Leo McCarey directs Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer and Maria Ouspenskaya in this romance where two already betrothed people meet-cute on a cruise and arrange to reunite in 6 months once they’ve put their relationships in order.

The original An Affair To Remember. Watching it can feel a little like spot-the-difference exercise with the more famous retread always there on your mind… but this has enough of its own magic to temper the shared magic. It is all magic, after all. Irene Dunne is pretty special.

8

Perfect Double Bill: An Affair To Remember (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/

Paolo Sorrentino directs Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli in this Italian arthouse drama where an ageing member of Rome’s jet set begins to question his values.

Is there a better actor who has never once bothered with Hollywood than Toni Servillo? This could be a spiritual sequel to La Dolce Vita catching up with a figure similar to Marcello Mastroianni’s vain journalist 40 years later. His lifestyle is corrupt, grotesque and flamboyant. A preserved mockery of pleasure and decadence. And he begins to explore alternatives, taking small steps away from his bitchy yet powerful clique, steps that might damage his public image. The movie overstays its welcome ever so slightly but nobody does a jarring party sequence like Sorrentino – and this has bundles. Skewers Italian high society with flair.

7

Perfect Double Bill: La Dolce Vita (1960)

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/

Dwight H. Little directs Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris in this slasher sequel where Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield.

Better than its reputation. If you rented a Halloween sequel at random then this is probably the closest to what you might imagine an entry that doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel might look like. So it delivers solid thrills. Child star Danielle Harris is a good addition, the third act siege sequence is well handled… very reminiscent of series progenitor John Carpenter. There’s enough to like if very little to marvel at. The ending is a genuine doozy.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989)

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 Rudolph directs Nick Nolte, Julie Christie and Lara Flynn Boyle in this farce drama about two couples who have affairs with each other.

Tedious and flat. Rich people with rich people problems. Christie looks regal.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Playing By Heart (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/

George Miller directs Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton and Aamito Lagum in this romantic fantasy where a lonely academic finds a genie in a bottle and listens to his tales of love and adventure.

Rich and juicy fairytale cinema. Exactly my kinda jam. Both stars probably do their career best work, the FX are quirky and memorable. Has a strong sense of the mythic and the tragic and the absurd. Glad to have seen this on the big screen.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Tale of Tales (2016)

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/

Ridley Scott directs Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers and Lorraine Bracco in this thriller where a rookie NYC detective is assigned guard duty for a beautiful socialite who has witnessed a murder.

As a thriller, pretty basic. Ridley makes sure this looks fantastic, turning the upper east side into a fantasia of mirrors and beams of diffused light. Yet this never can overcome the fact that no man would ever cheat on Lorraine Bracco. Stretches credulity to suggest so.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Sliver (1993)

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/

Alfred Hitchcock directs Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin and Karin Dor in this spy thriller where a French diplomat tries to avert the Cuban Missile Crisis and uncover a Soviet Spy Ring embedded in his government.

Dry and unfocused. This feels like pretty weak tea, stewed yet watery, especially in the age of James Bond and Harry Palmer. Hitch struggles to make us care about characters without A-List stars at his disposal, though Dany Robin as the capable wife makes a good impression… then she is sidelined for the middle hour… whoops! It trots the globe but rarely feels exotic. A near silent, stretched out defection prologue sets things up nicely. There’s a good set piece in a New York hotel occupied by the Cuban delegation (one of many where the hero has minimal involvement?!) and a glorious shot where a glamorous lady is executed. Considering this is over two hours plus long though that is really picking the bones of the carcass to find any meat worth tasting. A rare misfire.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Torn Curtain (1966)

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/

Brian De Palma directs John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich and Steven Bauer in this meta-thriller where a child psychologist lives a life of multiple personalities, some deadly; meanwhile his wife rekindles an affair.

Batshit mental… but a lorra lorra of larks. I haven’t watched this in over 30 years but nearly all of the tricksy, showy showy set pieces have remained lodged in my memory banks ever since then. It is a strong flavour. You really need to not care about the plot and traditional, rational, storytelling to enjoy it. De Palma revisits Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo and his own Dressed To Kill and just dicks around in them relentlessly. We get a dream sequence full of shocks and reboots. A finale that flat-out remixes one of his finest set pieces in The Untouchables. And that Steadicam exposition scene, where even the expert gets lost in the physical twists and turns, is a hoot. So Raising Cain is an exercise, is pure celluloid tomfoolery, with nothing new to say. I reckon if this was your first De Palma experience it would either blow you away or turn you off him for life. It makes for a discombobulating Saturday night. And Davidovich and Lithgow are really good sports throughout.

7

Perfect Double Bill: In the Cut (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/

Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs Yū Aoi, Issey Takahashi and Masahiro Higashide in this Japanese period espionage drama where a wife begins to suspect her well to do husband of treachery against the state.

A couple of neat minor set pieces but the digital lensing of the 1940s setting looks really ugly. Which is a shame as some of the detailing and the casting would be quite handsome. Not one of the usually fascinating Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s more interesting works.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Journey To The Shore (2015)

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/

Nigel Wingrove directs Louise Downie, Elisha Scott and Dan Fox in this short erotic fantasy where Saint Teresa of Ávila dreams of getting jiggy with the body of Jesus on the cross.

Banned in the U.K. by the BBFC for its blasphemous content, a school teacher (and freedom of speech campaigner) lost his job for selling VHS copies of this from his car boot. It mainly exists as a provocation. But it looks well made and can be quite sexy… if overly repetitive. Expect lots of milky flesh lingered on and writhing. Only really important historically rather than artistically.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Nuns On the Run (1990)

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/