Maurice Pialat directs Sandrine Bonnaire, himself and Evelyne Ker in this French teen movie where a daddy’s girl discovers sex.

Very highly regarded and I’m thinking over it retrospectively and acknowledging all of the low key naturalism and Bonnaire’s sensitive arc. Then I remember why I am scoring this so low… the mother and brother’s over the top performances. Maybe we are seeing them from the 15 year old’s warped point of view. Grotesque, screeching bullies. But little else in the film suggest that that is the mode of the day. For me, their distasteful scenes kill a classic.

6

Perfect Double Bill: 36 Fillette (1988)

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/

Tom Vaughan directs Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher and Rob Corddry in this romantic comedy where a drunken holiday turns into a quickie marriage turns into a hungover jackpot win turns into a forced relationship…

Romantic comedy as reformed meat. Depressing, textureless.

3

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 Ford directs John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin in this western drama where a big time politician returns to the town where he first made his name as a law loving tenderfoot and remembers the violent men who would change the course of his life.

In terms of storytelling and cinematic craftsmanship absolutely flawless. The schoolhouse scene where the illiterate and under civilised discuss the Constitution with Stewart’s paternal authoritarian giving no slither of room for open interpretation is a powerhouse. That must have been electric to watch during the zenith of the Civil Rights movement. There are three fantastic movie star performances within – Wayne (never more masculine), Stewart (the future and all that is decent and depressing about that future) and Marvin (just a wild bastard man of a villain.) Woody Strode is cool as fuck too. The last days of the Wild West remembered and, while this is told in the mode of the traditional classic western, one can see the revisionist roots of The Wild Bunch, Heaven’s Gate and Deadwood flourishing within its fertile perfection.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Winchester ‘73 (1950)

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/

Sidney Lumet directs Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon in this filmed play about a murder mystery playwright who needs a smash even if it means killing someone.

Very meta. Have seen this live and it works better. Always nice to enjoy Reeve in a non-Supes role. The silly psychic character feels like a deep tongue-in-cheek choice that tears a hole in the face. Fun but not earth shattering. Side note – I like Lumet’s habit of working every year but alternating between big meaty dramas or crime pics and then relaxing into just taking a Broadway hit and figuring out the camera set-ups and which movie stars would work in an intimate environment for his fallow year. Kept him busy, stopped him becoming stale.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Sleuth (1972)

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/