My Review of Eden Lake (2008)

 

Written And Directed by James Watkins

Brett: "Follow the blood!"

I had this on my watchlist for a while and with James Watkins about to bring the DCU into the world of horror with Clayface, it was definitely time to get this one over with. 

Released around the time when there was an influx of Broken Britain films, this one focused on a rather middle class couple. Jenny Greengrass (Kelly Reilly) and boyfriend, Steve Taylor (Michael Fassbender) just wanted a nice getaway. Instead they got the vacation from Hell.

The titular place looked idyllic itself but it's locals were anything. Especially the youth themselves. They were violent, murderous and horrible little shits and Jenny and Steve found this out the hard upon having the misfortune of encountering them.

There's no real sympathy offered to these youngsters. Led by Brett (Jack O'Connell), these youths also included Cooper (Thomas Turgoose), Paige (Finn Atkins), Ricky (Harry Gill) and Harry (James Burrows). Brett had a tyrannical hold over them and they took much delight in tormenting both Jenny and Steve.

The moment that Steve's unsuccessful attempt to recover his car resulted in the death of Brett's dog, that was when things really went to Hell. Brett might be one of the evil characters I've ever seen because he took pleasure in killing Steve and getting the unfortunate Adam (James Gandhi) into burning the body.

I don't think I've seen a protagonist in horror suffer as badly as Jenny. Her boyfriend git brutally killed and she barely survived Brett and his gang. I don't blame her for snapping and killing two of them. Unfortunately for Jenny, she came afoul of the adults of the community, which included Brett's psychotic father, Jon (Shaun Dooley). The ending might be one of the most horrific I've ever seen in a movie.

- It turned out that Brett had two dogs. The way he coldly wore Steve's raybans as Jenny was being killed, that was chilling.

- Brett also killed one of his gang members who defied. The film implied that Brett was abused by his father as well.

- Standout music: Dan Black's Gimme What You Got.

- Chronology: Over the course of a few days at the title place.

Eden Lake was an unrelentingly brutal film that certainly seemed to encapsulated aspects of the decade it was released in. Jack O'Connell in particular was absolutely chilling as Brett. A terrifying and hateful character who actually got away with his horrible misdeeds.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

 

Written by Robert Bloch And Russ Jones

Directed by Peter Duffell

Carla (to Paul): "We loved your films so much we wanted you to become one of us forever. Welcome to the club!"

I'm going to honest. I found this movie at random and a huge motivation into watching it was down to a certain Doctor Who actor. I'm also glad I watched this film.

There's four separate but connected stories and they're supported by a Framework of course. This of course revolved the sceptical Detective Inspector Holloway (John Bennett) talking to Sergeant Martin (John Malcolm) about the house of the film and the dangers it posed. Holloway's scepticism would eventually be his downfall, so let's get to the stories.

The first one - Method For Murder kicked things off well. Horror writer Charles Hillyer (Denholm Elliott) and his wife, Alice (Joanna Dunham). Charles found that his writing was coming to life in the house a bit too well. For example, his character Dominic (Tom Adams) actually did come to life and it was driving Charles.

Nobody and that included Dr. Andrews (Robert Lang) believed he was telling the truth and that didn't end well for the doctor either. It also turned out that Dominic was an actor named Richard and a lover of Alice's. Yup, Alice was gaslighting Charles big time and it almost worked until she came afoul of her very method lover.

Second story - Waxworks was the weakest one for me. It's still pretty watchable and of course, I should note another Doctor Who actor was involved. Yup, there's Peter Cushing as Philip Grayson and Joss Ackland as Neville Rogers. Both men were friends. Both men were also in love with the same woman.

The woman in question also happened to be dead and also a waxwork creation. The creation was owned by the woman's vindictive and creepy husband (Wolfe Morris). He's a possessive and unsympathetic character, who's jealousy over his dead wife's hold over men resulted in beheadings. Like I said, it's the weakest of the stories but still engaging enough.

The third story - Sweets To The Sweet added some much needed witchcraft into the mix. It's nicely threaded throughout with a rather and daughter - John (Christopher Lee) and Jane Reid (Chloe Franks). Add in a governess named Anne Norton (Nyree Dawn Porter) and things got rather heated.

Anne genuinely thought that John was an abusive father and overly strict. It turned out that John's attempts of keeping Jane ostracised had merit. The little girl turned out to be a witch and had no problem using a wax doll to kill her father. It's a delightfully dark story, maybe the darkest story of them all.

The fourth and final story however turned out to be my favourite. The Cloak had my one of my favourite Doctor Who actors Jon Pertwee as horror actor Paul Henderson. Paul's an actor totally commited to his craft and not pleased with the current horror film he's making.

In fact, Paul's so annoyed that he went out and purchased a cloak from Theo von Hartmann (Geoffrey Bayldon) and found himself becoming a vampire. This caused problems with co-star and girlfriend, Carla (Ingrid Pitt) until the last moments revealed that Paul's commitment to horror was something the vampire community respected. It's a brilliant ending to a fantastic story.

- The last scene had A.J. Stoker (John Bryans) taking to the audience about the house reflecting the owner's personality.

- Robert Bloch, who co-wrote the film also wrote the book, Psycho.

- Paul was a fan of Bela Lugosi's Dracula. The man had good taste. No wonder the vampires wanted him as one of their own.

- Chronology: The Framework took place over a night before Holloway's encounter with Carla.

The House That Dripped Blood was a movie that I didn't even know existed until yesterday. It's an enjoyable watch with a strong framework but of course the vampire and witch stories were the ones that stood out the most.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Shiva Baby (2020)

 

Written And Directed by Emma Seligman 

Debbie: "No funny business with Maya."

Danielle: "What is that supposed to mean?"

Debbie: "You know what it means."

Yesterday I reviewed Bottoms (2023), so I went back to see the previous collaboration between Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott and it's a more sobering affair of course.

In this film, Sennott played a college senior named Danielle. Danielle's got a whole sugar baby thing on the side with a man named Max (Danny Deferrari). In their first scene alone, Max's pretty scornful about Danielle and it's an ongoing theme throughout the movie.

Danielle's own mother, Debbie (Polly Draper) seemed to be constantly disapproving of her while her father, Joel (Fred Melamed) was nicer by comparison. Then there's the shiva itself at Aunt Sheila (Cilda Shaur).

Danielle was schooled about being on her best behaviour and then there's the presence of Maya (Molly Gordon). She's a former friend and an ex of sorts and she's rather antagonistic towards Danielle for most of the film. At times, she's too antagonistic, which made her difficult to like. 

Of course, there's more complications for Danielle with the presence of Max's career driven wife, Kim (Dianna Agron). I liked the fact that Kim was quick on the mark with both Max and Danielle. The move with trying to get Danielle to hold her baby was a good means of petty revenge. I also suspect that Kim's a bit used to Max's wandering eye as well.

The shiva itself went from one disaster to another and Danielle's breakdown felt inevitable. On the other hand, at least Danielle and Maya seemed to make some peace with one another, which was nice.

- Emma Seligman did a short movie in 2018 of the same name. The baby in question was called Rose.

- Rachel Sennott in real life isn't Jewish whereas Dianna Agron is. Obviously Danielle is Jewish but Kim isn't in the film.

- Shiva means seven but also is a period of mourning following a death in Jewish customs.

- Chronology: During the course of a day in a New York neighborhood.

Shiva Baby (2020) made a good debut from Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott. They're a great team and there's a great sense of quiet chaos that played out beautifully with Danielle's past and present catching up with her at an inopportune time.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Unbowed And Unbent"

 

Written by Philippa Goslett

Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado

Helaena (to Alicent): "You look away when you lie."

Okay, this might a very Greens centred episode but make no mistake that the Blacks also had plenty to do. Both sides were winning and losing respectively.

Focusing on Team Green first. Alicent spent most of the episode trying to get Helaena to have an abortion with the latter rightly refusing her mother. It also didn't help that Mysaria became privy to Helaena being in the family way. Alicent and Helaena trying to escape King's Landing also didn't pan out for them.

Then there's Ormund and Daeron. The former spent the episode proclaiming the latter as King (which got back to Rhaenyra). Ormund also didn't seem particularly pleased when Daeron beat him in that one game but he was more concerned with discrediting Rhaenyra to be too mad at Daeron.

Then there's the two brothers that Ormund hates. Yup, I'm talking about Aegon II and Aemond of course. The former's pity party came to an abrupt ending thanks to Larys dropping truth bombs and Tyland Lannister turning out to be alive after all. Also getting to kill certainly did a lot to boost Aegon's confidence. 

Aemond on the other hand wasn't enjoying the nightmares of Harrenhal but he's found an ally in Alys. I'm really fascinated by their relationship. Slightly icked by the fact that he might also see her as a mother figure of sorts. Either way, I'm intrigued.

Then there's Gwayne and Criston. I found it amusing that the latter being on an almighty suicide mission was enough to get Gwayne to walk away. Personally, I would've abandoned Criston ages ago but Gwayne had a lot more patience with him than deserved. Surely, Criston's not much longer for this whole.

As for Team Black, Rhaenyra still needs to get great Council in order and she's got to be clever about Ormund as well. That guy's running rings around her as of now. It would help if her and Daemon could be on the same page as well.

Daemon had his own problems this week. Gold Cloaks were getting slaughtered throughout the episode, including Ser Luthor Largent. We barely knew the guy and he died horribly. I might have also turned away when Daemon started eye gouging as well.

- Alicent knew a lot about Mysaria's past and wasn't above using it as a bargaining chip. She also sold her pendant to get safe passage.

- Helaena seemed to confirm that she was expecting a boy. She also warned Jaehaera about poisonous plants.

- I like the potential couple of Baela and Addam. They're cute together. 

- Ormund told Daeron the story of Meria Martell. Of course it was to make a point that Daeron seemed to get.

- Alys summoning bats to attack intruders was a nice display of power. 

- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Unbowed And Unbent was a bit slow moving compared to the previous episode. Criston's speech didn't land the way it should've but it's a good episode for Team Green. Maybe their strongest one since the first season.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "Party Animals"

 

Written by Serena Wu

Directed by Grace Liu

Princess Maru (to the audience): "You may call me Doctor Poison."

Is there a reason why two of the six episodes we've had so far this season have had Wonder Woman villains as the main threat? I'm not entirely complaining but it's an odd choice, yes? It's made even order with the lack of reference to Wonder Woman herself.

This time around, it was the Princess Maru, aka Dr. Poison herself that was the main threat. She appeared as Jimmy Olsen's date at a gala where Jimmy, Lois and Kara were nominated for awards. However due to a younger audience, Maru got a different modus operandi.

Instead of actually poisoning people with her purple gas, Maru ended up turning everyone into different animals. Why are we giving Maru the very thing that Circe is known for? It's another odd choice, though needless to say, Maru ended up becoming a victim of her own gas itself.

Then there's a look into Jimmy and Kara. They've spent the last few episodes making each other jealous and this episode brought that to the boil. Both finally admitted they had feelings for one another and both ended up being captured along with Lois and Clark.

The Lois and Clark scenes had the latter desperately trying to find a purpose now that he's no longer Superman. He couldn't and that led to a lot of frustration. Then that cliffhanger happened. It's almost too bad the trailer for the next episode spoiled who captured the team.

- Bizarro as an ice cream vendor was rather cute. He even a child a free ice cream and wanted to help Supergirl. 

- Both Vicki Vale and Silver St. Cloud returned as did Flip and her gang.

- Both Lois and Maru were turned into cats while Jimmy became a turtle and retained his hair.

- Chronology: Clark has lost his powers for a whole month.

Party Animals was a fun debut for Dr. Poison with some gala filled chaos. I'm glad they gave sorted out the Jimmy and Kara plotline. Now we just need Clark to get his powers back.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Bottoms (2023)

 

Written by Emma Seligman And Rachel Sennott

Directed by Emma Seligman 

Principal Meyers: "Could the ugly, untalented gays please report to the principal's office?"

This has been on my watchlist for a while and I regret not watching this during Pride Month. I did manage to catch up with it yesterday afternoon and I had such a good time with it.

Over the last few years, both Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri have emerged as great talents within Hollywood. They're well matched here as two lesbian outcasts named PJ and Josie respectively. I found it amusing that they're outcasts for not being talented rather than being lesbians. That's a nice modern update.

Anyways both women have respective crushes. PJ's besotted with secretly smart Brittany (Kaia Gerber) and Josie was in love with Isabel (Havana Rose Liu). Isabel also had an obnoxious football playing boyfriend named Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine). This movie made it immensely fun to hate Jeff.

He's a violent misogynist who regularly cheated on Isabel. Jeff even slept with Mrs. Callahan (Dagmara Domińczyk) - the mother of fellow lesbian outcast Hazel (Ruby Cruz). Jeff was also too comfortable with threatening to kill women he deemed unattractive and he had a toxic enabler in teammate Tim (Miles Fowler). Tim's a bit too eager to help the undeserving Jeff.

Anyways, the film had PJ, Josie and Hazel set up a Fight Club which pulled in both Brittany and Isabel and other girls. The group was overseen by apathetic history teacher Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) and was going well until Tim publicly exposed a few truths that were always going to be revealed. I did laugh at everyone initially believing PJ and Josie's obvious lie about being in juvie.

The movie of course would split the Fight Club until a plot to kill Jeff from a rival football team brought them back together. I'm not sure I would've bothered saving Jeff but I guess PJ and Josie are better than me in that regard. While PJ didn't get her desired love interest, Josie did and Hazel got her own luck during this particular plot. 

- Jeff was allergic to pineapple so that was the means the rival football team intended to kill him with. They also killed pets.

- I definitely think that Tim had a crush on Jeff. Brittany likes gay porn but is straight. PJ got to kiss Hazel.

- Standout music: King Princess's Pain.

- Chronology: Set in the 2020s at Rockbridge Falls High School.

Bottoms (2023) was a laugh riot from start to finish. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri made a great pair of misfits and horrible as his character was, Nicholas Galitzine was genuinely funny in parts as the irredeemably stupid Jeff. Oh I had fun with this.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Following (1998)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Bill: "When I started to follow people, specific people, when I selected a person to follow, that's when the trouble started."

There was a time when someone like Christopher Nolan made lower stakes film with a modest budget and more shockingly, something that was under 90 minutes. It was also his debut film but his familiar style was as present here as it's been throughout his whole career.

Focusing on an unemployed writer named Bill (Jeremy Theobald), this film delved into the consequences of following other people. Bill chose to follow random people in order to give him inspiration as a writer. Unfortunately he picked the wrong guy to follow.

The guy in question being a suited man named Cobb (Alex Haw). The latter knew what Bill was doing and deduced Bill's life a little too succinctly. Cobb also turned out to be a burglar and Bill quickly became his accomplice and protege. In fact, Bill made little effort to resist the idea at all.

Then there was The Blonde (Lucy Russell). She's the classic femme fatale that didn't have to do anything in order to get Bill's attention. Then again, Bill and Cobb stole from her apartment and she was involved with The Bald Guy (Dick Bradsell). He was involved in pornography and had no problem killing anyone who posed a threat to him.

Of course, the big twist here was that The Blonde and Cobb were involved with each other and were planning to frame Bill for the death of a woman that Cobb likely killed. Even when Bill worked out that he was being played, he still came afoul of Cobb and The Blonde.

Bill ended up being framed for The Blonde's death and Cobb got away with everything. Bill really should have avoided Cobb but he didn't and everything went to shit for the guy. Bill was a very foolish man.

- Jeremy Theobald has appeared in both Batman Begins and Tenet. I like that Nolan brought him back for those films. Theobald is also in Nolan's short film, Doodlebug.

- There's literally a Batman logo on one of the apartment doors. Almost as if Nolan was willing a future trilogy into existence.

- John Nolan also had a role in this film. He's Christopher's uncle.

- Chronology: 1990s London, filmed in black and white.

Following (1998) was a modest nonlinear debut (linear if you're watching the Criterion release). It's strong stuff, nice performances from both Jeremy Theobald and Alex Haw and the black and white helped evoke the intended mood.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of A Dirty Shame (2004)

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Ray-Ray: "Let's go sexing."

For the last few weeks, I've delved into the delightfully depraved mind of John Waters and now I'm at an end (of sorts) with that journey. I mean there's still some of his short movies to watch at a later date but in terms of feature films, here's where I depart.

Waters might have started with writing for characters in poor backgrounds and revelling in their filthy sides but he also proved that those in the suburbs can be just as filthy. The residents of Harford Road proved that in spades.

You've got a residence with two very divided groups. There was the Neuters, aka the most sex negative people you'd ever encounter in your life. Their most prominent being women such as Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd) and Marge (Mink Stole). Oh boy, did they hate sex or what?

On the other end of the scale, Ethel's daughter in law, Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) started off as a Neuter until a bump to the head brought out her inner sex addict. Sylvia had a nice put upon husband named Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and a big breasted daughter named Caprice (Selma Blair). The latter used to be known as Ursula Udders, a former exoric dancer and was now under house arrest.

Anyways, Sylvia's sudden love of sex put her in the cross hairs of Ray-Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville). He's a sex guru of sorts and along with the rest of the sex addicted residents, Ray-Ray needed Sylvia in order to complete an orgasm on a rather grandiose level.

The rest of the movie became long battle between the Neuters and the sex addicted to see which group would seize control of the town. Naturally, it got ridiculous in certain parts, but only one group could ultimately win. It wasn't a surprise which one did.

- This was John Waters last feature film. His other credits included a child reading of Pink Flamingos and a short movie.

- Various fetishes were looked into. This included adult babies, bears and cubs, dirt eating and sploshing to name a few. Ricki Lake and David Hasselhoff had cameos.

- Standout music: David Raksin Orchestra's Sylvia.

- Chronology: Harford Road was set in Baltimore.

A Dirty Shame is anything but sexy and not all of the jokes land as they should've done. For the most part, there's some fun to be had among the utter depravity that's on display.  It's not John Waters on all cylinders but it's decent enough.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Tenet (2020)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Neil: "What the hell happened here?"

The Protagonist: "Hasn't happened yet."

Ah, this movie. Not gonna lie, it's one of the weakest things that Christopher Nolan has ever made and came out during a time that his working relationship with Warner Brothers came to a rather bitter ending. 

On top of that, it's also one of Nolan's mind bending films that doesn't quite hit the mark. Memento and Inception it's not. It's also one of those time where Nolan might have let his indulgent side out too much. I'm also gonna say something that Film Bros will hate my guts for saying but it could've benefitted from being at least an hour shorter.

Despite a brilliant cast, I just don't vibe with this movie as much as I wanted to. There are two major pluses and they are of course John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. I could watch those two play off each other all day. I just wish this had been a better movie for that.

John's literally The Protagonist of the movie. That's actually his character's name - the Protagonist, a CIA operative and on paper, it's a role that he excelled at. Unfortunately he's caught in this largely dull and confusing story where he's a part of Tenet. They're an organisation that seek out objects that move backwards in time.

When he's given scenes with Pattinson's charming but mysterious agent Neil, they're the highlight of the whole movie. Even when it appeared that Neil wasn't 100% trustworthy and even with the painfully obvious reveal of Neil being recruited by The Protagonist. Those two actors really need to appear in something else together.

On the other end of the scale, the Russian Oligarch stuff was boring as fuck and much as I like Kenneth Brannagh, I found Andrei Sator to be a dreadfully dull villain. Then there's Elizabeth Debicki as Kat. Imagine her character from The Night Manager and that's what you get here. And no, that's not a compliment. She's horrendously written in this movie from start to finish. I'd even say she's the worst written character in the entire movie itself.

- Other actors who popped up included Himesh Patel, Michael Caine, Martin Donovan, Fiona Dourif and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a slew of fairly okay supporting roles.

- Once Upon A Time In The West was an inspiration for the film and Nolan watching spy films when writing this one.

- Standout music: Travis Scott's The Plan.

- Chronology: Took place in the likes of Kyiv, Oslo, Italy, Tallinn, Vietnam and London.

I gotta be honest, Tenet was definitely Christopher Nolan at his self indulgent worst. It's a movie desperate to be seen as being more clever than it is. In reality, it's a middle of the road spy story with a dull antagonist and a half baked side love story of sorts. On the plus side, the chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson did a lot of the heavy lifting for this film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Insomnia (2002)

 

Written by Hillary Seitz

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Will: "You don't get it do you, Finch? You're my job. You're what I'm paid to do. You're about as mysterious to me as a blocked toilet is to a fucking plumber. Reasons for doing what you did? Who gives a fuck?"

Delving into an earlier timeline, remember during the pre Batman days when Christopher Nolan was somewhat more small scale in his storytelling? Those were genuinely interesting times.

This movie for example was a straightforward enough cat and mouse detective drama with two top tier performances from both Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Of course, both men are on opposite sides of the law.

Al Pacino took on the role of hardened Will Dormer. The death of a young woman named Kay Connell (Crystal Lowe) had Will and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) being paired with Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank) in order to solve the case.

On the other hand, there's Walter Finch as played by Robin Williams. He's a writer of detective fiction and was more than happy to assist Dormer in cracking the case. He's also a killer, an expert at mind games and knew enough about Dormer to be a serious threat to the man.

For the most part, Dormer was a good man but he suffered from insomnia and that impaired his judgement at times. Dormer was also responsible for the death of his partner and bent the law to make sure that a paedophile was sent down. Finch had no problem trying to use these things to control Dormer. They only worked for a bit.

In fact, the closer that William got to Ellie, the more he was able to be honest with her about the things he had done. This however did put Ellie in danger and there was a tense stand off at a lake house between Dormer and Finch. It ended in a rather brutal way for both men that felt thematically satisfying either way.

- There's some strong supporting performances from Maura Tierney, Nicky Katt and Jonathan Jackson.

- This is the only film that Christopher Nolan has directed by not written or co-written. 

- Standout music: Coldplay's Sparks and Ivy's One More Last Kiss.

- Chronology: Dormer and Eckhart were from Los Angeles but this story took place in Nightmute, Alaska.

Insomnia (2002) reminded me of Nolan's earliest and more low key of movies. There's a part of me that would like to see him go back to that type of storytelling again, at least for one future movie. Getting back to this one, both Al Pacino and Robin Williams are just on mighty form here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Cecil B. Demented (2000)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Cecil: "I'm Cecil B. Demented, and you're in my movie. Do not look into the lens and ruin the shot or you will be shot."

Heading into the 2000s, was it the right time to make a film deeply critical of Hollywood? Maybe it was a case of being a little ahead of it's time. That's happened with certain directors before.

Let's take an actress named Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith). She's an A List actress but she's not very liked and one of her first scenes involved her humiliating her put upon publicist, Libby (Ricki Lake). She's also not a fan of Baltimore either.

Being in Baltimore for work however put her in the cross hairs of rebel filmmaker Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorf) and his band of misfits. Those involved actors like Cherish (Alicia Witt) and Lyle (Adrian Grenier), art director Lewis (Larry Giliard Jr), make up artist Raven (Maggie Gyllenhaal), hairstylist Rodney (Jack Noseworthy), driver Petie (Mike Shannon), costume designer Fidget (Eric M. Barry), sound artist Chardonnay (Zenzele Uzoma), cinematographer Pam (Erika Lynn Rupli) and producer Dinah (Harriet Dodge).

That's a lot of characters to keep up with for this particular band of terrorist filmmakers. Honey's not particularly thrilled with helping them but it's not long before their rebellious spirit started to rub off on her and she became a bit too willing to go along with Cecil's increasing demands.

This included disrupting a screening of the directors cut of Patch Adams, public filming, endangering the general public but on the plus side, Cecil and the gang did manage to do humanity by sabotaging an ill advised sequel to Forest Gump and a very public final act at a drive in theatre. I'll give Cecil his due, he certainly knew how to go out in a blaze of glory while Honey Whitlock might have given herself a defining career performance.

- Honey had an ex-husband played by Eric Roberts. He had problem blasting her on Roseanne Barr's show. John Waters and Mink Stole had minor roles.

- We got to see some of Cherish's pornographic past on the big screen. One of her moments involved a gerbil. I can't imagine who that was referring to.

- Standout music: Substance D's Everyday and Liberace's Ciao!

- Chronology: Baltimore of course in 2000.

Cecil B. Demented did take a bite out of so many trends in Hollywood that are rather relevant to today. I wasn't sure about this one at first but I found myself  pretty taken with this movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Rules Of Attraction (2002)

 

Written And Directed by Roger Avary

Sean: "I didn't know where I was going, some place unoccupied I hoped, at first I thought there were things about her I would never forget, But in the end all I could think about was-..."

I saw this movie only once and it was a few years after it's initial release. It wasn't a movie that particularly impressed me but I decided to go back to it recently. I can't say that time has altered my view on it.

Based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name, you've got well college students. None of whom are particularly likable but this movie did something of a deep dive on these particular characters.

Going in for LGBT representation first, there's Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder). He's a bisexual guy caught up in a love triangle with fellow students Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossamon) and Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek). Yes, that last is related to who you'd expect him to be related to.

It's a rather toxic triangle to watch unfold with all three characters being frustrating to watch and none of them on the same page as one another. Paul pined for Sean. Sean pined for Lauren but had no problem sleeping with Kelly (Kate Bosworth). Lauren also pined for her ex boyfriend Victor (Kip Pardue).

There's a whole segment in the movie that nearly delved into Victor's European exploits that were moderately entertaining enough to watch. Victor also had sex with Lara (Jessica Biel) and there's also a purple letter subplot involving Sean to boot.

It's a film where none of the three got what they truly wanted. Sean didn't get Lauren and left. Paul didn't get Sean but reflected on things with Lauren. Lauren didn't get back together with Victor.

- Casper Van Dien was cast as Patrick Bateman but his scene was ultimately cut from the film.

- There's some good support roles from Faye Dunaway, Swoosie Kurtz, Eric Stoltz and Fred Savage to name a few. Lot of recognisable people appear in this one.

- Standout music: James Van Der Beek's version of Anna Begins and George Michael's Faith.

- Chronology: Set at Camden College in New Hampshire.

The Rules Of Attraction was more of a frustrating than fun experience. Thr performances are fine and there's some interesting character bits but it didn't really come together that well as a film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Pecker (1998)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Pecker: "I love you Shelley! I love you more than Kodak!"

I'll admit that 1990s era John Waters might be his most interesting time. There's a clear attempt to be a little mainstream while also keeping with the shock value that his earlier works have done.

There's also more of a conscious effort to have a sympathetic main character and Pecker (Edward Furlong) might be his most likable to date. Pecker's genuinely a nice kid with a hobby and talent for taking photos.

Pecker's got a family he adored - parents Jimmy (Mark Joy) and Joyce (Mary Kay Place), sisters Tina (Martha Plimpton) and Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey) and his grandmother (Jean Schertler). The latter had a talking Virgin Mary statue and Pecker's family and girlfriend, Shelley (Christina Ricci) were incredibly supporting of his photography. They were also subjects too.

Anyways Pecker quickly caught the attention of New York art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) and pretty much became an overnight success. On the downside, it made Pecker a tad unpopular in his own town and his family a victim of burglary to boot.

There's a look into Pecker taking apart the elitism of the art work during the second half of the movie as well as getting back into the favour of his home town. It's a funny turn of events with Pecker this movie by proclaiming his own aspirations to make a movie himself.

- There's cameos and voice roles for John Waters, Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce respectively. Tobey Maguire was originally considered for Pecker but turned it down.

- Apparently Christina Ricci wasn't a fan of either Baltimore or laundromats. Shelley ran a laundromat obsessively.

- Standout music: Paul Evans's Happy-Go-Lucky Me.

- Chronology: 1990s Baltimore as well as a brief trip to New York.

Pecker (1998) does have a certain charm to it. It's not John Waters best effort but neither would it be his worst. I think Edward Furlong did a good job in making the character as likable as he could've done.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Inception (2010)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cobb: "I need to get home. That's all I care about right now."

Ariadne: "Why can't you go home?"

Cobb: "Because they think I killed her."

One of my favourite films from the 2010s and one of the best movies from Christopher Nolan himself. Released between his two billion dollar movies from a certain trilogy, Nolan was cooking something truly extraordinary here.

Most of his players from The Dark Knight trilogy factor into this film but it's Leonardo DiCaprio who was leading the events as Dom Cobb. Cobb was an extractor along with Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Their mission involved striking their targets subconscious to extract information. Needless to say there was going to be a fall out from that.

The fallout being the death of Cobb's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). She served both as a femme fatale and a guilty conscience of sorts for Cobb with some rather heated moments between both former spouses. There's some genuinely strong chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard throughout the movie.

Cobb however had a mission courtesy of Japanese businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe). The mission involved extracting information from Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) and for that Cobb needed a team.

This was where characters like Ariadne (Elliot Page), Eames (Tom Hardy), Yusuf (Dileep Rao) and Stephen Miles (Michael Caine) factored into things. All of them had certain skill sets that Cobb and Arthur needed for the mission.

It's a chaotic mission with various details into the complexity of the dream world, including limbo being outlined. There's a lot of mind bending sequences, a deep dive in Cobb's own family guilt as well as the use of a totem to see if the real world was still out there. 

- Various actors, including the likes of Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt and James Franco. Some of these actors also turned Nolan down for certain parts.

- Other actors included Lukas Haas, Peter Postlethwaite and Talulah Riley. The latter's role was rather amusing.

- Standout music: Édith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

- Chronology: Largely set in the dream world, but also in Lis Angeles.

Inception (2010) deserves the accolades bestowed upon it. It's a mind bending madness of delight with weighty themes and a series of exceptional performances. It's really one of the best things I've seen Leonardo DiCaprio in and I hope that one day he will work Christopher Nolan again.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Interstellar (2014)

 

Written by Jonathan Nolan And Christopher Nolan

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cooper: "We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt."

Yes, I'm going backwards here, given the previous movie from this director that I reviewed. Christopher Nolan has explored many things but him tackling a space based story wasn't on my bingo card at the time.

Coming off a massively successful Batman trilogy, Nolan clearly had blockbusters on the brain and this one was lofty in its ambitious but at the same time, it felt quietly intimate. It's about a family man and he just happened to be played by Matthew McConaughey.

McConaughey took on the role of former NASA pilot turned farmer, Joseph "Coop" Cooper. Being a farmer wasn't something he seemed content with because the moment he had the opportunity to venture back into space, he certainly seized it with both hands.

Cooper being part of the Endurance meant leaving behind his children - Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and Murph (Mackenzie Foy). The latter didn't exactly take her father's departure particularly well but she would follow her father footsteps and surpass him in many ways.

As much as the film focused on Cooper and Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) off planet, there was an equal amount of focus placed on Murph. We got to see older versions of her, played by both Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn respective and I gotta be honest, I found her a lot interesting to watch than her father. Saying that, there's no denying that Cooper's absence really did inspire the choices that Murph made with her life and their final reunion was beautifully bittersweet.

As per usual, there's a lot of supporting players from Nolan's collection of actors as well as some newer ones in the mix. Both John Lithgow and Casey are on good form as Cooper's father in law, Donald and the older version of Tom respectively. Matt Damon had a good supporting role as Dr Mann while Michael Caine popped up as Amelia's father, Professor John Brand.

- Other actors in sizeable roles included Wes Bentley, Topher Grace, David Gyasi and Josh Stewart to name a few.

- The method of space travel for the movie was based on Dr. Kip Thorne's work. He provided guidelines for the movie.

- Standout music: Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

- Chronology: This movie spanned several decades. Cooper reunited with Murph as she was dying of old age.

Interstellar (2014) might be one of the best movies from Christopher Nolan. It's a genuinely beautiful movie from start to finish with incredible performances all round from everyone involved. The last few minutes alone are breathtaking.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Tumbleton"

 

Written by David Hancock 

Directed by Clare Kilner 

Ormund (to Daeron): "Now, you must be king."

And just like that, James Norton became the MVP of Season 3. I both love and hate Ormund Hightower in equal measures. He's a breath of fresh air and he's also a toxic menace. The influence he's got on Daeron was staggering to watch.

In his own twisted way, I don't doubt that he might love Daeron but Ormund made it abundantly clear that he's got a deep hatred for the Targaryan bloodline. The way he talked about Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne was one thing but he wanted Daeron to usurp both Aegon II and Aemond as well.

He didn't hold back with testing Daeron by having the poor lad murder Hugh's brother in law. Oh, the brother in law by the way committed the crime of protecting his sister from Ormund's rapist soldier. Sadly, Daeron did exactly what Ormund wanted and just like that, both Aegon II and Aemond are no longer Rhaenyra's biggest threats.

Speaking of Aegon II, he's not having the best time. Both him and Larys have become latrine cleaners and Aegon's reunion with Sunfyre had Larys dismissing the possibility of the poor dragon still being alive. I hate that I actually feel a little bad for Aegon II this season.

As for Aemond, he's still not around but Criston got to have a delightful conversation with Alys where the latter made it clear not to mess with her. Criston's encounter with her certainly spooked him and also forced both him and Gwayne to get along and ditch Harrenhal for Tumbleton. 

Back to King's Landing, it was nice to see Rhaenyra find some common ground with Alyn, put Ulf in his place, appoint a Master of Coin on Mysaria's advice, get some useful information on Ormund from Alicent but once again, it seemed like there will be more tension between her and Daemon. Rhaenyra did a lot this episode, including trying to get the upper hand on her latest threat.

Speaking of Daemon, he didn't exactly have the greatest of meetings with Lady Jeyne but he did get some gold. Daemon also discovered that Rhaena was responsible for Jace's death and his attempts to remedy things will only make things worse. As for Rhaena, she's just taking herself out of the equation.

- Ormund certainly had a temper that Daeron was too aware of. Ormund's also sensitive to smells.

- Helaena is pregnant, which so far only Alicent is aware of. It doesn't seem she's too far along either.

- Torrhen Manderly was appointed Master of Coin. Orwyle was allowed to keep his position but has to work with Mysaria. Daemon's mistrust for the latter keeps growing.

- Ormund's view on sexual assault leave a lot to be desired, even if he did geld that soldier of his. He's also not a fan of dragons or incest.

- Corlys was still pissed at Rhaenyra that he went off to fight more Triarchy remnants. 

- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Tumbleton might be the weakest compared to the first three episodes but it's a great showcase for both James Norton and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. The Ormund/Daeron dynamic might be toxic but it's fascinating to watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "The Death Of Superman"

 

Written by Marguerite Bennett 

Directed by Chris Palmer 

Lex (to Jon): "I hear you're trying to travel back to the past. That really doesn't work for me. Where would you even get an idea like that?"

I'm never going to get a Superman media that won't do this story, huh? This episode kind of subverted the idea with consequences. It also turned out that, future wise, Jon Kent cannot catch a break.

In this present day scenario, Hank Henshaw went on the mother of all rampages in his quest to actually kill Superman. Hank was also rather keen to kill Supergirl and Superboy and almost came close to taking all three out.

In between the big fights moments, Jon brought everyone up to speed on the future he came from. Both Superman and Lois dead. Supergirl raising him until he died. Doctor Luthor being the one to help him. It was a lot for Superman, Supergirl and Lois to take in. 

The big battles itself were the best the show has accomplished so far. It really felt like Cyborg Superman was going to annihilate all three heroes until things took a rather tragic turn for him. On top of that, Superman just lost his powers and Superboy had to go back to his own timeline.

Speaking of timelines, it turned out that things could definitely get worse. Instead of Cyborg Superman devastating the world, try a mashup of Lex Luthor/Brainiac and Eradicators. Yet again, another episode ending on one hell of a cliffhanger. This season isn't pulling it's punches.

- Lois got to punch Lex, much to Slade's delight. Lex challenged her on being Superman's girlfriend.

- Kara being the one to train Jon led to some rather cute flashbacks between the two. Kara thought Jon hated her when the truth was the exact opposite.

- I liked the changing of the title card for this episode. It worked in highlighting the more serious tone here.

- Chronology: Stopping Cyborg Superman led to a worse future where Jon is called Jonathan Lane. 

The Death Of Superman has been done so many, many times but I did genuinely like this take on the idea. How long will Superman go without his powers? Is this future going to be resolved quickly or will it play out for the remainder of the season? It's gotta be the latter.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Dunkirk (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan

Tommy (to Alex): "We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be..."

With The Odyssey set to hit cinemas in less than a week, I'm going to try and watch and review as many Christopher Nolan movies that I've not watched in a while. Chances are I'll complete his filmography after reviewing his imminent release.

I'm also not reviewing them in release order but that's probably apparent by this particular choice. Remember when Nolan made movies that were under two hours? That was early into his career and as recently with this World War II era story. This was also a movie that was rather sparse on dialogue too.

Opting for a nonlinear narrative, there's a focus on a young British soldier named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead). His squadmates were lost and he helped another soldier Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) bury a body survive a Luftwaffe dive-bomber attack. Then he saved a Highlander named Alex (Harry Styles). Alex, Gibson and Tommy are almost killed but managed to barely survive.

Things then moved on to a father and son named Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) and Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) as well as George (Barry Keoghan). They made up the Royal Navy part of the story, saving a shell shock stricken officer (Cillian Murphy). There's also some rather and son conflict with George being a casualty in the mix.

There's also three Royal Air Force Spitfires that were flying towards Dunkirk. There's a focus on characters like Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) with involvement from Peter. The latter being responsible for saving Collins.

The third act revealed a betrayal among the first group of Tommy, Gibson and Alex and it's effectively handled while Farrier also had his own moments to do something heroic. The last few moments of the film then gave the other characters different outcomes, some arguably better than others.

- Other actors that factored in the movie were Michael Caine, James D'Arcy, Kenneth Brannagh, Luke Thompson and Harry Collett.

- The twelve ships that participated in the Dunkirk evacuation were re-enacted for the movie.

- Standout music: Benjamin Wallfisch's Variation 15 (Dunkirk).

- Chronology: The summer of 1940 during the Battle of France.

Dunkirk (2017) certainly portrayed the events in both a harrowing and bombastic way with some fine performances from most of Christopher Nolan's players on board. It's a compelling look into this particular moment in history and one of Nolan's finest films.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Serial Mom (1994)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Chip: "Mom, are you a serial killer?"

Beverly: "The only "serial" I know anything about is Rice Krispies."

For the last two movies, we've gone down the musical route and forbidden love stories. Now, we've got a suburban housewife with something of a darker side.

Yup, that's Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner). On the surface she appeared to be a devoted wife to husband, Eugene (Sam Waterson) and teenagers Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). That's being the surface of course.

In reality, Beverly was a much darker person that delighted in making obscene phone calls to her neighbour, Dottie Hinkle (Mink Stole) over a parking space slight. Beverly's something of an easily slighted person. Even her litterbug neighbour Rosemary Ackerman (Mary Jo Catlett) came close to death a few times.

In fact, Beverly's reaction to being slighted went beyond obscene phone calls. Over the course of the movie, Beverly murdered various people who slighted or even mildly inconvenienced her family. That included a maths teacher, her daughter's cheating boyfriend and a patient and his wife of Eugene. Throw in an Annie obsessed neighbour and Chip's best friend, Scotty Barnhill (Justin Whalin) and Beverly's stacked up an impressive body count.

As a serial killer, Beverly's a campy delight to watch. She's completely in denial about her killer tendencies and her family's ongoing dread as the police close in on her was fun to watch. There's two detectives - Pike (Scott Wesley Morgan) and Gracey (Walt MacPherson) who delighted in finally catching her out.

The trial itself was the absolute highlight of the movie. Beverly representing herself and tearing apart the likes of Dottie and the detective to get off was brilliant. There's even a rather good use of Suzanne Somers as Beverly revealed her killer tendencies on poor Juror #8 (Patty Hearst). White shoes after Labour Day isn't a good idea around Beverly.

- John Waters voiced Ted Bundy for a brief scene. Mary Vivian Pearce popped up as a book buyer.

- Beverly had a thing for birds, specifically starlings. Her other taste in books however were more fitting for her crimes.

- Standout music: L7's Gas Chamber.

- Chronology: From May to October and of course in a suburban Towson, Maryland setting.

Serial Mom had me in absolute stitches. It's a delightful black comedy with Kathleen Turner on incredible form as the demented Beverly Sutphin. She's utterly charming and dangerous and there's too many laugh out loud moments among some horrifying scenes.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Thoroughbreds (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Cory Finley

Amanda (to Lily): "You cannot hesitate. The only thing worse than being incompetent, or being unkind, or being evil, is being indecisive."

I fancied something of a black comedy and I remember that I saw this movie late at night a few years ago. I tracked it down again and watched it to refresh my memory. Two teenage girls and one much darker than the other. 

If you've ever seen the movie Heavenly Creatures, this movie felt like it was riffing some similar plot strands. You've got rich girl Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy). She's been hired to "tutor" social outcast and emotionless Amanda (Olivia Cooke). The latter clocked this immediately.

There was a time when both Lily and Amanda were friends but drifted apart. Amanda also opened the movie by performing a mercy killing on her horse but rumours of that incident have portrayed her in a much worse light to her peers. Is Amanda truly devoid of emotions?

She's definitely convinced that she's devoid of them and she was more than happy to show Lily how to fake crying pretty well. Amanda also quickly worked out how much Lily hated her stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks). It's not like Lily made much of an effort to conceal her hatred for him.

In fact, it was slightly comical when Lily pretended to be affronted by Amanda's suggestion of killing Mark, only to openly embrace the idea in very little time. Trying to get local drug dealer Tim (Anton Yelchin) to perform the task however turned out to be more of a challenge. He wisely opted not to get dragged into their crazy scheme. 

As for the actual murder itself, Lily being the one to get her hands dirty but frame Amanda for the deed didn't surprise me. Amanda even going along with it almost didn't phase me either. In a bittersweet way, both girls got what they wanted.

- Tim had a conviction for statutory rape and ended up as a valet in the last scene. Mark was definitely coercive controlling Lily's mother. Anton Yelchin died shortly after filming.

- Keeping with the horse theme, there's one scene where Amanda started making horse noises. She even dreamed of a world with Thoroughbreds.

- Standout music: King Harvest's Dancin' In The Moonlight and Rome Will Burn's Chameleon.

- Chronology: Set in a suburban Connecticut.

Thoroughbreds (2017) might lift from better films but it did manage to hold it's own reasonably well. Both Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy are on solid ground with this one. A good final performance from Anton Yelchin too, I might add.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Cry-Baby (1990)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Cry-Baby (to Mrs. Vernon-Williams): "I may be a drape, but I love your granddaughter. And if that's a crime, I'll stand convicted, ma'am."

How do you follow up a success of sorts like Hairspray (1988)? For John Waters, it seemed like coming out with another musical focusing on teenagers was the way to go. Throw in a forbidden love story and there was potential for success here.

The 1990s were certainly a decade for Johnny Depp as an actor and he's suitably cast as bad boy teen rebel Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker. Cry-Baby was part of a group called "drapes" and everyone else was a "square" by comparison. 

One square in particular was Allison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane). It took virtually nothing for Cry-Baby and Allison to fall madly in love with one another. There's some opposition from Allison's grandmother (Polly Bergen) and the boring Baldwin (Stephen Mailer) but Allison's love for Cry-Baby shone throughout.

Allison was happy to get a makeover from Cry-Baby's single mother sister, Pepper (Ricki Lake) and her friends, Wanda (Traci Lords) and Mona (Kim McGuire). There's also Cry-Baby and Pepper's fun grandmother, Ramona Rickettes (Susan Tyrrell) and her fella, Belvedere (Iggy Pop). They're a fun bunch of characters to watch.

Anyways, the love story with Cry-Baby and Allison largely worked, the former had a spell in a boys training school before being set free and we got a game of chicken between Cry-Baby and Baldwin, which in a predictable turn of events the latter ended up losing. On the other hand, at least the drape got the square, so it ended on a rather happy note.

- There's an amusing subplot where one of the female drapes was going to be sent to Sweden as part of a student exchange.

- Mink Stole appeared as Mrs. Malnorowski. She seems to be one of the few constants in John Waters movies.

- Standout music: Women In Cadillacs, A Teenage Prayer, The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane and Please Mr. Jailer.

- Chronology: 1954 Baltimore. Both Cry-Baby and Allison confessed to being orphans.

Cry-Baby (1990) doesn't quite hit the same way as Hairspray (1988) but it's a solid enough outing for everyone involved. Nice enough musical numbers but somewhat let down by a rather rushed ending.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Pixie (2020)

 

Written by Preston Thompson

Directed by Barnaby Thompson 

Harland: "I'm sorry we didn't fucking cover body disposal in our economics course."

Throwing in an Irish movie where two thirds of the main protagonists are played by English actors, because why not? To be fair, the actors in question do manage to deliver convincing enough Irish accents. I'll let it slide.

This movie pivoted around Olivia Cooke, who took on the title role. Pixie started the movie by having two fellas - Fergus (Fra Free) and Colin (Rory Fleck Byrne) playing off each other in order to acquire some MDMA from a group of gangster priests. Yup, you heard that correctly.

Pixie wanted a new life in San Francisco and she was determined to get it any way that she could. She came from a family of gangsters - stepfather Dermot (Colm Meaney), stepbrother Mickey (Turlough Convery) and a stepsister named Summer (Olivia Byrne). Dermot and Summer doted on Pixie whereas Mickey hated her guts, so much so that he had Pixie's mother killed to make her suffer.

The death of Fergus and disappearance of Colin created a lot of tension, including the attention of gangster priest, Father Hector McGrath (Alec Baldwin). The third act would involve one of the nuttiest shoot outs in a local parish that you'll ever see.

For most of the movie though, Pixie found herself aligned with local drifters Frank (Ben Hardy) and Harland (Daryl McCormack). Both men were easily attracted to and led by Pixie, enabling her antics. Despite Pixie being open about her duplicitous ways, both Frank and Harland were shocked when she got one up on them.

They're an entertaining trio to actually watch throughout the whole movie. There's even a moment that predated Challengers and it's as fun to watch here as it was in that movie. You'll know exactly the one I'm talking about. I also liked that Pixie got to avenge her mother, twice over. 

- Another of Pixie's ex-boyfriends appeared during that shoot out. Gareth (Sebastian DeSouza) was the son of Hector.

- Other actor appearances included Pat Shortt, Chris Whalley, Dylan Moran and Ned Dennehy. All had some good scenes.

- Standout music: Horace Silver's Song For My Father and Marlena Shaw's California Soul.

- Chronology: The movie was set in Sligo. Pixie's mother had been killed by Colin (under Mickey's instructions) four years ago.

Pixie (2020) turned out to be a delight. It doesn't do anything new for the genre but it's a lot of fun. Olivia Cooke delighted as the title character and the supporting cast are great. There's plenty to enjoy here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Hairspray (1988)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Iggy: "Would you swim in an integrated swimming pool?"

Tracy: "I sure would, Iggy. I'm a modern kind of girl, I'm all for integration."

After so many transgressive movies, could John Waters really make a mainstream hit and not lose his voice? If this was anything to go by, it appeared that he could. Oh and it's a musical to boot.

Set during 1960s Baltimore, you've got the pleasantly plump Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake). While she exasperated her loving parents Edna (Divine) and Wilbur (Jerry Stiller), Tracy had a dream to appear on Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson) variety dance show. 

Tracy didn't have to try very hard because she managed to get her dream to come true and bitchy rival, Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick) couldn't derail her. Then again, neither could Amber's awful parents Franklin (Sonny Bono) and Velma (Debbie Harry) and they certainly wanted to.

Tracy became such an instant hit on The Corny Collins Show that she got Amber's former boyfriend, Lincoln "Link" Larkin (Michael St. Gerard) as her new dance partner and boyfriend and booked a modelling contract from Hefty Hideaway's Mr Pinky (Alan Wendl). Aside from put into special ed for her hair, everything was going in Tracy's favour.

On top of that the presence of Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs (Ruth Brown) and her son, Seaweed (Clayton Prince) brought up the issue of integration versus segregation. Most of the characters were for integration with only Amber, her parents and WZZT station manager Arvin Hodgepile (Divine) being against the idea.

There's a nice love story between Seawood and Tracy's best friend, Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers), although the latter's mother, Prudence (Jo Ann Havrilla) tried to put a stop to it but love conquered all as did the majority of Baltimore wanting integration. Even a spell in reform school couldn't stop Tracy from getting one up on Amber as well.

- This was Divine's last role. He passed away around the release of the movie.

- John Waters had a rather amusing role as Dr. Fredrickson. Toussaint McCall appeared as himself. Mink Stole popped up as Tammy and Josh Charles as Iggy.

- Standout music: Hairspray, I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song) and Nothing Takes The Place Of You.

- Chronology: 1962 and 1963, Baltimore, Maryland.

Hairspray (1988) was a joy from start to finish. A fun musical with some great numbers, a few nice love stories and a good exploration into the changing times and importance of society also changing for the better.

Rating: 8 out of 10