Paul Greengrass directs Tom Hanks, Helena Zengal and Elisabeth Marvel in this Western where an itinerant man, who reads newspapers aloud to illiterate communities, takes on the stewardship of a young orphan raised by the Kiowa tribe who killed her settler family.

A gentle, tactful western… a 21st century reversal of The Searchers where the Civil War veteran attempts to repatriate a lost daughter rather than hunt her down, unsure of what ‘home’ now exists for her with her adopted culture displaced and her blood relatives distant uncertainties. This is easily Greengrass’ warmest, most accessible work… the few sops to action are involving and sustained but the real danger is ‘the civilised world’. Laws and rights and technology have yet to create a safety net out in the Midwest, so we watch a broken man and a confused young girl traverse various threat filled interactions. There is much allegorical mirroring to current woes: mentions of a blighting disease bookend the story, a Trumpian bossman played by Thomas Francis Murphy dominates a central chapter. Decency personified, Tom Hanks fits this kind hearted but vulnerably intelligent lead role to a tee and Helena Zengal aims successfully for expressive rather than cute in a rare decent child acting turn. Nothing happens in News Of The World that reinvents the wheel or usurps the greats of this genre but it is an inarguable quality release that fills an evening nicely.

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/

Tyler Taormina directs Haley Bodell, Audrey Boos and Gabriella Herrera in this teen mystery where a community of kids meet up for an annual tradition… a dance / ritual / pairing off at a local deli that has life changing consequences.

Taking the hazy puppy fat vibe and mega ensemble mosaic storytelling of Dazed & Confused, then slowly dripping in the creepy paranoid elements of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Stephen King and The Wicker Man. I’m not sure if any of those three sources are actual direct influences but they give you an impression of the dark, spiritual turn the movie obliquely takes at the midway point with little further explanation. To call it a horror would be over egging the pud, but the night time world we are left in of drop outs, burn outs and left behinds has the same threatening ennui of Linklater’s little seen adaptation of Eric Bogosian’s Suburbia. The movie is healthier company when hanging out with innocents… we quickly share their unspoken fears and hopes. Unsure which of these gawky kids will find romantic success at the big predestined meet-up. Taormina’s brooding timeless atmosphere is recklessly borrowed from better cinema, but you do want to rewatch this strange little dream again soon. Try to fathom the warning signs; the over anxious parents, the open door community that just lets random roaming kids use their toilets on this special day, the loaded hand gestures that seemingly define the rest of their existences. Certainly one of the more fascinating releases that has garnered extra attention because it was released during COVID lockdown, one that might have easily faded into little seen obscurity in a normal release calendar… Also this has nothing to do with Bukowski’s best novel.

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/

François Truffaut directs Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy and Claire Maurier in this French New Wave landmark following a young boy who goes off the rails when he bunks from school.

A movie that shows the innocence of mischief and petty larceny. Jean-Pierre Léaud’s little rebel, Antoine Doinel, is kicking against the rigid unfairness of life. His belief in the school system is gone and in his parents’ is wavering. You can’t even trust a thief, so why shouldn’t he lie and steal? Angel faced Antoine is trying out the spoils of adulthood; drinking, smoking and brief freedom. The scene where he and his truant pal smoke cigars into bottles reminds me of Pinocchio. Only in Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical work, Antione is not on quest to be “a real boy”, he’s trying to outrun reality. Why do all the daytime amusements of Paris exist… the Zeotrope, the matinees and the pinball machines… except to amuse those who should be chained to their desks and have escaped? We are going to watch all five movies Truffaut and Léaud made charting the rascal’s coming of age and journey into adulthood. I doubt any of the future entries will have Henri Dacaë’s eye for urban beauty and the playful perspective of this revered classic. Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte’s editing herds us along into devilry, Jean Constantin’s winding down waltz of a score is a sweet lament to a more naive joy. You really get lost in the thrill of skipping school and running away with only Antoine eventually suffering any of the nasty consequences. For those of us who hated school but never risked our parents’ wrath by bunking off for a day this is wish fulfilment of the highest order. You don’t envy Truffaut’s ‘luck’ that his parents were too caught up in their own lives to correct him when he first started raising minor hell. You do worry where his fictional composite Antoine is headed with after the ‘FIN’ title card separates us, with only a dull sea left to hem him in.

9

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/

Sam Raimi directs Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry and Kassie Wesley DePaiva in this horror comedy sequel where Ash returns to the cabin in the woods where demonic chaos has been unleashed.

Pure splatterpunk slapstick. Thumps with a chainsaw and does not stop. Groovy!

10

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/

Ronan O’Leary directs James Spader, Anne Brochet and Barry McGovern in this dark Irish romance where an isolated artist rescues a man who washes up on her beach but, when she realises the amnesiac hunk might leave her, she pretends her little stretch of coast is an island cut off from all contact.

Low budget and refusing to settle into an established form, this is a weird little indie with a lot of gentle charm. Sometimes it feels like a timeless fairytale, other times a ghost story and towards the end it echoes Misery and Peeping Tom without ever descending into full blown thriller mode. It probably works best as an erotic drama told from a feminist perspective. There’s balanced nudity, sex and an attractiveness to the hermit lifestyle of our sculptress anti-hero. Loose like a half finished riddle, it is a story open to many interpretations but moment to moment it works as a low key curio. Probably would make a strong double bill with Secretary.

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/

David Raymond directs Henry Cavill, Ben Kingsley and Alexandra Daddario in this serial killer thriller where a nonce hunter and an intense cop chase the same psycho.

A wobbly nasty… too slick to be exploitation, too cliched to be memorable. There are a couple of passable twists but every name actor has one eye on their paycheck and the other anywhere but the script. An almost autistic endeavour.

3

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/

Ken Loach directs Carol White, Terrence Stamp and John Bindon in this British Kitchen Sink drama that follows a young woman’s shifts in fortunes as she shacks up with London career criminals.

Based on Nell Dunn’s novel this is a rarity: a feminist, socialist gangster film. Carol White gives a warm and complex lead performance as the blonde we’d usually see voiceless sitting in a booth tarted up with a Face’s arm around her. We see her financial struggles and the pull between her heart and sexual needs. Loach is careful to avoid judgment even though a lot of her harder choices generate scenes that put this comfortably in the saucy / seedy milieu. He’s not making exploitation just following a young woman who is at least articulate about her desires in the darker side of Swinging London. It makes for quite the beguiling character study. Her more brutish husband is played by John Bindon a real life gangster who also appears in Get Carter and Barry Lyndon. I’m not saying he was the best actor in the gaff but he brings an authenticity and cockiness that shows up the more studied improvising of sensitive thief Terrence Stamp. There are a lot of bleak and frank moments here and you’d struggle to say Loach finds much hope in the stalemate conclusion. Yet it feels like a lighter, less didactic exploration of urban life that a lot of his left wing canon. Really liked this one.

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/

Alan J Pakula directs Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffmann and Jason Robards in this true story of the cub reporters who broke the Watergate Scandal that toppled the Nixon presidency.

Probably my third time watching this and I still find it more admirable than thrilling, dry rather than rich. Like sitting through a modern history lesson that cuts off short once momentum builds and the important dominos start falling. I know this focussed on the grind and deadends that Woodward & Bernstein endured to get sources confirmed that a conspiracy had and was occurring. Eavesdropping on them get shutdown mid phone call or in face-to-face meetings has a procedural dullness to it. The veracity of a thriller set in open plan offices, mundane reception areas and messy living rooms. The film is at its paranoid best when we go out on the shadowy streets and into the murky darkness of the parking lot rendezvous. Gordon Willis trademark opaque location cinematography is an indisputable strength. I also rate Jason Robards prickly, intelligent turn as Washington Post legend Ben Bradlee. I would never quibble its CLASSIC status, I guess I’m just a more 3 Days Of The Condor kinda guy. “If you’re gonna do it, do it right. If you’re gonna hype it, hype it with the facts. I don’t mind what you did. I mind the way you did it.”

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/

Mia Hansen-Løve directs Paul Blain, Constance Rousseau and Marie-Christine Friedrich in this French drama following a young girl’s estrangement from her father witnessed at 6 years old and then again at 18.

A competently and sensitively made debut. Hansen-Love keeps a certain detachment from the otherwise intimate scenes. I know I enjoyed watching this in the moment but very little has stayed with me only a little later.

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/

William Friedkin directs William Petersen, Willem Dafoe and John Pankow in this cop thriller where a corrupt Secret Service agent enters into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a flamboyant counterfeiter.

Wow! Much like the walloping centrepiece car chase (all hail Buddy Joe Hooker’s stunt driving madmen) where our protagonists’ race down the wrong direction of a freeway… this is a movie that revels in making the least sensible survival choices. And it absolutely rocks because of it. We get more explicit male nudity than female, we get a “white hat” who proves more repugnantly villainous than any of the criminals and we get a shock resolution that must have made test audiences throw up on their opinion cards. To Live And Die In LA looks and sounds like someone distilled the mid-Eighties into a coke caked test tube… Wang Chung does the omni-present poppy rock soundtrack for fucksake. Everything is bright, seedy, overwrought and striking. An absolute nasty blast of a thriller, morally bankrupt in all the best ways. Strange to think that the three releases that toppled Friedkin’s intense career are among his best. Sorcerer, Cruising and this are scorching adult entertainments, up there with The Exorcist and The French Connection. Featuring an early John Turturro support: “That doesn’t mean I’m gonna roll over and play informer. If you’re looking for a pigeon, go to the park.”

9

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/