michaelberanek275 Reviews

Pig (I) (2021)

Sublime, as emotionally indulgent as fine dining should be

[10/10 · 14 April 2024]

A movie to remember that cleverly sets out at the start with its cards held closely to its chest, then just unravels so gracefully and with such a profusion of deep themes like love, loss, regret, forgiveness, truth and even reflection int the obscure things like the emotional power of culinary experience, to mention only a few of the facets if this deeply moral and dignified film. This is a lot down to the exquisitely tuned performance from Nicholas Cage, who just seems to get better and better nowadays, but also to the handful of supporting cast. The chalk-and-cheese pairing throughout with Alex Wolff the truffle buyer is for me a central sub-drama, but like lots of this film you won't get a tidy exposition or resolution, there's lots of work for the viewer to do to process events and performances with their own experiences, to recall how life is rarely straightforward, that there are gaps and lingering feelings, animosities, injuries, failures, but that there is peace and redemption in pardon, in acceptance, and everything to learn from nature. Beautiful.

Hard Candy (2005)

Loved this maybe way too much

[10/10 · 22 March 2024]

For me, with the reverse Red Riding Hood motif in the final coda reminds me of another genius unhinged movie 'Freeway' (1996) with the dangerous delectable Drew Barrymore, which to be fair is a proper movie when this is more of a wobbly-filmed two hander play, still Hard Candy is no less visceral and gut wrenching a pleasure to watch. Also Ellen (now Elliott) Page is just so fantastic: a mix of cute schoolgirl petulance and wirey pugnaciousness... I now love him in whatever he does, what a superstar. Back then Ellen's psychotic yet vulnerable performance is for me one of the most outstanding things I've seen in over 400 films I've seen in 12 months. The screenplay is the other star, tight, smart, and deliciously sardonic. I love it too much maybe, as it feels such a guilty pleasure with the frisson of exploitation & sexual curiosity that impossibly fuses with a righteous revenge story. I almost wanted to walk the plank myself after enjoying it so wholeheartedly. If winsome Elliot insisted I do so, I would gladly.

The Presidents: Reagan (2024)

Rose tinted

[6/10 · 9 February 2024]

"One of the most memorable and iconic presidents in American politics ...." This kind of prevaricating meaningless voiceover dominees this program. Don't expect this to be a rigorous hard critical examination of the president's work. The failure of Reaganomics for instance is dealt with by a passing remark. How to say that honestly have learnt no more about this man from watching this documentary. It's quite pretty in places and smoothly produced. However, it really starts to get rather treacly and hagiographic especially towards the end where I was beginning to suffer some nausea. I would recommend watching it if you really cherish his memory.

How the Internet was Stolen (2022)

Tailor made by the few for the exploitation of the many

[9/10 · 18 January 2024]

An essential eye-opening and methodical exposition of how freedom & solidarity-destroying capitalism both dug out, filled, and then took to the internet like a duck to water. As time goes on in the exponential expansion of the sphere, 'consumers' have less and less excuse to be naive to the fact they have become the consumed - raw material for the new techno-bourgeois. It's about another kind of colonialism that denies the actually existing history and reality of the concrete world - a potential 'Realtopia' - in which we otherwise would have a fair chance of living together in, and forging forwards together for a more egalitarian society. This is a rallying cry to wake up and rise up and to expose the utopian pipe dreams of that 1% that are merely selling the same snake oil that put the Rockefellers at the top of the pile in tthe 20th century. Beware, once you hear this you won't consider the so called convenience and personalisation of the internet in the same way ever again. Oh, and go those bravely working "in the cracks": LINUX-interoperability, Wikipedia & Open Source communities, and the political goal of social ownership of the internet!

Mr. Potts Goes to Moscow (1952)

Hearty chuckles defy gloomy Cold War milieu

[9/10 · 19 October 2023]

A most delightful film with Cole excellent as the likable stooge in this very British kind of cold war satirical romp through a range of class and national stereotypes, specific to the 1950s cultural landscape. The perils of The Bomb and Communism are sent up with English understatement and in the camp machinations of a host of excellent supporting comic actors. The farcical but oddly understated farce drives along with a brisk pace & under clever noir-like art direction. Much of the material is most topical for its time and so provides an interesting time capsule of British life emerging in the wake of war, including of the ubiquity of "high" indedible guest house kippers.

The Shock of the New (1980)

Rich and cogent narrative, and a televisual feast

[9/10 · 12 September 2023]

Although the passage of time has this great body of work of '... the New' now becoming an historical artefact in its own right, it's nonetheless a fascinating and absorbing gallop through a century between around 1880 and 1980. The sheer literary brilliance is something to bask in while, considering the constraints of the time, the visual imagery and editing is so extremely rich. One is treated as an intellectual equal and never talked down to. I suppose nowadays you might have to give it that standard trigger warning of some "outdated cultural references", these instances for me make this even more interesting as an epic monument of television history.

Amanda (2018)

Nice, but oddly obtuse

[8/10 · 9 September 2023]

Amanda is unarguably pleasing to the eye, with a visual menu ranging across many pleasant albeit clichéd Parisian locations, with reasonable performances from the cast of stereotypical French characters. This film works well as a kind of emollient to the central tragedy and steers well clear of any sharp edges that a more psychoanalytical or political investigation would have turned up in this essentially anodyne fairy tale about loss and recovery. At times the syrupy score seemed too much, where silence would have served better, but all the stops have been pulled out to create something deliberately optimistic. However, in doing so it plays loudly over a lot of situational complexity that would have been worth exploring, so ultimately leaving this viewer at least feeling a bit mollicudled. I hesitate to be too critical, but there is a certain amount of paint-by-numbers to the plot & dramatic scenarios and a thinness and shallowness to the overall narrative. Still, there's a lot to like in the unspoken interactions between David and Amanda, David and his injured friends for instance which really, in spite of the film as a whole do feel profoundly humane and genuine. Perhaps the key to enjoying the film is to stay with the epynominous weather-vane character Amanda, and her naive perspective on events, as besides that, there's not much grown-up reality here anyway to trouble you.

Homeward (2019)

Poingant tale puts Crimean Tartars on the map.

[9/10 · 25 August 2023]

One can easily say that this is the best Crimean Tartar road movie/dirge/family drama/religious film/contemporary Ukrainian war commentary that you might to get ones hands on! The fact that the dialogue in the film consists of Ukrainian Tartar, Ukrainian, and Russian gives one a clue to the cultural complexity of life in Ukraine today and indeed right now in all of Eastern Europe from the Baltic sea to the edges of the lesser Caucasus mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh. This this is a beautifully filmed movie that has a not-unfamiliar story arc, picking up on various social archetypes and focused mainly on the tight family unit of father and son and immediate relatives in the wake of what looks like the untimely torture & death of an elder son, on the front, of the interminable war by Putin on Ukraine. It is unfortunate that the average western reader using subtitles, like me, cannot understand the transitions here in the dialogue between the use of different languages. I suppose one could have had different colours for subtitles. Never mind. The exosition is all show and no tell - The father is angry his would-have been daughter in law has Christian Orthodox icons... Being spoken to in Russian is a bit like a proud Welsh person being given instructions in English. It may be understood, but it can feel disrespectful. The boy sheepishly mentions to Dad he's now learning to speak Ukrainian pretty well. The fact is that ever since the beginning of the 20th century, the Crimean indigenous population, the Muslim Tartars, have faced annihilation including the near erasure of their culture & language and indeed their significance in contemporary Ukrainian life. These kinds of powerful undercurrents are all eluded to within this deceptively simple coming of age & travel drama. The divisions that surface within the protagonist's family to some extent reflect the cultural and ethnic complexity of contemporary life in Ukraine. One doesn't have to be a genius to pick up on these notions, or to have to have done a degree in modern European history but I kind of wish I knew a bit more to appreciate the movie at a greater depth. Nevertheless, as I say, it's a beautiful film with stunning if bleak location filming in areas like the waterways of the Kherson oblast in the stunning finale, which could not be filmed at this present time due to the escalation of the war which would have made it way too dangerous now. Quite an insight into the new Europe - unstable if not openly tumultuous.

Oppenheimer (1980)

Drama cleverly conjured from heaps of fact

[9/10 · 18 August 2023]

What's the production lacks in genuine locations, cinematography and special effects is amply made up by the excellent performances of the cast and the intelligent screenplay. Sam Waterston portrays the complexity of the epynominous subject's life and work, perfectly sparred with Manning Redwood as General Groves, and showcasing the skills of David Suchet as Edward Teller, and many more great actors make this quite an upper echelon undertaking. The screenplay is intelligent and almost dispenses with the need for the brief narration by mixing plenty of hard fact with drama and human emotion. There is so much fact laid out here within the drama, such an amount of working through the controversy and contradiction, that at the end of the exhausting ride I concur with the esteemed Mark Kemode here that I'm now hardly interested in seeing a Hollywood blockbuster version of this history.

Never Goin' Back (2018)

Like Cheech & Chong but young, and a lot prettier

[9/10 · 11 July 2023]

This winsome pair of hapless protagonists are such the sweetest characters, or potentially hideous characters if not for the perfect chemistry and inbuilt comedy genius sparking off between Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone in this offbeat little gem. Approaching this without much expectation I was delighted to find this just gradually more and more hilarious, effects starting with a knowing smirk, through to a fixed grin, to steady LOL fits as I watched this great reboot of all those tired male stoner movies... Comfortingly predictable, it goes through the genre paces, winning every time Camila and Maia are on screen. Less enthralling, inevitably, are thier male sidekicks who seem a bit cut-out and weak entities compared, but there's some good work in some other fleeting authoritative roles, like the long suffering boss at the diner for instance, who really likes these girls and why not, as he says to them as he fires them, they're intelligent and a lot of fun, and that's exactly what transcends the whole tawdry milieu - these girls - so cocky, so strangly naive but louche at the same time, cute, and above all, they really love each other and are so sweet and tender with each other. You've got to have a heart of stone not to find something inside you that's sympathetic to them. It's a case of not laughing at the chaotic pair, but kind of with them.

A Song for Europe (1985 TV Movie)

A minor movie, but dascinating, challenging.

[8/10 · 5 July 2023]

First impressions with movies are not always correct as I found with this obsure film that there's hardly a single decent professional review for in the known web-a-verse. My first viewing six months ago left not much impression at first, and indeed I was largely underwhelmed. I just registered one reviewer who said he'd tried to watch this but kept falling asleep, as is the effect I imagine quite widely. But hang on...! Perhaps it was the general atypical mood of the work, it's solumnness, or just the titanic David Suchet playing this admirable but unlikeable protagonist Mr Dyer that stuck with me like a barb and I had to give it another shot and was well-rewarded. Yes there is a docudrama style in that the exposition is rather pedestrian and painfully along factual lines, but there is art within this little TV movie that sets it apart. First off there's the orchestral score, haunting and nicely balanced which covers the inevitable cracks in this thrifty production. We have full-centre a great performance by Suchet, and writing that is careful not to polish out the broken, oddly imperious personality of Mr Dyer, and eventually one begins to see more than a simple case of good guy verses the rest and question some of the protagonist's decisions especially in respect of his family life. The viewer's impression of dullness to the story is in a way warranted as there's hardly world-shattering stakes involved, no obvious mortal danger, no sex, but this true life tale does unfold with really tragic personal repercussions that takes the movie in a yet further level of melancholia as if it wasn't grim enough from the start. This is not a feel-good movie obviously but is still oddly compelling in it's seriousness and sense of importness way above its standing. Now I think about it there is not the slightest attempt at humour. There's also for me some cultural interest along the way with that mid-eighties hardness and big money obessions, maybe the begining of the end of too-big-to-fail businesses, not to mention those clunky phones and monitors, the ubiquity of the ashtray and all that eirie florescent lighting. But perhaps the bravery is in the unrelenting nature of the story-telling, the unsympathetic nature of most of the characters and lack of any easy redemption. Notwithstanding the fleeting views of stunning Swiss scenery, this is a movie of a maze of countless colourless offices and corridors and I imagine Kafka would have given it a salute. In the end, there remain real existential questions that are left for the viewer: what was the story really about? Was there any point in any of it? Was it worth it?

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Majestic little creation

[9/10 · 29 June 2023]

OK, it's not much to look at in the beginning, a B-movie sequence with a reckless youth drag race and a crash, apart from some clever graphic of the film credits swirling on the deadly Kansas River, but then the wooden dialogue and mismatched audio syncing. But patience!... everything real starts slipping away into nightmarish melodramatic alt-reality (David Lynch eat your heart out), so beautifully photographed and so artfully and ever so economically constructed. Who needs blood and gore when subtly unnerving sound & vision, cranked up slowly like a medieval torture wheel, and a smattering handful of goulish countenances is far more traumatic in the end. This is a testament to how much can be done with so little i.e. A shoestring budget and a fleeting shooting time of a few short weeks. The economy of special effect, the reliance on a fantasticly disturbing organ score, even the woodeness of the supporting acting only in the end enhances the horror aesthetic and the point-of-view-perspective of our emotionally detached protagonist as she gradually discovers her frightening lack of agency and uncanny attraction to the titular place. The actual location, the Saltair pavilion, the second of three iterations, on the receeding shore of the Great Salt Lake, abandoned not four years before after a fire, is just perfect, with its allusions to the Victorian gothic original pavillion of the late 19C, with some of the original ruined piling featuring in the final scene, protruding from the mud. The haunted place almost films itself as a kind of brooding existential stage. I think the genius of the movie was this desolate place, and the repeated metaphor of a cycle of loss and re-emergence in thick watery mud. The moment our girl, who is perfectly cast as a dizzy lost soul, the moment she appears at the beginning from the river all wet and psychically set apart, in her unreachable intensity, I knew this was going to be a real cracker of a film, and it sure was! Hats off to the small team that crafted this small yet perfectly formed movie monument.

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Flawed but significant

[8/10 · 28 June 2023]

This film I've uprated owing to its cultural & historical status despite flaws that are perhaps too easy to pick at in the early 21st century where, thank God, we have moved on a bit regarding xenophobia. However in any case, as many reviewers pointed out, it could read quite well now on other minorities, like gay people today. I personally don't mind a propaganda movie, or a message-movie as long as it's well crafted, and entertaining alongside it being thought-provoking. One only needs to look to Spike Lee's for e.g. The vibrantly sweltering Do the Right Thing, or Britain's own Ken Loach managing an intelligent political thriller in Hidden Agenda. There's a lot of chatter and not much action in Gentleman's Agreement, but the writing is smart and does manage to peer into the hidden kind of prejudices of Anglo-Saxon middle class society then and now through some great characterizations -- they were then and would still today remain Oscar-winning class, principally of course, from Gregory Peck, who alone is worth the price of the ticket. The biggest cringe moment for me was watching Gregory's character (pretending to be Jewish) berate his young Jewish secretary for being anti-semitic (!), without the slightest sense of recognising her having spent a whole life herself at the end of real life prejudice. It was this kind of total reality blank which for me is like noticing the whole scenery wobbling. Also he just took on his character rather suddenly it appears, too easily, at a whim, and it doesn't appear that the protagonist did any kind of research into the life of a Jewish person or into Jewish religion or instance, or much about the personal experience of Jewishness itself apart from sone chats with his old mate Dave one has to assume. The ruise was simply to sometimes say to people in passing that he was Jewish, or just use a Jewish form of his name. But, flaws aside, as I said some account needs to be taken of the seminal importance of this work of which kind was rare at the time, on and its effect on film culture. And after all, with the excellent acting, the screenplay and some great cinematography like dramatic shadows, I found it quite watchable and for a number of reasons, quite memorable, both good and bad.

Living (2022)

Bittersweet, intelligent and very English adaptation

[10/10 · 17 June 2023]

Top marks for this highly polished gem with Bill Nighy in a curmudgeonly but sympathetic role for a change who hardly needs to move an eyebrow to act like superstar. There's a great bunch of supporting actors not least a sparkling Aimee Lou Wood as the young confident who for me earned the extra point for a full house. I've not seen the 1952 Japanese original but the so very English dramatic scenes emphasising awkward indeed absurd understatement and emotional reserve makes me wonder if Japanese culture might have some deep resonance with Old Blighty in some respects. I did worry this might be cloyingly sentimental but somehow the mixture of dreamy wishfullnes and hard-nosed rather dark nihilism formed the perfectly balanced cocktail. Eventually it just drew a couple of tears, only of wry existential recognition.

Hidden Agenda (1990)

Downbeat Loach thriller

[8/10 · 8 June 2023]

The distinctly pedestrian and realist style to this little caper was quite refreshing as it avoided most clichés of the thriller genre like sexy protagonists and high energy gun battles etc etc to give something a little like a racy cigarette smoke-filled real-life documentary. The miry setting, in the midst of the sectarian wars of Ireland, and including within the tawdry bowels of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, also Republican bars, minor hotels, and humble households was most intriguing, but then the 'hidden agenda' plot panned away some distance from the psycho-realism onto a rather disappointing vein about incredulous or just uninteresting high level parliamentary dirty tricks, ho hum... Thatcher (of course), well not her exactly, anyway... It felt great in the main though, in the unique way the drama was directed, somewhat over the shoulder camera positions where the context is always in view, and conjuring easy naturalistic performances - with Cox doing a great turn as kind of big Yorkshire terrier. The story muddled its way along in a way that felt pretty convincing as a slice of real life in all its convolutions and routine failures of trust, up until the final segment which as I say pulled back I feel a little far, with its ambition to be a big Political thriller, somewhat betraying the best bit, the human narrative of the everyday fog of war and enduring terror that was no doubt an everyday reality for the citizens of northern Ireland.

Willy's Wonderland (2021)

Bloody funny

[9/10 · 3 June 2023]

This has to be the funniest horror comedy I've seen since Anna and the Apocalypse and on reflection it's not just the stellar stoic performance of Cage but also a lot to do with the whole creepy art direction not including some very disturbing party music. It has a simple satisfying story arc just built for genre conisures - let's face it there is a niche and it's just been blown away here - with black oily splatter mixed with blood. It's an acting masterclass for the star most known for his verbal mania signing up to a wordless supercool OCD 'tough hombre' persona. His flint-faced performance is only transcended momentarily in an ecstatic scene over a pinball machine game and a religiously regular indulgence in cans of soft drink. This movie has reminded me just how much I love this sub-genre when it's done so nicely. Blood and creepy humour - murderous children's animatronics - it shouldn't really work, but by golly it can, and thank God Nicolas Cage is here to carry it through.

Grace Quigley (1984)

Strange & somber defeatist comedy

[8/10 · 21 May 2023]

This little unpolished gem from Cannon films almost defies definition with its frankly depressing premise and it's superannuated director and actors. It's no surprise it never found mainstream box office or even critical success at least in the mangled form it was largely released in. Talking Pictures TV ran the Ultimate Solution of... version - generally considered a good later screenplay fix. What can I say, it's one for movie nerds perhaps but with the spirited work of the great Nolte and Hepburn one can be assured it gets carried through safely, even over the several rough patches in a production that has the rather cheap and gaudy feel of 80s television, but don't let that disguise the fact this is a deadly serious drama about the futility of old age, with some jokes. There are just enough minor gags and sweet moments to prevent the viewer from sticking one's own head in the proverbial oven before the movie is out. Of course there's tongue in cheek elements and it's ultimately ambiguous morally, and even with Katherine's rather disturbing real-life Parkinson's on display, playing a desperate suicidal granny, one might forget she went on to live for two more golden decades, well after this film sort of had quietly died in its sleep with hardly a trace of collective memory. There's enough humour in the history of this much maligned film alone to give it a patient and respectful look. I admire it's quirkiness and subversive attitude, giving the polite finger to the whole entertainment film establishment in a way, an anti-epitaph for many of the crew, but done in such a humane and quietly charismatic way.

The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)

Groovy and spooky

[8/10 · 4 May 2023]

The look of the film has a certain tawdry gloss, like Moore's ruffled polo neck or an overflowing crystal ashtray and it's well worth a watch to peek at the tail end of 1960s culture and the rise of petroleum addiction. The story is way out there man, but there's something supernatural too about the film in a meta sense, with Moore's character saying early on that 'intrigue is not about James bond and his Majestys secret service' years before he became Bond himself, and another spooky thing is that, according to Winnert, the director died in a crash not long after the film's theatrical release, on a section of the M4, near Brentford, weirdly close to the initial reckless driving scene location. I suppose Basil Dearden is the man who haunted his own movie.

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Craziest Christmas movie ever!

[10/10 · 26 April 2023]

This is a delightful weaving of comedy, earnest teen coming-of-age drama, perky spontaneous music & dance, err... horror, obviously, and above all delicious black humour. I can't stand zombies really but in a comedy context like this, and yes of course in the legendary Shaun if the Dead, it's a real hoot to have them stumbling around. Top marks for the geniuses who managed to balance all the elements here together so well. It also feels so very British a film and the writing is smart and sassy and the jokes and characters so nicely self-deprecating. The scene with the beautiful young Ella Hunt blissfully singing and dancing in the street with her earphones on whist bloody mayhem plays out behind her is a real keeper and one can imagine this was a scream to make - with all the extras in bloddied up in work uniforms and Christmas garb. The little chase just after this by a single snow-man zombie in the playground, and so many other little compositions, like the dangerous passage through the high street Xmas tree emporium, worked to elevate the absurd beyond the sublime through to the ridiculous. Arguably virtually every horror movie is laced with humour, but this one confidently, carelessly wears it in its furry sleeve.

Pixels (2015)

Good wholesome fun!

[8/10 · 23 April 2023]

I think the passage of time will only but see this movie increase in public estimation. It's bright-eyed warm electo-nostalgic vibe will vaporise the smudgy marks left by the critics that almost universally panned it at its birth. First of all I find Sandler's essential charm unfaded here, just mellowed somewhat, and note he's playing the part of a parody of his character anyway. You'd have to be very unkind not to realise there's something of an interesting satire on early videogame and nerd culture here, mixed into this ambitious work, that is more than a little tongue-in-cheek from start to finish about itself. Perhaps when it came out it was just a little too soon from the early eighties to develop a nostalgic yearning for the subject matter that now feels self evident viewing it couple of decades or more on. The interesting mixture of blocky CG graphics & countless cuboid physical props on the other hand seems almost timeless, perfectly credible, and appropriate to the low-res monitor milieu, and visually it doesn't even seem especially dated. It's a great package, a dizzy pot purri of busy action, funny dialogue and effective acting. One has to admit to the rather formulaic plot, but it does nevertheless serve to anchor the manic energy down enough to give the film a firm, reassuring positive story arc that overall serves to cater for a pretty wide demographic, then, and now, and indeed long may Pixels entertain the whole family for future generations too.

The Diplomat (II) (2023– )

Glossy mumblecore

[5/10 · 20 April 2023]

I really wanted to enjoy this one - with Keri Russell who was so good in the superlative 'The Americans' -but alas, only if perhaps her character turns out to be another KGB illegal!. It seems like a dull derivative of the West wing, although I have to admit that wasn't my kind of thing in the first place. Mainly it's bunch of American diplomats in stately mansions in England and embassy staffers wittering on about things with each other at high speed using alphabet soup acronyms all the time, a bit perhaps like doctors clatttering about on a ward round, and having episodic minor dramas just to keep the viewer awake perhaps, but nothing ever really seems to happen. Keri is not really strong in this role and it looks like she have been better with a decent supporting cast. There isn't much more to say about this series and I've given up after a couple of episodes as it seems to be all shine and no substance... if only there was a bit of grit in it. It seems far from realistic. It's a self-indulgent West Wing fantasy of illustrious people in high positions swanking about, admiring each other and their opulent working conditions.

Programming the Nation? (2011)

Quirky, cerebral trawl through prescient isssue

[8/10 · 20 March 2023]

I managed to stay the course although it was little long. The matter of sneaking in cellulose frames to increase cinema popcorn sales is drawn out into all kinds of media manipulation, historical and active & ongoing out there which rather makes this slightly dated production rather prophetic. We are in the era of fake news are we not? A lot of intelligent commentators from all over the place, some rather sci-fi almost, febrile technical explorations, but still quite fascinating to me. Also I dig the grunge soundtrack. It makes one at least a little bit more wary about what one is looking at, listening to or enjoying on the internet or in the media - one has the question the motivation behind the source. If you're able, and increasingly is getting pretty murky, and you're not.

Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Bouncy and brilliant

[9/10 · 8 February 2023]

Admittedly a bog standard rom-com genre story arc but supercharged by the consumate professionals Bullock and Grant driving this forward and injecting it with wit and panache. Both prove masters of physical comedy but Sandra bends and winces, jumps and pratfalls like nobody's business throughout in such winsome manner. The script is pretty good already but Hugh interprets it, improves upon it, and really carries the film like he's famous now at doing. He's become much more of an all round an actor in later years and so much that one re-evaluates the strength of his unassuming acting genius way back over two decades ago. I'd argue his value to cinema is now looking at surpassing his namesake Cary in having the Midas touch with virtually any material especially when he has an androgenous sassy & sexy sparing partner like the great Sandra Bullock alongside. The direction is pretty pacy, putting the actors right in front with lots of space, some great supporting actors. With a little bit of social and cultural reference, and above all, I think such a perfect couple; I feel there's not much more to want really. Pure delight.

Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958)

Delightfully quaint comedy thriller

[9/10 · 31 January 2023]

The story of the titular chief inspector's tightly packed day whisks along at a tremendous pace partly as a documentary of sorts on the pressures and complexity of the top job at Scotland Yard in the late 1950s. The film is bristling with various intertwining plot threads and serves up the most charming characters like Gideon's dutiful sergeant major attending to the boss's fish parcel for the wife, the novice double-barreled named bobby who keeps cropping up to Gideon's chagrin, and the 'sissy' curate discovering his pugnacious edge with a knife yielding low life. The outdoor scenes are done beautifully, depicting classic scenes of period London with its fog, police boxes, tenament houses etc. The colour pallate is charming with blue-grey London exteriors and rosy faces & brash indoor clutter, women's clothing that leaps out in Technicolour. Jack Hawkins is great, conveying a perfect cocktail of seedy integrity. It has the air of a good television drama, (and became a TV series without Hawkins sometime later) This is a well crafted product, shot with great care, sets meticulously dressed and with writing that's clever and funny. The film's esteemed director may have actually created this half-asleep, but the standard of what Ford showed here, working in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, and on location, way over in little England would testify to just how superlative a master he was.

White Noise (I) (2022)

Clever, colourful, warm-hearted

[10/10 · 13 January 2023]

An extended contemplation on death and contemporary society as well as a fun cinematic romp with enough cultural and literary references to feed a whole first year college intake for weeks... So post-modern. It is somewhat kaleidoscopic that is complex, vibrant and fragmented but earns it's licence in spades its by inventive audacity and acting. There's rarely a literary adaptation I feel I'd like to go back and actually read the material but this is one. Mostly I was just intrigued, often delighted, then there's a few laugh out loud moments especially from the sarcy young siblings filtering the mortal toxic crisis with persistent randomness: "tell them they're having outdated symptoms"... A mass danceathon at the credits - at the local purgatory supermarket - is such a lovely treat with a beautifully cordial vibe. Smiles all round.