A Week’s Vacation (1980)

Sunday afternoon dread when the working week beckons. This is a feeling that A Week’s Vacation (1980; aka A Week Of Holidays aka Une semaine de vacances) is about, yet it also works as a soothing balm for such an emotion. The second film I’ve watched by French director Bertrand Tavernier, A Week’s Vacation is […]

The Big Racket (1976)

If you start watching Poliziotteschi from the 1970s, or Eurocrime movies where they attempt to go further than Dirty Harry and Death Wish, there’s always going to be some heinous shit in there in terms of the violence and sleaziness. The Big Racket (1976; Il Grande Racket) has that and more, but it is one […]

Sometimes A Great Notion (1971)

My mother had a couple of books about Paul Newman that I would leaf through growing up, so a lot of his movies would intrigue me and I’d remember the titles of. Sometimes A Great Notion (1971) was one I was keen to track down since Newman directed it himself and it was based on […]

Days Of Being Wild (1990)

SBS On Demand added two early movies directed by Wong Kar-wai, As Tears Go By and Days Of Being Wild. I’d not seen either and went for Days Of Being Wild (1990) first, the main thing I knew about it being that it bombed on release in Hong Kong despite having high profile stars. As […]

Rancho Deluxe (1975)

Rancho Deluxe (1975) is a hang-out movie but also a wavelength. Whether you enjoy it or not is dependent on your taste for something plotless, loose and low-key. Plus if you find a young Jeff Bridges and a young Sam Waterson to be a charismatic pair of actors to hang out with (though you will […]