François Ozon directs Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder and Isabelle Huppert in this French period farce where a struggling actress confesses to a murder she (probably) did not commit for the notoriety.
Very much a stagey French farce titivated by beautiful actresses in sumptuous clothes. There’s even a sole minute where bonus nudity intrudes and stomps over all the tasteful teatime visuals. Huppert makes a memorable appearance in the final third. As attractive as all this looks it really isn’t my thing.
Aki Kaurismäki directs Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen and Markku Peltola in this Finnish arthouse drama where a middle aged married couple struggle with being suddenly jobless during a recession.
Cheery isn’t a word you would immediately associate with Kaurismäki but this one is particularly depressing for a long haul. A Ken Loach plot done in his unique deadpan tone. The simply composed unmoving camera creates some wonderfully vivid moments, the stillness lets every gesture, line and development marinate into you. Not fun, yet not cynical. Kati Outinen expresses so much with so little here. I’m still getting used to this director – cute dogs, cinema trips, restaurants as heaven. I like him more and more with every new film. Though I had strong deja vu with some of these scenes. Late night after the pub in the nineties no doubt?
Paul Verhoeven directs Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards in this sci-fi war satire where the fascist youth armies of Earth go to war against massive alien bugs.
I haven’t seen this since the multiplex where it left me cold. I could see then it was big budget Hollywood dreck yet all done with a smarmy Dutch smirk on its face. Verhoeven is a canny operator. The purposefully bland casting and a two hour plus running time do handicap it. Robocop did a far better job of blending the sex, violence, gore, satire, cybernetics and saltiness. This is just a little too sheeny shiny smooth. There’s gloop but no grit. Phil Tippett’s creature animation is something special as always. And Dina Meyer bucks the trend of dead eyed recital of going through cliched motions by being actually vivacious and convincingly capable. Fascism is bad, now let’s kill some insectiods and have larks with it. Clancy and Ironside are in it… so there’s that. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Max Ophüls directs Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan and James Mason in this melodrama where a department store model marries a twisted business tycoon and finds herself trapped in a loveless union.
Shot like a noir but very much a soap. Ryan’s bastard man millionaire is based on Howard Hughes. He bullies and control everyone. He sees Barbara Bel Geddes as an object he owns, she tries to break free and restart her life but a contract is a contract… Not a million miles away from Ophül’s period romantic tragedies – just with a present day setting. The director is particularly good at sympathising with ladies in precarious situations and making his ornate set design tell the story as much as the actors. Here that story is a bit too thin to support the shifts and swerves but he directs the fuck out of it anyway.
Griffin Dunne directs Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Aidan Quinn in this supernatural fantasy drama where two ‘witch’ raised sisters are reunited.
At times this feels very much like an adaptation of a book that works best as a book. Often though Practical Magic bares the scars of reshoots, a rushed edit and studio uncertainty. There are so many extraneous characters. It feels like the stellar Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing get lost in the shuffle… even Nicole is sidelined in the second half. Is it a romance? Is it a PG horror? A comedy? Feels like a pilot for a spooky Gilmore Girls. Fair to say I was never the intended audience for this but did it have to be so all over the shop? I just never settled into this.
Damien Leone directs David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell and Samantha Scaffidi in this extreme slasher where a maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone who gets in his way.
I had heard bad things so was late to the party on this one. Does everything a classic slasher should. Yeah, the gore is OTT but that has never harmed a sick flick’s cult potential. David Howard Thornton’s very playful, endlessly threatening Art The Clown elevates this. It is such an iconic performance that all the cheapness and the dank is wallpapered over. A new horror MVP.
Norman Jewison directs Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway and Paul Burke in this romantic heist thriller where a well-to-do criminal mastermind falls for the insurance investigator trying to nab him.
Dated enough now that its visually heady brew of cool, camp, chic and collages somehow works again. McQueen is a little miscast. He’s a bit too bristling man-of-action for an essentially passive, fantasy figure role. Watching him try to casually laugh or pretend he is interested in contracts is a little risible… maybe Jewison exploits the happy accident. Dunaway has fun though in one of her lightest turns. Very much a case of style over substance, like the infamous theme song Windmills Of Your Mind, it exists in its own little bubble and ultimately doesn’t mean anything. Time travelling – with one great heist and lots of lifestyle porn.
Andy Morahan directs Christopher Lambert, Mario Van Peebles and Deborah Kara Unger in this threequel where it turns out some bonus immortals were buried in a cave in Japan and now that they are free they want Connor MacLeod’s head.
Might be the first Highlander film I ever watched. In the cinema no less. Sleazy sex and violence. A rerun of the original with less flair, budget and a weaker cast. It is a patchwork of half realised ideas, exposition and montage with average sword fight moments. The one big sex scene is really strong though, albeit in a cheesy rock video kinda way. But that won’t save a movie. I completely understand the need to try and keep the story going… but when hidden immortals emerge surely “the prize” should leave in Lambert in some painful, and cinematic, way. Terminator 2 inspired finale aside, this ain’t a kinda magic but it is acceptable trash.
Robert Zemeckis directs Jodie Foster , Matthew McConaughey and James Woods in this sci-fi drama where Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Maybe it is because he has spent the entire 21st century trying to tame the uncanny valley with middling success that we overlook the tremendous run of ambitious blockbuster after blockbuster that Robert Zemeckis crafted over 17 years at the pinnacle of his career. Romancing The Stone, The Back To The Future Trilogy, Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, Contact, What Lies Beneath, Castaway. Not a dud or arthouse vanity project among them, all with cutting edge spectacle and something deeper to say about the late 20th century American experience. Contact gets a little lost in the shuffle even though it is the most intelligent and philosophical. Maybe you prefer 2001 / Close Encounters / Arrival. Contact is very much my go to in the sub-genre. Expansive, challenging, yet completely comfortable as Saturday night multiplex fodder. The chase for the truth and the big answers compels. Thrum. Thrum. Thrum. The message from another galaxy bellows at us with oblique possibilities. The whole endeavour is anchored by Foster in her most perfectly tailored role. It fits her talents and star persona like a glove. She is a pioneer, a romantic, the most intelligent person in the room, the most vulnerable to the prejudices of the patriarchy. No movie like it has a central character so captivating, attractive or zealous. 2 and half hours fly by. For a film that constantly interrogates weighty issues, Contact is never dull or lost in talk. A wonder.
Gary Dauberman directs Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh and Alfre Woodard in this feature length adaptation of the Stephen King vampire horror classic.
Having just finished reading King’s second official novel, and first of many door stopper sized bestsellers, I was excited for this. The Tobe Hooper miniseries from back in the day isn’t half as good as people make out, give or take one or two childhood shattering moments of creaky terror. Yet a lot of people have cried foul of condensing King’s first big ensemble work into a mere two hour adventure. The book’s key strength is getting to know a very human cross section of a small town’s population and then suffering the loss of just about every single one of them systematically. This truncated take swaps some fates around, makes the casting more diverse and only gives certain supporting characters briefly glimpsed cameos. It is also fair to say much of the sadness and cynicism over fighting a foe in a world without faith in the supernatural is fully jettisoned. Pullman maybe isn’t quite manly enough for his lead role but all in all the casting is very pleasing. There are surprises, neat set-pieces (faithful and freshly invented) and even a few laughs. I know Egger’s Nosferatu is imminent but this is a very beautiful, classically framed and lit modern gothic horror flick. Some of the best straight faced genre visuals in a good while. Crucifixes become blindingly iridescent, doomed walks in the woods resemble elaborate shadow puppetry and Seventies nostalgia becomes a tactile cage.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 