Shameless Self Expression

Recently single Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) reluctantly teams up with assorted others to take on nasty nightclub owner Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor). Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a vigilante known as ‘The Huntress’, Rosie Perez is a police detective, Jurnee Smollett-Bell plays singer Dinah Lance AKA Black Canary, and Chris Messina plays Sionis’ chief thug Victor.   “Suicide Squad” was a lethargic mess whose constant music montage character introductions kept it from getting out of first gear. A spin-off featuring one of its bright spots in Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn didn’t seem all that appetising to me (let alone a supposed sequel coming soon too). Sure, Robbie gave a fun performance in an otherwise fairly dire experience, but I wasn’t exactly hotly anticipating this 2020 girl-powered spin-off from director Cathy Yan (whose background is largely in shorts) and screenwriter Christina Hodson ( “Bumblebee” ). I was right to be sceptical too, because this annoying, terminally ...

A grief-stricken New York detective (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) travels to London to unofficially look into the murder and mutilation of his honeymooning daughter (Her severed hands are yet to be located). Before long it becomes apparent that a serial killer is at work all across Europe, posing the brutalised bodies to resemble famous artworks. Cush Jumbo plays a journalist in Sweden who helps Morgan out. Naomi Battrick and Ruairi O’Connor play a likeable young American couple on a European holiday who keep running into the same uncouth-looking, persistent fellow (Dylan Devonald Smith) wherever they go (at one point he introduces the couple to his equally oddball wife). Famke Janssen (a last minute replacement for Connie Nielsen) plays Morgan’s estranged wife and the mother of the deceased, whilst Steven Mackintosh plays a London detective who wants Morgan to bugger off home.   It’s pretty obvious early on that this 2020 serial killer film from director Danis Tanovic ( “No Man’s Land” ,...

Androgynous male author J.T. LeRoy earned some notoriety and popularity for a few semi-autobiographical novels and short stories from the late 90s onwards. However, there was no real J.T. Le Roy. Instead the character of J.T. LeRoy was the brainchild of Laura Albert (played by Laura Dern) a musician/author who wrote J.T.’s words and then got stuck when people started clamouring to meet the face behind the words. For a while, Albert was able to affect a mumbly Southern drawl for some phone interviews with the supposedly ultra-shy LeRoy. However, eventually Albert hired the sister of her musician boyfriend Geoffrey Knoop (Jim Sturgess) to put a face/image to the words. Here we get a telling of that story from the point of view of Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart), the rather androgynous visage of J.T. LeRoy. Diane Kruger plays a bisexual filmmaker-actress who is supposedly loosely based on Asia Argento, while Courtney Love turns up playing another character so that the film can play ‘Cele...

Set in 19 th Century France, Vincent Price stars as a magistrate who is asked to visit a condemned murderer (Harvey Stephens) in prison who claims he is innocent. In fact, he claims to have been possessed by the spirit of pure evil, a creature known as ‘The Horla’. Price scoffs at such a laughable fantasy. However, it appears as though ‘The Horla’ has moved from the condemned man’s body to Price’s. Meanwhile, the amateur sculptor meets and falls for his latest model (played by Nancy Covack), who is a married woman. She leaves her husband for Price, but their happiness is short-lived as ‘The Horla’ makes its evil presence known, leading to Price committing a shocking act.   One of the lesser-known Vincent Price horror films, this 1963 effort from director Reginald Le Borg ( “War Drums” with Lex Barker, and a lot of TV work) is occasionally hokey, but pretty interesting stuff. If you enjoyed Price’s “The Mad Magician” here’s another B-level Price film that ought to get talked ...

Meek, middle-aged advertising man Gene Wilder has a comfortable life with his wife (Judith Ivey), two kids, and job stability. In the midst of a midlife crisis, he’s about to mess with it all when he spots a hot number in a red dress (Kelly LeBrock), and his mind – and eye – gets to wandering. Joseph Bologna and Charles Grodin are Wilder’s friends, Gilda Radner turns up as a co-worker whom Wilder inadvertently offends.   American remakes of French comedies were all over the place in the 80s and 90s, with “Three Men and a Baby” and the underrated “Three Fugitives” probably coming off best. This 1984 film from director-writer-star Gene Wilder doesn’t quite make the same grade, I’m afraid. Despite the light and fluffy sheen and Wilder’s trademark sweet yet anxious screen persona, there’s something a bit ‘off’ here in this very slight yet slow romantic-comedy. Looking at it from a 2022 perspective this is an outdated, rather seedy male fantasy with a dreadful, flippant ending that...