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 moreTotal Recall
First, an admission: I remember Total Recall, the Arnie version, from the first time round. I enjoyed it; I enjoyed Sharon Stone’s punch up, I enjoyed the bit where The Gubernator pulls a big electronic bug out of his nose, I enjoyed the clunkily-imagined (even for 1990) sci-fi future. But hey, I’m up for a…
Read moreRed
Red stars Bruce Willis as a retired CIA spook – Retired Extremely Dangerous, geddit? – who’s trying to bland in (sic) to civilian life. The only thing that keeps him from killing himself from boredom and loneliness, basically, is his telephone relationship with his pension officer. So when his home is invaded by a black…
Read moreTraitor
Traitor is a subdued little story about a Muslim soldier called Samir (Don Cheadle) who’s deep-deep-deep undercover as an explosives expert with a ruthless terrorist cell. When his government handler – the only one who knows he’s one of the good guys – is shot dead, Samir must avoid being clapped in chains by the…
Read moreMax Payne
Often as a Film Commissioner, you have to explain to the custodians of some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth exactly why they don’t get more enquiries from major international blockbusters looking to film in their remarkable natural locations. Usually I point out that movies rarely require the terrorists to take over the nature…
Read moreCharlie Bartlett
I find myself at that stage of life where I’m looking back a lot at the choices I made that brought me to this place. I’m still pissed, for instance, that I didn’t spend my twenties as a tennis pro, repeatedly winning the Australian Open – but that’s the bitter-sweet joy of retrospective dreaming; I gave up tennis when I was eleven. …
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