Amy Heckerling directs Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo and Dana Hill in this comedy sequel to the idiot-family-on-holiday hit.

A nostalgic favourite from my taped-off-telly childhood. There aren’t really enough good jokes and it feels a bit mucky a lot of the time. But Chase and D’Angelo maintain their neat chemistry and it shuttles about rapidly enough so you can never get bored. Maybe the smartest wrinkle is at the very start- the protracted game show prize is the only reason this family would ever consider leaving the States. And they do so grudgingly. If you didn’t grow up with this, you might struggle to enjoy.

6

Perfect Double Bill: National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

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

Jerzy Skolimowski directs Jane Asher, John Moulder Brown and Diana Dors in this creepy London sex comedy.

Strange little movie – too grubby to get the horn from, too creepy to take lightly, too arty to ignore. The local public baths double up as an unofficial kink knocking shop but the new boy, a wimpy fop, only has eyes for the stunner pimping him out and leading him on. Scored by Cat Stevens. And then we get a Final Destination finale. Definitely different.

6

Perfect Double Bill: La Prisonniere (1968)

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/

Damian Harris directs Dexter Fletcher, Ione Skye and Jonathan Pryce in this rom-com based on a Martin Amis novel.

A weak British Ferris Bueller rip-off keeps detailed files on posh totty he wants to seduce. It would all be a bit forgettable except in the last half hour the leads start bangin’, and banging… and BANGING! Did anyone need to see Dexter Fletcher’s sex face? Well, now you have.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Loverboy (1989)

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

Roger Spottiswoode directs Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger and Kirstie Alley in this action thriller where an FBI agent tracks an evil kidnapper into the wilderness.

Also known as Deadly Pursuits. Tonally all over the shop. Grim kidnap thriller becomes light hearted buddy cop movie becomes rousing on-location extreme adventure flick becomes whodunnit and then all the way back again. Any single one of those modes would work fine, not that I mind the buffet approach. Poitier is at his best when he is a silly fish-out-of-water, the movie thrills the few times it lurches forward, skips the rails and goes really nasty. These unpredictable spikes really make it perfect throwback, throwaway VHS fodder. See, for example, the ultimate reveal of the killer. Most plots would happily spin out teasing you as to which of the half dozen character actors could be the nemesis. Andrew Robinson, Clancy Brown, Richard Masur… it could be any of these brutes. Let’s just say the true villain doesn’t fuck about picking them off one-by-one when he shows his true colours.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Sneakers (1992)

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/

Donald Petrie directs Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor in this teen romantic comedy where three small town waitresses question their love lives on the cusp of them becoming adults.

Solid “chick flick” – sweet, salty and funny where it needs to be. Not exactly my cup of tea but I’m not the type this was intended for. Notable for its young cast who all went onto better things (look out for a baby-faced Matt Damon). The happy medium between Beaches and Dirty Dancing. Sex positive and Lili Taylor is always top value. Can’t really fault it.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Steel Magnolias (1990)

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

Blake Edwards directs Dudley Moore, Bo Derek and Julie Andrews in this sex comedy where a middle-aged songwriter follows a dream woman on her honeymoon in the hope that the beautiful stranger might fuck him.

Ugly looking, ugly hearted movie. Awkward and unfunny. Brian Dennehy has a small early role as a philosophical bartender and genuinely elevates the middle act. But not enough…

3

Perfect Double Bill: Unfaithfully Yours (1984)

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/

Neil Jordan directs Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Julia Roberts in this biopic of the Irish Freedom Fighter who negotiated political independence with the British government.

A Hollywood history lesson that feels wholemeal enough to accept – embellishments and all. Owes as much to Schindler’s List as to Braveheart. Sure, this has all the rousing shoot-outs, rebel heart tragedies and taut espionage sequences but essentially it is about one man having to make compromises and carving out a new set of rules for the greater good. Neeson is cool as fuck as Collins, gadding about Dublin, doing his speeches. Julia Roberts’ love triangle love interest is crowbarred in, possibly as Aidan Quinn’s best pal is so beautiful… and all the male characters spend half the movie crying over him or sharing a safe house bed with him. The period detail feels concrete and lived in. Gets it all done in an admirable two hours.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Rob Roy (1995)

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

Graham Moore directs Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch and Johnny Flynn in the gangster thriller where a tailor for the mob gets embroiled in a series of double, triple and quadruple crosses.

Handsome but thrifty one location thriller. Nice to watch Rylance in something Dad accessible but the material (HELLO!) rarely stretches him.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Road To Perdition (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/

Gore Verbinski directs Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Nicolas Hoult in this drama where a successful TV weather presenter notes his private life has hit rock bottom.

A filthy rich, often dour respin of American Beauty. Nice to see Cage and Verbinski doing good work in a subdued mode. Doesn’t reach any grand conclusions but might be better for that?

6

Perfect Double Bill: Demolition (2015)

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

Alfonso Cuarón directs Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Clare-Hope Ashitey in this sci-fi thriller where a broken man is assigned a refugee ward to ferry across a fascist future Britain of a terror groups and concentration camps.

A faultless realist vision of a dystopian U.K. . One that sadly rings quite true with the politics of our current government. The intimate “one-shot” action sequences are gruelling and technically dazzling. The whole quest has a verisimilitude that very few sci-fi flicks, outside of Ridley Scott, ever achieve. Owen’s career best role – a kinda crumpled knight errant who goes from ill fitting high street suit to shoeless immigrant without rights or a pot to piss in over a strenuous weekend. Lots to unpack. Might do a deep dive into it next time I watch.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Doomsday (2008)

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/