Rick Rosenthal directs Sean Penn, Esai Morales and Clancy Brown in this teen prison movie where a young tough becomes top dog in a nightmarish reform school.

Imagine an American Scum. It doesn’t completely convince to start. The High School gangland stuff doesn’t ring true. Yet once we are behind bars that shock nastiness ramps up but so does a certain lived-in air. What is fascinating is that even though Sean is the lead, he’s kinda outshone by the ensemble. Clancy Brown makes for an imposing second string bully. Alan Ruck and Ally Sheedy are notable in early roles. A dude called Eric Gurry, who didn’t have a big career, steals all his scenes as Penn’s troubled but strong willed Jewish cellmate. Reni Santoni makes his mark as the one decent youth worker in the prison. There’s rapes, shivings, escapes and systematic brutality… yet Bill Conti’s score is way too treacly to really match the action. That’s one particular mistake that holds this good little movie back.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Scum (1979)

My wife and I 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/

Francis Ford Coppola directs William Campbell, Luana Anders and Bart Patton in this chiller where a family in an Irish castle plot around an inheritance.

A Roger Corman produced quickie, made to rip-off Psycho, with the leftover scraps of budget and production equipment from a biker pic. There’s very little to remember here in spite of a few generic spooky shots… the plot rarely makes sense. You know why what is happening when you realise it at least tries to match a few of the bigger story beats of Psycho in much the same order. Of note only as young Francis eventually moved onto far bigger and better things.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Burnt Offerings (1976)

My wife and I 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/

Larry Cohen directs Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark and David Carradine in this indie monster movie where an ancient Peruvian lizard god moves into the top floor of the Chrysler Building.

Cheap but plenty of moxy. No dashing hunks, Fay Wrays or noble scientists here. Cohen asks what if a real sleazy prick was the population of New York’s only chance against a hungry kaiju? Think Steve Buscemi as Mr Pink. Or Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo. That’s the energy Michael Moriarty’s Jimmy Quinn, a piano playing wheelman, brings to his unlikely lead. He’s oh so fantastic here, you kinda wish we got more Jimmy Quinn adventures. Him trying to con the wolf man, or brokering first contact with invading martians. The rest of the movie… adequate. Claymation FX are used sparingly but they aren’t gonna give Ray Harryhausen any sleepless nights. The New York shoot is down and dirty… they allegedly made the news for ignoring permits, getting window cleaners to dress up as SWAT guys and fire live ammo off the outside of the 50th floor. There’s a subplot with a ritual serial killer too that feels like padding. But Moriaty’s loveable little scumbag is the reason to revisit and he rocks.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Alligator (1980)

My wife and I 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/

Jack Nicholson directs himself, Harvey Keitel and Meg Tilly in this belated sequel to Chinatown.

There is lots of lazy filmmaking and storytelling that holds this back. It was never going to be Chinatown but does it have to be so random, scribbled. Meg Tilly and Madeline Stowe do a lot with a little as the femme fatales. Probably no surprise that the best scenes are Jack lazily seducing them or vice versa. Everything else is pretty basic, often feeling like not enough takes or coverage were shot on location for this find any kinda form in the edit suite. Not unwatchable but a sheer plummet in terms of quality compared to the original.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Chinatown (1974)

My wife and I 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/

Robert Bresson directs François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche and Maurice Beerblock in this arthouse drama where a French resistance fighter slowly escapes prison.

Based on a true story but it feels like we are operating in constrictive metaphor. There’s some tasks that take our protagonist months to achieve that no matter how painstakingly and cautious you did them shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. That gripe aside this is a very immersive experience that pulls and tugs at your own bravery, ethics and resolve with a surreptitious grip.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Escape From Alcatraz (1979)

My wife and I 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/

Wolfgang Reitherman directs Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson
and Junius Matthews in this Disney animated classic that retells King Arthur’s childhood being tutored by Merlin.

Very bitty but not without little spikes of excitement.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Alice In Wonderland (1951)

My wife and I 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 Woo directs Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung in this Hong Kong romantic caper where jet setting art thieves find themselves in a love triangle.

There are three big action set pieces but in the main this is a breezy, goofy lark that owes more to Hitchcock or Donen than it does Peckinpah. Chow has the time of his life being a suave clown… watching him with a massive smirk on his face for an entire film elevates the whole trifle. Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung make for a sweet couple of kids but the spotlight is always on Mr Charisma. Don’t go in expecting The Killer and you’ll have as much fun as everyone clearly had making it. Maybe the last few joke scenes are a yuck yuck too far. You can’t really judge the mood sapping epilogue too harshly though, especially knowing Woo made this with the tastes of a very different international market at the forefront of his mind.

7

Perfect Double Bill: God Of Gamblers (1989)

My wife and I 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/

Lila Neugebauer directs Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry and Linda Emond in this drama where a veteran struggles to rehabilitate herself back into civilian life.

Two very strong lead performances in a perfectly adequate drama. Neugebauer paces scenes strangely, holding on to nothing after the text has finished, immersing us in Lawrence’s brain damaged vet’s warped world view. You want to like it for more than it is.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Winter’s Bone (2010)

My wife and I 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/

Agnès Varda directs Bill Brent, Huey P. Newton and Stokely Carmichael in this short documentary charting the motivations and public reactions to the Black Panther movement.

Not even handed… but suits my personal politics… so I’m not going to criticise this snapshot time capsule.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Salut les Cubains (1963)

My wife and I 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/

Hope Dickson Leach directs Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton and Jack Holden in this British mystery where an estranged daughter returns to the family farm after a tragedy.

Dull rural drama with wobbly acting.

3

Perfect Double Bill: God’s Own Country (2017)

My wife and I 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/