George Roy Hill directs Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean and Lindsay Crouse in this ice hockey comedy where a failing team start to play dirty in the hope that a new buyer might stop them from being folded up.
Solid sports comedy. The right mix of boorish behaviour and lived in grit. Obviously Newman elevates this from being standard product. His cocksure interactions with the female characters are easily the best scenes. Maybe that is actually damning praise for the ice hockey sequences? Who knows…
Peter Watkins directs Dick Graham, Michael Aspel and Kathy Staff in this docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain.
Harrowing stuff. Mainly replicating what has happened in previous mass bombings of the 20th century and relocating it in Home Counties Britain. The government and the BBC stopped this from airing. You can absolutely see why. The nightmare conjured up is gruesome, inescapable and all too plausible. The dystopia we flirted dangerously with right up until I was a kid.
Jafar Panahi directs Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari and Ebrahim Azizi in this Iranian satire where a family’s car trouble brings them into the path of someone with dark intentions.
The less you know about this one the better. The first act is crammed full of playful mystery and building suspense. Ever so gripping. Once you get a grip on certain characters motivations then a different film emerges. It shifts into comedy. A sort of PTSD farce. More Little Miss Sunshine in a corrupt regime. And then towards the end we lurch across tones again. Some of the non-professional performances are very good.
Albert Pyun director Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller and Simon MacCorkindale in this fantasy romp where an adventurer carries a three bladed sword that shoots.
The first half an hour we pelt through the decades of backstory. Something so simple shouldn’t be this hard to follow. Once it settles the artificial atmosphere might be cheap but it is heavy. There are horror flick level gore and creature effects. Plenty of heaving bosoms and daring do by a motley crew too. If you let it wash over you The Sword & The Sorcerer actually is a better viewing experience than the Conans. Just has mucky fun in a lot of random moments, nothing stilted.
Petra Biondina Volpe directs Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen and Alireza Bayram in this drama where an overworked nurse battles to give all her patients humane care and attention during an understaffed shift.
Leonie Benesch showing shades of competency, concern, stress, anger, frustration, defiance and fear in one near blank expression is becoming a sub-genre of modern cinema in and of itself.
Yoshifumi Kondō directs Yoko Honna, Issei Takahashi and Takashi Tachibana in this Studio Ghibli teen romance.
Yeah… this one was lovely. The magical realism pervades and elevates a really sweet summer romance between a girl who wants to write, who keeps bumping into a boy of similar soul. Genuinely spellbinding. Cute “Japan” location work.
Charles Shyer directs Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard and Harold Ramis in this Eighties comedy where the life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative.
Very much a product and satire of its time. In a strange way the sheer Eighties-ness of it all is its greatest strength.
Mark Steven Bosko and Wayne Alan Harold direct Toby Radloff, Tony Zanoni and Mimsel Dendak in this cheapo video indie exploitation flick.
Remember the guy from American Splendor who loved Revenge Of The Nerds so much he based his entire life around ‘the culture’? Well… he starred (ahem) in a horror film. Made on cheap VHS camcorders. Where he is bullied for an hour. And then kills everyone. Absolutely amateur with few redeeming features. Apart from when he goes to a new wave bar. That bit just soaks in the atmosphere. Otherwise this is dire and draggy. And there was a sequel… (!?)
2
Perfect Double Bill: Bride Of The Killer Nerd (1992)
Russell Mulcahy directs Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley and Bill Kerr in this nature horror where a vicious wild boar terrorizes the Australian outback.
Wake in Fright meets Jaws. Future Highlander director Mulcahy makes this an almost neo-expressionist visual delight. Tons of backlighting, dry ice and fans. The content itself is a bit too icky. Though the third act is very similar to The Terminator’s finale… only in a pet food plant full of skinned kangaroos.
6
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Nick Castle directs Lance Guest, Robert Preston and Kay E. Kuter in this teen sci-fi fantasy where a kid completes an arcade game and is recruited to fight an alien armada in space.
A childhood favourite that I haven’t seen since back then. Also an early CGI groundbreaker. The concept is stronger than the execution. Though… if I still watched TV, and still channel surfed, if this happened to be on, I would definitely not switch channels. There’s good adventure and nice humour and decent fantasy here. It probably is the most Amblin-esque release Spielberg had zero involvement with.
7
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Woody Allen directs himself, Mia Farrow and Nick Apollo Forte in this comedy about a hustling agent whose one successful client needs him to bring his mistress to a make-or-break show.
One of Woody’s last “funny ones”. Admirable and charming that it isn’t trying to be anything more than a very witty comedy.
7
Silent Night Deadly Night (1984)
Charles E. Sellier Jr. directs Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin and Gilmer McCormick in this festive slasher that follows the break down of an orphan teen who watched his parents attacked and killed by Santa.
Takes it’s time to get inside the head of its young killer. Wallowing in the long term and the short term causes of the eventual rampage. The missing link between Halloween and Henry. A jolt too cheap and grubby to be a classic… Christmas or late night.
5
The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984)
W.D. Richter. directs Peter Weller, John Lithgow and Ellen Barkin in this cult sci-fi classic where adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders.
Absolutely insane cult bobbins. Dense nonsense poem plotting. If ever there was a way not to tell a story it is this. Hard to know which character we are following, what is lore and what is of narrative prescience. There are quirky interruptions but the stellar ensemble gets lost in the precious mix. Also an over abundance of the shots which have no emphasis on the action they are supposed to be depicting. When people say Howard The Duck is a bad movie I wonder if they have even considered how impenetrably busy this all is. Still like a code sheet with familiar symbols, there is iconic stuff to enjoy if you just let it all wash over you. Self conscious enough that I do want to unlock it one day. I just can’t see that happening with revisits at 20 year intervals.
6
Revenge Of The Nerds (1984)
Jeff Kanew directs Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards and Timothy Busfield in this college comedy where a group of bullied outcasts resolve to fight back for their peace and self-respect.
Dated and in incredibly bad taste. We laughed a ton at this. Equal measures at it and with it. Energised by a shockingly strong soundtrack of hits.
Richard Linklater directs Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale in this “one night in a bar” biopic of Lorenz Hart.
I genuinely think this is Hawke’s best performance in a career of great ones. Showy, intimate, bruising and hilarious. He is surrounded by a complimentary ensemble of people I have a lot of time for. The oner looks sumptuous as we move around the bar. As inviting and glowing as a freshly poured shot of rye. But that special effect to make him a short guy is laughably bad. He won’t win an Oscar due to some awfully terrible images the movie could have done without. Poor Ethan Hawke. Poor Lorenz Hart. At least the music stands up tall.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 