Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Precious Doll]

Vladimir and Rosa (1971) Jean-Luc Godard 4/10
A Film Like Any Other (1968) Jean-Luc Godard 5/10
The Wolf's Call (2019) Abel Lanzac 2/10
Out Stealing Horses (2019) Hans Petter Moland 4/10

Repeat viewings

Dinner at Eight (1933) George Cukor 7/10
Parasite (2019) Joon-ho Bong 10/10
Goodbye Paradise (1983) Carl Schultz 8/10
The Life of Jesus (1997) Bruno Dumont 8/10
The Tale of Ruby Rose (1988) Roger Scholes 8/10
The Flame and the Arrow (1950) Jacques Tourneur 7/10
Alice Adams (1935) George Stevens 6/10

[Reza]

Toy Story 4 (Josh Cooley, 2019) 7/10

The fourth installment in this 25-year franchise is a delightful fun ride with Woody (Tom Hanks) and his friends getting up to new adventures. Along the way life lessons are learned, new friendships are forged, old friends unite and nightmarish skirmishes are dealt with as a team. Moving story surrounded by exceptional animation and voice work by a great cast of actors.

Aladdin (Guy Ritchie, 2019) 5/10

Familiar tale gets a live-action, CGI infested face lift from the Disney animated classic. This fake Hollywood Arabian Nights exotica charmingly recalls the cornball but magical technicolor Fox studio films from the 1940s with Maria Montez and Sabu. Just as the Genie (voiced by Robin Williams) in the animated version was the star of the show here too the film gets a hip kick when Will Smith appears as the smart-mouthed Genie. Aladdin, apart from his acrobatic jumping across rooftops, and Princess Jasmine (here sporting a jarring American accent) are both dull characters and the evil Jafar, who plans to take over the Sultanate, could have been more hissable. The actors playing these characters are merely ok while the movie's charm rests on the Genie, a wily monkey and the magic carpet. The film's best song remains "A Whole New World".

Holiday Affair (Don Hartman, 1949) 7/10

The Christmas spirit and a precocious kid (Gordon Gebert) come between a love triangle involving the child's widowed mother (Janet Leigh), the lawyer (Wendel Corey) who loves her and the homeless and penniless stranger (Robert Mitchum) who uproots their lives with his good deeds. RKO put the laconic Mitchum, who had developed a hard nosed film persona through his many noir appearances, through this saccharine film when he got busted by the law for possession of marijuana for which he served a jail sentence. The film flopped but the star's off screen antics endeared him to the public and put no dent in his career. It is superbly played by all concerned and remains a moving and extremely pleasing film.

She ( Lansing C. Holden & Irving Pichel, 1935) 8/10

Spectacular adaptation of Sir H. Rider Haggard's story about "She"-who-must-be-obeyed who lives in a place which clearly inspired the 1937 Hollywood adaptation of Shangri-La in James Hilton's "Lost Horizon". Hollywood here changes the location from deep dark Africa to a fictional lost city in the snowbound Arctic. A scientist (Nigel Bruce) and his ward (Randolph Scott) go hunting for the lost flame of eternal youth which an ancestor discovered 500 years before. Their adventures along the way include meeting up with an old hermit and his daughter (Helen Mack), escaping an avalanche, almost getting sacrificed by "savages" before stumbling into the lost city ruled by the cruel despot "She" (Helen Gahagan) who remembers the handsome young man to be the lover she killed in a jealous rage 500 years before. Thrilled to have him back she wants to preserve his youth but grows jealous again over the young woman he favours instead. This leads to a memorable ending as Max Steiner's thundering score accompanies the action on screen. This delicious nonsense is superbly played out amongst enormous Art-Deco sets - the huge gate leading up to the city was the same one Hollywood created for the island in "King Kong". The film, once thought lost for many years, was discovered amongst the private collection of comedian Buster Keaton who gave the only known surving print for restoration. Oscar nominated for dance direction of the "Hall of Kings" sequence where "She" plans to have Helen Mack sacrificed as gyrating dancers bring her into a huge hall lined with enormous statues. This was the only film of Broadway actress Helen Gahagan who, after the film's failure, not only tried to buy up all the prints of the film but went on to successfully serve as a congresswoman and wife to Hollywood star Melvyn Douglas. Rumour has it that her character in this film was an inspiration for Walt Disney's beautiful, evil queen in "Snow White". A wonderful old-fashioned adventure film the likes of which are rarely made in Hollywood today.

Baaji (Saqib Malik, 2019) 6/10

Hotly anticipated film is not only Pakistani diva Meera's long awaited screen comeback but also Saqib Malik's debut as a film director. Malik, a long-time movie buff and a successful director of music videos, revels here with sharp references to films and iconic moments from Lollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood - it's almost as if he wants to incorporate every vivid movie-going memory and contemporary Pakistani pop-culture into his film. Every film lover will easily get the references to "All About Eve", "Sunset Boulevard" either via certain moments or dialogue during the plot or flashes of imagery invoking Glenn Close removing her facial makeup in "Dangerous Liaisons", Sridevi in the iconic yellow saree in "Chandni", a Yash Chopra moment during a song shot on stunning locations in the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Barbra Sharif dancing drunk to the song "Yeh Aaj Mujh Ko Kya Hua" in "Naukar" and Husna dancing to the song by Runa Laila, "Oh, Don't Be Silly" in "Sabaq" - both classic songs are memorably revisited here with an up beat tempo. The story is pure melodrama with a number of hilariously campy moments, a couple of excellent performances and also a few stiff ones. Irfan Ahmed Urfi's female-centric screenplay revolves around the relationship between two very different women who bond as friends but jealousy and intrigue shatters their friendship resulting in tragedy - a classic and very melodramatic scenario harking back to the Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s when female stars carried a film's plot. A poor but ambitious young woman (Amna Ilyas) from the wrong side of the tracks (the old city in Lahore) by chance becomes an assistant to a glamourous movie queen (Meera) whose star is seriously on the wane. Desperate to regain her position as a star she quickly accepts an offer as the leading lady in a film by a hot young new director (Osman Khalid Butt) just returned from America Both women fall for him leading to a love triangle that wrings itself into a frenzy of lust, longing, desire, treachery and ultimately murder. Amna Ilyas gives a superbly nuanced performance balancing her two very different lives - as the poor woman living in a cramped house who transforms into a confident do-gooder thanks to her new job as friend, confidante and advisor to her rich benefactress while living in a huge modern mansion. Through make-up and costumes her transformation is seamless. The great Lollywood star Meera looks stunning dressed in a mixture of high fashion dresses, casual attire and smartly tailored pant suits (she even gets to wear a swim suit and can actually swim) but is rather hit-and-run as an actress with her tendency to over act although the director manages to rein her in during some scenes where she shows moments of great tenderness. Osman Khalid Butt, sporting a hideous perm, dangles between his two leading ladies acting rather stiffly but shows great moves on the dance floor during two musical numbers. Of the supporting cast there are memorable turns by Nayyar Ejaz as a sleazy gay photographer and old Lollywood star Nisho returns to the big screen as the movie queen's sympathetic older sister. "Gangster Guriya", is a rap "item" number danced by actress-singer Mehwish Hayat while many famous Pakistani celebrities from the world of fashion, music, television and cinema make cameo appearances with the biggest surprise saved for the film's last shot - screen legend Mustapha Qureshi. Good first effort by Saqib Malik is somewhat undermined by the over-stuffed screenplay which goes in far too many different directions as it insists on throwing in moments from every possible genre.

The White Crow (Ralph Fiennes, 2019) 6/10

In an effort to portray their "cultural supremacy", the Soviet government in 1961 allowed the Mariinsky ballet to go on tour of Paris and London. Their lead dancer, Rudolph Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko), famously defected at the airport in Paris when his KGB handlers refused to allow him to carry onto London with the Company and instead planned to put him on a plane back to Moscow. Fiennes' film covers Nureyev's days spent in Paris as he dances to great acclaim, tours the city monuments, museums and gay bars, daringly mingled with french and British dancers and formed a close friendship with Clara Saint (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a Chilean socialite much to the growing consternation of the KGB. Via flashbacks the film shows his birth on the Trans-Siberian train to a poor Tartar Muslim family, his lonely childhood and interest in dance which led to his enrolment at the Bolshoi which he ditches for the Kirov (later Mariinsky) ballet Company where he soon became their principal dancer. Tutored by the famous ballet master, Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin (Ralph Fiennes), he retains his individualist tendency and aloof, often cruel, demeanor which gave him the Tartar tag of "White Crow". David Hare's screenplay provides a good perspective of the artistic world but the story tries to cover too much ground trying to show how he sees flashes of his life in paintings and statues - Ivenko, a Ukranian actor, does a creditable job - but the film comes alive during the electrifying ballet sequences and during the tense drama which unfolds during the defection which closes the film.

Fear / Angst / Non credo più all'amore (La paura) (Roberto Rossellini, 1954) 5/10

The least interesting film in the screen collaboration of Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman who started their relationship as lovers (causing an international scandal) followed by marriage. It is interesting that they took on the subject of adultery in this Hitchcock-like thriller with noir overtones. A woman (Ingrid Bergman) married to an elderly scientist breaks off an affair with her lover. Her life comes to a terror and guilt ridden halt when her lover's former girl friend comes calling with blackmail. Giving in to her she soon gets in over her head when each time more and more money is demanded followed by her wedding ring being snatched. At her wits end she decides to take drastic action. Superficial drama starts out well but soon turns into an hysterical melodrama with a lot of hand wringing, tears and a rather abrupt ending. It's always a treat to see Bergman but this is not anywhere near her finest hour.

Young Ideas (Jules Dassin, 1943) 3/10

Corny comedy that relegates both Herbert Marshall and Mary Astor to the stable of supporting actors and to add insult to injury typecasts the latter (who had won an Oscar just two years before) as the perennial mother to a growing stable of young and future stars at MGM. When their widowed mother (Mary Astor), a celebrated writer of a racy bestseller, gets married to a stuffy professor her grown-up kids (Elliott Reid & Susan Peters) plot to destroy the relationship. Both Marshall and Astor shine but Peters, a recent Oscar nominee, plays the lead in this unfunny farce. Silly fluff.

[Precious Doll]

Yesterday (2019) Danny Boyle 4/10
Elisa & Macela (2019) Isabel Coixet 5/10
Rolling Thunder Revue (2019) Martin Scorsese 5/10
Celeste (2019) Ben Backworth 1/10
Lotte in Italia (1971) Jean-Luc Godard & co 5/10
British Sounds (1970) Jean-Luc Godard & co 7/10
Her Smell (2019) Alex Ross Perry 2/10

Repeat viewings

The Grass Harp (1996) Charles Matthau 10/10
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) John Frankenheimer 9/10
Age of Consent (1969) Michael Powell 7/10
Le Bonheur (Happiness) (1965) Agnes Varda 8/10
War & Peace (1968) Sergey Bondarchuk 7/10

[Precious Doll]

Under the Silver Lake (2018) David Robert Mitchell 4/10
When They See Us (2019) Ava DuVernay 7/710
I Am Mother (2019) Grant Sputore 5/10
The Anatomy of Love (1954) Alessando Blasetti & Paul Paviot 4/10
63 Up (2019) Michael Apted 7/10
Khrustalyov, My Car (1999) Aleksey German 7/10
Boulevard (1960) Julien Duvivier 6/10
Skate Kitchen (2018) Crystal Moselle 5/10
The Edge of Democracy (2019) Petra Costa 6/10
The Cat (1971) Pierre Granier-Deferre 6/10

Repeat viewings

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) Jack Clayton 8/10
A Face in the Crowd (1957) Elia Kazan 8/10
Black Sunday (1960) Mario Bava 7/10

[Reza]

The First (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Agnieszka Holland, Ariel Kleiman & Daniel Sackheim, 2019). 6/10

When the first mission to Mars goes horribly wrong the aerospace guru (Natascha McElhone) in charge of the program relentlessly pursues funding and approval from the government to continue. This eight-part series, set in the near future (shown in subtle ways via various gadgets), focuses on the key players who were in charge of the mission along with the crew members on board for the next mission as they reflect on the first disaster and come to terms with their personal lives as they get ready for the next flight. The Commander of the flight (Sean Penn), who backed out of the first mission, wrestles with personal demons - a wife who committed suicide and a teenage daughter who is a drug addict. A black lesbian astronaut (Lisa Gay Hamilton) has to deal with her partner and the fact that she has now been seconded as Commander to the upcoming mission. Another astronaut (an Asian) has to deal with her mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's. All these personal dramas border on soap opera histrionics which bogs down the film. There is also Hollywood's now obsessive need to stuff a film with a cast of diverse ethnicity to please the masses although I suppose it does allow working actors to get roles in major productions. And the episodes are all directed with arty dream-like flourishes â la Terence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and "To the Wonder" which quickly begins to grate. There is exceptional work by Penn here giving a retrained performance devoid of his usual bombastic over acting.

Summer of Rockets (Stephen Poliakoff, 2019). 8/10

Time and place are always vividly brought to life in Poliakoff's period screenplays and with sharply drawn characters. The plot of this six-part series is set during 1957 Britain and revolves around an immigrant Russian (Toby Stephens), his jewish wife with a hint of aristocracy and his black business partner - a potpourri that raises eyebrows in class conscious and racist Britain. Their business involves selling hearing aids and the invention of the pager which interests MI5. When the family gets acquainted with an MP (Linus Roache) and his sad wife (Keeley Hawks) - who get their own sub-plot about their son who suddenly disappeared some years before - the plot takes a dramatic turn when MI5 asks the Russian to spy on the politician and the guests at the parties held at his countryside home. Superbly produced series has sharp turns by two stalwart British stars - Timothy Spall and Claire Bloom - in important supporting roles.

Red Joan (Trevor Nunn, 2019) 4/10

Romantic but extremely dreary true story about "Granny-Spy", the KGB's longest serving British traitor. The screenplay plays fast and loose with the life of Melita Norwood who here goes by a different name. Joan Stanley (Dame Judi Dench), an octogenarian, is suddenly arrested as a spy for having given the Russians plans about the atomic bomb just after the War years. The confused, hapless old lady pleads innocence and asks her lawyer (Ben Miles) for help. The story of young Joan (Sophie Cookson) flashbacks to her years at Cambridge (breeding ground of many a spy) as a student of Physics, her infatuation and affair with a Communist sympathiser (Tom Hughes) and her job as an assistant to a professor (Steven Campbell Moore) at a secret government laboratory where scientists are building an atomic bomb. When the United States drops the bomb on Hiroshima she is horrified at the death and destruction. Goaded on by her lover she decides to provide plans of the bomb to the Russians. She feels that if Russia also has the bomb it would make the United States and Britain think twice before using the bomb thus ensuring world peace. Riveting subject gets a rose-tinted treatment with sensible Joan losing her senses through her sexual affairs - she later falls for the married professor as well who is equally infatuated with her despite finding out about her exploits as a spy. Old fashioned film is well acted (although Dench, in her few scenes, appears to be suffering from Alzheimer's) and has excellent production values but the screenplay lacks urgency, intrigue or bite with events that merely plod along.

The Letter (John Erman, 1982) 3/10

Lee Remick steps into the giant shoes of Bette Davis in this extremely tepid tv remake of W. Somerset Maugham's book filmed memorably in 1940 by William Wyler. This film replicates the memorable opening from the old film as a woman (Lee Remick) shoots a man (Ian McShane) dead by emptying six bullets into him. She is the wife of a rubber planter (Jack Thompson) in Malaysia and gains sympathy with the British community, her lawyer (Christopher Cazenove) and the jury at her trial when she relates how she was attacked and almost raped by the man she killed. As soon as she is proved innocent of the crime a letter surfaces which holds incriminating evidence. Lifeless film has a rare lousy performance by the usually reliable Remick. She looks bored throughout and compared to the magnificent Bette Davis totally falls short. One of many weak remakes of old classics which regularly appeared on television during the 1980s.

Anna Karenina (Rudolph Cartier, 1961) 6/10

Rare if static and abbreviated BBC adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's book has the rather dubious pleasure of seeing a pre-stardom Sean Connery, with Scottish brogue intact, as Count Vronsky. "Dr. No" was still a year away and he makes a dashing, if brusque, lover to the married Anna Karenina (Claire Bloom). Their affair causes a stir and she is categorically told by her husband (Albert Lieven) that he will not tolerate a scandal. The lovers leave Moscow and retreat to the countryside where their once passionate affair begins to sour. He is bored and resorts to other affairs while she pines for the son she left behind. It all leads to the famous tragic end at a railway station. Bloom is exquisite as Tolstoy's doomed heroine but this low budget production, filmed in a tv studio, seems like a stage play.

The Woman on Pier 13 / I Married a Communist (Robert Stevenson, 1949) 6/10

Hilarious how the "Red Scare" petrified the United States during the 1940s and 1950s and this film's hysterical anti-communist plot is more enjoyable if you take it as a film noir involving blackmail. A successful man (Robert Ryan), working for a shipping company, is a healthy product of the "American Dream". He falls in love and gets married to a lovely woman (Laraine Day) he has known for only a week. Their happiness is blunted when his former lover (the superb Janis Carter) re-enters his life raking up muck from his past - apparently years before they were both members of the communist party but he got out as he did not agree with their ideology. When the members of the party blackmail him he tries to resolve the problem which leads to murder. Typical 1940s thriller is superbly photographed, has a great performance by Ryan, a glamorous Day and sultry Janis Carter who steals every scene.

Retour de manivelle / There's Always a Price Tag (Denys de La Patellière, 1957) 8/10

Michèle Morgan plays the classic femme fatale - an icy platinum blonde dressed always in either white or black - in this noir thriller based on the pulp novel by James Hadley Chase. A penniless painter (Daniel Gélin) saves the life of a rich man (Peter van Eyck) who was trying to commit suicide and gets hired as his chauffeuer. His elegant wife (Michèle Morgan) wants him to leave as she is hoping to kill her husband and get the insurance money. Planning to join hands after the two become lovers they are informed by her husband that he plans to kill himself and they have a short time to prove he was murdered as he has changed a clause in the insurance. The rest of the film involves the two trying to figure out how to prove the man was murdered after he actually kills himself. It gets more and more complicated - hiding the dead body, hiring a naive young maid (Michèle Mercier) as an important witness, her seduction, disposal of the body making it look like murder and the appearance of a suspicious and relentless policeman (Bernard Blier). As with all Chase stories there is a delicious sting at the end. All four leads are superb as they circle one another in this cat-and-mouse game of death as the camera tracks them through the house keeping them in its tight claustrophobic grip.

Two Smart People (Jules Dassin, 1946) 5/10

An MGM hybrid - comedy, drama & noir. A crook (John Hodiak) decides to stand trial and go to prison for stealing bonds in the hope he will come out of a five year sentence and enjoy the hidden loot. Accompanying him on the cross country train journey is his cop-friend (Lloyd Nolan) and they are joined by a con artist (Lucille Ball) and a hitman (Elisha Cook Jr.) who both hope to get their hands on the bonds. Enroute they stop over in Texas, Mexico and New Orleans - where they attend the Mardi Gras - and love blossoms between the crook and the con artist who may not be as sincere as she seems. Ball and Hodiak make a good pair but it's all pretty hohum.

Thirteen at Dinner (Lou Antonio, 1985) 5/10

Television adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Lord Edgware Dies" makes the mistake of taking the story out of its original 1930s period setting and transplanting it to London during the 1980s. Hideous fashions, modern colloquial expressions and sentiments are the order of the day. Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov) is invited for dinner to the house of an American actress (Faye Dunaway) who is in town to shoot a film. Among the guests are her film co-star (Lee Horsley), her husband's nephew (Bill Nighy) and a woman who looks exactly like the actress (also played by Dunaway). The hostess requests Poirot to speak to her husband, Lord Edgware, to grant her a divorce and jokingly says that she would otherwise be forced to kill her husband. The following day the detective puts the question to her husband who says he had already informed his wife six months before that she could get a divorce. That same night Lord Edgware is murdered followed by the death of the womam who resembled the actress. All the suspects have alibis including the actress who was at a dinner party the night of the murders. A perfect set up for the Belgian detective to ferret out the killer. David Suchet, who would later play Poirot in a long running series to great acclaim, plays the hapless Inspector Japp. Ustinov is his usual delightful self but seems ill at ease in the modern setting while Dunaway, playing to the gallery, overacts unashamedly. Average film could have been much better.

Luka Chuppi (Laxman Utekar, 2019) 4/10

The stars outshine the corny premise they are both trapped in. A couple decide to try a live-in relationship before going in for marriage which results in complications for them. He (Kartik Aaryan) is a middle-class Brahmin reporter working for a local news cable channel in Mathura. She (Kriti Sanon) is the daughter of a rich upper-class Brahmin politician who gets an internship at the news channel. Boy and girl meet cute and she comes up with the idea of the live-in relationship. Spending a work-related month in far off Gwalior they move into a house and pretend to be married to keep local tongues from wagging. The subterfuge goes out the window when their families discover their situation and think both are married. It becomes an ordeal for the two as they desperately try to get married for real but are constantly interuppted by prying family members. Both Aaryan and Sanon struggle to get laughs although both have incredible screen chemistry and make a fine romantic pair. Pity the screenplay and the silly supporting characters keep creating stumbling blocks. Aparshakti Khurana is very good as the couple's Muslim friend who tries to help.

[Precious Doll]

Wild Rose (2019) Tom Harper 6/10
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Celine Sciamma 9/10
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil (2019) Won-Tee Lee 7/10
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019) Nick Broomfield 7/10
Monrovia, Indiana (2018) Frederick Wiseman 7/10
Toy Story 4 (2019) Josh Cooley 7/10
Joy (2019) Sudabeh Mortezai 7/10
Murder Mystery (2019) Kyle Newacheck 5/10

Repeat viewings

Exodus (1960) Otto Preminger 7/10
Beauty and the Beast (1946) Jean Cocteau 9/10
Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero 7/10
Man's Favourite Sport (1964) Howard Hawks 7/10
Can't Stop the Music (1980) Nancy Walker 5/10

I didn't like Can't Stop the Music back in 1980 - it was a bad film then and it still is but is retro camp makes it a much more pleasurable viewing pleasure decades later, even though I find music is still puerile.

[Reza]

One Less God (Lliam Worthington, 2018) 7/10

Islamic terrorists attack Mumbai and create death and destruction. This low budget Australian indie film has a tendency to go over-the-top with melodrama, has a few bad casting choices - the terrorist handler speaks Urdu with a foreign accent which seems totally wrong - but the overall drama hits home with its depiction of relentless terror and horror when the gunmen lay siege to the Taj Palace Hotel. The screenplay focuses on a few composite international and local characters - a young Australian couple recently married, an old Indian man and his grand daughter, a french-jewish journalist, two Turkish teenage siblings, an Australian clergyman, a Chinese businessman, an old British woman shot in the stomach and a British tourist who are all trapped inside the hotel rooms. Compared to the slickly made Hollywood version this comes up short with far too many slow-motion shots, a shaky camera and a bombastic score but still manages to vividly create the harrowing atmosphere while ensuring the terrorists are not portrayed as one dimensional villains - they are shown as fleshed out human beings with needs and doubts simply following what they think is "right". The film also raises questions about the place of religion in the modern world and its impact on society and on us as individuals. The film opens and closes with the joyful Hindu festival of Holi which celebrates life asking the audience to set aside different belief systems and religions which divide us into acting like wild animals towards each other. Killing in the name of religion goes against the teachings of a God who insists on peace, love and harmony. It's human beings who have decided to create havoc for their own selfish needs.

Kalank (Abhishek Varman, 2019) 6/10

Six lives come together in a clash of love, longing, hate, betrayal and jealousy. Karan Johar's latest production harks back to the all-star melodramas of the 1970s along with more than an ode to the excesses of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Devdas" (both films share Binod Pradhan, the cinematographer) but with serious defects in the derivative screenplay. The story is set in a fictional town near Lahore during pre-Partition when Muslims and Hindus lived together. The dying daughter-in-law (Sonakshi Sinha) of a rich Chaudhry (Sanjay Dutt), owner of a newspaper, makes a business deal with a poor young Muslim girl (Alia Bhatt). She wants the girl to get married to her husband (Aditya Roy Kapur) after her death and in exchange will provide the dowry for the poor girl's two younger sisters. The deal is agreed upon but the girl insists she marries the woman's husband immediately. When a young blacksmith (Varun Dhawan) falls in love with her it transpires he is the illegitimate son of the Chaudhry and the beautiful and alluring courtesan (Madhuri Dixit) who lives and performs in nearby Heera Mandi, a brothel. The film works itself into a frenzy creating the romantic and exotic past - a world of huge resplendant mansions, a brothel inhabited by beautiful women dressed in exquisite brocades and jewels with crystal chandeleirs adorning the huge ceilings, moonlit nights, sunsets over lakes and the towering Himalayan peaks although there is no known mountain range near Lahore for at least 500 km. We shall also ignore the ridiculous CGI bull that Dhawan wrestles during one scene. The elaborate production numbers are colorful if unimaginative - Kirti Sanon gets to do an item number with Dhawan. But the film, as expected, comes alive when Madhuri Dixit steps on to the dance floor which she rules as to the manor born. Bollywood films take on an extra edge when two superstars confront each other on screen (both Sanjay Dutt & Madhuri Dixit playing former lovers here, and once rumored to be an offscreen item too, reunite on screen after almost 25 years) and here with campy dialogue to boot and a de rigueur slap making the scene not only hilarious but totally paisa vasool. The star cast looks good but both Dutt and Sinha have underwritten parts, Kapur is wooden, Bhatt and Dhawan as the starcrossed lovers have great chemistry and although Dixit looks lovely during her mujrahs and gives the expected great performance her part has no shading - she has done this far too many times in the past and there is nothing new to say. The film is a failure but for fans of such cinema it is time well spent even if it is to gaze at the costumes and jewellery although it all does go on too long.

Assignment in Brittany (Jack Conway, 1943) 6/10

Simplistic but action packed WWII propaganda film that allowed MGM to utilize their french contract star - Jean-Pierre Aumont - in his Hollywood debut playing a Free French Captain. He has to impersonate a Nazi collaborator held by the British and is assigned to return to France to locate a german U-Boat base hidden in a pen in a village. The film depicts the Nazis as buffoons but does not shy away from showing their cruelty when captured resistance members are gunned down including a child. Aumont even manages to romance two women - Susan Peters as a local woman who loves him and Signe Hasso, also making her Hollywood debut, as his mistress who is a Nazi collaborator. Among the supporting cast Margaret Wycherly shines as a plucky old woman. Based on the best selling thriller novel by Helen MacInnes.

Léon Morin, Prêtre / Léon Morin, Priest (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961) 8/10

Melville moves away from his familiar crime stories and appears to be in a philosophical mood with religion as a backdrop. The lyrical and meandering mood explores faith trying to understand what religion stands for. An atheist (Emmanuele Riva), in a small provincial town occupied by German soldiers during the War, self reflects as a means to understand life and the existence of God. She doesn't appear to be affected by her surroundings or interested in anything as she floats through life. Her jewish daughter is left with friends away from the germans, she observes her office colleagues from afar and is mildly worried about the effects of the on going war. As a joke she confronts a priest (Jean-Paul Belmondo) in the confessional arguing about religion. So starts a fascinating relationship as the two bond together while talking about the importance (for him) of faith and her lack of it. This seemingly boring premise is underlined by a simmering sexual tension between the two as she begins to desire him while a lot of his reserved demeanor suggests that he reciprocates her feelings. She ends up seemingly converted to his thoughts although none of it is exactly made clear. This mostly two-hander film has a witty screenplay as the two playfully banter. She comes across wishy washy not willing to commit to anything in life while he stands firmly on his beliefs, helps others in the community which hints at people who go through life without making any impact. Melville also brings up the topic of French collaboration via the Vichy administration along with French anti-Semitism, topics that were rarely spoken of in films of that era. Both stars, cast against their usual grain, give superb performances. A thoughful film that requires concentration.

The Aftermath (James Kent, 2019) 4/10

Old fashioned rather turgid melodrama about a love triangle set against the spectacular back drop of a bombed out Hamburg just after the War. Unfortunately this genteel story takes on the overtones of a boring soap opera. A British Colonel (Jason Clarke) and his wife (Keira Knightley) are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war construction period. Army personnel requisitioned the homes of the local population who were generally displaced from their houses. The couple move into the countryside villa of a well-off cultured German family - he is an architect (Alexander Skarsgård) living with his teenage daughter and has been recently widowed when his wife died during the bombing. The couple allow the family to continue living in the house, but in the attic, while they take over the lower two luxurious floors. The British couple have an icy relationship since their young son was killed in a bombing raid in London some years before. While her husband is away at work it doesn't take long for the lonely woman to fall into the arms of the equally lonely German widower. The story flits between assorted tangents - a group of pro-Nazi youth trying to cause an uprising against the stationed British army and the widower's troubled young daughter taking up with one of the anarchists - but does not follow through. Instead it concentrates on the three adults and their tension-ridden relationship. In the end it's all rather pointless despite the simmering emotions, a couple of sex scenes thrown into the fray as all three leads act very stiff. The film has outstanding production design and beautiful cinematography capturing the snow laden countryside but needs a bit more bite to the stodgy story to make it interesting. Disappointing film.

Deadlier Than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1967) 8/10

One of the many spy capers that came in the wake of the "James Bond" films is obviously made on a low budget. Lacking in originality it more than makes up with its lovely Italian Riviera locations and its bevy of beauties of every nationality led by the wooden but very sexy Elke Sommer and statuesque Sylva Koscina dressed in bikinis, slinky gowns and negligees as they both use their charms to trap their victims. Both play extremely deadly assassins who take a perverse delight in gruesome torture, bombings and murder. They work for a master criminal who uses his girls to kill for him. After a series of businessmen are murdered Bulldog Drummond (Richard Johnson), an insurance investigator, tries to solve the mystery and learns that the next target is a Middle Eastern King (Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin). The film's megalomaniac villain (Nigel Green), harks back to the best of the old Bond villains - urbane, cultured, witty and psychotic. The witty banter between Richard Johnson and a hilariously campy Nigel Green, as they try to outwit each other while keeping extremely cool, is very funny. And don't miss the huge Asian hulk who is an obvious take-off on Oddjob in the Bond film "Goldfinger". The film got very mixed reviews - this was the 22nd "Bulldog Drummond" film - but it is actually a delightful and extremely colourful surprise and great fun.

Happy Go Lucky (Curtis Bernhardt, 1943) 5/10

Silly but colourful comedy-musical set in Trinidad. A gold-digger (Mary Martin) sets her eyes on a millionaire (Rudy Vallee) and with the help of his down-on-his luck friend (Dick Powell) hopes to get married. It takes voodoo magic and a lot of funny shenanigans from their friends (Eddie Bracken & Betty Hutton) for the right couples to pair off. Sassy Martin and her sexy legs are the film's main attraction.

Vivement dimanche! / Finally Sunday! (François Truffaut, 1983) 8/10

Truffaut's last film is not only an homage to his mentor Alfred Hitchcock but also allows him to work one more time with his offscreen lover Fanny Ardant who is a delightful presence in this lightweight fluff. A real estate agent (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is suspected in the shooting of a man who was once his wife's lover. When his wife is also murdered in their house he hides from the police in his office and his secretary (Fanny Ardant) decides to turn sleuth and find what is going on. Is she in love with her much older employer, a boorish man, who had earlier fired her from her job? Like some of the light weight Hitchcock films this too has moments of unexpected comedy with vivid supporting characters. The film is shot in black and white by the great Nestor Almendros evoking the era of noirs - Ardant spends most of the film wearing a trench coat like Phillip Marlowe. Not a great film by any means but it moves at a brisk pace, has great dialogue, a jaunty score by Georges Delerue and Ardant is a mischevous delight getting really into the thick of things with full abandon.

Classe tous risques / The Big Risk (Claude Sautet, 1960) 9/10

A film about honour, friendship and betrayal. Classic gangster film is a devastating study of thieves, their codes and how with the passage of time and a new world order things change. It is also about hero worship and the promise of hope still alive in some men who will carry on the sacred code of honour. Starkly shot by Ghislain Cloquet this gritty crime thriller has a convicted killer (Lino Ventura) on the lam in Italy. With the police closing in, a wife and two young sons in tow he decides to attempt one last job before trying to cross the border into France. Things go wrong but he and his partner manage to get away and while landing on the beach in Nice they are ambushed by cops and the wife and partner are shot dead. Left with two kids he calls his former partners in Paris to come get him. Instead they send a stranger (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a young crook, to bring him to Paris. The men bond during the road trip with the young man showing great reverence towards the older man. In Paris he realises time has changed things when his friends refuse to help him causing him to re-evaluate his life, find a solution for his children, take a few desperate measures which leads to the film's final devastating image. Lino Ventura,with his sad hang-dog face and silent demeanor hiding a sharp killer instinct, is superb. Belmondo is equally good in a role just before he attained full fledged stardom during the same year in Godard's "Breathless", a film that got all the publicity while this equally brilliant film unfortunately got lost in the shuffle. His character is equally cool here but more laconic - the actor uses the signature cigarette hanging from his lower lip to great effect. Sandra Milo is effective as the girl Belmondo picks up during the road trip. Sautet's film makes an excellent companion piece to Jacques Becker's "Touchez Pas au Grisbi" (1954) and Jean-Pierre Melville's "Bob le Flambeur" (1955) and shares their affection for a middle-aged thief.

The Stranger's Return (King Vidor, 1933) 5/10

A New York based divorcée (Miriam Hopkins) returns to her family farm and attracts the attention of a local farmer (Franchot Tone) with whom she flirts in return. Her cantankerous old grandfather (Lionel Barrymore) dotes on her while her step aunt (Beulah Bondi) is horrified by the gossip in town. When the old man appears to lose his senses the drama comes to a close abruptly with all the plots falling neatly into place. This is Barrymore's film all the way as he goes through his usual shtick while Hopkins bats her eyes winning everyone around. The screenplay stresses the importance of land and the proper family way of life despite glimpses of pre-Code shenanigans.

[Precious Doll]

Dirty God (2019) Sacha Polak 7/10
So Long, My Son (2019) Xiaoshuai Wong 7/10
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya (2019) Teona Strugar Mitevska 6/10
Papi Chulo (2019) John Butler 6/10
Bacurau (2019) Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filho 7/10
Song Without a Name (2019) Melina Leon 4/10
Hearts and Bones (2019) Ben Lawrence 2/10
Parasite (2019) Joon-ho Bong 10/10
XY Chelsea (2019) Tim Travers Hawkins 6/10
Les Miserables (2019) Ladj Ly 8/10

[Big Magilla]

Fosse/Verdon (Thomas Kail, Adam Bernstein, Minkie Spiro & Jessica Yu, 2019) 9/10

Dancer, choreographer, director Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) was known for his dazzling style on stage and screen. He was also a serial womanizer and a chain smoking alcohol and drug addict all of which contributed to the edginess evident in his work. Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) was the greatest dancer on Broadway and a Tony winning star of some of the most famous stage musicals - "Can-Can", "Damn Yankees" and "New Girl in Town". The musical "Redhead" brought the two together with Verdon as star and Fosse in his debut as director and choreographer. They married soon after and their tenuous relationship forms the basis of this outstanding screen biography as the film charts their careers and relationship which produced one daughter, numerous infidelities on his part and further stage successes like "Sweet Charity", "Chicago" and "Dancin'", the latter two were collaborated on while they were estranged - they never divorced and remained married while she took up with another partner and he with stage actress Ann Reinking with whom even Verdon joined hands with on stage projects. Fosse's independant film career was also a huge success starting with the flop adaptation of "Sweet Charity", for which Verdon was overlooked and Shirley MacLaine cast instead. His next film "Cabaret" brought him an Oscar for his direction followed by two more nominations for "Lenny" and "All That Jazz". The film is dazzlingly edited as their story is presented in a non-linear way with flasbacks and forwards as they interact with friends, spouses and lovers - Joan McCracken, Neil & Joan Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Hal Prince, George Abbott, Cy Feuer and Ben Vereen. For theatre and movie buffs this film is a marvel as it recreates memorable moments from stage and screen triumphs. Both Rockwell and Williams give career high performances capturing the true essence and genius of both individuals. A must-see.

Finally caught up with this, having binge-watched all 8 hours of it last night.

I thought Williams was great, Rockwell good, the actors playing other famous people OK. I also found most of it accurate. I had thought it odd that it showed Fosse as having won his Tonys for Pippin before his Oscar for Cabaret, but that's what did happen. The Tonys were Sunday March 25, 1973. The Oscars were two days later.

The one glaring inaccuracy is, of course, Verdon's live-in boyfriend during the 1970s, named "Ron" in the show. He was really Jerry Lanning, the son of singer-actress Roberta Sherwood, who had already had some standout roles on TV. He made his Broadway debut as the older Patrick Dennis to Angela Lansbury's Mame the same Broadway season Verdon starred in Sweet Charity. He was 18 years younger than her, the same age as Verdon's son from her first marriage. Verdon was the same age as Lansbury. Not sure if they met then, but both were part of the that year's theatre awards season - he won a Theatre World award. She was nominated for a Tony but lost to Lansbury.

In the show, she mentions meeting "Ron" at a function that had something to do with Damn Yankees. In actuality, Lanning starred as Joe Hardy to Lee Remick's Lola and Phil Silvers' devil in a TV version broadcast in April, 1967 so it's quite possible they met during rehearsals. He did not move in with her until after she and Fosse split in 1971. While she was in Chicago during the 1975-1976 season, he was also on Broadway playing Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the first Broadway revival of My Fair Lady. He was last on Broadway in the 1997-1998 revival of 1776 and on TV in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent in 2001.

[Precious Doll]

Need details now. Were you a fan of The Babadook?

Yes, I enjoyed The Babodook, even more the second time I watched it later in the year.

The Nightingale is a complete departure for Jennifer Kent - worlds away from The Babadook. Like The Babadook it's an original story written by Jennifer Kent, except this time within an accurate historical context, namely the abuse of convicts and indigenous people in Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) in 1825. The characters and events are fictional but the tone and nature characters are true to the period and on its surface the film is a classic revenge drama.

However, it would have to be probably one of the most harrowing films I have ever sat through. Violent in the extreme and with a number of sexually violent scenes in the mix as well, though generally because of the way that Kent has edited the film I felt like I saw more than I actually did. I don't think the film fell into the gratuitous category myself, however audience reaction has been somewhat mixed (walk outs including some rather vocal ones at that).

Its beautifully shot in 1:33:1, edited to perfection with excellent use of sound.

However, despite my 10/10 rating I cannot recommend it without explicit warning that the film is a very tough unrelenting 136 minutes. It is at the centre though a film that is ultimately about love and empathy, as well as non sugar coated look at the past history of what was to become Australia that is barely ever mentioned - the utter brutality of colonalism.

[Okri]

Our Time (2018) Carlos Reygadas 6/10
Apollo 11 (2019) Todd Douglas Miller 4/10
Untouchable (2019) Ursula Mafarlene 7/10
The Nightingale (2019) Jennifer Kent 10/10
Monos (2019) Alejandro Landes 6/10
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky & Nicholas de Pencier 6/10
The Whistlers (2019) Corneliu Porumbolu 6/10
Synonymes (2019) Nadav Lapid 7/10
Yuli (2018) Iciar Bollain 7/10
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (2019) Karim Ainouz 9/10

Need details now. Were you a fan of The Babadook?

[Precious Doll]

Our Time (2018) Carlos Reygadas 6/10
Apollo 11 (2019) Todd Douglas Miller 4/10
Untouchable (2019) Ursula Mafarlene 7/10
The Nightingale (2019) Jennifer Kent 10/10
Monos (2019) Alejandro Landes 6/10
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky & Nicholas de Pencier 6/10
The Whistlers (2019) Corneliu Porumbolu 6/10
Synonymes (2019) Nadav Lapid 7/10
Yuli (2018) Iciar Bollain 7/10
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao (2019) Karim Ainouz 9/10

[Reza]

Hotel Mumbai (Anthony Maras, 2019) 8/10

Riveting account of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks perpetuated by ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organization based in Pakistan. The group simultaneously attacked eight different points in Mumbai and this film focuses on the attack on the famous Taj Palace Hotel where guests and staff were indiscriminately shot, killed and held hostage. All the attackers were brain washed young men and in constant touch with their handler via cell phones who urged them on. The screenplay uses a composite of characters - a young Sikh waiter (Dev Patel), an American (Armie Hammer) married to an Iranian Muslim (Nazanin Boniadi), the Head Chef Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and a sleazy Russian businessman (Jason Isaacs) among the most prominent - who were terrorized, shot at or held hostage. The bravery of the hotel staff, the intense terror, the bombings and burning of the hotel are all presented with suspense and horror. This is not the typical Hollywood film where we know the hero will survive after acts of bravery. Instead we get to see that often heroes do not get to live happily ever after and terrorist attacks are not only horrific but shamefully perpetuated in the name of religion. Over 170 people died and 300 were injured during the attack and it was shocking how unprepared the Mumbai police were as special forces had to be flown in from Delhi which took hours allowing the attackers to continue their mayhem. Extremely sad turn of events with this film serving as a tribute to the resilience of the people who lived and died during the attacks.

Riddick (David Twohy, 2013) 6/10

This third part of the trilogy harks back to the stripped-down look of the first installment "Pitch Black". Riddick (Vin Diesel) finds himself trapped on a sun-soaked planet inhabited by vicious CGI creatures. Sending a distress signal attracts two shiploads of creeps consisting of every ethnic type including a tough-talking lesbian. The plot is a race against time for Riddick to try and outlive all the humans and beasts. Non-stop action quickly gets derivative as the scorpion-like aliens, dripping venom, come at everyone fast and furious. Diesel has by now grown into the role - there was no Razzie nod for his performance here which he got for the second outing - and the camera swoons over his rippled body as he grunts out quips. Nothing new here in terms of content and which we haven't seen before in all the "Alien" & "Predator" franchises. Time maybe to retire now.

[Precious Doll]

Rocketman (2019) Dexter Fletcher 5/10
The Ice King (2018) James Erskine 6/10
Angelo (2018) Markus Schleinzer 5/10
Divine Love (2019) Gabriel Mascaro 7/10
Ray & Liz (2019) Richard Billingham 8/10
The Third Wife (2019) Ash Mayfair 6/10
One Child Nation (2019) Nanfu Wang & Jialing Zhang 6/10
Piranhas (2019) Claudio Giovanessi 5/10
The Souvenir (2019) Joanna Hogg 4/10
Pain and Glory (2019) Pedro Almodovar 7/10
Varda by Agnes (2019) Agnes Varda 6/10
Alpha, the Right to Kill (2019) Brilliant Mendoza 4/10
Never Look Away (2018) Florian Henchel von Donnersmarck 7/10

Repeat viewings

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) Roy Del Ruth 7/10
Burning (2019) Chang-dong Lee 9/10
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Robert Hamer 9/10
Cries and Whispers (1972) Ingmar Bergman 10/10

[Reza]

An Unmarried Woman (Paul Mazursky, 1978) 9/10

One of the seminal films of the 1970s with a sharp perspective screenplay by Paul Mazursky. He wrote the part of Erica in the film specifically for Jill Clayburgh who gives a luminous performance for which she won a prize at the Cannes film festival and a richly deserved Oscar nomination. A "happily" married woman (Jill Clayburgh) is one day cruelly told by her husband (Michael Murphy) that he has fallen in love with a younger woman and wants out of their marriage. So begins the rebirth of this suddenly "unmarried" woman as she goes through grief helped along the way by her close-knit group of girlfriends, her teenage daughter, assorted creepy dates and discovering love once again with a dreamy painter (Alan Bates). The unconventional ending of the film is very real and was a flag waving moment for feminists everywhere. It is also one of the best films about New York, a city that is shown in all its glory - grime and all - in the background from every angle possible. A wonderful film.

The Hireling (Christopher Miles, 1973) 8/10

The possibilities could be endless in a relationship between an aristocratic British woman (Sarah Miles) and a fastidious but rough-hewn chauffeur (Robert Shaw). However, this is 1920s Britain and that pesky little thing called the class system comes between them. Not that things have quite changed in many parts of the world. She is just out of a resting home after suffering a nervous breakdown when her much older politician husband died - there is a whiff of the middle class malaise of guilt because she was at a party when her husband dropped. He, owner of a Rolls Royce and a car-for-hire business, drives her from the hospital to her mother's house. A polite conversation leads to twice weekly drives around the countryside - she asks to sit next to him in the front while he chats about a wife and kids which he does not have. Her mother (Elizabeth Sellers) wants her to be more outgoing and meet people which she gradually does and attracts an aspiring politician and a cad (Peter Egan) who has a lower-class mistress and is after her money. The film is steeped in post-WWI trauma - the wire around the hospital grounds evoke POW camps, most women are widows and the chauffeur, a retired sergeant-major, shows cracks underneath his jovial appearance with sudden outbursts at colleagues and going through passionless sex with a waitress. There is an inevitable clash as jealousy rears its ugly head leading to a changed perspective about life for both main characters. She comes out with a positive outlook while he suffers a meltdown. After all there was never any hope for different classes to come together and form a union. Slow but exquisite drama, based on the novel by L. P. Hartley, is superbly acted and photographed. Sarah Miles, known for playing sexually charged women, plays memorably against type while Robert Shaw takes his dry character to an hysterical crescendo during the melodramatic finalé. Christopher Miles was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival and his sister Sarah Miles was given a special prize.

Serenity (Steven Knight, 2019). 7/10

The film's poster evokes memories of "Jagged Edge" and "Fatal Attraction" and as the plot moves along we remember other fun thrillers like "Dead Calm" and "Body Heat". A loner (Matthew McConaughey), obsessed with catching a giant tuna (shades of "Moby Dick"), runs a fishing boat off a tiny island. A man of few words he interacts only with his first mate (Djimon Hounsou) and a sex starved woman (Diane Lane) who gives him money in return for a regular roll in the sack. Into his life arrives a vision in white (Anne Hathaway) - looking like Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca" but with long blonde hair like Veronica Lake - who is his ex-wife. She has a job for him. Kill her present husband (Jason Clarke), a ruthless wife-beater who torments her son - actually their son who spends all his time on a computer while telepathically in contact with his tuna obsessed dad - for a price of ten million dollars. The premise is simple and familiar but there is a skinny man running around who has a strange story to tell. Superbly shot film captures the sun and sea on and below the surface and a neat little mystery running through the plot which seems convoluted. Enjoyable film but for me the big mystery was why Diane Lane accepted the thankless part she has in the film. She deserves much better.

Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher, 2019) 7/10

Dexter Fletcher directs this film as if he is presenting a Broadway musical about the life of rock star Elton John. Almost every famous song is presented as a huge spectacle as the child or adult Elton sings with a chorus of backup dancers gyrating in the background. It's all very Bollywood and it works keeping in view the singer's flamboyant personality which he created to possibly hide his ordinary (ugly) looks - even though Matthew Illesley & Tom Connor who play Reggie the child prodigy at different ages and Taron Egerton who plays Elton the adult are all good looking actors - hence the excessive use of gaudy film sequinned costumes, feathers, high-heeled boots and giant outlandish spectacles. Egerton is a revelation in the part as he not so much copies the singer but gives his own impersonation. And he sings all the songs himself. The plot is otherwise the typical by-the-numbers biography with some odd casting - Bryce Dallas Howard as his self absorbed mother - covering his homosexuality, various addictions (drugs, alcohol, shopping, sex, bulimia and anger management) and relationships with his loving grandmother (Gemma Jones), lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) and manager / lover John Reid (Richard Madden). The film soars during all the musical numbers - a virtual greatest hits compilation which are immensely crowd pleasing. Coming in the wake of last year's "Bohemian Rhapsody" it is a worthwhile follow up and allows younger generations to discover the music and talent of Elton John. The film's outrageous costumes deserve an Oscar and surely Taron Egerton is the year's first serious contender for an Oscar in the leading actor category. And this film is a prelude to the inevitable Broadway production that will surely arrive in a couple of years.

Arctic (Joe Penna, 2019) 7/10

Man against nature as two plane crash survivors battle the harsh terrain, sub-zero temperatures, dangerous crevices, body injuries and a pesky polar bear that has a habit of unexpectedly turning up baring its ferocious fangs. Mads Mikkelsen hurls himself into the role giving an intense performance. You can actually feel his pain as he literally pushes an injured female companion towards safety that seems unreachable. The film captures the scary but majestic beauty of the Arctic landscape.

Pitch Black (David Twohy, 2000) 7/10

Low budget Sci-fi has a space ship crash landing on a desert planet. The occupants are a motley crew - kick-ass female pilot (Radha Mitchell), an Arab Muslim preacher (Keith David) and three kids enroute to Mecca (a cool touch - they even pray to Allah) - a girl disguised as a boy, an artifact collector, a few others (around so they can be disposed off when the going gets tough) and a morphine addicted bounty hunter and war veteran (Coles Hauser) transporting the criminal Riddick (Vin Diesel). They are all forced to join hands when predatory aliens underneath the sand attack. All very deja vu but with Vin Diesel leading the party it's action fun all the way.

The Chronicles of Riddick (David Twohy, 2004) 4/10

This sequel to Vin Diesel's "Pitch Black" gets a much larger budget and the campy presence of Dame Judi Dench wearing a dress made of Swarovski crystals. According to her autobiography she had no clue what was going on in the film's plot but liked the enormous sets. Yes, the film is a production designer's dream come true with Vin Diesel back as Riddick and having to fight the invading Necromongers - headed by their effeminate Lord Marshall (Colin Feore), his cruel second-in-command (Karl Urban), the latter's Lady Macbeth-like wife (Thandie Newton) and their duplicitous lieutenant (Linus Roache) all of whom try to out do each other in the camp sweepstakes - on a planet that unites him with the Arab preacher, Imam (David Yates). Diesel, in a tank top and sunglasses, is hilariously stiff but managed to make for himself this franchise not unlike the "Terminator" franchise made by an equally stiff Schwarzenegger - although Vin has a heads up on the Austrian ex-Gov for being a bigger success with his second franchise driving fast cars. The nonsensical plot has non-stop Hong Kong style martial-arts action - many die but the blood count is negligible. Dame Judi is an etherial presence and the third survivor from the first film, Kyra (Alexa Davalos) who impersonated a boy, is back in kick-ass style. Dame Judi was absolutely correct. The plot makes no sense. You just gotta watch Vin do his thing which he does with great gusto.