Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan direct Michael B Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Phylicia Rashad, Wood Harris and Jonathan Majors in these spin-off legacy sequels to the Rocky franchise that become their own thing.

I’ve always liked the Rocky franchise but never truly loved it. A bit too blunt, a bit too schmaltzy. So Creed kinda blew me away on both watches. Adonis felt more of a 3 dimensional human being thanks to Michael B Jordan, this modern Philadelphia more accessible thanks to Ryan Coogler’s authenticity. And Stallone was still there in measured doses adding big heart. The training montages pumped, the fighting thrilled and the character stuff genuinely brought a tear to the eye. Donny and Bianca’s first date or Rocky in chemo are better handled moments of drama than most prestige Oscar bait releases. Ludwig Göransson’s mixture of Bill Conti remembrances and modern hip-hop made us all feel like we could go the distance. Superior popcorn.

Creed II did an admirable job of rerunning what worked and keeping original franchise fans sated. III though clearly wants to be its own thing. And is better for it. No Rocky. Los Angeles setting. Jordan making his directorial debut. There are some pretty stark choices. Some work – pitching an excellent antagonist in Jonathan Majors as an insidious yuppie-in-peril home destroyer in the first two acts. Some don’t work – the arty compression of time, space and psychology in the big finale bout seems like a bold move. Overall, it delivers as much entertainment as you can hope for. The Saturday multiplex crowd of vaping / Lynx doused boys clearly were caught up in it. Sitting patiently through a huge swathe of melodrama and clapping at the end.

8/7

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/

Steven Soderbergh directs Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek Pinault and Ayub Khan-Din in this third part of the stripping and following your dreams trilogy.

There is a really cheap, rote and uninspired TV movie stuck between a superb opening sequence and a rollicking closing sequence. Essentially when Channing is dancing… we all good, but everything else really tests the patience. Salma looks gloriously curvy and rarely is seen without a three olive martini in her hand. You don’t know how much I wanted to enjoy this more!

5

Perfect Double Bill: Ocean’s 13 (2007)

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/

Elizabeth Banks directs Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Ray Liotta in this crime horror comedy where a bear goes on the rampage in the woods after ingesting cocaine – hunting everyone, including the low level crims who lost the blow in the first place.

A serviceable cast struggle to get any momentum going. There is some extreme gore but the best moments are already in the trailer. Also, quite a bad atmosphere in the Friday night screening we went to. Especially when some of the more chemically enhanced members of the audience realised they hadn’t actually bought a ticket for the maddest film ever.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Lake Placid (1999)

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/

Marc Webb directs Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel and Chloë-Grace Moretz in this romantic comedy about a boy who falls for a girl who doesn’t love him and breaks his heart – told out of sequence and with flights of fantasy.

Two very likeable stars play two of the most obnoxious and selfish characters ever to grace a rom-com. Spit, needs to clean the bad taste from my mouth. A lot of directorial effort to make a stinky mess. Why did I give this a second chance? Movie has rubbed me up the wrong way TWICE now.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (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/

Stan Dragoti directs Michael Keaton, Teri Garr and Martin Mull in this battle of the sexes comedy where when Dad loses his job he stays home and keeps house, while Mom becomes the breadwinner.

Sleazy elevator sax score from Lee Holdridge. We had this taped off the telly as kids so watched it a lot. It probably didn’t deserve as much attention as we gave it. Feels a bit too much like an extended pilot for a sitcom. Keaton (full power, even through joke-free scenes) and Garr have nice chemistry and you can feel John Hughes fingerprints all over the script. The gender stuff now plays like a museum relic but the recession politics of the workplace scenes still holds true.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Uncle Buck (1989)

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/

Adam McKay directs Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd in this spoof comedy where a Seventies TV newsman has his perfect world rocked when he has to share the spotlight with a superior female co-lead.

“Good evening, San Diego. I’m Veronica Corningstone. Tits McGee is on vacation.” The film that launched a hundred quotes, a zillion gifs and made Ferrell a star. It is still very funny but this Saturday night rewatch didn’t hit the same giddy heights of laughter as it once did. I was expecting gales of laughs. Now knowing what he next went on to do you have the creeping suspicion that even here that McKay is trying to say something important about masculinity and sexism. Ugh! The best jokes still work gangbusters – Baxter, “I love lamp”, Sex Panther, “I’m Ron Burgundy?”, Jazz Flute, Afternoon Delight, milk. It is better looking than most comedies of the era. Applegate and, particularly, Rudd are superb.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Zoolander (2001)

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/

Arthur Lubin directs Claude Rains, Susanna Foster and Nelson Eddy in this period romantic thriller loosely based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel.

Surprised this doesn’t have a stronger reputation. OK… so the scenes without the impeccable Claude Rains are a bit doily and duff but the gothic thriller stuff, especially the cavernous underground finale, are very compelling. Our DVD skipped a few bits but this interpretation is a frothy blast with little arias of horror. Clearly the direct synoptic influence on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Climax (1944)

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/

Maurice Pialat directs Sandrine Bonnaire, himself and Evelyne Ker in this French teen movie where a daddy’s girl discovers sex.

Very highly regarded and I’m thinking over it retrospectively and acknowledging all of the low key naturalism and Bonnaire’s sensitive arc. Then I remember why I am scoring this so low… the mother and brother’s over the top performances. Maybe we are seeing them from the 15 year old’s warped point of view. Grotesque, screeching bullies. But little else in the film suggest that that is the mode of the day. For me, their distasteful scenes kill a classic.

6

Perfect Double Bill: 36 Fillette (1988)

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/

Tom Vaughan directs Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher and Rob Corddry in this romantic comedy where a drunken holiday turns into a quickie marriage turns into a hungover jackpot win turns into a forced relationship…

Romantic comedy as reformed meat. Depressing, textureless.

3

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/

John Ford directs John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin in this western drama where a big time politician returns to the town where he first made his name as a law loving tenderfoot and remembers the violent men who would change the course of his life.

In terms of storytelling and cinematic craftsmanship absolutely flawless. The schoolhouse scene where the illiterate and under civilised discuss the Constitution with Stewart’s paternal authoritarian giving no slither of room for open interpretation is a powerhouse. That must have been electric to watch during the zenith of the Civil Rights movement. There are three fantastic movie star performances within – Wayne (never more masculine), Stewart (the future and all that is decent and depressing about that future) and Marvin (just a wild bastard man of a villain.) Woody Strode is cool as fuck too. The last days of the Wild West remembered and, while this is told in the mode of the traditional classic western, one can see the revisionist roots of The Wild Bunch, Heaven’s Gate and Deadwood flourishing within its fertile perfection.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Winchester ‘73 (1950)

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/