Cedric Nicolas-Troyan directs Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Miku Martineau and Woody Harrelson in this action flick where a hot assassin protects a young girl.
Nicolas Pesce directs Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska and Laia Costa in this indie thriller romantic comedy where a family man’s attempt to give over to the voices in his mad head, and kill a prostitute, leads to him falling for his victim.
Struggling to remember much about this little over a week later. It had a strong visual sensibility done on the cheap, Abbot is a blank lead, Wasikowska deserves better. Tries for bad taste but is pretty uneventful.
Mike Nichols directs Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and George Segal in this adaptation of Edward Albee’s famous play about a warring middle-aged couple who play mind games with each other and their houseguests.
I’ve seen this on the stage and now I’ve seen the lauded film. The performances are uniformly grand if a little bold and embossed. Sandy Dennis is probably the best of the four and least well known. The attempts to open up the theatre production are clunky though. And, somewhat pointedly, this shrieking, raging, overwraught constant isn’t pleasurable to watch four people maintain for two hours. The production history is more fun than the end result. According to IMDB… While Richard Burton and Dame Elizabeth Taylor were forces to be reckoned with while they were working, it was a challenge to actually get them in front of the camera every day. They both had it in their contracts that they didn’t have to be on the set until 10:00 a.m., even though most other productions began at dawn. After they arrived on set, it would take two hours of make-up, hair and wardrobe to get them ready for shooting and by the time they were camera ready, it was lunch time. They would often go off for lengthy cocktail-filled lunches, often with friends, and then return late in the afternoon to finally begin shooting. “When they finally came back late”, recalled editor Sam O’Steen, “they’d just ignore it all, be real nice. ‘Hey, Mike, old buddy, sorry we’re late. Okay, let’s shoot!’ Sometimes they wouldn’t come back until five o’clock and they had in their contract that they couldn’t work past six o’clock.”
Alfred Hitchcock directs James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger in this one set, “one-shot” thriller where two young men murder a friend and then host a party around his hidden body.
I think the first few times I watched Rope I always approached it only with regards to its infamous gimmick. Catching all those sly hidden and not so hidden secret edits. A camera zooming into the back of someone’s suit fabric and back out again, a door frame used as a wipe. The more impressive, but equally as obvious, trickery of the model cityscape we view from the apartment set’s window. One of those early SFX whose fakery is part of its charm. But this watch Rope really clicked with me. I didn’t care so much about Hitch keeping all his little technical plates spinning, or the tipsy turvy brinkmanship of the murderers almost being caught out and then inviting further chances of discovery. No – this time it was James Stewart who elevated it for me. His character and performance rise this up from dated curio to bonafide classic. His professor is positioned as the unofficial detective of the piece. The one who will solve the boys’ sin. But really he is a man growing to realise that he has fostered in two young men an arrogance and an evil. How much of their sociopathic pathology has arisen from his philosophy discussions and literary contrarianism when they were unformed adolescents? He’s about to find out, one devastating clue at a time. Marvellous stuff.
Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn direct Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez in this Spanish satire where two rival actors clash while rehearsing for an art film by a prestigious but unpredictable director.
Some scenes are excellent, others rumble on inoffensively, long after they’ve made their point. It isn’t as smart as it thinks it is but the sillier highlights justify it. Penélope Cruz is fire in this though. Looks spectacular and has the most fun.
William Brent Bell directs Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles and Hiro Kanagawa in this prequel to the adopted child serial killer shocker.
A horror icon is confirmed. Better than the original for meeting Hitchock’s basic theory of suspense. Alf famously said that a scene where a group play cards and a bomb suddenly goes off is shock. A scene where we know there is a bomb set to explode in a room where a group is playing card is suspense. The first film is rigged for a fantastic surprise. But this prequel assumes you know the cat is out of the bag already and gleefully let’s you identify with the villain, sharing her drive to not be caught out or be just plain captured. There’s an invigorating switcheroo at the midway point too and Fuhrman is excellent. Maybe this could have done with just a couple more executions, but again O:FK is all about toying with your expectations. Something Brent Bell does a pretty nifty job of.
David Leitch directs Brad Pitt, Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor -Johnson in this action comedy where too many hired guns are on a high speed train from Tokyo to Kyoto.
Wants to be Kill Bill – certainly isn’t. Reaches for Snatch but doesn’t come close. Really this feels most like Brad Pitt’s Hudson Hawk. Only not as screwball, inventive, meta or straightforward as it thinks it is. The movie last exactly the same length as a one-way journey on the real bullet train. 127 minutes. Fatal.
Leigh Janiak directs Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd and Gillian Jacobs in this sequel / prequel to the first Fear Street horror flick – here we go to Seventies summer camp.
General consensus suggested that Fear Street Trilogy gets better the deeper you go but this is a mess. Too many characters. Far too long spent on lore that doesn’t have any direct relevance to what we are watching. Not enough focus on kills and stalks. And it should just be a decent budgeted Friday the 13th tribute, which should be the easiest thing in the world to pull off brainlessly. Still… Sadie Sink is always watchable. The soundtrack is neat.
4
Perfect Double Bill: Fear Street Part 3 1666 (2021)
Keanu Reeves directs Tiger Chen, himself and Iko Uwais in this martial arts thriller where a peaceful martial arts expert is hoodwinked into taking part in live-streamed death matches.
Uninspired but with plenty of one-on-one fights full of spectacular physicality. Keanu doesn’t really suit a villain’s role but his direction is unpretentious.
James Ivory directs Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter in this period drama where two Edwardian families intermingle in a series of romances, compromises and deceits.
So much plot. It certainly isn’t stately. Yet all the pieces (a mini-series worth) fall into place without ever feeling skimmed over. The class division stuff holds up to scrutiny. Thompson and Hopkins are excellent. Not really my jam but there’s little to fault here.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 