Last Movie You Watched.

The Courier - based-on-true-events Cold War espionage drama, with businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) chosen by MI6 (working with the CIA) as the ideal type of unobtrusive chap (with an 'just here to do business' cover story) to liase with the member of the Russian top brass who has reached out to them, concerned that Khrushchev's sabre-rattling with the US will lead to nuclear war.

Pretty much everything you'd want from an entry in this particular genre is in there, with Cumberbatch typically excellent as a man caught up in events far bigger than himself.

Have to check the Courier out at some point. Looks like something from a Ben Mcintyre book, i.e worth it.

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The League of Gentlemen

I've seen this film more times than I can count and it still retains this freshness or at least is the kind of film that is tireless. Sure I suppose it's full of cliche, slight cornyness and attitudes of the time but it's a fantastic film to enjoy. Made me a fan of Basil Dearden (Blue Lamp, Man Who Haunted Himself etc).

Every time I am intrigued by the men themselves. The 'League' are drawn from Army men with a chequered past or down on their luck and the ones I'm attached to are chiefly Terence Alexander's Major whose wife (Nanette Newman) runs rings round him, spending his money and (as he discovers) cheating on him. He's browbeaten and too proud to stand up to her.
Norman Bird's explosive expert who seems quite nice but also seems haunted by his wartime career where his drunkeness cost the lives of men under his command.
Or Hawkins' Hyde, the boss, who feels let down by the Army and wants a sort of revenge.

Each actor in the League does their bit and does it well. In 1960 homosexuality was still taboo and even the subtlest hint that Kieron Moore's character is gay ("the odd men out") feels somehow quite risque if brave but then Dearden also directed Victim which for the time pushed the boundaries. The only one I have trouble with is Attenborough's radio expert but then Lexey is a lad, he likely sold things to the Soviets just for money rather than anything else.

Anyway, it's worth a watch. Largely for a Britain long since gone (including shots of a much changed City of London) but the very best of stiff uppers and an ending that as Hawkins walks to the police van, with the music seems quite stirring.

A sidenote is that Hawkins had had operations on his throat around the time of filming and some of his dialogue was dubbed by Charles Gray.

"At ease...gentlemen."

Gringo - I get how Joel Edgerton came to be in this muddled and mediocre crime comedy (his brother directed it) but it's hard to see what attracted the likes of David Oweloyo, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried and Thandie Newton to it as well. Ah well, at least it was free on iPlayer.

Total Recall - 4K-restored cinema screening for this Ahnult-in-his-pomp classic. Robocop, this, Starship Troopers ... without a doubt, Verhoeven used to be the go-to guy for sci-fi actioners with a satirical edge.

The head popping and third tit must look a treat in 4K.

Indeed they did .

Free Guy - shades of The Truman Show, The Lego Movie and Ready Player One in this amusing comedy about a background character in an online game who becomes self-aware. With Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi and Channing Tatum (plus a host of voice cameos).

I don't know about you lot, but I consider Ryan Reynolds a plank o' wood. Give me the original Reynolds, Burt, by gawd!

(I suppose Debbie could also be considered the original Reynolds. Hmmm.)

True that. Burt Reynolds made the sleeveless wetsuit vest socially acceptable for all occasions; what's the other one done?

I'll see the sleeveless wetsuit vest and raise you the Deadpool suit, which Reynolds once said in an an interview was so tight he could 'taste his own genitals' while wearing it .

Leaves a bad taste in one's mouth...

Candyman - the 'social justice urban myth' horror franchise becomes the latest to have its newest instalment pick up where the first movie left off, ignoring previous sequels ... and for the most part succeeds.

Shang-Chi : The Legend Of The Ten Rings - Marvel does martial arts. Quite fun, and the aforementioned martial arts do at least help to set it apart a little from the other Marvel stuff.

Come To Daddy - dark 'n' weird little comedy thriller/horror with musician Elijah Wood summoned to the beach house of his estranged father, who walked out on the family 30 years ago. All, however, is not as it seems ...

Also starring Stephen McHattie, Martin Donovan and NI's very own Michael Smiley.

Copshop - pulpy, faintly Tarantino-esque action-thriller in which Frank Grillo's conman deliberately gets himself locked up in order to escape the hitman on his tail (Gerard Butler). Butler gets himself incarcerated in the same jail in order to complete his mission, and the fecal matter proceeds to strike the cool air distribution device. Nothing hugely new, but fun nonetheless.

Billion Dollar Brain - surely the 'Bondiest' of the Caine Harry Palmer flicks, this sees our hero up against a nutty Texan general who intends to eradicate Communism by invading Russia with the aid of the titular super-computer and his own private army. Good escapist fun.

Malignant - there are some nice directorial flourishes from James Wan (and a gruesomely inventive twist) in this horror flick, but ultimately there's far more splatter than actual scares.

Battle of Britain

Now I watch this every Battle of Britain Day and yet I can quote this infinitely. Bond-wise you have Guy Hamilton, Maurice Binder and Freddie Young amongst a few others probably.

It's not the best film ever made but I love it. It's largely because of the aerial stuff. In 1969 aircraft wise things were becoming scarce hence why BoB was only able to muster three Hurricanes. Critics' biggest complaint is that Hurricanes shot down the most in the Battle but when you only have 3 to present, what can you do?
Robert Shaw is excellent, Christopher Plummer bears the workload as his character is the only one to have a fleshed out character (he has a wife etc), Nigel Patrick does his best in his short cameo...Indeed, long after the likes of Longest Day, this has so many faces on the quiet but nowadays we only seem to have McShane, Caine and Fox.

The score is great and it presents the Germans as equally as it can. However, Hamilton (who served in MTBs) had that wartime attitude against the German advisers and famously lost his wig when Galland ruined a shot. If you're ever curious, Leonard Mosley's book on the film is the best.

I can't finish without mentioning my childhood hero, Kenneth More. What a chap.

We Joined the Navy

By 1962 Kenneth More's star had perhaps plummeted. A combination of factors -he was perhaps a single type of star and he had married a woman much younger than him, Angela Douglas. However, Kenny pressed on. He did this Navy Lark-esque comedy. Based on a book by John Winton. Winton was a navy man and wrote many navy based books. I like to think Kenny tapped into his naval career -he served on HMS Aurora and Victorious during the war.
Aside from Kenny though so many familiar faces. Apparently this was David Warner's first film, albeit uncredited and yet Warner has at best 10 seconds of screentime.
To soften the blow, the great Lloyd Nolan (who I first saw in Airport) appears and you have Paul Maxwell (a Gerry Anderson favourite), plus Alexis Kenner (best known for the Prisoner) and so on and so forth. IMDB rates this at 5.6 but I laughed, I chuckled. I liked it and that passed the time.
Beyond these chaps you had some perennial favourites -i.e John Le Mesurier.

Lifeboat

Been a while since I've seen it. It's taken my birthday to get a giftcard so I could get this on blu/DVD.

It's a top 5 Hitch film for me. On it's most basic level, it's the way it's done. Though studio based, we can buy quite easily the setting of the lifeboat. This concentrated setting, like the later films Rope and Rear Window, works so well. Sure would this cast of characters actually be survivors of an U-Boat attack? Who cares, it's Hitchcock.

Great cast such as Hume Cronyn but chiefly Talluah Bankhead, a dynamo of energy. Though I can not watch without thinking of the fact that apparently she never wore underwear when climbing into the lifeboat for filming.

No soundtrack of course and probably the only Hitch where his cameo is reduced to a newspaper ad.

Few if any of Hitch's films can surely boast at least two Batman '66 villains. Bankhead playing the Black Widow and Slezak the Clock King.

The understated hero of this film is William Bendix. He might seem a bit dense but he goes through to his end with a touch of genius. He's the only one really to know Slezak's Jerry is not entirely honest. He's a sympathetic character.

This is a study in human behaviour. I dare suggest Hitch could've made a brilliant film about the perils of social media and what have you if alive today.

On that note, I can't imagine a modern audience sitting for this film nowadays. I recall when Tinker Tailor came out (gosh, 10 years ago!?) that criticism was it was too slow and long. Well, that was how films could be in the day. Could a 2021 audience (beyond film and Hitch lovers) sit for a film that, though 96mins long, solely took place in a lifeboat?

My copy has a bunch of bonus features and so I'll check them out. For an Alfred Hitchcock now, someone to shine a light on whatever. Plus, the days when a film coming out could have publicity of the director telling people that once the film's started, no one can enter (Psycho).

Get Carter - London 'wide-boy' Jack Carter (Michael Caine) goes to Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother, and is soon caught up in a very murky web indeed. Somewhat of a gritty crime classic, with the on-location filming providing substantial evidence that it really was 'grim up North' (well, in the early Seventies anyway).

The Game (1997) - somehow didn't realize this was a David Fincher movie until I saw the end credits. Kept my interest the whole time and I found it entertaining. Quite the ride.

I like its continual 'rug-pulls'. Keeps you guessing.

Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Then you sort of get into the rhythm of the rug getting pulled and it becomes not so much a matter of if or even when but of, in which direction?

I'd definitely give it another watch. Pretty much how I "rate" movies these days: didn't like it, fine but probably not watch again, or I'd watch it again.

Sunday I sat down to watch a film I've not seen in a while but at least three times

Monte Walsh

It's more than a Western, it's a tragedy. This is a top 3 Marvin performance for me.

The Wild West is diminishing, land is being protected by barbed wire, there's no 'Injuns', technology is advancing. Walsh and Chet (Jack Palance) like others are trying to make a living. But it's hard, everything is disappearing at a rate of knots.
Walsh has a love, Martine and Chet falls in love and ends up quitting cowboying to work in a hardware shop.

The spartan landscape lends itself well on top of John Barry's score. The song alone (The Good Times Are a Comin') is laden with emotion.

This time round when Martine dies, it was hard to watch. Walsh gets there too late, his plans to marry her and relocate are dashed. She died alone (sure a doc was there but still). Walsh sits by her body until someone comes to tell him Shorty (who killed Chet) is nearby. Monte has to avenge Chet, which he was in the process of doing until someone tells him Martine is in a bad way.

Thus Shorty's death is poignant. With Shorty killed, Martine and Chet dead, Walsh has no future.

Next to Big Red One, this is my favourite Marvin role.

Watched House of Games (Mamet) recently. Interesting to see the late Ricky Jay in something else. A very amusing performance. Highly recommend that PK check it out - I recall your being a RJ fan. And beyond that, it's an intriguing film.

Yes, Gupta is one of my guys. I like Mamet, too.

His dialogue, perhaps, isn't as punchy in House of Games as it is in say, Glengarry Glen Ross, but it's still very good. It's like comparing Marlohe and Scorupco.