Anne Fontaine directs Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart and Gérard Depardieu in this French erotic drama where a rich woman hires a sex worker to sleep with her cheating husband and tell her the details.
I prefer the Canadian remake but if you want to watch Béart make up dirty stories for Ardant then this has got your back.
Brendan Faulkner, Thomas Doran and Eugenie Joseph direct Felix Ward, Dan Scott and Maria Pechukas in this cheapo mish-mash horror where a group of friends are trapped in mansion full of demons by a warlock who wants to revive his bride.
Incoherent trash with a great poster that probably meant it was an entire school year’s gateway horror movie. The mum in charge of the sleepover would be harried with the persuasive argument that THIS is just like Gremlins or Ghoulies or Critters. Well, it actually wants to be The Evil Dead but is just too messy. Each room contains a new monster. Some show decent shoestring creature design. I’m looking at you Spider Lady. I’m not looking at you fart beasts. Exactly how does this group of “friends” know each other? Their ages vary wildly and they certainly don’t get along. And then there are wild extreme moments obviously crowbarred in. Definitely are the late additions and go harder than the whole. A senseless child death and an endless chase / grope fest through the woods. So Spookies ends up like a sloppy Waxworks or Demons 2. The only truly memorable thing about it is the skimpy blue plunge top that a brassy redhead wears as it somehow manages to defy physics and retain her heaving cleavage. Joan Ellen Delaney, where are you now?
Jules Dassin directs Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Googie Withers in this film noir where a desperate hustler works the streets of London trying to make it big as a wrestling promoter.
Basically the original Uncut Gems. A loser swims against the tide trying to work an angle. Every time he solves a problem a new tidal wave hits him. Widmark is excellent as the grasping, gasping scumbag. We meet him on the run, he ends on the run. Soho nightlife is filmed relatively accurately on location. That world is now gone. Gene Tierney is served in small portions as the angelic good girl. Googie Withers as the sharper moll is given the best side bars.
Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland direct Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis and Will Poulter in this Iraq War docudrama following what a Navy Seal platoon experienced on November 19, 2006 in the wake of the Battle of Ramadi.
No context, minimal characterisation, no alternative perspective, a lot of screaming and smoke. Puts you right in the shit but to what end? Tribute to bravery… or satire of pointless dehumanisation.
Peter Cattaneo directs Steve Coogan, Vivian El Jaber and Jonathan Pryce in this true story about a British teacher who taught at a boys’ boarding school in Argentina in the 1970s who finds himself begrudgingly looking after a penguin.
Mid level apocalypse. If there is one glimmer of hope in the obliteration of cinema for adults that is neither arthouse or blockbuster, it is Steve Coogan’s standing in the international market. His status as a comedy legend in Britain coupled with his ‘just about recognisable’ status in Hollywood and the global sphere means he has a rare freedom. Every couple of years he can make a modestly budgeted bittersweet drama (The Look Of Love, Philomena) and it can be sold in multiple markets for theatrical release and even make enviable matinee bucks in the U.K. Not Paddington or Bridget Jones sequel mad moolah but more than enough to justify itself and the next one. More importantly they can launch these mature leaning flicks outside the awards race season. The Penguin Lessons is a fine example. Coogan plays a curmudgeon who softens with flair, there’s a mop from Dead’s Poets Society and a smidge of the hard hitting milieu of Missing. It blends together nicely into a confection that mostly avoids saccharine. And has a cute penguin to boot. Why isn’t Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise taking a salary cut to do one of these in between streaming blockbuster series and action extravaganzas? Now I’m not saying either would be better in the package than Coogan is here. But what now feels tailor made for him might revive the market on a grander scale if you still had someone… anyone… with a bit of A-List global juice who started taking the same long game risk….
Ryan Coogler directs Michael B Jordan, Michael B Jordan and Jack O’Connell in this period horror film where twin brothers return to Mississippi to set up a jook joint only for a wandering vampire to take an interest.
Lush camera work and near constant music blend into a powerful, rich gumbo. The quality and simplicity of Sinners is intoxicating. It owes a fair shout to From Dusk Till Dawn and The Faculty but Coogler acknowledges that. What he delivers is a premium tribute to Rodriquez. Is it scary? Not really. The vampires remind of Near Dark and Doctor Sleep. The night siege is more psychological than an onslaught. Sinners has a heart and pulse and it has Michael B Jordan on double duty. He is a fantastic screen presence. You don’t really need much else. The third act delivers so much more than you’ll expect and really elevates this. Coogler’s finest. The music never stops.
Christopher Landon directs Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar and Violett Beane in this thriller where a first date is ruined for a therapist when her phone keeps receiving messages telling her to kill her dining partner.
Attractive if unlikely one watcher. Christopher Landon didn’t get to direct Scream VII so he re-did a Red Eye instead.
Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman direct Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, and Jennifer Babtist in this cheapo superhero spoof where the mop boy at a gym is bullied into falling into toxic waste and becomes a mutant vigilante.
Absolute OTT trash. Yet it knows it is trash so leans into the bad acting and schlubby gore with admirable gusto. So it pans out charming. Bad taste but charming. The romance subplot between Toxie and the blind girl is cute and sex positive. Everything else is snark. Even the average kung-fu sequences where no kill is unacceptable. Hard not to like and it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.
Amy Holden Jones directs Jamie Lee Curtis, James Keach and Matt Clark in this drama where a young DJ discovers her mother had a torrid affair and tries to replicate the passion with a married man.
A surprising amount of sex and nudity. Also a fair degree of emotional complexity. Made by the director of Slumber Party Massacre. Roger Corman ponied up a small budget for Amy Holden Jones as long as there was enough titillation to book it into the grindhouse theatres. Aside from all the flesh though Jamie Lee spends most of the movie moping about… which puts a dampener on the erotic content.
Phillip Noyce directs Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue and Rade Serbedzija in this romantic thriller where an enigmatic thief tries to save the life of an energy scientist.
There should be a long-running modern day franchise in the Simon Templar concept. Globe trotting master cat burglar who changes his face more often than he saves the lady. Instead we get a cold dog’s dinner. Reshoots and miscasting sap all the life out of this. Master Of Disguise Kilmer is ridiculous in each of his new personas and absolutely blank out of costume. RIP Val but your lack of charisma here hobbles proceedings. He’s definitely no Roger. The action is weak but could have been promising, the plot has clearly been chopped up and switched about. Poor test screening scores meant we never really settle in. Should at least work as a romance but Shue and Kilmer spend two of three acts apart. The best stuff is them running around an icy Russia together in constant mild peril. A sloppy, poor man’s Mission: Impossible. Good soundtrack though.