Blackbird

 Blackbird

• Director: Roger Michell
• Seen by this director: Notting Hill, Titanic Town
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Anson Boon, Kate Winslet, Rainn Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Mia Wasikowska
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Susan Sarandon – Cloud Atlas, Emotional Arithmetic, Romance & Cigarettes, Alfie, Ice Bound, Moonlight Mile, The Banger Sisters, Igby Goes Down, Anywhere but Here, Cradle Will Rock, Dead Man Walking, Little Women, The Client, Lorenzo’s Oil, Thelma and Louise, White Castle, The January Man, Bull Durham, Witches of Eastwick, Atlantic City, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Sam Neill – A Long Way Down, Skin, Jurassic Park, Ivanhoe
• Anson Boon - 1917
• Kate Winslet – The Mountain Between Us, Contagion, The Reader, Holiday, Little Children, Romance & Cigarettes, Extras, Finding Neverland, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hideous Kinky, Titanic, Hamlet, Jude, Sense and Sensibility
• Rainn Wilson – Juno, Six Feet Under, Full Frontal, Almost Famous, Galaxy Quest
• Lindsay Duncan – The Leftovers, Sherlock, About Time, Merlin, The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, Lost in Austen, Starter for 10, Under the Tuscan Sun, Prick Up Your Ears
• Mia Wasikowska – Only Lovers Left Alive, Tracks, Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right, Defiance
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 30 April 2022      

       Rich white liberal dysfunctional family gather in a remote architecturally designed house on the shore when the mother Lily (Sarandon) is dying. They are aware that she has chosen to end her life because she can’t bear the indignity of dying of ALS (it’s not named but the symptoms and prognosis fit). The family’s attempts at staying upbeat waver. Lily herself is grimly macabre and unsentimental.

       It’s an American remake of the Danish Stille hjerte. I am not a fan of American remakes of European films and probably the Danish version is better but the cast does what it can with a rather banal script (despite the euthanasia subject).

       It does get quite dramatic, and the acting is very good. Against my better judgement I find myself giving it 

4* of 5.

 

 

Breakfast on Pluto

 Breakfast on Pluto 2005

• Director: Neil Jordan
• Seen by the director: The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa
• Based on book by Pat McCabe
• Cast: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Ruth McCabe, Ruth Negga, Liam Cunningham, Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Cillian Murphy – Dunkirk, Transcendence, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, The Dark Knight, Sunshine, Batman Begins, Cold Mountain, Girl with Pearl Earring, Intermission, 28 Days Later
• Liam Neeson – Life’s Too Short, Seraphim Falls, Batman Begins, Kingdome of Heaven, Love Actually, Gangs of New York, Star Wars, Les Misérables, Michael Collins, Rob Roy, Nell, Schindler’s List, Ruby Cairo, Excalibur
• Ruth McCabe – Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, Good Vibrations, Inside I’m Dancing, Intermission, Titanic Town, Circle of Friends, Takin’ over the Asylum, My Left Foot
• Ruth Negga – Ad Astra, World War Z, Misfits
• Liam Cunningham – Doctor Who, Merlin
• Brendan Gleeson – Alone in Berlin, Suffragette, Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter, In Bruges, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, AI, My Life So Far, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins
• Stephen Rea – V for Vendetta, Tara Road, Still Crazy, Fever Pitch, Michael Collins, The Crying Game, Life Is Sweet
• Ian Hart – Escape from Pretoria, Tristram Shandy, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter, Born Romantic, Longitude, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 29 April 2022      

       Patrick (Murphy) is a transvestite, possibly trans, possibly gay, whatever. That is not acceptable in the 70’s in the Catholic Northern Ireland. She’s had enough, off he heads for London, arriving after various adventures.

       I’m all for gender-bending and thumbing one’s nose at the Catholic church, or any church for that matter, but all this vampish girlishness with pouty lips, fluttery heavily mascaraed eyelashes and cooing voice is irritating no matter who’s doing it.

       Kitten, as she calls himself, will do anything to avoid seriousness, but seriousness hounds her. The IRA, homophobia, police brutality. He goes through it all in hazy dreaminess, possibly madness.

       Murphy is convincing, the music is mostly great, and there are some fun small roles (Brian Ferry, Mad-Eye Moody, for example).

       It hovers between moving and parody. By the end I’m almost won over, but it goes on too long and becomes too sugary at the end.      

3 ½ * of 5   

 

The Grifters

 The Grifters 1990

• Director: Stephen Frears
• Seen by the director: Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, Tamara Drewe, The Queen, Mrs Henderson Presents, Dirty Pretty Things, Liam, High Fidelity, The Van, Mary Reilly, Sammie and Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundromat,
• Based on book by Jim Thompson
• Cast: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, JT Walsh
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anjelica Huston – Darjeeling Limited, Seraphim Falls, The Royal Tenenbaums, Ever After, Prizzi’s Honor, Spinal Tap
• John Cusack – The Butler, 2012, 1408, The Contract, Serendipity, High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich, Cradle Will Rock, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Grosse Pointe Blank, Stand By Me
• Annette Bening – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Ginger & Rosa, The Kids Are All Right, Being Julia, American Beauty, Mars Attacks, Richard III, Postcards from the Edge
• Pat Hingle – A Thousand Acres, Norma Rae, TV series
• JT Walsh – Pleasantville, The Negotiator, Sling Blade, The Client, Red Rock West, Lethal Weapon, Good Morning Vietnam
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 28 April 2022      

       Is this film that old? John Cusack looks like a teen-ager! Here, he’s Roy, a small-time but successful grifter. Lily (Huston) is a racetrack grifter. Myra (Bening, also looking young) is an all-round grifter/hooker.

       Roy and Myra have known each other a couple of months and are lovers. Lily is Roy’s mother. They’ve been estranged for years but now she seeks him out. They’re still at loggerheads and she and Myra loathe each other.

       Behind the Bimbo façade, Myra is an expert at the long con. She wants Roy to become her partner.

       The film starts out light, but it soon turns grim, dramatic and violent.      

3 ½ * of 5   

 

 

 

Apflickorna (She Monkeys)

 Apflickorna (She Monkeys) 2011

• Director: Lisa Aschen
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin, Isabella Lindquist, Adam Lundgren, Maria Hedborg
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Adam Lundgren – Upp till kamp
• Maria Hedborg – Fucking Åmål
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 26 April 2022      

       Emma (Paradeiser) och Cassandra (Molin) blir vänner på ridskolan. Jag kommer faktiskt inte på mer att skriva. Den är långsam och långtråkig och stundtals obehaglig. Av någon anledning förväntade jag mig fantasy, typ Låt den rätta komma in. Tyvärr.

       Skådespelarna är dock bra.      

2 * of 5    

In English: Emma and Cassandra become friends at riding school. I can’t think of anything else to write. It’s slow and boring and at times unpleasant. For some reason I had expected fantasy, similar to Let the Right One In. Unfortunately.

The acting is good though.

Much Ado about Nothing (Tennant and Tate)

 Much Ado about Nothing 2011

• Director: Robert Delamere
• Based on play by William Shakespeare
• Cast: David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Tom Bateman, Jonathan Coy, Adam James, Elliot Levey, Sarah MacCrae, John Ramm
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• David Tennant – Deadwater Fell, Jessica Jones, Broadchurch, What We Did on Our Holiday, Doctor Who, The Politician’s Husband, Fright Night, The Decoy Bride, United, Hamlet, Kick Ass Girls 2 St Trinian’s, Glorious 39, The Learners, Secret Smile, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Blackpool, Bright Young Things, Jude, Takin’ over the Asylum
• Catherine Tate – Doctor Who, The Catherine Tate Show, Starter for 10
• Tom Bateman – Murder on the Orient Express
• Jonathan Coy – Downton Abbey, Pillars of the Earth, To Kill a King, Longitude, TV series
• Adam James – Doctor Who, Hustle, Last Chance Harvey, Bonekickers, Lazarus
• Elliot Levey – Murder on the Orient Express, The Lady in the Van, Philomena, The Queen
• John Ramm – Humans, The Love Punch, Shakespeare in Love
• Why? Need you ask?
• Seen: 24 April 2022      

       After a long and fruitless search for this version of the play, the DVD is now in the player! Dear Karin Ida, thank you so much! What a wonderful gift!

       Can any two in the world be better as Beatrice and Benedick? (Sorry, Emma and Ken.)

       Branagh brought the play forward to the 19^th century. This one takes place today or thereabout. It works for me.

       It’s a fine mix of straight humour, slapstick and a few moments of earnest emotion.

       OK, no one can beat Ken and Emma, but no one can beat Tennant and Tate either. They’re both unbeatable.      

5* of 5   

PS just a little ‘but’ – but still, there was more true deep emotion when the Doctor was forced to erase Donna Noble’s memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Sphere

 Sphere 1998

• Director: Barry Levinson
• Seen by the director: Liberty Heights, Homicide Life on the Streets, Good Morning Vietnam
• Based on book by Michael Crichton
• Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L Jackson, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey, Holiday, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, Moonlight Mile, Hero, Hook, Billy Bathgate, Dick Tracy, Rain Man, Tootsie, Kramer vs Kramer, Lenny Bruce, Papillion, Straw Dogs, Little Big Man, John and Mary, Midnight Cowboy, The Graduate
• Samuel L Jackson – The Hateful Eight, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Glass, Split, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Sphere, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Sharon Stone – Bobby, Broken Flowers
• Liev Schreiber – The Fifth Wave, The Butler, Mental, Every Day, Repo Men, Taking Woodstock, X-Men Wolverine, Defiance, Kate & Leopold, Hamlet
• Peter Coyote – Erin Brockovich, ET
• Queen Latifah – Stranger than Fiction, Chicago
• Why? Sci fi, Samuel L Jackson
• Seen: 23 April 2022      

       An alien space craft is discovered a thousand feet below the surface of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated to be three hundred years old. A team of scientists is sent down to investigate it.

       Not all Crichton’s novels have translated well into film. Let’s see if this one is better.

       Farfetched? Well, sure. Too long? Oh yes. Does it make sense? Not a whole lot. But humour, sharp dialog, suspense, action, excitement, a tiny tad of existential philosophy all make it worth watching. The good cast helps.

       I quite like it.      

3 * of 5   

 

 

 

The Revenant

 The Revenant 2015

• Director: Alejandro G Iñárritu
• Seen by this director: Babel, 21 Grams
• Based partly on the book by Michael Punke
• Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Leonardo DiCaprio – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Great Gatsby, Django Unchained, Inception, Shutter Island, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, Beach, Titanic, Marvin’s Room, Romeo & Juliet, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, This Boy’s Life
• Tom Hardy – Dunkirk, Legend, Mad Max Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Inception, Gideon’s Daughter
• Will Poulter – Midsommar, Maze Runner the Death Cure, The Maze Runner, Son of Rambow
• Domnhall Gleeson – Star Wars etc, Brooklyn, Ex Machina, About Time, Harry Potter etc, Never Let Me Go
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 23 April 2022      

       Isn’t it said that DiCaprio should have been given an Oscar but not for this? I have no idea what this is about other than DiCaprio running around in a snowy forest.

       It turns out that that about covers it. Generally, I enjoy survival films, especially if they’re based on true stories, which this one sort of is.

       It’s way too long, the characters are thin, and DiCaprio mostly just grunts in pain. Still, kudos for the hardships these professional actors went through to make the film. The scenery is stunning, but the film just left me cold (sorry for the pun, I do love snow in films). The fist fight at the end is at least as boring as all fist fights at the end of films and costs the rating ½*, lowering it to 

2* of 5