The Fifth Step - 2025 - UK

The Fifth Step - 2025 - 7/10 

 
Luka desires to get sober, stay sober.
His AA sponsor, David, himself a recovering alcoholic, tries to mentor him.
But Step 5, when one acknowledges the damage drink has done to themselves and others is a difficult one.
Luka has problems with trust, with loneliness, with so-called friends.
While David, the wiser, more experienced hand, nurses long-standing stumbles and grievances.
Superbly acted, funny as hell, overloaded with ribald language.

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles - 2026 - UK

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles - 2026 - 6/10 

 
1969, the Sixties are ending, the dreams, the acid trips.
Molly and the Skins (originally foreskins) play a gig at a small college.
Like most bands, their time, the moment, has moved.
They are passé.  Worse, Molly has alcohol problems exacerbated by burnout.
As the band has dated, so too the relevancy of this play.
Several of the haircuts are from the late 70’s, and the tunes seem likewise.
Audiences now tolerate bad behavior, from musicians, from leaders.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373835

Dogville - 2003 - Denmark

Dogville - 2003 - 6/10

 
Straight off, I do not like this director.  Genius or misogynist, take your pick.
Grace, on the run from hoodlums, hides in one-horse-town Dogville.
Gangsters pass through and offer a fat finder’s fee for her.
The town permits her to remain as an unpaid servant.  A slave.  Games ensue.
Despite the equivalent of a Pre-Code ending, this is a torturous watch.
It is also not cinema, but plain theatre.

Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore - 2005 - USA

Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore - 2005 - 5/10 

 
Standup routine before a sympathetic audience.
Catone jabs his Italian upbringing, mocks a bit of current events, kicks the South.
His impersonations are first rate:
Streisand, Hepburn, Stanwyck, Rivers, Cher, Oprah, etc …
Mostly gay icons; I am unsure whether he is being ironic or venting hostility.
His is not respectful homage, he skewers and ridicules.
Snarky comments mask envy and resentment.

Allelujah! - 2018 - UK

Allelujah! - 2018 - 7/10 

 
Old and in the way.
Oldsters in the geriatric wing of the Bethlehem Hospital, the Beth.
They are, excuse me, taking up space.
Oh yes, the Beth is profitable, but the bed turnover is too low for Whitehall.
Births, injuries, and surgeries come and go, but old folks only go once – at their end.
Alan Bennett play is funny, biting, sad, and, for anyone who follows the NHS, uncomfortably accurate.

Fallen Angels - 2026 - USA

Fallen Angels - 2026 - 6/10 

 
Julia and Jane have comfortable marriages.
Searing passion extinguished, marriages of stale friendship.
Besides, the two ladies are pals above honor … until.
French flame Maurice, with whom both had been intimate, is coming to visit.
Pals above honor begone!  Out come the claws and rivalries.
Noël Coward domestic comedy is tart and witty in the opening and final acts,. 
Midsection is sodden drunkenness, which some find hilarious.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3371750

Elaine Stritch: Live At The Liberty - 2002 - UK

Elaine Stritch: Live At The Liberty - 2002 - 7/10

 
Stritch delivers her one-man show before a full house.
Some Broadway songs, light footwork (she is bumping 80), stories.
Stories are packed with names, shows, incidents, sweet triumphs, crashing disappointments.
Then there is her drinking.  Completely out of control, she admits.
How she had “rules” for drinking, which she broke.  Plus, she made huge mistakes.
She is bitterly funny, caustic, troubled, perhaps, by memories.

Titus - 1999 - UK

Titus - 1999 - 7/10

 
Roman general Titus returns from campaigns victorious.
After Caesar dies, Titus, an honorable man, declines the sceptre.
Yielding the throne to sharks and cutthroats.
Brilliant film of power, corruption and madness.
Overlong, however, with a few too many characters.
Fared poorly box office wise; possibly audiences were tired of Shakespeare films, or this was simply too long, too strange.

The Honey Trap - 2026 - USA

The Honey Trap - 2026 - 7/10

 
Ex-soldier agrees to an oral interview of an incident during “The Troubles”.
Plenty of old IRA members have given their side, but he is the first British soldier.
Dave recalls when he and young buddy Bobby flirted with two girls in a Belfast pub.
The girls were friendly, attractive, and coaxing.  Offering?
For Bobby, that was his last night.  Dave carried the grief, and searched for decades.
Knowing there are always survivors, laughing during holidays, enjoying Life.
Grievances linger for generations, revenge merely bides its time.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3370779

The Christophers - 2025 - UK

The Christophers - 2025 - 7/10

 
Lori accepts the position of assistant to the once-great Julian Sklar.
Actually, it is his estranged children who want to her complete a series of unfinished paintings.
Once he dies, and he is elderly and dying, they intend to cash in.
Old and embittered, Sklar may be, yet he is no fool.
He sees and grasps the game, while he and Lori engage.
Keen edged dialogue, thrust-parry-relax.  Will thrill theatre fans.

Unknown - 2026 - USA

Unknown - 2026 - 7/10

 
Writer Elliot suffers a dry patch, not the block, inspiration is just at low ebb.
A retreat to the countryside alerts him to a follower.
Follower, how trendy, make that stalker.
Joey, a rejected actor from Texas, who has been unstable and institutionalized.
At least, according to his twin brother, Jack.
Lo, the slippery slope of lies, false assumptions, and an overactive imagination.
One-man play with Sean Hayes is good psychological thriller.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3370112

Toys In The Attic - 1963 - USA

Toys In The Attic - 1963 - 6/10

 
Julian and child bride Lily return to New Orleans on the sly.
The Chicago venture had been a failure.  Indeed, everything Julian attempted failed.
Well, his sisters would bail him out.  They always bailed him out.
I knew this was based a Lillian Hellman play; otherwise, I would have sworn Tennessee Williams.
Southern Gothic of betrayal, lust, class, race, control.
Award winner on Broadway, but definitely too steamy and provocative for Main Street.
Geraldine Page arresting as the bubbles and sunshine sister, with an agenda.
Dean Martin fine as the luckless, boastful, big-plans Julian.

The Mystery Of Charles Dickens - 2000 - UK

The Mystery Of Charles Dickens - 2000 - 7/10

 
Simon Callow’s flamboyant one-man play, encompassing the writer, as well as key characters.
The bitterness of youth, disappointment with relations, the glare of fame.
One who for lived for the spotlight, even as it devoured him.
Script by Dickens authority, Peter Ackroyd, this is a glorious tour de force.
Essential for fans of theatre, the writer, Victorian London.

The Shark Is Broken - 2025 - UK

The Shark Is Broken - 2025 - 7/10

 
Three men in a boat, afloat with booze, boredom, motion-sickness, insecurities.
What do they have in common?  The shark, the damned mechanical shark.
Dreyfuss, Shaw and Scheider while away the downtime talking, drinking, arguing, reassuring.
Shaw is convinced the film is rubbish, and will consequently be a hit.
Dreyfuss, younger, is all boasts, claims, and fears, assuming his is the biggest part.
Scheider, calm, taciturn, charts a middle course.
Chamber play ought to be a bonus on physical releases of Jaws.

A Tupperware Of Ashes - 2025 - UK

A Tupperware Of Ashes - 2025 - 7/10

 
Mom does speak her mind, unleashing volleys on her offspring.
I leaned to Zelda, “Universal mother type, be they Italian, Jewish, Southern, Hindu.”
Only thing is, Queenie has become forgetful, slightly confused, befuddled.
A few tests confirm early onset Alzheimer’s.
Increasingly, she exists in a fog of delusions, memories and rage, as moments of clarity diminish.
The adult children try to cope, yet are unprepared.
Powerful theatre that will disturb too many, I fear.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3368644

The Hotel In Amsterdam - 2004 - UK

The Hotel In Amsterdam - 2004 - 5/10

 
Three couples on winter holiday share a large suite.
Before even getting settled, they order the drinks.
And thus, they drink, and drink, then talk, voicing their scorning opinions.
Foremost is Laurie (a brilliant Tom Hollander), dominating the room.
He is bilious throughout.  In fact, I tired of him long before the others did.
His character is a more refined version of Jimmy from Look Back In Anger.
Set in 1968, there is nary a hint of Swinging London or the Sixties.

The Brightening Air - 2025 - UK

The Brightening Air - 2025 - 7/10

 
Stephen abides in the decaying farmstead.
First, to take care of his mother as she deteriorated breath by breath.
Afterward, sister Billie, sharp and alert, although her cognition is muddled.
Enter older, successful brother Dermot, with plans to improve the estate.
Anyone might predict, family improvements seldom bode well for lesser members.
Biting play seems to borrow heavily from Chekhov.
Chris O’Dowd ideal as the slippery Dermot, with Rosie Sheehy’s Billie painfully memorable.
“… how much of living, is really just forgetting?”
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366932

A Question Of Attribution - 1991 - UK

A Question Of Attribution - 1991 - 7/10

 
Three had been unearthed and chased from the nation.
For Blunt, exposure had hung like a sword for over a decade.
Government ministers were certain he was a Soviet spy.
Yet, his position, his eminence, made cornering him exceedingly tricky.
Nuanced teleplay focuses on the verbal cat and mouse.
A highlight is Blunt discussing art with Queen Elizabeth, who proves to be sharper and deeper than he assumes.
Electric drama, better if you know SOMETHING of the Cambridge Five.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366594

Yellow Face - 2025 - USA

Yellow Face - 2025 - 7/10

 
Meaning, the practice of having Caucasian actors portray Asians in film and theatre.
Similar to blackface, now considered racist and taboo.
Playwright Daniel Dae Kim protests the casting of Jonathan Pryce in “Miss Saigon”.
Unfortunately, he later casts a “white” actor in his next work “Face Value”.
Didn’t know, thought he was part Asian, oh, the explanations
Theatre comedy skewing race, casting, critics, audiences, government agents.
As funny as this is, I suspect righteous posturing will grow ever more imperious over time.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366205

Black Lizard - 1968 - Japan

Black Lizard - 1968 - 7/10
AKA - Kuro Tokage // 黒蜥蝪

 
The female criminal mastermind wants that stone, the Star Of Egypt.
Moreover, she even warns the wealthy jeweler of the upcoming theft.
Who swiftly obtains the resources of Detective Akechi.
From there, move / countermove, each relishing the competitive match.
Overly talky at times, but the dialogue is florid and heady.
Gorgeous to watch.  Story by Edogawa Rampo, script by Yukio Mishima, directed by Kinji Fukasaku.
Perverse film, highly entertaining, depending on your tastes.