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.