Gore Verbinski directs Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Nicolas Hoult in this drama where a successful TV weather presenter notes his private life has hit rock bottom.

A filthy rich, often dour respin of American Beauty. Nice to see Cage and Verbinski doing good work in a subdued mode. Doesn’t reach any grand conclusions but might be better for that?

6

Perfect Double Bill: Demolition (2015)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Alfonso Cuarón directs Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Clare-Hope Ashitey in this sci-fi thriller where a broken man is assigned a refugee ward to ferry across a fascist future Britain of a terror groups and concentration camps.

A faultless realist vision of a dystopian U.K. . One that sadly rings quite true with the politics of our current government. The intimate “one-shot” action sequences are gruelling and technically dazzling. The whole quest has a verisimilitude that very few sci-fi flicks, outside of Ridley Scott, ever achieve. Owen’s career best role – a kinda crumpled knight errant who goes from ill fitting high street suit to shoeless immigrant without rights or a pot to piss in over a strenuous weekend. Lots to unpack. Might do a deep dive into it next time I watch.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Doomsday (2008)

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/

Lee Cronin directs Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland and Morgan Davies in this continuation of the classic horror franchise where the Necronomicon is found by a family on the top floor of a condemned apartment building.

I’m not entirely sure a Deadite should be this hot!? Cronin does everything right… especially the gore and the lack of sensibilities over who gets killed. Scalps, graters and chippers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It isn’t particularly scary or funny but it keeps moving to a rapid heartbeat right up until the end. Can’t see me not wanting to catch this again soon.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Evil Dead (2023)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Martin Bourboulon directs François Civil, Vincent Cassel and Eva Green in this classic French swashbuckling adventure based on the first half of Alexander Dumas’ epic tome.

One small confession. I ran out of coffee and had a short doze at the start of the third act. And considering this is the first movie adaptation aiming to reintroduce a bit of girth and complexity back into this much rehashed tale I probably missed a few important moments. What I did see was very satisfying. The perfect casting. The bruising, close quarters battle sequences. Every single look Eva Green’s Milady served. The fact that it was serious in its execution but still retained a good sense of humour within the easy camaraderie of the four heroes. This is an impressive production with minimal sops for 2023 audiences specifically, it is happy to let Dumas’ story and characters do the heavy lifting entertainment wise, framing them in a grimy yet handsome mood. Well up for Part Two later in the year and if they stick the landing this could be the definitive version of the novel. Like Villeneuve’s similar Dune diptych one key pleasure here is trying to figure out where the narrative is going to break off and leave the second movie to cover. Bourboulon picks the right moment.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023)

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/

Ken Russell directs Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson and Kenneth Colley in this extreme biography of Tchaikovsky.

Nobody… before or after… made movies like Ken Russell. There is nothing restrained by his filmmaking, no concessions. Here he frames Tchaikovsky as a selfish shit and all around him as wanting to cage him in. Homosexuality, incest, madness, death. And some of the most baroque, extreme musical numbers ever committed to celluloid. When it isn’t overly grim The Music Lovers can be a sumptuous feast for the eyes, marrying the classical music to the OTT visuals gloriously. Glenda Jackson is firing on all cylinders as the composer’s doomed wife. Her fate is so nightmarishly awful that it might be another decade before I can build up the courage to rewatch but there is so much great cinema squeezed in here that it will be more than worth the effort.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Tommy (1975)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Andy Tennant directs Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey in this romcom where a fashion designer returns home to her small shitkicker town to get an urgent divorce from her childhood beau.

Handsome fluff with a very busy cast and obviously reshot wrap-up. Frustrating to think that up until this point Witherspoon had been making really daring career choices. Thumbs down for Josh Lucas.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Just Like Heaven (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/

George Scribner directs Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel and Bette Midler in this Walt Disney classic animated update on Oliver Twist where the orphan is a kitten lost in Eighties’ Manhattan.

The songs are pretty toe-tapping, New York is well realised. Doesn’t exactly feel like Disney but does seem at least to be pointed in a modern direction. When was the last time you could say that? The Aristocats? The Jungle Book?

6

Perfect Double Bill: Lady and The Tramp (1955)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/