Jonathan Sanger directs Shannen Doherty, William Devane and Clare Carey in this thriller where an ageing dude picks the wrong young insurance actuary to start dating.
Not bad for a TV movie rip on Fatal Attraction. Devane has Max Cherry energy. Until he doesn’t and then starts making stupid mistakes led by his dick and his gonads. By the end there is the definite suggestion that he is as much the villain as the mentally fragile woman he can’t resist. There are limitations. The sex scenes are coy and the same camera set ups are blatantly repeated over multiple scenes. I watched this as a little remembrance to Shannen Doherty. Rest In Peace. You were hot as hell, exactly what a nineties teen boy needed.
4
Perfect Double Bill:Blindfold: Acts Of Obsession (1994)
Josh Margolin directs June Squibb, Fred Hechinger and Richard Roundtree in this comedy where an OAP tracks down the phone scammers who stole her money.
A sweet movie that made me laugh plenty. The points it wants to make are a little heavy handed but as blue rinse wish fulfilment it is funny enough to entertain all ages. Has that slightly heightened indie comedy tone. You know the one.
Chris Smith directs George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley and Elton John in this candid documentary about the Eighties pop sensations who split up at their peak.
Watched on a packed National Express night coach with an unhoused gentleman twitching and farting next to me for the entire runtime. The archive stuff here feels a lot more personal and candid than most collages of footage. You get a real insight into their unique position in the music landscape. And on a personal note I always loved Wham as a kid and 15 years after their break up their songs still got everyone I drank with on the dance floor in the pub on a Friday night. So I enjoyed this plenty. Both of them come across as decent human beings who hit the fame jackpot by making people happy. Good for them.
7
Perfect Double Bill: Bros: After The Screaming Stops (2018)
Richard LaGravenese directs Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Joey King in this romantic comedy where a Hollywood megastar starts dating his put upon assistant’s mom.
Unevenly paced wealth porn with possibly the most unlikable lead character in a long old stretch. Joey King’s self centred assistant daughter, who we are supposed to be rooting for, is just a terrible human being.
Thomas M. Wright directs Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris and Jada Alberts in this true story crime investigation where a petty criminal in Australia is drafted into an elaborate murky enterprise.
There are many switch ups and obscured storytelling beats in this maudlin, low key thriller. It is permanently hopeless and grim without ever showing any explicit violence. A true slow drip psychological thriller but not a lots of laughs for a Friday night.
David Cronenberg directs Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche and Paul Giamatti in this satirical drama where a young billionaire asset manager crosses the city in his limo all day fucking, taking part in didactic conversations and self imploding.
Sebastián Lelio directs Florence Pugh, Tom Burke and Kíla Lord Cassidy in this Irish period drama where a nurse is employed by a small town’s elders to observe a fasting girl to determine whether a miracle is occurring.
A quietly brilliant movie that should never have got shuffled away in a Netflix churn. Cagey performances by all with little vents of lust and escape. There’s two deeper ideas bubbling under the surface. The value of a life. And the artificiality of the traps we keep ourselves in. The tragedy is never dry and the drama moves forward with a heightened degree of tension. Not all questions are answered about faith, poverty, death, sexism and grief but it reaches a satisfying conclusion. Pugh’s first ‘proper’ piece of screen acting since Lady Macbeth made her an immediate sex symbol.
Tsui Hark directs Adam Cheng, Brigitte Lin and Damian Lau in this Hong Kong fantasy where a deserting soldier finds himself on a quest in a supernatural dimension.
Every physical FX, stunt works trick and Chinese mythical wonder is thrown at the wall all at once. Rarely makes a lick of sense but one foot follows another on an insane journey of visual totality. Sammo Hung has a cheeky cameo.
7
Superman III (1983)
Richard Lester directs Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor and Annette O’Toole in this superhero sequel where the Man of Steel takes on a hacker being manipulated by a sociopathic tycoon.
The naff comedy overwhelms this entry which lacks Hackman and sidelines Margot Kidder. Pryor is good value but his business seems so separate from Supes. Reeves does battle himself and a supercomputer. There’s just enough physics bending adventure to temper the clowning. Sloppy but still contains enough baseline summer blockbuster wonderment.
6
Curtains (1983)
Richard Ciupka directs John Vernon, Samantha Eggar and Linda Thorson in this American giallo where six actresses audition for a dream role in a secluded house with a killer on the loose.
Moribund and choppy. There’s a solid mystery hook and a visually memorable killer servicing something completely up its own arse with not enough money to call for a proctologist.
4
Easy Money (1983)
James Signorelli directs Rodney Dangerfield, Joe Pesci and Jennifer Jason Leigh in this comedy where a lazy, gambling, boozin’ photographer must straighten his life out to inherit a fortune.
A vehicle that forgets the plot to try and crowbar in all of Rodney’s stand-up standards as if they were skits. The story should fill a decent comedy movie but it only takes up 20% of the runtime. There’s a fantastic cast floundering in brash roles. Jennifer Jason Leigh feels hopelessly miscast as the ‘good girl, better chest’ totty. Everyone is better than this… even Dangerfield. The Billy Joel theme song absolutely slaps.
4
Local Hero (1983)
Bill Forsyth directs Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson and Burt Lancaster in this Scottish magical realist drama where a corporate suit for an oil company heads to Scotland to buy up a remote coastal town.
Mark Knopler’s transcendent score and some breathtaking scenery lend this a mythic air. Forsyth’s most famous work is a riff on Ealing Comedies, Powell & Pressburger and even The Wicker Man. Ahead of its time in terms of the holistic attitude to the environment. What makes Local Hero gently soar is the constant subversion of formula. All potential conflicts flutter away into bonhomie, while all victories are smothered by everyday reality. A hopeful serving of slow cinema, anti-genre with slithers of fantasy. Lancaster is overqualified for his extended cameo but Denis Lawson makes an impact as the little village’s canniest brain. All pretty wispy but it lingers in the memory.
Timo Tjahjanto directs Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais and Julie Estelle in this martial arts thriller where an Indonesian enforcer betrays the triads and everybody dies.
Relentless excess. So ludicrously ultra violent that it might just be the most merciless gory action flick I have ever seen. No matter how cool a character is they are ultimately disposable. There’s even a few digital era Michael Mann interludes of exposition on motorway intersections. Something else.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 