Michael Caton-Jones directs Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange and Tim Roth in this Scottish historical adventure.

Dour and damp. Can’t decide whether it is a romp or a tragedy. Pulls away in distracting directions. Tim Roth’s delicious bastard of a villain and some Braveheart-level spikes of violent gore save it. I went to see this originally with my Dad at the multiplex but we are and always will be a Mad Mel house.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Michael Collins (1996)

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Spike Lee directs Maxine McNair, Chris McNair and Helen Pegues in this documentary covering the murder of four African-American girls (Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Rosamond Robertson) in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.

Very sad. Lee gives generous screen time to painting a portrait of each of the children and the inexhaustible grief that follows their horrific deaths. There are some disturbing images in the home stretch that punctuate the message but make this a very tough watch. Don’t let that PG rating fool ya.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Get On The Bus (1996)

George Roy Hill directs Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Robert Shaw in this pure period long con movie.

So relaxed it might as well be horizontal and all the cooler for it. Three elegantly cast star turns, lush depression era locations and styles plus one genuine shock. This is exactly what I want from a Sunday afternoon consuming star vehicle. Just let them juice off each other. Shaw inches it in my book. A prime example of the lost art of grand Hollywood entertainment. De-de-duh-da-doh-dah… RIP Sundance.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

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

Derek Cianfrance directs Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst and Peter Dinklage in this strange but true romance about a charismatic criminal who, while on the run from the police, hides in a hidden space of a toy store and finds love.

An absolute charmer. Capra meets true crime. Sweeter than it is tough. Tatum and Dunst have instant, palpable chemistry together. They should do a whole series of romance flicks like this. Yes, please.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Place Beyond The Pines (2012)

Benny Safdie directs Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt and Ryan Bader in this true story from the early days of the UFC.

Three super strong lead performances. The Rock has never pushed himself like this. His portrayal of Mark Kerr is complex and unvarnished. Blunt is stellar as always. There is a little hidden tell about their mutually toxic relationship. She only ever wears monotone, he thinks she loves colours. Two people living a lie about each other. But the actual surprise is non-actor Ryan Bader. A former MMA star who you root for as everything falls apart with his friend. Safdie makes a Cassavetes / Leigh “actor’s movie” with a A-List stars and first timers. We watched this at an open air cinema in Greece and the weather took a swerve towards Baltic just as the first act started ramping up. So this viewing was a bit of a shivering grind personally and still it shone.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Beyond The Mat (1999)

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Paul Thomas Anderson directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor in this soap / revolutionary action movie.

He is a cinematic genius so expectations are always sky high. PTA tends to marinate with me over time. The first bite is always a first step with him. Natalie would argue Sean Penn’s hideous Colonel Lockjaw is the main character here and she may have a point. He wants something, has drive, a quest and takes action. Everyone else is a quitter disrupted by his wake of right wing bully boy horny malignant chaos. Penn’s performance is hilarious and chilling. Top villain. The code speak phone call, the third act multistrand chase, anything with Benicio Del Toro’s sensei. Yeah, yeah! Looking forward to watching again and seeing how I truly feel about this. Glad Anderson has finally managed to tame a Pynchon adaptation.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Inherent Vice (2014)

Stephen Poliakoff directs Saskia Reeves, Clive Owen and Alan Rickman in this erotic drama where a brother and sister start an ill advised affair with each other.

Feels very par for the course for this pre Four Weddings / Trainspotting era of British cinema. Funded by telly, dreary and with just enough forbidden nudity to keep you watching. If you can get past the criminal kink then this has some strong sex scenes. Everyone’s performances are a little too oblique but they look nice. Has its moments beyond the taboo bonking.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Cement Garden (1993)

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

William Webb directs Richard Hatch, Shawn Weatherly and Leif Garrett in this erotic thriller where a rich brother and sister are crazed killers who stalk a phone sex chat line.

Starts very strong with nudity and incestuous psychos. Then it assumes you have blown your load and doesn’t do much else but hangout in nightclub parking lots. There is a Nancy Drew style babysitter who goes from potential victim to Leo Getz. We care far more about her and the shameless baddies than the cop and psychologist who get the spotlight. Hits its contractual runtime and ends abruptly with a whimper. Shaft turns up for one day’s filming.

4

Perfect Double Bill: The Banker (1989)

Clint Eastwood directs John Cusack, Kevin Spacey and Lady Chablis in this true crime drama where a puff piece magazine writer stays to cover a murder trial when his flamboyant millionaire host is charged with killing his working boy.

Not as tiresome as I remember. Though as a teen I was probably expecting something a bit more Grisham and a lot less flaming when I rented the VHS. It almost doggedly does not have the thrust of an airport novel. More a Savannah hangout movie which is stolen away from the A-Listers in the second half by Lady Chablis. The Lady Chablis, also known as The Grand Empress and The Doll, was a transgender club performer who Clint gives a sympathetic and generous eye to. She plays herself and is allowed to vamp and be human as her mood and the meandering story dictates. Not that the notorious Kevin Spacey doesn’t hold the attention. He sure is a charismatic bastardo. I miss him in films and his part here is retroactively on the nose irony supreme. Bless his gropey little heart. There actually isn’t enough of him really. Both Alison Eastwood and Paul Hipp make you wanna write one of those “Where Are They Now?” letters to Empire. If this awards bait movie had captured the public’s hearts and minds a tad more in 1997 then they’d both be household names now I’d wager. But, alas, pretty much every character is queer or straight washed so it had no real currency then or has even less today. Compromised. One of Clint’s lost experiments. Did you know this has been adapted into an Off-Broadway musical? Best thing for it.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Where The Crawdad Sings (2022)

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Peter Yates directs Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Edward Fox in this backstage drama where a fey assistant tries to keep his tyrannical employer, a mentally fading Shakespearean actor, on the rails for one last performance of Lear.

A filmed play. My least favourite medium but given the theatre setting we can give this one a pass. Two full fat, high camp performances that rollick against each other. It is dark but I chuckled a lot. I wonder if The League Of Gentleman lads love this. The camp and mutually assured destructive marriage of monsters feels like a massive part of their DNA.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Noises Off (1992)