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Operation Mincemeat (2021) dir John Madden A WWII film focussing the efforts of British intelligence to trick Germany into thinking an upcoming major operation was going to happen somewhere else, so that they diverted defending forces away from the actual location. The basics are a true story. The characters are mainly the real people who were involved. It has a great ensemble cast. The main characters are two officers working for MI5, one from the navy and one from the air force, played by Colin Firth and Matthew McFadden, with Kelly MacDonald and Penelope Wilton playing their civilian assistants. It also features Johnny Flynn as the young Lt. Ian Fleming who narrates some scenes in a style that could well have been passages from his James Bond novels. You could, at a big stretch, almost class this as Bond film since it features characters referred to as M (head of MI5, Jason Issacs) and Q-branch (the gadget inventor, James Fleet). Simon Russel Beale also puts in a great performance as Winston Churchill. I have heard of Operation Mincemeat, knew the basics of it, that Ian Fleming was involved and what the outcome was. I don't think it's a spoiler to say the plan worked, as various characters in the film say that if it doesn't the allies won't win the war. The plan was to take the body of recently deceased man, a Welshman living rough in London called Glyndwr Michael, dress him in an officer's uniform, attach a brief case containing fake, but apparently top-secret documents, and then release it from a submarine such that it would wash up on a Spanish beach. Spain was neutral in WWII but under the regime of the Fascist, pro-n*zi, General Franco. So British intelligence knew that the contents of the brief case should find their way into the hands of German agents, before being returned to Britain, and thus the fake information would find it's way to Berlin. The operation they were planning for was the allied invasion of Italy, then Germany's ally. The fake information was one part of bigger plan to convince the Germans it was occupied Greece that was going to be invaded. The subsequent invasion of Italy is one of the lesser known parts of the war. Much is made, quite rightly, of the D-day landings, but that was not the first invasion of German controlled Europe, it was this invasion of Italy, nearly a year earlier. So it's nice to see a film about this aspect of the war, because there aren't very many of them. The film shows the meticulous level of detail the agents went to, creating a whole fake identity, Major William Martin, along with personal letters, a photo of a fiancé, etc. The plot does come across somewhat unbelievable at times and includes a completely unnecessary romantic sub-plot. Even if some of that is what actually happened, the way the films portrays this comes across as if the producers wanted to “s*x it up” and add these elements in because they thought the story of the planning and execution of the operation was not interesting enough. I was all set to give this a lower score than I did, but the last 30 mins or so redeemed it a little. What I found really interesting was, after the the plan had been put into action, the role British diplomats in Spain then had to play to make sure that the brief case of fake documents did indeed end up in German hands. Because after all the detailed and careful planning, it could have easily been undone by a Spanish official simply handing the brief case straight back to Britain, as was technically the correct thing for a neutral country to do, but not what they were supposed to do according to the pro-German Fascist regime in charge. There's almost none of the action you usually get in war films, until right at the end when we see an American infantry sergeant, a minor character introduced earlier, on board a landing craft, storming a Sicilian beach which was taken and held with relatively light causalities. All due to the success of Operation Mincemeat diverting German forces hundreds of miles away. 6 / 10

What I Watched This Week #179 (June 2-8) Escape from Alcatraz dir. Don Siegel/1979/1h53m Clint Eastwood stars in this prison break drama based on the true story of the only man to escape from the famous prison island off the San Francisco coast, Frank Morris. This film takes its time, much like Eastwood's performance style it's understated, deliberate and measured, with none of the melodrama of something like The Shawshank Redemption. The plot is simple, Eastwood arrives at the prison, spends some time scoping it out, then enacts his plan. It's the little things that give weight to this film, particularly the character of Doc (Roberts Blossom), who quietly represents the unshakeable human yearning for freedom with his portraits and the symbolic use of chrysanthemums. At times the pace of the film does undercut some of the urgency of the escape attempt, but I did like the ambiguous ending that doesn't tell you what happened to Frank after he got past the prison walls. 7.5/10 Rhinestone dir. Bob Clark/1984/1h51m I was scrolling through Sylvester Stallone's filmography and came across this, and knew that I had to watch it just to make sure that it's real. Rhinestone stars Dolly Parton as aspiring singer Jake who needs to get out of her crummy contract at the titular New York country music club. To do this she makes a bet with the manager, Freddie (Ron Leibman), that she can turn anyone into a country singer. The person chosen is tone deaf cab driver Nick, played by Stallone. To do this she takes him back home to Tennessee for some real country experience. Stallone also co-wrote this based on the song Rhinestone Cowboy. Really, it even says so in the opening credits. This whole thing is like a fever dream, especially the scenes where Stallone sings by howling like a demented gibbon. He plays his role like an overactive child with attention issues. Parton is just as sweet and charming as she always is, and the moments when she gets to sing are obviously excellent. I also liked Richard Farnsworth as Parton's father. This is not a good film, but it is a bizarre film, and it has its charms. 6/10 The Hustler dir. Robert Rossen/1961/2h14m Paul Newman stars in his iconic role of pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson who is on the fast track to self destruction as he becomes obsessed with beating the best pool player in the world, Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). This is a film in three distinct acts. The first and third are Felson's showdowns with Fats which bookend a tragic romance between Felson and Sarah (Piper Laurie), a depressed alcoholic. This is a bleak film about addicts and losers, yet there is beauty in the direction that makes this world of smoky pool halls cool and alluring. It also helps that Newman is incredibly handsome. The two pool games between Eddie and Fats are the showpieces here and are given the attention they deserve, with Eddie losing even when he wins, that's just the kind of man he is. Gleason is great as Eddie's opposite, someone totally calm and in control of their emotions. Laurie is heart breaking as Sarah, with only one inevitable outcome for her. Rounding out the main cast is George C. Scott as Bert, the sleazy and manipulative pool hall owner. As a standalone film this is excellent, but wouldn't it be good if we caught up with Eddie let's say twenty five years later? 9/10 Lime's Co-Film of the Week! The Color of Money dir. Martin Scorsese/1986/1h59m Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money catches up with Fast Eddie Felson (a returning Paul Newman) twenty five years after the events of The Hustler. He's now making a decent living off of whiskey, but when a hotshot young pool player, Vince (Tom Cruise), catches his eye he wants back in the hustling game. Without the context of The Hustler this is still a fantastic film full of Scorsese's trademark moves, but with the added history of the character a whole new tragic dimension is added. Eddie is a man full of regrets, so when he sees a chance to recapture his glory days he'll do anything he can to grab it, his old instincts kicking in almost instantly. He's there to use Vince, and he's open about it. But Vince is no d*mmy, even though he may act like it, and with his more emotionally mature girlfriend Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) he may end up teaching Eddie a thing or two. This has a much different vibe to the previous film, very fitting for the time it was made, and the pool scenes are edited violently by Scorsese's long time editor Thelma Schoonmaker, almost like they're fight scenes. This is a Scorsese film I've not seen before, and didn't really have any interest in before watching The Hustler, but I think this is one of his best works of the decade, only The King of Comedy is better in my opinion. Combined with The Hustler this is an epic, four hour rise and fall and rise and fall and maybe rise again story that spans decades. And it all ends on a high note with a brilliant one liner and a classic Scorsese freeze frame. 9/10 Lime's Co-Film of the Week! Bottom: Exposed dir. Adrian Edmondson/2024/1h30m This made for TV documentary covers the creation, production, reception and legacy of one of my all time favourite shows, Bottom. Written and performed by the late, great (he said so himself) Rik Mayall (seriously, his autobiography is called Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ) and Adrian Edmondson (director of this documentary), Bottom was a BBC comedy that ran for three series in the 90's and was violently crude, obscene, anarchic, absurd and offensive, and one of the funniest things I've ever seen, with slapstick fight scenes that would make Chaplin blush and a sound effects guy straight out of the Looney Tunes. The documentary itself is fine if very standard, featuring interviews with cast, crew and fans, but the real gold is when Edmondson is talking about Mayall, the two being lifelong friends since university. It gets quite emotional at points, which Mayall would have f*cking hated. One of my favourite memories is going to see the Bottom live show with my dad in 2003, their last of five live tours, and even though it's the worst of the five (my favourite is split between 2 and 3), it was amazing being so close to such raw, unfiltered energy. If you've never seen Bottom before, watch it, because the main thing I took from this documentary and seeing all the clips from the show, is that it's been too long since I've seen it. 7/10 La Cage aux Folles dir. Edouard Molinaro/1978/1h32m This French comedy stars Ugo Tognazzi as Renato Baldi, owner of drag club La Cage aux Folles, with Michel Serrault playing Albin, aka Zaza, his partner and star performer. When Renato's son Laurent (Remi Laurent), who the couple have raised since he was a baby, comes home he has some big news. He's getting married. But unfortunately the parents of his girlfriend are in politics, on the conservative side. The very conservative side. So he asks his father and Albin to tone things down a bit while they are visiting. I think this film has aged pretty well considering it was made in the 70's, and while it does rely heavily on stereotypes it never comes across as mean spirited. Tognazzi is good in the lead role, being pulled between his partner, his son and his own identity, with Serrault stealing every scene he's in as a flighty drag queen. The highlight of the film is the climactic dinner party between the two sets of parents with Albin showing some real depth and character here. A little dated but still with a pure heart, I can't wait to compare it with the American remake (see next review). 8/10 The Birdcage dir. Mike Nichols/1996/1h59m Robin Williams and Nathan Lane star as drag club owner Armand Goldman and his partner and star performer Albert in this American remake of La Cage aux Folles. The plot remains basically unchanged from the French original, just with some extra time to let Williams and Lane shine. Considering he's playing a gay drag club owner Williams gives a fairly understated performance, with really only one instance of that classic over the top exuberance. All of that is left to Lane, who is hilarious here. My only real problem with this film, same as the original though I didn't mention it in my review, is that their son, Val (Dan Futterman), is an unappreciative *sshole. Thankfully that doesn't take too much away from this, and the presence of Gene Hackman as republican senator Kevin Keeley, his future father in law, really alleviates this, with him getting to exercise his comedy muscles (and he looks great in drag). This is a slice of fabulous fun and, thanks to the lead duo of Williams and Lane, is better than the original. 9/10

What I Watched This Week #178 (May 26-June 1) Welcome to the Dollhouse dir. Todd Solondz/1995/1h28m This darkly comic coming of age story stars Heather Matarazzo as Dawn Wiener, a bullied twelve year old whose parents don't seem to care. One day, the school's meanest bully, Brandon (Brendan Sexton III), threatens to r*pe her when classes are out. Dawn actually turns up voluntarily to this meeting, just glad that someone is paying attention to her, and so starts a weirdly sweet relationship between two outcasts (he doesn't by the way, you know, just if you were worried). This all sounds incredibly bleak, but this is a very funny film in the same awkwardly stilted way as something like Napoleon Dynamite, big Midwest Indie vibes. This also feels very authentic, and that is largely due to Matarazzo's performance which always comes across as natural and real. Sexton also does well with a character that could be totally unlikeable, but he brings some real sympathy and nuance to him. This film does excellently to be edgy without it being there just for shock value. And I love that we end on what seems to be a small note of hope for Dawn, because she deserves it. I hope she had a wonderful life. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler/2025/2h18m The latest film from the team of director Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan sees him playing twins Smoke and Stack, returning to their hometown in the deep south during prohibition in order to open up a juke joint, somewhere for their incredibly talented blues musician cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) to play. But trouble comes not from the Klan, but from a group of vampires led by the enigmatic Irishman Remmick (Jack O'Connell). This is a film of two halves. The first is pretty much devoid of any horror elements save for a short prologue. Instead it really focuses in on the characters of Smoke and Stack, and everyone they round up to help them run their club. Among them old bluesman Delta Slim (one of my perennial favourites Delroy Lindo), Smoke's estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and bouncer Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). But what really gets the film's attention is the music. This is a real celebration of the blues and Black music and culture, with Caton, a musician in his first film role, giving the best performance out of a cast of seasoned professionals. The whole film seems to pivot on a crucial scene halfway through where Sammie is giving a performance in the club and he is joined by spectres of Black music both past and present. Native Africans from thousands of years ago performing alongside DJ's and rappers from the future. It's really beautiful and marks the high point of the film for me. After that is when the horror kicks in, which works less well for me. The interactions between the characters is still really well written and performed, but it's the actual action that is lacking, which is a shame because the fight scenes in Creed, again directed by Coogler and starring Jordan, were near perfect. If that side of the film matched the dramatic side then this would be an instant classic for me, but as it is I still highly recommend this. 8.5/10 Finding Dory dir. Andrew Stanton/2016/1h37m In what feels like a totally unnecessary sequel we return to the world of Pixar's near perfect Finding Nemo, but this time my least favourite part of that film, annoying sidekick Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), takes centre stage. Here the forgetful fish has a sudden moment of clarity and remembers her parents (Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy), and sets out on an epic quest to find them. I'm still not a huge fan of the character, but thankfully she's been toned done slightly from the original, a huge relief given the increase in screen time she has. It also helps that this is a well written film, not one of Pixar's best, but it still had me invested. And the flashbacks to a baby Dory and her parents and just so incredibly sweet that I couldn't help but root for her. I also really liked the new character of Hank (Ed O'Neill), a surly octopus who just wants to be left alone. It's a testament to Pixar that they can make a whole film about one of my least favourite characters of theirs and still have me enjoy and be moved by it, and I don't need to say it but I will, the animation is absolutely stunning. 7/10 The Morricone Duel: The Most Dangerous Concert Ever dir. Karsten Andersen/2018/1h11m (no trailer for this, so here's a performance of The Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) This concert film captures a tribute to legendary composer Ennio Morricone by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks. Most famous for defining the sound of the western thanks to his scores for Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), which is all represented here, this also features pieces from other films he scored such as The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in America, and his two Tarantino scores for Inglourious Basterds and The Hateful Eight. There are some works not composed by Morricone here, like the Orchestral Suite from The Godfather by Nino Rota and Sonny Bono's My Baby Shot Me Down (presumably for the Tarantino connection as this was used in Kill Bill), but I would've preferred them to stick with Morricone as he has such a huge and varied body of work, the scope of which I don't think is fully represented here. The musicianship, being a national symphony, is world class, so if you have a half decent sound system crank it up and enjoy. The presentation is simple, but there are a couple of nice touches like some hanging corpses around the venue, and simple graphics projected on to screens symbolising the films being played. 7.5/10 Baldwin's Ni- dir. Horace Ove/1968/46m (no trailer again, so here's a clip) This provocatively titled documentary (the title is explained by the subject himself in the above clip) is the first work from acclaimed director Horace Ove, who would make the first feature length film by a Black British filmmaker with Pressure in 1975. Here he documents a short lecture and Q and A session in London given by American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, with some short comments at the end by comedian and fellow activist d*ck Gregory. Speaking with a quiet, polite intensity he expounds on the differences in race relations between the UK and the US, his own personal history, what steps need to be taken next, and what role, if any, white liberals have in the civil rights movement. Baldwin is a thoughtful, intelligent, engaging, witty speaker and the forty five minutes spent with him here just flies by, leaving you wanting more. It's so refreshing to see a civilised, mature, grown up discussion about such subjects considering the state of political discourse these days, which just seems to all devolve into shouting matches on social media. A simple and bare bones film, but when you have a subject like Baldwin you don't need anything else. 9/10 Lost in Starlight dir. Han Ji-won/2025/1h36m This Korean animation is set in the near future and tells the story of literally star-crossed lovers, astronaut Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri) and downbeat musician Je-i (Hong Kyung). Their brief romance is tested when she gets a place on a mission to Mars, following in the footsteps of her late mother. This is rather melodramatic at points, but it's also very sweet and tender and genuine, which helps ground it even in the futuristic setting. The world is well designed with it feeling not too far fetched, like it's attainable for 2050, and the animation is crisp and gorgeous, the use of space imagery being particularly pretty. The cross cutting between Nan-young on her mission and Je-i trying to get his music career back on track on Earth is well done, with the distance between them bringing them closer together, but it is all quite predictable. 7/10 A Single Life dir. Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen, Marieke Blaauw/2014/2m This Dutch animated short has a simple yet fairly well executed premise. A woman has a mysterious vinyl record that, when skipped back and forth, can transport her to different points in her life. This leads up to a dark punchline that's perhaps the best thing about this. I like the style of the set here but I find the character design quite ugly and off-putting, and feel like this could have been expanded to something more emotionally hefty rather than as a setup for a gag. This feels like a practice run for something substantial with more to say, but as it is it's still an entertaining couple of minutes. 6.5/10

Don't Worry Darling (2022) dir Olivia Wilde Florence Pugh and Harry Styles star as wife and husband Alice and Jack in this psychological thriller. It's set in a 1950s USA. Jack works for the mysterious Victory Project, as do all the men who live, with their wives and some kids, in their purpose built desert town. It all seems too perfect. Everyone is very glamorous and stylish. The men all leave for work at exactly the same time in a convoy of cars heading out to the project's out of town HQ. They are strictly prohibited from talking about it outside work. So none of the wives know what their husbands actually do; and this being the 1950s, only the men go to work. The wives spend their days doing a bit of housework, watching the company TV channel, going to the shops on the company funded shuttle buses, buying stuff with their husbands company credit cards, going to the dance class run by the company founder's wife, and having cocktails with the other wives. It's all far too perfect, from a 1950s point of view of the ideal family life, and very creepy. Obviously, being a thriller, things are not actually as perfect as they seem. Alice and Jack's neighbour's son has gone missing and is presumed dead. The wife, who was Alice's best friend, has been blamed for taking him into an off-limits area where he got lost. She claims to have been hearing and seeing weird things and that the company private security people took her son away. But Alice and the other wives don't believe her. Then, predictably, Alice starts to see and hear weird things as well. So it is a bit formulaic in this respect. There must be countless other films that follow a similar basic plot of something odd happening to a main character that a minor character also claims to have experienced, but no one else believes it. The inevitable twist, it wouldn't be a thriller without one, was not a total surprise to me. I guessed early on what it might be so was on the look out for it. But I'm not claiming any great insight or that it would be obvious to everyone. Maybe I just guessed correctly. And it didn't spoil the twist, was more of case of being satisfied I had worked the basics out. The acting is OK, maybe a little forced at times, but it's not the sort of film that needed anything really special. It is very nicely shot with some good sets, costumes, cars and music. There's also some nice choreography from scenes in Alice's imagination and one of the husband's cars (all 50s classics) driving to work in perfect formation that does look a bit like a dance scene. I would have liked to have seen what happened beyond where it ends, but since they had spent 2 hours getting to that point I can see why it did not go on further. It's not the sort of film I would want to have been a 3 hour epic. Overall OK if you don't expect too much from it. 6 / 10

What I Watched This Week #176 (May 12-18) The Good Dinosaur dir. Peter Sohn/2015/1h33m This is one of Pixar's lowest rated films according to review aggregator sites so I wasn't particularly looking forward to watching this, but what I found was a pleasant surprise. Set in a world where the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs passed Earth harmlessly dinosaurs remain the dominant species thousands of years later. When Apatosaurus Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), the runt of his family, is separated from his family he discovers a feral early human he later calls spot. The two must work together to get back to Arlo's family and prove that Arlo is as strong and capable as his siblings. The first thing that struck me about this film were the incredibly gorgeous, almost photorealistic, background animations. There are points here where this looks like a big budget nature documentary. This makes the actual character design, especially that of Arlo and his family, really incongruous, like they wandered in from a different movie. The voice cast, which includes Frances McDormand and Jeffrey Wright as Arlo's parents and Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger, are solid but wholly unnecessary. This film is at it's best when there is no dialogue, with my favourite scene being one between Arlo and Spot where they tell each other about their families without a single word and it was genuinely really touching. A minor effort from one of the best animation studios in the world, but when you're among the best even your lesser films are worth watching. 7/10 Fast X dir. Louis Leterrier/2023/2h22m The latest film in the Fast saga sees the family bought to their knees by the son of the bad guy they killed in Rio during the events of Fast Five. Dante Reyes, played by Jason Momoa, is the best villain in the series. He's a camp, dangerous, genius madman and he easily stole every scene he was in. This feels like his audition to be the bad guy in the next Bond film, whenever that franchise returns. The actual plot is somehow both threadbare and overly convoluted, but it's really just a line on which to hang several explosive set pieces that defy the laws of physics. My favourite is the extended chase through the streets of Rome where they are trying to catch a rolling nuclear mine. At this point in time I don't think there's a difference between Vin Diesel and Dominic Toretto, they have become one and his stoic masculinity in this role I find both funny and charmingly sincere. This is part one of a two part franchise finale, so you are left on a cliffhanger with no resolution. Even worse, right at the end, Gal Gadot returns (she is an awful actor). I can't believe that I'm as much of a fan of this series as I am after going through them all so far. Not that they're the best films in the world, but I was expecting to be giving them all scores of 2 or 3. I'm genuinely looking forward to the final entry in the series and will even go to the cinema to watch it, something I never thought I'd say. As for this particular film, it's decent but not as good as F9 because in that one they went to f*cking space. 6.5/10 Nine to Five dir. Colin Higgins/1980/1h50m Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda play three office workers who have had enough of their ignorant, sexist, racist, idea-stealing boss Frank Hart (Dabney Coleman). After first thinking they have poisoned him and stealing a random body from the morgue they then kidnap him and start making some changes at work. This is a really fun, dark comedy with three great lead performances as three very different characters. My favourite is Tomlin as Violet, Frank's right hand woman and the person who actually runs the place. Fonda is funny as a bumbling klutz of a woman getting back in the workplace after a divorce, and Parton is as delightful as she always is as Frank's secretary who everyone thinks is sleeping with him, but is actually a loving, faithful wife. I did go in to this thinking it was a musical due to the iconic theme song and the fact that Parton later went on to make the brilliant The Best Little wh*rehouse in Texas with the same director, but it isn't. That may be a positive for some, but not for me. I did still have a blast watching this and had the theme stuck in my head for days. 8.5/10 Lime's Film of the Week! A Minecraft Movie dir. Jared Hess/2025/1h41m A Minecraft Movie starring Jack Black as Minecraft Steve is an actual thing that really exists and is actually pretty good. As a child Steve yearned for the mines, where he found a portal to a strange, blocky reality, the Overworld, a place where you can unleash the full power of your imagination, and he becomes a master crafter. Years later four others, a sister and brother, Natalie and Henry (Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen), a realtor Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and washed up 80's video game champion Garrett (Jason Momoa), also find their way to the Overworld. When they learn that the evil witch Malgosha (Rachel House), who lives in the hell-like underworld of The Nether, wants to destroy the Overworld, they band together to stop her. This is from the director of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, and that same style of surreal, awkward humour is present here. Jack Black is the most Jack Black here than he's been in years, so if his style isn't your thing then you'll get tired of this pretty quickly. Personally I think he's great here, especially in the scenes he shares with Momoa, the two make a hilarious double-act. Momoa, like he did in Fast X, steals the show here. The plot with Natalie and Henry is fine, but it's there just to give some emotional weight to the film and I don't know if it needed any. I don't know why Dawn is in this as a character. Brooks is fine in the role, but the character is pointless. The visual style of the film emulates the game really well and I think looks quite beautiful, apart from some of the faces. I also like how the mechanics of the game are used in the film. If you've never played Minecraft then some of the things that happen will seem pretty weird to you. I was expecting this to be a mess, but I had fun pretty much throughout the entire thing. 7.5/10 The Witch dir. Georges Méliès/1906/13m The Witch is one of Méliès's more elaborate films in which a man pays a witch to foretell his future, and it show's a beautiful princess. But it turns out he paid her with a bag of sand. She pursues him, tormenting him with ghosts and giant frogs before she is defeated. This is a beautiful film and a perfect example of the technique by which films were given colour at that time, with each frame being meticulously painted by hand. This gives the colours in the film a shimmering quality, adding to the magical feeling of the piece. This also brings out the details in the beautiful stage like sets, with the overall tone being that of a storybook come to life. I'm not much a fan of the story, just pay the woman and you wouldn't get any of this trouble, but it was still magical to watch. 6.5/10 Mr. Arkadin dir. Orson Welles/1955/1h47m Mr. Arkadin is a noir thriller from Orson Welles in which he stars in the title role of an imposing oligarch with a mysterious past. When small-time crook Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden) hears two names from a dying man - "Arkadin, Sophie" - he and his partner Mily (Patricia Medina) attempt to blackmail him, but surprising he hires Stratten to investigate his past, as he has no memory of his life before 1927. This leads him on a worldwide chase that becomes darker and more dangerous the more he uncovers. It's a bit pointless saying this about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but this film looks amazing, with every shot being a masterful use of shadows and unconventional (certainly for the time) framing and shot composition. Welles also dominates the film with his performance, looming threateningly over everyone else. The plot, like most noir films, is very convoluted with several twists and revelations, but by the time we get to the emotionally climactic airport set finale it's tied up quite nicely. Not on the level of his masterpieces like Citizen Kane and Chimes at Midnight, this is still a great film. 8/10 The King of Dollars dir. Segundo de Chomon/1905/2m This is an early film from Segundo de Chomon, a sort of Spanish Georges Méliès who used the same editing trickery. It's a very simple one shot setup where a magician performs close up magic with a coin, made even more magical with that same editing trickery. He then makes a man continuously vomit up coins, a surprisingly grotesque visual. There's a surrealist quality to this film that's not really present in the works of Méliès so that makes it feel quite different, but I didn't find much else here. It's not one of the director's highest rated works, so when I watch some of those they hopefully feel even better by comparison. 5/10

Ferrari (2023) dir Michael Mann This wasn't exactly what I expected, but I enjoyed it. Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari, who with his wife Laura (Penolope Cruz in very good performance), founded the Ferrari sports car & racing company. It's not got that much racing in it, and it's not really a biopic either, rather it focusses on events from one specific year, 1957. Those events relate just as much to the Ferrari's personal life and their business as much as it does to motor racing. So if you think you might like a film all about the Ferrari motor racing team, then this might not be for you. But also if you don't like those sort of films then this may be something you would like. I don't know for sure how much of the plot was true, some I definitely know was, but obviously most of what I describe here is just what is portrayed in the film. Enzo was a former racing driver who had limited success and retired in the early 1930s. He then went into the sports car business as a way to finance the racing team he managed. That was, he says in the film, the opposite way round to what most of the other famous names; Maserati, Porsche, Jaguar etc, did. Their racing teams promoted their sports car sales. By 1957 Ferrari was in financial trouble and some of the plot is about Enzo setting things in motion that would eventually lead to Fiat buying the company. They go into the engineering side of things a bit too, Enzo describing how he comes up with ways to improve engine performance by imaging himself inside the engine. There's a personal side to the plot. Laura and Enzo are really just business partners at this stage and she knows he is seeing another woman, and is not really bothered. But then she finds out a bit more about her husband's mistress, Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley), and doesn't like what she finds. There's a couple of racing scenes early on at a test track where Maserati and Ferrari are competing to set a new lap record and then the last part of the film is about the 1957 Mille Miglia (Italian for Thousand Mile) race. This was an endurance race for sports cars on public roads in northern Italy. The roads were obviously closed to the public for the race, but it's obviously far from a race on a purpose built circuit. Ferrari entered 5 cars, 4 with established Ferrari drivers and one with their latest signing, Alfonso de Portago (Gabriel Leone). You see these drivers preparing for the race in the morning, rather like in a WWII film about pilots preparing for a mission they know they might not return from, leaving letters for their wives and girlfriends to be opened in the event of their deaths. The Mille Miglia had an average of about 2 fatalities per year, from drivers and spectators, and due to what happened in this edition, it was the last time it was raced. The film shows a couple of accidents in quite graphic detail, leaving no doubt about consequences for those involved. The racing sequences are very good, featuring some classic cars which you see and, just as importantly, hear. There's also some other famous racing drivers from the time named and / or seen. One was very recognisable as Stirling Moss and Graham Hill is also mentioned. They show the camaraderie between the drivers, with one Maserati driver surviving a minor crash that writes off his car, and then continuing the rest of the race as a passenger in a Ferrari. Some great scenic shots of the Italian country side in this section as well – see trailer. 8 / 10

What I Watched This Week #177 (May 19-25) Meek's Cutoff dir. Kelly Reichardt/2010/1h44m This minimalist western stars Michelle Williams as one of a small group of settlers heading west through Oregon in 1845. Having split from their main party, they have hired the grizzled outsider Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) to guide them through the harsh and unforgiving terrain. This film plays out like some ethereal , dreamy nightmare, reminding me in tone of Picnic at Hanging Rock. The empty landscapes are shot in a way that emphasises both their beauty and their danger, with the human figures at times seeming insignificant as they pass through them. This is one of those rare westerns that is shot from a female perspective, here not just Williams's character of Emily, but also the two other women in the party, Millie and Glory (Zoe Kazan, Shirley Henderson), but it is done in a detached, observant way, with the interactions between characters being brief and often tense. Williams is excellent in the lead, her face saying more than words, something which Reichardt makes great use of. Greenwood is a fantastic antagonist, if that's what he even is. Meek feels like someone who has to prove something to the world, that he has worth, and he's getting desperate about it. You either go his way, or you'll die, and you don't know if that's a threat, a warning, or both. This is real edge of your seat stuff, even though hardly anything seems to happen. 9/10 The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island dir. James Griffiths/2007/26m This comedy short stars and is co-written by Tim Key - known to people in the UK as a stand up poet - as awkwardly eccentric millionaire Charles, who hires his favourite folk singer, Herb McGwyer (other co-writer Tom Basden), to come and give a private performance just for him. This is a fun if very one dimensional film that is charming enough. There's plenty of purposefully bad puns and protracted silences, and the chemistry between Key and Basden works well in that it hardly works at all. The characters don't really have much depth, Key is basically playing himself, and McGwyer is reluctant, thinking he's above it all, doing it just for the money. There is a very sweet twist at the end that gives the film a little more emotional heft, but this could have honestly been ten minutes shorter and still been the same. 6/10 The Ballad of Wallis Island dir. James Griffiths/2025/1h40m Nearly twenty years later the same director and writers/stars have returned to Wallis Island for a feature length adaptation of their short. This retains the same basic plot, and most of the same jokes beat for beat, as the earlier film, but expands on the characters and their motivations greatly. This has turned a slight, if enjoyable, comedic premise into something with real emotional depth and heart. The plot has been slightly altered in that Key's character Charles isn't just an awkwardly bumbling millionaire, but someone coping with real grief, and his love of the folk duo Mortimer and McGwyer is part of that. And this time, instead of just inviting Herb, he has also invited, unbeknownst to Herb, his former musical and romantic partner Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). These additions really make the film much better, with this main trio having great chemistry together, in whatever combination you choose. The direction is much improved, with some gorgeous establishing shots of the coast and surrounding countryside really making this feel like somewhere you'd go to get away from the world. Also, if you like folk music, the original songs here are really good. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Negative Space dir. Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter/2017/6m This stop-motion animated short tells how Sam (Albert Birney, narration only) bonded with his dad, who travelled for work a lot, over the perfect way to pack a suitcase. This seemingly trivial thing is given massive gravitas in the wake of his father's death. This film packs a lot into its brief runtime, with a really imaginative use of the medium to make the act of packing a suitcase into something visually stimulating and unique. The animation is nicely done, with it being very fluid but still retaining the qualities of stop-motion, and everything looks so lovingly handcrafted. A surprisingly moving little film that's well worth the six minutes it takes to watch. 8/10 Crossfire dir. Edward Dmytryk/1947/1h26m This film noir stars Robert Young as a detective investigating the murder of a Jewish man, with the motive thought to be antisemitism. His prime suspect is Mitchell (George Cooper), one of a group of soldiers just arrived in the area. But one of the other soldiers, Keeley (Robert Mitchum), isn't buying it and decides to investigate for himself, with all signs seeming to point toward another soldier, Montgomery (Robert Ryan). This is a fairly standard hardboiled noir with most of what you'd expect to find from the genre, including Gloria Grahame as a mysterious femme fatale, but there are a few moments of almost Lynchian surrealism that really standout. My favourite scene in the film involves Mitchell meeting a character named only The Man (Paul Kelly) who seems to melt out of the shadows, speaks enigmatically, almost threateningly, then leaves. The lead performances from the three Roberts are all great, especially Ryan who seems reasonable at the start of the film, but is twisted and deformed by hate by the end. 8/10 The Cat Came Back dir. Cordell Barker/1988/7m Mr. Johnson doesn't like cats, so is obviously annoyed when a yellow stray keeps getting into his home. This animated short details the more and more extreme measures he takes to get rid of it forever. The whole story is delivered as a song sung by Richard Condie and animated with rough, wavering lines that reminded me of Roobarb and Custard and early nineties Nickelodeon cartoons like Doug. It's a one gag film that does go on a bit too long in my opinion, and the song is also repetitive, but I did enjoy the pretty dark punchline. 5.5/10 Nightb*tch dir. Marielle Heller/2024/1h38m Nightb*tch stars Amy Adams as a woman who, despite loving her son, hates being a stay at home mother while her husband (Scoot McNairy) spends time away for work. To make matters worse she's pretty sure she turns into a dog at night. This feels like an attempt at a modern fable, taking the idea that the societal pressure on all women to enjoy being a mother makes those who don't feel like a monster, but for me it doesn't quite go all the way. The moments where it really commits are where the film shines, scenes where Mother embraces her animalistic side and decides to raise her Son (twins Arleigh and Emmett Snowden) in a likewise manner. Despite every other character having names, the main family are only called Mother, Husband and Son, adding to the idea that this is an allegory rather than a story about a specific person. I also find it telling that McNairy's character is called Husband and not Father, telling us in simple terms how Mother views him. Adams is a really good lead here, again particularly in the scenes that commit to the films premise, and the scenes between her and Son are genuinely sweet. If this leant more into the weirdness then it would be right up my alley, as it is it's still a very good film. 7.5/10 Armour of God dir. Jackie Chan, Eric Tsang Chi-Wai/1986/1h37m Jackie Chan co-directs and stars as Jackie, also known as Asian Hawk, former popstar turned Indiana Jones style treasure hunter in his usual blend of martial arts action and comedy, usually at the same time. The plot sees his former bandmate and love interest Lorelei (Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam) kidnapped by a religious cult who want him to track down all the pieces of the legendary titular armour. There's something about this film that just doesn't work for me as much as other films of his from the time like Police Story. It feels a little disjointed in places, the whole former popstar turned treasure hunter thing feels like a joke I don't get and kind of sums up the whole film. Chan's character is also not very likeable, which is weird when you're talking about Jackie Chan. It feels like he's trying to come off as cool at points, which doesn't suit him. There's also an attempt to make this a buddy comedy, with Jackie's idiotic friend Alan (Alan Tam) coming along for the ride. There are some standout moments like the climactic base jump onto the top of a hot air balloon, but they're few and far between. 6/10

Another Earth (2011) dir Mike Cahill A nice, low budget film about two people who meet accidentally, in circumstances related to the discovery of a new Earth-like planet, and the relationship that eventually unfolds between them. Disney Plus classed this a sci-fi, and I can see why. But really it has not got much sci-fi in it at all. Everything is set on Earth, in the early 2010s. There's no space ships, no aliens, no technology beyond what we had 10 year ago and no futuristic special effects. But in the background we have the evolving story of this new planet, dubbed “Earth II”, and eventually a character we get to know does go on the mission to explore it. However we don't see any of that happen, we just know that is has occurred. It's mainly about one of the characters, Rhoda, and another, John, to a slightly lesser extent. Rhoda, an astrophysics student at the start, is played by Brit Marling (from Netflix's The O.A), who also co-wrote this. John, a composer, is played by William Mapother who fans of Lost would recognise as Ethan, one of the “Others”. They put in good performances, which they have to since so much of the film is just them. It's got quite a gentle pace, no great tension, although given the circumstances in which they first meet and then later meet again there could have been. I do have to take issue with some of the actual science aspects of this, but I can forgive that since Earth II is sort of secondary importance to the plot. It does feature some almost documentary style lines spoken by, I think, actual astrophysicists, about what they think about Earth II, which I liked. But then you have to see it more like a fantasy than sci-fi since there are number of things that are completely impossible as portrayed in the film and some things not addressed at all. Where has Earth II come from and why was it only spotted in 2011? How come when it gets close to Earth it does not disrupt the tides and Earth's own orbit? If you can put those things aside, which I found I could, it's a decent film. If you want to see a film about what might actually happen if another planet did come into our system or was already there but hidden, then there's films like Melancholia (also 2011) or Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969) 7 / 10

What I Watched This Week #175 (May 5-11) BlacKkKlansman dir. Spike Lee/2018/2h16m BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee's biopic of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), who in 1972 became the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Not long after he becomes an undercover officer and is able to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan over the phone, his membership being expedited by the Grand Wizard himself, David Duke (Topher Grace). This is a stylish, impactful film that sees Lee utilising all of his trademark cinematic flourishes to great use. The montage of real world footage at the end, something he's done several times, was especially powerful as it featured footage from the white supremacist rally in Virginia in 2017 along with a speech by Agent Orange. At the same time this is also a very entertaining film with some great 70's fashion and hairstyles as well as a brilliant score by jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Washington is a charismatic lead whose personality shines through in every scene, something I didn't get from him in the only other performance I've seen of his in Christopher Nolan's Tenet. Adam Driver is also very good as Stallworth's Jewish partner Flip Zimmerman, who was the in-person half of their Klan infiltrating duo for obvious reasons. One of Lee's best films, and it has me hyped for his remake of the Akira Kurosawa film High and Low, Highest 2 Lowest (starring John David's father, Denzel), out later this year. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Longlegs dir. Osgood Perkins/2024/1h41m This 90's set occult horror thriller stars Maika Monroe as FBI agent Lee Harker who is investigating a series of murder/suicides all involving the father killing his entire family before himself. They are all linked by coded letters left by the mysterious Longlegs (Nicolas Cage). Like a lot of horror films dealing with the occult I find that the setup is always better than the conclusion, the recent Heretic comes to mind, and that's the case here. There's a whole thing here with creepy dolls that didn't really work for me, and the puzzle with the letters just feels like a stretch. The film would have benefitted from being much more ambiguous in the final act. That said, I still really liked the majority of this, with Monroe's performance really carrying the whole thing. Cage is creepy in the little screen time he has, but like the aliens from Aliens, the more you see of him the less scary he becomes. I actually started to notice a slight resemblance to Jackie Stallone, Sly's mother, in his bloated, pale face. But his first few appearances are really effective and had me checking over my shoulder. 7/10 Jazz on a Summer's Day dir. Bert Stern/1959/1h22m The only movie by photographer Bert Stern, this concert film documents the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. There are some incredible performances here, my favourites being Thelonious Monk, Big Maybelle, Dinah Washington, Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong who always steals the show, but what I really liked about this film is the relaxed atmosphere and how the experience of the festival and the people in attendance are just as important to Stern. He often pans away from the stage to capture a random person, and he doesn't just look for people dancing and getting into the music, he just focuses on what interests him like a woman struggling with an ice cream sandwich. I also like how the film progresses through the day chronologically, starting off in the morning with footage of boats taking part in a regatta adjacent to the festival and ending after the sun has set. It really feels like we've spent the day here. Good music, good vibes, good time. 9/10 Film Adventurer Karel Zeman dir. Tomas Hodan/2015/52m (edited from 1h38m) This documentary explores the career of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman whose innovative use of special effects bought to life some incredible films like Invention for Destruction and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Aside from the usual documentary talking heads of people inspired by Zeman like Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton and clips from his films, the best thing about this documentary is watching students in a Czech film school trying to recreate scenes from his films using his techniques. Seeing a new generation get inspired by Zeman and marvelling at the genius of his way of creating new worlds was something I wish there was more of. And there may be more of that as I was watching a heavily edited version on Disney+ which is pretty annoying. I don't know what was edited out, or why, but I feel a little short changed. Despite that, I still enjoyed stepping back into the magical worlds of Karel Zeman, and highly recommend the two films I mentioned above, particularly Invention for Destruction which is also known as The Fabulous World of Jules Verne. 7/10 Yakuza Graveyard dir. Kinji Fukasaku/1976/1h37m Tetsuya Watari stars as renegade cop Kuroiwa in this Japanese crime thriller from a director best known in the west for the incredibly influential film Battle Royale. The plot sees Kuroiwa playing two warring crime families, the Nishidas and the Yamashiros, against each other. When he learns that his superiors are involved he takes matters into his own hands. This is a bleak and gritty film shot using handheld cameras that really adds to the chaotic tone and it matches Kuroiwa's character perfectly. This is a lot like Dirty Harry but with a lead character that's much more intertwined with the world he's trying to bring down. This is represented by his intense relationship with Keiko (Meiko Kaji), the widow of a gangster that he killed. Watari and Kaji are both great in the lead roles, their scenes together conveying a sense of doomed hopelessness. Despite some exciting action scenes this is a film that remains downbeat to the end, but after spending time with Kuroiwa you know that he's only going out one way. 8.5/10 Two short films by Georges Méliès: The Pillar of Fire 1899/1m The Infernal Cakewalk 1903/6m These two films from Georges Méliès see him take on what seems to be his favourite role, a playful, impish devil. The first film sees him as a green skinned demon who conjures an angel. Using her wings she conjures a clous of holy smoke that defeats him, before she herself disappears into thin air. The second, more elaborate, film is set in hell where a big dance party is in full swing, with Méliès as the devil bursting out of a cake to bust some moves of his own. Wanting to know what the title meant I looked it up, and a cakewalk was a dance competition plantation owners would make their sl*ves participate in, with the winner receiving a cake as a prize. This is also where the term "to take the cake" comes from. Racial undertones aside I liked it more than the first film as his use of editing trickery is much more refined, even just a few years later. I'll give them a combined 7/10

The Outrun (2024) dir Nora Fingscheidt Saoirse Ronan plays Rona, a young alcoholic who returns to he native Orkney (a group of islands off the north of Scotland) after living most of her life in London. It's a bit of an unusual film. It does not exactly have the usual narrative plot. A lot of the time it feels more like you are following Rona about and I think she is in every scene. It's also very nonlinear, moving back and forwards from the present, in Orkney, her childhood there too, and then at least two different periods in time in London. Rather like Kate Winslet in The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you can tell which part of the time-line you are watching from the colour of Ronan's hair. But at first it does take a little getting used to. There is a story though. So we see her before she became addicted to drink, then the effects on her relationships as she becomes an addict through to her attempts to get help and then deciding she has to leave London and go back home, where there's less nightlife, but still obviously there is drink available. And there's tensions with her parents, who are separated, with her father also battling his own problems. There is a lot narration from Rona as we hear her thoughts on various bits of Orkney folk-lore, history, natural history and weather, some of which overlap. In particular there is the myth of the Selkie – people who drowned and turned into seals. It's good, and Ronan is great in the lead role with pretty decent support too. There are plenty of easy-on-the eye scenes of the Orkney landscape, sea, sky and the seals. But I did find it a little too long at nearly 2 hours. I have nothing against a film being that long or longer, if that is what is needed to complete a good story, but this felt like it didn't need to be that long. 7 / 10

What I Watched This Week #174 (Apr 28-May 4) The Last Showgirl dir. Gia Coppola/2024/1h29m This gentle drama stars Pamela Anderson in the lead role of Shelley, the fading star of a Las Vegas revue that will be closing soon due to dwindling audience members. She is also trying to reforge a relationship with her estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd). This is a very quiet film that stays clear of melodrama and that makes the characters much more rounded as a result. Anderson gives an excellent performance in the lead, easily the best of her career (as much as I enjoy the insane Casablanca remake Barb Wire), and it reminded me a lot of Marilyn Monroe's performance in her final film The Misfits as a woman dealing with aging in a world that finds the idea of beautiful women getting old offensive and where her place in that world actually is. They both remain positive but there's always a hint of melancholy. There's also great support from Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelley's cocktail waitress best friend Annette and Dave Bautista as the show's stage manager Eddie. The direction, by Francis's granddaughter Gia Coppola, is decent but the constant use of bokeh - a very stylised use of focus that gives a dreamy feel - got distracting after a while, though it does convey that Shelley is still living in a dreamland. 8.5/10 Havoc dir. Gareth Evans/2025/1h47m Tom Hardy stars as a gruff cop trying to stop a gang war when the mayor's son is framed for killing some Triads I think, it's all very convoluted in a way that's trying to emulate classic noir films (as is Hardy's voiceover) but none of it is particularly interesting. This is from the same director as The Raid and its sequel so the action scenes are capably handled and each feel distinct from the other, but aside from that this is the definition of content churned out for Netflix put on their front page for a week or so. As good as Hardy is as an actor he just has nothing to really work with here. I couldn't tell you his name with a gun pointed to my head, my best guess would John Q. Havoc generic as he is. There are some familiar faces in the supporting cast, with Forest Whitaker playing the mayor, Timothy Olyphant as a corrupt cop, and Luis Guzman whose character I don't really remember, but I like Luis Guzman, so that's a net positive in that department I guess. If you're looking for some background noise to not really pay attention to then this is the film for you, not bad, but not much of anything else either. 5/10 Farewell, My Lovely (Murder, My Sweet) dir. Edward Dmytryk/1944/1h35m This adaptation of Raymond Chandler's noir novel, the second book to feature legendary private detective Philip Marlowe, sees d*ck Powell take on the role and get caught up in a convoluted plot kicked off by getting hired by an ex-con to track down his former girlfriend. This is the second adaptation of this story I've seen, and I do prefer the later version starring Robert Mitchum in the role of Marlowe, his appearance suiting it more, almost matching the crumpled suit he's been sleeping in for several days. Elliot Gould also played the role very well in The Long Goodbye. But none can match up to Humphry Bogart, iconic in The Big Sleep, which was released only a few years later. None of this is Powell's fault obviously, his performance is the earliest out of them all, but I couldn't help but compare him to all of the other Marlowe's I've seen, and I have to say his is the weakest. Not that he's bad, he just doesn't compare favourably. As for the film, it's just like Powell. Not bad, but not as good as what came later. The highlight of the film is Claire Trevor's performance as the femme fatale of the piece, Helen Grayle. If you've not seen any Raymond Chandler adaptations then maybe start with this one, as it will make all of the others even more enjoyable. 7/10 Manivald dir. Chintis Lundgren/2017/13m This animated short is another set in Estonian director Chintis Lundgren's world of anthropomorphic animals exploring their sexualities. This story is about a fox called Manivald (Trevor Boris), a talented musician still living at home with his mother (France Castel). When their washing machine breaks down they call in a repairman, the s*xy wolf Toomas (Drasko Ivezic) - star of another Lundgren film, Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves - who soon starts relationships with both of them. I really like Lundgren's very simple style and limited colour palette, it gives me nostalgic vibes for Nickelodeon cartoons I watched as a child like Doug and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. Obviously the content is much more adult, with this film having a very mature take on s*xual relationships. The fact that it's bizarre and quirky looking animals instead of people makes the message have even more impact. 8/10 F9 dir. Justin Lin/2021/2h23m When I first started watching the Fast and Furious franchise back in January it was all because I heard that they actually travel to space in one of the later films and I just had to see that, but being a completionist I had to start at the beginning when they were just street racers stealing DVD players. And now the time has come, and it was just as glorious as I had hoped it would be. When Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris blasted off into space in a car with a rocket strapped to its roof and then proceeded to drive it through a spy satellite in order to destroy it I could not stop smiling. It's so gloriously stupid and over the top and I loved it. There are even moments when Gibson's character, Roman, almost becomes self aware, commenting on how it's ridiculous how they do all of this secret agent stuff with no training and experience and never die, or even get a scratch. If he had looked right into the camera at that moment I would have stood up and clapped. For a second there I thought the film would become some meta commentary on action films. It doesn't, but the fact that I even thought that could be a possibility is brilliant. As for the actual film, it's the same as ever but bigger and faster and even more furious, with John Cena being added to the cast as Dominic's (Vin Diesel) estranged brother Jakob. The more overblown these films get, the more they hook me in, which is something no other blockbuster franchise has done for me before. I don't know what it is about them because I'm not a car guy at all, but these are just fun and I'm pumped for the next one, where could they possibly go next? 7/10 The Mermaid dir. Georges Méliès/1904/4m Another slice of early movie magic sees Méliès go fishing in a top hat, throwing his catches in a aquarium, which then fills the screen before a mermaid appears. These longer films not only allow Méliès to refine his filmmaking techniques but also to show off his personality, which shines through in every movement and flourish he makes. He is such a recognisable character to me now after watching so many of his films and it makes me wish I could have seen him perform his stage magic show. If you've never watched any of these films before take a few minutes now and check some out, they really do feel like magic. 8/10 Damnation dir. Bela Tarr/1988/1h56m This film from Hungarian master Bela Tarr is the first where he really cements his trademark style of long takes, controlled movement and a perfect utilisation of the elements like Akira Kurosawa, particularly that of the endless, torrential rain which seems to soak this film to its very soul. The story follows Karrer (Szekely B. Miklos), a lonely, depressed man living in a rundown town that seems to consist of not much more than a few houses and a bar, the Titanik. He is in love with the woman who sings at the bar (Vali Kerekes), but she is married, so he must come up with a scheme to get her husband (Gyorgy Cserhalmi) out of the way. There's a sense of pathetic desperation to all of these characters, like the stray dogs scrabbling around in the dirt and the rain that we see throughout the film. They're all on a sinking ship and there's nothing to do but drink. This all sounds very grim and miserable, and it is, but it's also shot in some of the most beautiful black and white photography you could ask for. There's texture in every surface in this film, you don't just watch it, you can feel it. This is also a very quiet film but the emotional impact is devastating. Not quite on the same level as his later masterpieces Werckmeister Harmonies and Satantango (my favourite film of all time) this is still an expertly crafted film that will transport you to another world. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week!