The Nice Guys (2016 Shane Black & co-scr)

Lethal Weapon with teenage girl could have had a more satisfying ending.

Bodyguard (2018 Created and written by Jed Mercurio)

Fabulous long beginning - tense train scene. Fabulous episode 2 sniper scene with attendant plot shock. Audacious move to kill off principal character in Episode 4, though did feel cheated when five minutes later this seems to happen again  to another one...

Perfect plotting then to make the season finale set piece - one of those trademark Mercurio ones which goes on for ever - also with a bomb vest, and just because he does kill off characters ruthlessly you fear any second that's what's going to happen again - but to bring back the original woman on the train... that's plotting!

Richard Madden, Sophie Rundle (his wife), Keeley Hawes, Anjli Mohindra, Ash Tandon, Gina McKee, Pippa Haywood, Vincent Franklin, Paul Ready.

Made by World Productions (also Line of Duty, Save Me) for the BBC. Directed by Thomas Vincent (1-3) and John Strickland, who directed the last season of Line of Duty.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008 Woody Allen & scr)

Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Chris Messina, Patricia Clarkson. See previous review.

He's done this art background thing before, cf. Match Point:

10 Things I Hate About You (1999 Gil Junger)

Written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith (also Legally Blonde and the upcoming LB3 - not 2, you notice), film is as predictable as they all are, though has nice moments of humour caught in deep focus by Mark Irwin, such as sex writing teacher Alison Janney and rapping English professor Daryl Mitchell. Engaging cast: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, Larry Miller (father) and Andrew Keegan.

The Anderson Tapes (1971 Sidney Lumet)

Last seen here, screenplay by Lawrence Sanders and Frank Pierson builds to a typically seventies mess of an ending in which we think everyone dies... the final twist - that all the surveillance of Connery is illegal and thus is wiped - doesn't really help, as we think he's headed back to prison (if not dead) - along with gay art dealer (who's disturbingly referred to by the police as a 'deviant') Martin Balsam.

Didn't really get the relationship between Connery and Dyan Cannon either. With Christopher Walken.

Pluses: still contemporary themes, Quincy Jones's score featuring a great bass player, tense scenes of cops on roof which are clearly real.

This Beautiful Fantastic (2016 Simon Aboud & scr)

A slight and entertaining tale about a repressed woman (Jessica Brown Findlay), her next door neighbour Tom Wilkinson, his cook Andrew Scott and an inventor (Jeremy Irvine).

It was an untroubling way to spend an hour and a half.

Mike Eley shot it in the extremely expensive-looking Primrose Gardens (a one bed flat is £600k), NW3.

On Chesil Beach (2017 Dominic Cooke)

Ian McEwan's adaptation of his own novel isn't any better, unfortunately. Both Saoirse Ronan and Billly Howle are great, but the film is dull, and too long - it should have ended at the best scene - the record shop in 1975.

With Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Bebe Cave, Oliver Johnstone, Anton Lesser, Jonjo O'Neill.

Shot by Sean Bobbitt in Panavision, with music by Dan Jones and editing from Nick Fenton.

Chances Are (1989 Emile Ardolino)

Written by Randy and Perry Howze (Maid to Order and Mystic Pizza their only other work). Robert Downey Jr is the reincarnated ex husband of Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal is best mate; Mary Stuart Masterson the daughter.

Photographed by William A Fraker.

Cybill Shepherd always looks to me like she's secretly laughing at something.

Er. Anyway. Another nutty premise, delivered with grace and style by stars. It will - as they say - only take you so far.

As who say?

Pool Girl / Hugo Pool (1997 Robert Downey)

The second in our double-bill of quirky films which might not have come off is by ... Ah. I thought it was made by Downey Jr., but it's in fact by Downey Sr... Thus all those moments when I said 'his Dad would have liked this...' (particularly in Dempsey's fantasy scenes). Hmm. Must read credits more carefully. Anyhow, that makes a lot of sense. It was written by he and his wife Laura Ernst (his second of three wives - not Junior's mum), who died of ALS (motor neurone disease) in 1994, and thus the relevance of that to the Patrick Dempsey character.

One day in the life of pool cleaner in California, played by Alyssa Milano, and her parents Malcolm McDowell and Cathy Moriarty. And Downey Jr gives the most eccentric performance of that decade as a Dutch film director. (He was still doing drugs then - cleaned up in 2003.) Also with Sean Penn and Richard Lewis.

We saw it under the UK title. What 'Hugo Pool' means, I have no idea. But it was definitely offbeat and wackily enjoyable.

I thought Downey Sr. was dead - he isn't (he's a mere 82).

10 Items or Less (2006 Brad Silberling & scr)

He also wrote Moonlight Mile and An Ordinary Man (Ben Kingsley as a war criminal).

Very quirky film takes place in real time. An actor (Morgan Freeman) is dumped in an out-of-the-way town in California (Brentwood - not Brentwood Illinois, silly) and befriends a feisty checkout girl played by Paz Vega. Unfortunately we could only understand half of what she says. Anyway, in a minimal turn of events, he helps her go to a job interview, and they part at the end of the day, after barely an hour and 10 minutes, and having shared their own personal '10 items'.

Her car is another AMC Gremlin, which we last saw in Ruthless People - and as an extraordinary link to that film, Danny de Vito (and Rhea Perlman) appears in a short cameo. Also featuring Jonah Hill, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Dudek, Kumar Pallana and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory).

It's a cute film, interesting in its look at massive supermarkets, featuring some very long takes, e.g. Freeman and Vega singing in the car, and a killer song in the sound of 'La Recete' by Kemo the Blaxican.

Shot by Phedon Papamichael and edited by Michael Kahn. What on earth is Chivo doing on this as a first assistant cameraman in the same year as Children of Men???

This Is Us - Season 2 (2018 Creator Dan Fogelman)

Brilliantly well written, flashbacks worked in superbly - see Episode 13, the burning house cut not just to good times but the cause of the fire. Sincere performances. Quiet, undramatic treatment underlined by simple music score (Siddhartha Khosla).

There's always a moment which brings a tear to the eye.

Long plotting (Dan Fogelman is the creator) - halfway through season two we still don't know how the father dies, but are getting closer in episode which stays on Kevin throughout as he experiences a meltdown at a High School awards ceremony. (In a triptych, all three kids have their own episode.)

Great scene too where Kevin goes into psychotherapy and the all the family are involved in the session.

Also stuff with foster kid great.

Sterling K Brown (Randall) and Milo Ventimiglia (the father) were both Emmy nominated for this season.

Season finale - in which we appear to flash into the future - is scary.

With Mandy Moore (mother), Chrissy Metz (Kate), Justin Hartley (Kevin), Susan Kelechi Watson (Randall's wife), Chris Sullivan (Kate's BF), Ron Cephas Jones (Randall's real father) and Lyric Ross (Deja).

Mother's Day (2018 Fergus O'Brien)

Economically written (Nick Leather) fictionalised representation of post-Warrington bomb peace movement and how it affected parents of victim Daniel Mays and Anna Maxwell Martin and Irish housewife Vicky McClure.

Heart and Souls (1993 Ron Underwood)

A whimsical film about four deceased bus crash victims who become attached to a baby, which grows up to be Robert Downey Jr. He then has to help them realise their one big goal before being moved on to the hereafter. The ghosts are Alfre Woodard, Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgwick and Tim Sizemore, with David Paymer the bus driver, and Downey's girlfriend is played by Elisabeth Shue.

The screenplay's by Gregory Hansen & Erik Hansen (their only feature) and I presume spruced by the more seasoned Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson (Tremors, The Wild Wild West, Ghost Dad, Short Circuit), and is not without the occasional dubious plot point and line of dialogue. There seems to have been quite a spate of fantasy type comedies around this time, maybe emanating from Ghost?

Downey - in his follow-up to Chaplin - is the main reason for watching, and has some fun when the other ghosts 'take over' his body.

The Heartbreak Kid (1972 Elaine May)

As a tribute to Neil Simon, who died August 26 aged 91, I perhaps could have picked better than this, as it's an adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman's story 'A Change of Plan' and not an original. Elaine May directs the material unflinchingly, especially the painful scene in the restaurant (finally) when Charles Grodin breaks it off with wife of five days Jeannie Berlin (who's great) in favour of flighty Cybill Shepherd. Indeed, May shoots in long takes, for example the ripe scene in which Grodin 'deals his cards' to her father Eddie Albert and mother Audra Lindley.  Berlin's character emerges in fact as the only likeable one (despite the way she eats egg salad), and we're left thinking Grodin has just made another mistake...

May had just herself appeared as a ditsy, clumsy girl in the fabulous A New Leaf...

Owen Roizman's very natural photography delivers a fabulous shot as Cybill appears with the sun behind her head, shown here. As to the car. I think it's a 1968 Triumph TR 250...

Nothing shouts 1972 more than this outfit...

Jeannie Berlin is Elaine May's daughter, and recently was in Café Society and Inherent Vice after a long sabbatical, the 1975 Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York, with Roy Scheider, one of her previous appearances (commercially unavailable). She and Albert were both Oscar nominated.

The Station Agent (2003 Tom McCarthy & scr)

Why why why had we not watched this wonderful film since forever (date unrecorded)?

Peter Dinklage (a Martin McDonagh favourite) gives a subtle performance as a man who just wants to be left alone; but Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson, Raven Goodwin and Michelle Williams won't. The film is in fact about friendship, pure and simple.

With John Slattery, Richard Kind. Shot by Oliver Bokelberg and scored by Stephen Trask.

Meet Bill (2007 Melissa Wallack & Bernie Goldmann)

She wrote this and Dallas Buyers' Club. A twitchy and overweight Aaron Eckhardt (I'm beginning to think he's quite underrated) realises wife Elizabeth Banks is having an affair (with Timothy Olyphant), and with the help of the schoolboy he is supposedly mentoring (Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stuck in Love) and underwear salesgirl Jessica Alba he changes style enough to win her back - a sort of anticipation of Crazy Stupid Love.

With Todd Louiso (High Fidelity, Jerry Maguire), Kristen Wiig, Reed Diamond, Jason Sudeikis.

From the Obscure Screen Shots collection

It slips down well, like a [fill in own similie].

Paris Pieds Nus / Lost in Paris (2016 Abel & Gordon & scr)

Husband and wife Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon are planted in the world of burlesque and inspired by Tati, Keaton and Chaplin, and the characters' bodies are expressive and almost cartoon-like, typified particularly by the sinuous dance on board 'Maxim's' to the Gotan Project. The Couple are the couple, accompanied by Emmanuelle Riva and Pierre Richard. It's a bit like a strange and defiantly quirky mash-up of Amélie and Zazie Dans le Metro. 

Shiny Paris photographed by Claire Childeric and Jean-Christophe Leforestier.

It's another bad translation - the original is 'Paris Barefoot'.

Totally original, bizarre and a lots of fun.

No Reservations (2007 Scott Hicks)

An unusual credit reads 'based on an original screen play "Mostly Martha" by Sandra Nettlebeck', screenplay by Carol Fuchs. This is in fact a very close remake of the German film Bella Martha (from the trailer, you could almost say it's shot-for-shot - Nettelbeck directed it too). But it's not for that reason that it seems familiar - it's that it's rather predictable. Still, good fun, as obsessive chef Catherine Zeta-Jones inherits niece Abigail Breslin (engaging as ever) and falls for fellow chef Aaron Eckhardt. With Patricia Clarkson, Bob Balaban.

I thought they might have made  bit more of the girl in the kitchen, picking up things and becoming chefy.

Hicks directed Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars and The Boys Are Back. It's shot by Stuart Dryburgh in Panavision with lots of good (i.e. Italian) opera on the soundtrack.

Distinctive Dryburgh blue

The Visitor (2007 Tom McCarthy & scr)

Tom's debut as writer was The Station Agent (have to rewatch that next), after this came up with the stories for Up and Win Win (Giamatti, Ryan, Cannavale) which he also directed, Million Dollar Arm (John Hamm, Indian cricketers), Spotlight (co-wrote with Josh Singer and won Oscar) and the new Christopher Robin.

Depressed, repressed college lecturer Richard Jenkins (Oscar nom.) finds illegal immigrants Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira staying in his flat, lets them stay on. Then when the lad is busted, helps his mother Hiam Abbass. All these four are really good.

Story involves drumming, thus a bit disappointing the urban plastic bucket drummers don't jam with the more ethnic ones. Drops its plot points in subtly (his wife, her husband).

It's a melancholic, truthful and sad film which perhaps could have done with some more humour. I remember wondering last time why RJ didn't just marry Hiam and that might have stopped Haaz being deported back to Syria - with what's happened there since, the ending is even more poignant.

Photographed by Oliver Bokelberg (also Station Agent, Win Win).

Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011 Jay and Mark Duplass & scr)

We just saw Mark Duplass in Tully as the brother; Mark and Jay wrote Table 19.

Jason Segel (in maybe his best role) may present like a lost cause fuck-up, but we soon see his brother Ed Helms (We're the Millers, The Hangover) is in an even worse mental place, particularly in his terrible relationship with his wife Judy Greer. Meanwhile their mother Susan Sarandon has a secret admirer at work.

Good short script; satisfying film. Particularly liked the brand new Porsche crash.

Indian Paintbrush / Paramount Vantage (1998 - 2008).

Bleed For This (2016 Ben Younger & scr)

Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhardt, Ciaran Hinds (spent whole film trying to remember names of these two), Katey Sagal, Ted Levine.

True story of Vinny Pazienza isn't necessarily the most interesting film. Scorsese is an executive producer. Title isn't good, leads are.

Tully (2018 Jason Reitman)

Re-teaming of Reitman, Diablo Cody (Juno) and Charlize Theron (Young Adult), who never seems to mind looking dowdy, in most engrossing story, with Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingstone, Elaine Tan and Mark Duplass. Great writing.

Shot by Eric Steelburg and edited by Stefan Grube, with a wonderful montage sequence of the experience of being a mother.

Reitman seems to have managed to find time to also make The Front Runner (Hugh Jackman and Vera Farmiga) this year - perhaps he also had some kind of night nanny looking after him.