Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary

Ali Abbasi directs Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova in this biopic of Donald Trump following his early years of moving out from beneath his tyrannical father’s shadow and his mentoring from controversial fixer Roy Cohn.

Meaty movie but quite grim at times. There’s definitely queasy, heavy content that saps the joy out of the satirical element. Three full fat performances. Strong’s method works well here in a take on closeted gay legal bully Roy Cohn that has shades of Amadeus’ Salieri. Stan goes from strength to strength. His complex study on the future unethical POTUS is initially quite human and vulnerable. All sympathy leaves the building as the Trump we know and hate takes over the struggling neophyte. Trump Begins. Abbasi plays with colourisation and aspect ratios to achieve a New York in flux. Bankruptcy turns to regeneration over a haphazard decade. Neither state is attractive. He is an exciting director, this flawed film is probably his best so far. I feel he has a truly great one in him.

7

Perfect Double Bill: W. (2008)

François Ozon directs Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder and Isabelle Huppert in this French period farce where a struggling actress confesses to a murder she (probably) did not commit for the notoriety.

Very much a stagey French farce titivated by beautiful actresses in sumptuous clothes. There’s even a sole minute where bonus nudity intrudes and stomps over all the tasteful teatime visuals. Huppert makes a memorable appearance in the final third. As attractive as all this looks it really isn’t my thing.

4

Perfect Double Bill: 8 Women (2002)

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Aki Kaurismäki directs Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen and Markku Peltola in this Finnish arthouse drama where a middle aged married couple struggle with being suddenly jobless during a recession.

Cheery isn’t a word you would immediately associate with Kaurismäki but this one is particularly depressing for a long haul. A Ken Loach plot done in his unique deadpan tone. The simply composed unmoving camera creates some wonderfully vivid moments, the stillness lets every gesture, line and development marinate into you. Not fun, yet not cynical. Kati Outinen expresses so much with so little here. I’m still getting used to this director – cute dogs, cinema trips, restaurants as heaven. I like him more and more with every new film. Though I had strong deja vu with some of these scenes. Late night after the pub in the nineties no doubt?

7

Perfect Double Bill: Raining Stones (1993)

Paul Verhoeven directs Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards in this sci-fi war satire where the fascist youth armies of Earth go to war against massive alien bugs.

I haven’t seen this since the multiplex where it left me cold. I could see then it was big budget Hollywood dreck yet all done with a smarmy Dutch smirk on its face. Verhoeven is a canny operator. The purposefully bland casting and a two hour plus running time do handicap it. Robocop did a far better job of blending the sex, violence, gore, satire, cybernetics and saltiness. This is just a little too sheeny shiny smooth. There’s gloop but no grit. Phil Tippett’s creature animation is something special as always. And Dina Meyer bucks the trend of dead eyed recital of going through cliched motions by being actually vivacious and convincingly capable. Fascism is bad, now let’s kill some insectiods and have larks with it. Clancy and Ironside are in it… so there’s that. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

7

Perfect Double Bill: Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

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Max Ophüls directs Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan and James Mason in this melodrama where a department store model marries a twisted business tycoon and finds herself trapped in a loveless union.

Shot like a noir but very much a soap. Ryan’s bastard man millionaire is based on Howard Hughes. He bullies and control everyone. He sees Barbara Bel Geddes as an object he owns, she tries to break free and restart her life but a contract is a contract… Not a million miles away from Ophül’s period romantic tragedies – just with a present day setting. The director is particularly good at sympathising with ladies in precarious situations and making his ornate set design tell the story as much as the actors. Here that story is a bit too thin to support the shifts and swerves but he directs the fuck out of it anyway.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Reckless Moment (1949)

Griffin Dunne directs Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Aidan Quinn in this supernatural fantasy drama where two ‘witch’ raised sisters are reunited.

At times this feels very much like an adaptation of a book that works best as a book. Often though Practical Magic bares the scars of reshoots, a rushed edit and studio uncertainty. There are so many extraneous characters. It feels like the stellar Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing get lost in the shuffle… even Nicole is sidelined in the second half. Is it a romance? Is it a PG horror? A comedy? Feels like a pilot for a spooky Gilmore Girls. Fair to say I was never the intended audience for this but did it have to be so all over the shop? I just never settled into this.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Forces Of Nature (1999)

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Damien Leone directs David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell and Samantha Scaffidi in this extreme slasher where a maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone who gets in his way.

I had heard bad things so was late to the party on this one. Does everything a classic slasher should. Yeah, the gore is OTT but that has never harmed a sick flick’s cult potential. David Howard Thornton’s very playful, endlessly threatening Art The Clown elevates this. It is such an iconic performance that all the cheapness and the dank is wallpapered over. A new horror MVP.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Terrifier 2 (2022)

Norman Jewison directs Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway and Paul Burke in this romantic heist thriller where a well-to-do criminal mastermind falls for the insurance investigator trying to nab him.

Dated enough now that its visually heady brew of cool, camp, chic and collages somehow works again. McQueen is a little miscast. He’s a bit too bristling man-of-action for an essentially passive, fantasy figure role. Watching him try to casually laugh or pretend he is interested in contracts is a little risible… maybe Jewison exploits the happy accident. Dunaway has fun though in one of her lightest turns. Very much a case of style over substance, like the infamous theme song Windmills Of Your Mind, it exists in its own little bubble and ultimately doesn’t mean anything. Time travelling – with one great heist and lots of lifestyle porn.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

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

Andy Morahan directs Christopher Lambert, Mario Van Peebles and Deborah Kara Unger in this threequel where it turns out some bonus immortals were buried in a cave in Japan and now that they are free they want Connor MacLeod’s head.

Might be the first Highlander film I ever watched. In the cinema no less. Sleazy sex and violence. A rerun of the original with less flair, budget and a weaker cast. It is a patchwork of half realised ideas, exposition and montage with average sword fight moments. The one big sex scene is really strong though, albeit in a cheesy rock video kinda way. But that won’t save a movie. I completely understand the need to try and keep the story going… but when hidden immortals emerge surely “the prize” should leave in Lambert in some painful, and cinematic, way. Terminator 2 inspired finale aside, this ain’t a kinda magic but it is acceptable trash.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Gunmen (1993)

Robert Zemeckis directs Jodie Foster , Matthew McConaughey and James Woods in this sci-fi drama where Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Maybe it is because he has spent the entire 21st century trying to tame the uncanny valley with middling success that we overlook the tremendous run of ambitious blockbuster after blockbuster that Robert Zemeckis crafted over 17 years at the pinnacle of his career. Romancing The Stone, The Back To The Future Trilogy, Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, Contact, What Lies Beneath, Castaway. Not a dud or arthouse vanity project among them, all with cutting edge spectacle and something deeper to say about the late 20th century American experience. Contact gets a little lost in the shuffle even though it is the most intelligent and philosophical. Maybe you prefer 2001 / Close Encounters / Arrival. Contact is very much my go to in the sub-genre. Expansive, challenging, yet completely comfortable as Saturday night multiplex fodder. The chase for the truth and the big answers compels. Thrum. Thrum. Thrum. The message from another galaxy bellows at us with oblique possibilities. The whole endeavour is anchored by Foster in her most perfectly tailored role. It fits her talents and star persona like a glove. She is a pioneer, a romantic, the most intelligent person in the room, the most vulnerable to the prejudices of the patriarchy. No movie like it has a central character so captivating, attractive or zealous. 2 and half hours fly by. For a film that constantly interrogates weighty issues, Contact is never dull or lost in talk. A wonder.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Arrival (2016)

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