Station Zero

 I don’t have much to write about at the moment (though a new book announcement should be coming soon) so here are yet more small reviews of films I’ve enjoyed lately. Sam was home again for a week or so, unexpectedly, so it’s been pretty much a movie per night here, the usual mix of old favourites and random stuff we spotted on streaming services. Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, 2023) I liked this a lot. We split it over two nights (don’t tell Thelma Schoonmaker) but I could have happily watched it in a single three hour sitting, it was very immersive. What it immerses you in is a strange 1920s world about which I knew nothing, of oil-rich Osage and the white settlers who prey on them for their new-found wealth. It’s rich and rambling and finely textured and very dark.Lily Gladstone is great, I hope we see more of her. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro both seem a bit old for the parts they play, but they’re fine performances and I guess Scorsese wanted to work wi...

When my son Sam is home for the holidays we watch a film most nights, so I thought I’d make a list of the best ones we saw this Christmas. It’s mostly for my own reference, but if you’re looking for something to watch you might find a recommendation here. They’re a very mixed bag - some classics Sam hadn’t seen, some things we stumbled on by accident, and a few old favourites. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny  (James Mangold, 2023) I gather the reviews were mixed, but this turned out to be just the thing for keeping three generations of Reeves entertained after a heavy Christmas dinner. I don’t have any affection for the original Indiana Jones films, so I didn’t feel it was trampling on my memories of the originals, or failing to live up to them. It bangs on a bit too long, and James Mangold is no Spielberg (who is?) but it delivers plenty of inventive chases through exotic locations, before taking a startling left turn in Act Three which I really enjoyed. Definitely worth a l...