Category Archive: FILM
The Imitation Game
(Dir. Morten Tyldum) (2014) There have been many books and indeed many films concerning Enigma and Ultra. All are unsatisfactory to varying degrees. The present effusion suffers from a common defect. It is hard to engage us, in cinematic terms, by presenting decryption, or its value in the war effort: one is visually dull, the other incalculable. One is left to stage moral dilemmas or descend to caricatures of hobbits in Bletchley huts, sledgehammering us with reminders that queer little folk can do great things. Turing and his colleagues in Hut 8 were crucial to the effort to break the…
Continue Reading →The Stunt Man
Swivel-eyed loon, Peter O'Toole
(with a Minority Report and a PS) (Director R. Rush) (1980) Tedious, unhinged and thin. Yes, that’s both The Stunt Man and its eyerolling star, the world’s worst actor, Peter O’Toole. Why is Charles Manson blond? Who COULD that old woman in the water be? There’s something about a bridge. O’Toole leers insanely from a helicopter. People’s legs are shot off, or not. Let’s all applaud for no reason. Barbara Hershey wanders about in a Barbara Hershey shaped mist. What the heck is going on? Who could care? MINORITY REPORT – PETER SAYS:- Yes, this film has problems. Yes, O’Toole invariably…
Continue Reading →Birdman
(Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu) (2014) This is an interesting and well-made film that suffers from an empty space about its heart. The 1990s star of “Birdman 1, 2 and 3”, Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton – get it?) spurned Birdman # 4 when at the top of the Hollywood pile, and is now a penniless has-been with substance abuse issues and an uncertain relationship with reality, as evidenced by his schizoid exchanges with the alter-ego Birdman character, who comes and goes, alternately revving and razzing Thomson in a voice reminiscent of Frank in Donnie Darko. His comeback (or if you hate…
Continue Reading →The Night of the Hunter
(Dir. Charles Laughton) (1955) Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel on the Ohio River, as 2 cute kids take to a skiff with stolen cash to escape their brand new stepfather (Robert Mitcham, in a sensational performance as the ‘preacher’ with “love” and “hate” tattooed on his knuckles). Lillian Gish also terrific as his adversary and Shelley Winters again assumes the role of tragic victim in this surreal pasquinade. Pure Black Magic: put this link into a search engine to watch a key scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyxPomqAZc https://youtu.be/akyxPomqAZc?t=4
Continue Reading →Nightcrawler
(Dir. Dan Gilroy) (2014) ‘’Nightcrawling” is a term of art for paparazzi who nocturnally trawl the urban underbelly, shooting footage of mayhem for TV news (to be breathlessly shown as an exclusive, after the sanctimonious preliminaries warning “viewer discretion is advised”). Jake Gyllenhaal (see: Donnie Darko) co-produced and stars in this intriguing film as Lou Bloom, a cross between Travis Bickle, Rupert Pupkin and Carl Kolchak, surely selector’s choice for Creep/Worst Employer of the Year. To paraphrase Harold in The Boys in the Band, Lou doesn’t have charm; he has counter-charm. With no back story as such, Lou is clearly…
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