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Two Fathers (1944)
Two Fathers
Anthony Asquith directed this amiable little story about a French gent (Paul Bonifas) who arrives at a small hotel where he is obliged to share a room with "Hillier" (Bernard Miles). The latter man is full of faux-French phrases and is cheerily trying to engage his rather grumpy room-mate but it's a photo that starts them both chatting about their respective daughter and son. "Hillier" is supposedly celebrating his son't first RAF "kill" but quickly it's clear that something isn't right between the father and son. As they chat more, the story develops and a little flashback illustrates the mischief making of the visitor's increasingly independently minded teenage daughter and then the arrival of the Nazis brings the horrors of war to both men. It's told largely by way of a simply evocative conversation between these chaps and it gently reminds the audience that World War Two, though still ongoing, did leave a little room for an optimism and hope that maybe put other things into perspective.
Fortune Is a Woman (1957)
Fortune is a Woman
A better than average crime noir that features Jack Hawkins as an insurance investigator drafted in, on Christmas Eve, to investigate a fire at a country house. When he gets there he discovers an old flame (Irene Dahl) married to the owner (Dennis Price). When he dies in a second fire at the house, Hawkins suspects that she was behind it for the insurance cash, but she convinces him not and they marry and all seems straightforward until a blackmailer rears his ugly head and together they have to try to get to the bottom of things. Hawkins is good in this, he keeps it all tense and although the plot does trip over itself once or twice, a good supporting cast including Ian Hunter and Geoffrey Keen make this quite an intriguing mystery with plenty of red herrings to keep us hooked.
Emergency Call (1952)
Emergency Call
It's quite tough to be objective about this - it is a well made feel-good film with a worthy cause and sterling efforts from all concerned as they try to track down a blood donor who can save the life of a desperately ill child. Simultaneously, the police - Jack Warner and Bruce Seton - are on the trail of a dodgy boxing promoter who is trying to manipulate the career of "Tim Mahoney" (former World Light Heavyweight Champ Freddie Mills) and also of some other recalcitrant miscreants. It's got the smallest of budgets, but a surprisingly solid cast of British stalwarts from Dandy Nicholls and Anthony Steel - the well meaning doctor - to Sid James, Thora Hird and Eric Pohlmann and they all combine to make this a perfectly watchable tug at the heart strings mixed in with the usual detective yarn. If you come across it, then you ought to spare it 90 minutes - you'll feel better afterwards.
A Hatful of Rain (1957)
A Hatful of Rain
"Johnny" (Don Murray) has returned from the Korean war to pregnant wide "Celia" (Eva Marie Saint) and together with his sometimes quite wayward brother "Polo" (Anthony Franciosa) tries to make a go of things in New York. It's the arrival of the boy's father (Lloyd Nolan) that seems to set the cat amongst the pigeons as he is looking for some money he lent one of them so he can complete a property deal in Florida. Well, there's not a penny in the pot and he demands to know why. Initially you might think it's "Polo" who is the root of the problem, but quickly we are introduced to "Mother" (Henry Silva) and his drug peddling goons and discover that it's "Johnny" who has a problem that is spiralling menacingly out of control. It's a secret the brothers share, but not the only secret in the story and as we progress the intensity of conflict and old grudges only increases amongst this family grappling with the effects of despair and fear. Murray and an admittedly emotive effort from Marie Saint my claim top billing, but it was actually Nolan who played the pivotal role here. Not without demons of his own, his portrayal of this confused and betrayed paternal character adds quite a bit to the sense of embarrassment and shame felt by just about everyone. Bernard Herrmann's instantly recognisable score is over-used, I thought - all too often used to augment a tension that could maybe have been done better by a stronger Murray and a more penetrative script. That said, though, this is a grittily well delivered illustration of a man abandoned by the state after his military usefulness was over and picked up by mercenary addict-fuelling hoodlums with little human decency.
Be Yourself! (1930)
Be Yourself
I think this might be the first film I've ever seen with Fanny Brice and though it's perfectly watchable, it's really only designed to be a showcase for her engaging talents. She's successful entertainer "Fannie" (keep it simple) who has two potential suitors at her nightclub. One night tempers flare and some fisticuffs ensue between "Jerry" (Robert Armstrong) and the more substantial "Mac" (G. Pat Collins). The former comes off the worst but manages to further endear himself to the singer who decides that she is going to become his boxing trainer. He is keen, enthusiastic and successful - even if he does care for the odd nap mid fight, but as he starts to make the money he starts to attract the gals and their relationship starts to become just a little strained. There's a lovely scene towards the end with them having the daftest spat together with his new affianced "Lillian" (Gertrude Astor) that you know can only go one way and Harry Green chips in nicely as her somewhat dodgy lawyer brother "Harry". It is, though, really just an excuse for Brice to rattle her vocal chords and there are a couple of decent Billy Rose numbers to help her along too. It's a film that's part of the fabric of cinema history and as such, is worth a watch. Anything else? Well, no - not really.
Moran of the Lady Letty (1922)
Moran of the Lady Letty
"Ramon" (Rudolph Valentino) is a spoilt little rich boy, bored of his life of banal glittering soirées with glamorous wallflowers. Shortly after we meet him, though, he is praying for that peaceable life after he finds himself coming to on a freighter carrying coal. This cargo was notoriously risky as it was prone to catching fire and producing a lethal gas and when, dead on cue, this happens - the cowardly crew abandon the ship leaving him behind. Luckily (or not?) the ship is soon boarded by another crew which leaves him and his surviving shipmate "Moran" (Dorothy Dalton) at the mercy of the ruthless "Capt. Kitchell" (Walter Long) who's aptly nicknamed "Slippery"! What we now realise is that the tomboyish "Moran" isn't actually a boy at all and as if that's not enough to pack into this barely one hour long feature, there's some treasure to be claimed too. Tempers fray and "KItchell" and "Ramon" look set for a bit of fisticuffs. I quite enjoyed this adventure film, if only because it shows Valentino in a more assertive role and Long is really quite effective, too, as the nasty creature who quite plausibly epitomised many of those jobbing sea captains who had scant regard for the laws of salvage or men! Dalton also turns in a plucky contribution and though it's all a little predictable, there are still some entertainingly staged scenes to keep it from sinking.
Le dernier métro (1980)
The Last Metro
Despite, or possibly because of, the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1942 the theatres and cinemas of the city are thriving. One of the most popular was in Montmartre and run by the Steiners. Now he's a Jew so they decide it best he leaves for the Vichy and the theatre in the hands of his actress wife "Marion" (Catherine Deneuve). Rather aptly, they decide to present a new play called "the Disappearance" and draft in "Granger" (Gerard Depardieu) to co-star with "Marion" under the director "Jean-Loup" (Jean Poiret). Now it's fair to say that "Granger" is a bit of a womaniser - but the object of his desires here, who happens to be the costumier "Arlette" (Andréa Ferrêol), wouldn't touch him with a flagpole. Their best laid plans as a troupe is to survive what's left of the war in one piece, and with dangers around every corner as well as rationing, they have their work cut out. As the story develops, we come to realise that both "Marion" and her co-star have secrets to keep and their make or break production will also be seen by the arch anti-semite critic "Daxiat" (Jean-Louis Richard) who could readily undo all of their hard work and see them all on the scrapheap. There's loads of chemistry here and François Truffaut manages to inject some dark humour into an environment that's admittedly riddled with fear, but that also presents us with some insights into the lives of these artistes who compete, contrive and contrast with each other in just about every aspect of their daily lives. It's a film about bravery, courage and determination - often found in the least likely of places, and Deneuve offers us a powerfully engaging characterisation that epitomises the concept of less is more. It takes it's time, so settle down with a glass of decent Malbec and you ought to enjoy some talent at the top of their game.
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Die Hard 4.0
After completely ruining his daughter's hot date, "McClane" (Bruce Willis) is sent to pick up a young hacker in response to what the FBI think might be a city wide cyber-attack. The youngster "Farrell" (Justin Long) is a cocky geek who is ill-prepared for what now ensues as "McClane" arrives just in time to save him from a barrage of gunfire that turns his apartment into a war zone. They now have to try to get the kid to safety but his pursuers are not giving up. What has this lad done? What has he got? Well swiftly we learn amidst the growing chaos that the not so angelic "Gabriel" (Timothy Olyphant) and his pal "Mai" (Maggie Q) are pulling the strings and will stop at nothing to see both of them go the way of the dodo before they cause mayhem across these United States. Can this unlikely pairing thwart his devious plan? To be fair to both Bruce and Long, they do manage a bit of quite engaging camaraderie as they lurch from one death-defying scenario to another but there's no getting away from it. The story is weak and far too thin to stretch across two hours of action that becomes increasingly far-fetched and repetitive. The cop character's disdainful attitude is also starting to wear out a bit as what limited jeopardy there ever was with these films becomes just a little too much like an exhibition of the stunt arrangers creative pyrotechnics and the lively production design. It's not terrible, Willis still oozes charisma, but maybe "McClane" needs to be put out to pasture now before he does himself a mischief - or bothers to read another lacklustre script.
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Well if you were ever in doubt about the fallacies of the "American dream" then you need look no further than the life of the young and rather unfortunately named "Dawn Wiener" (Heather Matarazzo). Her life with her geeky brother "Mark" (Matthew Faber) is comfortable enough, but her parents aren't really that interested in her and she is bullied at school by "Brandon" (Brendan Sexton). Her brother has a garage band and it's fronted by the dashing "Steve" (Eric Mabius) in whom she has an almighty crush. Of course she is too young to realise that were he to reciprocate in any way he'd be sent to jail! As so often happens with those who are picked on, she starts to pick on someone else - her little sister "Missy" (Daria Kalinina) and this earns her the annoyance of her family. Feeling adrift and rather abandoned, she begins to seek a bit of solace with her tormentor whilst never quite giving up on her older, would-be, beau - but what can come of any of this? Matarazzo does well here, offering us a gently honest interpretation of a child who is not unloved, just unnoticed. She presents us with a vulnerable character whom you would expect to spend her entire life overlooked, living in the same town for a life unhappily married to a local plumber. Sexton is also quite engaging as the outwardly aggressive and brutish character whom, as we get to know him, is actually not in a wildly dissimilar boat to "Dawn". It's got some soul to it and that, and a certain simplicity, makes for a plausible observation of a life destined to remain, at best, in the slow lane.
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
If in doubt, see a therapist! Well that's what the ostensibly happy "Ann" (Andi MacDowell) does whilst married to aspiring lawyer "John" (Peter Gallagher). This woman stresses about just about everything, and this singularly futile behaviour is having quite an impact on her sex-life and therefore her marriage. "John" isn't the most loyal of men, so switches allegiance to her willing barmaid sister "Cynthia" (Laura San Giacomo) and then just to add a bit more complexity, "John" meets up with old friend "Graham" (James Spader) who brings a candour to the scenario that's actually quite funny in it's potent honesty. You get a clue as to the route it's now going to take from the title and at times it's remarkably poignant as it deals quite entertainingly, if on an almost entirely sex-free basis, with what people obsess about and how in some cases the obsessing about the obsession becomes a sort of raison d'être as the problems entrench and lives get well and truly stuck. The pithy dialogue has a reality to it that though occasionally a little contrived, does make you think when you stand in front of the mirror that maybe some of the attitudes and belligerences could apply to some degree in many of our lives as we tend to overthink. It's maybe Spader's best role - his character is understated and surprisingly effective as this admittedly rather ploddingly paced look at morals and mores builds up. MacDowell isn't the best, she sort of fluffs her way through the story but the other two principals and Rob Vawter's analyst keep it all quite watchable for an hour and ah half.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Ben Stiller's "Goodman" is the epitome of a big time corporate America obsessed with keeping the country fit. "Peter" (Vince Vaughn) is pretty much the opposite as his small time local gym is on the brink of collapse. If he can't find $50,000 in double quick time then it's curtains. The only way they can maybe raise the money is to win a dodgeball tournament but when "Goodman" discovers this plucky plan, he establishes a team of his own and battle lines are drawn. Of course one team has unlimited resources whilst the other can barely afford to turn the lights on. They do have a secret weapon though - and that's the legendary "Patches O'Houlihan" (Rip Torn) who agrees to come and turn his enthusiastic collection of misfits into a cohesive and winning unit. Now there's not the least jeopardy here: it's just a rehash of the David and Goliath story with some dangerous looking ball skills thrown in. Fans of Stiller will probably love it, but I never really was one of those. I found his style of comedy way too in-your-face and not in the least subtle and after a few games with this big red weapon of body-mass destruction, I got a bit bored. It's tempered with a tiny bit of romance thanks to "Kate" (Christine Taylor) who'd also like to see "Goodman" with some egg on his face but the predictability of the whole film made it quite a long ninety minutes for me with Vaughn adding little to enliven the proceedings. It's very quickly paced and is obviously trying to be screwball but once we've met the characters it just becomes too processional. Nah.
Chuck Chuck Baby (2023)
Chuck Chuck Baby
"Helen" (Louise Brealy) wakes up in the morning in what looks like a bedsit, with a suitcase of her meagre possessions tucked under the mattress. A chubby chav walks in on her and we discover that this is, in fact, her husband "Gary" (Celyn Jones) who has banished her to the spare room so he can live with his teeny-pop girlfriend "Amy" (Emily Fairn) and their brand new baby. Needless to say, she's not an happy woman but she puts up with all of this so she can stay close to his ailing mother "Gwen" (Sorcha Cusack) who's bedridden and clearly not too long for this world. Her only real moments of joy come from her work. She works with a tightly knit group of women packing chickens. The routine mundanity of that job leads the four of them to play daft games and try to chivvy each other along to alleviate the boredom - especially on a nightshift! Then a bit of a bombshell arrives in the form of "Joanne" (Annabel Scholey). Despite a rather frosty reunion, it's obvious that there is some baggage between these two women and the rest of the film infills some of the backstory of both women augmented by some frequently laugh out loud comedy. The principal culprit of the humour is "Paula" (Beverly Rudd) - rough around the edges but with an heart of gold and some of the best lines from an entertainingly written script. The plot is fairly predictable, though auteur Janis Pugh does throw a few spanners in the works to keep it interesting, and there are some semi-musical theatre style numbers as the story occasionally uses it's decent soundtrack to advance the story - usually to epitomise the unhappiness of "Helen". It's well cast with a solid supporting effort, a tiny bit of social commentary and a rather queazy rapport between the girls and one of those plastic heads kids used to used to practice their make-up skills on. It could also serve as a pretty good advert for never eating chickens - the things these women get up to plucking these birds could put you off for ever!
Longlegs (2024)
Longlegs
There's a fair amount of screen time given to Bill Clinton in this thriller. Luckily, there are no cigars to be seen as his Presidential visage looks down on FBI agent "Carter" (Blair Underwood). He's in charge of an investigation looking into the slaughter of entire families in their homes. There's no evidence of any third party anywhere, with the father invariably found having killed himself after slaughtering just about everyone else. Thing is, fellow agent "Harker" (Maika Monroe) thinks that there's way more to it than that. She's got a sort of sixth sense when it comes to these things and soon she and "Carter" are on the trail of the eponymous character (the sparingly used but effective Nicolas Cage) who may - or may not - be the source of some cryptic messages left near the site of each atrocity. Central to her theories are some eerily looking dolls. There are child size, perfectly made with porcelain and contain mysterious aluminium spheres. What's the purpose of them? It turns out that "Harker" might be able to elicit some answers from her mother "Ruth" (Alicia Witt). She's not quite the full shilling but as the detective recalls an encounter with a stranger many years earlier, we begin to wonder if mum might be more involved... It's quirky this story with elements that make sense and others that dart about making it almost impossible to figure out who's doing what to whom nor, more importantly, why? The rather brutal denouement does let it down. It's rushed and serves to fill in years worth of intrigue with five minutes of dialogue - indeed, I couldn't help but wonder if a sequel was in the offing as the story wrapped all too abruptly. Monroe delivers well here, as does photographer Andres Arochi who helps create an almost claustrophobic atmosphere to add quite a bit of tension to the plot. It's not especially scary, but it takes a different approach to creating horror for the mind rather thanks the eyes - and it works quite well.
I Saw the Light (2015)
I Saw the Light
In theory this had loads to recommend it. A young man who captivated the USA with his music, an handsome and charismatically flawed gent who lived his life to the full, philandered, cheated and drank... How, then, did Marc Abraham manage to turn all that into a stodgy television movie? The ever easy on the eye Tom Hiddleston takes the title role and does precisely nothing with it. His mimicry of the style of performing - that slightly chicken-strutting jig he did whilst singing, works well enough but otherwise this is a shallow and lacklustre characterisation. Williams could never have been called a loyal man and the women who featured prominently here - wife Audrey (Elisabeth Olsen), Bobbie (Wrenn Schmidt) and Billie Jean (Maddie Hasson) have precious little to work with to add much depth to this puddle of a biopic. It has a go at creating a documentary feel to it, incorporating some monochrome (and monotone) contributions from Bradey Whitford's version of producer Fred Rose and there is plenty of toe-tapping - especially the fiddlers, but at just over the two hour mark this is a ponderously feeble effort to enliven a man by an actor who spent way too much time in wardrobe and nowhere near enough trying to imbue the subject with personality. "Walk the Line" (2005) it isn't.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump
"Forrest" (Tom Hanks) isn't the sharpest tool in the box, but he has an heart of gold and an unparalleled sense of human decency. These laudable characteristics are the result of an upbringing by his mother (Sally Field) which has seen him grow from the bullied young boy from Alabama who discovers that he can run a little faster than your average bear, to a sort of national hero. We learn all this from him as he sits at a bus stop chatting to an initially disinterested nurse, and then to a collection of fellow travellers who learn of his drafting to Vietnam. That's where he meets "Lt. Dan" (Gary Sinese) and his new best friend "Bubba" (Mykelti Williamson) and where his innate sense of what's right saves lives and earns him the plaudits of a grateful nation (and gets his butt-ox on television too!). His army days taught him much, but nothing so useful as a skill at table tennis. Soon on the American ping-pong squad in China, he manages to get an endorsement that allows him to reunite with the hippified, now paraplegic and disillusioned "Lt. Dan" and make a mint shrimp fishing, before returning home to face some fairly predicable family trauma. All of this has been happening against a story of a longing for his one true love. "Jenny" (Robin Wright). They've been friends since childhood, but she has a wandering spirit and though his love was requited, it wasn't what he needed. Might there be a future for them, ever? Robert Zemeckis uses a chronology of events in the USA, starting in the 1950s, to create a template for the story of a man who lived through racial tension, war, bullying and emerged the stronger; the more honourable and despite his low IQ was quite capable of putting those more intellectual around him to shame. The photography that cleverly superimposes him into television broadcasts works entertainingly as he gazes bemusedly out onto a audience that is increasingly warming to him. I will admit, I struggled a bit with the running segment towards the end, but Hanks epitomises determination and integrity with Eric Roth's adaptation of the Groom novel allowing plenty of philosophical food for thought whilst having a laugh at scenarios both serious and ridiculous. Like life itself, this film is like a box of chocolates and though I didn't love them all, there were plenty to enjoy and reflect upon.
Man on the Moon (1999)
Man on the Moon
I do vaguely recall Andy Kaufman in "Taxi" but the remainder of this rather zany depiction of his life just reminded me of a compendium of the "Goon Show" meets "Mork and Mindy". His sense of what was entertaining was eclectic to say the least, and his stand-up routines reminded me a little of Peter Sellers when he was using his exaggerated (European) accents to try and get a laugh. Nobody is much interested in these stage shows until talent agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) spots him and sees something original about his talents. Exposure on television followed, then his casting in the sitcom about New York's amiable mix of yellow cab drivers - the series that made the name of Danny DeVito too - before he embarked on a curious and one-sided career wrestling women. It was this latter profession that introduced him to male wrestler Jerry Lawler who tired of this and took to fighting him man-to-man. Needless to say, he's no match for the man with the "Piledriver" so has to resort to other ways to keep ahead of the ever changing entertainment game. His behaviour becomes more erratic and soon nobody with a television camera will touch the man... Jim Carrey is a natural at these quirky and over-the-top interpretations, and here is no different. He immerses himself into the role and manages to very successfully convey the sheer irritation factor of this man who had practically no talent but an ability to pander the "Emperor's New Clothes" theory to an audience who thought, initially, it better to laugh with the crowd than to scratch their heads and wonder what they were actually laughing at. On that front, Milos Forman has created a cleverly structured biopic of a man who was flawed and obsessed and who was fuelled by a market place desperate for something different. What I didn't feel here was any empathy for Kaufman. The industry is hard, cruel and unforgiving to the best of them and maybe it is a testament to the acting, but I genuinely felt this person hadn't the skills required to entertain at an holiday camp for the hard of hearing. Maybe it's more relevant to Americans who can better associate with their standard and style of 1970s television programming but as an observer from elsewhere this come cross as entirely self indulgent. Sorry.
The Great Gatsby (1974)
The Great Gatsby
"Nick" (Sam Waterston) lives in a cottage on the edge of the estate owned by the enigmatic "Gatsby" (Robert Redford) and is fascinated by the man. He has old money wealth and regularly hosts lavish parties for strangers whom her barely knows and to which he rarely bothers to go. "Nick" is unexpectedly invited to one such party and then to meet the man himself who isn't quite what he was expecting. This is the start of an unusual friendship that introduces him to a life of shallow profligacy, duplicity and some fairly ghastly individuals. "Gatsby" has taken a shine to "Daisy" (Mia Farrow) who is married to the rather brutish "Tom" (Bruce Dorn) and much of the rest of this lengthy period melodrama follows the intricacies of the new relationship between these two men, and of the latter man's increasingly dubious lifestyle that isn't quite playing out as "Nick" anticipated. Now this adaptation is an almost literal one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel - and that might have worked were we in a theatre. We are not, though, and what we are presented with here is a wordy and frankly rather sterile and plodding character study. Too much reliance is placed on the aesthetic elements - the costumes, sets, lavishness of the parties; indeed the imagery is gorgeous. It's supposed to be a love story, but the purported relationship between Redford and Farrow just doesn't resonate. I never really understood why she was so acclaimed in the first place - her performances were always rather hit or miss. The narration from Waterston also becomes a little too flat and the contrasting existences of the fabulously wealthy and the subsistence poor is hardly developed at all. My star of the film is Karen Black's "Myrtle" - possibly the only persona here that exudes anything like a sense of personality as she juggles her marriage and her affair. This is a nasty story about selfish and thoughtless people, but this iteration simply fails to capture that emotion, or - indeed - any other emotion either. Lots and lots of style, but it's lacking soul.
Thelma (2024)
Thelma
Grandma "Thelma" (June Squibb) is rather cruelly fleeced by a man pretending that her beloved grandson "Daniel" (Fred Hechinger) has been in a car accident with a pregnant women. $10,000 lighter her family realise she's been scammed and she is having none of it. Recruiting her pal "Ben" (Richard Roundtree) - or, more accurately, car-napping his mobility scooter, she escapes from the protective custody of her family and sets off to find the culprit. Squibb and Roundtree are obviously having great fun here as the pair embark on an engaging series of geriatric adventures that illustrate, clearly, that though the body may be weak the spirit is very much alive and kicking - and you know you're in for a decent denouement with Malcolm McDowell in the starting line-up too. I thought Hechinger tried a bit too hard here, but there is still something enjoyable about his at times rather theatrical performance and his dynamic with the charming and formidably ingenious Squibb. Clark Gregg and Parker Posey make up the rest of the family and quite entertainingly shine a light on the problems of parents dealing with an elderly relative - about whom they do, genuinely, care, whilst also trying to live their own lives and keep an eye on a son who has, just to make matters slightly worse, recently split from the love of his life. It does have a bit of a wobble for ten minutes towards the end as it struggles a little to make a point about the stupidity of the bloody-minded but for the most part there's a good deal to giggle at as the pair go along. You probably won't recall this for long after you watch it, but it's a good laugh that just confirmed what I've thought for ages. Those buggies need a lane of their own!
Submarine Command (1951)
Submarine Command
William Holden stars in/narrates this rather humdrum submariner story from the end of WWII and the commencement of the Korean War that offers little by way of uniqueness or jeopardy. Holden, himself, is fine - but the tale of an executive officer making a tough, ultimately tragic, battle decision that causes him to become a pariah to many of his crew is just too old hat, as is the ending which offers a redemption that was never really in doubt. Technically, it conveys some of the claustrophobic aspects of living and working on a submarine well; and William Bendix as "CPO Boyer" demonstrates how effectively a man can hold a grudge, but (no pun intended) it's all just a bit too shallow and procedural. Worth a watch for the photography, but the story is neither here nor there...
Twisters (2024)
Twisters
A tragedy forces meteorologist "Kate" (Daisy Edgar-Jones) back into the office where she spends her days monitoring weather events and advising on whether or not twisters may emerge and issuing any necessary alerts. Another of her erstwhile coleagues, "Javi" (Anthony Ramos) shows up with some military-grade technology that can be used to 3-D plot the phenomenon and that gets her back out into the field. That's where she encounters "Tyler" (Glen Powell) - he's a "tornado wrangler" who uses his guts to drive as close as he can to get great images for his lucrative You Tube channel. Her designs are more altruistic, though. She wants to map the things so she can develop a plan to seed them with super-absorbent polymers that will hopefully stop them in their tracks. A gently competitive scenario now develops between the two, but that is soon changed when she discovers that one of their backers in really in it for the fire-sale value of properties devastated by the sheer power of the twisters, and - of course - the remainder of the plot follows lines way more predicable than that of the whirlwind. It's really more of a whirlwind of another sort that takes over and that's a bit of a shame as it shows up the limitations Powell as an actor. Sure, he's the boy next door you wouldn't kick out of bed for eating Pringles, but here he's about as wooden as a washboard. Edgar-Jones isn't a great deal better and the writing seems uncertain as to whether we are to watch an action-packed adventure film or a cheesy romance with some contrived moralising thrown in for good measure. To be fair, there is an attempt at bringing some science into the story and the visual effects are genuinely exciting to watch as these amazing forces of nature wreak their havoc despite man's best efforts. It's a bit on the long side, but it's still perfectly watchable especially if you can appreciate the visual on a big screen. It's just a bit disappointing.
Dogging: A Love Story (2009)
Dogging: A Love Story
What a shame - this could actually have made for quite a funny template for a film if only they hadn't opted for the banal and puerile. "Dan" (Luke Treadaway) is an out of work journalist who decides to write a piece about the practice of dogging. Now if you don't know - that's when you drive to some remote spot and have sex with folks peering in the window, or taking photos - or even filming it. "Dan" is also a bit sexually frustrated, a fact not helped by his flatmate "Rob" (Richard Riddell) who fancies himself as a bit of a Lothario. It's whilst chatting on the internet that "Dan" encounters "Horny Geordie Lass" (Kate Heppell) and after the bravado dies down, they both decide they kind of like each other and decide to meet. Do they keep up the pretence of the dogging (neither of them are really into it) or do they try something a bit more grown up? Well to be honest, and much as I like Luke T, I just didn't care. It's smutty and crass - but worse than that, it has no plot. There is no story nor do the characters have anything to say. Once we've seen a few steamed up windscreens - there is actually very little actual sex, here - then you've seen them all. There's a glimmer of talent from Michael Socha's chavvy "Jim" who has a better than average chat-up line - though not so successful on the top deck of a bus, but otherwise this is really a waste of everyone's time both behind the camera and on the sofa. Maybe next time don't go for the easy "Carry On" option because this just isn't funny.
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz
It's barely the start of the twentieth century when Stroud (Burt Lancaster) starts his long career in jail. He is already guilty of murder before he loses the plot with a malevolent guard and adds to his crimes. Sentenced to swing, it's only the direct intervention by his mother with the President himself, that sees his punishment commuted and him returned to the prison run by the psychologically brutal Harvey Shoemaker (Karl Malden) who rules his empire like it were a fiefdom - and Stroud is never to leave solitary confinement. On his brief daily wander round the prison yard he discovers a sparrow that has broken it's wing falling from it's nest. He decides to try and help it and after some extensive study becomes a bit of an expert in avian medicine and manages to help his new wife "Stella" (Betty Field) run a specialist business. The a transfer comes. To Acatraz he must go - and shortly after his arrival, he finds himself under the command of his old antagonist. Shoemaker is no thug, though - he does begin to develop a bit of a grudging respect for "Stroud" all while he starts from scratch with his bird business and, as the title suggests, begins to work on a plan even more audacious. Lancaster is super here. He plays the part to perfection with a balance of the violent, the calculating and the delicate that I think is pretty much unmatched in cinema. Malden also serves as an effective foil as the intellectual cat and mouse game becomes more attritional, sophisticated and powerfully portrayed. If there ever was a film about imprisonment offering lack of opportunity and purpose, this is it - and what's clear is that the authorities would have actively encouraged Stroud's gradual decline into cerebral morbidity had he not been astute enough to galvanise his friends on the outside and keep his wits sharp - and that's equally well presented by Guy Trosper's potent screenplay. The supporting cast is also strong with powerful efforts from Whit Bissell, Edmond O'Brien and Neville Brand helping to deliver classic big screen cinema that allows the star to be undeniably that.
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
Von Ryan's Express
"Col. Ryan" (Frank Sinatra) arrives at an Italian POW camp to find it's mainly British occupants at loggerheads with the Commandant "Battaglia" (Adolfo Celi). It seems his brutality led to the death of their former CO and now "Maj. Fincham" (Trevor Howard) is out for blood! "Ryan" is a more calculating man, though, and that initially elicits hostility from the men - hence the "von Ryan", but his patience pays off and soon he is able to lead the whole lot of them on an audacious escape attempt that could see them all make it to safety. With the Nazis and their former persecutor in hot pursuit, they manage to commandeer a train and now they must use their guile and the unique skills of padre "Costanzo" (Edward Mulhare) to blag their way through the heart of the enemy lines en route to Switzerland. Can they make it? It's a bit of a slow burn, but once the story gets up to speed then there's loads of action with Sinatra and Howard working well together to create quite an exciting sense of peril as it builds to quite an exciting conclusion. There's a strong supporting cast including their principal antagonist "Maj. Von Klemment" (Wolfgang Preiss) and Brad Dexter's ingenious "Sgt. Bostick". Jerry Goldsmith helps it along with a solid score and there's quite a bit of dry humour in the script, too. Not one of the most famous of wartime thrillers, but it's not bad at all.
Prime (2005)
Prime
"Rafi" (Uma Thurman) is on the rebound from a messy divorce when she meets the charismatic young artist "David" (Bryan Greenberg). In theory they have nothing in common - and she is fourteen years older than him. That's not going to stop them though, and she begins to regale her shrink (Meryl Streep) with tales of her new found affection. Sure, it's about sex - but she likes him - she's not that shallow. Their relationship is soon burgeoning; they are meeting friends and becoming a couple. Then the bombshell - his mother is her shrink! With the secrets out and his mother now aware rather embarrassingly of some details about his penis, the whole scenario must recalibrate. Can the couple make a go of things or is it all just an hormonal fling that will peter out? It's not terrible this film, helped not least by a Streep who plays the Jewish mother-cum-psychiatrist quite amusingly in the few scenes she graces. There's also a decent enough - if maybe a little too sincere - rapport between Thurman and her eye candy and it does occasionally make you wonder what age (or religion) ought to have to do with people falling in love (or even lust for that matter). The conclusion is pretty weak, I thought, and sort of falls between two stools despite the best efforts of the concierge "Damien" (Ato Essandoh). The production is a bit soapy at times, indeed plenty of it looked like a studio-based sitcom but with this cast and a bit of goodwill, you'll probably not hate it - I didn't.
Une nouvelle amie (2014)
The New Girlfriend
"David" (Romain Duris) is married to "Laura" (Isild Le Besco) and they are best pals with "Claire" (Anaïs Demoustier) and her husband "Gilles" (Raphaël Personnaz). All is going along nicely until a tragedy strikes poor old "David". The kindly "Claire" comes to visit him and his newborn baby "Lucie" and boy does she get a surprise! What now ensues is a little reminiscent of "Tootsie" (1982) as "Virginia" starts to emerge onto the scene and with the help of a somewhat perplexed "Claire" as his new best friend/life coach embarks on quite a journey that provides for some self-discovery all round. It does run out of steam a little towards the end when the comedy elements start to become subsumed into an increasingly contrived plot that doesn't quite seem to know how it wants to end, but an engaged Duris is clearly having some fun with the part and there's a gently effective swipe at sexual stereotypes and restrictive definitions that keeps it entertaining for the most part. Remember - left eye left hand, right eye right hand....!