Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Albert Lamorisse directs Pascal Lamorisse, Alain Emery and Laurent Roche in these two magical realist French shorts about young boys who form attachments to near fantastical possessions.

Albert Lamorisse didn’t just direct two of the most iconic short films of the 20th century but he also created the board game Risk!

Both of these 30 minute wonders have child protagonist and explore human nature, freedom and loss of innocence like fables.

Of his modern fairy tales, The Red Balloon is unmatched. Peerless. The lost streets of on-location post-war Paris; the colour against the drab, rainy grey; the spiritual conclusion. C’est fantastique!

10/7

Mary Bronstein directs Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien and Danielle Macdonald in this drama where a mother struggles to balance career and sanity while dealing with an absent husband, a child with an eating disorder and big cosmic hole in the ceiling of her home.

A Woman on the Verge of a Repulsion Under the Influence: Uncut Moms Edition. Overwhelming – don’t have kids or hamsters. Coco impresses in his first serious acting role but it is Bryne’s show all the way. Consummately oppressive but you wouldn’t want to return to this poisoned well in a hurry.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Juliet, Naked (2018)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Kevin Williamson directs Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and Isabel May in this slasher sequel where Sidney is back dodging the Ghostfaces of her past… this time with a teen daughter to protect.

Not a series highlight… but exactly how many seventh entries are? Legacy characters disappear in the third act for no reason, the ultimate whodunnit reveal is worthy only of a shrug and the new teens are so disposable this might as well be a Friday The 13th. I think Scream 7’s biggest sin is it treats iconic mainstays, like the anonymous phone calls and “the rules” talk, like a boring chore. In Williamson’s defence… the set pieces are decent, he puts the film in interesting territory at the end of the first act and he returns Neve Campbell front and centre to the narrative. The gore is at the same maximum strength of Drew Barrymore’s kill in 1996. Heartless and dripping. Yeah, and there is the thrill of the “surprise” cameo from a lost face. And if your politics or good taste make you miss Barrera and Ortega then I have promising insight for you. Whatever studio buys the IP from Spyglass over the next decade resurrects the option to bring them back when the box office dips. On a par with Scream 3.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Scream 6 (2023)

Cal McMau directs David Jonsson, Tom Blyth and Alex Hassell in this British prison thriller where a long term inmate is about to be released for good behaviour only for a psychotic bad boy (who wants to takeover the wing’s drug trade) to be moved into his cell.

Had me in a chokehold from start to finish. An overpowering crime genre experience. Akin to A Prophet. Jonsson keeps making excellent career choices and flinches nicely against Blyth’s magnetic agent of chaos. Something this grim shouldn’t be this much fun. Also… goes toe to toe with Raimi’s Send Help when it comes to gushes of gross bodily fluids.

9

Perfect Double Bill: The Chaperones (2026)

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Mona Fastvold directs Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman and Thomasin McKenzie in this period musical about the founding leader of the Shaker Movement, who is proclaimed as the female Christ by her followers.

It would hyperbole to say Amanda Seyfried is a revelation in this. She has been knocking it out of the park in serious roles like Chloe, Mank, The Dropout and Lovelace for a decade now. I guess Ann Lee is so removed from her introduction to us as a big eyed, bubble lipped teen in the likes of Mean Girls and Jennifer’s Body. And this is the first time where she completely sheds her cute, pure movie star sexuality and just embodies a Streep role. Would Meryl have these moves though? The Shaker dance orgies are wholly consuming. This is a big movie sharing that Kubrickian DNA of Fastvold and Corbet’s last collaboration The Brutalist. So there is a natural distance to the storytelling here. It isn’t a biopic that flows rather than pummels you. And a lot of time the spikes of historical incident are intimately depressing. Harrowing. Intrusive. So… not a rewatchable. But a challenging achievement none the less.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The New World (2005)

Sam Raimi directs Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien and Edyll Ismail in this thriller where a put upon employee and a useless CEO engage in a power struggle when they find themselves washed up on a desert island.

The headline… This is Raimi so you WILL have a blast. I obnoxiously laughed out loud at the first two big shocks of extreme gloopy gore. Also, McAdams is in career best mode in this tangy mix of John Locke from Lost and a classic psycho biddy. I had reservations… the CGI is substandard and took me out of the fun. And, avoiding spoilers, it think a better finale would involve exploring the dynamic once they return back to everyday world they used to inhabit. Audiences seem to be seeking this one out so hopefully that means Raimi back regularly making cartoonish nasty for the foreseeable. And that’s all I want. This sits comfortably with Darkman and The Gift as a movie that’ll play better in your memory than actually sitting down to it again.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Swimming With Sharks (1994)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Jacques Becker directs Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, and Claude Dauphin in this noir-ish romance where two gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque Paris.

Takes the crime milieu and explore love in it. Signoret and Reggiani have instant sexual chemistry together. The underworld only knows how to take. It ends in beautiful tragedy. Almost gothic, almost hardboiled.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954)

Alfred Sole directs Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton and Paula E. Sheppard in this early slasher where everyone suspects a troubled young girl of being the knife wielding killer stalking a community of freaks.

More like a giallo than a Halloween. This shares Black Christmas’ lax mysterious plotting and a seedier atmosphere. Paula E. Sheppard is particularly good as the baby faced prime suspect. There are surprises and it leaves you feeling disturbed. Which is the ultimate grubby intent. Notes: 1. Brooke Shields big screen debut. 2. No single parent family should have to share a stairwell with Mr Alphonso and his feral housecats.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Black Christmas (1974)

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Quinn Shephard directs Zoey Deutch, Mia Isaac and Dylan O’Brien in this comedy where an influencer exploits a terrorist attack for personal gain.

I like Zooey Deutch. She is a spunky and ambitious screen presence. I get the feeling this vehicle was intended to be her Easy A. But it is just a bit too abrasively satirical and self aware to have fun after a strong set up. Is it terrible that I wanted this stay vapidly easy breezy with a side of dark dipping sauce. PTSD exploration? No! Thank! You!

5

Perfect Double Bill: Buffaloed (2019)

Vincent Gallo directs himself, Christina Ricci and Ben Gazzara in this indie drama about a recently released convict who kidnaps a young woman and forces her to pose as his girlfriend on returning home.

I rented this from Vogue Video back in the day but I never remember finishing it. It is very mannered. Wannabe Scorsese, beginners Cassavetes, homeopathic Lynch. Awkward unreality mundanity. With cinematic flourishes. Some clunky, some bravura. This is the closest to Bukowski anyone has ever gotten without directly adapting Bukowski. Gallo is an unctuous presence. An emperor’s new clothes talent. Allegedly he was a shit to Ricci making this.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Brown Bunny (2003)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin