Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs Tom Cruise, John Goodman and Sandra Hüller in this satire about the end of the world, the old white men who caused it and our need to reshape our destructors as saviours.

A consummate, challenging work with very little tangibly new to say. Loud, smart alec and ugly default settings. Iñárritu has always been the maker of white elephants and this feel very much like Tom called him up and said “Birdman me!”. Will Cruise get an Oscar? I hope so. He has some electric moments here, especially in his lengthy monologues about societies’ culpability and controlling the narrative rather than listening to facts. Who wants to hear the dying cat has five minutes to live if you can just pay for the second opinion you want? …And that’s the problem with Digger. What little of non- Devil’s Advocate interest it has to say is done and dealt with in the first act. Then it just gets abrasively annoying hunting its own tail. It wants to be the climate change Strangelove, the Don’t Look Up that eschew woke and kerb stomps self important worthiness. But really it is just A Roy Andersson knock off with a massive A-lister off piste, power move as central turn. I love Tom. I dozed off by the end.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Tropic Thunder (2008)

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 Adamson and Vicky Jenson direct Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz in this animated comedy that spoof fairytales and Disney.

Never really understood millennials obsession with this one. Nice alt rock soundtrack aside, the animation is ugly and the humour gratingly side-eye snarky. Eddie Murphy is an adorable delight as donkey but otherwise this is one note, a one-watcher at best. My last revisit. Glad I don’t have kids.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Tangled (2010)

Jack Hazan directs David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger and Mo McDermott in this documentary following Hockney’s malaise after he becomes a massive success but struggles with his failing personal relationships.

Ambient, minimal drama. Hockney comes across like a proto- League Of Gentlemen / Little Britain caricature. The camera follows him and his diminishing circle of friends at a remove as they cross the drab streets of Ladbroke Grove. Like a sinister stalker. The intent is never obvious. Occasionally we see models next to the paintings of them in recreation of the pose, occasionally we duck our heads into glamorous nights out on the West London art scene. Languid, not interrogative, almost sad sack at times. The ‘art life’ as a mundane chore that delays the all too rare orgy of beautiful nude posh boys.

6

Perfect Double Bill: McQueen (2018)

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Gary Sherman directs Heather O’Rourke, Tom Skerritt and Nancy Allen in this horror threequel where Carol Anne is staying with her aunt in a high-rise building, but those supernatural forces haunting her make their return.

Some loopily intense special FX trick shots here involving mirrors but the plot descends into impenetrable nonsense in the last act. Not enough Nancy Allen. Skerritt’s uncle is really overbearing… a true ‘one take and that’s all you are getting’ macho flex. Lara Flynn Boyle is actually alright in an early role. As a VHS sleepover spook house it works… as who cares about the wrap up fumble when you are setting up Dream Phone to play next.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Poltergeist (2015)

S.K. Dale directs Megan Fox, Eoin Macken and Callan Mulvey in this thriller where a woman is left handcuffed to her dead husband as part of a sick revenge plot.

The first act is glacial, deadpan and pretentious. You can easily see your casual streaming viewer checking out and switching off. But once the front-and-centre Fox is covered in blood, cat and mousing around a snowed in cabin with dead weight attached to her, it becomes a lark. Reminiscent of early Coens. Not as good but they aren’t making ones like this anymore. Worth gritting your teeth through for to get to the good stuff.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Subservience (2024)

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

Sidney J. Furie directs Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and Jon Cryer in this cheap and quick final entry in the original comic book franchise.

Actually starts out fine, hits a few decent reheated beats but the abrupt will-this-do ending leaves a sour taste. There is a certain degree of schadenfreude in watching talented people try to recreate a blockbuster formula on a Cannon Group budget. Milton Keynes polytechnic as the UN building… bless. There is no argument that this a good flick but it is at least zippier and less bloated than the two Salkind sequels.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Superman 3 (1983)

George Pavlou directs Larry Lamb, Denholm Elliott and Nicola Cowper in this noir-pastiche sci-fi horror where a mad scientist’s drug is mutating the sewer dwellers of London.

There’s a lot going on here in this early forgotten Clive Barker flick. Distracted plot, sub Dr Who visuals and a wasted support cast. Richardson, Pitt, Berkoff and Malik all collecting cheques but not doing much. Very hard to care about what unspools. The story has minimal momentum. The electronica score was provided by a duo who went on to become… hey… Underworld. Only really for Nightbreed completists who want to see an early rough sketch of what Barker went on to do himself.

3

Perfect Double Bill: The Midnight Meat Train (1984)

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Gideon Raff directs Chris Evans, Michael Kenneth Williams and Haley Bennett in this true story of Mossad agents who run a covert operation to rescue Ethiopian-Jewish refugees from Sudan to safe haven.

Captain America in some airless propaganda that goes through all the cliches.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Munich (2005)

Geeta Gandbhir directs Susan Lorincz, Ajike Owens, Franklin Baez-Colon in this documentary where a minor disagreement between neighbors in Florida takes a lethal turn, with police body camera footage and interview room CCTV making up everything that we see.

A heartbreaking collage. An all too plausible sequence of events. Very telling about the grassroots mindset of Trump’s America.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Crash (2026)

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

Pat Boonnitipat directs Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul, Usha Seamkhum and Sanya “Duu” Kunakorn in this Thai comedy drama about a feckless grandson who starts caring for his elderly relative in the hope of inheriting her home.

Sweet, well observed generational satire that goes on forever.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Farewell (2019)