The Blind Side

 

The Blind Side 2009

• Director: John Lee Hancock
• Based on book by Michael Lewis
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sandra Bullock – The Heat, Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Lake House, Miss Congeniality 1&2, Crash, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 28 Days, Practical Magic, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Quinton Aaron – Be Kind Rewind
• Why? Bullock
• Seen: 17 March 2023

 Leigh Ann (Bullock) is a bossy sexy rich white Christian Republican businesswoman who takes on Big Mike (Aaron), a large black homeless, nearly mute, and underachieving student and outstanding athlete.

There’s an enormous risk that this film is going to be a saccharine sweet holier-than-thou film about good-hearted privileged white folks who are shocked by the poverty, drugs and crime on the other side of town and get all self-righteous about charity but give nary a thought to changing the system that gives them their privileges.

It is. And oh yes, it’s a true story.

Bullock and Aaron are good, but the film is Bullock’s worst, of those I’ve seen. 

2 * of 5

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Flowers

 

Broken Flowers 2005

• Director: Jim Jarmusch
• Seen by this director: Only Lovers Left Alive, Coffee and Cigarettes, Dead Man, Night on Earth, Mystery Train, Down by Law
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Julie Delpy, Sharon Stone, Alexis Dziena, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Ryan Donowho
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Bill Murray – Zombieland 1&2, Moonrise Kingdom, Darjeeling Limited, Coffee & Cigarettes. Lost in Translation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Hamlet, Cradle Will Rock, Rushmore, Ed Wood, Groundhog Day, What about Bob, Ghostbusters, Tootsie
• Jeffrey Wright – The Hunger Games, Only Lovers Left Alive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Cadillac Record, Quantum of Solace, Angels in America, Hamlet, Presumed Innocent
• Julie Delpy – Before Midnight, Two Days in New York, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, The Red Film, The White Film, The Blue Film
• Frances Conroy – Shelter, Stay Cool, Six Feet Under, Sleepless in Seattle, The Scent of a Woman, Billy Bathgate 
• Jessica Lange – Big Fish, Titus, A Thousand Acres, Rob Roy, Frances, Tootsie, The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Chloë Sevigny – The Snowman, Love & Friendship, Manderlay, Dogville, American Psycho, The Last Days of Disco
• Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange, Hail Caesar!, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Moonrise Kingdom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Thumbsucker, Young Adam, Adaption, Beach, Orlando
• Ryan Donowho - Bandslam
• Why? Jarmusch
• Seen: Once before. Now 16 March 2023 

There’s a conflict here for me. I generally like Jarmusch’s films, and I don’t like Murray. My memories of seeing this film before are vague, but I don’t think I liked it. But I also think it’s worth a second chance.

Don (Murry) is a white sad sack IT millionaire whose latest girlfriend has left him because he’s a Don Juan. He gets an anonymous letter from someone who claims to be an old girlfriend who had a son by him, and the son is on his way to find him.

            Don’s Ethiopian neighbour and friend Winston (Wright) is an enthusiastic amateur detective and wants to find out who the woman is. Don couldn’t care less but gives Winston a list of possibles. Winston digs up the addresses and sends Don on an odyssey to find them, telling him not to forget to bring flowers.

            It’s OK, I guess. Conroy, Lange and Swinton, unrecognisable in long black hair and heavy make-up, help, and the pointless meandering story slowly pulls me in. The main problem is Murray. He engenders zero sympathy and interest. Christopher Walken or Johnny Depp would have been so much better in the role. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

Katherine

 

Katherine 1975

• Director: Jeremy Kagan
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Sissy Spacek, Art Carney, Henry Winkler, Jane Wyatt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sissy Spacek – The Help, North Country, The Grass Harp, JFK, Carrie (maybe)
• Art Carney – something, no doubt
• Henry Winkler – something, no doubt
• Jane Wyatt – something, no doubt
• Why? Possibly interesting.
• Seen: 15 March 2023 

Katherine (Spacek) from a rich, white, American family becomes involved in radical political activist groups. With each group she understands more and more about oppression and discrimination and war and becomes angrier and angrier.

Told as a docudrama with all the above as flashbacks interspersed with short scenes from 1972 as she makes her way to bomb a bank, this is a made-for-TV movie. Heavy stuff for the 70s and it is still powerful. The poor quality of the DVD and the lack of subtitles make it hard to catch everything but that’s not the film’s fault. 

4 * of 5

 

 

 

 

Ett öga rött

 

Ett öga rött 2007

• Director: Daniel Wallentin
• Based on novel by Jonas Kassam Khemeri
• Cast: Youssef Skheriy, Hassan Brijani, Evin Ahmad, Anwar Albayati, Asmaa Houri
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Hassan Brijani – Tusenbröder
• Why? The book.
• Seen: Once before. Now 14 March 2023 

When Halim’s (Skheriy) mother (Houri) dies of ALS, his father (Brijani) becomes obsessed with rejecting his Moroccan roots and embracing Swedishness to an absurd and embarrassing degree. Halim misses his mother and insists on being an immigrant, resists being integrated.

More and more Halim loses control in the deepening conflict with his father and his own confused identity. The film starts with light-hearted, absurd, and colourful humour and darkens into deep sorrow. It’s a loving and sensitive homage to the rich and chaotic zone populated by both reluctant and enthusiastic new Swedes.

Khemeri is one of the most renowned authors in Sweden, often writing about the complexity of being an immigrant, especially for the kids of immigrants. 

4 * of 5

 

 

 

Tower Block

 

Tower Block 2012

• Director: David Beaton and James Nunn
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Sheridan Smith, Jack O’Connell, Jamie Thomas King, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey, Jill Baker
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Sheridan Smith – The Quartet, Hysteria
• Jack O’Connell – Unbroken, ’71, This Is England
• Jamie Thomas King – Mr Turner, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Marchlands, The River King
• Ralph Brown – The Boat that Rocked
• Why? Possibly good
• Seen: 13 March 2023 

In a tower block marked for demolition only the top floor is occupied. A sniper starts picking the residents out through the window, one by one. The survivors flee to the corridor and are trapped.

Exciting? Oh yes. Also grim, well-acted with good characters and a decent psychological study of a disparate group forced together in a fatal crisis. 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

Volver

 

Volver 2006

• Director: Pedro Almodóvar
• Seen by this director: Todo sobre mi madre, perhaps others.
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre, Leando Rivera
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Penelope Cruz – Murder on the Orient Express, Pirates of the Caribbean, Elegy, Blow, Todre sobre mi madre
• Why? Almedóvar.
• Seen: 12 March 2023 

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an Almodóvar film and I’m not sure how many I’ve seen. Whatever I’ve seen it was better than this one, whose only purpose seems to be to show how beautiful Penelope Cruz is. Which she is, but this film is chaotic, boring and senseless. 

Many people love it, giving it 9-10*. I don’t. 

2* of 5

 

 

Predator 2

 

Predator 2 (1990)

• Director: Stephen Hopkins
• Seen by this director: Lost in Space
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Rubén Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Danny Glover – 2012, Be Kind Rewind, Honeydripper, Dreamgirls, Manderlay, The Exonerated, Beloved, Bopha!, Lethal Weapon, The Colour Purple, Silverado, Witness
• Gary Busey – something, probably
• Rubén Blades – Once upon a Time in Mexico, Cradle Will Rock, Mo’ Better Blues
• Bill Paxton – The Circle, Edge of Tomorrow, A Simple Plan, Titanic, Twister, Aliens, Terminator, Streets of Fire
• Why? Danny Glover
• Seen:  8 March 2023. Completely inappropriate for International Women’s Day.      

       The first Predator film was ridiculously bad but I bought this one at the same time and I do like Danny Glover so I will give it a try.

       In the first fifteen minutes there’s more shooting than in WWII, all observed by the shimmeringly invisible alien. It’s LA and there’s a drug war going on. And then it becomes a war between the alien and Danny Glover.

       Is it better than the first one? Marginally. The ending is somewhat cool. But it’s one of Glover’s worst films. 

1½ * of 5