Craig Brewer directs Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes and Keegan Michael-Key in this warm-hearted true story of a struggling black entertainer who risks his one shot at success making a blaxploitation film with next to no money.

A genuine crowd pleaser. You have Eddie back on foul mouth, big cheeked smile, hundred word a minute form. My God! It is like having an old friend rock up to a party unannounced. Snipes also is top value as the star / director who turns his nose up at the car crash production he has somehow gotten involved in. Now this essentially is a ghetto retread of Tim Burton’s superior Ed Wood… and one that maybe overruns by a baggy 20 minutes. In the main though it warms the cockles and jolts the funny bone with a pleasing force. Treat yourself to an all round entertainer.

8

Lenny Abrahamson directs Domnhall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson and Charlotte Rampling in this post-war period drama where a small town doctor ingratiates himself into the crumbling mansion of an unfortunate land owning family.

I get the feeling that The Little Stranger might be an experience that improves on second viewing. Not because there is any great twist that turns what you have watched on its head. More as for a long old time you are uncertain what you are watching… Is it a romance? A ghost story? A class satire? An out-of-time yuppie in peril thriller? A coded exploration of toxic masculinity? A paean to a dying way of life? It works as all but doesn’t truly settle as any. If you are a fan of Daphne du Maurier then I think you’ll find plenty to savour. It is often a coldly beautiful, quietly daring film. Yet you’ll struggle to garner an emotional connection with the characters or a baring to the mysterious narrative where you can comfortably enjoy what unfolds. Writing these reservations about the film actually makes me appreciate it a little more. I might return to this or read the Sarah Waters novel it is based on. The score below could rise.

6

John Carroll Lynch directs Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch and Ron Livingston in this indie where an ageing eccentric faces up to dying of mere old age in a desert town.

A mood piece akin to forgotten bums hang out gems like Trees Lounge, Factotum or Two Lane Blacktop. There’s more than little of David Lynch’s The Straight Story in there too. And Paris, Texas. Hell, that’s a lot of good movies echoed. A skeletal Harry Dean Stanton looks down the barrell of death’s gun, shrugs, goes about his day, being eccentric, meeting eccentrics and getting on with it. It is a nothing movie that has significant stuff to get off its chest while it rambles over some lovely imagery of character actors sharing scenes and a dusty town bustling with energy.

7

Mel Brooks directs himself, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman in this Hitchcockian spoof.

“Spoof”. One bonus point for Madeline Kahn, otherwise, dire.

2

Peter Mackie Burns directs Emily Beecham, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Nathaniel Martello-White in this British drama where a lone wolf Londoner finds her late night life of boozing, takeaways and cheffing might not be the mentally healthiest.

Reminiscent of Alfie in that it captures a side of London and a layered lead character that maybe both aren’t as likeable as they are truthful. There’s a lot of recognisable stuff here about city life, isolation, drinking and being over educated in an unchallenging environment. The blunt stop-start potential romances work better than the bigger themes of mortality. It doesn’t have the chime of a new classic but I was really drawn to Emily Beecham’s full on, distracted, self commentating, loathing performance. We have a new movie misanthrope looking for a better tale.

6

Ron Howard directs Steve Guttenberg, Wilford Brimley and Brian Dennehey in this sci-fi comedy where a retirement home’s residents are rejuvenated by the aliens next door’s fountain of youth indoor swimming pool.

I don’t think neither this nor Batteries Not Included would ever have gotten commissioned in any other two year window in Hollywood history other than 1985-1987. I bet the studios were trying to marry the box office and critical success of On Golden Pond and E.T. together in an arranged marriage of sap. “Greenlight that coffin dodger, old codger Sci-Fi schmaltz-fy, Joel!” This just about captures that unlikely lightning in the bottle. Genuinely pleasant fantasy. The close encounters stuff is well executed with a carefully shop-lifted Spielbergian wonder. Everything glows angelically. The pensioners go a-breakdancing and a-fist fighting comedy is well delivered. Soft sold yucks, solid con shots. Guttenberg is always an acquired taste as a comedy lead but I have a nostalgic affection for his rubber faced overkill. Dennehey impresses as the benevolent lead grey. In all honesty, either I watched this at 8 years old when it debuted on telly or only caught trailers and channel surfing snippets. Teeth to tits it holds up as a really tight entertainment, birthed from an uniquely unlikely pitch.
7

Burt Kennedy directs John Wayne, Kurt Douglas and Howard Keel in this Western where a dispossessed rancher assembles a team of ne’er-do-wells to rob the gold cache from the man who stole his land.

Takes the best parts of a heist movie and dresses them in cowboy garb. A boxy and rigid production, saved by relaxed lead performance from top stars and impressive on-location action. Warning snowflakes: As casually racist and purposefully sexist as you’d expect a 1967 John Wayne blockbuster to be.

6

Yann Demange directs Richie Merritt, Matthew McConaughey and Bel Powley in this factual Reagan era crime drama following Richard Wershe Jnr., a Detroit teenager who became an F.B.I. informant and crack dealer before he hit adulthood.

The American dream gets kerb stomped. An underrated 1980s nightmare. Stays on the grimy side and showcases fine performances from a stick of rock cast. Quality throughout. McConaughey and Powley put in memorable work. I’d rate this even higher if not for two niggles. The ending goes down the same tonal route as the very poor Gotti, in that it tries to make the incarceration of a career criminal seem like some kind of conspiratorial injustice. These nasty fucks are not martyrs! You wouldn’t want them running about still. And for a tale that exists in the black populated criminal world of Detroit, the African American characters are poorly sketched and often relegated to background set dressing. That just doesn’t scan right. If you love Goodfellas or The Wire though, this is a decent retread along that same cracked pavement in the main.

7

Chris Rock directs himself, Tamara Jones and Bernie Mac in this broad comedy where a streetwise community activist finds himself running to be the first Black president of the U.S. of A.

Very disappointing Chris Rock satire. Lots of SNL stars tried their hand at a fast food form of brash Capra-esque screwball during the turn of the millennium period. This is one of the most witless, jarringly so given Rock’s continually incendiary stand-up output. Tasteless running jokes are ran into the ground from overuse, Rock is left spinning plot wheels rather than hitting laughs. Bernie Mac turns up and elevates it all. Then he turns up a long hour later and pretty much saves the show. When he was on screen we were in gales of laughter, but that’s maybe 10% of a pretty uninspired runtime.

3

Pedro Almodóvar directs Marisa Paredes, Juan Echanove and Carme Elías in this unashamed “Woman’s Picture” where an anonymous best selling romance writer tries to write more literary work while coming to terms with the real state of her cold, distant marriage.

A weaker Almodóvar. The melodrama lacks spark while the literary intrigue feels wetter rather than meta. For fans only.

3