Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin direct Paul Brennan, Charles McDevitt and Charles Baker in this documentary about door-to-door Bible salesmen.

Might have been revolutionary in its day but feels humourless and one-note now.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Grey Gardens (1975)

My wife and I 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/

Martin Scorsese directs Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci in this crime drama based on the true story of the mob’s last decades controlling Las Vegas.

Always exists in the shadow of Goodfellas. It is a perfectly fine movie in its own right, but all of its separate qualities feel like tweaks. Tweaks to be different yet rarely for the better. Not detrimental but lacking improvements. The movie feels the absence of Ray Liotta’s youth, there’s no lost innocence here. Just terrible people making bad decisions. Bad decisions in a garish, overlit, hot pink hell. Wow! This movie looks like Seventies synthetic headache. You are never once seduced by the glamour. The wealth is chintzy, phoney, temporary. And it moves with a cocaine restlessness. Thelma Schoonmaker squeezes a lot of storytelling in, expertly. Casino proves a difficult three hour movie to pause for a comfort break as there is never a shot that doesn’t feed into the next one almost the moment after it started. Possibly Sharon’s best acting turn? Pesci gifts us premium hair trigger psycho. There’s a glorious opening credit sequence from Mr and Mrs Bass. Yet this is the rare Scorsese flick that feels like it has nothing to new to say. A sequel in all but name, lacking the risk and psychological ambiguity that motors his many finer works.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Goodfellas (1990)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Clint Eastwood directs himself, Bee Vang and Ahney Her in this vigilante drama where a racist veteran widower begins to protect his immigrant neighbours after a gang targets them.

A goodbye to violence. Possibly my favourite film with largely awful acting. Clint relies on his mythic stature playing a gruff caricature of his back catalogue, Abney Her is a natural, everyone else… stinky. Doesn’t change what a powerhouse this is. Humane, entertaining and emotively philosophical. The tension sequences grab you like a vice, the gradual time-outs of Clint softening have a unique warmth and humour to them. I know that Unforgiven, A Perfect World and Mystic River are technically the more proficient movies… masterpieces… yet Gran Torino attaches itself to your soul, really gets into your heart. I have nothing but love for it, its well argued message and its self re-evaluation of its star and director. The kinda movie I really could watch every week of my life.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Cry Macho (2021)

My wife and I 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/

Wes Anderson directs Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward and Edward Norton in this teen romance where two kids go on the lamb after a momentary chance encounter the summer before.

A church production of Noah’s Flood. A fantasy library. A stand-off in the woods. A dance on the beach. A defiant wedding. A steeple top cliffhanger. Wes’ loosest movie post-Rushmore, feels like French Nouvelle Vague movie… but y’know for kids. And, even if it is populated by orphans, loners in arrested development and lovers trapped in stale marriages, also his sweetest. It has no idea how to end but the journey to get there is worth running away for. A clashing soundtrack of Benjamin Britten and Hank Williams, a look of frayed formalism. This is a sleeve full of badges, a secret bay of romance and a throwaway masterwork. Glorious.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Punch Drunk Love (2002)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Chris Bernard direct Alexandra Pigg, Margi Clarke and Peter Firth in this British romance drama where a Liverpool lass on a night out falls for a Russian sailor in what feels like more than a one night fling.

A harsh fairytale. The first half is stodgy and reeks of a TV play for today just a little too often. The second half finds its soul and grit, staying quite bravely ambiguous. No clear cut happy endings here but the ultimate message of not “staying in your lane” is rewarding. Thatcher’s Britain comes in for a kicking. Was a surprise hit in the U.K. on release but now largely forgotten. The lead couple ended up together in later real life which is a sweet piece of bonus trivia.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Educating Rita (1983)

My wife and I 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/

Lars Von Trier directs Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover and Isaach de Bankolé in this arthouse drama where Grace, the liberated daughter of a gangster, finds herself trying to liberate a lost-in-time slave plantation.

Didactic, challenging, bleak. Possibly Von Trier’s best on reflection. Filmed in ugly DV, on a black box set, with stars as glorified extras, and John Hurt giving an ironic detached narration… this works. From its incendiary premise, to its loaded sex scenes, to its murky conclusions… to its powerful end credit sequence. This is the rare time that Von Trier’s political astuteness seemingly overpowers his smirking prankster. He is helped massively by Dallas Howard’s naive but honest central turn. Superior to Dogville.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Dogville (2003)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Boaz Yakin directs Denzel Washington, Will Patton and Hayden Panettiere in the sports drama about a black football coach trying to integrate a team of teens in a racist town.

A blind spot on my Denzel radar. Feels very cliched, almost overstuffs itself trying cram as many cliches in as possible.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Antwone Fisher (2002)

My wife and I 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/

Robert Wise directs Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal and Hugh Marlowe in this sci-fi fable where a spaceman lands on Earth hoping to deter humanity away from their most violent instincts.

The anti-nuke, Christ parable that makes for pretty thrilling sci-fi. Rennie’s performance is solid and it ends on a massive paranoid race to the spaceship. Accessible yet challenging and with the killer robot who lurks like a threat through even during the most innocent sequences. “Klaatu barada nikto.” Stands the test of time.

8

Perfect Double Bill: It Came From Outer Space (1953)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Harry Lachman directs Sidney Toler, Mary Beth Hughes and Victor Sen Yung in this mystery B-movie where the renowned Asian detective goes to Brazil to bring a singer to justice only for her to end up murdered herself.

Cute schedule filler. It goes through its motions with a formulaic glee. Feels very of its time but manages to fit in a few cheeky gags.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)

My wife and I 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/

Juan José Campanella directs Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago in this Argentinian mystery thriller where a retired judicial investigator tries to put his memories together from an unproven case where a young woman was raped and killed during his early days in the courts.

Like Zodiac or Memories Of Murder, this is about the grind and toll an unsolved case has on not just the victim’s loved ones and the people employed to resolve it. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by revealing we know who the killer is by the end of the first act? But given late 20th century Argentina’s somewhat unique political situation the psycho proves untouchable. God only know how they get around this rather major plot point in the forgotten Hollywood remake. So Darin and Villamil’s lovestruck investigators get a lesson in how the new Buenos Aires works. Instead of bringing a murderer to justice they find themselves clamouring for protection in a deadly landscape of corruption and conspiracy. There are major shocking twists, a jaded unrequited romance and an unbelievably well orchestrated chase through a football stadium that would make even Alfonso Cuarón scratch his head trying to figure out how they achieved it. This is a fantastic thriller – gritty, complex but accessible. And Darin once again proves an extremely likeable leading man.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Argentina, 1985 (2022)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/