Hacksaw Ridge

 Hacksaw Ridge 2016

• Director: Mel Gibson
• Seen by this director: Braveheart
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Theresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Andrew Garfield – Under the Silver Lake, Breathe, Social Network, Never Let Me Go, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Boy A, Doctor Who
• Sam Worthington – Terminator Salvation, Macbeth
• Theresa Palmer – Warm Bodies, I Am Number Four, December Boys
• Hugo Weaving – Mortal Engines, Strangerland, The Hobbit etc, Cloud Atlas, V for Vendetta, Little Fish, Matrix etc, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Rachel Griffiths – Six Feet Under, Ned Kelly, Very Annie Mary, Blow, Hilary & Jackie, Amy, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Jude, Muriel’s Wedding
• Why? Andrew Garfield
• Seen: 19 June 2022      

       If I had noticed that this was directed by Mel Gibson, I would not have bought it. I am not a fan. Braveheart is one of the worst films I have ever seen. He’s known for his love of violence, macho heroism and his religion. I’m not a fan of them either. Here he mixes them unembarrassedly.

       This is in no way an anti-war film, as some enthusiasts claim. It is the opposite. The message is that war is fine as long as the heroic pacifist (Garfield) doesn’t have to do the killing, as long as everyone else does. The film revels in war and religion. Gibson twists things around to make it seem acceptable.

       It’s not.

       For the sincere if misguided performances of Garfield, Griffiths and Weaving 

2* of 5   

 

 

 

Va, vis et deviens

 Va, vis, deviens 2005

• Director: Radu Mihaileaunu
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Yaël Abicassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Moshe Abebe, Sirak M Sabahat, Yitzhak Edgar, Roni Hadar, Rami Danon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sadly, none of them. The three actors playing Solomon have only been in this film.
• Why? It sounded good.
• Seen: 18 June 2022     

       Solomon, born to a Christian mother in a refugee camp, is smuggled into a convoy of Ethiopian Jews being transported to Jerusalem. Solomon is devastated. He is adopted by a French family, émigrés in Israel, and they give him a good life. He grows up struggling with his memories and his confused identity.

       We see glimpses of the complexity of Israeli politics and society, although unfortunately too little of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. It’s a bit too long and the drama has a tendency to slide into melodrama but the three actors, Agazi, Abebe and Sabahat, playing Solomon are tremendous. It’s an unusual and gripping film. 

4* of 5   

 

 

What about Bob?

 

What about Bob? 1991

• Director: Frank Oz
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Bill Murray – Zombieland Double Tap, Moonrise Kingdom, Zombieland, Darjeeling Ltd, Broken Flowers, Coffee & Cigarettes, Lost in Translation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Hamlet, Cradle Will Rock, Rushmore, Ed Wood, Ground Hog Day, Ghostbusters, Tootsie
• Richard Dreyfuss – Postcards from the Edge, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stand by Me, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Jaws, American Graffiti, The Good-bye Girl
• Why? I liked it before. Do I still?
• Seen: Twice before. Now 17 June 2022      

       Bob (Murray) is neurotic with a multitude of phobias. He’s referred to Dr Leo Marvin (Dreyfuss) who has just written a popular book and he considers himself famous. They have an introductory session, then Leo goes on holiday for a month with his family.

       Bob pursues him, stalks him, and shows up at his summer retreat. Always with a cheerful smile.

       Why in the world I liked this before – twice! - I have no idea. Murray is irritating even at the best of times – the only film with him that I like is Zombieland – and as Bob he is extremely annoying. As is Dreyfuss as Leo. And everybody in the whole film.

       I can’t take it. It’s time to fast forward.

       This isn’t humorous. It’s offensive to the mentally ill and those who try to help them. What took me so long to realise that this is a dreadful film?      

0 * of 5   

 

 

 

 

EDtv

 EDtv 1999

• Director: Ron Howard
• Seen by the director: Frost/Nixon, The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Martin Landau, Adam Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner, Dennis Hopper
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matthew McConaughey – The Gentlemen, The Dark Tower, Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Lincoln Lawyer, Amistad, Contact
• Jenna Elfman – Dharma and Greg, Gross Pointe Blank
• Woody Harrelson – Zombieland Double Tap, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Glass Castle, The Hunger Games, 2012, Zombieland, Battle in Seattle, No Country for Old Men, A Scanner Darkly, North Country, A Prairie Home Companion, White Neb Can’t Jump
• Martin Landau – X File Fight the Future, Ed Wood, Mission Impossible
• Adam Goldberg – Zodiac, A Beautiful Mind, Saving Private Ryan, Friends
• Ellen DeGeneres – TV series
• Rob Reiner – The Wolf of Wall Street, First Wives Club, Sleepless in Seattle, Misery, Postcards from the Edge, Spinal Tap, All in the Family
• Dennis Hopper – Swing Vote, Waterworld, Speed, True Romance, Red Rock West, The Indian Runner, Rumble Fish, Easy Rider
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 28 April 2022      

       A TV company is having trouble with its ratings. Cynthia (DeGeneres) presents a new idea – to film an ordinary guy 24/7.

       Enter Ed (McConaughey). He’s a bit of a loser, 31 years old, working in a video shop. He’s cute but not real bright. He hams it up on camera and generally makes a fool of himself. His obnoxious brother Ray (Harrelson) hogs the camera and even cheats on his girlfriend Shari (Elfman) in direct sending. Ed and Shari fall in love on TV and the program becomes a huge hit. Ed becomes a superstar, but Shari is not happy conducting her love life on TV, especially when viewers hate her and protest that she’s not pretty and hot enough for Ed. Meanwhile, other family drama takes place on camera.

       It’s funny, but it’s sad too. And it shows the cruelty of fame and fans. And the absurdity.

       The cast is terrific. Did you ever notice that McConaughey and Harrelson actually look like brothers? At least in this film. That’s how good they are.      

4 * of 5   

 

 

 

Clockers

 Clockers 1995

• Director: Spike Lee
• Seen by the director: BlacKkKlansman, Miracle at St Ana, Malcolm X, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, She’s Gotta Have It
• Based on book by Richard Price
• Cast: Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Pfeifer, Isiah Washington, Regina Taylor
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Harvey Keitel – Moonrise Kingdom, Be Cool, Wanted, Lulu on the Bridge, Cop Land, Smoke, Pulp Fiction, The Piano, Reservoir Dogs, Sister Act, Thelma and Louise, The January Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
• John Turturro – God’s Pocket, Miracle at St Ana, Margo at the Wedding, Flight of the Conchords, Romance & Cigarettes, Secret Window, The Man Who Cried, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Cradle Will Rock, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, Jungle Fever, Miller’s Crossing, Mo’ Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Delroy Lindo - Cymbeline, Romeo Must Die, Cider House Rules, A Life Less Ordinary, Feeling Minnesota, Get Shorty, Malcolm X
• Mekhi Pfeifer – Dawn of the Dead, 8 Mile, O
• Isiah Washington – Romeo Must Die, Bulworth, Dead Presidents
• Regina Taylor – I’ll Fly Away
• Why? Spike Lee
• Seen: Once before. Now 15June 2022      

       This is so depressing. Drugs, murder, jocular white cops, strutting macho dudes both black and white, hit jobs, stuck-in-this-shit-life despair. One black cop who tries to talk the homies into getting themselves out of this shit life. Mothers and wives desperate to keep their men out of this shit life.

       Oddly, it doesn’t hold my attention. It’s realistic and tragic but all their male posturing just irritates me.

       Has this film convinced a single drug dealer, drug abuser, or gun-toting killer to leave this shit life? If so, OK, good, it has a purpose. But has the system changed? Is drug dealing less? Do black lives matter more now? I think we all know the answer.

       The acting is good though.

       The film is probably worth 5* but I’m just so depressed from watching it. 

3 * of 5   

 

 

 

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

 Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)

• Director: James Gunn
• Seen by the director: The Suicide Squad
• Based on the Marvel Comic
• Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Sean Gunn
• Chris Pratt – Zero Dark Thirty, Wanted
• Zoe Saldana – Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl
• Karen Gillan – The Circle, Doctor Who
• Sylvester Stallone – Rambo, I suppose
• Kurt Russell – The Hateful Eight, Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Overboard, Escape from New York, Silkwood, various series from the 60’s
• Elizaebth Debicki – Tenet, Widows, The Cloverfield Paradox, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Night Manager, Macbeth, The Great Gatsby
• Sean Gunn – Suicide Squad, Third Rock from the Sun
• Why? Confused it with Galaxy Quest
• Seen: 14 June 2022      

       This is Volume 2. I haven’t seen Volume 1, but I’ll give it a try.

       A cute little Groot, a talking fox, a green human, a white human, a funny-coloured Hulk, a many tenacled monster with a lot of teeth which the others kill. The others are, I guess, the anti-hero good guys and they’re all good friends (see, no doubt, Volume 1). The green woman has a blue sister, and they hate each other. The fox – or maybe it’s a raccoon, steals some super valuable batteries so the Golden High Princess is peeved and sends a lot of rockets after them, so they fly through an asteroid belt and joke about turds, and then the white human’s long-lost father shows up and he’s a god so…

       Do you really need to know more? There is a story of sorts but it’s not very interesting. There is some humour which brings a smile or two, there are some pretty effects, and the racoon is convincing, but I don’t think I need to see Volume 1. I’m not sure I need to see the rest of this one.

       Well, I did, sort of. I paid some bills and checked my mail. But a few touching family moments and the good music raise it to      

2 * of 5   

 

 

 

 

Impromptu

 Impromptu 1991

• Director: James Lapine
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Julian Sands, Ralph Brown, George Corraface, Anton Rodgers, Emma Thompson, Anna Massey
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Judy Davis – Barton Fink, Passage to India
• Hugh Grant – The Gentlemen, Cloud Atlas, Music and Lyrics, American Dreamz, Love Actually, About a Boy, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Sense and Sensibility, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Remains of the Day
• Mandy Patinkin – Dead Like Me, Lulu on the Bridge, Men with Guns, Dick Tracy, Ragtime
• Emma Thompson – Last Christmas, Years and Years, The Children’s Act, Alone in Berlin, Effie Gray, The Love Punch, Beautiful Creatures, Harry Potter, The Boat that Rocked, An Education, Last Chance Harvey, Stranger than Fiction, Nanny McPhee, Angels in America, Love Actually, Wit, The Winter Guest, Sense and Sensibility, In the Name of the Father, Remains of the Day, Much Ado about Nothing, Peter’s Friends, Howards End, Dead Again, Henry V, Tutti Frutti
• Anna Massey – Angels and Insects, The Mayor of Casterbridge
• Why? Emma Thompson and the music
• Seen: Once before. Now 13 June 2022      

       George Sand (Davis) is scandalous but also a famous author who has trouble with her lovers, past and present. She hears Chopin’s (Grant) music and falls in love, first with the music, then with the man. He’s timid, proper, sickly, and dismayed at her aggressive wooing but we all know he falls for it eventually.

       It’s described as a romantic comedy and it’s unbearable. Hugh Grant is absolutely wrong as Chopin and his Polish accent is ludicrous. The whole cast is wasted on this drivel. Even Emma Thompson playing, skilfully as always, a flighty shallow aristocrat.

       Poor George Sand. Poor Frederic Chopin. They must be turning in their graves.

       Yet another film that has been given many rave reviews. Alas, not from me. But because it gets a bit serious towards the end, and for the music      

2* of 5