Dick Clement directs Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale and Peter Vaughan in this spin-off movie from the hit British prison sitcom.
No massive shakes as a unique cinematic experience but manages to recreate the humour and the clever characters away from the fake studio sets and transplant it all into a real working nick. Which creates a strange, but not unworkable, shift in tone.
Lars Von Trier directs Michael Elphick, Esmond Knight and Meme Lai in this experimental neo-noir where a retired detective returns to Europe to investigate a serial killer who roams an existential wasteland.
Very much an exercise in style – the sepia dunked palette and the pointless puzzle plot grow wearisome very soon. This kinda meta nothing mystery movie seemed quite prevalent in the Eighties and is one of Von Trier’s rare exercises in genre. Has a few shocking moments… but these days those are the very least you now expect from Lars…
Ira Sachs directs Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos in this emotionally intelligent Parisian millennial drama where an absolute train wreck of a human being leaves his long term partner to explore a straight relationship after a one night stand… only to realise he has given up too much on a whim.
“Pssst… PSSSSTTT… Hey you!… Yeah, you… Come here… Wanna see Paddington Bear raw fuck another dude for five minutes straight?… Step right this way, my man…”
Jiří Menzel directs Václav Neckář, Jitka Bendová and Josef Somr in this Czechoslovak New Wave comedy about a teenage virgin who suffers from premature ejaculation when he starts working at the local railway station.
And this is more Carry On than kitchen sink. It is hard to see what the sniggering, horny fuss is all about until the second half. The seduction by rubber stamp and the fallout where an irate mother displays her “defiled” daughter to every man of authority is probably the satirical highpoint. There is some pessimism and fatalism that you’d never find in an American Pie sequel… not yet. The resistance / sabotage subplot is no more hard hitting than ‘Allo ‘Allo! Maybe the reason Sixties Czech filmmakers were so interested in one recent occupation was it gave them the chance to comment on another, more current regime indirectly? Still, you’d struggle to see what the Criterion release and Oscar win were all about going in cold in 2024?
Terry Jones directs Julie Walters, Alec McCowen and Shirley Stelfox in this “based on a true story” British sex comedy where a struggling single mum becomes a madame for kink specialists.
David Leland’s second script adapting the life of Cynthia Payne for the big screen. This is a bit squigglier than Wish You Were Here, with Walters’ performance being less well defined than Emily Lloyd’s show stopping debut. More kitchen sink than Carry On, Personal Service is a grimy but affectionate portrait of a gang of sexual outsiders. The ensemble casting is key. The film comes alive during a farcical wedding but that sequence feels quite separate from the tone of the rest of the movie.
Todd Solondz directs Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton III and Eric Mabius in this teen comedy where twelve-year-old Dawn Wiener is continually bullied by her school peers and her suburban family.
Matarazzo puts in one of the great coming-of-age lead turns here, up there with Léaud’s Antoine Doinel and Bel Powley in The Diary Of A Teenage Girl. The film is funny but pummelling. Bleak and without respite or judgment or moralising or hope. Welcome To The Dollhouse is an acidic independent but I’m not sure it has much more to say than the world is a hopeless hell of mediocrity and pettiness. And as much as I love glossier studio contemporaries from the Nineties, this feels like an outlier that almost needs to exist as a counterpoint. A good proving ground for Solondz’s ultra anxious, hyper cynical Happiness, I do wish he’d go back to basics and make something of this or that ilk again.
George Cukor directs Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell in this lengthy drama about a doting society wife who discovers her husband is cheating on her long after the rest of her friends and enemies do.
Famous for its all female cast, this expansion of the stage play absolutely rocks when it is catty, camp and couldn’t give a hot damn about The Code. To these modern eyes Shearer is a bit of a drip so it is a trudge when we focus too much on her. Russell is a genuine hoot however as the back stabbing, gossipy mega-bitch and everyone else looks alluring to a fault. There’s a Technicolour disruption at a fashion show, a wrestle at a divorce ranch and a farce finale. Though now more of a museum piece than an out-and-out classic there still plenty of pleasures to be sifted out here.
Stephen Anderson directs Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry and Wesley Singerman in this sci-fi Disney animation where an orphan inventor kid gets dragged into the future to meet a family of whack-a-dos.
Very chaotic but looks blocky and textureless. Unfinished. Would make the basis of a fine Saturday morning kids cartoon but never really settles as a single grand narrative.
Ron Clements and John Musker direct Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos and Keith David in this classic Disney animated romance where the fairytale is updated to the Jazz Age in New Orleans.
And we are back on track!
It is not just the detailed and lovingly hand drawn animation that makes this a winner, it is the showtune big numbers, the clear villain and the focus on the simple values of family entertainment. Genuinely feels like night and day compared to the dreck that preceded it. Back to basics would be the wrong terminology. Much like Apple can afford now to pump out a prestige awards drama with a blockbuster budget twice a year, surely Disney could keep their hand in by at least trying to make one of this quality and craft every half decade?
Blake Edwards directs Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard and Mickey Rooney in this romantic comedy about a fragile socialite and a struggling writer who fall for each other while the wealthy folk of society prey on their youthful sexiness.
Some movies are perfect, in spite of their flaws. I’m going to gloss over the dated aspects of Breakfast At Tiffany’s. It is set in a world far harsher, far more exploitative than its baby pink and jewellery Hooray For Hollywood reputation ever prepares you for. I just love its vibe, its deep Technicolor look, its darkness. It is the Citizen Kane of frothy whimsy. We slowly unpeel every troubling layer of Holly Golightly’s backstory while partaking in a chic seduction. Hepburn is absolute perfection in the iconic role – gorgeous, flighty, daft, vulnerable. Watch her serenade her cat with Moon River and your heart melts. Watch her stroppily abandon her cat in an alleyway and your heart breaks. This is a sheeny surface flick with wells of sadness and grit. Let its smooth, cynical magic spell wash over you. Authenticity is what you make of it.
Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 