Arlington Road (1999)

Conspiracy thriller directed by Mark Pellington. 

Jeff Bridges is a widowed college professor who begins investigating his suspicious neighbours (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack), who appear to be mixed up in a terrorist plot. It’s tense and fairly gripping but sadly goes completely off the rails towards the end. Once the big twist is revealed, very little of the story seems credible. There are simply too many coincidences and assumptions for things to have worked out the way Tim Robbins’ character planned. I felt cheated and quite angry. 

It’s a shame, because there are lots of good things about the film. Bridges is compelling and as watchable as always. There is an excellent jump scare, brilliantly framed. And I like Hope Davis, as the professor’s former graduate student.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

Flawed romantic comedy. 

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a New York journalist who is addicted to buying fashionable clothes. She ends up working as a finance columnist for Successful Saving magazine in a role where her lack of knowledge or pretension is welcomed as a refreshing asset. Meanwhile, she also falls in love with her boss (Hugh Dancy, as a sort of fifth-rate Hugh Grant) and tries to avoid a debt collector. 

The film has many failings and it’s a bit of a muddled mess in terms of its views on consumerism. It can’t decide whether it’s a critique or a celebration. That said, it’s a little unfair that it was criticised for being tone deaf to the fall-out of the global financial crisis. Is it really the film’s job to reflect the changing economic and political landscape?

Pretty much everything about Confessions of a Shopaholic is clumsy and awkward, and in particular Rebecca’s parents – annoyingly and bizarrely portrayed by John Goodman and Joan Cusack. Kristin Scott Thomas seems out of place, too. The major plus is Isla Fisher, who has a real radiance. Each time she smiles, she lights up the whole film and transforms a mediocre scene into something full of charm and charisma.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Extremely sophisticated comedy-drama. John Cusack plays a paid assassin who returns to his hometown to attend a school reunion and to meet up with the girlfriend (Minnie Driver) he abandoned a decade previously. When old friends and colleagues ask what he does for a living, he tells them he’s a professional killer and they think he’s joking. But he is finally maturing and beginning to question his “moral flexibility” – despite having one more job to do. Meanwhile, a rival assassin played by Dan Akyroyd intends to finish him off.

The humour is of the very blackest sort and the film balances the laughs and the tension with such expertise that it works. Supporting characters such as his terrified therapist Dr. Oatman (Alan Arkin) and his assistant Marcella (John’s sister, Joan Cusack) add further depth and wit.

Original music is by Joe Strummer and there’s also an excellent 1980s indie-pop soundtrack (Specials, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure) in line with the “reunion” theme.

Hugely entertaining, and it makes you think too.