Gran Torino (2008)
CRUMBLIES… I’m not messing with you – go watch Gran Torino now. Actually, no, watch The Shootist (1976) then watch Gran Torino. For it is very much the same film. Gran Torino … Continue Reading Gran Torino (2008)
The Ghost Goes West (1935)
CRUMBLIES… A bit more Robert Donat, I fancy – as my Grandpa Gus would say. Here is his 7th film. He’s three years into his film career, a proper movie … Continue Reading The Ghost Goes West (1935)
This Can’t Be Love (1994)
CRUMBLIES… Old Jack first saw This Can’t Be Love with Mrs Jack just a few years into retirement. I watched it again this morning and missed the vitality of my … Continue Reading This Can’t Be Love (1994)
Family Business (1989)
CRUMBLIES… Now this is more like it! A story of three glorious generations of a criminal – or about to be criminal – family with Sean Connery as the devilishly … Continue Reading Family Business (1989)
Is That You? (2014)
CRUMBLIES… Regret. Always best to avoid it. For instance, old Jack here got trapped in the care home lift with Mad Maud for an afternoon the other week. And she’s … Continue Reading Is That You? (2014)
Undercover Grandpa (2017)
CRUMBLIES… … AND THAT’S FOR A HALF-SMILE AN HOUR IN… Oh no. This was a mistake. In my defence, it promised to be a comic action adventure with James Caan as … Continue Reading Undercover Grandpa (2017)
Up (2009)
CRUMBLIES… I know! A film for kids! And, no, I’m not drooling more than last week and I can still count my feet. The grandkids are educating me. Jacketta was … Continue Reading Up (2009)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
CRUMBLIES… Macular Mike wanted to watch something on the new widescreen. I had the remote and was still riffing on The School of Life (2017) when a brainwave hit. What … Continue Reading Secondhand Lions (2003)
L’école buisonnière / School of Life (2017)
CRUMBLIES… Wow – this is a beautiful film. Lyrical in its photography, gentle in its music and comic and sad and lovely in its story. Old Jack loved it. It’s … Continue Reading L’école buisonnière / School of Life (2017)
L’étudiante et Monsieur Henri (2015)
CRUMBLIES… You know that bitter dream you have sometimes: a crazily pretty girl wants to stay in your spare room and agrees to wreck your tiresome son’s marriage to a … Continue Reading L’étudiante et Monsieur Henri (2015)
Sunshine on Leith (2013)
CRUMBLIES… Yup – The Proclaimers film. Based on a stage play-musical of the same name, this tells the story of a family and its hangers on. And it is wonderful. … Continue Reading Sunshine on Leith (2013)
A Wonderful Christmas Time (2014)
CRUMBLIES… Two weeks into a ghastly cold and Old Jack is little more than a puffy bag of phlegm and stroke-risk coughing. I have enjoyed the disease travelling from my … Continue Reading A Wonderful Christmas Time (2014)
Crash Pad (2017)
CRUMBLIES… Suppose your experience of life’s middle years is that of most men: working all day to keep the family housed and fed. And the people who don’t work. … Continue Reading Crash Pad (2017)
The Last Jedi (2017)
CRUMBLIES…. We had an outing! Just this week. Old Jack and the other residents all went to the cinema to bask in Mark Hamill’s return as the hero of our … Continue Reading The Last Jedi (2017)
Every Jack Has a Jill // Jusqu’à toi (2016)
CRUMBLIES…. You know how sometimes you’re in the mood for something sweet but Gallic? Lots of subtitles with the occasional – oddly disappointing – bit of English? A love story … Continue Reading Every Jack Has a Jill // Jusqu’à toi (2016)
Daphne (2017)
CRUMBLIES…. Okay. So – Daphne – this one’s on iTunes and a cracking film for the urban miserablists amongst you… It’s not really one to illuminate middle age, rather one … Continue Reading Daphne (2017)
