Swimming with Men (2018)
CRUMBLIES… I’ve tried to be a fan of synchronised swimming over the decades, but it’s kinda sexless, you know? The women who tend to do it are either distressingly kaleidoscopic, … Continue Reading Swimming with Men (2018)
Bereave (2015)
CRUMBLIES… Oh dear. This one’s a big bag of self-absorbed disappointment. Crowd-funded disappointment, at that. A story that stumbles about like a drunk adolescent, bloated with what she picked … Continue Reading Bereave (2015)
The African Queen (1951)
CRUMBLIES… You know how you think you’ve seen a film, then Wild Willy slaps it on the box one Sunday and you spend the next two hours trying to remember … Continue Reading The African Queen (1951)
102 Not Out (2018)
CRUMBLIES… Fun! The Big B as a 102 year man, happy as can be and full of the joys of life, set on hitting 115 and sorting the misery his … Continue Reading 102 Not Out (2018)
The Square (2017)
CRUMBLIES… What the fuck? I mean…really – WTF?! (I know! The grand-daughter taught me that; she will be so proud). This film came up on a random scroll through he … Continue Reading The Square (2017)
That Good Night (2017)
CRUMBLIES… This one’s about death. Well, dying. Well, grumpy dying in a gorgeous environment with a dream wife, a Mr Death daydream (possibly), a blank-faced on-the-emotional-nose son and a moment … Continue Reading That Good Night (2017)
Happy New Year (2014)
CRUMBLIES… I have become that irritating thing: the pupil that suggests a few things to the master. Vibrant Vinay stared at me with an air of disbelief as old Jack … Continue Reading Happy New Year (2014)
Early Summer / Bakushû (1951)
CRUMBLIES… And on to number two in what turns out to be director Yasujirō Ozu‘s Noriko trilogy: three films starring japan’s Eternal Virgin (nope, still not flattering), Setsuko Hara as a different Noriko. … Continue Reading Early Summer / Bakushû (1951)
You, Me and Him (2017)
CRUMBLIES… We’d all heard Chesty Charlie cough up his last one Sunday morning. It wasn’t pretty. He’d been going all night, each hack, rasp and wheeze sending signals down E … Continue Reading You, Me and Him (2017)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
CRUMBLIES… (…so nearly a on grounds of taste in the plotting…) Okay. After the tension of Another Mother’s Son (2017), we all sat down to try out the next film in the Channel-Islands-at-War … Continue Reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
Another Mother’s Son (2017)
CRUMBLIES… Okay, this one’s a bit tough to write. This is the story of a mother on wartime, German-occupied Jersey. It is a rather more fateful, less filmic companion to … Continue Reading Another Mother’s Son (2017)
This Beautiful Fantastic (2016)
CRUMBLIES… Some films try too hard. They may be inventive, fun, flighty and kind of clever, even charming in their forced eccentricity, but it is forced nonetheless. Not cynical, don’t … Continue Reading This Beautiful Fantastic (2016)
Three Summers (2017)
CRUMBLIES… Old men need to take on the new world, let go of their prejudices, and live in the energies of the present. So there. Now, who fancies a light … Continue Reading Three Summers (2017)
Tully (2018)
CRUMBLIES… Now here’s a fresh angle on the mid-life household: the white-heat days of early parenting. Charlize Theron‘s Marlo and Mark Duplass‘s Craig have made the classic mistake: a third … Continue Reading Tully (2018)
Book Club (2018)
CRUMBLIES… Oh, now this is fun. Old Jack here and every woman in the building gathered in the TV room, macaroons, posh tea and an air of affection for a … Continue Reading Book Club (2018)
The Sweet Escape /Comme un avion (2015)
CRUMBLIES… Oh, now this is gorgeous. Young Steve brought it in. He can talk again these days and rasped out the excellence of this comic-Gallic insight into one man’s journey … Continue Reading The Sweet Escape /Comme un avion (2015)
