Movie review - "White Mischief" (1987) ***

 A good, cracking yarn, which looks wonderful and has a strong cast. Greta Scacchi was never more beautiful or Charles Dance more debonair; Joss Ackland is empathetic, touching and scary, Sarah Miles a wonderful batty thing, John Hurt an enigma.

Fascinating world. It maybe lacks something... not sure what. Structure? 

Script review - "Love Actually" by Richard Curtis

  Curtis said he restructured this in the edit maybe he did but it feels very close - Nicole Kdiman referenced instead of Claudia Schiffer and there's the African sequence which was filmed but cut.

There's a sub industry of hot takes about the flaws of this film, many from the US who I think are annoyed their country is described as a bully. And the fat jokes clunk and they could've jettisoned Colin in Wisconsin and yes flaws flaws.

But it's very sweet - grieving widow and step son have a lovely bond and satisfying pay off, the Prime Minister plot is (fat jokes aside) charming, the married woman stuff is great, no it makes no sense Sarah doesn't schtup Karl but it works, the flabby friend-in-love-with-mate's-wife story is redeemed by the cards at the end. So many iconic moments.  

Top Ten Hugh Grant Performances

 1) Paddington 2 - splendid

2) Wonka - didn't expect to like it, really did

3) Four Weddings and a Funeral - who else could've played it

4) Bridget Jones' Diary - extended his career

5) Love Actually - carries the film

6) The Man from UNCLE - should've played the lead

7) The Gentlemen - having the time of his life

8) A Very English Scandal - wonderful

9) About a Boy - forgotten now, but very good performance

10) Sirens - nice performance in a little gem of a film

Movie review - "Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves" (2023) ***

 Sometimes this is gloriously right - some action sequences like with the deer, the magic battles, the jokes, the smarts, the fun of seeing Michelle Rodriguez in fantasy, Bradley Cooper's cameo, Hugh Grant having fun again as a villain, the village atmosphere.

The film doesn't quite nail it - so much plot and exposition, it couldn't find a way to streamline. Rene Page's character is a little dull.

Movie review - "Wonka" (2023) ***1/2

 My expectations were low and it does drag but it goes off it its own direction, doesn't over do fan service, and carves out its own world, a combination of Cameron Mackintosh and Dickens. Timothee Chamalet is fine - not Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp but his own fresh faced creation.

It's got a good heart, a plucky orphan (that storyline worked for me esp reuniting with mum), people in prison basically doing washing, villains who are real threats, chocolate is amusingly swapped for drugs, Hugh Grant again steals every scene he's in.

Movie review - "Operation Fortune" (2023) **

 Guy Ritchie action flick has a lot of nice things about it - Jason Statham doing his stuff, Hugh Grant again having a wonderful time as a villain, and most of al Aubrey Plaza as the perfect femme in the Richie world, sexy, smart, cool, etc etc.

It is a sluggish film though. Starts well but after a while it sinks in that the elements aren't exactly fresh - agents chasing after a Thing, the Thing changes hands, villain obsessed with a movie star, self referential jokes with a movie star playing a movie star (Josh Harnett in a role I wish Hugh Grant had played - or someone more lively).

It's all so easy for Statham and co. Like really easy. 

Turkish setting a little different.

Movie review - "Glass Onion" (2022) **** (warning: spoilers)

 Glorious music. Clever. Similar in structure to the first in many ways - the second biggest star after Daniel Craig did it, the new girl in town does the bulk of investigating, some social commentary at the end. Cameos have started now (Ethan Hawke, Hugh Grant) but smugness is held at bay.

Movie review - "Sirens" (1994) ***1/2

 A big deal in its day - huge - because Elle McPherson was in it, naked.  It's a film that was genuinely liked too - a positive affirming little fable, sort of like Smiles of a Summer Night ish. It's sexy too - sensual, I get, but sexy; I admit I can't help think of John Duigan going around to the actresses saying "I've got all these degrees and am very intelligent let's talk about sensuality". But he made a good movie.

It's beautifully cast. Hugh Grant is very engaging - because he's Hugh Grant (albeit pre-fame) you can see why Tara Fitzgerald (very sweet and lovely) stays with him. Sam Neill shines in a showy support role, Pamela Rabe is very good. Kate Fisher and Elle look spectacular; their acting is a little raw - Elle doesn't have much to play but Kate does. The real surprise packet is Portia di Rossi who came out of nowhere; she's beautiful, vivacious and charming. I wish she'd done more Aussie stuff; she's got a great Austrlaian voice.

When you see John Polson and Ben Mendelsohn in small roles and realise it was shot on location in the Blue Mountains, throw in sexy model Mark Gerber (who has a bigger part than the first two) you go "geez that must've been a wild shoot".

It's witty, fun, gorgeous to look at. Not everything lands but it's a good movie.

Movie review - "The Man from UNCLE" (2015) *** (warning: spoilers) (rewatching)

 A lot to admire - the period detail, sense of style, costumes, Elizabeth Debecki is a perfect femme fetale, Hugh Grant is wonderful fun, Alicia Vikander is stunning, the editing of sequences is entertaining (the Berlin car chase, the split screen in the final raid), and I love the ending with the British navy of all people coming to save the day and Napoleon Solo pulling a clever feint.

The two stars don't work. I spent most of the running time wondering who else could have done the job. Maybe Arne Hammer as Solo not the Russian plus a genuine Russian as Ilya. Or Hugh Grant as Solo, with the part rewritten for him (make him British, give him less action), and a Russian as Ilya. I got a little sick of everyone playing a different nationality to what they were eg Jared Harris as a CIA guy. If you're a fan of Henry Cavill you will feel differently.

Movie review - "The Gentlemen" (2020) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would - I have an instinctive wariness of Guy Ritchie, but there's plenty of movie stars, story, great actors, funky music, and twists, and Ritchie still has verve behind the camera. The dialogue is enjoyable to listen to and most of all Hugh Grant is having the time of his life as a gay gossipy investigator who narrates the tale - his good mood was presumably helped by the fact most of his scenes are shot in one location. Jeremy Strong and Eddie Marsden were also excellent and there was decent work from the others.

Gripe time: there's an unpleasant strand of white supremacy through the film, with its white establishment figures banding together to keep out the Jews and Chinese who are disloyal and push heroin, sympathetic depiction of aristocracy, and depiction of Irish and blacks being useful if they are hired hands. I really didn't like the attempted rape scene, it wasn't necessary.

Some character aspects could have been more thoroughly explored -  why was Colin Farrell so obliging? I mean to do one nice thing sure but he kept coming back to get the heroes out of trouble. Why was Charlie H so loyal to his boss? Isn't the Russian mafia dude still going to want to come after them at the end? Did Matthew McC get the money?

I did like the nods to The Long Good Friday.

Movie review - "Lair of the White Worm" (1987) *** (warning: spoilers)

Nutty Ken Rusell adaptation of a Bram Stoker - the acting is all over the place, the tone goes from genuine silly to camp comedy, there's Oscar Wilde quotes throughout, Hugh Grant as a Wilde type hero, a cast including Grant, Peter Capaldi, Sammi Davis, Catherine Oxenberg and most of all Amanda Donohoe in a star making turn.

This film was uneven but I really enjoyed it. It's constantly surprising and unexpected - sometimes it's unexpected in bad ways, but that keeps you on your feet. It's a comedy and is full of silly moments - but there's scary ones too like when Donohoe kills that kid.

I actually wish Russell had treated the material more seriously at times - I felt he could do it. The scary moments are effective and I wanted more of them.

Hugh Grant is kind of the hero... well you think he is, even if he is also depicted as a bit of an upper class twist complete with man servant and RAF uniform... at the end he goes on a mission to get the worm... but doesn't do anything during the climax while Peter Capaldi cuts down Oxenberg, rescues Sammi Davis, throws Donohoe into the worm then chucks in a grenade. That actually is pretty funny.

Capaldi walks around and plays the bag pipe, Donohoe ties up Oxenberg in her underwear above a pit with the worm and threatens her with a big dildo (I was confused at that bit bc I thought Oxenberg had to be a virgin). Oxenberg being tied up in her underwear and Davis being knocked out while a man comes to rescue them is one of the more conventional aspects of the them.

Oxenberg is stunningly beautiful though her acting isn't quite right - it was novel she was a virgin. Davis' voice might get on your nerves but she has energy. Capaldi has energy too and Grant had charisma - it's weird seeing both of them so young, they needed to grow into their looks. But the break out star here is Donohoe who is great fun.

Movie review - "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994) *****

Just finished rewatching "Four Weddings and a Funeral"... has it been 25 years? Gulp!
Some random thoughts
- ADR terrible
- It's great the Carrie (Andie McDowell) is sexually liberated and everything but to have sex with a guy you know really likes you while you're engaged to someone else, and then to turn up on that guy's wedding day... it's a little self centered and I'm not sure how long she and Charles would last... but I know in my heart that Charles and his friends (the real romance of the film) will still be ultra tight
- it's fun to rewatch knowing Hugh Grant was closer IRL to his character in Bridget Jones' Diary and I would totally watch a remake of this film with that character in the lead
- the set up, structure, and pay off of this screenplay is an utter, utter marvel, as is the fact it balances so many characters and subplots and tones and if you think that's easy try writing it yourself - even Richard Curtis himself never topped this
- I don't think there's any movie where so many actors/characters got a moment in the sun... everyone remembers Charles, and Carrie, and Tom and Fiona, Gareth and Matthew, Scarlett, and David the deaf brother... but also the married couples, Bernard and Lydia, and anxious Angus and drunk Laura, and Henrietta and her dumb brother, and the lecherous guy who tries to pick up Carrie, the girl who romances David, the old man who snaps at Charles, the old man who scowls at Father Gerald, and Father Gerald, and the woman who asks Fiona if she's a lesbian and all the ex girlfriends... they all get at least one moment to really shine and I can't think of any other which matches it...
- "is it raining I hadn't noticed" retains the power to horrify

TV review - "A Very British Scandal" (2017) ****

A triumph for Hugh Grant, who gives one of his best performances - and I hope the acclaim encourages him to keep trying parts like this. He's showing his age, but still has the charm and skill as the leader of the Liberal Party in England who wound up accused of murder - I'd never heard of this scandal but it's bizarre. It feels all too real - the romance with a young man, the paranoia that comes after they break up, the upper class English twit belief that he'd get away with murder. Because that's what this series pretty much spells out - he tried to kill him.

Ben Whishaw is also superb as the young drifter who is fairly hopeless - he beds various men and women, has a kid but is a terrible father, can't hold down a job, yet seems to inspire loyalty in friends and love in Grant.

The two lead characters are rich and complex. The support parts are pretty good too - it's very well written and doesn't outstay its welcome and everyone acts so ridiculously it feels extremely true.

Movie review - "Paddington 2" (2017) **1/2

Bright, cheerful movie with some first rate effects work. Many of the jokes are lame and this middle class England of fantasy pictures - Harry Potter etc - is starting to get to me. But Hugh Grant is great value as the villain. Actors like Brendan Gleeson enliven things too.

Movie review - "The Man from UNCLE" (2015) **1/2

I've never seen an episode of the TV series but can understand it's appeal to film producers: name recognition, two great star parts, sexy spies and intrigue, etc. There's some good stuff here - it's not a bad movie - with stylish costumes, neat music, some genuinely clever moments. But it never comes alive.

Everyone is very good looking. But Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, while handsome, competent and able to wear clothes well, aren't stars. Says I anyway. Cavill is wrestling with his American accent and lack of sophistication; Hammer seems like a good bloke but simply isn't interesting. Hugh Grant pops up in the old Leo G Carroll role and has a twinkle in his eye, roguish humour and command of the screen that the other two don't have. It's a shame he wasn't young enough to play Napoleon Solo. And to show I'm not ageist, I'd claim that Alicia Vikander is a star - with that throaty voice and splendid 60s outfits (Guy Ritchie obviously loved putting her in those sunglasses).

Elizabeth Debicki is great fun as the femme fetale. The rest of the supporting cast are underwhelming as is the plot. The action sequences are sometimes clever but rarely actually exciting - Ritchie often uses distancing techniques to pull you out of the film. And this will sound odd but the budget feels $50 million too short in this day and age of immense spectacle.

Movie review - "The Rewrite" (2014) **

There aren't many great films about screenwriters, and this doesn't add to the list, but it passes the time well enough if you like Hugh Grant - even if for most of the time I kept hoping he'd turn into his character from Bridget Jones' Diary. Daniel Cleaver would surely have had more fun than Grant here - they kind of go there, with him boozing a little bit and sleeping with one student (the very attractive Bella Heathcoate) and insulting Alison Janney... but far too often the film errs on the side of "nice".

Supporting bits which should have been gold aren't - Chris Elliot seems just sad as a fellow academic; JK Simmons always looks as though he's going to say something funny as the Dean but we never get there; I think some of the students were meant to be funnier than they are - the gothic-ish girl, the creepy Star Wars loving guy; there's not even any decent satire of Hollywood types.

 I did love the gossipy Jewish girl, she was fun, and the small town atmosphere is sweet (though probably would have been better had the film been more sticks-ville). Marisa Tomei is sweet as the single mother student, although the film gyps us out of a big love scene between her and Grant. Indeed, it's remarkable how many moments the film skips - there's no reunion with his son, no big finale, no great tension, we never meet JK Simmons' much talked about daughters.

The movie is also surprisingly harsh to women - whether it's Janney's bitter Jane Austen-loving antagonist, Simmons' daughters and wife who boss him around, manipulative younger female students, the Hollywood requests for a kick-ass female sidekick (as if that's a bad thing), the fact that the one student Grant really champions is a boy.

Movie review - "Bridget Jones' Diary" (2001) ***1/2

Over a decade on, this romantic comedy stands up extremely well, due in part to its three perfectly cast leads. We can tell this in hindsight but at the time things weren't so clear - Hugh Grant made his name playing nice guys rather than cads, Colin Firth's several previous attempts to become a film star had come to nothing, and there was outcry and confusion over Renee Zellweger's casting for such a British role (especially with Kate Winslet hanging around).

But Grant revived his career with a performance that presumably is a lot closer to the real life Grant, Firth's awkwardness was very well used and Zellweger turned out to be cute and likeable, with a (to my foreign ears anyway) effective accent. There's also an outstanding support cast including people like Jim Broadbent plus the 50 worders who play the smug marrieds.

Occasionally this strikes a bung note - Bridget's friends feel under-used, Darcy falls for Bridget awfully quickly (and she becomes a TV presented with equal rapidity), it glorifies drinking and smoking and mediocrity, and gave unrealistic dreams to far too many women who worked in TV in real life. But a very winning, likeable movie.

Script review – “Notting Hill” by Richard Curtis

This was a bigger ht that Four Weddings and a Funeral but it’s no way near as good, and is full of flaws – the characters of the friends are too underdeveloped, the romance between Spike and Honey comes out of nowhere, ditto the stuff about the wheelchair girl not being able to have a baby (apparently there was more friends stuff in the original draft but it was cut out), Spike is funny but a complete caricature, Anna isn’t a character at all, just a pretty smile. But it has an engaging charm and a wonderful wish fulfilment idea – stalkers around the world must love this film. (Sweet natured stalkers that is – the more serious ones are likely to be into Taxi Driver.) It’s also not afraid to go dark – William Thacker has been battered about my life (divorce, dud business), as have his friends: infertile, crippled due to an accident, struggling with work, in bad relationships, etc. Very simple and incredibly cast dependent but very sweet too.

Book review – “The Big Picture” by William Goldman

Entertaining collection of essays by William Goldman on the screen trade of the 1990s. Most of them are excellent, even if too many are about the Oscars. The best bits are the quotes from anonymous studio execs about Hollywood films – they are funny, pungent and all worth reading. I also liked the longer reviews of films, like Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love.

Movie review – “Extreme Measures” (1996) ***

Entirely decent thriller which performed poorly at the box office, mostly because Hugh Grant never seems comfortably cast. There’s nothing wrong with his performance, he’s obviously trying – it’s just he’s Hugh Grant, and he doesn’t seem right in the role. It needs a Richard Gere or Michael Douglas or something. But Tony Gilroy is a good writer (apparently William Goldman did some doctoring as well) and the story moves along with a few decent twists, and genuinely interesting moral point, and some decent actors in support, like Gene Hackman, David Morse (evil rather than cuddly) and Sarah Jessica Parker.