Agatha returns to Los Angeles from the Florida clinic where she’s been incarcerated following an incident of arson. She takes a job as Personal Assistant to Julianne Moore’s Havana, a self-absorbed narcissistic Hollywood nutcase, whose apparently-abusive mother died in a suspicious fire. Agatha’s brother is himself a child star with issues, her estranged dad is…
Read moreNon-Stop
Poor Liam Neeson. With his travel luck, he should probably never leave home. After Paris, that thing in Berlin, Istanbul – oh and that flight from Alaska too – he’s now an air marshall on a flight from New York to London that’s in the process of being hijacked by a dastardly criminal who sends…
Read moreCarrie
Just out of curiosity, we watched both Carrie movies, back to back. The first one has stood the test of time pretty well actually; Sissy Spacek is completely lovely and sympathetic and sweet, her mom is a nutter of the nth degree, and Nancy Allen as the bully is a complete cow. In comparison, the…
Read moreCrazy Stupid Love
Crazy Stupid Love takes no time with set up, it goes straight for the sucker-punch. Steve Carrell plays Cal, a middle-aged Dad whose life falls apart quite spectacularly when his wife asks for a divorce. He’s jarred from his melancholia by the friendship of a handsome young player called Jacob (a pitch-perfect turn by Ryan…
Read moreChildren of Men
In Children of Men, it’s the near-future and society has collapsed following the startling infertility of the entire human race. Duck-footed Clive Owen plays Theo, an unambitious academic who becomes embroigled unwillingly in the idealistic plans of his terrorist ex-wife. It is one of the most visually striking, thought-provoking films of recent years, with some…
Read moreBlindness
The story in Blindness – Jose Saramago’s apocalyptic “vision” as interpreted by Fernando Meirelles – is simple: Mankind is affected by sudden, inexplicable and instantly transmittable blindness. Society fractures. Some cope, and survive decently, some descend into cruelty and madness – everyone spirals into hell. (I kept thinking about Lord of the Flies.) Only one…
Read moreHannibal
There was so much hype and so many expectations raised before the launch of Ridley Scott’s Hannibal movie back in 2001, that at the time, it probably couldn’t have failed to disappoint. I don’t remember enjoying it greatly back then, but I watched it again last night, and I have to say, I got much more out…
Read more