Maverick1962 Reviews

Henry V (1989)

Splendidly accessible Shakespeare play.

[10/10 · 16 May 2024]

Having just finished reading Henry V, I watched Kenneth Branagh's film version with some trepidation as Shakespeare can be so impenetrable on the screen. Quite the opposite here as Branagh directs and acts with a stirring interpretation that had me glued throughout.

Everything, the amazing cast, the atmosphere of 15th century England, the costumes, the choreography of Agincourt, the photography, all just stunning. It's sad that this outstanding, thrilling movie wasn't seen by more people at the time as I think it lost money, barely clearing it's budget.

Kenneth Branagh delivered a magnificent performance as the King and drew other stunning performances as director, from actors like Ian Holm, Paul Schofield, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Brian Blessed, Richard Briars, Judi Dench and Michael Williams. There's an impressive 14 year old Christian Bale added in to watch out for too.

A glorious adaption of a wordy play that cuts out the verbosity to a great extent and concentrates on the action. Shakespeare as it should be depicted on the big screen in my view and I loved it.

I saw Olivier's version years ago but didn't understand it back then so I decided to buy a recent copy of the complete works of the Bard's and try to just read through it in spite of the difficulties of the English language at that time but found that I could still get the gist of the stories by doing it that way. This enabled me to follow this magnificent film of Branagh's much more easily and was so rewarding.

Victoria the Great (1937)

A stirring celebration of Empire.

[7/10 · 9 May 2024]

Not a film for Republicans, Victoria The Great, with a miscast Anna Neagle (far too attractive) and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert, certainly bangs the gong for Britain's achievements in the nineteenth century.

Herbert Wilcox who was Anna's husband and directed all of her films, sends up the flags for Great Britain here, illustrating the long reign of the Queen, her early ascendancy to the throne at 18, her romance and love for Prince Albert, the tragedy of his passing and her subsequent stoicism coping with his death.

It shows how she had a stubborn streak early on and her no nonsense approach to most things. She was reluctant at first for Albert to help her in public duties but he is depicted here as becoming bored with sitting around doing nothing and she finally relents and lets him start to do things to help.

Acting is fine and in spite of being far too good looking to play the Queen, Anna Neagle holds her own and is really convincing to the end. Anton Wallbrook makes a fine Albert with many ageing character actors like H B Warner and Felix Aylmer playing leading politicians of the time. Really quite enjoyable and being dated it adds a sense of the period which is sometimes hard to achieve with more modern films. If you like films about the royal family and the old Empire, this may be for you.

Baby Reindeer (2024)

Over indulgence in minority issues.

[5/10 · 6 May 2024]

Baby Reindeer starts promisingly enough with compelling performances by the two leads. Richard Gadd, who I thought had similar characteristics in his acting and presentation with the brilliant Mackenzie Crook of Detectorists fame, really holds the attention throughout. His own self identifying story about when he was stalked by a struck-off barister is quite harrowing. I can only sympathise with the unwanted attention from what is a clear nutter. The amazing performance from this actress is superb and frightening as she forces herself into his life with a forocious intensity.

The downer for me is when he gets involved with a transgender person. Not for me is this a subject that would ever appeal. He however falls for this person and they then become a target for the stalker too.

I suppose this subject matter depends on your taste in drama but I can only recommend the splendid acting of Gadd and his stalker.

All at Sea (1957)

Only mildly amusing Ealing swansong.

[6/10 · 23 April 2024]

Barnacle Bill is a shadow of former Ealing comedies I'm sad to say. Alec Guinness seemed to have lost his light touch that he had seven years previously in The Card, which I quote by comparison as I only watched that two weeks ago. Maybe it's because this final Ealing comedy was made after Sir Alec's mesmerising Oscar winner, The Bridge On The River Kwai, and I thought his performance as Bill had elements of his stern Kwai character. It could have done with his lighter touch when he was younger.

There are some funny moments, some of the best are the opening scenes of his ancestors which kick start the film. There's a good scene with a hard to recognise at first, Warren Mitchell as an escapologist on stage. Other good supports are Victor Madden, Percy Herbert, Sam Kydd and Donald Churchill, the actor/writer who gives a great turn as a rock and roll piano thumper. Jackie Collins can be seen as a sexy teenager in a rebellious teen gang.

There's Maurice Denham, Harry Locke, Alan Cuthbertson and various other fifties stalwarts for older viewers of British movies. All reliable faces, but I still felt this story creaked a bit. Maybe that's why It was the last of the Ealings.

Cyrano (2021)

Sad, enchanting musical with sumptuous sets.

[9/10 · 13 April 2024]

Cyrano took me completely by surprise, I found it so enchanting and memorable. I only watched it to see Haley Bennett and Peter Dinklage as I've been a fan of both for some years, so I guess that was a good start. What I didn't know was that they could both sing, and they have pleasant sounding voices. What really makes a singer for me is the heart and soul they can impart when they interpret a song and they excel here. The songs are attractive and only having heard them once, I'll keep the recording to watch again.

Joe Wright directs with an eye that can create some scenes like a 18th century painting by a master. Sumptuous settings on a grand scale with stark battle scenes in contrast, this is is a feast for the eyes and to some extent, the ears if you like the songs, which I confess i do. Maybe not Les Miserable but still very acceptable.

Peter Dinklage spreads his range here, expanding on his Game Of Thrones wiley manipulator, to show us a softer side, full of romantic fervour and showing his caring side.

The story has been well told many times, of the unattractive scholar who lends his poetic skill to his love rival. Cyrano loves Roxanne but knows she would never be attracted to him but when he discovers she loves another, he's willing to write love letters on his behalf, which both shows his compassion for the lovers and at the same time allows him to express his love and get it out of his system.

I was quite moved by Cyrano but had watched it in two or three hits so I will watch it again in it's entirety and hopefully enjoy it more.

Monica Dolan, Glen Hansard, Ben Mendelsohn and Anjana Vason (so good in Wicked Little Letters) provide support.

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Funny, sweary drama/comedy

[10/10 · 13 April 2024]

Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) is a repressed spinster, living with her mum and dad (Timothy Spall and Gemma Jones) in a terraced house in Littlehampton. The time is 1920's Britain soon after the first world war. For working class people these are tough times and many are living hand to mouth like Edith's fiery Irish neighbour Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley).

Someone is sending appalling letters through the post to residents, filled with foul language that would make many at the time blush. Edith's father is convinced that Rose, next door, is the culprit and goes to the local police station to report her and she gets arrested, all based on the fact that she shouts and swears a lot and spends time in the pub. Rose lives with her little girl and boyfriend (Alisha Weir & Malachi Kirby) and going to jail for a length of time just brings more hardship on the family, which is hard enough already.

Unbeknown to Rose she has someone looking out for her in the shape of policewoman Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) who has grave doubts about Rose's guilt and sets out to prove her innocence, although her male superior rejects her attempts and puts her down because women are of lower rank at this time in the century.

Thea Sharrock the director has a real eye for making this hugely entertaining comedy/drama just zip along and rarely does it flag.

There is an initial mystery around who is sending the letters but this does become apparent eventually to the viewer.

80% of the language spoken in the film was culled from the actual letters in this real life crime mystery so be prepared for some ripe swear words spoken by the two stars, Colman and Buckley.

The acting is faultless and there is a splendid array of British character actors on hand to give support including Hugh Skinner as a local constable, Eileen Atkins, Joanna Scanlan, Lolly Adefope and Jason Watkins.

The real joy is watching Olivia Colman's facial expressions, her scenes with the great Timothy Spall, which are quite telling and her interactions with the electric performance of Jessie Buckley who I think really steals the acting honours here.

The Souvenir (2019)

Avoid and don't believe the critic reviews.

[1/10 · 8 April 2024]

The Souvenir is a film akin to watching paint dry but that's almost an insult to paint. Director Joanna Hogg has no clue about trying to entertain her audience.

I have no wish to disparage the leading actress, Honor Swinton Byrne, but being Tilda Swinton's daughter is not a good enough reason to cast her as a leading lady in my humble estimation. I only watched this borefest because I knew Tom Burke from his excellent series Strike on TV but he just looks like he wonders why he agreed to be cast in this.

Basically, nothing happens. She's a film school student, not that we see any of her work, and he's a chain smoking drug addict. They all live in a middle upper class world of pretentiousness that revolves around things like her parents being so bored with life, they sit around the dinner table deciding what to do with their futures, like whether the mother for example, played by Tilda Swinton, should take up a new adult learning course and the father, to give up farming and take a course in history. Like we can all just do that or that we as the audience would care.

The camera barely moves at times and at one point an explosion occurs but all that happens is that our heroine glances out of her bedroom window. And that's it, no follow up.

Tedious in the extreme and the critic's reviews fooled me into watching. Beware as I was relieved when it ended.

The Cabinet of Caligari (1962)

Film noir curiosity with Glynis Johns

[7/10 · 1 April 2024]

Black & white thriller with a nod to the Classic German Expressionist silent from the 1920's. Jane has a tyre blow out and walks to a very big mansion with electronic gates where she is let in by a mysterious bearded man who can only be described as creepy.

For me, Glynis Johns, who passed away in January 2024 at the age of 100, was one of the most appealing British actresses of the 20th century. With her ultra pretty face, slim figure and soft husky voice, she could charm the birds off the trees as I believe she did in Mary Poppins. Here, playing Jane, she is held captive by the mysterious Caligari played by Robinson Crusoe actor Dan O'Herlihy. Various other characters seem to be held under Caligari's control also and Jane has her time cut out trying to persuade them to help her escape from the mansion. I quickly worked out one of the twists revealed at the end but the big one completely eluded me until it almost ended. I try not to reveal spoilers so I'll leave any plot secrets alone. Filmed in black and white much in a film noir style, this is really worth seeing for the splendid performance by Glynis Johns.

A Kiss Before Dying (1956)

Another previously unseen title I was too young to see.

[8/10 · 31 March 2024]

As I was only 10 when A Kiss Before Dying came out in 1956, it was really a pleasure to see it crop up on my TV last week. I imagine in England in 1956 it would almost certainly have been X rated so unavailable to me, but I remember the title vividly. I love catching up with these previously unseen gems.

Some reviews here seem to come from people who see it from a modern perspective, even calling it a B feature, which is incorrect. This would never have been shown as a supporting film in it's time, I feel sure of that.

Filmed in glorious colour and cinemascope, Robert Wagner, a sort of Leonardo De Caprio of the fifties, plays a psychopathic social climber, intent on seducing two sisters, in order to gain access to their father's mining empire. The first sister to fall under his spell is played by Joanne Woodward in a very early film role when she clearly still lacked the extraordinary talent that she would quickly develop soon after.

Virginia Leith plays the second sister who also falls but is finally persuaded that Wagner is evil when she is introduced to Jeffrey Hunter, who works out what Wagner has been up to. George McCready plays the girl's father and the owner of the business Wagner is after. Mary Astor is Wagner's mother.

I was hooked from the start, although filmed in bright colour and having a real fifties American college school feel to it, some of the music is really suspenseful and increases the tension which may have been lacking otherwise.

I was surprised by how effective Robert Wagner was in this role, where he actually out acts Joanne Woodward, no easy feat. I was also even shocked by a couple of brutal scenes, not common in fifties movies.

If you enjoy mid century American movies, this is as good as many, perhaps not up to Hitchcock standards but still a cracking 90 minutes of good drama.

Hondo (1953)

Spectacular Wayne western.

[8/10 · 26 March 2024]

I've seen over 70 John Wayne movies since the 1950's and re-watched Hondo as I couldn't remember much about it. I was pleasantly surprised, maybe because I have a much larger screen now and I found the whole show to be on a much grander scale than I remembered.

Hondo Lane walks into Geraldine Page's frontier woman's life and her cabin, where she lives with her six year old boy Lee Aaker. She's married to a thug, Leo Gordon, who we don't see until a bit later and who eventually does meet up with Wayne to his disadvantage. This is Apache territory and run by Vittorio (Michael Pate) who takes a liking to the young boy and admires his courage when his band surround Page's cabin.

John Farrow directs although I understand John Ford stepped in to direct the later scenes of action, which i was unaware of until after I had watched it. I didn't find that intrusive unlike Glenn Ford's Cimmeron which started well with Anthony Mann directing but was ruined when he quit half way through.

Beautiful, rugged desert and mountain scenery throughout, this is a really spectacularly shot western with fine acting performances, supported by some of Wayne's best pals, Ward Bond, Paul Fix and James Arness. Recommended.

Jet Pilot (1957)

More of a rom/com than expected.

[7/10 · 22 March 2024]

I have to say from the start that I still have a soft spot for Janet Leigh because, being introduced to movies as a small boy in the early 1950's with pictures like Houdini, The Black Shield Of Falworth, Safari and the like, Janet has stuck in my mind ever since as the glamorous, beautiful leading lady that she was. A fine actress, much better than most of her generation, she exuded warmth with a stunning face and figure only matched by actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.

Here, Janet is co-starred with the mighty John Wayne and together they bounce of one another literally, in a fun, very silly story about a Russian jet pilot (Leigh) going off course and landing in the States, only to be interrogated by Wayne, an army general.

This picture was famously a Howard Hughes project that he continuously shelved, being shot in 1950 when Janet was 23 and Wayne 43, but not released until 1957. The jets, although very well photographed do look a little old, even to my untrained eye. These aerial scenes actually look pretty good and help boost my rating. It's the script though that is ropey. Janet is supposed to be a Russian but makes no attempt to disguise her natural American voice and Wayne just looks bemused throughout the entire film. They do have great chemistry though, which works so well here. At times I thought Wayne looked genuinely quite taken with his young co-star. My overall impression is that it's just a rom/com and full of fun so best leave it at that. Nicely entertaining.

Napoleon (2023)

Disappointing epic.

[5/10 · 11 March 2024]

The battle scenes are the best thing about Ridley Scott's Napoleon. They are truncated though and suddenly cut back to domestic scenes when least expected. I really did not want to see two scenes of soft porn where he has his way with Josephine.

Joaquin Phoenix, doing his worst Marlon Brando, just didn't cut it for me as the great French emperor. Napoleon must have been a hugely charismatic personality to rally the support that he did after the French Revolution, a scene that starts this epic with the demise of Marie Antoinette on the guillotine. Rod Steiger was so much more convincing in Waterloo, the movie with Christopher Plummer as Wellington. Here Wellington is portrayed by the versatile Rupert Everett, which did rather surprise me as I didn't know he had it in him and he's actually quite good, better than Phoenix. I didn't know the actress playing Josephine but she's good too, although I couldn't see any chemistry with Napoleon.

There are some top notch supporting actors like Ben Miles, Ian McNeice and Julien Rhind-Tutt but we blink abd they are gone, rather wasted.

I finished reading War and Peace by Tolstoy recently and it's impossible really to cover this story in two and a half hours in a film so it explains why it fails.

Miscasting of Phoenix as Napoleon is the main problem though. He doesn't have the voice or bearing of one so powerful. He just looks lost half the time, particularly in battle scenes as he looks like he'd be eaten alive in that crush of violent men, some no doubt much larger and stronger. He has one look throughout, and that's dour. Certainly not a man to inspire millions to war.

I liked the battle scenes, effective and bloody but too short for such a huge campaign. There is no timing sense to these huge battles which are rushed over like we are in a hurry to get to the bonking scenes, which seem gratuitous at best.

A wasted opportunity.

The Devil's Hour (2022– )

Nail biting supernatural serial killer thriller.

[9/10 · 6 March 2024]

Complex, time shifting, serial killer mystery that never let's up. We watched this six parter over five nights and were on the edge of our seats.

Difficult to follow but worth every minute. Superbly acted by Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine (who I grow to like the more I see her). The little boy actor playing her son is unbelievably effective in a stunning unatural way.

The story is around Raine, a child protection officer who has a complex, psychologically disturbed child called Isaac, who behaves in a very mysterious way, forcing her to have regular consultations with a child psychologist. One of her cases, a mother of a child she's concerned about is attacked by her partner. This is witnessed by two police officers who go to help and so out heroine becomes tangled up with the police while doing her job. She 'sees' things that have not happened yet and this is where the story gets to be really complicated.

There follows a collision with a suspected serial killer, Peter Capaldi in great Hanibal Lecter mode.

I can only say if you like a bit of the supernatural and some top notch acting then give The Devil's Hour a go. I've read that a possible two more series are in the pipeline too.

All Is True (2018)

An imagining of Shakespeare's last days.

[7/10 · 5 March 2024]

Not much is known about the details of the Bard's private life. We know he married Anne Hathaway, they had a daughter Sussanah, and twins, a girl Judith and a boy Hamnet, who died aged 11. Anne was about 8 years older than William and is played here by Judi Dench and her husband by Kenneth Branagh who also directed. Ian McKellen pops up as the Earl of Southampton in a sort of cameo.

This film is beautifully shot, the outside scenes in particular look like a Constable painting and the candle lit interiors like a Rembrandt.

Over all, with it's mostly modern language, I thought it a good idea to do that, to make it more accessible to a modern audience. It possibly makes it too easy to follow and I can imagine the purists being frustrated by that, but you have get seats filled and not lose your audience half way through because they don't understand what is being said. Ben Elton wrote the script and it is very different to his marvellous TV comedy series Upstart Crow, with hardly a titter in sight.

This plays out in Elton's imagination as a mystery thriller almost as no one really knows what happened in Shakespeare's life privately. He could have framed the story in many ways.

I have been looking forward to the film version of Maggie O'Neill's book Hamnet which has been announced, about the difficulty of Anne coming to terms with the death of Hamnet at 11 years old. All Is True adopts the difficulty that William has with it but in more of a guilty conscience sort of way, because he feels he neglected his son by staying away in London for years, writing his plays, acting, building his theatre and making a lot of money.

I enjoyed this modern presentation in this form, although there are occasional forays into the Shakespearean language we are familiar with and the mixing does seem slightly incongruous.

Fine acting all round and Branagh with his make up is quite convincing.

The Three Faces of Eve (1957)

Electric star turn from Joanne Woodward

[10/10 · 26 February 2024]

Having first hand knowledge of schizophrenia I can say that this film about multiple personality disorder is a different thing in nearly all respects. The only similar thing is the voice Eve hears at one point in her head.

Eve White (Joanne Woodward) is where we find her first, married to Ralph (David Wayne) and the mother of a little girl. The couple go to a friendly psychiatrist (Lee J. Cobb) who gently asks Eve what troubles her. He treats her first without really knowing tge problem, until one day in his office, Eve suddenly turns on a different personality to the dowdy Eve White, becoming Eve Black. And what a transformation. I can see what attracted her real husband to be, Paul Newman. Joanne Woodward is surely one of the greatest actresses to ever grace the silver screen. Here, just as she was in several other early films in her career, she wipes other actors off the screen almost. Personally I find her up there with Marilyn Monroe in her expression of sexuality on screen, an underrated, vision of loveliness I can't see enough of, at least at this age. Her southern drawl is like icing on the cake to this English man who only hears this in the movies.

I won't say more about the plot, based on a real case, in case of spoilers, but what I know is, I've waited all my life to see this Oscar Winner and finally I have and it's glorious. Just sorry now that Joanne, at 94 this week, has dementia.

True Detective: Night Country: Part 6 (2024) Season 4, Episode 6

Terrible script, badly directed.

[3/10 · 20 February 2024]

My main complaint is that I couldn't follow this mess. By episode 6 it was just too baffling in spite of some tension. I'm giving 3 stars for the bits of mystery that it kept tempting us with but that never came to a satisfying conclusion.

The acting was average. The only standout is Jodie Foster, but with such a lame script, she can do little but constantly utter the f word to try to up the feeling of frustration she feels, being unable to solve the mystery of the dead Annie and seven frozen scientists, or find Clark.

The characters are mostly unlikeable so it's hard for the viewer to empathise with anyone. I liked John Hawkes (Deadwood) up to the point he was revealed as a baddie. He kills a key witness and turns his gun on Jodie, all the while his own son has a gun aimed at him. Not wanting Jodie killed, he shoots his father in the head in the previous episode, but why did he not simply fire off a blast of bullets into his outstretched arm or hand? It just stretched credulity that he would shoot his own father in the head like that and then in this episode just stay behind to clear up the two bodies.

I had no idea what was going on most of the time and most episodes had little connection with the initial discovery of the bodies in the ice which tempted the beginning of a good series but failed significantly to give a logical series of follow up events that the viewer could reasonably follow. If you lose your viewers by trying to be too obscure, then you fail over all.

A big disappointment.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Clever, hugely entertaining horror.

[9/10 · 12 February 2024]

Edgar Wright director, he of the "Shaun of the Dead" trilogy changes tack here with this well acted, well written and well everything really.

A newcomer to me, Thomasin McKenzie, a charming young New Zealander has this key lead here. She loves the music of my era, the 1960's, what one erudite young man calls 'granny crap". She lives with her grandmother, the delightful Rita Tushingham, but decides to try to make a career as a dress designer in London.

Off she goes to art school but gets lumbered with an overbearing room mate so finds a bed sit (I remember them well) and takes a room on a big house owned by Diana Rigg, sadly in her last role, because she's as good as I've ever seen her.

Diana is a no nonsense tough old bird who runs her boarding house with a rod of iron. Our heroine settles in but previously had the ability to see her dead mum. She doesn't see her here in the bed sit but does start to have vivid, violent dreams that make her wonder if she's going mad. Well, is she? That's what the viewer is left to decide. Terence Stamp is an ageing Cockney playboy who seems to stalk her and Sam Claflin pops up briefly for no apparent reason I could see.

Her main problem arises with Matt Smith, a guy she meets when she mysteriously finds herself walking the streets of London and time shifting into the 1960's. Smith is a smarmy wide boy who takes a shine to Thomasin but who then shape shifts into the stunningly charismatic Anya Taylor-Joy, a night club singer and dancer.

Confusing, but an explanation comes about after much horror and our heroine seeing multiple dead people, a spectacular climax that I didn't see coming. Very cleverly written story and I loved it.

Mimi (1935)

Atmospheric period romantic drama.

[7/10 · 10 February 2024]

I rather enjoyed "Mimi" having been persuaded by Melvyn Hayes' introduction on Talking Pictures. It looked like the very old type of atmospheric drama from the 1930's that sometimes appeals to me and with a rare appearance by the legendary Gertrude Lawrence, I had to watch it. An added attraction is Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who I've always liked as well.

Based on Puccini's opera, "La Boheme", which I have seen one production of on TV a few years ago, I knew the framework of the story. It tells of a group of friends, male and female, who gather daily to have fun, write, paint or just get drunk. They're basically lazy, rent avoiding time wasters but think they are a gift to society. Their delusion is highlighted when they fail to sell their paintings or scripts or whatever else they spend their time doing.

Fairbanks does finally get his play read at the National Theatre but is thwarted by Austin Trevor who is jealous of Doug because he's stolen his love interest, played by Gertrude Lawrence.

Some of the setting is just in their dingy flats, the ones they don't want to pay for, some in quite lush surroundings. The acting I thought by Fairbanks is good but Gertie seemed melodramatic as if she was still on the stage. You know the sort of thing, hand dramatically covering the face when distraught, face thrust into Doug's when being emotional. Gertie holds the attention but I thought she was outdone in the looks department by her two co-star actresses. It is still very entertaining and worth a watch, being a well known plot and with some star acting.

Island of Doomed Men (1940)

Watch it for Peter Lorre.

[8/10 · 8 February 2024]

I love these 1940's b/w thriller movies for the nostalgic atmosphere of Hollywood. Too many reviewers on here seem to want a documentary by analysing the holes in the story. Who cares? It's 80 minutes of fantasy with a stand out villain in the great Peter Lorre. Here he definitely looks like he's on something extremely relaxing in his tea, as his evil eyes, ever so slowly, almost close, then even more slowly open again, all the while quietly speaking in a voice to chill the devil.

A government agent goes to the island, after a somewhat convoluted plot about getting locked up for murder and released a year later (??) He infiltrates the island in order to investigate rumours of the owner, Lorre, using convicts as slaves to mine for diamonds, and who treats them savagely if they are awkward.

He has a beautiful trophy wife thrown into the mix, Rochelle Hudson, who would still look great on the screen today, and a servant with a pet monkey that he hates.

All very 1930/40 melodrama with familiar supporting actors, but all glued together by the formidable Peter Lorre.

In a Valley of Violence (2016)

Spaghetti style western, not great but enormously entertaining.

[7/10 · 5 February 2024]

A sparse western with few people. I would expect more folk to occupy a town and at times it looks almost empty. This sparseness though gives room for our anti hero to effectively do his stuff. Ethan Hawke, a fairly slight figure, compared to say Clint Eastwood, nevertheless carries the silent drifter role quite well.

First seen riding his horse and followed by his faithfull dog, he comes across an unfriendly drunken Irish preacher and after a tussell heads off to Mexico. On his way, he rides into a town where he takes a drink in the saloon and where a loud mouth local guy decides he doesn't like strangers. A fight develops and the loud mouth, who turns out to be the son of the sheriff, played by John Travolta, comes off worse.

Later in the desert, the loud mouth son, with three of his pals, decides to get his own back. What happens then leads to a violent revenge scenario. I thought there was an element of humour running through this movie, particularly when Paul, our hero, meets Taissa Farmiga, a sixteen year old girl who takes a shine to him. Her older sister is played by Karen Gillan of the Jamanji movies who is the girlfriend of the loud mouth. I did find myself rooting for Paul and his methods of dealing with his attackers is quite ruthless.

This won't go down as a great western but it is hugely entertaining, with a really good cast.

You almost feel the spirit of the Man With No Name running through it.

Marrowbone (2017)

Didn't work for me.

[4/10 · 22 January 2024]

In order for a psychological thriller/horror to work properly, if you as a director and writer (Sergio Sanchez) set out to grip your audience and hold them, you need to make the main acts of the story coherent.

From the start, I found The Secret Of Marrowbone difficult to make sense of. I could not see where it was going and the first 50 minutes or so just seemed to meander. Cinematography is nice and the young actors all seem pleasant enough but what was their purpose?

George MacKay is the oldest of four children who locate to the Maine countryside with their mother to escape what appears to be the memory of an abusive father, who turns out to be a murderer. They live in a large house suitable for horror films, where windows and doors creak and has poor lighting. Creepy things start to happen to the children after the mother dies.

The final act reveals what is really happening but for it to be satisfying, the writing needs to make sense all the way through until a twist occurs and you can think to yourself, "yes, I understand now" such as in "Shutter Island" and "The Sixth Sense". It just doesn't work here though as I just thought about all the flaws in the story line that did not make sense. A shame as it could have been so much better, particularly as it has a good, underused performance by the excellent Anya Taylor Joy as George MacKays girlfriend.

Also, I hope someone has taught Mia Goth to speak more clearly as I couldn't understand a word she said.

Fargo: The Tragedy of the Commons (2023) Season 5, Episode 1

My comparison with other series.

[6/10 · 21 January 2024]

I do tend to judge movies and TV a lot by how much I like the actors, so here is my assessment of the five Fargo series.

Favourite character of all is Jessie Buckley's Oraetta Mayflower in series 4. Brilliant performance by the Irish actress.

Next, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Jeffrey Donovan in series 2.

Next, Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton in series 1.

Next, Juno Temple in series 5. John Hamm is very good but not likeable.

Finally, Ewan MacGregor, Carrie Coon and David Thewlis in series 3.

The format of all series do not vary that much and we look forward to all the blood letting and subsequent excitement that leads us to the next act of violence because we sit and watch it in the comfort of our warm homes. We are not really touched by all the mayhem because it is only acting. Fargo is probably not suitable viewing for the easily offended or shocked. Be warned, although there is a lot of humour in some series to lighten some of the grimness.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Could have been a TV mini series.

[7/10 · 16 January 2024]

I quite enjoyed Killers Of The Flower Moon but have to say that the best thing about it is the flamboyant title. That makes it sound so exotic and exciting but, in effect, it's just long and drawn out, unnecessarily.

All I knew was that Osage women were being murdered mysteriously way back in the 1920's. That was enough to make me curious, coupled with the hype around Lily Gladstone's performance. I'm sorry to say, I do not see her performance as an Oscar winner as she doesn't really have a lot to do, other than act sickly and much of that in bed.

The two leads on the other hand, Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro were quite riveting for me. Looking grim throughout, Dicaprio, occasionally bursts into a grin when he says how much he loves money. This should be the clue as to the motive of murder which ensues. We don't really get to know until a while into the film though, who the real villain is so I can't say.

Although it is a fine movie, Scorsese has made it into something that is similar to a TV series like Boardwalk Empire, and that was more exciting. This film rather plays to a one trick pony theme by repeating itself, time and again. People of the Osage tribe are murdered, people who were lucky (or unlucky enough) to strike oil and become wealthy native Americans, at a time when great prejudice was rampant. It has that feeling of the old saying that "the only good Indian is a dead indian". That may shock some people today but that was the attitude back then amongst many white people.

This film needed a sharper editor and more scenes to shock the viewer into the horror of what was occurring. There is a scene where a young woman is ruthlessly gunned down that shocks but that is not enough in a movie that runs for three and a half hours nearly. I watched on Apple +TV in two parts.

Perhaps we could have a director's cut editing it down to two hours or less and we might find a great movie there.

She Is Love (2022)

A slice of some people's lives.

[6/10 · 15 January 2024]

I only came to this movie as I recently became a fan of Haley Bennett through other movies, particularly the re-make of The Magnificent Seven and Hillbilly Elergy.

I found it to be something of an improvised drama/documentary of three people who could certainly really exist.

Idris, (Sam Riley) appears to live in this hotel by the sea, with Marisa Abela, his girlfriend when out of the blue, his ex wife (Haley Bennett) turns up to stay. He has not seen her for ten years and the scene unfolds in an uncomfortable way for Abela, who quietly gets the hump over their previous relationship taking off again, as I'm sure probably happens to people.

I found the chemistry between Sam and Haley really fascinating and Marisa responding, very real. Very improvisational for the most part, it shows what good actors can do with a flimsy script. Kept me watching.

Fool Me Once (2024)

Gripping 8 part thriller.

[8/10 · 13 January 2024]

Strange that so many reviewers are disliking this serial, particularly Michelle Keegan who is a fine actress. I hadn't seen her since Coronation Street, which I stopped watching when it went all PC, but I saw all the episodes Michelle appeared in. As I recall, she came to that with little experience and I was amazed at how effective she quickly became.

She is an ex army helicopter pilot in this new show, who had actual combat experience and is trained in martial arts. Lots of reviewers don't seem to like her 'hard as nails' approach, but she was like that back in Corrie. Many major actors have had hugely successful careers playing hard nosed types and this seems to be Michelle's forte and she does it well. I also like Adeel Akhtar who plays the dogged cop and have started to follow his career quite closely. Supporting cast are average TV quality actors with the exception of star, Joanna Lumley who plays the tough head of a family owned pharmaceutical company up to unscrupulous activity.

Harlan Coben is the best selling author of this thriller and clearly some reviewers are comparing the series to his books, never a good idea. Plots have to be adjusted for films and TV.

I was gripped throughout and watched an episode each night and then the final two.

There are plenty of twists and turns and one particular revelation in the penultimate episode I didn't see coming.

The only thing I don't like is the current trend of shoehorning in characters to meet diversity and equality rules that movies and TV companies have adopted. There is a scene I disliked, where two kids are unable to be admitted to a building unless they stated their pronouns to a robot. I think this is gaslighting the audience and if it was me, I'd walk away.