Paul Thomas Anderson directs Adam Sandler, Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman in this romantic comedy between a lonely man with anger issues and an eye for the loophole in a deal, and the woman who may be stalking him.

Most cineastes approach Punch-Drunk Love as a Paul Thomas Anderson project. After making critically lauded ensemble pieces that impressed with their prestigious casts, scope, emotional intelligence and technical mastery he decided to change gears and make a minor romance movie starring the least respected comedy star on the A-List. From Jerry Lewis to Bill Murray, auteurs normally wait until big name clowns reach late middle age and are well past their box office hay day before they begin casting them in their artier projects. Yet Punch-Drunk Love was made at the height of Sandler’s youthful box office ascendancy, at a point when he seemed to represent everything lunk headed and unsophisticated about general multiplex going tastes. You’d struggle to find a critic who appreciated his mode of cinema in 2002. I’m sure most contemporary write ups of this great movie were written through the snide filter of a tyro director utilising one of Hollywood rawer and less refined resources. Slumming it. A quirk. A prank. An ironic self imposed obstruction.

And I call bullshit on that… As someone who enjoyed Sandler ever since Airheads, and concedes he has tasteless duds like Billy Madison and The Waterboy for every comedy success, Punch-Drunk Love plays out a lot more like an Adam Sandler release than it does a PTA work of art. Sandler plays a henpecked, overwhelmed man child barely in control of his emotions and hostility. A veil of forced politeness smothers a bubbling volcano of justified fury in every interaction. The film is at its best when you can see all of his Barry Egan’s button getting pressed and the irritation of other humans not playing by the rules just rip off his mask, a hundred little consecutive unthinking pulls a minute. As with all good Sandler stories he eventually beats the system, gets the dream girl and puts the bullies in their place. It has a cast of quirky comedy insiders and indie darlings; Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajskub or Robert Smigel wouldn’t seem out of place in the regular ensemble of any Adam Sandler vehicle. The movie has the pleasingly garish colour scheme of a kid’s telly show or a Nineties toy shop aisle. The soundtrack repurposes forgotten songs from the Eighties (OK… I’ll confess…that’s a stretch as Altman, Nilsson and Shelley Duvall’s He Needs Me from the Popeye soundtrack isn’t exactly a dated banger from The Police or Thompson Twins). Sandler even spends a portion of the shoot at a holiday resort and fans know if he can crowbar a tropical beano into the middle act for his family and friends, he’ll definitely pick that script over countless other. The only way this is a departure from the usual Sandler template is that he never looks at camera, a self aware nod lifted from Eddie Murphy, when plot developments break even the broadest borders of incredulity. That, and Rob Schneider doesn’t cameo. The sincerity and magical realism and near psychotic slapstick rages that define a Sandler hit are all here. Present and correct! In 50 years time will people studying his surviving films even see this as such a huge departure or a risk?

Sure… Paul Thomas Anderson plays around with the mix a little, I personally think the director is at his best observing a closed-in anti-romance like here or Phantom Thread. The unresolved mysteries of the harmonium, Barry’s underused ability to fly and the hypercolour sugar sweet moments of narrative blackout all feel like they belong in a Coen Brothers movie or a Paul Auster novel. But if they did happen in a Dennis Dugan or Frank Coraci directed comedy you wouldn’t blink or ask to speak to the manager.

There’s a lot of looseness and openness that makes Punch-Drunk Love fascinating. Emily Watson’s Lena Leonard is an obtuse and mysterious fantasy woman. She shows flashes where she is just as fucked up and touched as Sandler’s Barry. You can imagine an entire parallel film where her whole unseen side of the romance could produce similar moments of primary colour tension, mania and overwhelming idiosyncrasy. Then there are motifs that become more apparent on repeated viewings. Why does so much of the narrative take place in liminal spaces? Alleyways, hallways, lobbies, airport walkways. Why are these characters trapped in spatial limbo, restless without destination? Is that why Barry explodes in toilets, phone boxes, kitchens and warehouses? Is he most dangerous when cornered, always needing an entrance and an exit to keep moving? Does he have to see the loophole? And what’s with all the subtle references to Superman?!

This stood as Sandler’s finest work until the recent, but equally frazzled and beautiful, Uncut Gems. He has so many great films in his back catalogue now ranging from the popular rom coms to SFX blockbusters to the genuinely experimental. Isn’t it time people started to talking about Brooklyn’s most successful funny man in the same conversations as Keaton, Sellers, Martin and Carrey? Or are the snooty middle classes thrown that he still sees the value in a Hubie Halloween or a Murder Mystery when people just wanna have Friday night pleasures? Because I can tell you no matter how put upon and soul destroyed he is here, or violent or deranged his reaction proves, we as an audience member are completely on his side and within his mindset. Every step of the way. Not many actors have achieved that through an entire movie.

9

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Cate Shortland directs Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh and David Harbour in the Marvel prequel espionage thriller where former Russian assassin Natasha Romanoff faces her past.

Marvel has had the proverbial red in its ledger for quite a while now. One of the biggest stars to sign up and commit to underpaid supporting roles within multiple entries has been Scarlett Johansson. More so than Robert Downey Jnr. or Samuel L. Jackson she has proven the franchise’s mainstay over various self imposed phases. After a decade on the frontline of team-ups and falling outs with the Avengers, they finally announced her solo adventure… and then killed her character off. This prequel, set curiously between Civil War and Infinity War, helps to finally fill out her much hinted at dark backstory while giving her a chance to hand the baton over to a future heir apparent. You might expect this ultimately inconsequential late chapter to either create a get out clause to Natasha Romanoff’s big heroic sacrifice or to be a celebration of a character and star who has added so much needed continuity and sex appeal to the ever expanding Marvel universe… but really this is a superhero tinged spy thriller made because everyone realised Scar-Jo deserved her own movie away from the boys and there was a financial appetite for it. Why it has come so jarringly late in the cycle is anyone’s guess -it certainly feels more essential and cinematic than Doctor Strange or Captain Marvel’s origin features, and is a more compelling release than that childish Ant-Man sequel. Whether you approach Black Widow as an orphan of scheduling conflicts or mega budgeted contractual obligation, it is probably fair to say it should have been made in 2017 ahead of other projects. Still… this is easily the best Marvel movie since Thanos clicked his big purple fingers. Catch it at a multiplex on the biggest screen if you can!

Once you can get your head around where this belated piece of the jigsaw puzzle fits into the overall picture, the lack of urgency and impact to the overarching grand narrative proves negligible. It is a really entertaining spy thriller which relies more on stunts and chutzpah than magic lasers and weightless CGI. For the first two acts this plays more like an action movie in the Bond / Bourne / Hunt mode. Maybe not quite as muscular as those series at their finest but certainly of that ilk. Bones crunch, cars rev and you are emotionally engaged with the bodies in flight. The sleeper family on the run prologue is particularly remarkable for its patiently escalating peril and getting young Natasha in the driving seat while introducing her “family.”

Maybe it will annoy the hardcore fanbase but Cate Shortland’s direction is notable for its real world trappings, generosity to showcase the actors natural chemistry and pointed avoidance to give in to the usual Marvel cliches over the first 90 minutes. That doesn’t last – the big finale takes place in swirling, weightless digital debris, the big bad proves a damp squib afterthought and the stand alone nature can’t help but hint at potential THINGS TO COME when it should just focus on telling its own story. I doubt indie director Shortland needed to really be on set all that much once the Red Room begins to self destruct for twenty long minutes but what she delivers before is pretty admirable. We’ve come a long way since we met the Black Widow cleavage first, spilling out of her leather jump suit in Iron Man 2. Who was expecting a decade later to see her in story that references child soldiers, FGM and the disposability and exploitation of young girls out with the white western world? Does it work as a kid’s movie? I don’t know, that’s another question but I appreciated the maturer, dourer and astute aspects of it.

Really though this is should be a showcase for Johansson to shine away from flirtations with the more recognised male capes. She does seem a little subdued, overly happy to share the spotlight with her new cast members. It definitely feels like her character who saves the day ultimately but maybe after multiple movies pitching so other characters can knock it out of the park Johansson is a little too generous here letting other characters steal the scenes. Always the team player? Or maybe just a little bored of the playbook now her place in the queue has eventually come to the front after so long waiting? If this definitely is her last hurrah as THE Black Widow, you kinda wish it felt more definitively her movie or capped her heroics off with a celebratory legacy moment that foreshadows her eventual universe saving demise. It feels weird we are all aware the closing scenes were written and shot knowing her P45 is already filled out and in the post but she just wanders over casually to a superjet as if she’ll be back in the office after the long weekend.

What an impressive support cast! The Marvel behemoth can afford the best money can buy. If I were Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone or the incredibly underserved Olga Kurylenko I’d just thank my agent for my new swimming pool and not get too bogged down in the sparseness of the part on paper. It is the double team masterclass of scene stealing from Florence Pugh and David Harbour you have to watch out for. Still at a point in their respective burgeoning stardoms where they still feel fresh to audiences, they grab the ungainly aspects of this movie and just run with them. I’m sure their best moments were scripted by a factory of jobbing writers as with all Marvel entries, but they make their quips and little personable bits of business feel more organic than anyone else has managed to in over 22 other films. You relish the scenes where Johansson, Weisz and they get to play off each other and walk away knowing that either could handle this kinda huge affair off their individual backs with flair. If Kevin Feige does plan to spin-off either stand out into their own solo jaunt then hopefully next time he won’t wait until a decade has drained all the essential juice out of the adventure. Ending on the ultimate positive, they make this a summer blockbuster worth booking ahead for.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Thomas Vinterberg directs Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Magnus Millang in the comedy where four middle aged teachers experiment with day drinking to see if it improves their stagnant professional and social lives.

The Danish remake of Men Behaving Badly gets the balance between laughs and drama exactly right. You always expect an impeccable standard from Mikkelsen when he is in the lead, but the whole ensemble here is on fine fettle. The unexpected but well set-up finale has to be one the strongest endings to any 21st century movie, leaving you on a buzzing high.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Christopher Landon directs Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton and Uriah Shelton in this teen horror comedy where the final girl swaps bodies with the hulking slasher and has 24 hours to reverse the switch.

Natalie has always chided me for not fully embracing the fun Happy Death Day movies. I think the problem is high concept mash-ups like those films and Christopher Landon’s new movie Freaky are so up my street it is hard for them to ever fully live up to my expectations. They are almost exactly my jam but they have unfussy neatness and brightness I associate more with afternoon telly rather than midnight cinema. The horror elements, for example, could be stronger here, the stalks and survival be just a little more drawn out. I don’t think that tweak would overpower the comedy elements, which fly thanks to a game Vince Vaughn. Freaky is a funnier movie than it is a scarier movie, so easily digestible and sequel worthy that, like Happy Death Day, I can see me rewatching it more often than films I would rate higher.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

So Yong Kim directs Jena Malone, Riley Keough and Ryan Eggold in this romance between two old friends who go on a road trip together before growing apart.

I could watch Jena Malone in anything but this was too slight and ephemeral to hold my attention.

3

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

John Frankenheimer directs Roy Scheider, Ann-Margaret and John Glover in this thriller where an industrialist cheats on his politician wife, attracting the vicious attentions of a trio of blackmailers.

So sleazy it genuinely is a shock to the system. Lashings of nudity, misogyny, exploitation and real life porn stars. Scheider convinces as a man who looks like a pair of well polished brogues but still can pull Kelly Preston’s stripper while not irrevocably ruining his marriage to hot Ann-Margaret. His over-confident protagonist turns the tables on a team of scumbags, getting them to in-fight and show their arses. His brinkmanship in a tight and increasingly deadly spot proves very watchable, the film expresses very few moral judgments on anyone. Rougher around the edges but it acts as a blueprint for pretty much any Michael Douglas star vehicle that arrived over the next 15 years, no discredit to Scheider but it genuinely is weird Michael Douglas doesn’t play the lead here. What really makes this forgotten gem pop though is the antagonists. Three very different but full fat performances from Glover, Clarence Williams III and Robert Trebor. All stand out as well written, juicy villains that the respective character actors clearly had free reign to inhabit with relish. Of course, Elmore Leonard’s source material always showers a plot with great secondary and one scene parts. This is a lot harder hitting than the criminal comedy of manners adaptations that followed a decade later. It really feels more a piece with auteur American cinema like Hardcore and To Live & Die In L.A.. Frankenheimer’s camera is constantly moving, panning, tracking, dangling… when it does stay still for a shot he is making bold choices like split-diopter lenses. It is an excessively mannered slice of directing but it suits the seedy, relentless plot. While it would be easy to dismiss 52 Pick-Up as merely a better acted than average videoshop filler, I almost immediately wanted to watch it again. Hence a generous score…

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Kim Jee-woon directs Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville and Forest Whittaker in this action adventure where a sleepy border town’s sheriff finds himself preparing to stop a fugitive drug baron.

This was Arnie’s big action comeback and it felt a little off the mark at the time. There were too many characters, too much exposition, not nearly enough Arnie. What there is though is great, after all that laborious setting up you get a more than generous wallop of carnage, with the beloved T-800 front and centre, playing a relatively human character. There’s a nice broad sense of humour near constantly at play that is very inviting. It looks gorgeous thanks to Kim Jee-woon unique eye for action and mythology. If you are a fan of Westerns than you’ll appreciate the plotting and form. Now it seems like we won’t be getting that many more pure Arnie action extravaganzas, this proves more than satisfactory in hindsight.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Jonathan Glazer directs Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams and Adam Pearson in this British kitchen sink sci-fi art movie where an alien drives a van in and around Glasgow, hoping to pick up men using her attractive human guise.

I can spend thousands of words in these reviews name checking who brought it to a production or noting who hampered it. I find assigning blame and celebrating individual success the best way to catalogue a release’s merits and faults. So, for example, in this striking and often disturbing one-off it is easy to praise Glazer’s Kubrick-ian mastery, Mica Levi’s hauntingly otherworldly anti-score and Johansson’s bravely unguarded physical approach. Yet the person I want to namecheck the most is my friend, James Mason. As the one person who has a massive impact on how I absorb a cinematic trip is who I watch the film with. I know going to see a slasher, musical or Disney movie with my wife will be a heightened experience due to her enthusiasm for those particular forms. The pleasure of watching a Bond sequel with my boy Davey or the new Star Wars release with my niece and nephew or Jerry Maguire with my mum creates a frisson that elevate a film, focuses the creatives’ best intentions so that they leave a harder footprint on both viewers. Watching the right film with the right person is a life event, forever gilding those particular 120 minutes into your pantheon of beloved movies. James’ response to art, philosophy, body horror and the discombobulating mundaneness of the driving scenes MADE Under the Skin for me. I wouldn’t care about the film quite so much if hadn’t seen it with someone who wears simultaneously both a hard leather jacket and a soft cardigan underneath as a point of pride. Who engages with art with a tactile but educated understanding. I don’t think Under The Skin is a truly perfect movie; those full frontal nudity scenes are unnervingly sexless, it can be esoteric to the point of redundancy. But I first watched it with the right cinema buddy and therefore it means more to me than a five star entertainment.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Stephan Rick directs Patrick John Fleuger, Val Kilmer and Colby Minifie in this horror thriller where three janitors of a sprawling apartment building investigate and suspect each other during a rash of murders and disappearances.

Simultaneously glossy and cheap looking, this has little resemblance to reality. If you cared about any of it, you’d question every single writing and performance choice. Some of it is in service of a relatively well obscured twist. At least the killer’s eventual reveal doesn’t feel like a complete cheat but it does leave more questions than answers. This is not an experience you’ll want to revisit again though afterwards. Val Kilmer’s role is especially hard to get one’s head around. His heavily accented dialogue is all dubbed in due to his throat cancer. This gives his moments an echo of giallo about them, a mood you wish the filmmakers aped more given the often bonkers nature of the plotting. Doesn’t make the movie any better or worse but a happy accident in a pretty forgettable, awful release.

2

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/

Christophe Honoré directs Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet in this French teen drama where the arrival of a sexy orphan disrupts the various affairs and romances in a posh Paris secondary school.

Based on an 17th century novel but Clueless it ain’t. Everyone be fucking everyone yet this yields minimal nudity and no home life scenes. These characters live their drab little existences in the school courtyard or on street corners. It is winter, get into a bedroom, any bedroom, and enjoy your youth! Boring.

4

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point 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/