Chuck Russell directs Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith and Joe Seneca in this gory remake of the Fifties B-movie.
Impressive practical FX, a Frank Darabont script and a mercilessly kill happy body count! What’s not to like? Ironically this The Blob never seemingly takes form. It is a series of set pieces that are never emotionally earned or particularly impactful. The creature is the equivalent of a Wonder Woman: is there anything it can’t do? The swerve into John Carpenter apocalyptic establishment conspiracy in the third act at least introduces an exciting human villain. Gloopy fun but my standards are spoilt, they demand something either more consistent or more self-aware.
Ralph Bakshi directs Susan Tyrrell, Maggie Roswell and William Ostrander in this Frank Frazetta inspired animated adventure of sword and sorcery.
If I were a teenage boy then I would no doubt find this rotoscoped fantasy of a nearly nude princess slinking from one rapey peril to the next pretty boss. And aren’t we all still teenage boys at heart? It is repetitive but has a workable mythology, simple yet sincere. Hard to recommend but I’ve spent a lot more time, money and effort reading runs of comics that achieve far less.
Chinonye Chukwu directs Alfre Woodard, Wendell Pierce and Aldis Hodge in this prison drama where a head warden begins to question the death penalty at her facility.
Solid but cold. There is much unspoken here and a very talented cast find themselves trying to enrich the ambiguities for minimal rewards.
Janus Metz Pedersen directs Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton and Laurence Fishburne in this dry espionage romance where two former lovers who worked together during a hostage crisis revisit that failed mission over dinner.
Two minute sex scene between Pine and Newton = hot. Diet John Le Carre flashbacks in a cold restaurant setting= not. There is a decent twist as to the ultimate motivation of the rat but you might have giving up caring by the time the music stops, everyone finds a chair and the game is over. Glossy but inert.
Chris Columbus directs Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern in this kids comedy sequel where precocious vigilante Kevin gets on the wrong flight and stays at The Plaza.
When sleeper smash Home Alone first came out, my teenage sister begrudgingly dragged me along to see it with her mates on a Saturday out. In the two short years it took for the sequel to be churned out, I was going to the movies by myself, was buying film magazines and this felt like baby stuff I had fully outgrown. So I’d never watched Lost In New York in its entirety until quite recently. I’m not a fan. It follows the recipe of the original pretty slavishly and the movie is overlong from trying to crowbar in every element… only “bigger” and “better”. It could certainly lose all the pigeon lady schmaltz. To give the product some due, Columbus shows a certain degree of ingenuity in how he reverse engineers the unlikely situation of Kevin being lost by his family for a second Christmas in a row and New York will always be the most cinematic Xmas setting… The festive soundtrack is on point, props to Darlene Love. By the time The Wet Bandits are getting bricks to the faces though I had already powered down. Just took too long to get there. Less is more.
Jules Dassin directs Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese and Lee J. Cobb in this noir thriller where a man tries to bring down a corrupt fruit wholesaler by tempting him with a truck full of apples.
A noir with a social conscience. It is all here; the fatalism, the sexy temptress, the overpowering boss, the urban milieu. Only there are also perilous set pieces that stun and enthrall. The motivation and complexity of the good girl and bad lady are spun on their head. The boss is Lee J. Cobb so you know his performance is an absolute knockout, the entire movie shifts to his axis whenever he is on screen. And the location working is well observed, brooding and rich. The Wages Of Fear with fresh fruit. And a heart. And socialism. A lesser known masterpiece.
Michael Mann directs Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley in this biopic recreating Enzo Ferrari’s struggle to keep independent control of his car company, staking its rocky fortunes on his crumbling marriage and one cross country race – the 1957 Mille Miglia.
A qualified return to form for Mann. Not exactly a crowd pleaser (cynical, adult melodrama and unspoken business machinations) aside from the big third act car race that has true thrust, beauty and danger shimmering out of it. This is a work of art, admirable for its purity. There are very few sops to either the biopic formula or the excesses of the modern blockbuster. Unlike say Napoleon or Killers Of the Flower Moon there are also very few scribbles or embellishment. If Ferrari is close in spirit to anything made this awards cycle it is Fincher’s The Killer. Both are simple films of elegant craft and technical mastery where the human drama and ultimate meaning is submerged and obtuse. How you feel about Enzo’s stylish, subtle power plays (whether coldly calculated or thrashing against fate) are what you bring to them rather than where Mann positions you. Even the ultimate abrupt coda is vague yet definitive. And I prefer this narrative smoothness. Where we do the heaviest lifting of the storytelling. Superior to being spoonfed plot or distracted by auteurist flourishes. We drill into the parallel crisis of Enzo’s life at one manageable, compelling point in time. Wait for the moment they jump their lanes and “occupy the same space at the same time”. Driver’s performance is low energy and classy… never overreaching. Giving us a calm fixed anchor in all this passion, speed, flying metal, huge cash figures. Cruz has the showiest part – one that could and should be the villain of the piece – but she brings nuance. Erik Messerschmidt’s digital cinematography has expansive control… his wide shots have a clean, depopulated beauty… almost like pop art birthed into reality. It isn’t a perfect entertainment and many will be restless until that petrolhead last act but Mann in biopic mode has an ability to show a person and their world with a clarity like no other director. We share his fascination with an extraordinary life without having to experience the childhood or the death or the legacy. Even if Ferrari is the dictionary definition of a later work from an old master it has strengths that many more critically lauded movies can only dream of.
Graeme Clifford directs Christian Slater, Steven Bauer and Richard Herd in this skateboarding neo-noir where a rebellious teen investigates his foster brother’s murder.
There’s a surprising overflow of plot and character work here for a fad flick essentially made to show off Tony Hawk and his crew doing loads of cool tricks… sometimes in a Christian Slater wig. It is a mish-mash of tones and entertainment but as an artefact it is pretty cute.
Raine Allen-Miller directs David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah and Simon Manyonda in this black British romcom where two dumped young people share a day in South London together.
Sweet if slightly overrated. Essentially a well observed sitcom with a (hopefully) star making turn from a fresh Vivian Oprah. Good Peckham location work all captured with a declarative use of the fish eye lens and sploshes of vibrant colour. Decent.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 