Paul Schrader directs Richard Gere, Bill Duke and Lauren Hutton in this neo-noir where a high end sex worker finds himself tangled up in a murder and potential political conspiracy.
Surprisingly sexually fluid and unnervingly threatening. Schrader’s take on this elite world shares a lot of its DNA with Brett Easton Ellis’ writing; the air of impending violence, the spartan excess of the lifestyles and the hollowness of the interactions. The mystery thriller elements begin to clunk in the home stretch, it is not a narrative with a satisfying, graceful dismount. As a mood piece from a forgotten time and place this has aged better than it was received.
Peter Farrelly directs Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali and Linda Cardellini in this feelgood comedy about an Italian American bouncer and a black concert pianist who travel the Deep South on a concert tour together.
And the Winner is… A really enjoyable film. One with flawed yet loveable characters played by fine movie stars. One with witty dialogue and broad laugh out loud gags. One that explores race relations on a micro level and comes up with the not exactly distasteful theory that prejudice can be broken down by interaction, integration and respect. You cannot prescribe hate out of people’s hearts but you can overcome it by mutual cooperation. Share time and space and culture with each other that bullshit falls away, humanity wins. Of course, for a comedy film of simple values and an upbeat outlook to win Best Picture puts it under a political scrutiny it will struggle with. 48 hours later and this finely made, accessible movie is already a whipping boy. It isn’t the best film of the year, nor the even the best nominated Oscar whore, but it is a career high point for Farrelly, Ali and Cardinelli, classically composed and sharply fun. Not undeserving of its Oscar yet unfortunately it will now be included in the same list as Crash and A Beautiful Mind of Academy Award Aberrations. In all honesty, I think Moonlight fits more comfortably into that infamous subcategory.
John Carney directs Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Hailee Steinfeld in this romantic comedy about a shy singer songwriter and a washed-up music executive who spark while recording a demo on the streets of New York.
A warm, playful and mature urban fantasy. The music convinces as does the chemistry of the stars. It must be a good film as charisma-vacuums Adam Levine and James Corden don’t manage to cripple proceedings despite bafflingly prominent roles.
Paul Verhoeven directs Rutger Hauer, Monique van de Ven and Tonny Huurdeman in this satirical romance where an arsehole sculptor falls for a carefree middle class girl.
Love Story but with rape, horse eating, explicit sex, mastectomies, maggots and shitting. Verhoeven is satirising Dutch society but his gross out antics prove a little deadening. The cast is good when not taking their histrionics up to 11. Jan De Bont’s cinematography makes the passion and the degradation look very glowing. Side note – I had to order this on DVD from Korea to watch, which meant my copy had all the exposed genitalia blurred out. For a comedy I’m guessing the Korean blur inputter never expected to work quite so hard.
Barry Levinson directs Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and Valeria Golino in this Oscar winning road movie about a yuppie car importer who discovers he has an institutionalised brother and heads across America with him to hold the familial inheritance hostage.
So slick it should slip right off the screen. So sentimental it should make hard hearts sneer their eyes shut. Yet everyone brings their A-game. Levinson takes swiping blows at the American Dream and fuses every scene with peril and humour. The stars compliment each other (and compete in each and every interaction). With its gorgeous view of the roadside landscape and attractive soundtrack, Rain Man’s only crime is it stretches itself by about 15 minutes of excess.
Agnes Varda directs Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller and Dominique Davray in this slice of life drama where a pop singer wanders around Paris awaiting results of a life changing biopsy.
A very beautiful film, a journey both intimate and epic, crosscutting through wonderful Paris and the full gamut of emotions. Are we watching a naïf evolving from closeted doll with no control of her destiny to self awareness and self determination? Are we seeing time unspooling? A life frittered away in moments? What of the others we meet? All intriguing… where do their lives and philosophies and romances go once after they cross paths with “Cleo” / Florence? As a first watch my thoughts and appreaciation of this wonderful film are unfocused. I can only say with certainty that if you like Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy or Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird or love the city of Paris then you’ll be seduced by this. Oh, and she has some lovely kittens too.
Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery direct Willem Dafoe, Robert Gordon and Marianne Kanter in this biker movie where a gang of leather youths stay one day in a seedy small town while a motorcycle is repaired.
This one is all about the mood, daddio. And you know what? It coasts along with fumes in its tank and a firm grip on it throttle, nice and easy. Slight but really visually sharp. Each shot is ambitiously framed. If you like the scenes in Twin Peaks where the characters just languish about ordering diner breakfasts, listening to jukeboxes, talking hip… then this’ll work for you too. Robert Gordon’s rockabilly soundtrack gives the endeavour a heartbeat. The girls are all trailer trash sexy. Most notable for being the debut of Dafoe and Bigelow. Two massive talents who went on to consistent bigger, better things but their hearts still remain in this cool, rebel outlaw vibe. Their talent was present at their cinematic start. A watchable nothingness, pastiche-a-go-go.
Jimmy T. Murakami and Roger Corman direct George Peppard, Robert Vaughn and Richard Thomas in this space set remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Cheap and cheerful Star Wars cash-in. Fun and undemanding. With a nice cast of C-List faces. There are far worse ways to spend an afternoon and you get to see glimpses of James Cameron’s apprenticeship in production design and Bill Paxton’s (off screen) carpentry.
Todd Haynes directs Edith Meeks, Larry Maxwell and Susan Norman in three metaphorical tales of outlawed queerness based on the works by Jean Genet.
More like a strong sedative, this Poison won’t kill you but it will put you to sleep. An early work in pastiche by the now masterful Haynes. The final torture scene where a boy is covered in spit makes for queasy viewing.
M. Night Shyamalan directs Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis in this sequel to Split AND Unbreakable.
After a promising opening where we catch up with impenetrable vigilante David Dunn (Willis, showing a glimmer of his old spark) and McAvoy’s multiple personality nasty… everything suddenly goes on pause. Like our protagonists, we are trapped in an asylum for far too long. The plot is put in a holding pattern for what feels like an hour. Samuel L. Jackson is muted for most of that slog. The heavy lifting is left to the support actors while the stars mope about in custom designed cells. Sarah Paulson and Anya Taylor-Joy get some lovely outfits to pout around in. Meanwhile Unbreakable alumni Spencer Treat Clark and Charlayne Woodward achieve so much with so little you wonder why we haven’t seen more of them since the year 2000. But we didn’t buy a ticket to see the extended cast… we want the supernatural leads to face-off. After a middling breakout, instead of the teased skyscraper-set finale, we stay in a car park. Characters scrap, then make speeches about comic book tropes (tropes I’m not entirely sure hold water), scrap some more, then we get our twist. Is it a good Shyamalan twist? It certainly is a busy one, unspooling probably a whole extra movie worth of ideas in five brisk minutes. Some of that imagery and conspiracy could have easily been seeded through the previous hour where Mr Glass drools into his wheelchair bound lap. A poor conclusion to Unbreakable, one of the finest superhero movies ever made. An adequate follow-up to Split which wasn’t exactly a perfect experience to begin with but was, at the very least, tighter and not deathly boring.
