James Mangold directs Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and Whoopi Goldberg in this true story about a young women sent to an asylum in the Sixties.
A perfect deep cut cast but it never really firms up into the film it wants to be. I know people love it but I merely find it OK. OK to the point where I’m not even sure what to write about it.
6
Perfect Double Bill: Boys (1996)
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Phillip Noyce directs Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie and Queen Latifah in this serial killer procedural where a bed ridden crime scene expert guides a rookie through a new case.
Made very much to give star-in-the-making Jolie her own Silence of The Lambs / Se7en. Washington is way too exciting an actor to relegate to a trapped mentor role. Goes through the motions with little memorable flair. Still, I’m surprised this sepia toned nasty never got a sequel?
5
Perfect Double Bill: Salt (2010)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Yeon Sang-ho directs Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun and Kwon Hae-hyo in this Korean post-apocalyptic zombie thriller chase flick.
OK… so… the over reliance on CGI during the vehicular mayhem demolition derby sequences isn’t to my tastes. I’m going to give any movie that aims for a Fury Road meets Dawn Of The Dead meets Escape From New York mash-up a pass. There are a few genuinely loony set-pieces here that make this spin-off slam bang entertainment overall. Especially “the game”. Once you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what “the game” is… and you’ll agree.
7
Perfect Double Bill: Train To Busan (2016)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
John Lee Hancock directs Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell and Joe Tippett in this Stephen King fable about a boy, a local retired tycoon and their new Iphones.
More of a chiller than a horror. The first hour of set-up is kinda brilliant. Then it just putters out to a predictable meh. The kid who plays the school bully brings a true sense of intimidation to his small part.
7
Perfect Double Bill: Hearts In Atlantis (2001)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Paco Cabezas directs Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick and Tim Roth in this quirky romantic crime comedy where an outrageous girl falls for a hitman with a heart.
A cute romantic pairing, full of charisma and the costume designers love dressing them. Like the recent The Fall Guy, this is constantly on, in overdrive. And that can be exhausting. There’s no sense of timing or scale so Mr. Right is just a constant onslaught of idiosyncrasy. At least Blunt / Gosling had a stupendous budget to zing off each other constantly in. This clearly wants to be Grosse Pointe Blank or Something Wild but there’s no breathing room. Those cult classics had their soulful downtime, just a hint of depth to them. This is all sassy, poppy surface and you just observe the end product passively wishing for Rockwell and Kendrick to find a better project together.
5
Perfect Double Bill: The Accountant (2016)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Pier Paolo Pasolini directs Silvana Mangano, Terence Stamp and Massimo Girotti in this Italian art movie where a young man seduces every member of a bourgeoise family and they all go mad in the aftermath.
Was on my “Must Watch” list for a long ole time. Didn’t do much for me. Old fashioned values being skewered, old fashioned skewer being used. There something quite potent about a sex messiah infiltrating a house. Fucking everyone. Shifting all their personas off axis. This just ain’t that for me. Everyone looks cute in their fashions.
5
Perfect Double Bill: Visitor Q (2001)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Bruno Dumont directs Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent and Robert Leroy in this French biographical drama following sculptor Camille Claudel’s life after being committed to a mental asylum.
Well made but distant.
4
Perfect Double Bill: Certified Copy (2010)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Life moves pretty fast…
Rebel Without A Cause (1955) 👍👍
Kes (1969)
Walkabout (1971)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) 👍
Rock N Roll High School (1980) 👍
Teen Wolf (1985)
Explorers (1985)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) 👍👍
Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987)
Love Is A Dog From Hell (1987) 👍
Wish You Were Here (1987) 👍
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) 👍
Back To The Future Part II (1989) 👍👍
The Unbelievable Truth (1989) 👍👍
Back To The Future Part III (1990) 👍
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)
Menace II Society (1993)
Empire Records (1995) 👍
Whispers Of The Heart (1995) 👍
Welcome To The Dollhouse (1995) 👍
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) 👍👍
24-7 (1997) 👍👍
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) 👍
A Room For Romeo Brass (1999) 👍
Battle Royale (2000) 👍
Dogtown & The Z Boys (2001) 👍
Y Tu Mamá También (2001) 👍
City of God (2002) 👍👍
Sweet Sixteen (2002) 👍
The Squid & The Whale (2005) 👍
This Is England (2006) 👍
Superbad (2007) 👍
Somerstown (2008) 👍
The Myth Of the American Sleepover (2010)
Spring Breakers (2012) 👍
The Perks Of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Starred Up (2013) 👍👍
Boyhood (2014) 👍👍
The DUFF (2015) 👍
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl (2015) 👍👍
Me & Earl & The Dying Girl (2016)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) 👍
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017) 👍
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018)
Feast Of the Seven Fishes (2018)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
Shazam: Fury Of the Gods (2023) 👍
The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) 👍
Alexandre Aja directs Cécile de France, Maïwenn and Philippe Nahon in this extreme French slasher flick where a family on a farm is hunted by a brutal stranger and the guest in the attic tries to rescue the eventual survivor.
In France this is called High Tension. And that sums it up. An hour long set piece. Cranked and cranked and cranked until the machine is taut and thrumming. Even on what must be my fourth watch I was utterly gripped. Nahon’s violent fuck is horrible, shows no remorse. A truly awful grotesque creation. The twist will leave you with more questions than answers but I think this works best as cinematic nightmare writ large rather than a product of sturdy logic. Aja is one of the great genre directors of the 21st century.
8
Perfect Double Bill: Creep (2004)
I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/
Takashi Miike directs Kazuya Kamenashi, Nanao and Riho Yoshioka in this Japanese thriller where a psychopathic lawyer enters a game of cat and mouse with an axe wielding killer dressed as a monster from a children’s picture book.
Is it my patience that has eroded? Has my attention span gone? Or are filmmakers, even voices as idiosyncratic and OTT as Miike, packing all the juice into the first act these days? Desperate for you to stream enough of their movie so you are hooked or at the very least they pass into the rubicon of algorithmic success? The first 45 minutes of this are set piece nirvana. A prologue where police raid a mansion of surgical horrors. A car chase with brass balls. A monster attacks a monster and one looks like something straight out of the Stan Winston workshop. Every time someone dies blood gushes in orgasmic fountains. And then it slowly normalises. The plot is still wacky but the form resembles a Sunday night detective drama. The geysers of crimson dissipate. The last hour is fine but who wants ‘fine’ from Miike?
6
Perfect Double Bill: First Love (2019)
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Bobby Carroll's Movie Diary 