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101 Reykjavik 2000
Neat little Icelandic comedy, with strange Oedipal undertones.
Hlynur (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) is a feckless layabout, still living at home with his mother Berglind (Hanna María Karlsdóttir) in a cluttered flat, complete with sofa-bath (yes, really).In the manner of such movies, this arrangement is thrown into disarray by the arrival of Lola Milagros (Victoria Abril), a Spanish flamenco teacher who is revealed to be Berglind's lover, but not before she and Hlynur share a drunken evening together.
It's fairly…
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13 Beloved 2006
How far would you go to win a huge amount of money? Puchit is given the chance, via a mysterious phone call, to enter a game. Complete thirteen challenges and win 100 million baht. The first one is to kill a fly. Sounds simple enough, but these soon escalate until he's eating 'Number Two' on the menu at a Thai restaurant, whacking people with chairs and then people begin to die. An interesting premise, let down by some hammy acting, truly incompetent policemen, and a slightly weak ending. Still, this is worth a watch for some good set pieces, despite its own ludicrousness.
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2 Days in New York 2012
Excellent sequel from the lovely Julie Delpy. A few years on from 2 Days in Paris, and Delpy's Marion now lives in New York with her partner Mingus (a more likeable than usual Chris Rock) and her eccentric family come to stay.
It threatens at times to veer into self-indulgence, but Delpy's charisma and sheer appeal keep the rudder steady. Rock injects plenty of common sense and is a more effective counterpoint to Delpy than Adam Goldberg's whiney Woody Allen-lite… -
A Dangerous Method 2011
Is this another indicator that Cronenberg is heading in a more restrained, talky direction? Cosmopolis seemed like an anomaly for him but here is an even more mannered, speech-driven work. A sedate chamber-piece, A Dangerous Method details the relationship between revered psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and the Russian patient who ultimately comes between them.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with a reserved approach, for a film about psychoanalysis (particularly Freud's assertion that all psychological maladies have a…
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Adaptation. 2002
Although this strains self-reflexivity to near breaking point, Adaptation manages to avoid becoming a self-indulgent mess. Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze achieve this by remembering to include a genuinely good plot, great characters, and a whole load of heart, which postmodern thinkers and authors often confuse with sentimentality to their own detriment.
Getting to the very crux of the creative process, Kaufman turns his own difficulties in turning the real-life non-fiction book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay into the…
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Aftermath 2004
The type of drama that the Scandanavians do so well. Sofie Grabol and Mikkael Birkkjaer (Lund and Strange from the second series of The Killing) are excellent as parents mourning the death of their teenage daughter under the wheels of a car.
Paprika Steen directs in suitably understated fashion - as the title suggests you see nothing of the accident, merely their continued unravelling five months later. It's not an easy watch: these are people so damaged that it is…
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Alien 1979
Watched this for the first time in years as a taster for Prometheus and the first thing that jumps out at you is just how well it's aged. The special effects are still amazing, particularly the repulsive, pulsating face-hugger attached to the luckless Kane's face, and the the disturbing-as-hell sequence where the surviving crew interrogate the dismembered android, Ash; looking like the bedraggled survivor of a particularly aggressive bukkake party.
The small cast are all excellent; and the film is full of iconic imagery, thanks in no small part to H.R. Giger's biomech designs.
An absolute classic. -
Alien³ 1992
Not the absolute disaster it's often seen to be; but it feels so tonally different different to the other two films that it's almost difficult to believe it's the same series, and the messianic light that Ripley is viewed in jars with the kick-ass blue-collar heroine of the first two.
That said, the vast prison full of British character actors gives a lot of hiding scope and the alien is still a terrific creation. One feels that a director's cut would be a more satisfying experience, but as Fincher washed his hands of the film afterwards, this is probably unlikely.
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All The Boys Love Mandy Lane 2006
Uninspired teen horror that has apparently languished in the ether in the US. I've had it recorded for a while so decided to see what the fuss was about.
And not much is the answer.
I'd figured out the twist after ten minutes and I was wasn't that interested even as I was being proved right (usually I am unbearably smug). I can't understand why everyone was obsessed with Mandy Lane herself. Yes, Amber Heard is pretty but not anymore…
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Almost Famous 2000
Plot-wise, Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical road movie following a young boy's experiences following a rock band on tour is pure fluff. It's almost difficult to pinpoint exactly why it's so good.
It's full of generic road-movie and coming-of-age tropes. Backstage squabblings, groupies, loss-of-virginity, drug-fuelled party shenanigans. Somwhow though, Almost Famous transcends all of these and becomes a genuinely affecting and effortlessly fun movie.
Mainly it's the performances. I don't think anyone hits a false note here: Kate Hudson's Penny Lane is…
