Blackboard Jungle

 Blackboard Jungle 1955

• Director: Richard Brooks
• Seen by this director: Looking for Mr Goodbar, In Cold Blood, Lord Jim, Elmer Gantry, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
• Cast: Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Anne Francis, Margaret Hayes, Vic Morrow
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Glenn Ford – Teahouse of the August Moon, probably others
• Sidney Poitier – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, To Sir with Love, A Patch of Blue, Paris Blues, Good-bye My Lady
• Anne Francis – The Forbidden Planet, TV series
• Why? Sidney Poitier (20 February 1927 – 6 January 2022) RIP
• Seen: 8 January 2022      

       Rick Dadier (Ford) gets a job teaching English in a NY high school known for its problem hoodlums. It’s his first teaching job. To Sir with Love a couple of decades earlier with Poitier as a student instead of Sir.

       The film’s intentions are good. We were even told that in the beginning. It was made to combat and bring attention to juvenile delinquency in schools. It’s a classic, not only for the opening music, Chubby Checker’s ‘Rock around the clock’.

       For some reason I’m not convinced. For all it’s realism it tries too hard. The kids are good, but Mr Dadier is a terrible teacher who never would have won over any problem students with his method. The vampy Miss Hamilton (Hayes) and wimpy weepy wifey Anne (Francis) are irritating, even taking into consideration gender stereotypes of the 50s. But Sidney Poitier is good, as always, and the message, after all, is still relevant. 

3 ½ * of 5.

 

Garden State

 Garden State 2004

• Director: Zach Braff
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Jim Parsons
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Portman – Annihilation, Thor, Black Swan, The Other Boleyn Girl, Darjeeling Ltd, Paris je t’aime, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Closer, Cold Mountain, Anywhere but Here, Mars Attacks!, Beautiful Girls, Léon
• Peter Sarsgaard – An Education, Elegy, Dead Man Walking
• Ian Holm – The Hobbit/LotR, Day after Tomorrow, From Hell, eXistenZ, A Life Less Ordinary, The Fifth Element, The Madness of King George, Frankenstein, Kafka, Hamlet, Henry V, Dance with a Stranger, Chariots of Fire, Alien, O What a Lovely War
• Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory, Hidden Figures
• Why? Natalie Portman
• Seen: 7 January 2022      

       Andrew (Braff) has been on tranquilisers most of his life so he’s more than out of it. He returns home for his mother’s funeral after ten years in Hollywood. He meets up with old friends and a new friend, flaky Sam (Portman).

       Drugs and parties ensue. Boring.

       Zack Braff wrote and directed this as well as starring in it. It’s clearly a labour of love and I’m glad for him that the critics liked it but sorry, it doesn’t do much for me. Nice cats, though. 

2* of 5.

 

 

Tamara Drewe

 Tamara Drewe 2010

• Director: Stephen Frears
• Seen by this director: Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, The Queen, Mrs Henderson Presents, Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity, The Van, Mary Reilly, The Grifters, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundromat
• Based on the graphic novel by Posey Simmonds
• Cast: Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Roger Allam, Bill Camp, Tamsin Grieg, Jessica Barden, Charlotte Christie, Bronagh Gallagher
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gemma Arterton – Their Finest, The Girl with All the Gifts, 100 Streets, A Song for Marion, Kick Ass Girls 2 St Trinian’s, The Boat that Rocked, Quantum of Solace, Lost in Austen
• Luke Evans – The Girl on the Train, High-Rise, The Hobbit etc
• Dominic Cooper – Mamma Mia 1&2, The Lady in the Van, Summer in February, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, My Week with Marilyn, Starter for 10, From Hell
• Roger Allam – Endeavour, The Lady in the Van, The Tempest, The Politician’s Husband, The Angel’s Share, The Woman in Black, Pirates of the Caribbean, Henry IV, The Queen, V for Vendetta, Tristram Shandy
• Bill Camp – Molly’s Game, The Leftovers, 12 Years a Slave,
• Tamsin Grieg – Friday Night Dinner, Hotel Marigold, Doctor Who, Black Books, Shaun of the Dead
• Jessica Barden – Far from the Madding Crowd, Hanna
• Charlotte Christie – Pauly Shore Is Dead, Stand by Me
• Bronagh Gallagher – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Tara Road, Pulp Fiction, The Commitments
• Why? Gemma Arterton and Roger Allam
• Seen: 6 January 2022      

       An authors’ retreat in the English countryside run by Roger Allam and Tamsin Grieg. What could be better? However, being an author myself, I’m usually sceptical of films about authors and here I’m proved right. Allam’s character is a womaniser, Gemma Arterton’s character, a journalist, is a maniser? I think I just invented a new word. Anyway, lots of bed-switching. Yeah, yeah. Alas. All these terrific actors in this lame story? And Stephen Frears?

       A word of advice. Avoid films about authors.

 2* of 5.

 

 

The Lost Boys

 The Lost Boys 1987

• Director: Joel Schumacher
• Seen by this director: The Phantom of the Opera, Flawless
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Edward Herrmann, Keifer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jason Patric – Speed 2, Geronimo
• Dianne Wiest – Rabbit Hole, Dan in Real Life, I Am Sam, Practical Magic, The Birdcage, Little Man Tate, Footloose
• Kiefer Sutherland – Melancholia, Dark City, A Time to Kill, Stand by Me
• Jami Gertz – Twister, Crossroads
• Corey Feldman – Pauly Shore Is Dead, Stand by Me
• Why? A kind of classic.
• Seen: 2 January 2022      

       When I bought this DVD, I didn’t realise it was a vampire film. That’s OK, vampires are cool.

       Can be cool. But this is so macho, so juvenile, so embarrassingly boring that it’s hard to even continue watching.

       Maybe it worked with kids in the 80s but now it’s just lame, the dumbest vampire film I’ve seen. 

1* of 5.

 

Miss Congeniality

 Miss Congeniality 2000

• Director: Donald Petrie
• Seen by this director: Grumpy Old Men
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen, William Shatner, Heather Burns
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Crash, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 28 Days, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Michael Caine – Tenet, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Harry Brown, Flawless, The Prestige, Children of Men, The Weatherman, Last Orders, Get Carter, The Cider House Rules, Little Voice, Mona Lisa, Educating Rita, Sleuth (both versions), Alfie
• Benjamin Bratt – Doctor Strange, Thumbsucker
• Candice Bergen – Gandhi
• William Shatner – Star Trek
• Heather Burns – Manchester by the Sea, You’ve Got Mail
• Why? Good cast
• Seen: 2 January 2022      

       Good cast, yes, but can it make this spy comedy worth watching?

       Gracie Hart (Bullock) is an FBI agent (OK, not a spy story), a real toughie but a bit of a maverick. Against her will she’s forced undercover as a contestant in the Miss USA Pageant because of bomb threats to the event. Mr Vic (Caine) is stuffy and highly competent and is forced through unfortunate unemployment to turn her into a potential Miss in two days.

       They both hate it. And each other.

       Beauty pageants, yuck. This is annoyingly sexist despite Gracie’s comment on feminism but there are some good digs at the whole beauty pageant thing. And it’s often very funny.

       So, all in all, it’s quite sweet, a film to enjoy in spite of everything. 

3* of 5.

 

Requiem for a Dream

 Requiem for a Dream 2000

• Director: Darren Aronofsky
• Seen by this director: Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Fountain
• Based on the book by Herbert Selby Jr
• Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ellen Burstyn – Interstellar, The Fountain, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The Exorcist, The Last Picture Show, TV series
• Jared Leto – Blade Runner 2049, Suicide Squad, Chapter 27, Panic Room, American Psycho, Girl Interrupted, The Thin Red Line
• Jennifer Connelly – Alita Battle Angel, American Pastoral, Winter’s Tale, Creation, He’s Just not that Into You, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Blood Diamond, House of Sand and Fog, A Beautiful Mind, Pollock, Dark City, Labyrinth
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now: 1 January 2022      

       Harry (Leto) neglects his mother Sarah (Burstyn), a widow and pathetic recluse in her Brooklyn flat. Harry and his girlfriend Marion (Connelly) mess with drugs but they have a dream of starting a boutique with her clothes designs. Sarah wins an appearance on a TV show and starts dieting to fit into her favourite dress. Dieting is agony. She starts taking diet pills. Harry and his mate Ty (Wayans) start selling heroin, sure that they’re headed for the big time.

       In hallucinatory nightmarish sequences we see them all descend into hellish addiction and their dreams come crashing down around them.

       This must be one of the most depressing films ever made and a really bad choice to start the new year with.

       But it’s awfully good. 

4 * of 5.

 

 

 

Wild Rose

 Wild Rose 2018

• Director: Tom Harper
• Seen by this director: Misfits several episodes
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jessie Buckley – Judy, The Tempest (on stage at the Globe in London with Roger Allam and Colin Morgan, also the DVD recording of same)
• Julie Walters – Mamma Mia 1&2, Brooklyn, Effie Gray, One Chance, The Hollow Crown, Harry Potter, Becoming Jane, Driving Lessons, Wah-Wah, Calendar Girls, Before You Go, Billy Elliot, Titanic Town, Intimate Relations, Stepping Out, Prick Up Your Ears, Educating Rita
• Sophie Okonedo – The Hollow Crown, The Slap, After Earth, Doctor Who, Skin, Hotel Rwanda, Dirty Pretty Things, Go Now
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 31 December 2021       

       Rose-Lynn (Buckley) is released from prison and returns to Glasgow, to her kids and her mother Marion (Walters). She’s determined to continue her career as a country singer but everything and everyone is against her. She’s not exactly easy to get on with and life on the outside is pure hell at times.

       She gets a job cleaning for wealthy Susannah (Okonedo) who takes an interest in her music and encourages her.

       Dreams are so painful when they meet reality. For being a feel-good film, this is awfully depressing. But very good and Buckley is outstanding. 

4 * of 5.