Jeff Wadlow directs Lucy Hale, Maggie Q and Michael Pena in this reality bending horror where a group of buffs visit and island that makes their wishes come true and nightmares come-a-chasing.

This did not have my full attention, I nodded off a few times. What I did see was polished but not particularly tasteful. I never felt lost by the constant twists or rug pulls yet there are some good surprise character actor introductions. Any film that springs Michael Rooker AND Kim Coates on you midway is worth a watch. I didn’t see enough quirkiness or shock that I would endeavour to revisit Fantasy Island again to fill in my dozing blanks, nor would I write it off as unwatchable or unworthwhile. Uneven and maybe a nautical mile out from being deranged or inspired enough to recommend.

4

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Terry Gilliam directs Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce and Joana Ribeiro in this fantasy where a commercials director finds reality and myths and his past blurring when he revisits the locale where he shot a student film of Cervantes’ classic.

Sad to think that we waited 20 years for such an indulgent, compromised, dull and incomprehensible brain fart. The cast is likable and there are glimpses of Gilliam’s unique visual fingerprints. Yet not enough to make this worth enduring. If it was made in 2000 when Gilliam had his combo bar filled green with a decade of unqualified successes… who knows? I bought a cinema ticket for this. Watch the doc of the original troubled production instead!

2

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Ildikó Enyedi directs Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély and Réka Tenki in this Hungarian arthouse romance about two quiet slaughterhouse workers who discover they share the same dream.

Lonely people. Boredom. Flashes of cold brutality. Subtle acting and a passive element of mystery keeps this watchable. It will not be for everyone but it is directed with such unwavering vision that you do feel like you have watched a movie afterwards. Frustrating but admirable.

5

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Charles Crichton directs John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline in this crime farce where a stodgy barrister finds himself seduced by the American femme fatale of a group of London diamond heisters.

Torture by chip, sex scenes in basic Italiano and dog homicide. This was a favourite of mine as a kid. Much like Trading Places, you love the enthused ensemble so much you just crave the next set-up where some new variation of them will collide. The jokes in Wanda fade to the background, punchline is not the priority, the broad and eager star acting takes forefront. Kline goes full volume, Cleese is slightly wistful, Michael Palin proves the vulnerable monster and MVP Curtis is a mysteriously complex but still seductive hottie. The rhythm and warmth they create as they bounce off each other is movie magic. This has the larky structure of an Ealing comedy, the anarchic legacy of Monty Python and the bounce of an Eighties yanks V limeys culture clash. The jubilant, brassy score by John Du Prez is a hidden marvel. A Fish Called Wanda might not do much for audiences outside my generation but the nostalgia it evokes and familiarity it delivers is like a warm cuddle. A cuddle where a man stuck in concrete is run over by a steamroller and a glamorous moll dryhumps a rope while listening to Basil Fawlty spaff Russian!

10

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Leigh Whannell directs Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Harriet Dyer in this sci-fi thriller where an abused woman does not believe the controlling man she has escaped is actually dead, rather he has found a fantastical new method to be part of / destroy her life.

This is what a great night at the movies is all about. The first half is all creepy tease, the second cannonball plotting and engaging set-pieces. Whannell slyly evokes The Exorcist, Candyman, Terminator 2 and Misery in his most audacious narrative riffs and visual callbacks. Moss is TV’s finest working actor but this is her first accessible movie star shift… she sells the scenes where she is isolated, and smashes the moments when her grip on reality crumbles. The pair of them chime well off each other. More please! I want to discuss lots about the twists and sequel potential but do not want to get too spoilery. I may revisit this on the blog next year? So this week I’ll close saying I don’t think it will be a shock to anyone that an invisible man eventually is revealed. His design and movement is going to be iconic… a mixture of the T-1000, a golf ball and a glitching hologram. Some intrepid cosplayers are going to have a lotta failed attempts trying to recreating this new horror landmark.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Todd Haynes directs Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins in this courtroom drama where a corporate defence lawyer takes on DuPont, the world’s biggest chemical firm.

Perfect lead performance by Ruffalo. The insurmountable grind of taking on a multi-national and working through their paper trail and resources is chillingly recreated. There are surprising burst of body horror in the first half that drive home just how damaging the horrendous practices of the company were. These unusual elements push the film into a higher quality bracket and overwhelm any subgenre cliches. Todd Haynes is a director known for his arthouse fare; transgressive, quirky, sometimes confrontational. All his films portray humans pushing against a silently oppressive American society’s norms in small rebellious ways. This more mainstream work is no different.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Céline Sciamma directs Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel and Luàna Bajrami in this romance where a painter must secretly complete a wedding portrait on an distant island of a beautiful woman who does not want to be betrothed.

There is a thrusting simplicity to this that made me wonder midway through what all the critical hoo-ha was about? Both leads are gorgeous and capable, the plot has the feel of a fable, the feminist message is strong but it all unfolds in measured, uncomplicated storytelling sweeps. That purity is a weapon. The chemistry, the unfussy beauty of it all sneaks up on you. The final few scenes have such power that you realise you’ve been rope-a-doped. Spellbound. Affected. A great movie romance.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Anders Walter directs Madison Wolfe, Imogen Poots and Sydney Wade in this modern fantasy drama where a troubled young loner wards off marauding giants no-one else believes in.

Similar to A Monster Calls. Bluntly more fun than A Monster Calls. But still nothing to write home about. Decent production design, better than average child performances.

5

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Wes Anderson directs Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori and Saoirse Ronan in this epic interwar farce involving impeccable service, dowager seduction, prison breaks, patisserie chefs, perfect pastel mise-en-scene, thrilling chases, deranged shoot-outs, both Anderson & Fiennes funniest work and the priceless painting “Boy With Apple.”

“Zero: What happened?
M. Gustave: What happened, my dear Zero, is I beat the living shit out of a sniveling little runt called Pinky Bandinski, who had the gall to question my virility. Because, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from penny dreadfuls, it’s that when you find yourself in a place like this, you must never be a candy ass; you’ve got to prove yourself from day one. You’ve got to win their respect. You should take a long look at HIS ugly mug this morning.
[Takes a sip of water and laughs]
M. Gustave: He’s actually become a dear friend.”

9

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Costa-Gavras directs Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek and John Shea in this true tale of a US businessman who must search for his missing son after he is lost in the Chilean coup.

These days if a movie chose American protagonists to revisit an international tragedy you’d assume they would have done so to make the film accessible / sellable to the domestic market. What am I saying? They don’t make films like this these days. Here though, Lemmon and Spacek have been chosen as our avatars to highlight the US’ complicity in this massacre and so the damn yankees can see with their own eyes just how cold blooded their aggressive Foreign Policy really is for distant ignored nations. Both stars are low key and affecting. Costa-Gavras convincingly recreates the death squad chaos, you get the sense of what a random oppressive dystopia a country under violent military rule is. And if every character is under constant threat, and naive to just how vulnerable they are “in the real world”, it makes for absolutely enthralling cinema. This has long been on my watchlist. Glad I finally had access to it. Legal challenges have meant it hasn’t always been readily available. Testament to its power, perhaps?

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/