The Hot Rock (1972 Peter Yates)

Yes we are familiar with novelist Donald Westlake as the source for both Point Blank and The Outfit. And this one begins the same way - a man being released from prison. And then his brother-in-law tries to run him over. Amusing set of situations as stolen diamond keeps outmanoeuvring them. William Goldman writes playfully and cinematically.

Quincy Jones died November 3rd. His first film score was for the Swedish Pojken i Trädet in 1961, then more recognisably The Pawnbroker in 1964. Notable other scores included Mirage, The Slender Thread, In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood, The Italian Job, The Out of Towners, The Getaway, Roots and The Color Purple, which he also produced. This is a good representation, melodic, jazzy (Gerry Mulligan on sax), experimental, innovative.

Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Zero Mostel, Moses Gunn. Well directed and edited by Fred Berger and Frank Keller - Yates likes to protract his suspense scenes. Highlight is helicopter ride over Manhattan. Most entertaining film.

Mudbound (2017 Dee Rees)

Feels like a novel, and is - well, was - written by Hillary Jordon, thus the multiple first person voiceovers and two and a quarter hour running time. The screenplay is credited to the director and Virgil Williams and received one of the film's Oscar nominations.

Carey Mulligan marries Jason Clarke to get herself out of poverty, but ends up on a farm that she hates with a father-in-law who's just vile (Jonathan Banks). And as soon as she meets younger brother Garrett Hedlund she realises she's married the wrong one. On the farm labours black family headed by Rob Morgan and Mary J Blige. Eldest son Jason Mitchell goes off to war, as does Hedlund, and when they return they become friends, to the offence of the native Mississippians. All acting good.

So far, so good, but it's the terrifying racism of the elder townsfolk (Pappy being the instigator) and Klan that make me so angry. If I were a black American I would still be so angry. I mean, this is the 1940s. And that they could do that to a war hero. He does survive - misunderstood this, thought he was dead; maybe my eyes being averted from the screen had something to do with it - and is reunited with his German lover and child which is fine... as long as you don't mind not having a tongue. Hedlund has at least killed his grandfather.

Rachel Morrison's very dark natural light photography was also Oscar nominated, as was the song 'Mighty River' and Blige for her performance.

DI Ray - Season 2 (2024)

A six part 45m production for ITV. It seemed so routine to begin with, so dull, humourless, suspenseless, so exactly like most other cop TV shows. And Parminder Nagra not exactly the most charismatic of leads. But what seems like a routine drugs war isn't, and becomes more interesting as internal police personnel come under suspicion. So worth the effort. Set in Birmingham.

With Steve Oran, Gemma Whelan, Ian Puleston-Davies too shouty), Witney White, Sam Baker-Jones, Peter Bankolé, Michael Socha, Patrick Baladi, Taha Rahim.

The First of the Few (1942 Leslie Howard)

The story of R.J. Mitchell, the inventor of the Spitfire is - I'm afraid to say - rather boring. And I'm not sure it's the fault of the writers, Miles Malleson (who has a cameo) and Anatole de Grunwald (from a story by henry James and Katherine Strueby). Because in essence - how do you make the design of an aircraft exciting? Certainly not in the drafting or model-making phase. The speed races are dull also. So are attempts to get funding. He may have helped win the war, or at least not lose it, and actually that's the exciting story (which even The Battle of Britain couldn't get right).

With Leslie Howard (who was shot down in a passenger plane from Lisbon by German fighters in 1943) are David Niven, Rosamund John and Roland Culver.

Credit for 'lighting expert' Georges Périnal, operator Jack Hildyard. The opening is quite memorable as to an overlaid map of Europe the countries one by one turn black leaving the UK alone - but even that is undermined by a rather overuse of the overlaid image which also occurs later.

The Big Sleep (1946 Howard Hawks)

I'm beginning to follow the plot a little better.., give it another 5 - 10 viewings and I'll be there. I do know that really the only important thing to glean is what happened to Sean Reagan. And I'm afraid I missed it again.

I find it how funny how sexually attractive Bogie's character is to just about every woman he meets. And how mocking he is of anyone who tries to pull a gun on him.

December 2022:

Watched The Big Sleep again, properly this time - well as properly as you can after 15 brandies.

Thoughts? I got how good the script /dialogue is last time. (Forget the plot.) Bogie is like Poirot (always ahead of the game). "How do you like your brandy?" "In a glass."

Exchanges between Bogie and Bacall are fantastic (e.g. 'in the saddle', 'comes from behind' etc.)

I like when they phone the police and he starts saying 'my daughter wouldn't like that'-  it's got the flavour of They All Laughed (or rather, the other way around). Both films have sexy girl taxi drivers also (is They All Laughed  a remake of The Big Sleep?) And this is kind of where the Coen Brothers come from (Fargo).

I mean, it's great casting. I particularly like Martha Vickers as the bad sister. And that's a young Dorothy Malone as the bookstore owner (is that the origin of the scene where a girl takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and looks fantastic, or had this been done zillions of times before?)

"She tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up."

Maybe Max Steiner's best score, certainly my favourite of his. Orchestrated (uncredited) by Simon Bucharoff

Somehow I love all the character names even though no one ever understands the plot: Colonel Sternwood, Eddie Mars, Sean Reagan, Mrs Rutledge, Geiger. Bob Steele good as - here's another one -Lash Canino. John Ridgely also good as Eddie Mars. The cop is Regis Toomey.

Is this Bogart's only moment of camp?

"Would you happen to have a copy of a Ben Hur 1860?"

Elisha Cook Jr is in it briefly. That moment after he's been poisoned - "Nothing's funny" - is somehow haunting and eerie. Also that guy from It's a Wonderful Life, Tom Fadden.

The ear (he keeps pulling his ear).

Is it - to coin Paul Schrader - monocular? Bogie seems to be in every scene... It's certainly a film noir...

Photographed by Sid Hickox, edited by Christian Nyby.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993 Nora Ephron & co-scr)

Jeff Arch came up with satisfying, referential story which he, Ephron and David Ward (Steelyard Blues and The Sting) wrote for the screen, earning an Oscar nomination. Opens with Jimmy Durante singing 'As Time Goes By', much reference to An Affair To Remember. Ross Malinger (contrary to my expectations, still acting - I was expecting him to be a CEO or somesuch) is Tom Hanks' son; Meg Ryan is clearly with the wrong bloke, wimpy Bill Pullman. With Rita Wilson, David Hyde Pierce.

It's a wonderful film.

Love the long scene in the car with Meg listening (and reacting) to the radio interview with Hanks and Malinger (the interviewer is Caroline Aaron). This is the highlight of the film, Aaron being a great vocal presence. She's Shirley in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and lots and lots of TV, as well as Deconstructing Harry. The editing is especially good (Robert Reitano) as initially we're just on Meg, goofing along to, then getting sucked into the radio. Only then do we cut to the kid and Hanks, then bringing Meg back in just as you're forgetting she's listening in...

'Is it a bit sexist?' I have thought. 'Men are allowed to love An Affair to Remember'. But then I was 30 when this came out, and was probably more interested in watching a Lethal Weapon or spaghetti western then, and McCarey's film probably would not have beckoned - tastes change. But, no matter what you say about the film overall, those last two minutes are electrifying. Note faces of Ryan and Hanks when they do finally meet atop the Empire State Building, even as they're walking in to the lift, curious, exploratory faces...

Most impressive photography by Sven Nykvist. Jeff Cronenweth is his first assistant.

I thought it showed Hanks as a generous actor, letting the kid have his scenes.. That may be true, but I later found out Hanks was in a right sulk throughout, thinking the kid had all the best lines!

Meg Ryan's mum is payed by Le Clanché du Rand, a South African. It's a pretentious name, I feel. Have to name check Sidney Armus, on information desk at Empire State Building, and John Boylan as the aging elevator man (he was in Twin Peaks). Whether that's actually Hanks (or Rob Reiner) doing Cary Grant I couldn't track down, but whoever did it, it's very good! Ross Malinger's GF is Gaby Hoffman from Uncle Buck, or UB as she would put it.

In the gallery of great songs, that's Joe Cocker doing 'Bye Bye Blackbird'.

The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989 Steve Kloves & scr)

Good review here. Michelle sings well. Jeff and Beau could play the piano so they look like they are but in fact both were dubbed - Jeff by the film's composer Dave Grusin, who delivers a fine, jazzy score, with Sal Marquez on trumpet and Ernie Watts on sax particularly standing out.

Kloves is apparently in pre on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time as writer and director.

Rumor Has It (2005 Rob Reiner)

A rare Rob Reiner failure, for which I blame Ted Griffin's screenplay - how then did the stellar cast agree to it? I don't know what went wrong for Jennifer Aniston, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Richard Jenkins.

According to Wikipedia, Griffin began directing it, fired cinematographer Ed Lachman, and was himself fired by producer Steven Soderbergh the day after. Reiner then came in and made hurried script and cast changes - not enough.

Jen thinks that her mother had an affair before her marriage and that she might not be her father's child, leading to the film's only joke, where Jen is caught kissing Costner by Ruffalo who says "I hope that's not your father". On paper that doesn't even sound funny.

The Old Oak (2023 Ken Loach)

In Paul Laverty's story, publican Dave Turner befriends Syrian immigrant Ebla Maris whilst various non professionals bitch about 'foreigners' - and it's the latter that's quite distracting - why not use actual actors, of whom there are I'm sure many wanting a job?

No one gets punished for anything bad and ultimately the community comes together because of the death of her father - which seems quite contrived really. So a film that makes lots of points politically but doesn't quite work dramatically. Her photos are the best thing in it.

It's photographed absolutely naturalistically by Robbie Ryan, who's also completed Andrea Arnold's latest Bird, which has been doing the festivals ahead of general release.

Some people would pair Loach with Mike Leigh but I really wouldn't - in fact I would say they are totally opposite in filmmaking terms. I find I'm not that much of a Loach fan.

What people?

Enys Men (2022 Mark Jenkin & scr, ph, ed)

A woman on a deserted island wearing a red mac. It's 1973. A Don't Look Now reference? Quite Roegy, but also bears something in common with Images, as the woman appears to be suffering from a breakdown. In fact at one point, the woman is the rock. So maybe she's not there at all. (Actually, the rock isn't there at one point either.)

Jenkin did the sound mix too, which is most creative. It's a striking film, with elements of Cornish folklore thrown in, puzzling and ultimately inconclusive.

'Enys men' means 'stone island', which we experience in intimate detail.