SHUT-IN MOVIE #8: CONTACT (1997)

Released in 1997, directed by Roger Zemeckis and based on a story by Carl Sagan. Staring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, James Wood and Angela Bassett. The film is a thoughtful treaty on science and religion, which sees orphaned astrophysicist, Dr. Ellie Arroway discover a signal from an extraterrestrial source containing instruction to build a machine and sets out to make it happen. The film follows the efforts of a diverse group of people as mankind attempts to come to terms with the news they are not alone, whilst simultaneously attempting to build the device. Meanwhile, Ellie does her damnedest to hog all of the glory and steal the limelight, only to see all her plans for self-aggrandising scuppered by her science boss Professor David Drumlin, Tom Skerritt who heroically thwarts her plans. Sadly, he dies at the hands of Ellie's secret sidekick, a religious fanatic played by William 'Jake' Busey who blows up the first device, killing David and thus allowing Ellie to take his place and flight off to meet the aliens. In an original ending to the film, Ellie meets the aliens who turn out to be hellbent on invading the Earth and enslaving all mankind, and teleports all the gold from Fort Knox to their home world, which causes their atmosphere to explode. Anyway, this is another long film, running to 149 minutes, which manages to marry a romantic subplot alongside all the science guff and the search to crack the code the aliens send us, however it's the length that makes this so enjoyable, the measured script, the ebb and flow of Ellie's journey. There are all too few adult science fiction films which focus on ideas rather than Wham Bam Thank you Mam! To this short list you can add, (obvs) 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: The Year We make Contact, Colossus: The Forbin Project and Arrival, The Martian and Forbidden Planet. Slow, profound and moving I loved this film when I first saw it and still love it to this day. Jodie gives another strong performance and her chemistry with Matthew McConaughey is strong. Zemeckis directs with his usual skill and flair, and only the repetitive music by Alan Silvestri, which feels a little too manipulative, mars this outing. 9/10

SHUT-IN MOVIE #7: THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976)

I stumbled across this on TCM on Wednesday evening, it had already started and was already 15 minutes into the running time. This has always been one of my favourites so I decided to watch it properly without adverts, and this morning I sat down and watched it and all the extras on my 2001 DVD edition. I'm very glad I did. The story, set at the end of the American Civil War sees renegade Southern, Josey Wales searching for revenge after the brutal slaughter of his family as he's hunted across American by the men who murdered his wife and torched his farm. But it's also about a man, emotionally dead, rediscovering his humanity as he inadvertently creates a new family made up of other damaged souls he encounters along the way. Watching Josey's character soften and his humanity rekindled is what gives this film it's true heart and a charm, a charm that is sorely missing in most Westerns. People often claim Unforgiven is Eastwood's best western, but for me it's this one. And his Josey Wales is by far his most sympathetic and stoic western hero. Clint Eastwood directs and stars along with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, John Vernon and Bill McKinney. The cinematography by Bruce Surtees, James Fargo, and Fritz Manes is rich and natural. Clint shot the film on many locations in early Autumn to catch the right sort of light. The dialogue, from a script by Phil Kaufman and Sonia Chernus is well written and nicely clipped and nearly every line Josey utters is worthy of a t-shirt. And the music by Jerry Fielding is a perfect fit. Just love this film and once again I barely noticed the running time of 131 minutes, indeed this is one of those rare films I would happily of continued to watch if it had run for another 131 minutes. Finally if you own this on DVD or blu and haven't watched the extras give them a go, there' two of merit a short 7 minute piece filmed at the time showing Eastwood behind the cameras and a longer 30 minute docu filmed in 2001 and talking to Eastwood and several member of the original cast which is worth watching. There's also a wonderful end credit sequence featuring every scene of Eastwood spitting while he explains which chewing tobacco he used. 9/10

SHUT-IN MOVIES #6 - MISSION TO MARS (2000)

This 2000 science fiction clunker proves that nothing ages more quickly than early CGI. The effects in this film are very raw and so of their time that they instantly and effectively destroy the film for good. Which is interesting because old special effects with models and blue screen and matts and all those other tricks are not spoiled by the passage of time, actually the opposite is true. Ok, sure some of pre-CGI effects are clunky, but I would argue that those old fashioned special effects have a charm about them that means we forgive them their trespasses, what's more lovely than an old fashioned space ship, with string visible or a travelling matt line? But in Mission to Mars, the CGI effects are so primitive that all they do is make you realise everything you're looking at is fake and as you lose the ability to suspend disbelief. The plot sees a mission to Mars go bad and a rescue crew lead by Tim Robbins, his wife, Connie Neilson and Jerry O'Connell sent to save the one remaining astronaut, Don Cheadle. While back at mission control, Gary Sinise experiments with male makeup. It turns out on Mars, there's this great big alien head waiting for man to open it and receive a message from the Martians who it turns out all fucked off when their world got blitzed by an asteroid, millions of years earlier. Oh and they seeded Earth too.

Also, has no one ever noticed that despite being crap, this film beats 2015's The Martian to the punch by 15 years by having an astronaut marooned on Mars on his own and having to survive using plants and stuff. It's directed by Brian De Palma with music by Ennio Morricone. And clearly sponsored by Skittles and Dr. Peppers. Plus the whole film is made horribly jarring by Gary Sinises's black eye liner. Bollocks. 3/10

SHUT-IN MOVIE #5: THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

Not seen this for a while, and boy was it fun to revisit. My daughter asked me what it was about as it started and I told her it was all about a man and his stolen rug. She looked at me bemused but stayed the distance. Jeff Bridges turns in a career defining role as The Dude and is amply supported by the likes of John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, John Turturro and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. And let's not forget Sam Elliot. With a mellow soundtrack and some lovely Roger Deakins cinematography this really is one of the Coen Brother's best films. It's a slacker crime noir and features kidnapping, porn stars, nihilistic gangsters and copious amounts of White Russians. A joy from beginning to end. 10/10

SHUT-IN MOVIE #4: DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

This film is so British if it was cut it would bleed red white and blue. The framing concept sees Mervyn Jones's character - an architect - arrive at a crowded country house filled with a dreadful premonition of impending doom, death and murder. The other gathered guests try to break him out of his dread by sharing ghost stories including a psychiatrist, Dr. Van Straaten as played by Frederick Valk who ends up sharing the most terrifying story of them all. This anthology features five ghost stories in total and there's not really a duff one among any of them. Two of the tales truly stick out as the pick of the crop. The first is a comical story of two friends, both golf fanatics, who battle over the affections of a woman, which ends with one of the men committing suicide only to come back to haunt the other leading to a very surprising and funny ending. However the true highlight of Dead of Night is The Ventriloquist's Dummy segment. It features ventriloquist, Michael Redgrave, and his domineering dummy, Hugo who wants out of their partnership. Although this segment is the most successful, it's what happens next to Jones's character that's the most unsettling of all, especially when Hugo does something most unexpected. The film finally and very cleverly links all the separate chapters together and in doing so delivers a lovely and deeply satisfying ending. A brisk 99 minutes long and not a wasted second. A most satisfying movie and well worth a visit if you're bored of binging on boxsets or yet another bloated Marvel slugfest. I'm really enjoying revisiting these old classics, they have a quality that gets better with age, theirs and mine. 10/10

SHUT IN-MOVIES - #3: THREE CASES OF MURDER (1955)

You won't find this on Netflix or Amazon Prime, which is a shame because it's an absolute tour-de-force and delight. Described on the back cover of the dvd as a 'lost classic', this 1955 film is a portmanteau collection of three short films, The Picture, You Killed Elizabeth and Lord Mountdrago. Each has a different director, David Eady, George more O'Ferrall and Wendy Toye, but it's worth noting that Orson Welles obvioulsy directed his instalment, although uncredited. The film is bookended by a young Eamon Holmes, who introduces each segment. The first, The Painting is my favourite of the three and tells the tale of a haunted painting in a museum, it's sinister but oh so utterly British in its politeness. The second, the weakest of the three is a murder mystery about a doomed love triangle, that just plays it as a straight murder. The third stars Orson Welles as the pompous and arrogant Lord Mountdrago - the Foreign Secretary of an obvious Tory Government who utterly humiliates a Welsh MP, Alan Badel, during a debate in the House of Commons. Badel swears revenge and stalks Mountdrago's dreams leading to a series of nightmares all directed by Orson Welles. Charming, delightful and extremely enjoyable. Only the second film fails to deliver, but that's mostly down to the fact it lacks the fantastical elements of the other two. There's a great bonus on this DVD called: Return to Glennascaul, which also stars Orson Welles. It's a 20 minute ghost story, with a very funny punchline. Great fun. A throughly enjoyable film it offers a glimpse into a long lost Britain. 9/10

SHUT IN-MOVIES - #2: BURN AFTER READING (2008)

Next up was Burn After Reading - the Coen brothers 2008 movie starring John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, George Clooney, Francis MacDormand and Richard Jenkins.  

This is a brisk 90 odd minute comedy, which is still very funny thanks to some great acting against type from the stella cast. Fun to see Brad Pitt playing such a dim character, George Clooney playing an utterly unloveable creep, Francis MacDormand playing the body obsessed gym trainer who inadvertently becomes the lynchpin to the madness about to unfold and John Malkovich just going bat shit crazy. I loved every minute of his breakdown, and he's the nicest character in this whole farce. This was a breezy, slight and very silly Coen brother film, which definitely ranks as a level two Coen Bros movie. The humour and the mania building nicely but always with that strange edge that Coen brothers films have, the edge that can at any second suddenly spiral into dark and nasty territories. 8/10