Danny DeVito directs Mara Wilson, himself and Embeth Davidtz in this kids movie adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic.

I was checking out from family movies at this point in my teens – only Disney and Dahl could turn my head. Strongly stylised visuals from DeVito. Nice casting. The transplantation to the United States irks awkwardly at some moments, some blows are understandably softened here, but all in all this is pretty solid. Upbeat soundtrack choices.

7

Perfect Double Bill: James & The Giant Peach (1996)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Ron Shelton directs Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins in the romantic comedy where the sexy muse for her local minor league baseball team has to choose between the gauche up-and-comer and a seasoned journeyman.

Sultry. Sexier and funnier than it has any right to be. The writing is sheer poetry. Sarandon is on fire. Ron Shelton was a former minor league baseball player and used his experience as the basis for the story. The baseball doesn’t really matter however. This is about belief. About philosophy. About acceptance. Home run. Just a lovely way to spend a Saturday night.

“Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”

8

Perfect Double Bill: White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Mike Barker directs Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock and Connie Britton in this drama where a successful journalist begins to relive her past traumas (a series of rapes and a school shooting) during the build-up to her wedding day.

Jessica Knoll’s 2015 bestseller was clearly prescient of the #metoo movement… and so was ripe for adaptation. You couldn’t accuse her of cashing in on the bandwagon though Luckiest Girl Alive does share a lot of DNA with the fad films that were rushed into production in the movements wake. This feels like it has just a bit more meat on its bones as a drama and even as an entertainment rather than being a mere awkward to consume echo chamber piece. Kunis gives a spiky central turn, Barker has some smart visual choices up his sleeve – especially when mixing the two jarring time lines. It is admirably hard going during some sequences… though should trauma be this glossy?… and there are four epilogues when one would suffice. Still, worth a punt if you are feeling brave.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Promising Young Woman (2020)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Olivia Wilde directs Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine in this sci-fi mystery where a housewife begins to grow paranoid about her idyllic existence in a conformist community shut off from the rest of the world.

Is it The Truman Show? Is it The Matrix? Is it The Stepford Wives? Is it Get Out? Spends three acts getting to a point when most narratives have establish themselves in 30 minutes. It leaves you with too much downtime to guess ahead. The sinister stuff doesn’t hit hard enough, the sexy stuff is very front loaded. There is one stinker of a performance yet even the reliable Pugh and invaluable Pine struggle to find much room to dazzle in this glossy but sterile trap. Lacks engagement and coherence, just sits there looking pretty.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Spiderhead (2022)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

David Gordon Green directs Rohan Campbell, Andi Matichak and Jamie Lee Curtis in this horror sequel that explores a new killer emerging to take the Michael Myers mantle.

Genuinely surprised about how much I liked this one. Felt legacy but not beholden, closer to the Rob Zombie reboots but still mainstream. Scuzzy, sexy, unrestrained. Exemplary central performance by Rohan Campbell as the troubled young man ostracised by the Haddonfield community. Lots of memorable kills amongst the sensitive drama… the cold open is pretty damn shocking and there’s a tongue related moment that is cheeky gore nirvana. Laurie and The Shape take a few steps back until the finale… the conclusion is definitely a little less convincing, especially as a full stop to the franchise. But I think we all know the old big knife and boiler suit haven’t been fully retired by Universal just yet. Score, credit sequence, mad underpass bums, teens worth killing, cute girls, nasty deaths. Why aren’t Freddy and Jason still getting it served this hot?

7

Perfect Double Bill: Halloween Kills (2021)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Joseph Kosinski directs Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth and Jurnee Smollett in this techno thriller where an arrogant CEO experiments on sexy convicts with his new mind control invention.

One day that Netflix algorithm is going to stumble onto a fine piece of home entertainment. Like a stopped clock or an infinite amount of monkeys with an infinite amount of typewriters. Until then I’ll give slick dreck like this a fair 20 minutes of my undivided attention and then start opening tabs and sidebars on my tablet until the action ramps up.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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 Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel and Preston Foster in this IRA drama based on Liam O’Flaherty’s classic novel.

Victor McLaglen is a pitiable braggart and a drunk hoping to get 20 quid so he and his streetwalker sweetheart can escape Dublin for America. So he makes a deal with the devil (the British) and squanders his chance to leave playing the big man. Guilt, betrayal, hedonism. Ford films this like German Expressionism though that may be down to how little budget he had to recreate the Irish capital. He has the perfect leading man though so who cares about the set dressing? My dissertation was on Irish Nationalism In Film and I had to blag watching this as I struggled to gain access to it. Nice to finally catch up on it.

7

Perfect Double Bill: I See A Dark Stranger (1946)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Dominique Othenin-Girard directs Danielle Harris, Donald Pleasence and Don Shanks in this slasher sequel where Michael Myers… well… you already know…

Cheap and choppy. Unimpressive teens, unimpressive kills, weird mask redesign. Squanders all that was intriguing about the end of the fourth entry. There’s a car chase in a field that is a glimmer of hope. Clearly cut to ribbons by an over zealous producer. The hints at some greater conspiracy around The Shape have little impact but do confuse… Poor old Donald Pleasance is made to play heroic Dr Loomis like a batshit crazy child abuser.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Halloween 4: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1988)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

David Zellner directs Rinko Kikuchi, himself and Nobuyuki Katsube in this strange but mostly true story about a Japanese woman who became obsessed with the lost ransom money in the fictional Coen’s Brothers film Fargo and travelled to freezing Minnesota to find it.

A winning mixture of bleakness and whimsy. This is a tragic story of mental illness, admirably never played for laughs. Kikuchi completely sells the seductive drive of this unremarkable woman on a ridiculous quest. Often hauntingly beautiful also.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Well… Fargo (1996)… Duh!

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/

Jeffrey McHale directs Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Paul Verhoeven in this documentary about the production, evisceration and cult legacy of Showgirls.

Big fan of Showgirls, and not in an entirely snide way. Every time I watch it I have a memorable experience. This documentary is pretty even handed exploring its over inflated problems and celebrating its extreme pleasures. Slightly strange start to watching this documentary. The stream struggled to buffer and then played with the talking head narration overlapping in triplicate. It actually worked quite nicely, adding a woozy fever dream like atmosphere to the heightened subject matter. But then I paused it… realised it was definitely a glitch. Was slightly disappointed in all honesty that it wasn’t a stylistic choice. I rarely watch “DVD extra” Making Of Content but do feel that movies with this footprint of cultural impact deserve documentaries at least as well made, and their own thing, as this. Or nothing at all.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Showgirl (1995)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also 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/