The Hurt Locker

 

The Hurt Locker 2008

• Director: Kathryn Bigelow
• Seen by this director: Homicide Life on the Street, Strange Days
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Jeremy Renner – Arrival, American Hustle, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 28 Weeks Later, North Country
• Anthony Mackie – Antman, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Half Nelson, Million Dollar Baby, 8 Mile
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Once before (maybe). Now 24 July 2024   

War is a drug and these US soldiers in Bagdad are addicted, but if this doesn’t stop being just a macho war film, I’m going to fast forward, 6 Oscars be damned.

So far, so bad. War is stupid. Please stop making films pretending that war is in anyway acceptable, or natural, or necessary or cool, or normal, or run by heroes or whatever this stupid film is about.

War is stupid. Don’t waste your skill, Bigelow! Giving this film an Oscar for Best Film is an insult to humanity. 

0* of 5

 

 

Grabben i graven bredvid

 

Grabben i graven bredvid (The Guy in the Next Grave) 2002

• Director: Kjell Sundvall
• Based on novel by Katarina Mazetti
• Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Elisabet Carlsson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Michael Nyqvist – Colonia, Min så kallade pappa, John Wick, Luftslottet som sprängdes, Flickan som lekte med elden, Män som hatar kvinnor, Tillsammans
• Why? Michael Nyqvist
• Seen: Once before. Now 28 July 2024 

If I was a widow who loves books, musik, art, culture in general (which I am) would I leave my life and become a farmer’s wife? Absolutely not. Ever. Not even if the farmer in question is a very sexy and kind and funny and intelligent Michael Nyqvist. I admire and have great respect and gratitude for farmers without whom we would not survive, but I am a city slicker through and through.

That’s why this film gives me the creeps, no matter how much I love Michael Nyqvist. 

2 ½* of 5

 

 

 

E.T.

 

E.T. 1982

• Director: Stephen Spielberg
• Seen by this director - many
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace, Robert McNaughton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Henry Thomas – Doctor Sleep, Gangs of New York
• Drew Barrymore – He’s Just Not that into You. Music and Lyrics, Riding in Cars with Boys, Donnie Darko, Ella Enchanted
• Peter Coyote – The 4400, Erin Brockovich, Sphere
• Why? Curious
• Seen: At least twice before. Now 27 July 2024 

People love this film for its sweetness. People hate this film for its sweetness. I honestly don’t remember what I thought of it the other times I’ve seen it.

You know the story. Cute alien makes friends with cute Earthling kids. He rides across the starry sky on a bicycle and phones home.

One hour into it and now I know why I don’t remember what I thought of it because I don’t think much of it this time either. It’s OK but it certainly leans towards the too sweet to endure side. It may have been innovative in 1982 but it’s just a paper-thin story with a few mildly humourous scenes and kids with shrill voices. Even with the the cutesy little sister (Barrymore, still irritatingly cutesy), it’s such a boy film. 

2 ½,* possibly 3 if I stretch it, of 5

 

 

Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy 2009

• Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, David Threlfall, Paul Ritter, David Morrissey, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Tenet, The Illusionist
• Kristin Scott Thomas – many including Richard III
• David Threlfall – Elizabeth the Golden Age, Hot Fuzz, Sex Chips & Rock’n’Roll, King Lear, Nicholas Nickleby
• Paul Ritter –Friday Night Dinner, Chernobyl, Their Finest, Wolf Hall, Bletchley Circle, The Hollow Crown,Harry Potter, Quantum of Solace, Son of Rambow, The Girl in the Café, The Libertine, Seaforth
• Anne-Marie Duff – On Chesil Beach, Suffragette, Before I Go to Sleep, The Last Station, Notes on a Scandal, The Magdalena Sisters
• David Morrissey – many
• Thomas Brodie-Sanger – Maze Runner, Wolf Hall, Game of Thrones, Bright Star, Nanny McPhee, Love Actually
• Why? John Lennon
• Seen: Once before. 26 July 2024 

It’s a strange feeling to watch a film that when it ends you know exactly what will happen for the next twenty-three years when it really ended. For him. But never, for us.

Seventeen-year-old John is torn between the two women he loves. His dynamic, musical, mentally unstable mother Julia (Duff) who abandoned him when he was five but lavishes love on him now. And his Aunt Mimi (Scott-Tomas in one of her strongest roles), who raised him and loves him deeply but has a cold manner.

Angry, lost, rebellious, he finds escape in rock’n’roll. He meets fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney (Brodie-Sanger, an odd choice, but he manages quite well).

Yes, well, as I said, we know the rest.

The acting is even better than one expects from this splendid cast. 

5*  of 5

 

  

Willow

 

Willow 1988

• Director: Ron Howard
• Seen by this director: many
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Warwick, Davis, Val Kilmer, Jean Marsh, Joanne Whalley
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Warwick Davis – many
• Val Kilmer – Snowman, Life’s Too Short, Red Planet, Pollock, Heat, True Romance, The Doors
• Jean Marsh – Upstairs Dolwnstairs
• Joanne Whalley –Wolf Hall, Before You Go, The Singing Detective
• Why? Warwick Davis
• Seen: 25 July 2024 

The baby is cute, Willow (Davis) has the sweet face of a 12-year-old but is the father of two and must return the baby to her own people but the evil queen (Marsh) must kill her because the prophesy …you get the picture.

Maybe if I was ten years old. The dialog, story and romance bit are at that level, though that might be an insult to ten-year-olds. Kilmer is awful as the macho swordsman/lover. There is zero chemistry between him and Sorsha (Whalley) which is odd since they went on to be married for 12 years.

Davis is OK but otherwise the acting is pathetic. It’s a pity to see Marsh in this lame role.

Not my kind of fim at all. 

1 ½ * of 5

 

A Handful of Dust

 

A Handful of Dust 1988

• Director: Charles Sturridge
• Seen by this director: CB Strike, Shackleton, Longitude
• Based on novel by Evelyn Waugh
• Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, James Wilby, Rupert Graves, Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench, Pip Torrens, Beatie Edney, Stephen Fry
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Kristin Scott Thomas – many including Richard III
• James Wilby – De-Lovely, Gosford Park, Crocodile Shoes, Howards End, A Room with a View
• Rupert Graves - many
• Anjelica Huston – many
• Judi Dench – many including Shakespeare in Love, Henry V, Hamlet, Macbeth
• Pip Torrens – The Crown and many others
• Stephen Fry - many
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Once before (maybe). Now 24 July 2024 

I recently started reading the novel by Evelyn Waugh, which had been lying about my bookshelves for years, but the listless life of the British upper classes in the 1920s is boring and irritating, even though the book is meant to be a satire. I couldn’t care less. DNF.

Let’s see if this splendid cast can bring life to these parasites.

Well, the acting is fine but the film is as pointless as the book. I did watch to the end, though. 

2 * of 5

 

 

The Hunger Games - the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

 

The Hunger Games – the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 2023

• Director: Frances Lawrence
• Seen by this director: The Hunger Games, I Am Legend, Constantine
• Based on the book by Suzanne Collins
• Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Viola Davis, Fionnula Flanagan, Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Rachel Zegler – West Side Story 
• Viola Davis – many
• Fionnula Flanagan – many
• Peter Dinklage – many
• Why? The books and films
• Seen: 13 July 2024  

Prequel to the Hunger Games. The villain of those films, Coriolanus Snow, played by the late Donald Sutherland, is here a young man. The war between the Capitol and the Districts ended twenty years ago and the Hunger Games have been going on for ten years. Coryo (Blyth) is one of the University students assigned as mentors to the participants. He’s to mentor Lucy Gray (Zegler) from District 12.

The games however are not the whole film. The second half shows how Coryo became the villain of the other films.

It works quite well. 

3½ * of 5