Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Elia Kazan directs Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb and Eva Marie Saint in this crime drama about union corruption on the docks.

Very much a beast of its time. All the sweaty method machismo and didactic preaching. It looks wonderful and the scenes between Brando and Eva Marie Saint have heat and hope. The classic Contender dialogue between Marlon and Rod Steiger still causes the hairs to go up on the back of your neck. But there is that unmistakable lingering bad taste that this is a movie justifying snitching. Nobody likes a grass, Elia.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Chase (1966)

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David O. Russell directs Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams in this fictional crime drama based on the Abscam FBI sting that employed conmen to root out political corruption in the early Eighties.

A sleazy and silky blast. Everyone is playing a role up at 11 so it is as much a movie about acting. Cocaine acting. Except Jennifer Lawrence… for she is just plain loco. In a really exciting way. The screen lights up during her iconic scenes and considering the talent around her, that is quite the achievement. I still think this is up there with American Psycho as one of Bale’s best performances. Pathetic but just self aware enough that you care. The Batman casting often sees him used by Hollywood as a go to gruff, macho persona. That never rings true no matter how many hours in the gym or scruffy he grows out his beard. He is far more suited to playing men living a lie. Patrick Bateman. Those twins in The Prestige. Bruce Wayne. This. That is how you squeeze the sauce out of his method intensity. I have seen this effortlessly entertaining movie dismissed as a Goodfellas wannabe. The period fashions. The fast edit storytelling. The true crime trappings. OK. Explain to me why movies shouldn’t aspire to be as good as Goodfellas? A sexy, comedy tinged Goodfella? Cool. Just enjoy the ride and Amy Adams very revealing disco couture.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Fighter (2010)

Bigas Lunas directs Biel Duran, Mathilda May, and Gérard Darmon in this erotic Spanish coming-of-age tale where a Catalan boy cannot stand the idea of having a new brother and dreams about drinking milk from the breasts of his mother again until a carnival dancer with perfect tits enters his life.

Idiosyncratic horny craziness. There is a whole ton of stuff going on here. Lunas’ breathless, zany style of wholesome perversion owes as much to French Cinema Du Look as it does his countryman Almodovar. I definitely watched this late night on Channel 4 as a teenager. As adolescent fantasies go it is memorable but also a one-watcher. Almost more a 90 minute naughty seaside postcard rather than a fully thought out narrative.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Golden Balls (1993)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Penelope Spheeris directs Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne and Flea in this punk alienation flick.

Bad acting and pretty dull when the music ain’t pumping. There is animal cruelty, nihilism and a working parallel between the abandoned kids and unemployed older men who vilify them. It is a movie that begins and ends with a death of a small child. The first is dog attack, out-of-the-blue shock, the capper is an unabashed melodramatic cliche. Bad behaviour but not much fun. You’ll need to wash your eyeballs after. Spheeris’ career trajectory from punk documentaries to this to Wayne’s World to toothless nostalgic TV remakes has to be one of the stranger Hollywood creative journeys in my lifetime.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Out Of The Blue (1980)

Alan Beattie directs Patricia Pearcy, David Hayward and Joseph Cotten in this mystery where a new nurse in a rich man’s house keeps uncovering strange goings ons.

A drunk butler, a crippled sugar daddy, a backwards stepchild in the attic, a seductive yuppie, a long lost relative raised in a cult with no social barrier and a doomed Alsatian. Part chiller, almost a slasher. Patricia Pearce might not be the best actress in the world but she is very nice to look at. A vacant, keeps putting herself in vague peril, type of hotness. The movie doesn’t add up to much at all but it gets the eerie atmosphere down pat.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Madhouse (1981)

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Tony Richardson directs Laurence Olivier, Roger Livesey and Joan Plowright in this British drama where a fading music hall entertainer reaches the bitter end of his career.

Grim but emotionally astute. It’s a shit business.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Look Back In Anger (1959)

John Gray directs Steven Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Bob Gunton in this buddy action thriller where a new age cop with a secret special ops background teams up with a more down to earth detective chasing a serial killer.

I had given up / grown out of Seagal by this release. It mashes Se7en and Lethal Weapon up into an ungainly blend. There is no logic or consistent tone or authorial control. About half an hour in Seagal and Wayans just stop having scenes together. Wonder if they fell out? The forced smackdowns, chases and explosions are serviceable and once in a while Wayans gets a line in that smirks behind the pompous Seagal’s back. As beer and pizza movies go it is one of the preposterous lead’s better ones. Low bar that. The Glimmer Man could refer to his undeserved A-List status. Soon rescinded.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Exit Wounds (2001)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Rupert Sanders directs Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth in this action adventure update for the fairytale fantasy.

An ensemble that feels more impressive now than it did then. Sanders makes gorgeous looking blockbusters. Theron and her golden mirror man are CGI fx done right, for example. He’s world builder in search of better scripts. This starts all so strongly but doesn’t know what its third act should be. Shame to watch such a promising proposition peter out.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Huntsman: Winter War (2016)

Mikhail Kalatozov directs Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksey Batalov and Vasili Merkuryev in this USSR drama following the plight of a young woman left on the homefront when her lover goes off to fight in WWII.

A black and white Soviet classic. My alarm bells rang that I would be eating my greens with this one. Turns out I’m a cynic. A beautiful boundary pushing work of cinema. You are absolutely in each character’s headspace. Their hopes and fears and sadness and desires. Every frame of this is truly is astoundingly beautiful. Architecture and humanity and society all in unison, then in violent disarray. And there are crowd scenes and panning shot sequences of vibrant, overwhelming movement that are very affecting. Just a great drama movie!

10

Perfect Double Bill: Come And See (1985)

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Spike Lee directs Denzel Washington, Jeffery Wright and ASAP Rocky in this New York music mogul remake of Akira Kurosawa’s kidnapping classic.

I hate to call him out on this but I reckon Spike knows as much about contemporary rap as I do. A joyous jazzy riff on the original. More a psychological drama than a thriller… though there is an exhilarating middle act set piece. The performances are wildly indulgent, especially from our A-List titan. Denzel deserves to let loose once in a while… okay… twice in a while with Gladiator II. One of the themes is how a successful black man has to be many different types of man. So don’t expect too much consistency from scene to scene. Loved the smothering Howard Drossin score, loved Matthew Libatique’s visual celebration of New York, loved the cheeky cameos from talented folk Spike gave their first big break to. Personally I just instantly chimed with this. I think it is the best thing he has done since his renaissance. Since Inside Man. Fuck consistency or genre logic. It is a late career auteur blast. One for them that is really one for me. The only thing that would have worked for me better would be if Spike himself played the Jeffrey Wright role. We wanna see Mookie and Malcolm riffing.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Inside Man (2006)