Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008 Woody Allen & scr)

 The shocking revelation - it doesn't rain!! (Though there is a bit of a storm flying in to Oviedo.)

Quite an interesting film for Woody, in many ways.

Doesn't he write a cracking story?

Hotel de la Reconquista, Oviedo

If Wes Anderson Directed Vicky Cristina Barcelona is funny.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005 Dan Ireland & co-scr)

I don't know how much of this is from the book but it's special - a film with no bad guys. Loved the line "Good Lord - we're trapped in a Terence Rattigan play!" Adapted by Ruth Sacks. So love the last couple of minutes which - to copy Orson Welles again - would make a stone cry. (Isn't Ryan Gosling's new film something about a stone?)

Ireland co-founded the Seattle International Film Festival, then became a film buyer before branching into direction. Weirdly his online obits say he died aged 57, but in fact he was 66 (heart attack). The film is dedicated "With all the thanks and love in the world, Betty Ireland."

Joan Plowright was indeed Laurence Olivier's third wife; she only died last year, aged 95. Apart from Enchanted April I can't really think of anything else she's been in. Tea with Mussolini, Equus, Uncle Vanya (two different versions), The Entertainer.

Some of the acting veers a bit into overkill, but there's no arguing with Plowright, Rupert Friend, Anna Massey and Zoe Telford.

Ellis - Season 2 (2026)

 4 x 45 minutes reunites Sharon D Clarke and Andrew Gower.

Ashenham. Sian Ejiwunmi-le Berre. Younf offenders programmer is murdered. Links back to something that happened years before. Never heard that plot before.

Elmsly. Oliver Frampton. Murder in stone factory links to sex traffickers.

Drones should be banned. Here's why. There's a drone shot of a manhunt in progress. Yawn.

Now, imagine if your camera was low down on the crest of a hill. And over the hill one by one appear police with sniffer dogs. isn't hat a much more potent image than the aerial one?

The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988 Billy Hale)

Larry McMurtry was responsible for putting together this (what seems) largely very accurate depiction of events in Georgia in 1913 - not only a terrible miscarriage of justice but an acknowledgment that lynching by mob was then unchallengeable. Jeffrey Lane and George Stevens Jr wrote the teleplay and Stevens narrated and produced it for Orion Television.

Maurice Jarre composed, Nic Knowland photographed, John Martinelli edited it into two two hour films (won ACE and Emmy).

The posthumous pardon was only finally issued, somewhat grudgingly, in 1986, so this was in a way extremely topical. It remains a terrible indictment of prejudice (not just racial - south v north). Won Emmy for outstanding miniseries.

Many memorable moments: the appearance of the 'World's Greatest Detective' and the reason the woman has been going along with the murderer in prison; interrogations by Lemmon; the court proceedings overtaken by the Southerners singing an anthem; the secret of the office boy; the calmness with which Frank meets his end.

Good cast: Jack Lemmon (Emmy nominated), Peter Gallagher (Leo Frank), Richard Jordan, Robert Prosky, Kathryn Walker (Governor's wife), Rebecca Miller (convicted man's long suffering wife), Paul Dooley, Charles S. Dutton (good as the murderer, A Time To Kill), Kevin Spacey, Cynthia Nixon, Kenneth Welsh, Dylan Baker, William H Macy.

Ann Hite's 'I am a Georgian: The Life of Lucille Selig Frank, 1888-1957' (2025) sounds good, published in Macon, GA by Mercer University Press. David Mamet used the story for his novel 'The Old Religion' (1997) but reviews say it's quite interior and difficult to read.

And this is the South - what's amazing is that they didn't just find the Black Man guilty and string him up.

To Rome with Love (2012 Woody Allen & scr)

 We're not clever enough to understand this joke:

"My brain doesn't fit the usual id-ego-superego model."
"No, you have the only brain with three ids."

Antonio Albanese

"What's next - Tosca in a phone booth?"

Silent Witness (2015)

Falling Angels. Graham Mitchell / Craig Viveiros.

A bewildering turn of events unfolds with homeless man Jack Roth (son of Tim; good) seeming to commit random murders, whilst new lover Leila Mimmack stands by him. All revealed in good twist. Again it's not pathology that seems to be at work rather than forensics.

In parallel Nikki investigates the death of detective Richard (Rebus) Rankin's father - which turns into another twist.

My only problem is that we don't get any motivation for the homeless man's behaviour but otherwise it's a good, sneaky one.

The Walsh Sisters (2025 Stefanie Preissner)

Marion Keyes' novels provide source for Dublin sisters Louisa Harland, Caroline Menton (out of control), Danielle Galligan, Máiréad Tyers and Stefanie Preissner; Carrie Crowley and Aiden Quinn are parents. The mother is horrible.

Most engaging bits - when we hear just how bad a drunk and druggie Menton was from her boyfriend; and Harland's encounter with a fellow griever at the cemetery.

It was OK; we were somehow not really that involved.

Shrinking - Season 3 (2026)

Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Harrison Ford, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, Christa Miller, Michael J Fox, Devin Kawaoka.

Ted and Liz have to kick their son out so he can make something of himself. Brian and Charlie have a baby. Sean's girlfriend returns. Great to see Fox as Parkinson's patient. Paul is retiring. Alice is going to Uni.

Various writers. Good stuff.

Silent Witness: Season 18 (2015)

Sniper's Nest. Ed Whitmore. Director David Richards.

One of those ones in which (one of the) perpetrators is someone you haven't met during the whole two hours, so it seems like a bit of a cheat. Random sniper strikes. Like some of the other films, pathology doesn't seem particularly relevant.

Zoe Telford and Sean Gilder are up against it. Adam Wilson is good as the juvenile murderer (and we thought of Adolescence).

Sadie McKee (1934 Clarence Brown)

"Your name's Sadie.. And your mother's a cook." Edward Arnold plays the most annoying drunk since that Spencer Tracy film we couldn't watch. Actually he's not as annoying as him, but.. Oh yeah, it's Mrs Merton's question - "What was it about millionaire drunk Edward Arnold that appealed to you?" His horribly drunken behaviour is just Pre-Code, as is fade out on kiss in hotel room.

And all because the guy she's run away to New York with to marry proves to be a worthless whore. Will decent but privileged Franchot Tone save the day?

Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, Esther Ralston (man-stealer), Earl Oxford, Jean Dixon (world weary friend), Leo G Carroll (his debut), Akim Tamiroff (his first credited role), Helen Ware.

John Meehan adapted a story by Viña Delmar. Oliver T Marsh photographed, one of 15 Crawford films he shot from as far back as 1925.

Great little song 'After You've Gone' performed on piano, guitar and double bass by Gene Austin, Candy Candido and Otto Heimel.

28.40, 30.26, 36.10.

Lord of the Flies (2026 Jack Thorne)

Thorne has preserved much of William Golding's story and even the time period, probably a good idea.

The island location is good (Malaysia), the music different (Cristobal Tapia de Veer, The White Lotus), the extremely wide lenses weird (Mark Wolf). Mátyás Fekete / Andonis Trattos edited alternately.

Directed by Marc Munden.

Good cast: with Winston Sawyers (Ralph), Lox Pratt (Jack), David McKenna (Piggy), Ike Talbut (Simon).

Second part, Ralph, features a brilliantly handled pig hunt.

Silent Witness: Fraternity (2014 Graham Mitchell / Dušan Lazarević)

Is Jack's half brother Owen McDonnell the killer of a schoolgirl? No, or course not, but he is ultimately responsible for other dodgy stuff that gets him nicked. Leaving us clinician Liam Garrigan a prime suspect.

The murderer attempts to kill Jack but is somehow unsuccessful. Their identity is somewhat unlikely.

Ashley Walters investigates with bad grace. Haydn Gwynne is a stand in pathologist. Kirsty Besterman, Clare Calbraith, Teresa Churcher, Daisy Ridley.

A Woman's Face (1941 George Cukor)

From a play 'It Etait Une Fois' by Francis de Croisset, which had been adapted  as an Ingrid Bergman Swedish film En Kvinnas Ansikte in 1937, and it was she who came up with the ending - that she would face trial for murder but the outcome wasn't known. This of course had to be changed to the happier ending that MGM audiences were expecting, by Donald Ogden Stewart and Elliot Paul. It was a big hit.

The scarred faces compared:

Bergman's diary reveals she cried in the studio - not from the pain of the makeup but because she was so 'bad'

Thanks to Musings for saving me the trouble.

Both versions take the form of a trial in which various witnesses come forward and present the story of the scarred and (emotionally) ugly woman blackmailer, beginning with a cohort in Donald Meek, who explains how Crawford blackmailing an adulterous woman Osa Massen leads her to meet plastic surgeon Melvyn Douglas, and her transformation begins. But she's being manipulated by evil Conrad Veidt (was he ever the good guy?) who wants her to kill his nephew, a little boy, and so we are led to the snowy, er, hills of Hollywood, and Albert Basserman, Marjorie Main and young Richard Nichols.

There's a very exciting sled chase / race at the end, edited by Frank Sullivan (and without music) and Robert Planck's photography of these scenes and Ms Crawford's face are equally good. Bronislau Kaper's score is not to the fore.

Lots of recognisable people in cast include Reginald Owen, Connie Gilchrist, Gwili Andre, Henry Daniell, George Zucco, Robert Warwick.

Silent Witness - Season 17 (2014)

To get over the bad taste left by the Louis Theroux doc we turned instead to abduction, torture, rape and murder - how very British of us.

In a Lonely Place by Ed Whitmore and Tracey Malone (Whitmore) takes place in the Scottish Highlands. Not one but several bodies are uncovered - effectively depicted as sniffer dogs one by one sit on places of corpses. It all links to a seedy pole dancing club.

Martin Compston investigates along with his old 'pals' Robert Cavanah and Gary Lewis, principal suspect is Christopher Hatherall. It's got quite a merry-go-round of a plot (though Q thinks table tennis is a more apposite analogy).

Enjoyably cruel and far-fetched idea to have the victim who got away kidnapped and tortured again - at least she survives - Nicola Grier.

Then in Undertone (Ed Whitmore again, with Declan Croghan) the corpse of a young women, who has had a baby removed, is linked to a drug dealing Turkish gang - this one of the quite unlikely ones. Akin Gazi is memorable as the baddie, Sean Gallagher as the very bad cop, Morvern Christie his subordinate.

Why the other cop is shot at the beginning is I think not explored.

The Alexandra Road Estate (aka Rowley Way) in Camden is a location we've seen before:

... notably in Breaking and Entering.

Loved Jack taking out the bad guy who has him at gunpoint.

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (2026 Adrian Choa)

Louis chums up with some utterly despicable and twisted people with no brains and decides that their promotion of mancentric things and Matrix-fuelled conspiracy theories are all organised to make sales for them and no one else - Louis'  $500 investment managed by 'billionaire brokers' quickly expires. 

Utterly depressing - the world has gone backwards.

Funded by Netflix.

Rooster (2026 Bill Lawrence / Mark Tarses)

New Steve Carrell comedy for HBO revolves around University. Carrell is a best selling author who drops in to look after recently separated daughter Charly Clive, finds himself sequestered (the wrong word I know) by college professor Danielle Deadwyler. Brit Phil Dunster is the ex, who's now with Lauren Tsai ("I'm funnier than everyone thinks"). Eccentric Dean is John C McGinley.

Oscars 2026

Conan O'Brien is a capable host - some of the skits, like old films remade for vertical, Casablanca over-explained (with Sterling K Brown as Sam) and the advertising that would appear if the Oscars were screened on YouTube are good - some of the 'jokey' bits by presenters are just screamingly awful.

No real surprises here - Wunmi lost out to Amy Madigan for Weapons; Leo lost to Michael B Jordan in Sinners. Sean Penn won again for Supporting. Paul Thomas Anderson won the Wilder hattrick, reflecting how important that film was perceived to be by the Academy.

The K Pop band were rather unfairly musiced over.

But the real seismic event was the first time a woman won Best Cinematography. Women must have won in all the major categories before so rather belatedly they're now caught up on this one. Congratulations to Autumn Durald Arkapaw for Sinners. Rachel Morrison had been nominated for Mudbound in 2017, Mandy Walker for Elvis in 2022.

Despite Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident being in competition for Foreign Film, the Norwegian Sentimental Value won.

Silent Witness (2014)

Coup de Grace Graham Mitchell / David Richards. Very diffused photography. Nikki helps acquit suspected murderer Michael Socha (pronounced, I am informed, 'So-cha') but then more murders in his style take place. Nikki gets too close to defence lawyer Tobias Menzies. Meanwhile detective Lorraine Ashbourne is convinced they had the right man all along.

The House in Marsh Road (1960 Montgomery Tully)

Patricia Dainton inherits a family house giving her and her wastrel husband Tony Wright a place to crash, and from where he can 'write'. The house seems inhabited by a poltergeist,  as pointed out by housekeeper Anita-Sharp Bolster, which the husband doesn't love, but he's soon after glamorous (by that I mean she's prone to wearing shiny slacks) single typist Sandra Dorne, who's a bad girl and indifferent to stealing a woman's husband. He's a real sleaze, did I mention that? Even to the point of planning to murder his wife. But - and this is a neat twist - the house (or the poltergeist) has other ideas... The ending is the best part of this short 66 minute indie, which despite many shortcomings remains watchable.

Written by Maurice Wilson from a story by Laurence Meynell. Didn't know any of the crew except for nascent director, first AD Douglas Hickox.

I was initially caught by John Veale's opening credits music, which in melody and orchestration sounds like a trial run for Barry's Thunderball theme. The rest of the music is more routine but you wonder.

Silent Witness: Season 17 opener (2014)

Commodity. Timothy Prager / Daniel O'Hara.

New pathologist Richard Lintern steps in to take Leo's job (Nikki didn't want it). 

Jack has insulted a detective (Adrian Rawlins). So he has to apologise, but Lintern endears himself to us (and the team) by making the DI apologise as well. Then he leaves Nikki with Leo's old creaky chair.

The plot is all about whether a cocky footballer has murdered the ex nanny.