21 Grams (2003 Alejandro Gonzalez Iňarritu)

Written by Guillermo Arriaga.

Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benecio del Toro, Melissa Leo (his wife), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Sean's ex), Eddie Marsan, Danny Huston.

Ph. Rodrigo Prieto. Del Toro and Watts both nominated.

"Arriaga is a Mexican legend...[he] doesn't think in straight lines. His greatest hits are splintered masterpieces that look as if they've been bashed around with a sledgehammer and then beautifully reassembled in the fourth dimension." James Christopher, The Times.

I sort of know what this means. The  Iňarritu/Arriaga partnership was quite influential (think Crash, Traffic, Syriana) but the way this jumps around in time is totally absorbing, especially with the occasional guitar tremolo of Gustavo Santaolalla (wrote The Others, Linha de Passe, Oscars for Brokeback Mountain (05) and Babel (06)).

Did they like Nic Roeg?

Ministry of Fear (1943 Fritz Lang)

Paramount. Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Dan Duryea (pronounced 'Durr-ee-ay'), Carl Esmond (brother), Hillary Brooks (clairvoyant)

Scr. Graham Greene (novel apparently interesting) & Seton Miller.
Music Victor Young, Miklos Rosza
Ph. Henry Sharp (Duck Soup)

How can you not like a film that begins with an insane asylum, a mysterious cake, and a blind man who isn't blind?

Packed with interesting stuff in its 80 minutes.

Loved the final bullet hole through the door.

A Guide for the Married Man (1967 Gene Kelly)

Robert Morse (now in Mad Men) guides Walter Matthau how to cheat 'sensitively' on Inger Stevens.

Terry-Thomas and disappearing bra sketch, and man who denies everything, best.

Ph. in Panavision Joe McDonald, scr. Frank Tarloff. 20th Century Fox.

Kelly seems to be a bum man:

Almost Famous: Untitled (2000 Cameron Crowe and scr.)

Director's cut.

Billy Crudup (guitarist), Frances McDormand (AA nom), Patrick Fugit (William), Kate Hudson (AA nom), Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), Zooey Deschanel (sister), Anna Paquin, Philip Seymour Hoffman

ph. John Toll

Has a lightness of touch that makes 2 1/2 hour running time not seem long or padded; consistently funny.

As semi-autobiography (Cameron worked for Rolling Stone and in 1975 went on tour with The Allman Brothers for three weeks, aged 18) it catches the places and times brilliantly. Kate steals the film (when William tells her she was sold for 50 bucks and a case of beer she asks "What kind of beer?") as Penny Lane.

Why we didn't own a copy already... And I must write to Cameron!

Frances also good, running gag about pot...

The romantic plot is The Apartment, complete with suicide attempt (so sweet when he tells her - unconscious - he loves her).

When Penny asks William to Morocco and he says "yes, ask me again" he's out of character, asking for the line again, but Cameron liked it and kept it in.

The albums William's sister leaves for him are Cameron's.