Stanley Nelson Jr. directs Miles Davis, Carl Lumbly and Frances Davis in this documentary biography of the troubled jazz great.
The super quick montages of candid photo sets really bring this movie to life. A fine review of an unparalleled career and difficult figure. His jazz (pre-1969) is still fantastic and the insights into its composition accessible but illuminating.
Emile Ardolino directs Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson in this romantic comedy sequel to the bachelors raise a cute kid smash hit.
Inessential but I’ll always give it a pass due to my affection for the original. There are problems here. The main being the struggle aside from money to find a valid reason to reunite the cast. After a few solid laughs based around the lads trying to shepherd the precocious tot through the adult world, we shift gears into a very trad romcom. Selleck makes for a fine lead and he gets to bounce off a wonderfully awkward Fiona Shaw for his England scenes. Guttenberg and Danson get relegated to background extras for much of the runtime and the little lady is all but forgotten about. It isn’t what anyone really bought a ticket for, the very outdated stereotypical view of ‘good ole Blighty’ irritates and the gags are few and far between. It is just about saccharine, lighthearted and poppy enough to get away with its sins but there was a better movie to be had from reuniting the cast – all it took was some more imagination and less compromises. Ted Danson allegedly didn’t leave LA for his scenes which must have been quite the fudge seeing as the action was filmed on location in Manhattan and Hampshire! See if you can spy him in an exterior shot?
King Hu directs Lingfeng Shangguan, Chun Shih and Ying Bai in this kung-fu classic, where a death squad amass at a deserted inn but a group of unlikely rebels interrupt their plans.
Great to look at but a bit too static and drawn out in its plotting. The final eunuch battle feels a little unfair seeing as its one dickless bad guy against four heroes we’ve seen take on armies by their lonesome in the build-up.
Craig Zobel directs Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank and Ethan Suplee in this satirical action comedy where a rich cabal kidnaps the people they are politically opposed to and hunts them on a reserve full of traps and twists.
The Hunt ain’t a perfect slice of B-Movie exploitation. The politics are scattershot and it is difficult to commit into the action. The first 30 minutes is a pass-the-parcel of protagonists… just when you log that the camera has focussed on a recognisable or potentially heroic face for more than two shots… that actor is maimed, killed or imploded. It is a neato running joke but unsettling storytelling. The second half is much better. Betty Gilpin’s off-kilter but sharp one woman army takes the battle back to the spoilt and the filmmakers have just as much sport lampooning the doomed elite as they do the defenceless poor. The political content is probably a little too broad and “2019 America” specific to work out-with a undelayed cinema release but the violence is consistently OTT. Taken as a more colourful variation of a Purge movie or a free roaming update of The Last Supper… The Hunt is consistently slambang entertaining even in its weaker moments.
Richard Attenborough directs Anthony Hopkins, Burgess Meredith and Ann-Margaret in this chiller where a ventriloquist about to hit the big time needs to face some issues he has with his creepy dummy.
One of those films that was always available to me as a kid (it always seemed to be coming on TV or on other people’s video shelves) but I never watched. Probably because of my aversion to horror. This would have been a good teen first horror, ironically. Nothing too scarring really happens. Scripted by William Goldman, the first act is rich with fantastic film writing. It is a masterclass of setting up and making us care. The wintery New York setting only adds to the ripe atmosphere. Yet once we get to murders and the mystery of just who is in control, it feels like bloodless Stephen King territory or a prestige Psycho retread. Hopkins is a bit too cold a fish to care about, eliciting none of the essential sympathy Anthony Perkins would, for example. Ann-Margaret at least adds a bit of sex appeal into the slow entropy of the second hour. Great to look at, classy, with bursts of unsettling strange… Magic was probably a better movie in my overactive youthful imagination.
Mike Leigh directs Alison Steadman, Tim Stern and Janine Duvitski in this television play about a middle class soirée hosted by an overconfident, domineering housewife.
Naked and Nuts in May aside, I’m not a big fan of Leigh. I find his sneering view of the working class difficult to chuckle at. This much beloved farce works for two reasons. Steadman’s hideously spot on tyrant in high street evening wear. And the amount of unspoken animosities and hinted at innuendos among the other guests. Just how did taciturn, grumpy Tony’s shirt get wet? Existential crisis with ice and a slice of lemon.
Wang Xiaoshuai directs Wang Jingchun, Yong Mei and Qi Xi in this epic drama following one couple’s tragedies during China’s era of One Child policy.
A superbly acted and richly textured family saga. The sense of period and place is evocative. The elliptical time structure wrong foots you and makes you actively engage with characters’ changes of fortunes. You find yourself second guessing your grasp of the plot and chastising yourself for cynically assuming the worst of the lead couple. Would make a good double bill with the decades spanning Ash is the Purest White.
John Herzfeld directs Danny Aiello, James Spader and Teri Hatcher in this freewheelin’ crime caper following the fallout from a bungled assassination.
Made during the big Pulp Fiction gold rush of mid 90s, this has very little but light entertainment to offer. It lacks Elmore Leonard’s wit, Scorsese’s bravura craft or QT’s eye for ensemble casting. The imposed quirkiness is very heavy handed. Various sub-plots shift from engaging to pointless, and the characters never are given enough breathing space to come alive. Aiello, Glenne Headley, Paul Mazursky and a very fresh faced Charlize Theron make the most out of what blanks they are armed with but if someone told you Jeff Daniels was only available for 48 hours of filming and they didn’t complete shooting his pages you’d believe them. Watchable, disposable.
Alfred Hitchcock directs Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and Leo. G Carroll in this thriller where a frigid psychoanalyst and her murder suspect lover go on the run.
Dirty old Alfred gets a little too caught up with violently frustrated men and repressed beauties here. The set pieces and suspense are low volume. The stand-out is a Salvador Dali designed dream sequence full of visual crossword clues to the mystery’s solution. Fantastic to look at but unless there was an interval to muse on what you’ve just witnessed you’d never have a chance to unpick the pun imagery and resolve what happened and whodunnit.
Mark Rosman directs Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson and Janis Ward in this horror slasher where some dorm sisters kill their guardian moments before the last party of the year.
The characters are unlikeable and the kills come way too quick. Most of the deserving victims are bumped off with a hasty, tension-free impatience. The production does however look superior to nearly all of its peers. The flashback opening is an unspoken homage to Citizen Kane, there are crane shots and everything is impeccably lit… right up to the party finale that has the phantasmagorical colour scheme of a Bava or Argento. Prettiness does not a great chiller make though.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 