Mark Romanek directs Keith Gordon, Amanda Plummer and Bob Gunton in this indie drama where a small town drop out invents a television that can show pictures of heaven.

17 years before his official debut One Hour Photo, Romanek directed this little feature length calling card. He has since rejected it but I can’t really tell why? It is a quirky slice of atmosphere. The plot doesn’t really go anywhere but it is professionally achieved and acted, way above the standard you’d expect for a no budget endeavour. Full of ideas. Full of cool imagery. The banging New Wave soundtrack opened up a career for him as a pop promo director. The story itself gets a little lost but it certainly isn’t an embarrassment or all that far removed from the director’s later more polished works.

5

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Mark Romanek directs Robin Williams, Connie Neilsen and Gary Cole in this thriller where a lonely photo developer’s fixation with a perfect looking family moves beyond stalking when he snaps.

A bleak nightmare starring the lynchpin of schmaltzy family comedy. Williams was such a strange Hollywood star as whenever he worked outside his natural motormouth wheelhouse in drama or crime he actually shone brighter than he does in his blockbuster syrupy silly films. “Shone brighter” might not be the best term for his powerhouse lead here as Sy the photo guy. A man so devoid of meaningful human interaction he literally looks like he has been permanently bleached by the chemicals he works with. It is a distinct and unpredictable piece of film acting, dominating a visually precise world of corporate conformity and monotone blankness. Romanek seemingly cares a lot more about the mise en scéne than he does the narrative. One Hour Photo quirkily doesn’t position Sy into the most obvious course when he loses control. And while every lunatic thriller that doesn’t just mimic Psycho or Silence of the Lambs should deserve praise, the end game of this particular nightmare isn’t exactly satisfying even if it is disturbing. The wrap up just doesn’t work as popcorn. Add to that, away from Williams, only Gary Cole (as an insidious superstore boss) puts in anything resembling a memorable performance and you are left with a showcase rather than an entertainment. Williams proves he can veer into extreme darkness, Romanek that he can direct the fuck out of a dressed set if not an ensemble. Mixed feelings.

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

François Truffaut direct Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade and Hiroko Matsumoto in this French comedy where Antoine Doinel enjoys married life… until he doesn’t.

Slighter than the previous entries, this starts out as a pleasingly gentle courtyard comedy. Léaud’s feckless drifter tries out some childish jobs (dyeing flowers, remote controlling boats for an architect’s model) with wavering success. His relationship with his young wife feels more like kids playing house than an adult relationship. Just witness the moment they feed each other baby food for dinner. But he grows restless… disrespecting her and having his head turned by a Japanese client. The uncomfortably darker third act where Antoine makes some awful decisions and suffers the fallout lands us back near the toxic domestic relationships we saw from his child eye’s view back in The 400 Blows. The Tati inspired visual playfulness gives way to strops, self pity and alienation. We end on a downer. Stand out here is Claude Jade as his nymph-like wife. She didn’t really register in Stolen Kisses but here she demands as much of our attention and affections as Léaud himself. When he begins his affairs and you know her heart might be broken by the betrayal you grow to hate the quirky boy we have been following for over 3 and half movies now!

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Alan J. Pakula directs Harrison Ford, Raúl Juliá and Bonnie Bedelia in this courtroom drama where a prosecuting attorney finds himself investigating his work colleague and former secret lover’s murder.

Exactly my cup of coffee, even if it isn’t the best example of the form. Scott Turow’s source novel uses first person narration to obfuscate a ton of not unguessable twists and obvious red herrings… but on celluloid the amount of dead ends and coincidences can seem a little hokey within a two hour film. Pakula also doesn’t quite figure out how to keep megastar Ford in the spotlight for the second half… once he is charged with the murder and in the dock, he becomes a passive figure. His contributions to the investigation feel forced and his presence in the back room negotiations doesn’t always ring true. Luckily, that second half is far less objectionable and thoroughly sustained by the arrival of Raúl Juliá as his defence attorney. The whole ensemble reeks of class (look out for all those future The West Wing alumni) but Julia as always is something else. 30 years down the line you may now know who the killer is, or you may have forgotten, but the final moments add a chilling uncertainty to the happy-ish ending. Justice hasn’t been done and a killer knows you know what they did. End credits… oooooohhh! The autumnal look and the moral ambiguity of the whole entertainment now feels more like a later Fincher than a big studio release of the VHS era.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Adrienne Shelly directs Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion and herself in this romantic comedy where a put upon waitress in a small town diner falls for her new doctor when she becomes pregnant.

The above précis is a reduction, as Waitress is a simple movie about a whole lot more than its central hook. It is vividly colourful and has the basic narrative arc of a fairy tale but the issues it explores are more real, messy and emotionally intelligent than most prestige movies. Shelly makes her low budget treat work as an ensemble comedy, seduce as a brittle romance and land as a unfussy feminist drama. It is a blue collar fantasy anchored by Russell’s excellent turn as the cynical dreamer at its heart. Lovely stuff and by golly those pies look delicious!

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Elio Petri directs Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress and Elsa Martinelli in this Italian sci-fi satire where humans hunt one another around the globe in a big televised game, only for two of the leading contestants to fall for each other.

Very silly, this sparse vision of the future has influenced everything from Austin Powers to Blur pop promos. It is a wayward piece of exploitation with robot dogs, machine gun brassieres and polythene dance numbers. It doesn’t really work as a thriller, a satire or a sex comedy. Yet it is a fun little curio to watch, never boring and always taking the road less travelled. Considering the basic hook has been battle royaled to death since, from The Running Man to The Hunger Games, it is kinda sweet that this early variation is one of the most irreverent takes. My second Elio Petri of the week and clearly he is an anti-establishment voice who likes slick men, sexy femme fatales and bonkers scores. The jazzy little numbers by Piero Piccioni form a soundtrack that suits only this camp and chaotic vision of a swinging dystopia.

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Natalie Erika James directs Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote in this horror movie where a mother and daughter stay at grandmother’s house when it becomes clear her senility is making her a danger to herself.

What often feels like a routine and didactic study of ageing actually lurches into genuine terror in the final twenty minutes after some middling creepy tease. James manages to close on a neatly ghoulish but emotionally satisfying image. Most of this is slow boil and low key drama, what is now deemed ‘horror adjacent’, but Relic sticks the landing so well I might actually give it another try.

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Carl Theodor Dreyer directs Renée Jeanne Falconetti, Eugène Silvain and André Berley in this silent recreation of the trial and execution of Joan of Arc.

Considered one of the greatest films ever made, this felt very much like eating my greens. I did my duty. I watched it. And maybe if I was in a cinema, locked in and overwhelmed by the big screen, I might have appreciated it more. But watched in bed (the only option really in early 2021) it was just a parade of grotesque faces towering over a close up of a miserable actress trying to look saintly. Repeated. On. A. Loop. Falconetti can play the glass-eyed martyr like no one’s business but as a drama this version is voiceless and grindingly repetitive… Not for me. Let’s call it a draw.

5

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Elio Petri directs Gian Maria Volonte, Florinda Bolkan and Orazio Orlando in this satirical Italian crime movie where an overconfident police inspector kills his mistress and leaves extra clues to condemn himself.

An anomalous and hypnotic film… the humour and brutality exposes the corruption and incompetence in Italy’s justice system. But it can also be taken relatively straight faced too. As a thriller where we identify with a cocky man who dances along the brink of oblivion after committing a crime. Leone regular Gian Maria Volonte’s is superb as the oily top cop falling apart under the weight of his own guilt and invulnerability. A game weasel drowning in respectability and privilege. Every time he tries to lead the homicide investigators or his superiors towards the truth he is overlooked and every time he catches onto his senses and tries to cover up his guilt things skew… weirder. The movie absorbs paranoia, kinky crime scene sex, office politics, student terrorism and a discordant, silly score from Ennio Morricone. The reason Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion works so well is its persuasive unpredictable strangeness. A world of order turned on its head, where the hollow little lives of the bullying bureaucrats smother the freedom and vitality of the next generation. It really is a movie like no other even though it often delivers on its skewering of the establishment and our desire to see this nasty piece of work evade repercussions for all his sins with thrilling elan.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Lee H. Katzin and John Sturges direct Steve McQueen, Louise Edlind Friberg and Siegfried Rauch in this racing drama capturing the 24 hour race – the drivers, pit crews and spectators.

Steve McQueen, one of my favourite stars, might be a petrolhead but I am not. A passion project of his, this uses footage of him driving in other tournaments to suggest a narrative where he wins the big race for reals. It is immersive, just not very interesting. The documentary footage of the crowds arriving, camping overnight, distracting themselves with amusements proves the gold. The listless racing sequences and extended pit stops have little impact. It really is quite the bore. John Sturges started directing this before falling out with the studio and you can see his impactful, bold use of primary colours in some of the earlier shots of McQueen. Really though the only thing that fuel injects some pep into this vanity folly is Michel Legrand’s marvellous score.

4

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/