Drew Barrymore directs Elliot Page, Alia Shawkat and Kristen Wiig in this teen sports comedy where a restless teen enters the adult world of roller derby.

I absolutely adore Whip It! A mega blast of colour, comedy and cool. Makes you wonder why Drew Barrymore hasn’t directed again? The deep drill ensemble all get lovely character beats and iconic shots, the tone varies wildly but is well balanced. The action as we rampage around the ring, the sensitivity gifted to the empowerment message and multiple relationships. Yeah, it is a bit strange watching Elliot Page be in such sexualised scenes as a young woman. Doesn’t now feel comfortable for anyone involved given the context… but he was a very sympathetic, attractive star back in his lead performance heyday.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Kansas City Bomber (1972)

Gints Zilbalodi directs a cat, dog and a capybara in this animated movie where animals try to survive a world consuming flood.

Hyper involving. The hippy dippy stuff I can take or leave, yet the hints at a post-human world conjure up the most retina blazing moments. Being an owner of a clumsy black kitty cat this was an anxiety churner for me. Surprised at how much it all hooked me.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Call Of The Wild (2020)

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Marc Webb directs Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot and Andrew Burnap in this live action update of the Disney animated classic fairytale.

Not the absolute car crash you have heard tell of. Though it certainly does threaten to be at times. Perversely, often in its most broadly entertaining moments. Gal Gadot’s evil queen is a strong flavour, as are the CGI dwarves. They are also the elements that made me sit bolt upright and pay attention. Hi Ho! The movie is at its best when faithfully trying to revive scenes from the animated classic. The new songbook belongs in a better film. As for all those derided “woke” additions… none of it seems any more craven or cack handed as any of the other Disney “live action” cash-ins. If you take the high watermarks of The Jungle Book and Mulan out of the conversation, they’ve all been this iffy. The difference is their target audience has gotten used to watching them on streaming within a couple of months. So why bother with the multiplex?

4

Perfect Double Bill: Mirror Mirror (2012)

François Ozon directs Hélène Vincent, Josiane Balasko and Ludivine Sagnier in this gentle French thriller where a retired grandmother and her best friend’s criminal son find themselves embroiled in murders and betrayals.

Very Claude Chabrol. Lovely subtle performances that retain their internal mystery. Good twists and turns. Every scene drip feeds you new information. Probably the best thing Ozon has done in a while.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Swimming Pool (2003)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Barry Levinson directs Robert DeNiro, Robert DeNiro and Debra Messing in this true gangster story of warring mob bosses.

Solid trot through of the beloved mob cliches. Classy but creaky, the weakened gait of old age gives it a sense of unintentional camp. The gimmick of De Niro facing off against himself actually works fine in the moments but his Vito Genovese is pretty much just a Joe Pesci impersonation. I have read the book on Genovese and more exciting stuff happens after his coup.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Bugsy (1991)

Fritz Lang directs Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walther Reyer, Claus Holm, Sabine Bethmann and Luciana Paluzzi in this adventure romance where a dancer and architect try to survive a Maharaja’s jealous revenge when they fall for each other.

Fritz Lang’s two part Indian Epic is a big, gorgeous, cheesy, sexy romp which runs out of wind. The exoticism and ‘orientalism’ feels relatively sincere though the constant use of actors in brown face lets it down. The first film is a string of really strong set pieces. The second film feels too repetitive to be a conclusion. It should be a blast, not a holding pattern. Less happens, we run around in circles. Does Lang have anything interesting to say about western modernity in colonial India? The German architect hero is hired to take an ancient city of ornate higgledy-piggledy beauty and time honoured tradition then impose straightness and order to it. He fails. But he finds love. The beautiful Debra Paget in various states of glitzy undress undulating provocatively to Indian music. The scene where she must seduce a snake to save her life is… memorable. Of it’s time, expensive trash, pop art.

7/6

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Alexander Payne directs Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates and Hope Davis in this road movie where a retired actuary’s life spirals out of control when he no longer has his job to define him.

Well made but never really clicks with me. I don’t need to see Jack denuded of everything that makes him awesome. I’m not sure the sneering tone of the direction does much more than justify itself.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Downsizing (2017)

Neil Jordan directs Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson and Forest Whitaker in this IRA thriller / romance where an on the run terrorist falls for the lover of a British soldier he kidnapped and killed.

Far more interesting than its heavily marketed “twist”. When viewed through a current trans gaze it can seem like an exploitative and negative depiction but I don’t think that was the intent. I think the ultimate message of The Crying Game isn’t revulsion but revolution. Whitaker’s soldier plays his last card before death to teach his captor a lesson. It could be seen as smirking punitive revenge but I don’t think Jody (Whitaker, terrible accent, brilliant performance) would put his beloved Dil in danger. He wants to change his captor from beyond the grave. Change his nature. Show him nothing is set in stone – not gender, sexuality, nationality, identity or morality. So he does it via the mode of knowing sexual prank. It works. Whether as unlikely romance or “one last job” genre flick, The Crying Game holds up strong. And it owes plenty to the daddy of all strange erotic thrillers – Blue Velvet. It really hit home on this rewatch just how much of Lynch’s masterpiece is purloined by Jordan for new purpose. Breathy torch song performances, closets, sexual awakenings, vulnerable femme fatales, apartment shoot out finales. Which makes Miranda Richardson’s stand-out psycho the Frank Booth of the piece. That scans.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Angel (1982)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Jacques Audiard directs Mathieu Kassovitz, Anouk Grinberg and Sandrine Kiberlain in this French post-World War II drama about a grifter who fakes a resistance record to start a new life.

Early softer Audiard. Does follow an underdog who works his way up the ranks, so there’s that. Kassovitz mild mannered hustler is a blank and a sponge. Everyone shows him how they lie to get by. Salesman, beggar, politician. He replicates. The ultimate take home is the whole system is bullshit. A documentary style framing device here, a beautiful love interest or two there, some intrigue. Ultimately a process movie but one with enough mystery to be watchable.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Damien Leone directs Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton and Elliott Fullam in this horror sequel where Art the Clown returns to terrorize a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.

If you embrace that this is both long for a horror flick and extreme for even a horror flick then Terrifier 2 has so much to offer. Unfathomable resurrections. Unbelievably nasty kills with gloopy physical FX, animatronics and CGI. Nightmare On Elm Street inspired dream sequences. The same quicksand sense of reality as the high points of that series. Who exactly is The Pale Girl and why can people who aren’t Art The Clown see her? And David Howard Thornton committed take as new slasher icon really finds its groove here. It is unpredictable, silly, shocking… and… well… terrifying. You never know what iteration of the silent Art we are going to get shot from shot. In this sequel he is matched by final girl Lauren LaVera. Likeable, undeniably sexy and convincingly vulnerable, her conversion to battling hero is a stand out. There’s a touch of the mythic to all this, to some wider, not quite fully defined, ambition. As revivals of VHS-era nasty nights in go, the Terrifier series just gets better and better. Only Rob Zombie and Leone are making blood soaked love letters with this level of craft and care.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Terrifier (2016)

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