Álex de la Iglesia directs Álex Angulo, Armando De Razza and Santiago Segura in this Spanish supernatural comedy where a priest goes to Madrid to stop the birth of the antichrist.

An opening sequence where a priest commits loads of street sins to attract Satanists. A high wire spectacle where the three unlikely wisemen dangle off a famous landmark to escape capture. A monstrous SFX finale. Works best as an inverted Christmas black comedy. Just that smidge too random, too jerkily paced and too of its time to chime as a suspense piece. Some wonderfully whacked characters are introduced for minimal screentime but the central three have a nice ricochet to them once together.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Acción Mutante (1993)

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

Phil Traill directs Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick and Bill Bailey in this romantic comedy sports film set around snowboarding at an expensive ski resort.

Originality and unpredictability be damned, this gets the job done. Chicken Cottage receives some serious airtime but deserving future star Jones is the main product ultimately being marketed. Sold!

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Aeronauts (2019)

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David Lean directs John Mills, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness in this Charles Dickens adaptation where an orphan boy comes into the good life from a mysterious benefactor.

Possibly the definitive Dickens adaptation. Maximum story, minimal fat. Lean understands what the big set pieces are (Magwitch in the graveyard, falling for Estella, Joe’s visit, smuggling the benefactor to the packet ship, Havisham’s fiery demise) and races through the revelations and coincidences so as to allow enough room to realise them perfectly. Feels really cinematic but never relents on the prestige. Australian cinematographer Robert Krasker makes the opening sequence an indelible expressionistic nightmare of guilt and threat. Finlay Currie is perfectly cast as Magwitch and both actresses who play Estella are uncommonly beautiful… as they need to be.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Oliver Twist (1948)

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

Yorgos Lanthimos directs Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe in this steampunk sci-fi sex satire where a mad scientist puts a baby’s brain in their dead mother’s corpse then she discovers fucking and the cruel realities of the world.

If The Favourite was Lanthimos’ Barry Lyndon, then Poor Things is his Clockwork Orange. Frankenstein by way of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Recreating big fake sets and baroque mise-en-scene of Neo-Expressionistic masters like Gilliam or Lynch. A sex romp that takes place in an unreality that feels historically accurate. Is it feminist? Is it socialist? Does the movie based on a nationalist author’s novel really celebrate any “isms”? All I know it is bawdy and silly and brutally cutting. Sex and humanity are carved a new one. Emma Stone gives her finest comedy performance, worthy of Peter Sellers. Her creation feels pregnant with complexity and import. Squish. Squish. Squish. Ruffalo’s cad and Kathryn Hunter’s amused brothel Madame are also award worthy. Prestige cinema with nudity, gore, hybrid beasts, SFX, short skirts, peephole bras, dead genitals, unnecessary surgery, gastric bubbles, cynical men, poverty, various male cages and fairy tale twists and turns.

9

Perfect Double Bill: The Favourite (2018)

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David Ayer directs Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Jeremy Irons in this action flick where a retired secret special ops “righter of wrongs” has his time keeping bees interrupted by institutional corruption that goes to the highest level.

Obviously has London filling in for America. Oscillates between cartoonish and maudlin. Statham really just plays an unstoppable, near silent cypher here… which is hardly the best use of his strengths. The action is violent but repetitive. It feels like the same call centre set piece gets stuck on a loop but at least the last iteration ends with a gory elevator switcheroo that made me sit bolt upright. The investigating FBI partners have a nice energy together. Popcorn-wise The Beekeeper scratches a multiplex itch I enjoy being scratched by any old tosh but I’d prefer it if any other potential The Stath franchise got another entry over this.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Safe (2012)

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

Antti Jokinen directs Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Christopher Lee in this chiller where a recently dumped doctor bags a dream apartment only to discover the hunky building owner is doing more than fixing the place up behind the scenes.

Strange that Hammer Studios chose this near ambient, mahogany retread of Sliver to reboot their brand rather than a period monster flick. Dracula, Frankenstein and She are what everyone associates the words ‘Hammer Horror’ with yet the studio out in Bray made plenty of flat thrillers like this too in their heyday. At least Christopher Lee is back in what amounts to a glorified legacy cameo. That is also the third biggest part. Essentially a two hander between two very beautiful, ultra charismatic B-listers, the tension doesn’t come from when she’ll find out what her landlord is up to… but whether she’ll care. There’s a far more exciting movie to be had if her reaction wasn’t the most obvious one. Or if there were a few more characters to get ground up before she twigs all is not dreamy in her dream home. Still this is undeniably attractive to look at so you can just let it wash over you.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Hunt (2020)

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Leonard Nimoy directs William Shatner, DeForest Kelley and Christopher Lloyd in this direct sequel to Wrath of Khan.

The one we had on VHS therefore I have a huge soft spot for it. More a drama about grief in space than a rousing adventure I really like it. Kirk plays a to the death chess game against some Klingon separatists. It gets quite intense. And then the ending is really heartfelt.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)

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

Rian Johnson directs Daniel Craig, Edward Norton and Kate Hudson in this murder mystery set on tech billionaire private island.

As much a lampoon on the 1%-ers as a Poirot update, Johnson’s Benoit Blanc movies are starting to find their groove. Knives Out was overhyped and pretty basic but this has some more unpredictable twists and a far more satisfying denouement. Craig’s bold character moves just a little back to allow the rich ensemble to stew (Norton, Hudson and Dave Bautista are all excellent sports) so that you actually look forward to him stepping forward to dominate the puzzle later. A gorgeous looking and knowingly silly update on the Agatha Christie sub-genre. “It’s so dumb, it’s brilliant!” “NO! It’s just dumb!”

7

Perfect Double Bill: Knives Out (2019)

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Joseph Zito directs Kimberly Beck, Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover in this slasher sequel where Jason is back to hack up not only some horny teens but the siblings in the cabin opposite too.

The entry I’ve watched too often by mere chance. Crispin Glover crazy dancing. Jason using anything but a machete. Corey Feldman’s room of monster movie props. Aside from these flickers, the needle barely moves.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Friday the 13th Part 3D (1982)

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

Mark Waters directs Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Tina Fey in this cult teen comedy where a new girl is thrown into the deep end of high school as she navigates all the cliques.

A soft Heathers but still very witty and colourful. LiLo puts in her best lead turn, the script has an emotional maturity without feeling like an after school special and there’s enough gentle weirdness to keep you coming back. Sure, I’m a little too old to fully embrace this one but you can tell why it is so highly regarded by the next generation without interrogating everything aggressively. Shout out to an early Amanda Seyfried who lands plenty of laughs in the smaller airhead role.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Baby Mama (2008)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll/