Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

John Sayles directs John Cusack, Charlie Sheen and David Strathairn in this dramatisation of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Baseball. An all-star cast. America’s loss of innocence. The unbeatable grind of capitalism. The accidental Field Of Dream’s prequel flick. Sayles is an unshowy yet marvellous filmmaker. Beloved by critics but too often overlooked by audiences and awards bodies. He has his house players but the love for ensemble storytelling means the big names have to work overtime to hit their marks. Without constant close-ups and grandstanding. Cusack clearly chimes with this style as he gives his first outstanding acting performance and carried on exploring the ensemble format throughout the Nineties with his leftie A-List pal Tim Robbins. The bosses always win.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Natural (1984)

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Allan Ungar directs Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert and Mel Gibson in this true crime caper about a real life Elmore Leonard-esque prolific bank robber.

A pleasant, breezy watch that hides its indie budget deftly. Duhamel has a cute energy in this. Probably his career apex. And yet still he always will be the Aldi own brand Timothy Olyphant. Someone should put them and Johnny Knoxville in a caper like this playing three brothers. Mel eats during his short screentime. Has fun, doesn’t go anywhere near as dark as others might. Eventually provides an almost paternal malevolence like which we used to get from Dennis Farina. I suspect there is part of Mel that wishes he was only making sequels to Payback every couple of years for $20 million dollar paychecks. That movie again is another touchstone to this. Ultimately Bandit is a fine ‘strange but true’ tale but not quite as wacky as it often tries to persuade you it is.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper (1981)

Robert Luketic directs Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson and Selma Blair in this smash hit college comedy where fashionable sorority queen Elle Woods follows her ex-boyfriend to law school, where she discovers that there is more to her than just looks.

This one never chimed with me. I was a big Reese booster up until this point. Freeway. Election. Pleasantville. Yet the movie that made her a household name and a box office force to be reckoned with felt blatantly … meh. I’m going to come out and say that it was the midpoint “Bend and Snap” scene that made me realise it just wasn’t for me. I watch Waters and I watch Lynch but they have never made me feel so alien to a sequence as that. WTF? In general… Takes too long to set up its dominoes but the My Cousin Vinny in pink third act is quite watchable.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (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

Mark L. Lester directs Yancy Butler, Nick Mancuso and Suzy Amis in this yuppie in peril thriller where an architect’s secret ex wife plots and schemes to destroy his new family’s life.

Tubi trash that is plotted on random shuffle. Mancusco is a pugnacious, poor man’s Jimmy Caan, not worth either battling woman’s efforts. Yancy Butler is gleefully unhinged as the obsessed psycho. Not up there with Sharon or Rebecca but she gets the job done. We spent much of the late night watching session trying to figure out which city it was filmed in.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Sensation (1994)

François Ozon directs Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier and Charles Dance in this erotic thriller where a British mystery author visits her publisher’s home in the South of France only for his gatecrashing daughter to create tensions both sexual and deadly.

I loved this when it came out. It has aged like fine vintage wine on a belated revisit. The lush hazy, horniness of it all. Sunday afternoon delight. French V English. Young V Old. Conservative V Le Super Cool Pop. Sunhats V Tiny Bikinis. Possibly the most erotic film ever made and up there with probably my favourite erotic thrillers. (Blue Velvet / Dead Calm / Basic Instinct). The dreamlike mystery element is faded into the background. This is a two hander where two gorgeous cult performers go at it. Part rivalry, part reverse psychology seduction. I love how sad sack sleazy all of Sagnier’s conquests are. She could have anyone! Like she is rubbing her shitty choices in Rampling’s face like an insult. What is Ozon trying to say about straight masculine sexuality? Clearly this is CIS Het fantasy told through a young gay man’s perceptions…

10

Perfect Double Bill: When Fall Is Coming (2024)

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Damian McCarthy directs Adam Scott, Peter Coonan and David Wilmot in this Irish horror where a depressed author goes to scatter his parents ashes at the creepy hotel where they spent their honeymoon.

Very much my jam. A maze location, sinister set design, Stephen King tribute moves. Oodles of clues and puzzles and wrong turns and “Don’t do THAT!”s. Scott finds himself in a quicksand of mysteries, each one as lethal and traumatic as the next. A nexus of locked door suffering that recalls In The Mouth Of Madness, Hellraiser and Barton Fink. Just a low key thrill-o-matic. Love the fetid, whiskey barrel woody look of this one too.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Hallow (2015)

Mark Jenkin directs George MacKay, Callum Turner and Emily Daglish-Laine in this time warp drama where a mysterious fishing boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing and two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. 

Feels like a cult novella. Probably Jenkin’s most accessible work to date but still niche, parochial and pleasingly bonkers. Grittily beautiful.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Bait (2019)

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

David Lowery directs Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel and Hunter Schafer in this drama where a pop siren revisits a ruined friendship under the pretext of creating an iconic stage costume.

Plays very much like one of those filmed plays Sidney Lumet used to churn out between bigger projects. Stilted dialogue, zero chemistry and undefined relationship don’t help. The concert scenes are beautiful. There are two memorable set pieces; a silent dance and a seance. Otherwise, frustrating and unengaging.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Serenity (2019)

Baltasar Kormákur directs Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton and Eric Bana in this Aussie thriller where a grieving widow finds herself being hunted in the wilderness.

A solid revival of the yuppie-in-peril tropes which simultaneously continues Kormákur’s love of putting movie stars in deep shit in extreme nature (Everest, Beast). A two hander with sterling genre work for both its stars. Great Saturday night fodder and very handsome. For once Netflix’s formula of mandatory drone establishing shots and obnoxious needle drops pay off.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Everest (2015)

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Alonso Ruizpalacios directs Raúl Briones, Rooney Mara and Anna Díaz in this drama set in a Times Square kitchen, dreams and desperation collide as the immigrant staff each chase the elusive American dream.

A day in the life of labyrinth of a New York back of house. Mainly B&W which isn’t the only touchstone with French classic toughie La Haine. This is a motley crew of people on the peripheries of society trying to navigate city life, immigrant life and capitalist exploitation. There are thrusts of magical realism and time outs that feel like their own breathing space short films. Rooney Mara is fantastic as a waitress with a big decision. Sexual and racial tension simmer and explode throughout. Was a casual morning off watch for this guy, one which hooked me in fully.

8

Perfect Double Bill: La Haine (1995)