Pablo Larraín directs Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher in this biopic of opera singer Maria Callas anchored around the last week of her life.

Handsome but dull. Not my stick of butter in too many ways. I only have a rudimentary understanding of opera and Callas’ backstory but this is fantastical and incoherent in equal measures. Everyone talks in stilted sound bites, for example. Meh.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Jackie (2016)

Jesse Eisenberg directs himself, Kieran Culkin and Jennifer Grey in this comedy-drama where mismatched Jewish American cousins travel to Poland to honour their late grandmother and unpack some baggage.

The type of movie I wished they made more of, blessed with a sterling performance from Kieran Culkin. Having said that… this often feels like a Holocaust-centric Sideways. And like Sideways I’m not entirely sure I loved it as much as “the Awards Buzz TM” compels me to. I think Eisenberg’s witty script certainly explores the idea of modern psychological pressures in the context of unfathomable historical tragedies with a deft understanding. And the ending, where one character has a destination while the other is still on a journey, has true wallop.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The End Of The Tour (2015)

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David Dobkin directs Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams in this raunchy comedy where two friends turn up to weddings uninvited to party for free and pull ladies… but then true love gets in the way.

For the first act, this is Vince Vaughn’s movie. His motormouth loveable arsehole shtick really rollicks. And he is given a neat foil / love interest / nemesis in insane hottie Isla Fisher. Easily her best role and she nails every laugh. The focus shifts off harmless cons, colourful weddings and bad behaviour pretty quickly. We have Owen Wilson falling for Rachel McAdams high society good girl (the catch is she’s already spoken for) and this eventually leads to breakdowns and extended ennui. Fun, right!? The good time is over way too quickly. The crash takes up far too much of the movie. People were recently getting shot in the butt for comic effect and now… suicide watch? The finale is reinvigorated by an extended cameo from Will Ferrell (always better in small doses). This is one of those big hits from the first decade that isn’t actually hobbled by its now dated laddish attitudes but it’s incorrect hypothesis that we care about plot more than jokes. Still the lighter sections are admirably packed.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Ralph Nelson directs Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard in this WWII romantic comedy where a drunk boat hobo finds himself responsible for a gaggle of school girls, their chaperone and the fate of the entire Pacific campaign.

Light and pleasant. How suave can a whisky soaked Robinson Crusoe be? Very.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Donovan’s Reef (1963)

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Sidney Lumet directs Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney in this crime drama where two middle aged brothers plan a robbery at their parents jewellery store.

Lumet’s last film is a slight return to form. Seeing him re-explore his old safe stomping ground of New York crime. It is a bit cheap, so strange to see an old master reduced to making a calling card indie debut during a period when Scorsese was making your Hugos and Spielberg his War Horses. There is a fractured time hopping structure that holds few surprises. Maybe the inevitability of the downfalls is the overall take home. This is more Shakespearean than Tarantino rip-off. The stacked cast of gold standard talents tower over the material. Hoffman and Marisa Tomei being especially on form.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Derailed (2005)

Ken Hughes directs Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes and Lionel Jeffries in this children’s musical fantasy about an Edwardian flying car from James Bond creator Ian Fleming.

I’ve caught chunks of this often over the years, and yet, this might just be the first time I have sat down and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang teeth to tits. It is overlong and shapeless. There are some catchy tunes and I have nothing but love for Dick Van Dyke but this is shamelessly a poor man’s Mary Poppins in every respect.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Bedknobs And Broomsticks (1971)

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James Cox directs Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth and Dylan McDermott in this true crime story where washed up porn legend John Holmes is involved in a brutal drug den massacre in L.A..

Would this exist if it were not for Boogie Nights? Probably no. An all star ensemble slum it, this was possibly the last Val Kilmer headliner to get a wide international theatrical release, certainly the fag end of his A-List reign. He is rarely my cup of tea but well cast here as the desperate, unreliable and abusive former sex flick legend. The film is pretty unvarnished. Sad, degenerate and vicious. No holds are barred in its recreation. The tragic crime is explored from multiple perspectives (Rashomon style) which becomes deadening after a spell. You can see what they are going for, they get there, but it ain’t an enjoyable ride. Still admirably nihilistic.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Doors (1991)

George Cukor directs Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Judy Holliday in this romantic comedy where husband and wife lawyers find themselves at opposing ends of a high profile attempted murder trial.

Didn’t grab me quite as firmly as other Hepburn & Tracy pairings. It is cute, they’re still great together, but I had issues. I know it’s a comedy but I struggled with the court case not being taken more seriously. I couldn’t fathom what the point scoring proved to the final verdict. And David Wayne’s predatory neighbour is annoying as fuck. Spencer Tracy should have run him and his piano out on a rail the first time he knocked around. Co-written by Ruth Gordon of Harold & Maude fame.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Born Yesterday (1950)

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Mel Brooks directs Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle and Teri Garr in this spoof of the 1930’s Universal monster series.

Young Frankenstein is a strange one. If it catches me in the right mood then it is very funny. Yet more often than not, at least until the madcap final stretch, I just find myself admiring the loving forgery. The visual lifts and replication of the gothic originals are bang on. It also bizarrely reminds me of childhood Christmases. This always seemed to be scheduled on TV well past my bedtime on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day or New Year’s Eve. So watching even the first 10 minutes of Young Frankenstein at a cousin’s house or a party meant a taboo was being broken. These days I just enjoy watching peak Madeline Kahn or Teri Garr. They’re enough to raise the dead.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Blazing Saddles (1974)

James Parrott and Lloyd French direct Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall, Tiny Sandford and Dick Gilbert in these slapstick shorts where Stan and Ollie cause chaos trying to complete jobs.

I love Laurel & Hardy. Here’s the famous one where they have to push a piano up some steep stairs. And another with some of their tricksiest visual gags (a car is sawn in half, Ollie gets sucked through a pipe). Whatever violence they commit on each other, and the wider world around them, it is their chemistry that always wins the day. The comedy equivalent of a nice hot bath. Or a glass of milk and dark chocolate digestives. Or eating salt and vinegar crisps on your parents’ sofa.

10/9

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