Ali Catterall and Jane Giles direct John Waters, Stewart Lee and Adam Buxton in this documentary remembering the fabled short life of the sleazy Eighties repertory cinema in King’s Cross.

A solid chance for some quirky talking heads to hang out and reminisce. I was just that bit too young to ever go to the Scala. Still scanning the shelves of my corner videoshop as it was shuttered up. The name was part of the British movie fan lexicon. I remember articles in Empire about its legal battles after showing A Clockwork Orange illegally. The documentary itself is a strange beast. Stephen Woolley is given minimal screen time and credit which is distracting given all that he grew out from of establishing the fucking place. What happened there? As a delivery system for some cult movie clip montages it works a treat. As for all the post punk bad behaviour… doesn’t sound much worse than what you might experience on a Sunday matinee at the Cineworld Wood Green… Bet they wouldn’t blink if someone did a shit on their doorstep. Paul Laight had more affinity with the cinema and his review is here.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Joseph Ruben directs Dennis Quaid , Kate Capshaw and Christopher Plummer in this sci-fi horror adventure where a young psychic enters a secret government programme to test dream technology and uncovers a plot to assassinate the President.

40 years ago you could make a completely original movie with an unproven star that straddled four different genres simultaneously. Imagine that happening now? I’m not saying Dreamscape does any of the above well… but just marvel at its mere existence. The dictionary definition of choppy. The dream state FX are garish but practical. The cast oh so 80s. They can’t really figure out if Quaid’s hero is fuck boy teen rebel or a preppy psychic Indiana Jones. As it never settles it actually grows quite boring. One of the rare entertainments where you look forward to the characters sleeping so a bit of action might kick in.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Enemy Mine (1985)

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Juho Kuosmanen directs Seidi Haarla, Yuri Borisov and Dinara Drukarova in this Finnish drama where two ill-suited strangers share a journey that will change their perspective on life, as a train weaves its way up to the arctic circle.

A negative Before Sunrise. Or an arthouse Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Cute in a grimy way. The acting is pleasingly natural.

6

Perfect Double Bill: On the Beach at Night Alone (2017)

Kelly Marcel directs Tom Hardy, Juno Temple and Rhys Ifans in this superhero adventure where Eddie and his brain eating symbiote face their greatest foe.

You might have noticed I’m watching less and less comic book movies over the past two years. It is proving harder to get much appetite for sequels to films that I only half heartedly enjoyed and soft reboots with no name recasting. The Venom series, while never stellar, always delivered one thing. Tom Hardy in Jekyll & Hyde dual roles untethered from any sense of reality. And this has that in spades. Yes… the story and the sets feel very Nineties B-Movie. Yes, the credited cast is distractingly British. And, yes, the final section is as meh as most recent superhero flicks. Transparent carnage. But I had fast food fun, as I always do with this quirky horror-tinged comedy branch off. As IP sluice goes I have an affection for these ones that might stand the test of time. Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Pedro Almodóvar directs Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and John Turturro in this arthouse drama where a dying woman asks an estranged old friend to be with her as she kills herself.

Almodóvar’s English language debut isn’t his finest hour. The settings are lush and the concept solid. Yet he grabs around at lots of disparate ideas and the experience is anchored by an unusually clunky performance from Swinton. Something is lost in translation here, too many moments feel like notebook musings that could not find a home in another story.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Broken Embraces (2009)

Aki Kaurismäki directs Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen and Juhani Niemelä in this Finnish drama where an amnesiac builds a new life with the helps of the docklands homeless community.

More blank faced grimness and eventual redemption. This one seems to have less under the hood than previous funnier entries.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Lights In The Dusk (2006)

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Richard Donner directs Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse in this action thriller where a bum detective is assigned transporting a witness to the courthouse on time and finds himself having to outsmart every corrupt cop in the NYPD.

The action is small scale but I think most Die Hard fans would have preferred things if this compelling B movie was tweaked to be John McClane’s last adventure. Willis is back in underdog mode, has to use his brain as much as his brawn, he gets an unlikely unwanted partner to bounce off of and the eventual redemption has particularly cynical Big Apple bitter aftertaste. It even gels with the downward spiral we witnessed back in 1995. 16 Blocks is grittier and smarter than the bombastic Die Hard 4.0 and the atrocious fifth franchise killer. The first two acts see Willis’ alcoholic schlub get his legs back and have to play 3D chess around Manhattan. The movie is essential 16 narrow escapes. Morse is a complex villain and Mos Def moves past his initially grating characterisation. The ending is a little trite but hey… that’s Hollywood / Donner. A mid range movie it is hard not to like, that now plays like the last flight of a rare bird. Willis in his prime, location shoot, fallible heroes.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Copshop (2021)

Alfred Hitchcock directs Joel McCrea, Laraine Day and George Sanders in this thriller where a crime reporter is assigned covering Europe at the brink of war and gets caught up in a conspiracy he cannot fathom.

Takes a good half hour to get going but once it does we get prime Hitch set piece after prime Hitch set piece. Assassinations in Amsterdam, car chase, windmill cat and mouse, penthouse hotel escapes, the bodyguard hired to kill you, the fake kidnapping bluff and a plane-crash-at-sea-mega finale. The artificial sets are a little clunky but this tastes very much how a 1940s Mission: Impossible might have been cooked. A lesser Hitch thanks to its B list cast but one that still puts you through the ringer. George Sanders is oily and self serving as the good egg you can never truly trust. You kinda wish he was the lead.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Saboteur (1942)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Mira Nair directs Reese Witherspoon, Romola Garai and Gabriel Byrne in this period drama where ambitious Becky Sharpe navigates high society in 19th century England.

I have never read William Makepeace Thackeray’s 800 page plus tome so I couldn’t say whether this is a good condensing of the source. I will say that it moves at a fair clip, was always engaging and I was never lost within the expansive ensemble. Nair soaks her take in colour, probably leans into the East India Company references a little too heavily (they stick out like sour thumbs by the end). It feels like a movie. Her only real failing is Witherspoon’s Becky Sharpe remains a bit of enigma by close of play. We have been through too much with her for her to still be a plucky cypher.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Pride And Prejudice (2005)

Robert Mandel directs Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson and Marc Anthony in this action thriller where a military trained killer poses as a substitute teacher to get revenge on the gang bangers who kneecapped his girlfriend.

Dangerous Minds Meets Death Wish with lurches at the Willem Dafoe subplot from Clear And Present Danger. The narrative erupts wildly. Instead of Berenger’s mercenary taking down a gang of youths, he actually uncovers a drug running conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Steroid camp. The action is dumb, there are way too many characters and William Forsythe isn’t in it as often as he needs to be. But when he is… boy oh boy… he is unpredictable. Keeps ripping off the score from The Fugitive. Squirrely enough to be watchable.

5

Perfect Double Bill: 187 (1997)

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