Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Natalie and I went to see Roger Deakins in conversation to promote his new autobiography / coffee table book; Reflections this week. He packed the Assembly Rooms out. In the build up we had ourselves a Deakins season. No Country / Shawshank / Fargo obviously. Here are some other beautiful movies we caught up on as part of our sofa festival.

True Grit (2010)

The Coen Brothers direct Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld and Matt Damon in this prestige remake of the classic western blockbuster.

Do I like it more than original? Debatable. Do I think it is a gorgeously shot Western with a pitch perfect child performance from Steinfeld? Yes sirree Bob! This was a star making turn for her, a true rarity, and she breathes life into the twisty rat-a-tat-tat dialogue.

8

The Hurricane (1999)

Norman Jewison directs Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon and Deborah Kara Unger in this biopic of Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter, a former middleweight boxer who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey.

A little creaky in its approach but houses one of Denzel’s most complex performances. Deakins goes back to prison after Shawshank. He is particularly good at making modern history seem simultaneously lived-in and mythic. This is a very “right on” “liberal” movie but that shouldn’t completely devalue its technical merits or the story’s power.

8

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Andrew Dominik directs Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell in this western following the final months of infamous train robber Jesse James and the acolyte who betrayed him.

One of the finest, most ambitious Hollywood films of the 21st century. So many iconic shots: The snakes in Pitt’s hand. The night time train robbery. The breakdown in the theatre. Up there with Barry Lyndon for painting with the light. Affleck and Pitt probably do their finest thespian work here. You really get into the mindsets of two horrifically flawed human beings. And who doesn’t love an epic western that is as much a Shakespearean tragedy as a six shooter actioner?

9

The Reader (2008)

Stephen Daldry directs Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes and Bruno Ganz in this controversial love story set in post-war Germany.

Almost by accident the last two movies we watched as part of the season tunnel further and further into moral quagmires. The Reader is purposefully cold, almost clinical film. Troubling! It centres on a potentially exploitative sexual relationship AND Germany’s holocaust guilt. There are also themes about class and the power of literature bubbling throughout the stark erotic drama. Kate Winslet gives a deservedly humane award winning performance while Deakins films her. Let’s give him his dues as a collaborator. By being super prepared with the technical stuff, he gifts the actors space to do their optimum work. Again and again!I really like this one, warts and all. I read the book it is based on in my early twenties. I have always been a Winslet fan and it feels like she comes into her own here. It has a whole lotta nudity and some of the wobbliest old age make up you’ve ever seen. I appreciate the fact it offers no definitive answers, no absolutism. Just bleak, distant questions and concerns. Deakins only lensed half of this. Allegedly it was a chaotic shoot and he found delays meant he had to leave to fulfil other commitments. Chris Menges took over the reigns.

7

Doubt (2008)

John Patrick Shanley directs Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in this drama where a Catholic school principal questions a priest’s ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student.

… And then we have Doubt! One of the most puzzling Oscar bait movies ever released. Formally this is perfect. But it is a riddle of an experience. One of my favourite Streep performances – is she a reactionary monster or an inflexible hero? So many moments are open to vivid interpretation. Fingernails, long but kept clean. Up there with Do The Right Thing in terms of “What would you do?” and “Who is in the right here?”. Landscape nostalgia. Clean clear empty spaces. Light as an interrogation into a soul. It is all here. All of Deakins’ inimitable craft and artistry.

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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

Andrew Niccol directs Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law in this sci-fi set in the future where career options and opulent lifestyle are the privilege only of the genetically perfect.

Beautiful looking movie from the writer of The Truman Show. Future noir. Sleek yet brutalist. Almost the opposite of high concept as the plot would take a few sentence to do justice. It isn’t perfect. It feels a little too much like a calling card spec script that got greenlit on the first draft. And it is more of a mystery than a romp. A mystery with no real enigmas. To wit the characters remain cyphers. Pieces on a board moving towards a rigged end game. Still, I have youthful nostalgia for Gattaca.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Never Let Me Go (2010)

Craig Gillespie directs Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts and Eve Ridley in this Kara Zor-El stand alone space adventure.

The Woman Of Tomorrow comic book run by Tom King & Bilquis Evely is one of the best I have read post-Covid. It felt oven ready for direct translation to the big screen. The end result after the cook all feels… alright. Just too repetitive. One Mos Eisley cantina scene homage is fine and fair… and even expected. Every other scene? Nope. And then the action is the same rumble fake oner over and over too. Hmmm… There is a better film here. I actually think the chunky, dirty space visuals are stunning but I’m in the minority. Alcock is fine but is coming up to the plate too soon after Melissa Benoist did six home run seasons in a row. Her telly show was sometimes a mess of ensemble character overload but she shone in that tiny red rubber miniskirt. Sunny and heroic. This alt take feels a little poseur in her wake. And David Corenswet’s pop in / pop out cameos just makes you want more Supes.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Supergirl (1984)

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William Fruet directs Kay Hawtrey, Lesleh Donaldson and Barry Morse in this Canadian slasher where a young woman arrives at her grandmother’s house, which used to be a funeral home, to help her turn the place into a bed-and-breakfast inn but people keep getting killed.

Low budget spin on Psycho. “Converted B&B” may be a less marketable title but also less of a swizz. Diverting, a little better plotted than, say, a Friday the 13th.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Scream (1981)

Ben Affleck directs himself, John Goodman and Alan Arkin in this Best Picture winning movie where a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation posing as a sci-fi movie producer to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran.

Many Oscar years the best film nominated doesn’t win but the most solidly made, least offensively spirited does. It doesn’t hurt if the trophied flick paints Hollywood as the protector of western values and freedom. This delivers above average drama and above average peril for a steady two hours. There’s some Sorkin-esque dialogue and Lumet lifted storytelling. But the lark is with Goodman and Arkin’s gregarious La La Land hustlers and Affleck struggles to keep them in play after the second act. We’ll always have “Argo fuck yourself.”

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Town (2010)

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

Colin Higgins directs Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase and Dudley Moore in this romantic comedy thriller where a librarian is pursued by killers who keep covering their tracks before the police can turn up.

A massive hit back in the day, this was in heavy rotation on TV when I was too you to get it. A light spoof on Hitchcock (think Charade) but with memorable bursts of wackiness. Then goes for the What’s Up Doc? demolition derby car chase finale. Screwball can roll too long, y’know. Goldie is game and perky. This is her at her apex. There probably isn’t enough Chevy for them to share equal billing. The younger generations might appreciate his reduced presence but I missed him when he wasn’t about. Afternoon delight.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Sugarland Express (1974)

Wes Craven directs Michael Beck, Beatrice Straight and Laura Johnson in this supernatural thriller where a dying corporate exec wakes up after being cryogenically frozen – ruthless and quite possibly soulless.

So boring it uncannily feels like being cryogenically frozen for 10 years.

1

Perfect Double Bill: Shocker (1989)

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Rian Johnson directs Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo in this romantic comedy involving two conmen siblings, their mysterious muse and their recluse mark.

I had my stock bought early, was a Rian Johnson booster since Brick. Yet his sophomore movie was never released near me in 2008… and I lived in central London in 2008! So it has been languishing on my “must watch” list for a long old time. Not going to lie, bit disappointed. The prologue featuring the brother planning their first scam as kids has juice but none of the stars. Once we age up, Ruffalo and especially Brody seem to be playing against type and the trivia confirms they swapped roles during rehearsal. The switch doesn’t chime. The movie feels overly slavish to Wes Anderson in look and rhythm. One Wes is enough! And considering this came out in the wake of The Spanish Prisoner, Nine Queens, Matchstick Men AND Confidence (also starring Weisz) it doesn’t have anything new to say about the film flam sub-genre aside from reheating the leftovers in lesser used international locations. Rinko Kikuchi as a near silent explosive experts and a montage of Rachel Weisz’s hobbies are the stand-outs but both glimmers are whimsy of the highest order. I need to catch Brick again.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Brick (2005)

Adrian Choa directs Louis Theroux, Harrison Sullivan and Justin Waller in this documentary film exploring “red pill” influencers.

Theroux seems a little out of step here. He is exploited as much as his subjects. They turns the tables on him a few times for instant clout in a way cosseted egocentric celeb monsters and sex workers never could. It actually plays out as a revealing heat check into a world of post truth, where mainstream media’s trust and power has been eroded. This is what is creating and filling the vacuum. I have been on a fair bit of training around working on this subject with young men recently. It was very well researched and academically sound. But both this doc and that learning skip over the fact that muscle bound men posing as billionaires and lotharios taps into adolescent fantasies and older men’s frustrations very, very easily. It clearly is a scam, a pyramid scheme and a hustle to those of us content and secure. But a kick back against the gentrification of traditional male culture, plus the in vogue demonisation of men in general, was inevitable. The last decade of #metoo and #butalwaysaman was essential but its commodification would always lead to some such reactive extremity. I find these men ridiculous and abhorrent but equally a lot of current feminist social media and culture has the similar tang of self serving echo nastiness. I find grifter feminists with no grace or diplomacy equally ridiculous if a little less distasteful. Take it from a soy boy cuck nerd wokey brokie: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes”. We are only becoming more fractured and I feel Theroux knows he is out of his depth here on his (our) side of the schism. It is fascinating he is happy to unvarnish that truth, that he no longer has the tools to deal with the new misogyny and its cutting edge delivery system.

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Perfect Double Bill: Feels Good Man (2020)

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

Rob Marshall directs Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz and Ian McShane in this soft reboot where Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.

All the elements are here but it seems strangely focussed on static pageantry rather then propulsion. Get them all on a desert island by the midway point and… then… just… stop. Very sterile. Wasn’t shocked to see Marshall (a musical director) had taken the steering wheel over from Verbinski. One understands blockbuster kinetics and the other understands costumes and blocking. Cruz is a superior love interest / booty rival for Depp. She is surprisingly big and bouncy in this. Turns out she was heavily pregnant during the shoot. While she is the best thing in the movie (even better than the Jack Sparrow Show, which is growing quite tiresome) perhaps someone of equal stature who didn’t need to be filmed standing still and only from the cleavage up might have been a better shout for a franchise famous for its extravagant action set pieces. Dead in the water.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (2017)