Suspicion is a Hitchcock movie from 1941 that is really showing it's age. An RKO Pictures production set in England. I was too distracted by the scenery, all exteriors shot in the studio with awful painted scenery. Here are young Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Not sure how she came to win the best actress Oscar. It's all very hammy thanks to a pretty pathetic script.
For some reason I always thought Nowhere Boy would such a boring movie. But I was wrong. There are some wonderful performances from Kristin Scott Thomas as John's mother Mimi (all pent up emotion), Anne Marie Duff as his mother and an incredibly subdued David Morrisey as his step-father. At the British Academy Film Awards, there were nominations for Thomas and Duff for best supporting actress (the former deserved to win) and for best director for Sam Taylor-Wood in her debut feature.
John does not get his first guitar until well into the film, and only meets Paul halfway through. It seemed that Paul and George were far better musicians although less charismatic as John, a born leader. Good to see representations of those early gigs and that eventual recording session which includes Paul's first composition In Spite of all the Danger. The film leaves John saying goodbye to Mimi on his way to Hamburg. Exactly as it should. An interesting soundtrack of early sixties songs and some that were replicated by The Quarrymen.
In between the first two in age comes Carlito's Way from 1993. Definitely of it's time. Al Pacino and Sean Penn on the wrong side of the law in Brian de Palma's crime drama. What was most interesting for me was the lead actress. I cannot remember Penelope Ann Miller in anything, but here she was nominated for a Golden Globe. Her early career was all on stage, winning a Tony nomination for 1988/89's Our Town which obviously brought her to the attention of the big studios.
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