Lin-Manuel Miranda directs Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp and Robin de Jesus in this musical biography of the creator of the Broadway show Rent.
One middle class white man’s struggle to ask his parents to help with the bills while he follows his dream with tons of support. Yeah… I’m not getting why there’s a movie here but Andrew Garfield was fabulous as always and some of the bigger numbers are well produced.
Steven Soderbergh directs Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro and Brendan Fraser in this 1950s set neo-noir where a job goes wrong and two mismatched crooks angle for a bigger piece of the action and the price off their heads.
Filmed almost entirely with a wide fish eyed lens (which I liked) this has enough beloved character actors, tense moments and cool period details to hum and purr. Probably the best thing Soderbergh has done in a decade, feels effortless and exactly my jam.
George P. Cosmatos directs Charlie Sheen, Donald Sutherland and Linda Hamilton in this chase thriller where a political aide to the President finds himself on the run from some mysterious assassins.
Cold product. A poor man’s The Fugitive with unimaginative set pieces. Everyone sleepwalks through underwritten parts… though Stephen Lang does at least catch the eye as a sweaty, silent killer. Enemy Of The State and 24 both cover this exact same ground with far more pizazz.
Rodo Sayagues directs Stephen Lang, Brendan Sexton III and Madelyn Grace in this horror thriller sequel where the deadly Blind Man has taken a young child in and raised her as his own… but can they survive an even nastier group of home invaders.
One of the most explicitly violent mainstream releases in a long old while – cruel, bleak and severing. The movie itself is not quite as enthralling as the first entry, and I would have personally preferred Jane Levy to somehow have been returned into the mix, but I get the feeling this might build-up a cult repute all of its own over time… it is that full-on in moments. Not sure how I feel about the softening of Stephen Lang’s bad guy… “You either die a villain, or live long enough to see yourself become the hero.” Just ask the velociraptors or T-800, I guess.
Vera Chytilová directs Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová and Marie Cesková in this surreal Czechoslovakian curio where two young women try to behave as badly possible.
Go home DADA, your daughters want their time to shine. Joyous, decadent, playful, purposeful. A series of manic skits, many of which stretch the traditional narrative format – this gives Western contemporaries Monty Python and Richard Lester a run for their money… the jokes still land, the feminist intent is still fresh and the mash-up of animation and in-camera FX feel aesthetically revolutionary. This is a movie with a lot to say, that transcends its scrappy lo-fi nature and features two attractive lead turns from a pair of Czech ladies who spend half the movie bouncing around in bikinis. Banned by Czech authorities upon its release for “depicting the wanton”… which now feels like an endorsement no capitalist movie could ever afford to purchase.
Christian Petzold directs Benno Furmann, Nina Hoss and Hilmi Sozer in this German neo-noir where a penniless ex-soldier begins working for a paranoid businessman with a beautiful young wife.
Minimalist neo-noir with fine acting from Hilmi Sozer. Gives voice to the entrepreneurial immigrant experience, both as a perpetual outsider and marked success compared to the feckless, broke natives.
Michael Sarnoski directs Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin in this indie thriller where a hermit truffle farmer breaks his seclusion when his beloved pig is stolen.
More a meditation on grief and authenticity than a John Wick style actioner, this is full of gentle surprises. Cage delivers his most grounded performance in decades, yet there are still enough quirky wrinkles to keep the me me meme crowd happy. Has a lovely autumnal look, as if the crew used the soil and twigs encrusted in a boot tread as a palette chart. Minor but worthwhile.
Richard Donner, Don Taylor, Mike Hodges and Graham Baker direct Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Billie Whitelaw, William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi and Lisa Harrow in this trilogy of blockbuster horror movies following the new antichrist from birth to rise-to-power.
A beloved horror franchise in our house, The Omen is a stodgy, classy mix of past-it studio stars, creepy newcomers and grizzled extras traipsing through some very warped biblical lore to deliver us a cavalcade of Special Effects Deaths. Jerry Goldsmith’s overwrought themes, drab international location work and nonsensical timelines. It is hard to think of any other period when a major studio bet so much money and prestige on the least favoured of genres. The only way to approach this series is to rank the intricate kills… so here we go!
1. “It’s All For You”
Not the most spectacular chain of events in the franchise but certainly the most shocking. Richard Donner keeps the hot young nanny floating around in the background for a few scenes, never giving her a featured shot, never tipping the hat that we should keep an eye on her. Then suddenly she’s hanging herself at a birthday party in a scene that comes as a genuine jolt. Smile on her face, no hesitancy. Leap. Neck snapped. A crowd of children and clowns look aghast. Though some of the younger rubberneckers cannot conceal their enthralment. A pitch perfect horror sequence – hits all the right notes.
2. Glazing Decapitation
Iconic! So good that Richard Donner shows the glass pane swiping through a doomed David Warner’s neck twice. Just so those wusses who cover their eyes got a chance to see the fake head spinning in slow motion.
3. Bugenhagen Intro
The rare survivor of the first entry, Leo McKern’s crabby archaeologist is set up in a dynamic prologue for Part II as a potential man of action. After bombing around Israel in his jeep, he meets Ian Hendry for an al fresco chat. He catches this newcomer up on Damien’s devilish existence and those daggers of Megiddo (the only weapons that can kill the Anti-Christ). Exposition out of the way, you assume this salty partnership will travel the globe hunting the child demon. But no… on exiting an excavation, there is a sudden cave-in. Trapped in a tunnel, slowly filling with sand, the pair realise they shan’t be beating the devil any time soon…
4. Pecked To Distraction
Attacked by crows on a roadside. Eyes pecked out. Walking blind into a speeding Mack truck and then flung high into the air by the impact. I’m not even sure the lady in red who suffers this Omen II demise even needs to be part of the narrative. She exists solely to be snuffed out nastily.
5. Elevator split
Definitely conceptualised to try and top David Warner’s decapitation, this comes pretty close in terms of gore and its OTT execution. Again though… the poor doctor is barely in the film before the fates start aligning lethally against him.
6. The Ambassador Will See You Now
Part 3 often has a misguided rep of moving away from those trademark big Grand Guignol deaths. Yet it kicks off with an absolute barnstormer. The U.S. ambassador to Britain gets hypnotised by one of Damien’s cute-as-fuck hellhound. He walks blankly back to the embassy and sets an elaborate trap that will shoot his brain’s out if anyone enters his office. Then he calls Ruby Wax in. SPLAT!
7. Putney Spike
I used to walk my dog in Bishop’s Park where Patrick Troughton famously gets impaled by a church spike.
8. Switching Locomotive
Top Tip: If you are driven crazy by the thought that your boss’ nephew is the devil incarnate AND can cause fatal accidents at will, then maybe… just maybe… don’t stand on the train tracks when waiting around the rolling stock yards.
9. Massacre of the Nazarene
A kid’s ball instigates a pram hit-and-run. A priest absent mindedly drown a baby during a baptism. A creepy montage of infant murders where the followers of Thorn cause a series of accidents to kill off any boys born on a certain day. Followed by a third act reprise, where a mother is compelled to kill her own baby who has slipped through the net. The Final Conflict is full of cruel immoral shit like this and it presents it with a curious non-judgmental air. As if it knows some of us might be rooting for Sam Neill’s dark tyrant more than the incompetent forces of light.
10. The Bloodhound Gang
No idea what the monks of San Benedetto endgame was when they disrupt a fox hunt to try a lure Damien to his death? It ends badly. One goes head first off a high bridge, the other is ripped to shreds by a pack of dogs. We get to see adult Damien actively involved in a killing. He even rubs the blood of his latest victim on the cheeks of his new girlfriend’s son. Another follower of Thorn is inducted.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 