ozjosh

I searched far and wide for this documentary, curious to see if it might be able to make sense of the contradictions in Little Richard's life, and perhaps finally give us something approaching a definitive portrait of the troubled rocker. Unfortunately, LR: I Am Everything is a patchy chronicle of Richard's life and his manic swings between sexually-liberated rock-n-roller and homophobic fire-and-brimstone god botherer. In the end Lisa Cortes clumsily answers the question "Who was Little Richard?" by lamely accepting he was both of these extremes and that this was somehow okay. Except it wasn't okay because LR clearly had a tortured existence, traumatised by religion, constantly at war with himself. The pain is etched in his face through many of the interviews featured here, and his wildest, most outrageous behaviour suggests someone who was mentally unstable, if not suffering from some undiagnosed illness. The way he was variously exploited, discarded and celebrated by the music industry also cries out for a more nuanced and forensic examination. In the end, attempting to make this a celebration of Little Richard felt bizarrely discordant and wrong. Little Richard's life was a rolling tragedy. He never attained any peace (despite what his religious followers will claim). And his musical output was meagre because of the pain and exploitation he endured. He really deserves more serious analysis and respect than this air-headed doco affords him.

I may have lived too long. Which is to say I've reached the point where absolutely NOTHING Tom Cruise can do will surprise me. And 80 per cent of the schtick in his Mission Impossible movies is, to me at least, as cliched and as predictable as the most well-worn lines from Gilligan's Island or Get Smart. If you think this is an exaggeration, then consider that the Big Finale in this MI edition combines an emergency tracheostomy - easily the most tired, over-used, desperate-to-impress medical procedure in the film and TV writers' handbook - and a series of death-defying stunts on bi-planes. Yes, that's right: bi-planes. In a 21st century movie. With an ultra-high-tech premise involving a virtual entity. There's no attempt to explain just why, in order to facilitate this sequence, the villain is relying on a bi-plane for his daring getaway. Which is just as well because trying to explain it would surely leave everyone involved looking as embarrassed as they deserve to be. Nevertheless, that's what we've come to: a tracheostomy (which you've no doubt seen multiple times on everything from ER to Grey's Anatomy) and bi-plane stunts (which were new and fresh around about the time Dolores Del Rio was Flying Down To Rio). As for the rest of the movie... it is loooooong. Too long by a good hour. There's also way, way too much plot exposition. Much of the acting is of the glassy-eyed, broomstick-up-the-butt variety that teeters on the brink of self-parody. And, it has to be said, Tom is finally looking too puffy and lined to really still be working this matinee idol routine. Final Reckoning is briefly enlivened by a great submarine sequence at about the halfway mark, but it's not enough to justify the other two hours of the same-old same-old. Despite the title, I'm not truly convinced that Tom is done with this franchise. But I sure am.

This is one for hard-core TV mystery fans only - by which I mean those who will watch just about anything, even clerical detectives. The star of Iris Blood is Alicia Silverstone - who now looks a bit like Kathleen Turner in middle-age - but the plot is more Cluedo than Clueless. It's a color-by-numbers mystery, with underwritten characters and an uninspired plot. And it's only partially redeemed by the Irish setting, which is under-utilised and undermined by every Oirish cliche you can imagine. It also has to be said that Silverstone, who gave one of the greatest comic turns ever captured on film in Clueless, is a clumsy presence here, most particularly in the would-be comic moments. But there the script bears at least 50% of the blame. I persevered for the first two episodes, but no more.