Edgar Wright directs Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kate Ashfield in this beloved British rom-zom-com.

As familiar and cosy as an old pair of socks. Hot Fuzz has way more killer jokes though.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Hot Fuzz (2008)

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Joe Wright directs Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller and Garrett Hedlund in this fantasy adventure prequel where Peter, Hook and Tiger Lily team up to take on the evil pirate Blackbeard.

Derided and unprofitable back in its day, this came out just before I started blogging about every movie I watched. My decade old memory of it was that Wright got the short end of a critical pile on. Yes… the over reliance on CGI is garish but also ambitious. And Rooney Mara’s casting as Tiger Lily did not read the room of what was culturally appropriate… but she looks splendid and actually handles most of the combat action. One step forward, two steps back. I was spellbound by the cacophony of colours and hubris when I first saw this on the big screen. At home, on belated revisit, I do acknowledge the flaws but the only true terminal criticism is the set-up first hour is so much stronger than the second half. If you fancy The Greatest Showman meets Fury Road but “y’know for kids” then Pan is worth a gamble.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Peter Pan (1953)

Desmond Davis directs Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave in this rich adaptation of Edna O’Brien’s early Irish novel.

The Swingin’ Sixties / Kitchen Sink hits Dublin. Awful accents, amazing framing. A slight May to December romance shouldn’t be this provocative, philosophical or powerful. The underdog highlight of the Woodfall series of flickers. From the director of… Clash Of The Titans.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Knack (1965)

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

Gareth Edwards directs Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able and Mario Zuniga Benavides in this sci-fi romance road movie where two strangers travel through a forbidden zone together, restricted to humans as alien gargantuans stalk the landscape by the Mexican border.

Love me some Gareth Edwards. He is one of the few modern blockbuster directors who guarantees overwhelming visuals and emotional beats. He is both maximalist and minimalist. A respecter of the big budget genres he plies his trade in. A hands on, expert SFX guy. Monsters was his calling card. A Before Sunrise that hides its creatures teasingly, even more sparingly than Spielberg did with Jaws. But it is way too slow moving and monotone to stand up to repeat visits. Job done. It opened the door for him to play in the enviable sandboxes of Godzilla, Star Wars and Jurassic Park. His way.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Civil War (2024)

Marc Forster directs Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko and Mathieu Amalric in this all action direct sequel to Casino Royale which sees Bond hunting down Vesper’s killers and uncovering a wide reaching geopolitical cartel that operates in the shadows.

I am not being contrary when I say I absolutely, utterly, sincerely love this one. It looks lush, the dialogue is pared back (thanks writer’s strike) so that it almost feels like an art film in the moments and the bang bang is relentless. It suffered from constant online snark once they announced they were using one of Fleming’s more esoteric titles. Hobbling it within the groupthink culture before we even saw a trailer. And people who don’t love Bond didn’t get what they want. Boo hoo! They care about car porn, Bond having the rules of golf or a board game explained to him and a certain embarrassed winking excess around the tropes. I want a movie that accepts the villain should be pure howling evil, the women beautiful but disposable and the physical razzmatazz is front and centre. Go watch Skyfall if you want a legacy Bond for the casual fan. I turn up to every entry and live and breathe them for the years in between. BASTARD BOND! COLD BASTARD BOND! This is all the way up there with the series high points. It does it for me from scarring demolition derby chases around Lake Garda to the scorching detonating hotel infernos in the Atacama desert. The leanest, angriest Bond ever and an all action extravaganza. Just had a check, dickheads and 007 first and foremost is an action franchise. And Jack White and Alicia Keys theme song… an absolute rabble rousing stomper!

10

Perfect Double Bill: Casino Royale (2006)

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Michael Chaves directs Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Mia Tomlinson in this horror sequel where paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one final case involving a cursed mirror.

All the old tricks megamixed. Teases us constantly that one of the Warrens is about to peg it. The end of school celebration atmosphere is very cheesy. These flicks have long lost the fear factor but they are about as cosy and prestigious as mainstream studio horror gets.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

Ethan Coen directs Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans in this sex comedy thriller about a lesbian private investigator who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.

Goofy hard boiled larks. Doesn’t add up to the sum of its parts but is unassumingly breezy, silly and horny. Qualley oozes star power and Evans, Charlie Day and Lera Abova are all memorable presences. Just go with it.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Go Beavers (2026)

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

Joan Freeman directs Melissa Leo, Randall Batinkoff and Dale Midkiff in the VHS exploitation flick where a teen runaway lands in New York and begins turning tricks for an unstable pimp.

Roger Corman gave more female directors a break than mainstream Hollywood ever did in the Eighties. Been a competent crew member on one of his productions before? Well as long as the poster was grabby, there was nudity and violence contained within, then he knew he could sell it, he gave you a shot. Streetwalkin’ can be absorbed as straight arrow sleaze. Yet it walks a line between being non judgmental about sex work without glamourising it. You can put a roof over your head in the big bad city if you can deal with the pimp battles and creepy johns. The survive-the-night thriller elements often happen at a remove from our heroine until the finale. So we just hangout in the milieu. Future Oscar winner Leo, in her film debut, is unsurprisingly vivid in her acting, adding an emotional consistency to her farm girl turned lady of the night… she also looks smoking in the buff. There were a few of these prostitute thrillers churned out in Eighties. This is, in my book, the best of the bunch.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Angel (1984)

Elia Kazan directs Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb and Eva Marie Saint in this crime drama about union corruption on the docks.

Very much a beast of its time. All the sweaty method machismo and didactic preaching. It looks wonderful and the scenes between Brando and Eva Marie Saint have heat and hope. The classic Contender dialogue between Marlon and Rod Steiger still causes the hairs to go up on the back of your neck. But there is that unmistakable lingering bad taste that this is a movie justifying snitching. Nobody likes a grass, Elia.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Chase (1966)

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David O. Russell directs Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams in this fictional crime drama based on the Abscam FBI sting that employed conmen to root out political corruption in the early Eighties.

A sleazy and silky blast. Everyone is playing a role up at 11 so it is as much a movie about acting. Cocaine acting. Except Jennifer Lawrence… for she is just plain loco. In a really exciting way. The screen lights up during her iconic scenes and considering the talent around her, that is quite the achievement. I still think this is up there with American Psycho as one of Bale’s best performances. Pathetic but just self aware enough that you care. The Batman casting often sees him used by Hollywood as a go to gruff, macho persona. That never rings true no matter how many hours in the gym or scruffy he grows out his beard. He is far more suited to playing men living a lie. Patrick Bateman. Those twins in The Prestige. Bruce Wayne. This. That is how you squeeze the sauce out of his method intensity. I have seen this effortlessly entertaining movie dismissed as a Goodfellas wannabe. The period fashions. The fast edit storytelling. The true crime trappings. OK. Explain to me why movies shouldn’t aspire to be as good as Goodfellas? A sexy, comedy tinged Goodfella? Cool. Just enjoy the ride and Amy Adams very revealing disco couture.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Fighter (2010)