Matthew Patrick directs Gary Busey, Mimi Rogers and Michael McKean in this yuppie-in-peril thriller where a ‘just released from the asylum’ man child moves himself into a family’s dream home attic without permission and then into their lives.

A cheesy movie, unsure of what it wants to be. Mimi Rodgers involvement makes it an erotic thriller even if there’s only very PG softcore action. Busey’s trademark intense, unpredictable style means it is hard to pin down your feelings about his villain. We spend most of the movie in his shoes. You grow to love the hulking unhinged innocent. He spirals from manipulative nut job to unlikely E.T. substitute. I kinda dug the movie more when he was being a better Dad and protector to the family than McKean’s scuzzball. But eventually we are positioned into a big ‘psycho stalks the household’ finale. And while that shifts VHS rental units it feels like the least satisfying route the movie could have potentially taken. A curio.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Desperate Hours (1990)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Vittorio De Sica directs Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and Aldo Puglisi in this Italian romantic comedy charting the tumultuous long term relationship between a cad and his kept woman.

Really fun this. A decades spanning relationship told from both conflicting points of view. An enjoyable extreme melodramatic final act. Mastroianni’s mugging when the penny finally drops. Bellissimo!

8

Perfect Double Bill: Arabesque (1966)

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Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping directs Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay and Aaron Heffernan in this erotic thriller where an East London drag performer starts dating their attacker months after a brutal homophobic attack.

Unpredictable suspense tale which adds a nice degree of integrity and complexity to the two leads. As much a morality tale as a brave attempt at true representation.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Pride (2014)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion directs Lulu Wilson, Kevin James and Joel McHale in this horror where a violent teen protects her family from some Neo-Nazi home invaders.

Ultraviolence. Outside the box casting. Heroic dogs. Doesn’t do anything wrong but never manages to build a head of steam. Just kinda happens.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Wrath Of Becky (2023)

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Tony Bill directs Marisa Tomei, Christian Slater and Rosie Perez in this romantic melodrama where a hard working waitress falls for the near-silent, possibly mentally ill, kitchen porter at her diner.

He thinks he has a baboon’s heart. He’s too dreamy for this world. He’ll stop the bad men from raping you, then break into your bedroom. The leads elevate this wodge of gritty fluff. It is wildly imbalanced – not sure if it wants to be a streetwise Mystic Pizza… or Love Story meets Awakenings. So star power drags it through kicking and screaming. Tomei (gorgeous) and Perez have a winning dynamic. Slater is also cast for his looks. And while it is hard not to swoon towards his renaissance man retard you do wonder why cast such a charismatic motormouth in a near dialogue free role. Wintery. Of its time. Still kinda cool. Sleepover VHS rental choice of the week.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Only You (1994)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Dev Patel directs himself, Sharlto Copley and Pitobash Tripathy in this Indian set action fantasy where a vengeance filled underdog works his way up a ladder of insidious corruption and kicks ass.

Blood soaked and almost permanently set on intense tight close ups. Should be right up my alley. A bit too repetitive by the bruising third act. The bare knuckle tournament subplot seems to have little to do with the main thrust.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Nobody (2021)

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Ken Loach directs Dave Turner, Ebla Mari and Claire Rodgerson in this British drama where a pub owner allows the new Syrian refugees in his area to use his failing business as a community space.

With Loach now retired, has this brand of socially informed cinema had its day? The Old Oak rarely feels made for the people affected by the issues it churns up. The push and pull of sentimentality and dystopia feels manipulative and didactic. The community theatre acting is woeful in the smaller roles… frequently dragging you out of the thin narrative. My heart is with the movie but my head feels divorced from it. Even the ultimate message that good deeds are ephemeral yet they might at least produce small (rare) echoes of decency in the futures of individuals is quite pessimistic. But also pragmatic…?

6

Perfect Double Bill: Sorry We Missed You (2019)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

Philip Kaufman directs Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum in this remake of the sci-fi horror classic.

The superior remake. Brooke Adams’ weird erratic eye trick that proves she’s human. The drenching of alienation that Kaufman soaks both San Francisco and marriage in. The sly cameo of Kevin McCarthy, the original hero, massive jump scare as Easter Egg as bridging moment between the two flicks. One is a clone but an evolution – taut, fraught and full of dwindling human emotions. Veronica Cartwright is horror’s unsung character actor of note, she’s the most believably frantic performance here. Goldblum, Nimoy and Sutherland add star value, cult value. Hopeless desperation. One flinch will make them out you with an ear piercing scream, one sleep will see you lose yourself, one wrong foot and they swarm you en masse. The only way to survive is to give up on what makes you you. The sci-fi horror masterpiece. Cold terror.

10

Perfect Double Bill: They Live (1988)

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Zack Snyder directs Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou and Ed Skrein in this direct follow-up to his sci-fi epic where the warriors defend a village on the farm planet Veldt.

There’s something quite cunty about following up something so expansive and visually unrestrained with a two hour war movie set within one dusty cubed mile. The days of galaxy hopping team assembling over strange new worlds is over. This is a curiously inert homage to Seven Samurai and Witness that just kinda happens in front of you with minimal excitement.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Rebel Moon: A Child Of Fire (2023)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/

McG directs Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in this sequel to the big screen reboot to the fluff TV show about three hot female private investigators.

A museum artefact. Not in any definable way a “good” film but very of its time. Incoherent, struggles to land a joke. Yet there’s a goofy charm to a movie essentially made up of 3 million dress up trailer shots. Money has never so extravagantly wasted on your and their good time.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Charlie’s Angels (2001)

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