DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY

 One of the strangest romantic movies ever made, Mitchell Leisen's "Death Takes A Holiday" is virtually unknown today and yet it's a classic of its kind. It's yet another film in which 'Death' takes on human form, (in this case becoming Prince Sirki, excellently played by Fredric March), basically I guess to see what it is that makes people tick and, of course, fear him so much and naturally, he finds himself falling in love.

Based on an Italian play it's a magnificently designed, somewhat creaky, fantasy; part ghost story and part romantic melodrama but it displays a rare intelligence with some surprisingly good supporting performances, (as well as a few typically wooden ones), and perhaps because of its absence from our screens over the years has attained something of a cult reputation. It's certainly strange enough and worth going out of your way to find.

THE OSCAR.

 Glorious trash but what movie buff wouldn't want to see a movie called "The Oscar" with that great actor Stephen Boyd (sic) playing a heel who's one of the five Best Actor nominees and who will do whatever it takes to win. It's a movie that comes from the same stable as "The Carpetbaggers" and "Harlow", (all Joseph E. Levine productions), and it's just as enjoyable in its 'bad-movie' way.

As well as Boyd there's an 'all-star' cast that includes Elke Sommer, Milton Berle, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Cotten, Edie Adams, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Lawford and a Carroll Baker lookalike whose character name is Cheryl Barker not to mention Tony Bennett in a 'dramatic' performance as Boyd's best friend, (he's dreadful). The screenplay, by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene and director Russell Rouse from a Richard Sale novel, is just one howler after another and it's hard to believe that this rubbish was itself nominated for two Oscars. Hardly ever revived but it's still a camp classic.

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH.

 Do we really need another version of 'Macbeth' so soon after the debacle that was the Kurzel/Fassbender version, (some people praising it to the heights; others, like me, hating it), but then this is Joel Coen's "Macbeth" or "The Tragedy of Macbeth" to give it its full title, so should we expect a medieval "Blood Simple" or perhaps even a Big Mac, (and that's probably not the last time you'll hear that attempt at a gag)? Well, Coen's version, (sans brother Ethan), is certainly different but then we always knew that it would be; abridged, shot in black and white by the great Bruno Delbonnel and in the Academy ratio, in what, if this were the theatre, you might call a blank stage and it's magnificent.

Denzel Washington is Macbeth and his missus, naturally, is Joel's missus, Frances McDormand. It matters not a jot that they are Americans speaking in their own accents or that Denzel is an African-American, just as Macduff and his entire family are African-Americans. This is Shakespeare, after all, and Shakespeare has no boundaries especially when it comes to interpretation and this is Denzel's show; he really has got inside Macbeth's skull and he can do more with his voice and eyes than most actors can do with their whole bodies.

Frances, however, is less impressive as Macbeth's not-so-fair lady. There's something of the frumpy American housewife about her, a reader of 'Ladies' Home Journal' with ideas above her station and who's more than a little embarrased by her husband's behaviour. Everyone one else, however, is just fine with Kathryn Hunter, playing all three witches as one, walking away with her every appearance.

How does it compare to other versions? I still haven't seen Polanski's but it certainly knocks the Kurzel and Welles versions for six and it may even better Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood". Coen clearly knows that this is a medieval film noir out of James M. Cain and that's the way it should be treated and bringing out the inner Cain in no way diminishes the Bard; indeed this is one of the greatest of all filmed Shakespeare's. Do we really need another 'Macbeth'? Damn right, we do.

C'MON C'MON

 Shot, magnificently in luminous black and white, by Robbie Ryan Mike Mills' new film "C'mon C'mon" is a 'bring-your-brain-to-the-cinema' movie that's a pleasure to both watch and listen to and it features a beautifully subdued performance from Joaquin Phoenix as a radio journalist whose unlikely job it is to go around the country interviewing children about their thoughts, lives and opinions, a subject you don't find everyday at your local multiplex. It's a deeply interior picture that brings us very close indeed into the lives of its central characters while at the same time giving us an expansive view of contemporary America as good as any in recent cinema.

Fundamentally, it's a three character piece as Phoenix takes to the road with his young nephew, (a terrific performance from 11 year old Woody Norman). Basically he's babysitting the kid after his sister, the boy's mother and the film's third character, (a superb Gaby Hoffmann), has to go to take care of her schizophrenic ex-partner and very soon it's Phoenix who finds it's his nephew who is interviewing him about his feelings, thoughts etc. As well as getting him to play weird games involving dead children.

If any of this sounds strange or off-putting, it isn't. This is a surprisingly sweet and funny movie that confirms Mills as one of the best, if least prolific, directors working today and as someone with the wherewithall to go his own idiosyncratic way. "C'mon C'mon" might look like an art-movie but this great, feelgood film deserves the widest possible audience which is what it would get if were shot in colour and sentimentalized except Mills doesn't do sentimental. Absolutely terrific.

MY HONORS FOR FILMS SEEN BETWEEN JANUARY 1ST 2021 AND DECEMBER 31ST 2021

Best Film from Any Source:  LIMBO (Ben Sharrock, GB
Best Film Not in English:  COLLECTIVE (Alexander Nanau, Romania)
Best American Film:  THE LOST DAUGHTER (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

Best Director:  Ladj Ly - LES MISERABLES (released 2020)
(Runner-up):  Jane Campion for THE POWER OF THE DOG.

Best Actor:  Anthony Hopkins for THE FATHER
(Runner-up):  Ben Whishaw for SURGE.

Best Actress:  Kristen Stewart for SPENCER
(Runner-up):  Carey Mulligan for PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Best Supporting Actor:  Stanley Tucci for SUPERNOVA
(Runner-up):  Bill Murray for ON THE ROCKS (released 20200

Best Supporting Actress:  Yuh-Jung Youn for MINARI
(Runner-up):  Diana Rigg for LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

Best Original Screenplay:  Andreas Fontana and Mariano Llinas for AZOR
Best Adapted Screenplay:  Maggie Gyllenhaal for THE LOST DAUGHTER

Best Cinematography:  Haris Zambarloukos for BELFAST
Best Production Design:  Marcus Rowland for LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
Best Costume Design:  Jacqueline Durran for SPENCER

Best Film Editing: Paul Machliss for LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
Best Sound Recording:   SOUND OF METAL
Best Special Effects:  THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

Best Music Score:  Jonny Greenwood for SPENCER

Most Promising Director:  Ben Sharrock for LIMBO
(Runner-up):  Maggie Gyllenhaal for THE LOST DAUGHER
Most Promising Actor:  Alan S. Kim for MINARI
(Runner-up):  Kris Hitchen for SORRY WE MISSED YOU (released 2019)
Most Promising Actress:  Sidney Flanigan for NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
(Runner-up):  Rachel Sennott for SHIVA BABY

Best Comedy:  PALM SPRINGS
Best Thriller:  THE INVISIBLE MAN (released 2020)
Best Musical:  WEST SIDE STORY
Best Horror Film:  SAINT MAUD  (released 2020)
Best Western:  OLD HENRY
Best Documentary:  COLLECTIVE
Best Animation:  n/a
Best War Film:  THE PAINTED BIRD (released 2020)
Best Action Film:  NO TIME TO DIE

Most Overrated Films:  ANNETTE and THE GREEN KNIGHT
Most Underrated Films:  THE LAST DUEL and ON THE ROCKS
Most Neglected Film:  HAM ON RYE
Most Imaginative Film:  TITANE
Most Disappointing Film:  THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Most Distasteful Film:  SURVIVE THE NIGHT

5 Best Classics Seen For The First Time:  BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWING, DEVI, HE WHO MUST DIE, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI and MADCHEN IN UNIFORM.
5 Best Rediscoveries:  THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER, GOODBYE DRAGON INN, MAN OF THE WEST, ONE FROM THE HEART and A THOUSAND CLOWNS

and finally 5 Worst Films:  AVA (released 2020), GREYHOUND (released 2020), LIBERTE (released 2019), SURVIVE THE NIGHT and VENOM LET THERE BE CARNAGE.

My 10 Best Films of 2021
1)  LIMBO  
2)  COLLECTIVE
3)  THE LOST DAUGHTER
4)  NOMADLAND
5)  THE POWER OF THE DOG
6)  LES MISERABLES
7)  DUNE
8)  SAINT MAUD
9)  THE FATHER
10) NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS.