Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Todd Haynes directs Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins in this courtroom drama where a corporate defence lawyer takes on DuPont, the world’s biggest chemical firm.

Perfect lead performance by Ruffalo. The insurmountable grind of taking on a multi-national and working through their paper trail and resources is chillingly recreated. There are surprising burst of body horror in the first half that drive home just how damaging the horrendous practices of the company were. These unusual elements push the film into a higher quality bracket and overwhelm any subgenre cliches. Todd Haynes is a director known for his arthouse fare; transgressive, quirky, sometimes confrontational. All his films portray humans pushing against a silently oppressive American society’s norms in small rebellious ways. This more mainstream work is no different.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Céline Sciamma directs Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel and Luàna Bajrami in this romance where a painter must secretly complete a wedding portrait on an distant island of a beautiful woman who does not want to be betrothed.

There is a thrusting simplicity to this that made me wonder midway through what all the critical hoo-ha was about? Both leads are gorgeous and capable, the plot has the feel of a fable, the feminist message is strong but it all unfolds in measured, uncomplicated storytelling sweeps. That purity is a weapon. The chemistry, the unfussy beauty of it all sneaks up on you. The final few scenes have such power that you realise you’ve been rope-a-doped. Spellbound. Affected. A great movie romance.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Anders Walter directs Madison Wolfe, Imogen Poots and Sydney Wade in this modern fantasy drama where a troubled young loner wards off marauding giants no-one else believes in.

Similar to A Monster Calls. Bluntly more fun than A Monster Calls. But still nothing to write home about. Decent production design, better than average child performances.

5

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Wes Anderson directs Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori and Saoirse Ronan in this epic interwar farce involving impeccable service, dowager seduction, prison breaks, patisserie chefs, perfect pastel mise-en-scene, thrilling chases, deranged shoot-outs, both Anderson & Fiennes funniest work and the priceless painting “Boy With Apple.”

“Zero: What happened?
M. Gustave: What happened, my dear Zero, is I beat the living shit out of a sniveling little runt called Pinky Bandinski, who had the gall to question my virility. Because, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from penny dreadfuls, it’s that when you find yourself in a place like this, you must never be a candy ass; you’ve got to prove yourself from day one. You’ve got to win their respect. You should take a long look at HIS ugly mug this morning.
[Takes a sip of water and laughs]
M. Gustave: He’s actually become a dear friend.”

9

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Costa-Gavras directs Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek and John Shea in this true tale of a US businessman who must search for his missing son after he is lost in the Chilean coup.

These days if a movie chose American protagonists to revisit an international tragedy you’d assume they would have done so to make the film accessible / sellable to the domestic market. What am I saying? They don’t make films like this these days. Here though, Lemmon and Spacek have been chosen as our avatars to highlight the US’ complicity in this massacre and so the damn yankees can see with their own eyes just how cold blooded their aggressive Foreign Policy really is for distant ignored nations. Both stars are low key and affecting. Costa-Gavras convincingly recreates the death squad chaos, you get the sense of what a random oppressive dystopia a country under violent military rule is. And if every character is under constant threat, and naive to just how vulnerable they are “in the real world”, it makes for absolutely enthralling cinema. This has long been on my watchlist. Glad I finally had access to it. Legal challenges have meant it hasn’t always been readily available. Testament to its power, perhaps?

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Brian Yuzna directs Billy Warlock, Concetta D’Agnese and Ben Slack in this body horror freakout where a teen jock finds his world falling apart when it appears the rich kids, his neighbourhood and his own family are up to something secret and disgusting.

A near permanent cardboard standee at our local videoshop – Society’s home release advertising promised a glamorous woman tearing off her own face. It has been 25 years since I was brave enough to rent it. It has aged wonderfully. 75% of the film is a dark teen movie farce. Billy finds himself bouncing around a series of nihilistic interactions with his community. A punkishly weird vibe overrides nearly all the directorial decisions. You could make Society neater but then it would not be the unique cult classic it was always destined to be. There’s mystery, sex, rejection, pranks, hair eating… It is essentially a Brett Easton Ellis novel that ends in twenty minutes of gloopy relentless special FX. You wait patiently for Society’s infamous gore orgy to finally kick-off and it is well worth the wait. Satirical shocks abound. LET THE SHUNTING COMMENCE!

9

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Baz Luhrmann directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan in this adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age fable about a man who acquires untold wealth to seduce the married woman he was too poor to propose to.

My favourite (respectable) book as a teen. This adaptation felt diminished on the small screen, less impressive on second watch. No director does saccharine doomed romance or overwhelming production design like Luhrmann but his other stylistic choices often are grating. This contains too much of the same braying franticness and musical naffness that makes Moulin Rouge unwatchable for me. This just about overcomes it’s frenetic ornateness thanks to some unguardedly vulnerable work by Leo and the sheer pure mystery of the source material. To accuse a Great Gatsby film of being OTT is churlish… so… there we are, old sport.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Herbert Ross directs John Cusack, James Spader and Imogen Stubbs in this political drama about two college roommates who discover they have different ethics when they find themselves rising the Washington ladder.

Glossy, boiler plate stuff. It has the appearance of a gentle comedy from its sax heavy score and font chosen for opening credits. Though it is heavier by nature than those aesthetic choices it easily entertains throughout – the plot actually isn’t a million miles distant from The Talented Mister Ripley save a murder or two. If you want two quirky stars trying their hand at something adult with no inbuilt surprises this passes a weekday night pleasantly.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Anthony Minghella directs Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in this period psychological thriller where a young gay conman ingratiates himself into the lives and wealth of the idle American rich in Italy.

A very beautiful film, every shot feels sundappled and stinking of La Dolce Vita. The wardrobes alone are to die for, no wonder Tom Ripley kills to stay smartly attired. You get three bristling chest-out performances from Damon, Law and an egregiously spoilt Philip Seymour Hoffman. Any one of them is Oscar worthy and rewards repeated viewing. This is very much a class act. Visually it rarely puts a foot wrong, and it wears its intelligence proudly on its sleeve. I enjoy it thoroughly every time I watch it, though my preference is still for Purple Noon. The final act drifts a little too far away from the main drag, you know if you are still introducing pivotal characters to the plot in the final 15 minutes that maybe the adaptation could have used a little reigning in or folding together of players. Minor gripes about a film I return to often.

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Terence Young directs Sean Connery, Claudine Auger and Adolfo Celi in this fourth 007 spy adventure where a SPECTRE agent steals two nukes and holds NATO to ransom.

Here it is – plodding, directionless Thunderball. My least favourite Bond. Connery phones it in, the story take an hour to get going, the underwater “action” sequences move at deathly pace. The Bond girls are sexy and glamorous – Fiona Volpe’s redheaded assassin is the only real spark of life. The best action sequence involves her (a chase around a carnival and nightclub) and even that ends with a non-committal shrug. I’ll probably never watch Thunderball again, and there’s no other Bond I’d consider typing that about.

3

Check out my wife Natalie’s Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/