Lee Chang-dong directs Yoon Jeong-hee, Lee David and Kim Hee-ra in this South Korean drama where a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease becomes embroiled in a scandal.

Yang Mi-ja just wants to take up poetry. The outside world wants to bring her back to reality with shocking revelations and impossible choices. Is poetry not the act of noticing what can be ignored or putting into words life’s beauty? Adding formalism to the everything one must encounter and process? A really involving drama, told with a lack of sensationalism (even though it can be honestly brutal in moments). An almost pastoral sense of not fitting in with the community and class systems one must navigate.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Burning (2018)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery and Art Stevens direct Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor and Joe Flynn in this Disney animated adventure where two mice rescue a missing orphan.

A movie that has been a part of my cinematic consciousness before I even really knew what a movie was. The set pieces are really strong and Bernard and Bianca are a very pleasurable double act. Sexy lady mouse. The movie feels tinged with a permanent sadness we’ve not experienced in a Disney cartoon before. That beautiful if morose atmosphere does carry over into the next few entries, with diminishing returns, but here it adds a curious flavour that I’m not entirely for or against.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Chris Sivertson directs Christina Ricci, Santino Barnard and Don Durrell in this indie horror movie where a Fifties housewife on the run settles at a house by the lake with dark secrets.

So… oh so… many production companies kicked in a penny each to produce something dull and uninspired. Ricci looks bored throughout. There is mystery and there are twists but not in a compelling way. Ambient horror, cheap horror, horror-free horror.

2

Perfect Double Bill: After.Life (2009)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Janicza Bravo directs Taylour Paige, Riley Keough and Colman Domingo in this movie based on a thread of tweets about a weekend of stripping gone wrong.

So THIS is modern cinema. Nah!

4

Perfect Double Bill: Spring Breakers (2012)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
― Arnold Schwarzenegger

Hercules in New York (1970)

The Long Goodbye (1973) 👍👍        

Stay Hungry (1976)

Pumping Iron (1977)                     

The Villain (1979)

Scavenger Hunt (1979)  

Conan the Barbarian (1982)     

Conan the Destroyer (1984)        

The Terminator (1984) 👍👍             

Red Sonja (1985)                            

Commando (1985)  👍        

Raw Deal (1986)              

Predator (1987) 👍👍

The Running Man (1987) 👍

Red Heat (1988)

Twins (1988)   

Total Recall (1990) 👍👍

Kindergarten Cop (1990)             

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 👍👍

Dave (1993) 👍

Last Action Hero (1993) 👍

Beretta’s Island  (1993)   

True Lies (1994) 👍👍

Junior (1994)     

T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996)

Eraser (1996)     

Jingle All the Way  (1996)             

Batman & Robin (1997) 

End of Days (1999)

The 6th Day (2000)

Collateral Damage (2002)            

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)           

Welcome To the Jungle (2003)

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

The Kid & I (2005)

The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables 2 (2012)            

The Last Stand (2013)👍

Escape Plan (2013)  👍   

Sabotage (2014)              

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Maggie (2015)

Terminator Genisys (2015)

Aftermath (2017) 👍

Wonders of the Sea 3D  (2017)

Killing Gunther (2017)

The Game Changers (2018)

Viy 2: Journey to China (2019)

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)  👍 

Kung Fury 2 (2023)

Chris Marker directs Hélène Châtelain, Davos Hanich and Jacques Ledoux in this short French art film constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel.

Famous to my generation as being a key influence on Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. The Gen-X sci-fi favourite is almost a faithful remake of the plot of this short, strange film. Yet while the famous blockbuster is more of an adventure, La Jetée focuses as much on the psychology and doomed romance of time travel experiments. Being the guinea pig in one. Told in a slideshow of stark monochrome photos we still feel the protagonists’ attraction, frustration, pain and futility. Time and memory happening at an uncontrollable fluctuation. Very rare a short film enters my personal Top 1000 movie. This inarguably belongs there.

9

Perfect Double Bill: San Soleil (1983)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Ryan Coogler directs Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and Letitia Wright in this Marvel superhero adventure about the people of Wakanda trying to find their place in the world after their heroic new king has died.

A very gorgeous film in the most part. I remember being quite impressed by how respectfully it handled itself and delivered an adventure that felt a bit more emotionally grainy than recent Marvel confections. The action was solid in the first two acts. Yet there is still the feeling that this is all just mega budgeted teatime television and the talent involved could probably be better utilised making something set in the real world. The ending is quite unmemorable. It is nice having a Marvel movie that is a bit more solemn and somber but I also rarely felt disappointed I waited Wakanda Forever out to hit streaming.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Black Panther (2018)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Chris Marker directs Alexandra Stewart, the people of Japan and a giraffe in this documentary essay where other cultures are remembered like alien confusion-scapes.

The unnecessary footage of an animal being shot and graphically dying really sucks the life out of the room. And while that nightmare moment does match up with some of themes explored… it stops this for me, and many, from being the rewatchable classic it otherwise would be.

8

Perfect Double Bill: La Jetée (1965)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Chad Stahelski directs Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen and Ian McShane in this final episode in the retired hitman tries to re-earn his freedom action saga.

Yeah… I’m guessing it is long. But there’s plenty to love here. The beauty of the whole thing. Should gun movies look this fuckable? The new guys: Shamier Anderson and Rina Sawayama but especially Donnie Yen’s unwaveringly calm blind assassin. The set pieces are epic. Really put you through the wringer. My only quibble is the Arc de Triomphe fight in moving traffic bends the laws of physics too much. It only really is exciting if when you get his by a car, you die. And I know this is a cinematic universe with Kevlar tailored suits. Sometimes the borrowing is a bit too obvious, sometimes the talky talky stuff does feel inessential. Still this is exactly what I want from my action cinema so it seems churlish to complain the portion is too big. Should there be more Wick? Probably not… but very few franchises end on a high. This one might just.

8

Perfect Double Bill: John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Jessica M. Thompson directs Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty and Sean Pertwee in this bloodless horror romance flick where a long lost relative of some European aristocrats turns up at a country house clearly owned by a vampire.

Downtown Abbey meets Bram Stoker but set in the modern day. Feels very much like a Young Adult novel that has been sifted through a TV show development sieve. So… not very cinematic. Flat, ponderous and often quite boring.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/