Closer

 Closer 2004

• Director: Mike Nichols
• Seen by this director: Angels in America, Wit, Primary Colours, The Birdcage, Wolf, Postcards from the Edge, Working Girl, Silkwood, Carnal Knowledge, Catch 22, The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
• Based on the play by: Patrick Marber
• Cast: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Portman – Annihilation, Thor, Black Swan, The Other Boleyn Sister, Darjeeling Limited, Paris je t’aime, V for Vendetta, Star Wars etc, Cold Mountain, Anywhere but Here, Mars Attacks, Beautiful Girls, Heat, Léon
• Jude Law – Genius, Black Sea, Sherlock Holmes 1&2, Hugo, Contagion, Repo Men, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Sleuth, Holiday, Breaking and Entering, The Aviator, Alfie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Cold Mountain, Road to Perdition, AI Artificial Intelligence, eXistenz, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Gattaca, Wilde
• Julia Roberts – August Osage County, Fireflies in the Garden, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Full Frontal, Erin Brockovich, Runaway Bride, Notting Hill, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Michael Collins, Mary Reilly, The Pelican Brief, Hook, Sleeping with the Enemy, Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Men, Derailed, Beyond Borders, Gosford Park, Croupier
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 31 July 2022      

       Dan (Law) and Alice (Portman). Anna (Roberts) and Larry (Owen).

       Infidelity, vulnerability, regret, set-ups, misunderstandings, lies, truths.

       With lesser actors this would seem pointless and annoying. With them, it’s almost addicting. Both Law and Owens, who usually play nice guys, are thoroughly unsavoury here. Portman is the victim (or is she?). Roberts is filled with guilt (and so she should be).

       Love hurts. Love is brutal.

       I’m so glad that I don’t know people like this. At least I don’t think I do. Are people really like this? I feel so naïve. What a mess people make of their lives. What a peculiar film. What brilliant acting. 

4* of 5   

 

 

Bobby

 Bobby 2006

• Director: Emilio Estevez
• Based on the story: no
• Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, William H Macy, Freddie Rodríguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Elijah Wood
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anthony Hopkins – Thor, Proof, The Human Stain, Titus, Meet Joe Black, Amistad, The Remains of the Day, Howards End, The Silence of the Lambs, 84 Charing Cross Road, Othello, The Elephant Man, Lion in Winter
• Demi Moore – GI Jane, Ghost
• Sharon Stone – The X Files, Broken Flowers
• Harry Belafonte – BlacKkKlansman, Swing Vote, Kansas City, Odds Against Tomorrow, Carmen Jones
• Joy Bryant – Antwone Fisher
• Laurence Fishburne – Man of Steel, Contagion, Akeelah and the Bee, Matrix etc, Mystic River, Othello, Boyz n the Hood, Class Action, The Colour Purple
• Heather Graham – From Hell, Lost in Space, The Ballad of Little Jo, Twin Peaks, Drugstore Cowboy
• Helen Hunt – Then She Found Me, Cast Away, Pay It Forward, As Good As It Gets, Twister, Peggy Sue Got Married
• Joshua Jackson – Fringe, Battle in Seattle
• Lindsay Lohan – Chapter 27, A Prairie Home Companion
• William H Macy - Room, Cake, Sea Biscuit, Happy Texas, Pleasantville, Fargo, Benny and Joon
• Freddie Rodríguez – Six Feet Under, Dead Presidents
• Martin Sheen – Judas and the Black Messiah, Catch Me If You Can, O, Dead Presidents, Apocalypse Now, Catch 22
• Christian Slater – True Romance, Star Trek The Undiscovered Country, Robin Hood Price of Thieves, The Name of the Rose
• Elijah Wood – The Hobbit etc, Everything Is Illuminated, Paris je t’aime, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Ice Storm
• Why? Harry Belafonte
• Seen: Once before. Now 30 July 2022      

       Although I was too young to vote in 1968, I campaigned for Eugene McCarthy for president because he was more radical than Robert Kennedy. Still, Kennedy would have been far better than Nixon of course and it was devastating for the country and the world when he was assassinated on 5 June as he was campaigning for the California primary election. Having recently read Harry Belafonte’s memoirs, I now know that Bobby never would have become so relatively progressive if Belafonte hadn’t repeatedly criticised and prodded him on important issues like racism, poverty, equality and the American war in Vietnam. Robert Kennedy listened which is probably why Belafonte consented to play a small part in this film.

       Which takes place behind the scenes at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles where Kennedy’s campaign had it headquarters. The retired hotel doorman (Hopkins) and his aging friend (Belafonte). A teenager (Lohan) who is about the marry her classmate (Wood) to keep him from being sent to Vietnam. Kitchen workers (Fishburne and Rodríguez) who face racism every day but try to carry on with dignity. A telephone operator (Graham) who’s having an affair with the hotel manager (Macy) who’s married to the hotel’s skilled stylist (Stone). And others. It seems that all these characters are fictional, but they add drama. Not very well though. It’s these lame stories that weaken the film. But the music is good, the spirit of the times is well portrayed, and the ending is strong. 

3 ½ * of 5   

 

Mary Queen of Scots

 Mary Queen of Scots 2018

• Director: Josie Rourke
• Based on the book by: John Guy
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Adrian Lester, Guy Pearce, Gemma Chan, David Tennant
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird, Brooklyn, Hanna, Atonement
• Margot Robbie – The Suicide Squad, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Terminal, I Tonya, The Wolf of Wall Street, About Time
• Jack Lowden – Fighting with My Family, Dunkirk, A United Kingdom, Wolf Hall
• Joe Alwyn – The Favourite
• Adrian Lester – London Spy, Hustle, Merlin, Bonekickers, Doomsday, As You Like It, Day After Tomorrow, Hamlet, Born Romantic, Love’s Labour’s Lost
• Guy Pearce – Genius, Prometheus, The King’s Speech, The Road, A Slipping Down Life, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert,
• Gemma Chan – Humans, Doctor Who
• David Tennant – Around the World in Eighty Days, Deadwater Fell, Jessica Jones, Broadchurch, What We Did on Our Holiday, Doctor Who, The Politician’s Husband, Much Ado About Nothing, Fright Night, The Decoy Bride, United, Hamlet, Kick-Ass Girls St Trianian’s, Glorious 39, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Casanova, Blackpool, Bright Young Things, Jude, Takin’ Over the Asylum
• Why? The cast and the subject
• Seen: 29 July 2022      

       Protestant Elizabeth I (Robbie) is on the English throne. Catholic Mary (Ronan) is on the Scottish throne. The battle between the Protestants and the Catholics has been a long and bloody one. Mary and Elizabeth promise to respect each other’s religion and love one another like sisters. Only Mary wants Elizabeth’s throne, and if not that, to be named her successor.

       Like the history it’s based on, all the intrigue and conniving are confusing and a little boring but the film sorts things out. The characters of Mary and Elizabeth as portrayed here are wonderful, superbly played by Ronan and Robbie. My respect for Robbie grows with every film I see her in. The fanatical John Knox with his long flowing black hair and beard is scarcely recognisable as David Tennant. It was his voice that betrayed him.

       So many people hate this film, giving it 1* reviews and ranting hysterically (sorry, but that’s what they’re doing) about it being historically inaccurate and too politically correct with its black and Asian actors, its acceptance of homosexuality and its hint of feminism. To that I have two answers 1) It’s not all that inaccurate and besides this is a film not a documentary, so calm down! 2) What’s your problem? Read your history. There were a lot more people of colour in Elizabethan England than you seem to think. Homosexuality was as common as it is now and accepted more than you seem to think. To be the strong queens these two women were, they had to be feminists though they wouldn’t recognise the word or admit it if they did. In my experience, people who are upset about political correctness are racists, homophobes and misogynists.  

       Well, back to the film. It’s visually pleasing, highly entertaining, and quite gripping. In fact, it’s rather splendid. 

4* of 5   

 

 

 

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame

 

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame 2007

• Director: Hana Makhmalbaf
• Seen by this director: Donnie Darko
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Nikbakht Noruz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Good reviews, sounded good
• Seen: 28 July 2022      

       Bakhtay, (Noruz), about six years old, wants to go to school to learn to read nice stories. She needs: a notebook, a pen, to get there, to find the girls school when she is rejected at the boys school, to get away from the bullying gang of boys, to get directions to the girls school, to shove and elbow her way into a place to sit when she finds it, to talk the teacher into letting her stay…

       The children acting in this film are wonderful. Nikbakt Noruz is phenomenal. She will clutch your heart and not let go. This little girl marches and runs and smiles and cries and just never gives up.

       A most unusual film. 

4½ * of 5   

 

 

Les amours imaginaires

 Les amours imaginaires 2010

• Director: Xavier Dolan
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schnieder
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Good reviews, possibly interesting
• Seen: 27 July 2022      

       Young Montréal twenty-somethings and their love problems. Not really my favourite genre, no matter what nationality.

       Marie (Chokri) and Francis (Dolan) have been best mates forever. They spend their time with their beautiful friends, smoking, drinking, shopping for beautiful clothes. Nico (Schneider) joins the gang. Gorgeous, dimpled, smart. Both Marie and Francis fall in love with him.

       The words ‘banal’, ‘pretentious’, and ‘meaningless’ come to mind. And the question, ‘Will this never end?’

       Totally not my kind of film. It’s visually stylish but pointless and boring. 

1* of 5.

 

 

Garage Days

 Garage Days 2002

• Director: Alex Proyas
• Seen by this director: I Robot, The Crow
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Kick Gurry, Maya Stange, Pia Miranda, Russell Dykstra, Brett Stiller, Chris Sadrinna, Andy Anderson, Martin Csokas
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kick Gurry – Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow
• Russell Dykstra – Ned Kelly
• Chris Sadrinna – X-Men Origins Wolverine
• Martin Csokas - Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord of the Rings etc
• Why? Rock Music
• Seen: 26 July 2022      

       A garage rock group from Australia. Should be cool, yeah? I thought from the DVD cover that the girl Tanya (Miranda), who’s the bass player, would be the main character but it turns out she’s the lead singer Freddy’s (Gurry) girlfriend. So typical. And he falls in love with the guitarist’s (Stiller) girlfriend (Stange).

       The stereotypes are rampant. The characters are annoying. The story is same-old same-old.

       Many critics and viewers liked this a lot but as much as I love rock music this one doesn’t do much for me. It’s not bad, it’s just not good. It has kind of a sweet ending though which raises it ½ * to 

2½ * of 5.

 

 

Night Passage

 Night Passage 1957

• Director: James Neilson
• Seen by this director: The Moonspinners, TV series
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dianne Foster
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James Stewart – The Shootist, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Greatest Show on Earth, Bell Book and Candle, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Harvey, Rear Window, The Far Country, Rope, maybe others
• Dianne Foster – TV series
• Why? It’s in the James Stewart box
• Seen: 25 July 2022      

       More horses and mountains and then I won’t have to watch any more Westerns.

       This time Jimmy Stewart plays the accordion and transports money and shoots people and has a bad kid brother (Murphy) and there’s some nice mountain scenery and a cute baby donkey for a few seconds which gives it, not the 0* it deserves but 

1* of 5. 

PS Since Googling James Stewart and reading about him as a person, I’m no longer so charmed by him. He was a staunch conservative Republican and supported both the Vietnam War and Ronald Reagan. If I had known that before I would never have ordered this box. Such is life.