an outing in NYC with other patients and her cat when aliens attack.

       It’s atmospheric, well-acted and existential. You can be dying of cancer but still not want to die from an alien invasion, at least not without getting a pizza first.

       It’s a prequel to Emily Blunt A Quiet Place films. Now I want to watch them again. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

An Education

 

An Education 2009

• Director: Lone Scherfig
• Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Cara Seymour, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson·       
• Why? Originally, Emma Thompson
• Seen: Once before. Now 10 March 2026      

       The film, and especially Carey Mulligan, were highly praised by most reviewers but if I remember correctly, I didn’t much like the film or Mulligan (though I have liked her a lot in other films).

       London 1961. Sixteen-year-old Jenny (Mulligan) falls for a smooth gut (Sarsgaard) in his 30s. I find the whole idea unsavoury and therefore, still have trouble liking the film. 

2* of 5

 

 

 

Miracle at St Anna

 

Miracle at St Anna 2008

• Director: Spike Lee
• Cast: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, John Turturro, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Valentina Cervi·       
• Why? Originally, Spike Lee
• Seen: Once before. Now 9 March 2026      

       What I remember is that this is not like other Spike Lee films. It got a lot of negative reviews and to be honest, I don’t think I liked it much myself.

       Four Afro-American soldiers in WWII end up in Italy and they help a little boy, making friends with the villagers.

       The narration is cumbersome and slow and what should have been an important contribution to the history of racism meanders from one point of view to another. It’s far too long and often boring.

       Sorry, Spike Lee. 

2* of 5