CARRIE

 A camp horror classic and one of the most enjoyable horror films ever made, "Carrie" was the film that really launched Brian De Palma and Sissy Spacek into the big time. Based on Stephen King's novel it's about the high school ugly duckling with telekinetic powers who is the victim of a truly cruel 'prank' at her school prom and who then uses her powers to take revenge on the perpetrators.

As Carrie, Spacek is simply magnificent and Piper Laurie, in her first film role in 15 years, is scene-stealingly brilliant as Carrie's mad-as-a-hatter mother. As somewhat over-aged students John Travolta, William Katt, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen work wonders with their formulaic roles. It's also, as you might expect from its director, ultra-stylish while the bloody prom climax and final shock ending have already passed into film folklore Almost 50 years on it still stands up and in 2010 was voted the greatest horror film ever made by the Guardian newspaper.

OTHELLO

Trimmed to a sharp ninety or so minutes and 'told' in flashback, (Othello's dead, Iago's a prisoner), Welles' version of "Othello" is naturally more Wellsian than Shakespearean and is none the worse for it, (no written credits; they are spoken by Welles and it's visually stunning despite, or perhaps because of, the five credited DoP's).

It had a troubled production and was filmed over a period of three years so it's not just remarkable that it's as good as it is but that it exists at all. It's not perfect and purists may hate it but if it seems less than great Shakespeare, it's certainly great Welles. He's a wonderful Othello yet even he is upstaged by Micheal MacLiammoir's Iago. Suzzane Cloutier's Desdemona is a weak link as is Michael Laurence's Cassio but when everything else is so good that's a small price to pay. It's also a hundred times better than Welles' disastrous version of "Macbeth".

THE BALLAD OF TAM LIN

 Probably no period in the last one hundred plus years has dated as badly as 'the swinging sixties'. Looked at today the fashions, music and behaviors in general of that decade now seem as remote as Ancient Greece though Roddy McDowall's sole effort as a director, "The Ballad of Tam Lin" made in 1971 but clearly a product of the sixties, tries to circumvent that by making a 'Wicker Man' style piece of folk-horror.

Ava Gardner is the undeniably beautiful, 'ageless' but ageing Earth Mother who seems to keep her youth, not in a box at the bottom of the bed as the old joke goes, but by surrounding herself with beautiful young things, chief of whom is current lover Ian McShane but when McShane sets his sights on vicar Cyril Cusack's daughter Stephanie Beacham, (yes, she too was young once), Ava doesn't take too kindly to it.

Nicely shot by Billy Williams around the Scottish borders and actually rather well played by Gardner, Beacham and a surprisingly good Richard Wattis in a rare dramatic role as Ava's sinister secretary this is a lot better than its reputation would suggest, (a commercial flop, it disappeared and is now considered something of a cult movie). It may not work as a 'horror' film, (it's really rather silly), and yet McDowall handles it all with considerable brio. It's certainly stylish and suggests McDowall could have had a future as a director. Good music, too, from the folk group Pentangle.

 

MY HONORS FOR FILMS SEEN BETWEEN 1ST JANUARY 2023 AND 31ST DECEMBER 2023

 

Best Film: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Scorsese)

Runner-up: Past Lives (Song)

 

Best Director: AKI KAURISMAKI for FALLEN LEAVES

Runner-up: Celine Song for Past Lives 

 

Best Actor: BRADLEY COOPER for MAESTRO

Runner-up: Bill Nighy for Living

 

Best Actress: SAOIRSE RONAN for FOE

Runner-up: Carey Mulligan for Maestro

 

Best Supporting Actor: ROBERT DE NIRO for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Runner-up: Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer 

 

Best Supporting Actress: CATALINA SAAVEDRA for ROTTING IN THE SUN

Runner-Up: Julianne Moore in May December

 

Best Original Screenplay: DAVID HEMINGSON for THE HOLDOVERS

Runner-Up: Celine Song for Past Lives.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: ERIC ROTH and MARTIN SCORSESE for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Runner-Up: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer 

 

Best Cinematography: MATTHEW LIBATIQUE for MAESTRO

Runner-Up: Rodrigo Prieto for Killers of the Flower Moon

 

Best Production Design: SARAH GREENWOOD for BARBIE

Best Costume Design: JACQUELINE DURAN for BARBIE

Best Film Editing: JENNIFER LAME for OPPENHEIMER

Best Sound Recording: OPPENHEIMER

Best Special Effects: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

 

Best Music Score: OLIVER COATES, PARK JIHA and AGNES OBEL for FOE

Runner-Up: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Killer 

 

Most Promising Director: CELINE SONG for PAST LIVES

Most Promising Actor: EDEN DAMBRINE for CLOSE

Most Promising Actress: LILY GLADSTONE for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON 

 

Best Comedy: SICK OF MYSELF

Best Thriller: HOLY SPIDER

Best Musical: MAESTRO

Best Western: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Best Horror Film: THE MENU

Best War Film: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Best Documentary: ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED and NAVALNY (tie)

Best Animated Film: CRYPTOZOO

Best Action Film: BULLET TRAIN

Best Entertainment: THE KILLER

Most Imaginative Film: BEAU IS AFRAID 

 

Most Disappointing Film: ASTEROID CITY

Most Overrated Film: ANATOMY OF A FALL

Most Underrated Films: BEAU IS AFRAID and FOE

Most Neglected Film: FOE

 

Best Classics seen for the first time: BATAILLE DU RAIL and THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN 

 

Best Re-Issues: BLOW UP, CLUNY BROWN, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, THE NIGHTS OF CABIRIA and REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT

 

And Six Turkeys: A HAUNTING IN VENICE, A VIGILANTE, ENYS MEN, FAYA DAYI, MARLOWE and PLEASE BABY PLEASE.

 

MY TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.

 

1) KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Scorsese)

2) PAST LIVES (Song)

3) FALLEN LEAVES (Kaurismaki)

4) OPPENHEIMER (Nolan)

5) CLOSE (Dhont)

6) BROKER (Kor-eda)

7) THE HOLDOVERS (Payne)

FOE (Davis)

9) NAVALNY (Roher)

10) MEMORIA (Weerasethakul)