Alex Garland directs Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura and Cailee Spaeney in this dystopian thriller following a jeep full of journalists through the battle zones of a modern alt USofA at war with itself.

Wow! We are seeing. We are seeing violence. We are seeing what is happening in a world where truth is no longer trusted. We are seeing a “what if” America unimaginable 15 years ago yet now seems a little too on-the-nose. We are seeing what other parts of the world suffer in a landscape and population familiar. We are seeing the people who feel they need to put themselves right into that violence to protect the truth. We are seeing the effect being within that violence has on them. We are seeing their doubts that capturing that violence as an indelible image does anything but perpetuate it. The rookie photographer’s photos are in that old fashioned, peak visual integrity, black and white. Her monochrome freeze frames of the chaos all uniformly have another of our journalists within them. Her story is Garland’s story. Why choose to be in the war zone if nobody cares for perspective anymore?

Civil War is a deep, complicated film with no straight answers. It is also… more notably… an A-Grade exploitation thrill ride. A parallel universe sci-fi a la The Purge or Punishment Park but with prestige trappings and broadsheet prescience. A war movie that takes modern warfare and rebottles the gore, tactics and tragedy into a country that felt untouchable until the time of Trump and Antifa. Apocalypse Now for the new generation. We are on a road trip of burnt out malls, snipers on the Dairy Queen and gunships through the capitol. Given the mid-range budget this out marvels the modern CGI fest with its clarity and intent. Anything can happen. Exciting, isn’t it? The closest release it feels akin to in terms of achievement is Edwards’ The Creator.

So many meaty quality elements. The discordant jukebox soundtrack featuring choice deep cuts from Silver Apples, De La Soul and Suicide. The clean look of it. No obvious FX joins. The aftermath strewn with graffiti and paintball wound spatters of bright colour. Dunst adding class and her top game. Part Lee Miller, part Margo Channing. Her hubby’s already iconic creepy as fuck one scene, one man death squad cameo. The fact that Garland’s last ever directorial effort (really?!) immerses you in an experience that is totally overwhelming, literate and inspiring. The multiplex doesn’t get much better than this!

10

Perfect Double Bill: Monsters (2010)

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

Tony Richardson directs Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan and Murray Melvin in this British kitchen sink drama where a schoolgirl escapes the smothering influence of her wayward single mother with a black British sailor and, later, her new gay friend.

Saw the original stage version of this a few years back which I enjoyed. Hard to believe something as sharp and emotionally intelligent as A Taste Of Honey was written by a seventeen year old working class kid back then, and somehow found backing and stood the test of time. Well done, Shelagh Delaney, well done. The arguably more famous Woodfall screen adaptation is very cinematic. Adding wonderful visual on -location moments to the intense relationships and hopeless dynamics.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960)

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Richard Linklater directs himself, Louis Black and Kim Krizan in this true shoestring budget American indie where we follow the outsider population of Austin as they meet in the streets and coffee houses sharing ideas and theories in a domino rally of interactions.

Slacker is a very specific time capsule. Generation X. The coolest city in Texas. The wage slave artists and weirdos who dug conspiracy theories and formal experimentation pre-The Internet. Linklater self funded the trivial $23000 budget before kickstarter was a thing and Sundance had yet to break a movie like this… Or Reservoir Dogs, Clerks or even the star laden Sex, Lies And Videotape. The structure is inspired. Find the quirkiest and most compelling figures on the Austin scene. Audition them to do their thing or perform monologues written by Linklater. Then stitch together these diatribes, hook ups and larks on the street. Each conversation or encounter linking like a relay race of ideas. The movie isn’t beholden to one performance or a single human’s availability. The tone is variable. There’s a restrained horniness to nearly all the female / male meet-ups. There’s a freak show dark comedy to the more obsessed street preachers and alt history nuts. Nearly everyone is within their own little bubble – some with no great dramas, others in a moment of genuine tragic emotional jeopardy. Everyday, but unusual. Erudite and literate. Casual yet desperate. Lonely yet part of a community. Slacker can be very light, very inspiring and if you don’t care about one section you kinda know the next encounter around the corner will be something completely different. Which makes it all gravy. The sidewalks of Austin can be a scary place but the scruffy dreamers we meet over this random day acknowledge the nightmare and fantasy of normal existence. For a time capsule, it is a very present film.

9

Perfect Double Bill: A Scanner Darkly (2006)

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

Basil Dearden directs Nigel Patrick, Earl Cameron and Yvonne Mitchell in this British mystery where police detectives investigate the complicated life of a murdered biracial girl who could ‘pass’ for white.

A complex, vivid movie – very progressive in many aspects but still struggling with stereotypical portrayals of certain black characters. Dearden’s issues pic masquerading as a potboiler works best when letting the two white detectives flinch against each other. One is casually racist, the other more worldly and sensitive but not willing to openly challenge the status quo prejudice. Interestingly it is the older investigator who has the more modern, humanist outlook. Black British life is leant some rare detail (still largely missing from this nation’s cinema) showing a mix of middle class characters who have little to do with the vibrant but seedy underworld the film flirts with. The ultimate whodunnit spine of the movie goes around the houses to reach the most guessable suspect. The mystery trappings are a gateway to the wider intent. A Citizen Kane for a life less prominent, a riff on Otto Preminger’s Laura with a social conscience. Do we ever really get to know Sapphire? Also, I’m a sucker for London crime flicks were you can experience the forgotten streets and lost pubs from before I was born.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Peeping Tom (1960)

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Rosalind Ross directs Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson and Teresa Ruiz in this biopic of a boxer turned priest.

Solid true story which avoids mawk. Ruiz stands out as the good girl who honeytraps our ageing tearaway into Catholicism.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Keeping The Faith (2001)

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

S. S. Rajamouli directs N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan and Ajay Devgn in this fictional Indian adventure story which imagines two historical freedom fighters teaming up to fight the British Empire.

A violent chase through a thousand protesters. A tiger tamed with sheer muscle. An explosive bridge rescue that defies the laws of physics. Then the title card… Spectacle, OTT action, endurance song and dance numbers and an all heart narrative. There is little not to like about RRR. It is big on entertainment and sincerity. So many CGI animals, so many action set pieces that bring wonder back into your living room plus such sweet friendships and even a chaste romance. It is The Departed for kids, HK Heroic Bloodshed melded onto Marvel movie kinetics. Strange to think something so basic and naive has a clear populist and obvious nationalistic message. One that the liberal Western audiences who have embraced it as a slice of epic camp don’t fully understand… might automatically reject from a British, American or Russian filmmaker?

8

Perfect Double Bill: RRR is plenty for one sitting.

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Craig Gillespie directs Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell and Toni Collette in this supernatural action comedy where a Las Vegas teen realises his new neighbour is a vampire.

As an action comedy this is full of threat and kinetics. Farrell bites deep into the villain role. The original was no sacred text. The only truly memorable aspect about it was an iconic VHS cover. Adding a bit of gloss, CGI and a superior cast does this remake absolutely no harm.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Green Room (2016)

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

Cinderella Man (2005)

Ron Howard directs Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger and Paul Giamatti in this period boxing biopic where a family man returns to the ring during The Depression.

A lot of quality elements here (prestige-wise everyone involved was at their peak) yet it doesn’t gel together to be much more than a handsome one-watcher. There is noteworthy support from Paddy Considine, Craig Bierko and, of course, Giamatti. He was already graduating out of these third billed roles by this point. While he adds a lot, it is hard to see what more he gets out of the best friend / manager role than a paycheck? Not that he treats it that way. His chemistry with Crowe is sweet. Maybe that has as much to do with Crowe, who can do the sensitive man of violence schtick in his sleep, but always seems (overly?) generous sharing his screen with other talents.

6

Sideways (2004)

Alexander Payne directs Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen in this comedy drama where two friends go on a road trip into California’s Wine Country.

Send me to hell but I’ve watched Sideways maybe four or five times and it doesn’t click with me. Should be right up my alley, and maybe a little too close to home, yet I’m always left both distracted during it and feeling “is that it?” afterwards. Realise I’m in the minority.

5

American Splendor (2003)

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini direct Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Judah Friedlander in this biopic that mixes of fiction and documentary to illuminate the life of indie comic book grouch Harvey Pekar.

This chimed with me far more than Sideways. Maybe I prefer absolutely broken Giamatti over slightly flawed Giamatti. Pekar is a loveable scumbag here and I really dig that. You get an ordinary life glimpsed in dirty slithers. Plus weird Quantum Leap imaging chamber footage of the actors and the real life subjects just hanging out in a pure white room. Representing the blank page I suppose. It is a goofy conceit. Very quotable, very funny. The only real misstep is the happy ending that they find for Pekar but, hey, that’s the true story. Twenty years after enjoying this at the Edinburgh Film Festival and I still haven’t tracked down an issue of American Splendor the comic.

7

Barney’s Version (2011)

Richard J. Lewis directs Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike and Dustin Hoffman in this drama following the chaotic life of a trashy TV producer who gets married twice before finding the love of his life.

Missed this on release, and what a movie to be found sleeping on. Fantastic works from Giamatti, Pike and Hoffman. Any scenes where he shares the screen with either of them pops. So funny, so raw, so desperate. Again a very flawed character, would be a nightmare in real life. You can tell this is based on a big door stopper book – kind of a lighter hearted Philip Roth / Saul Bellow great Canadian novel wannabe. An entire adult life, warts and herpes. The pace and look of the adaptation is pitch perfect. I wanted to watch Barney’s Version straight away again the moment it ended. Horny pathos, diversions that pay off.

8

Win Win (2011)

Tom McCarthy directs Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan and Bobby Cannavale in this comedy where a struggling lawyer swindles one of his elderly clients and ends up with the man’s enigmatic teenage grandson in his home.

Another stellar lead role for Giamatti as the good man who bends the rules with unpredictable consequences. Struggle. Everyday struggle. Nobody else is inhabiting these roles with such sensitivity and detail. This plays out like a grubby static Little Miss Sunshine. Cannavale succeeds where no one else could, he steals the movie from one of my favourite modern character actors.

7

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Matteo Garrone directs Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall and Issaka Sawagodo in this African drama following two teenage cousins journeying across their continent to reach Europe.

Had fears this was going to be gruelling, worthy. Instead it is a really strong adventure. A quest. Noble protagonist, near fantastical vista, episodic peril. All based on a reality we choose to ignore. Garrone sees the magic in every location, every step of the journey. Even at its nastiest, most perilous and most emotionally draining sacrifice there’s a sense of goodness, purpose and hope to what you are watching in comfort. Great cinema puts you within the perspective of someone living an extraordinary life. Io Capitano puts you right deep in there.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Beasts Of No Nation (2015)

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

Michael Mohan directs Sydney Sweeney, Simona Tabasco and Álvaro Morte in this indie horror where a devout American nun arrives at an Italian convent where there is a conspiracy to impregnate her with something ungodly.

There is something quite classy about Immaculate. It ratchets up the tension with a mature steady crank. The camera moves insidiously through gorgeous locations but never in a way that shows off and takes you out of the milieu. There are visual callbacks to giallos. The ending is full fat extreme horror that goes all the way. Crucifixion nails are gouged into soft bits and motherfuckers are deservedly set a light. It ends on a transgressive splat. I clearly had a great time at a late night showing with my illicit gins in tins. So why not a higher score? Sydney Sweeney. She might very well be the first AI generated star snuck in by stealth so we can’t complain when avatar actors are our only future. There is an uncanny flatness, a glitch of dead emotions to her ‘acting’. Luckily before her big escape while in labour, all she has to do is look pretty in a series of nun cosplays. Every habit a sister of the lord might ever wear is squeezed into. And then we get the scenes where the nudity is implied or teased behind wet vestments. Certain boys and girls are gonna discover new kinks.

Arkasha Stevenson directs Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson and Sonia Braga in this big studio legacy horror prequel where an American woman hoping to become a nun arrives at an Italian convent where there is a conspiracy to impregnate her with something ungodly.

One week later and The Omen franchise is revived with pretty much the same movie as above. So many story beats, character types and shock deaths are repeated here shot for shot that it can feel like a bad joke has been played on Disney. It clearly is the bigger budgeted project with ambitions towards prestige and future entries. The period setting encompasses the political and sexual turmoil of the early Seventies and there be plenty of Omen-head Easter eggs to crack. The kills are good if not anywhere near as elaborate as Richard Donner’s finest. There are moments where the studio has obviously mandated reshoots or edits. The finest moments are truly shocking. There are at least two creature FX that are more transgressive than anything you’ve glimpsed in a studio release for a long old time. Think gynaecological Jacob’s Ladder. And Nell Tiger Free is a convincing and attractive presence. She acts the toddler with massive jugs who leads Immaculate off of the screen. But her Margaret has none of the survivalist agency of Sweeney’s Cecilia and here you know what the movie’s endgame has to be to get us to The Omen.

The below scores could easily be swapped around depending on which movie you watch first.

7/6

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