The Shipping News

 

The Shipping News 2001

• Director: Lasse Hallström
• Cast: Kevin Spacey, Judi Dench, Julianne Moore, Jason Behr, Cate Blanchett, Pete Pstlethwaite, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Lauren Gainor·       
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 23 January 2026      

       Quoyle (Spacey) is a loser until hot and sexy Petal (Blanchett) captures him. It doesn’t last but she leaves him with a daughter Bunny (Gainor). His parents commit suicide and his aunt (Dench) shows up and whisks Quoyle and Bunny off to her childhood home in Newfoundland. The locals are quirky and he slowly starts to fit in and to live.

       The landscape is stunning, the acting is as good as expected from this cast. It’s a bit too sweet and the eccentricity of the characters a bit forced but the film has Hallström’s kindness and it’s much better than the book (not as rare as you might think). 

3* of 5

 

 

 

Suicide Kings

 

Suicide Kings 1997

• Director: Peter O’Fallon
• Cast: Christopher Walken, Johnny Galecki·      
• Why? Christopher Walken
• Once before. Now 21 January 2026 

       One given plus: Christopher Walken. One given minus: it’s about the mafia. Boring.

       A gang of young rich punks decide to kidnap the mafia boss (Walken).

       It starts out as a slapstick comedy, which doesn’t work, and ends up heavy, which doesn’t work.

       OK, Walken is good, as always, and it’s fun to see The Big Bang Theory’s Leonard as the neurotic poor little rich boy.

       Otherwise, it’s not much to brag about. 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

A Good Year

 

A Good Year 2006

• Director: Ridley Scott
• Cast: Russell Crowe, Abbie Cornish, Albert Finney, Freddie Highmore, Tom Hollander, Marion Cotillard·       
• Why? Russell Crowe
• Once before. Now 20 January 2026 

       Max (Crowe), an obnoxious money-hungry stockbroker, inherits his uncle’s vineyard estate in France, worth millions. He fully intends to sell it but circumstances and nostalgia cause him to stay. Romance and all that. Clichés. One expects more from Ridley Scott and a Russell Crowe character (although he does what he can with this one).

       The best part is Harry Nilsson’s songs on the soundtrack. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

Spider

 

Spider

• Director: David Cronenberg
• Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrnes, Lynn Redgrave, John Neville, Bradley Hall·        
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 18 January 2025 

       Spider Cleg (Fiennes) is released from a mental hospital to a half-way house. His madness has not left him and it only gets worse. He relives his disturbed childhood. Did his father (Byrnes) kill his mother (Richardson), or did he himself kill her?

       The acting is good of course but the film is slow to the point of being boring. 

2½ * of 5

  

 

 

 

 

The Piano

 

The Piano 1993

• Director: Jane Campion
• Cast: Holly Hunter, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel·      
• Why? Does it hold up?
• Seen: Once, possibly twice, before. Now 13 January 2026 

       The acting is strong, the visuals beautiful but the story of a mute 19^th century woman who moves to New Zealand with her daughter and her piano to marry a gentleman farmer but falls in love with the neighbour does not work for me. I don’t much like passionate love stories. I don’t like it more than I like it.

 2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

Awake

 

Awake 2021

• Director: Mark Raso
• Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Ariana Greenblatt, Lucios Hoyos, Shamier Anderson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Frances Fisher, Barry Pepper·       
• Why? Sci fi
• 12 January 2026 

       A global power outage leads to a glitch in the human brain so that almost nobody is able to sleep. Young Matilda (Greenblatt) can sleep. As everyone else descends into sleep-deprived madness a cure is desperately sought. Matilda seems to be the key.

       Some people really hate this film. I don’t know why. I think it’s quite good. It doesn’t always make sense but it’s exciting and the story is clever. 

3* of 5  

 

 

 

Things We Lost in the Fire

 

Things We Lost in the Fire 2007

• Director: Susanne Bier
• Cast: Halle Berry, Benico Del Toro, David Duchovny, Alexis Llewellyn, Micah Berry·       
• Why? I remember liking it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 11 January 2026 

       Brian (Duchovny) and Jerry (Del Toro) have been friends since childhood. Jerry grows up to become a heroin addict. Brian grows up to marry Audrey (Berry), have two kids and live a well-to-do bourgeois life. He never gives up on Jerry but Audrey hates him. When Brian dies, Jerry comes to the funeral. She asks him to stay. She still hates him and tells him he should be the one who died, but the kids love him.

       Berry and Del Toro are very good but it’s kind of a strange story and a little too close to cliché and sentimentality to really score. 

3* of 5  

 

 

 

 

Kommissarie Winter vänaste land

 

Winter vänaste land 2010

• Director: Trygve Allister Diesen
• Cast: Magnus Krepper, Peter Andersson, Amanda Ooms, Sharon Dyall, Jens Hultén·      
• Why? Might be interesting
• Seen: 10 January 2026 

       Four immigrants are murdered in Hammarkullen, a suburb of Gothenburg, Sweden. The police have different theories. Their investigation is appreciated neither by the largely immigrant population of Hammarkullen, nor by the local drug gangs.

       I suppose I’m spoilt by the excellent British detective films and TV series, so this one feels flat and lifeless. A pity.

       It’s actually a TV series but the DVD was sold as a film. 

2½ * of 5  

 

 

 

The Estate

 

The Estate 2022

• Director: Dean Craig
• Cast: Toni Collette, Anna Faris, David Duchovny, Rosemary Dewitt, Kathleen Turner·       
• Why? Toni Collette
• Seen: 7 January 2026      

       Sisters Macey (Collette) and Savannah (Faris), in desperate need of money, decide to sweet talk evil and ailing Aunt Hilda (Turner) into leaving them her fortune.

       Only they’re not the only cousins to have that idea.

       The cast do their job but they deserve so much better. The story is really stupid. 

2* of 5   

 

 

 

 

And Justice for All

 

And Justice for All 1979

• Director: Norman Jewison
• Cast: Al Pacino, John Forsythe, Christine Lahti·      
• Why? Remember liking it
• Seen: Once before. Now 5 January 2026      

       A crooked judge (Forbes), a fiery lawyer (Pacino), a prisoner wrongly accused and sentenced.

       Is this a serious film or a farce? I don’t much like courtroom films even when they know if they’re serious or not (and I love My Cousin Vinnie, which knows it’s not).

       What did I like about the film the first time? I have no idea. Pacino does a decent job and has great hair. I like Lahti though not her character here. 

2* of 5   

 

 

Good-bye June

 

Good-bye June 2025

• Director: Kate Winslet
• Cast: Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, Toni Collette, Timothy Spall, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Fisayo Akinade·       
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 3 January 2026      

       June (Mirren) is dying of cancer. Her husband (Spall), children (Winslet, Collette, Flynn, and Riseborough) and grandchildren gather in her hospital room.

       Typical family conflicts and forgiveness and hugs and all that. It hovers very close to the banal but there are moments of real emotion. What else can one expect from this cast?

       The best part is the snow. 

3* of 5

 PS But if anyone performs a nativity play for me as I lay dying, I promise I will haunt them horribly forever.

 

 

 

Nine

 

Nine 2009

• Director: Rob Marshall
• Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard
  Why? The cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 29 December 2025      

       Brilliant, star-studded cast. What in the world are they doing in this dreadful film?

       Famous Italian film director (Day-Lewis) (couldn’t they find an Italian actor?) and his many women, all of whom he treats abominably.

       The whole film is degrading to women and the songs (it’s a musical) are insipid at best.

       Kidman, Dench and Cotillard have moments of integrity so not 0* but 

1* of 5