Movie review - "Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle" (1994) **1/2

 Another Alan Rudolph film that doesn't quite get there. It looks nice, has fun moments and it's entertaining to see all these figures. But the central relationship doesn't land - Jennifer Jason Leigh's Parker and Campbell Scott's Robert Benchley. For whatever reason in these scenes both feel like actors rather than real people. The relationship between Parker and Charles MacArthur (Matthew Broderick) seems more real. Maybe because Broderick has more energy. Or because something happens - they shag, she gets pregnant - as opposed to just pining.

Leigh is at times affective, but at other times the drawl overpowers the movie and drags it down. Gwyneth Paltrow is fun as a shallow starlet.  Nice to see Jennifer Beal, Andrew McCarthy, Stanley Tucci, etc. 

I wish Woody Allen did a version of this story. 

Gwyneth Paltrow Top Ten

 1) Shakespeare in Love (1998) - still a good movie

2) Seven (1995) - very sweet in a movie that needed sweetness

3) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - really solid

4) Sliding Doors (1998) - a film about a girl who gets a haircut but very good 

5) Bounce (2000) - a forgotten film but she's very good

6) Glee (2010-11) - her stint on this was funny

7)  The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) - peak decent Miramax

8) Emma (1998) - not as good as Alicia Silvertone but likeable

9) Iron Man (2008) - not much of a role but one of these films should be on this list

10) Shallow Hal (2001) - I liked her in this, honest! 

Movie review - "She Said" (2022) ***

 Solid account of the Weinstein case which maybe suffers from lack of star power and could have had twenty minutes or so cut out (did we need the baby scenes? husband scenes?). There's a lot of chatting on the phone, inevitable for a realistic film about journalism, and the movie doesn't have Gordon Willis, but as a story of journos painstakingly putting together a story, checking it with legal, it is effective.

(What's the equivalent at News Corp? "Oh that'll do - great!")

Builds to an appearance by Gwyneth Paltrow but doesn't show it - why not? Ashley Judd plays herself. Best moment is when Carey Mulligan tells that guy in the bar to f*ck off. Maybe a few too many moments of the leads and their kids/husbands (do we care?) and walking along with keep cups.

Book review - "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing" by Matthew Perry

 The extracts made play of the juicy stuff - making out with Gwyneth Paltrow, dating Julia Roberts, losing virginity to Tricia Fisher. Lizzy Kaplan is not named but referred to. There's some stuff on Friends. Mostly he goes on about his addictions. Perry is a lot like Chandler only without network notes to make him likable. The lack of commitment, the snark (there are two separate cracks about Keanu), the never being happy.

He says it's all his fault but always mentions factors to blame - his parents divorced, dad moved, mum was  busy, he felt different from his sisters. He likes to whine - never got the good movies, never got the Emmies, never became a proper movie star. He prays for Bruce Willis every day - does he actually visit him.

Perry doesn't seem to like anything - acting, fame, writing. He's got no passion. He's clearly got a brain and is smart. Interesting he was discovered in a way like Lana Turner, at Cafe 101 talking to girls - a passing Bill Richert saw him, wrote a note which led to Jimmie Reardon. It's a fascinating book. He doesn't mind portraying himself as a dipshit. It reads like he's going to star using again too.

All the things Perry could've done with his fame and money. He's not really doing anything with them.

Movie review - "Iron Man 3" (2013) ***

The end credits of this are terrific - bright, poppy, comic booky, irreverant, with a bouncy music score. The actual movie isn't up to the fun and pace of these credits but it's still a fun time, with everyone quipping away and Shane Black clearly bringing a lot to the party.

There's a lonely kid who pops up - there's a few in Black movies eg The Nice Guys, The Last Boy Scout - but he's fine. The emotional core of the movie is Iron Man dealing with a stress attack which is different, or was then.

There's lots of quips, some decent twists, some fantastic action sequences (especially the attack on Stark's house), the regular decent effects, the regular overlong bland final action scene, Ben Kingsley is fun once the reveal comes through (was this controversial? It was fun).

I like Rebecca Hall and just bought Gwyneth turning into a superhero; Don Cheadle had an amusing subplot. It was a good time. Not a billion dollar good time but enjoyable.

Movie review - "Iron Man 2" (2008) **

I heard it wasn't very good and it isn't. I watched it for completion's sake. The photograph is lovely and the cast is strong but it's not exciting. It just feels made for money.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Scar Jo are wasted - they even wear identical clothes. Mickey Rourke is kind of fun as a villain but his character is rote. Garry Shandling isn't allowed to do anything much.

There's no sense of fun, danger, excitement. Robert Downey's X factor isn't exploited. I mean, it's in focus and all that.

Movie review - "Avengers Endgame" (2019) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

So much has been written about this I'll just throw in random thoughts:
- they pulled off a very difficult act but then Marvel figured out what so many other super hero groups didn't... to make the stories human and personal and add humour
- there's a lot of hair piece acting in the film
- I didn't like it as much as the first... the surviving people were mostly pretty dull... the first third was awkward (surely Thanos' head could've been cut off in part one?) but the second half picks up
- loved fat Thor - finally a Chris Hemsworth part I can relate to
- if the future is changed then wouldn't that mean Robert Downey Jnr's kid would die?
- I did cry at Downey's death but I did see this on a plane
- Gwyneth Paltrow looks silly in an iron man costume but I guess it was effective to have her there at the end
- Michelle Pfeiffer's cameo is weird
- What happened to the romance between Hulk and Natasha?
- missed Dr Strange vs Iron Man most of all
- Very rousing when all the Avengers get together.

Movie review - "Malice" (1993) *** (warning: spoilers)

The sort of thriller they used to make a lot in the 90s which seem to have gone out of fashion now. Watching this I kept thinking "they're so young" - there's a super slim and darkly sexy Alex Baldwin (far more comfortably cast here as a egomaniacal bastard than he would be in his nice guy hero roles), emerging Hollywood name Nicole Kidman, baby faced Gwyneth Paltrow and still-looks-the-same Bill Pullman.

This goes on for too long, you'll probably pick the twists early, and it's been supplanted a lot by TV and other thrillers but it remains a decent thriller, with a strong story (even if there's an entirely jettison-able serial killer subplot). Nicker's American accent slips a bit but she is sexy and makes an ideal femme fetale, Bill Pullman does his dull hero thing well, Baldwin is outstanding, particularly kicking goals with his "I am God" speech which smacks of Aaron Sorkin, who worked on the script. 

It's a shame there aren't more verbal flourishes in the script like this - but I guess Sorkin hadn't reached rock star status yet. It's also a shame Baldwin and Sorkin haven't combined more because Baldwin does his dialogue so well.

Excellent support cast including George C Scott, Anne Bancroft, Peter Gallaher and Bebe Neuwirth. Apparently William Goldman worked on the script.

Movie review - "The Avengers" (2012) **** (warning: spoilers)

To think we were stuck with all those David Koepp adaptations over the years when Joss Whedon was around to bring comic book adaptations to life. It's one of the best big screen versions of a comic book I can think of - smart, funny, and it mostly spanks along. It does drag for a bit around the two thirds mark - there was a lot of hanging around on that big ship, and in common with many of these spectacles I found the destruction and action wearying after a while because it didn't seem wedded to anything real.

One of the unwritten rules about blockbusters is a friend of the hero needs to die around the two-thirds mark - since we know none of the Avengers are going to cark it, I figured it would either be Clark Gregg or that woman from How I Met Your Mother (who I didn't spot straight away - I had to google her afterwards), and I was right. They don't do much with the concept of Captain America being in the modern era, which one would have thought was rich fodder, but maybe they're holding that off for his own sequel. Thor is good for a few laughs, but he's a foreigner so doesn't have that much stake in Earth. 

The meatiest roles go to Iron Man (which is the best part really because it's got the best lines - he also gets a romance plot with Gwyneth Paltrow), Hulk and Black Widow. The Black Widow stuff with Hawk seemed a little under developed but then I haven't seen Iron Man 2.

Scarlett Johansson is sexy but not terribly convincing as a woman of action. Mark Ruffalo is superb at the Hulk, and gets to take part in the best action sequence - despatching Loki. Great to see on the big screen. Hopefully Whedon will make several blockbusters, as I feel he's more needed in the movies than TV as there are plenty of good TV shows still out there but few films.

Movie review – “Iron Man” (2008) **1/2

Highly praised but I found it disappointing. The first 40 minutes were terrific – Robert Downey Jnr as a more social Howard Hughes, with a private plane where the stewardess double as pole dancers, good friend to Terence Howard (likeable in a tricky part), enjoyable banter with Gwyneth Paltrow, funny lines, and exciting stuff in Afghanistan. But once he escapes the threat is removed and never really recovers. There are too many scenes of Downey Jnr making things and trying out equipment, and loud crashes and bangs. Jeff Bridges never seems much of a threat and the finale is tired.

Movie review – “Anniversary Party” (2001) **

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cummings are friends who decided to make a film so they got together a bunch of their actor friends and made a movie based on their own experiences. Which sounds like a wank, and it is, but at least they have very talented friends (Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, John C Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, etc) and the look at the showbusiness world is interesting: living in the hills, disputes with neighbours over dogs, precocious children who perform at parties, ecstasy tablets delivered as a gift, parties to celebrate being together for five years. There’s a couple of stock standard impro film scenes – eg “I had an abortion!” -, Michael Panes is irritating as a Peter Sellers look alike and I didn’t buy Alan Cummings as a writer – he simply behaves too much like an actor, all flamboyance and self-centeredness. Jason Leigh gives a strong performance, Jane Adams is hilarious and Paltrow good in a sort of send-up of herself.

Movie review – “Infamous” (2006) **1/2

The poor bastard of the year award would have to go to Douglas McGrath and the makers of this movie, which was pipped at the post by “the other Capote film”, Capote. Not only did it deal with the famous writer, it too concentrated on the one specific incident of his career – the writing of In Cold Blood. This one has a cult for being better but it isn’t really – it has extra glimpses of New York high life, but does that really matter since we don’t get to see much of it? (If it had been a film about the Black and White Ball, that might have been different.) The other Capote also feels more authentic – this one has clunky scenes like Capote turning up to the police station where there’s a press conference and making sweeping statements; and it’s not particularly well directed either (eg all those Woody Allen-type long shots and talking to camera). Toby Young’s Capote is fine; Sandra Bullock is excellent as Harper Lee but the actor who plays Paley is dreadful and actor-ish.

Movie review - "Sliding Doors" (1997) ***

A terrific idea, very well executed - high concept, an emerging star,low budget, very commercial... why did it take so long for this to get funded? Its amazing. I know girls who just watch this again and again -I'm not that into it, it's a bit too rote (the lead loses her boyfriend/job/apartment all in the same day; she has a wisecracking,devoted but not-as-pretty best friend; she works in PR; two spunky boys chase after her, the nicest of one whom has a good job) but there is something undeniably appealing about the central idea ("what if...").John Lynch has a great character - a Lothario who is a bit hopeless and useless, just likes to sponge off his women and can never make up his mind, a far more accurate depiction of what lady killers are like rather than the smooth talking suave Bond figure of popular myth. Neither Lynch nor John Hannah are exactly film stars but Gwyneth Paltrow is and her English accent is convincing.

Movie review - "Bounce" (2001) **

Bounce was a Don Roos film, a follow up to The Opposite of Sex. Classic third act problem: first act, Ben Affleck gives up his seat on a plane to a guy - the plane crashes. Act two - Ben feels bad about the guy's wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) being widowed, so he arranges her to act as an agent for a sale of a building - only she likes him and asks him out; they fall in love. Third act - well, the secret's going to come out. He gave him his seat for her husband. And there it is - OH MY GOD HE GAVE UP HIS SEAT! That's not enough. OK he liked OK it's a bit creepy, but it's not enough for a third act. Some lovely acting and dialogue and all that, full of charm, but it was two thirds of a film.