ANOTHER Bigger Spash !

Now that the Oscar-bait movies are all released and on show, its good to see some interesting new international movies appearing here in London. I am very intrigued by the new A BIGGER SPLASH - no, not another Hockney - but Luca Guadagnino's new film which - intriguing for me - seems a remake of Jacque Deray's stylish French thriller LA PISCINE from 1969 which re-teamed Alain Delon and Romy Schneider with Maurice Ronet whose daughter was played by Jane Birkin - a very stylish murder story around that swimming pool.

This time around its Ralph Fiennes in it seems towering form (as he has been since Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL), with Tilda Swinton as a Bowie-esque rock star on holiday, who it seems stays silent after throat surgery, and with hunk de jour Matthias Schoenaerts as her lover. The daughter is Dakota Johnson (the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths, and granddaughter of Tippi Hedren). I loved Guadargnino's operatic melodrama I AM LOVE in 2009 - a modern Italian classic, where Tilda was amazing again (see Tilda label), so we are looking forward to this one -  Fiennes and Swinton are never less than compelling and both seem on top form here; we will be rushing to it when it opens here on Feb 12.
Guadagnino came out as gay in a recent interview, and one can definitely see a 'gay sensibility' in his work ... 

Another modern Italian classic I loved was Paolo Sorrentino's THE GREAT BEAUTY in 2013, so his new one, in English, YOUTH also has to be a must-see. I don't rush to Michael Caine films but will have to make an exception here, it also has a good role for Harvey Kietel and it should at least be interesting to see Caine and Jane Fonda (if they have scenes together) 50 years after their teaming in Otto's HURRY SUNDOWN back in 1966 ... what a lulu that was (Fonda label). This poster is not the one being used here in the UK.

Hilarious reading the reviews on DIRTY GRANDPA - maybe the worst film Robert De Niro has churned out in recent years? He is entitled to do as he pleases of course in his 70s, but hard to picture Travis Bickle of TAXI DRIVER or Jimmy Doyle of NEW YORK NEW YORK or his RAGING BULL or GOODFELLAS appearing in drivel like this ... surely he could have said no this time ? I suppose we will be laughing at it in due course ......