Stephen King directs Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle and Laura Harrington in this sci-fi thriller siege movie where machines, especially trucks, start killing off humanity and one gas station stands alone in the fight to survive.

Much better than its stinky reputation – this delivers everything you want from the premise. Essentially Dawn Of The Dead with an AC/DC soundtrack and a lot of trucks instead of zombies. Yeah, the movie probably does get a little distracted by the 18-wheelers. The first act where anything and anything electrical can kill you is easily the best. But the rest of the movie is perfectly adequate Saturday night second rental fodder. Estevez makes for a fine anti-hero. There are some decent set-pieces and a great grafting montage sequence where they broker peace with the killer vehicles. The bad boss truck, a Green Goblin Toy delivery truck, is pretty iconic. I think the main issue some have with Maximum Overdrive is with some of its more extreme choices at the the peripheries of what works. Kids die graphically, everyone is sweaty, fat characters who take dumps sweat even more, most walls are stained or covered in ripped centrefolds, both Yeardley Smith and Ellen McElduff put in screechy, histrionic performances. So Maximum Overdrive is abrasive, it has snags the critics can get caught up on to easily. The core is robust. It still delivers energetic horror and hits the spot.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Repo Man (1984)

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/

Elia Kazan directs Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and John Garfield in this drama where a journalist poses as Jewish for half a year to root out everyday anti-semitism among his WASP brethren.

An Issues movie with a capital “I”, so wears its heart on both sleeves, but manages to be as thorough as it is preachy. Very good support performances from John Garfield and, especially, Celeste Holm.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Crossfire (1947)

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/

Kenji Mizoguchi directs Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi and Kyōko Kagawa in this adaptation of a Japanese folktale where two aristocratic children are sold into slavery.

Ripples in the water. A humanist epic. Every scene has a powerful emotional effect but with seemingly minimal editorial prodding. It is a big movie that sneaks up on you. Once the second half starts taking form, and we drill down to the eponymous protagonist, it starts justifying its “Greatest Film Of All Time” status.

8

Perfect Double Bill: A Geisha (1953)

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/

Mel Smith directs Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson in this British romantic comedy where a struggling American actor in London falls for a no-nonsense nurse.

You can see a lot of that virulent Richard Curtis DNA here in this early script from him but The Tall Guy is a jot spikier and has a bit more reality to it. Goldblum isn’t your traditional romantic lead, Thompson takes zero shit from him and that’s quite refreshing. Atkinson plays an utter bastard and I like it. The Elephant Man: The Musical is an extended comedy highlight, as is the messy bonking sequence. Certainly less abrasive than those Love Actually Factory’s later trifles. Nice Soho / Camden / Hampstead location work.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

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/

Kathryn Bigelow directs Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton in this neo-western vampire road movie.

Maybe it is a little slight. Maybe the two kids in the leads are a bit too bland for the band. But the scorched, bloody atmosphere of Near Dark is hypnotic. Having the Aliens reunion of Vasquez, Bishop and Hudson as a gnarly tribe of campervan vampires was always going to make this a cult item… but boy, oh, boy does the whole thing thump. Like an electrical fire in a slaughterhouse, only really funny. I can’t see a situation where I wouldn’t instantly rewatch this seconds after the end credits roll. Tangerine Dream soundtracks for every film, ever, please! “Finger lickin’ good!”

10

Perfect Double Bill: The Lost Boys (1987)

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/

M. Night Shyamalan directs Dave Bautista, Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Graff in this apocalyptic thriller where four strangers invade a family’s holiday home asking them to make a sacrifice to save the world.

Like most Shyamalan movies this is about taking a twisted leap of faith. If you can’t – your world turns to hell. If you can put aside your logic and cynicism, well… M. Night can keep making his extended spins on The Outer Limits / Twilight Zone. And I want him to. As even though he is very hit and miss, even though the deadpan, declarative style of acting he encourages is off putting and even if he’s not really given a chance by a big corner of film fandom… there is something quite worthwhile in the niche he furrows. The opening sequence between Bautista (exemplary) and seven year-old Kristen Cui is electric, full of foreboding and tenderness. Jarin Blaschke’s celluloid cinematography is lush and deep. The title theme by Herdís Stefánsdóttir and choice of credit font really sets the tone. Think Eighties VHS shop era sleeper. I’m not saying Shyamalan manages to sustain the thrills or keep you out of your own headspace throughout. But it’s a pretty rattling thriller at its peaks, one that could easily inspire the next generation of Jordan Peeles or Robert Eggers.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

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/

Jean-François Richet directs Gerard Butler, Mike Colter and Tony Goldwyn in this action movie where a pilot and a prisoner must rescue the passengers of a crashed commercial flight.

Surprisingly good. The action is handled with a rare sustained straight face – closer to a really good pair of episodes of 24 or Arnie’s swing at drama in Collateral Damage. Certainly Plane is never cute and that helps the intensity. Pretty much every movie Jean-François Richet has made has scratched a genre itch for me… and that makes me want to revisit his Assault On Precinct 13 remake with evolved expectations.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Assault On Precinct 13 (2005)

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/

Todd Field directs Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss and Noémie Merlant in this character study of a lauded classical music conductor who is revealed to be a horrific human being… but ultimately a human being.

Tár has the rhythm of a slowly dying metronome. It starts in big overlong swings, sequences that take up a reel, then they gradually shorten so that the finale is told in rapid glimpses. I’ve reached that regretful point in this awards season where I have got my favourites (Babylon, Aftersun, TG:M) and any gold bait movie released in their wake is going to have to do something pretty special to not wither under their shadows. TÁR is very accomplished and tackles some prescient themes but it didn’t hook me and I felt quite disconnected and wearied by it for huge swathes. Technically I’m not going to fault Field too harshly and just accept his long gestating magnum opus wasn’t for me. Yet I would argue you could start the film over one hour in and not really lose any nuance or plot. There are big issues about self image, gender, #metoo, whether the artistic ends justify the totalitarian means… but all are covered with a more compelling clarity elsewhere. Many will be drawn to Blanchett’s performance but she has always been a bit of a Streep to me… acting for actings sake, glacial, when I want a full fat genre movie with with a full fat genre movie star. I will give credit to the few spikes of unexpected horror (a jog disturbed, the neighbour’s plight, the black dog basement, the final surreal audience) but I could and did leave pretty much the whole meal on the side of my plate. Too cold, too calculated, way too long.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Notes On A Scandal (2006)

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/

Steven Spielberg directs Michelle Williams, Paul Dano and Seth Rogen in this ‘fictional’ coming-of-age drama based tightly on the iconic director’s childhood and family.

Nothing but love for Spielberg but his memories of a middle class childhood aren’t exactly the most fascinating. Unhinged but hot mom who he clearly wants to fuck. Steven Spielberg had envisioned Michelle Williams as Mitzi, the character inspired by his mother Leah, ever since he saw her performance in Blue Valentine… Hmmm! His fictional proxy, Sammy, easily gets whatever resources he needs to follow his dreams. Mild antisemitism from bullies, one of whom sees the error of his way in the narrative’s most unbelievable moment. “My daddy divorced my mummy… when I was only 17!!!” There’s not really a movie here, more a period drag episode of Dawson’s Creek… and I say that with upmost respect for Dawson’s Creek. Williams and Dano aren’t exactly stretched by the material… the only really fun performances are from an underrated Rogen, newcomer Chloe East as a nutty romantic interest and that last scene cameo. Now, the epilogue to The Spielbergs is wondrous, a real punch the sky, leave the theatre with a massive smile on your mush, showstopper. And there are half a dozen other decent scenes that are dotted throughout, mostly about amateur movie making, meaning The Spielbergs is never boring or as whiny as it could come across. Yet, he could have made the fifth Indiana Jones movie without having to defer to George Lucas’ mad suggestions for the first time in his career instead of this… Fine but inessential.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Avalon (1990)

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/

McG directs Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon in this spy action comedy rom-com where two CIA spies, who clearly love each other, fight over the same civilian lady.

How could you cast THESE three leads and make such a dull, rote movie?

4

Perfect Double Bill: Knight & Day (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/