Dec 31st  
The Medusa Touch**  
(GB/Fra 1978)     
ITC/Bulldog/Citeca. 109m.

A writer discover he can bring about disasters, even from his comatose hospital bed.
Ending this largely bleak year with a suitably fatalistic thriller, preposterous but in the vogue for disasters of the 70s, and a central character who remains a question mark to the end (with a one-note performance by Burton), but with an impressive omnipresent sense of unease, and entertaining set pieces within limited technical means.

Written by: John Briley, from the novel by Peter Van Greenaway.
Producers: Anne V. Coates, Jack Gold.
Director: Jack Gold.
Starring: Richard Burton, Lee Remick, Lino Ventura, Harry Andrews, Gordon Jackson, Michael Byrne, Alan Badel, Derek Jacobi, Michael Hordern, Robert Flemyng, Norman Bird, Jennifer Jayne.
Photography: Arthur Ibbetson.
Music: Michael J. Lewis.
Editing: Anne V. Coates, Ian Crafford.
Special Effects: Brian Johnson.

Dec 29th  
Up the Creek*     
(GB 1957)            
Exclusive(Hammer)/Byron Film. bw. Hammerscope

An eccentric naval rocket scientist is given unlikely command of a wragbag Corvette doing a steady business.
Engaging lesser-remembered entry that year from the fledgling Exclusive studio (who were to hit the jackpot with The Curse of Frankenstein), an amusing Navy reworking of Oh Mr Porter! with one or two familiar faces, not all of whom are used to their best advantage.

w: Val Guest, Len Heath, John Warren
p: Henry Halsted
d: Val Guest
s: David Tomlinson, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde White, Lionel Jeffries, Lionel Murton, Liliane Sottane
ph: Arthur Grant
m: Tony Fones, Tony Lowry

Preceded by:
The Nickel-Hopper
(US 1926. bw. silent; A single mother looks after a lazy father and dances with a succession of variable possible matches.; w: H.M. Walker (and others); d: F. Richard Jones, Hal Yates; s: Mabel Normand, Michael Visaroff, Oliver Hardy, Boris Karloff, James Finlayson; for Pathe/Hal Roach.)

THE NICKEL-HOPPER (1926). A minor and rather extended Hal Roach comedy 3-reeler starring Mabel Normand, interesting as a trivia item for featuring a future Frankenstein's monster and one half of an immortal comedy duo (with an uncredited Stan Laurel also contributing to the script)

Dec 19th
(Century Clacton)
Wonder Woman 1984* (12A)  
aka: WW84
(US 2020)                          
Warner Bros/Atlas.Stone Quarry. 151m. ws

Diana Prince, aka. Wonder Woman, encounters a dangerous artefact that grants people wishes, at a price.
Lengthy, indulgent sequel using some of the same (but not always the best) elements from the original, as well as some suitable 1980s kitsch, and a Trump-style villain (but nicer), although the actual appearances by Wonder Woman herself - never referred to by name - are curiously scarce.

Written by: Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, David Callahan.
Producers: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Stephen Jones.
Director: Patty Jenkins.
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig (as Barbara Minerva/The Cheetah), Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen.
Photography: Matthew Jensen.
Music: Hans Zimmer.

+ the original TV Wonder Woman herself puts in a surprise cameo

Only one comic book blockbuster had the courage to swing into action in Covid year (photo taken outside Odeon Leicester Square)

 Dec 8th 
(Curzon Colchester)
Mank* (12A)       

(US 2020)
Netflix. 132m. bw

In late 1930s America, bed-ridden writer Herman Mankiewicz writes the first draft of Citizen Kane, based on his personal experiences with William Randolph Hearst.
Selective Hollywood history falling into the familiar trap of relegating famous figures to seemingly very minor roles. The omission of Welles for much of the narrative is a curious choice, even though the style of the film is visually influenced by him (including irritating multiple flashbacks), smothering out characterisation and performances, and the use of black-and-white on this occasion is unsuitable.

Written by: Jack Fincher.
Producers: Cean Chaffing, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski.
Director: David Fincher.
Starring: Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Amanda Seyfried (as Marion Davies, but  looking more like Jean Harlow), Charles Dance (as Hearst), Arliss Howard, Sam Troughton, Tom Pelphrey, Tom Burke (as Welles), Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane.
Photography: Erik Messerschmidt.
Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross.
Editing: Kirk Baxter.


The only scenes in MANK that seemed to really ring true: between Herman Mankiewicz and his younger brother Joe (Tom Pelphrey)