Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Sidney Lumet directs Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick in this caper where three generations of men reluctantly work together on a score.

Not a great movie but a fantastic cast. Having said that… terrible casting. How can three white guys who are supposed to be blood related to each other be so genetically divergent? Hoffman is going a touch too hard, Broderick ain’t got the minerals but gruff and charming Connery shines. The heist and the moral dilemma aren’t any big shakes so this is very much a tough but tender hang out movie. Connery dominates, everyone else just about keeps up. On-location with a bit of grit and ethnic sparkle. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore, lads.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Why Me? (1990)

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Amy Heckerling directs Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold and Sean Penn in this seminal teen movie where a group of Californian high school students ignore their studies in favor of sex, drugs and minimum wage jobs at the mall.

One of Natalie’s favourite, I have more appreciation than affection for it. I guess I prefer the crystal cut visuals, cynical emotions and existential pretensions of John Hughes. That’s the teat of teen culture I was raised on. This is more a sensitive, self aware sex comedy. Iconic in the VHS era for launching the careers of Phoebe Cates and Sean Penn thanks to two very memorable scenes. And Spicoli ordering a pizza to class is a truly brilliant one. Famously based on a Rolling Stones article where a still youthful looking Cameron Crowe went undercover to a high school this genuinely does feel like it has insider perspective. For all I love about Hughes, his sixteen year olds are wrinkle free Boomers with big hair. Fast Times is one the few Eighties teen flicks that doesn’t lend the fashions as an anthropological freak show and feels grounded in terms of the tribal splits. There are funny set pieces, the tentative hook ups are both sad and sexy. Almost everyone grows. Jennifer Jason Leigh is perfect in her good girl exploring sex role… she has had the best career since. Even better than Penn’s if your metric is a body of work that has stood the test of time.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Licorice Pizza (2021)

Francesco Barilli directs Mimsy Farmer, Maurizio Bonuglia and Mario Scaccia in this giallo where a fragile woman is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.

Relatively bloodless. Meandering and difficult to follow… this is all atmosphere. Unreliable unreality is the only constant. As forgettable as a nice dream.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Woodshock (2017)

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

Max Eggers and Sam Eggers directs Brandy Norwood, Andrew Burnap and Kathryn Hunter in this psychological chiller where a newly pregnant couple are forced to take in an ailing, estranged stepmother.

We came for Brandy. We stayed for Kathryn Hunter. Not great but not the complete “M-E-double-S mess” you’d expect. Decent credit sequence, a powerhouse villain performance. Get Out meets Rosemary’s Baby but with a nappy full of faecal matter.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Visit (2015)

David Anspaugh directs Sean Astin, Charles S. Dutton and Jon Favreau in the true story sports movie about a young man who was always told that he was too wee and too thick to play college football but who went to near martyr-level lengths to make the B-team at Notre Dame.

A very similar experience to Forrest Gump. Surface level this is a nostalgia porn, triumph against adversity, strive to achieve the impossible dream male fairytale. But the ultimate message is rather bleak and cynical, the naivety and pluck is a veil. It just happens to be filmed with autumnal lushness and a rousing score. They don’t make em like the Boomers like to think they were made anymore. Go Rudy! But in all honesty it is hard not to care about and roots for Sean Astin whether he is searching earnestly for pirate treasure or giving ring destroying assist.

6

Perfect Double Bill: School Ties (1992)

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Boaz Davidson directs Lawrence Monoson, Diane Franklin and Steve Antin in this teen sex comedy.

The first hour of this is indistinguishable from a Porky’s. The relative high quality and ambitious filmmaking of say a Risky Business or a Fast Times is nowhere to be seen as is any chance of catching future stars before they became household names. Crass, bawdy and amateurish. But the final 20 minutes is abruptly intense and melancholy. Narratively the flow of the story makes perfect sense but the enigmatic rawness of the switch up elevates the film (just) out of the saucy exploitation gutter. Top new wave soundtrack with every song used twice to rinse maximum value. Diane Franklin went on to play one of princesses in Bill & Ted. Most triumphant!!

6

Perfect Double Bill: Private School (1983)

Tim Mielants directs Cillian Murphy, Tracey Ullman and Jay Lycurgo in this drama following a put upon headteacher at a violent boy’s home.

These teenagers look way old. This pressure cooker day is set in the Nineties and I’ve reached the age where even the smallest anachronism about “my decade” really irritates me. There’s me waving my wrinkled fist at a cloud as someone refers to drinking Hooch a couple of years before the brand launched. Get over yourself, Bobby. Very worthy Play For Today type deal. There’s a nice moment where the fly on the wall documentary framing device switches to the perspective of a graceful overseeing actual fly as it hovers over the drama. There are probably too many framing devices here in all honesty. Pick one, not six. They do chose the right ending though. Not the one that would have capped off a Play For Today back in the day. Nice to have Tracey Ullman back as she’s perfect here.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Clockwork Mice (1995)

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

Stephen Hopkins directs Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones and Suzy Amis in this crass actioner where an Irish bomber targets an old foe in Boston.

Blarney Stone Speed with Batman Forever plotting. The mad accents and up to 11 performances should have garnered this at least a cult following. Hey, Tommy Lee Jones I see you sanctioning buffoonery, ya hypocrite. On paper this should be a blast, genuinely curious as to why it’s quite so turgid and off putting. The set pieces are more ridiculous than exciting. I went to the West Ealing flea pit to see this one… maybe my last trip before they closed it down? What a shitty swan song to a fag smoke shithole. Give me a Time Machine I’d live that day again note for note.

4

Perfect Double Bill: The Devil’s Own (1997)

Terry Zwigoff directs Max Minghella, Sophia Myles and John Malkovich in this campus comedy where an art student finds themselves enrolled in a ghetto of an art college.

This wants to be a satire but I’m not sure it really has the right concentration at what it wants to lampoon. Firstly, John Water’s Pecker did this all far more jollily, with dirty affection. Secondly, the serial killer subplot distracts from what we bought a ticket for, a key sign that Clowes / Zigoff didn’t think there was enough here as a one-of-a-kind experience. Thirdly, as a quasi sequel to Ghost World (same source author, humour, attitude, style) this just proves what lightning in a bottle casting Thora, Scarlett and Steve all were. If Zwigoff just stuck to his preset objectives there is a better film here. Malkovich and Myles understand the assignment.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Pecker (1998)

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The Suicide Shift (2026) | Award winning short horror film | YouTube release