Clio Barnard directs Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas and Sean Gilder in this British drama where two excluded schoolboys get involved with an exploitative scrap metal dealer.
Kes meets the Rag N Bone trade. As children we used to be terrorised by government public safety films between cartoons and soaps. 90 second kitchen sink horrors warning us against the fatal mistake of climbing pylons or swimming in reservoirs. This plays out like a feature length version of one of those. The results are humanistic and often grimly arresting.
Paul Feig directs Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Jason Statham in this espionage spoof where a CIA office bod gets to go into the field when a cabal of villains start killing agents.
The first half of this is very funny, the second half gets stuck in the rut of indulgent improvisation and a plot that corners itself with nowhere really to go but 30 minutes still on the clock. McCarthy, Byrne and a game The Stath have good comedic chemistry between them so any scene that just leaves them be stands out. It is a pleasant night in… like watching a modern Pink Panther movie. One side note – industry commentators always note Bond is less popular in the States yet when Hollywood spoofs espionage, 007 clearly is still the gospel it works from. We’ve yet to see Bourne, Bauer or Atomic Blonde be the format ripe for affectionate ridicule. Spy is no different.
Roger Spottiswoode directs Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce and Michelle Yeoh in the spy action adventure where 007 faces down a media tycoon orchestrating WWIII.
The strangely overlooked Bond… even though it hits the formula neatly and delivers everything you want with excessive elan. Action-wise, TND spoils us with five standout sequences. Bond’s ticking clock escape from the illegal arms fair has to be the best cold open of the franchise. The remote controlled BMW chase gives Brosnan the chance to gleefully show off his gadgets. A handcuffed leap from a skyscraper penthouse is iconic. The ensuing motorbike chases through the streets and rooftops of Saigon is a showstopper. Bond and Wai Lin (still handcuffed together) dodging swarms of bullets and helicopter rotas while trying to gain the upper hand on the handlebars is a true marvel of the EON second unit machine. Then we get an elongated Bond destroys a secret base finale… only the base is a stealth ship fitted with drill torpedos and stinger missiles. For a lad raised on Die Hard and Commando, this feels like the first Bond to overtake the napalm and uzis of the Joel Silver / Carolco age! I’d struggle to think of any single blockbuster with two set pieces to match the arms fair escape and shackled motorbike pursuit in terms of crisp storytelling, spectacular stunts and sustained, escalating threat. OK… Terminator 2 but for a tentpole’s action to be mentioned in the same breath as Cameron’s masterwork…
This is the entry where Brosnan relaxed into the part. He was always a perfect fit for the role combining Connery’s machismo, with Moore’s sauve wink and Dalton’s more dramatic romantic. There’s no area where Brosnan lacks. I’m a broken record but it was the films that let the star down rather than vice versa. Tomorrow Never Dies is the true exception. It delivers everything you could want from a Fleming adventure while keep a pace with the modern market. The Broccolis have the precision down to a fine art here. Globetrotting, luxury, style, humour, gadgets, comic book geopolitics. Beautiful girls…
Two stand-out Bond women. Women… a rarity for the franchise. The broken hearted former flame in Paris Carver. Teri Hatcher is maturely glamorous as Carver’s wife and James’ past. After a chemistry filled pair of scenes (the actors didn’t get along on set allegedly), she is fridged. Less to drive Bond on further into the plot or “make it personal” but for a narrative ignorance as to what to do with her. We’ve already had to gloss over the idea that the villain isn’t the usual asexual tyrant we are primed for.
And we have already met Bond’s equal in Wai Lin. Chinese secret service, kick-ass but happy to team up for peace. Yeoh is one of the most enduring stars to play a Bond squeeze -she is comfortable with stunts, fighting, jokes and looking amazing. She probably is one of the best Bond girls because she isn’t just a girl. The movie’s biggest flaws are when in the explosive finale that Bond has to (HAS TO) save his capable equal a few times. Ruining the one element that could have made Tomorrow Never Dies revolutionary rather than merely rollicking.
Still the history books and critics can have Goldeneye. I know Bonds have more fun when they are ejecting co-pilots from one Mig up into another. And I didn’t even get to mention the legendary ‘cunning linguist’ pun or Vincent Schiavelli’s one scene, movie stealer assassin Dr. Kaufman.
Sarah Polley directs Michael Polley, Harry Gulkin and herself in this lauded documentary where the indie star interrogates her family history.
Using found footage, family photos, talking heads and actors to recreate fake “found footage”, Polley investigates a family secret often joked about. The revelations over the first hour are pleasing for the gossipy voyeur in us all. The film though then outstays it welcome… reaching for further significance with little else to add. Possibly the real weakness of the project is Polley herself is often just a disembodied voice, a background presence, for what feels like her story. It is churlish for her to hide away behind the camera when she has been the eye-catching lead all her life.
James McTeigue directs RAIN, Naomie Harris and Rick Yune in this martial arts actioner where a man raised from childhood to be the ultimate killer takes down the clan who trained him.
This would possibly be the most gory mainstream release ever, with hacked limbs flying like confetti at a wedding and blood copiously gushing from the wounds, if it wasn’t for the fact that all that butchery is CGI. The film itself is rote and loveless… once we leave the child soldier dojo there is nothing here but an expensive Jason Bourne rip-off in exotic pyjamas.
Alan Parker directs Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet and Robert De Niro in this horror noir where a detective seeks out a missing person for a demonic client.
Much like The Devil’s Advocate, this is a movie where clearly a character is going to be revealed as Lucifer himself but for some reason, and in spite of all the advertising spoiling the “surprise”, it holds the revelation back until the final act. Does De Niro make a good fallen trickster? Yes… and bizarrely it is mainly because he plays him like friend Martin Scorsese. The noir aspect is very random… this is a very waywardly plotted, absent minded, headless chicken detective mystery. Rourke is handsome and captivating in the lead role, an unreliable gumshoe. Watching this, it becomes pretty clear that Bruce Willis cribbed his schtick wholesale from the prettier but less enduring star. The whole thing looks fantastic. Parker is fully committed to force feeding atmosphere and dread into his already rich period locations. A classy piece of nasty to look at, with jarring scarring moments. A late in the action sex scene is particularly troubling for all the wrong reasons… discombobulating and perverse.
Sam Raimi directs Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand and Larry Drake in this superhero movie where a disfigured scientist kills the gangsters who left him for dead.
The first Raimi I rented. An early lead role for Neeson that feels more akin with his current career. Part of the initial big comic book movie boom after Tim Burton’s Batman… even though it isn’t actually based on a pre-existing funny book. This feels very akin with Dick Tracy, Robocop, The Crow and Judge Dredd. Hyper-violence gilded by baroque set dressing, effects and storytelling. The visual overkill of this is overwhelmingly camp, lovingly parodic of Universal horror. Rubbery style over substance was the garish fashion of the day. It is a film that sits better in your memory than when you actually watch it. Everything about it seems slighter, flimsier, misjudged in the moment but all it strengths stick in the brain afterwards. A giddy, colourful freak out with a genuinely extravagant helicopter stunt sequence near the end. Nobody’s finest hour apart from maybe the marketing department!
Joe Lynch directs Frank Grillo, Anthony Mackie and Marcia Gay Harden in this buddy action comedy where a nurse must keep an injured mercenary alive to rescue his kidnapped wife.
An unoriginal film that takes place in a cartoonish, soft-play world. For every nice shot, there are moments that promise a level of action which is never really delivered. Grillo feels under-utilised and the central hook is never exploited. He and Mackie have zero chemistry. The film feels too distracted and self satisfied to make good on a pretty simple remit.
Richard Tanne directs Parker Sawyers, Tika Sumpter and Vanessa Bell Calloway in this romantic drama where the Obamas’ first date in the summer of 1989 is recreated.
A sweet little movie dramatising a gossipy footnote in history. Parker Sawyers makes a decent fist of Barack Begins… his scene addressing a community group replicates the authority and affability that saw 44 comfortably into the White House. The Before Sunset format is well renovated for this project’s needs but the small talk and big talk within never hits the iconic heights of Linklater’s classic.
Rowdy Herrington directs James Spader, James Spader and Cynthia Gibb in this thriller where a twin gets a psychic vision of his brother’s death but finds the police suspect them both of a series of prostitute murders.
A loopy little thriller where a goody two shoes James Spader tags out and bad boy James Spader takes over at the end of the first act. The whodunnit aspect churns up some decent red herrings and the set pieces have some genuine peril to them. Spader seems a little spaced out in his leather jacket variation of himself. Forgettable but fun.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 