Wolfgang Reitherman directs Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson
and Junius Matthews in this Disney animated classic that retells King Arthur’s childhood being tutored by Merlin.

Very bitty but not without little spikes of excitement.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Alice In Wonderland (1951)

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/

John Woo directs Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung in this Hong Kong romantic caper where jet setting art thieves find themselves in a love triangle.

There are three big action set pieces but in the main this is a breezy, goofy lark that owes more to Hitchcock or Donen than it does Peckinpah. Chow has the time of his life being a suave clown… watching him with a massive smirk on his face for an entire film elevates the whole trifle. Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung make for a sweet couple of kids but the spotlight is always on Mr Charisma. Don’t go in expecting The Killer and you’ll have as much fun as everyone clearly had making it. Maybe the last few joke scenes are a yuck yuck too far. You can’t really judge the mood sapping epilogue too harshly though, especially knowing Woo made this with the tastes of a very different international market at the forefront of his mind.

7

Perfect Double Bill: God Of Gamblers (1989)

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/

Lila Neugebauer directs Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry and Linda Emond in this drama where a veteran struggles to rehabilitate herself back into civilian life.

Two very strong lead performances in a perfectly adequate drama. Neugebauer paces scenes strangely, holding on to nothing after the text has finished, immersing us in Lawrence’s brain damaged vet’s warped world view. You want to like it for more than it is.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Winter’s Bone (2010)

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/

Agnès Varda directs Bill Brent, Huey P. Newton and Stokely Carmichael in this short documentary charting the motivations and public reactions to the Black Panther movement.

Not even handed… but suits my personal politics… so I’m not going to criticise this snapshot time capsule.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Salut les Cubains (1963)

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/

Hope Dickson Leach directs Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton and Jack Holden in this British mystery where an estranged daughter returns to the family farm after a tragedy.

Dull rural drama with wobbly acting.

3

Perfect Double Bill: God’s Own Country (2017)

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/

Stephen King directs Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle and Laura Harrington in this sci-fi thriller siege movie where machines, especially trucks, start killing off humanity and one gas station stands alone in the fight to survive.

Much better than its stinky reputation – this delivers everything you want from the premise. Essentially Dawn Of The Dead with an AC/DC soundtrack and a lot of trucks instead of zombies. Yeah, the movie probably does get a little distracted by the 18-wheelers. The first act where anything and anything electrical can kill you is easily the best. But the rest of the movie is perfectly adequate Saturday night second rental fodder. Estevez makes for a fine anti-hero. There are some decent set-pieces and a great grafting montage sequence where they broker peace with the killer vehicles. The bad boss truck, a Green Goblin Toy delivery truck, is pretty iconic. I think the main issue some have with Maximum Overdrive is with some of its more extreme choices at the the peripheries of what works. Kids die graphically, everyone is sweaty, fat characters who take dumps sweat even more, most walls are stained or covered in ripped centrefolds, both Yeardley Smith and Ellen McElduff put in screechy, histrionic performances. So Maximum Overdrive is abrasive, it has snags the critics can get caught up on to easily. The core is robust. It still delivers energetic horror and hits the spot.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Repo Man (1984)

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/

Elia Kazan directs Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and John Garfield in this drama where a journalist poses as Jewish for half a year to root out everyday anti-semitism among his WASP brethren.

An Issues movie with a capital “I”, so wears its heart on both sleeves, but manages to be as thorough as it is preachy. Very good support performances from John Garfield and, especially, Celeste Holm.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Crossfire (1947)

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/

Kenji Mizoguchi directs Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi and Kyōko Kagawa in this adaptation of a Japanese folktale where two aristocratic children are sold into slavery.

Ripples in the water. A humanist epic. Every scene has a powerful emotional effect but with seemingly minimal editorial prodding. It is a big movie that sneaks up on you. Once the second half starts taking form, and we drill down to the eponymous protagonist, it starts justifying its “Greatest Film Of All Time” status.

8

Perfect Double Bill: A Geisha (1953)

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/

Mel Smith directs Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson in this British romantic comedy where a struggling American actor in London falls for a no-nonsense nurse.

You can see a lot of that virulent Richard Curtis DNA here in this early script from him but The Tall Guy is a jot spikier and has a bit more reality to it. Goldblum isn’t your traditional romantic lead, Thompson takes zero shit from him and that’s quite refreshing. Atkinson plays an utter bastard and I like it. The Elephant Man: The Musical is an extended comedy highlight, as is the messy bonking sequence. Certainly less abrasive than those Love Actually Factory’s later trifles. Nice Soho / Camden / Hampstead location work.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

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/

Kathryn Bigelow directs Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton in this neo-western vampire road movie.

Maybe it is a little slight. Maybe the two kids in the leads are a bit too bland for the band. But the scorched, bloody atmosphere of Near Dark is hypnotic. Having the Aliens reunion of Vasquez, Bishop and Hudson as a gnarly tribe of campervan vampires was always going to make this a cult item… but boy, oh, boy does the whole thing thump. Like an electrical fire in a slaughterhouse, only really funny. I can’t see a situation where I wouldn’t instantly rewatch this seconds after the end credits roll. Tangerine Dream soundtracks for every film, ever, please! “Finger lickin’ good!”

10

Perfect Double Bill: The Lost Boys (1987)

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/