Kevin Costner directs himself, Graham Greene and Rodney A. Grant in this western where a Union Army lieutenant requests a posting on the frontier and slowly builds a kinship with a local tribe of Lakota.

Gorgeous, magisterial, humane. Approaches the wild west with the same wonder and fascination I’ve had with it since I was a little boy. Costner captures his landscapes and people with an eye that rivals Lean and Ford. Possibly my favourite cinematographer, Dean Semler deserves full credit for his masterful on location work once again. You cannot deny the adventure sequences when they come are rousing, sustained, organic and heroic. The buffalo hunt is unlike anything else ever achieved on-screen. Yet it is the intimate interactions that keep me coming back to Dances With Wolves, keeps it so high in my esteem. Watching the tribe slowly warm to Costner’s gentle outsider, their fear turning to patience mirrored in the wolf Two Sock’s fascination but caution around Lt. Dunbar. People looking for “issues” might read that as me comparing the natives to a predatory beast but I think Costner’s soldier is the wolf in this dynamic. Something the Sioux know to be innately fearful of yet in isolation one can learn to domesticate through time and understanding, trade and shared values. And it is a generous film, warm in humour and allowing time for characters with little to do with Costner’s lead their own moments to shine; Tantoo Cardinal as Greene teasing wife is particularly good value. An undisputable favourite of mine, though I do stick to the original three hour version.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Open Range (2003)

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/

Aaron Nee and Adam Nee direct Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe in this romantic comedy action adventure where a novelist is kidnapped by an evil mastermind who believes her latest trash novel might hold the key to a hidden treasure on a tropical island.

Owes so much to Romancing The Stone that Diane Thomas and Bob Zemeckis might want to sue. OK… so there’s a wedge of Galaxy Quest drizzled on top too. All the best jokes are in the trailer, the adventure and the romance never really find their rhythm. It is also punched up to the point of dubiousness. The film has to be 30% looped in post-production gags and test audience pleasing reshoots. None of which particularly are worth the effort. Give the stronger stuff room to breathe, guys. Trust your shooting screenplay and stars! Still it is bright and inoffensive. The top four big names (Brad Pitt has a neat extended cameo) all can do this stuff in their sleep. You certainly wouldn’t switch over if it came on TV in a hotel room. Sandra looks resplendent in puce sequins. Just doesn’t live up to the high entertainment pedigree it invokes.

6

Perfect Double Bill: King Solomon’s Mines (1985)

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/

Stuart Baird directs Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and Tom Hardy in this final Next Generation movie where Picard faces off against a younger clone of himself.

After this didn’t land at the box office Tom Hardy descended into alcoholism and self-doubt. Which is a shame as he’s the best thing in it and even he cannot save the day. Only his and Stewart’s two-hander scenes have any sizzle. Fascinating concept, delivered with zero imagination. Original cast members (nearly all collecting paychecks in terms of effort) and fans complain this is far too action oriented. As a keen viewer of intergalactic argy-bargy, I can promise you, it isn’t.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

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/

Potsy Ponciroli directs Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Haze and Stephen Dorff in this western where a farmer finds an injured man, inviting the deadly men who pursue the stranger into his peaceful life.

Solid lo-fi genre flick that looks fine and has the goods once the bullets start to fly. Tim Blake Nelson and Stephen Dorff both fit their roles like gloves. There’s kinda a historical ‘twist’ in the last act which is well handled. Reminds me a little of a faded out Budd Boetticher western.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Tall T (1957)

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/

The Wachowskis direct Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne in this sci-fi sequel where the survivors of Zion make a final stand against the machines.

This was released simultaneously around the globe, some countries getting it at 3AM in the morning if their time zone was unfortunate. We saw it in the Czech Republic in a wooden seat cinema under a main road, the trams occasionally rumbled overhead creating a primitive 4DX experience. All I remember is being very restless and needing to pee a lot. Welcoming a break each time. Hard to say I was disappointed as my expectations were low, but this really sank the franchise. A good hour is spent following nobodies, which you might say is a sly undermining of the series’ blatant messiah dynamics. The action feels really inconsequential, whether there is a star or a no-hoper centered in the frame. The big finale is juvenile and ultimately, given the reboot, ignored in the grand scheme of things. Both watches: boring, and surprisingly overlong for a mere two hour film.

4

Perfect Double Bill: The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

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/

Richard Brooks directs Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons and Shirley Jones in this dramatic adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ controversial novel about a corrupt preacher and a zealous revival star.

Natalie has just finished reading the novel and according to her the full narrative has been condensed and contracted to just the middle hundred or so pages. This contraction makes for a tight movie experience but it does also shift the satirical character portrait of the eponymous grifter into more of a generous two-hander. Jean Simmons’ Sister Sharon Falconer is an equally juicy and slippery character here. Towards the end she has the finest scene where she attempts a miracle healing and even I, an atheist hyper-aware I was watching a work of fiction, had a crisis of faith over whether she could pull it off. Now that’s great storytelling.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

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/

Leos Carax directs Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant and Julie Delpy in this crime fantasy where a pickpocket must help steal a cure for a love disease.

God! Carax is pretentious. His stories get lost in an aimless haphazardness. There are one or two wonderful set-pieces; a parachute jump, a night time run to David Bowie. But there just ain’t any focus. I’m starting to think either The Lovers On The Bridge was a fluke or I shouldn’t try and revisit that either.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Lovers On The Bridge (1991)

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/

Alan Clarke directs Siobhan Finneran, Michelle Holmes and George Costigan in this British drama where two schoolmates from a council estate in Bradford start an affair with a married man.

From the director of Scum. This always used to be on too late to get away with watching when I was a kid. Told with a pleasingly unjudgmental tone. Rita and Sue aren’t stunners or seductresses – they just want to have whatever slither of fun is due to them before marriage, babies, domestic abuse and unskilled work shut off even the opportunity to have that. George Costigan’s Bob is equally presented as a more decent bloke than you’d expect… he shows a surprising amount of spine when he isn’t being led by his cock. The stand out performance though is by Lesley Sharp as the hard-as-nails wife. The scene where she takes her less glamorous, less mature competition up to her bedroom to watch her change is something to behold. You are glad everyone who debuted here went on to have rich, varied careers. The film itself isn’t as funny or as sexy as its reputation suggests but it is quite brave in its dealings with marriage, race and growing up poor and female. Strangely admirable for a film about gangbangs with babysitters.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Ali & Ava (2022)

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/

Christian Petzold directs Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld and Rainer Bock in this German drama where a doctor in the Eighties plans to escape the GDR and is demoted to a rural hospital by the ever watchful Stasi.

As expected Nina Hoss delivers an icy but captivating central turn in this character study. Petzold again explores life and love on the run, his raison d‘être. While this probably won’t blow anyone’s socks off, it is quietly powerful and confident.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Lives Of Others (2006)

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/

Jean Rollin directs Françoise Pascal, Hugues Quester and Nathalie Perrey in this nudie French horror where a young couple get trapped in an eerie cemetery overnight.

Very dull. Nothing happens to the point of incredulity. Françoise Pascal looks lovely clothed, starkers or any state of dishevelled in betwixt. That does not a movie make though. There are one or two atmospheric shots that exploit the dank but sublime locations.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Cemetery Man (1994)

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/