Film Reviews by sb

Michael Powell's debut film which may be a long way away from the heights he would attain in later years its still an interesting film.

Banks plays Bronton a fire investigator who plays as the middle man between the crooked owners who burn down their warehouses for the insurance and Lloyds and takes his cut off both sides.

He's doing well with a string of race horses but a series of losses and a new expensive wife soon forces him into a deal with dodgy financier Stedding (a very sinister Sullivan) which involves him in setting the actual fires themselves.

He soon finds himself way out of his depth as the cases become more and more serious with loss of life - can he redeem himself in the eyes of those he loves....

It begins as a frothy comedy with sharp banter and reparteee but soon darkens into a much more moral conundrum.

Banks is very good in the lead with a solid support and for fans of Powell were worth a look - 4/5

Early and fairly creaky Bergman - Johannes (Malmsten) is a ships captain who returns to a small port after 7 years away.

He looks for Sally (Fridh) who was his girl back then and discovers she is lodging with some friends but is ill and seems to have had some kind of breakdown.

She doesn't want to see Johannes and this leads to a lenthy flashback when we see the younger man living on a salvage boat with his violent, drunken Father and long suffering Mother. He also has a crooked back which is a source of disgust to his Father.

After a drunken binge his Father brings home Sally who is a show girl and moves her in without explaining why - the younger couple fall in love and this leads to all the resentment coming to a head with a fist fight and his Father eventually tries to arrange a diving accident for his son.

He gets caught out and Johannes finally free sets sail to a new life.

The final act is him trying to reconcile with Sally after leaving her for all those years.

Its all fairly melodramatic but both leads are good so more one to tick off the list of his works really - 3/5

Ti West's effective homage to those grindcore movies of the 70's.

Sets its stall out early as the local sheriff is called to a remote Texas farmhouse and a scene of total carnage so we know something bad has happened.

Wind back 24 hours and we meet a group of young film-makers off to make a porno movie on the cheap to cash in on the then porn chic movement.

They rent an outhouse from an elderly couple without revealing what they are really doing - one of the group Maxine (Mia Goth) wanders off and encounters Pearl who reminices on the fragility of beauty and youth but does it in a way that makes Maxine uncomfitable.

Pearl discovers what is really going on and this rekindles a latent sexuality in the old woman which is obviously rebuffed and leads to a rampage of rage and violence.

Its got bits of TCM and The Hills Have Eyes and takes its time in building the tension.

Ok towards the end it gets a bit far fetched as a bunch of healthy strapping young people are whittled down by a pair of decrepit Geriatrics but apart from that its a very effective piece.

On a side note Goth plays both Maxine and the old woman with hours of make up required and it works really well - 4/5

Blimey - I need a lie down after that - the Russo's Brothers outragiously over the top action thriller has Gosling as Six a CIA black-ops assassin who uncovers that the Agency is even more out of control than he suspected.

This makes him a target so he goes on the run re-uniting him with his old mentor (Thornton) who has a niece who has a heart condition and who are closest thing he has ever had to family.

After a couple of botched attempts the CIA hire Evans whose methods are beyond the pale at the best of the times and who really lets himself go here...

Its a film that opens with the dial set to 11 - and just cranks it up from there on in....yes it absurd, frequently stupid, derivitive of the whole genre (Bourne being the main rip-off) but it so overdone with entire factory's of kitchen sinks thrown at the screen but if you go with the flow there is much to enjoy.

Gosling brings his usual laconic charm to the role and Evans is a hoot throughout with his villainesque moustache and bon-mots.

Nice to see Billy Bob get a major role (he seems reduced to cameos these days) with solid kick-ass support from De Armas who after her role in the recent Bond must get a major movie of her own soon.

Subtle it is not with the entire city of Prague reduced to rubble in a major set-piece but its not supposed to be - ok it does has franchise written all over it - we shall to see if Gosling fancies another go - 4/5

AKA A Quiet Place to Kill (also known as Paranoia)

An early-ish Lenzi thriller has Helen (Carole Baker) who is a racing driver and after being in a crash is invited to stay with her ex-husband Maurice (Sorel) in his villa in Spain.

Upon arrival she meets his new wife Constance (Proclemer) who actually sent the telegram. She is older but very rich and it soon becomes apparant she hates Maurice and intends to recruit Helen in murdering him - as Helen already had one try earlier on.

A plot is hatched but as Helen is still sexually obsessed with Maurice it goes wrong and its Contance that gets killed. The lovers think they have got away with until Contances teenage daughter turns up - then things get really complicated...

Shot in stunning locations on the Spanish coast it really captures the beautiful idle rich all seething with sexual jealosy with loads of Sixties camera flourishes and if by the end its one twist too many - but always with Lenzi it grips throughout - 4/5

AKA It Rains on our Love Bergman's second film and after the rather frothy Chaos his first when you can see his main themes develop.

Kollberg plays Maggie desperate to get the last train out of town and litterly bumps into David (Malmsten). She misses the train and the pair find themselves in the empty station.

He has enough money for a room in a local hostel and a passionate affair begins

Next morning they are on the road and broke - they find a cottage and break in but the landlord finds them and calls the police but takes pity on their story (David is not long out of prison) and agrees they can stay paying him rent and arranges for David to get a job.

Things are looking up but Maggie tells David she is with child - but has been before they met...he rejects her but they reconcile.

Meanwhile the landlord gets them to sign a new contract but he seems more sinister this time and his motives are suspect but the couple are innocent and sign which brings them into conflict with the authorities.

Its a really good story with strong central performances (both would become Bergman regulars) and a hint that events are being manipulated by higher powers - not vintage Bergman but worth adding - 4/5

Epic Korean sea battle movie set during the Japanese invasion of 1597.

Min-Sik plays Sun-Sin a disgraced Korean admiral who is brought back when it seems all hope is lost.

The Korean fleet has been reduced to 12 ships while the Japanese have 300 - everyone (including his captains) are convinced its a lost cause and when their secret weapon The Turtle Ship is sabotaged and burns even he has doubts.

But a mixture of stubburness , a wily cunning and the fact he knows a local strait has a rip tide when given certain conditions can turn lethal.....can he lure the enemy in without them suspecting?

It takes a while to get going and because both sides wear similar armour and the subs don't let you who is Japanese and who is Korean so its a while before you work out who is who.

Once this is set-up the rest of the film is just the battle and although the sequence lasts almost an hour you are gripped throughout. The action whips from one battle bridge to the other and you are in the thick of the canon fire, muskets and the fighting.

To complicate matters his captains all hang back to see how things go so Sun-Sin is on his own on his flagship and is forced to use every trick in his armory.

Mik-Sin plays him as a remote taciturn figure but whose military genius inspires his own men out of their fear.

So stick with it as it builds as the second half battle is one of the most epic and visceral i have seen - 4/5

Solid old fashioned British War movie based on the real life deception of the film's title.

Its the Spring of 1943 and Churchill has agreed to the invasion of Sicily as the first major target to re-take Europe. Except its such a glaringly obvious target that the German Army will be waiting for them.

A plot is hatched by Motague (Firth) and Cholmondeley (Macfayden) to have a British Marine Officer washed up on the Spanish coast will plans for a full scale invasion of Greece and hope the German's fall for it.

Their superior Godfrey (Issacs) is very sceptical but Churchill gives his approval so a whole fictious backstory is cooked up with history and love letters to convince the Germans that he is real. This involves Jean (Macdonald) who becomes Pam the imaginary girlfriend of the dead body.

He is dumped at sea but things don't go to plan in that they assumed the Spanish would hand over all the documents to the Germans but by a conveluted route the documents are returned to London...

But have the seals been broken and then re-sealed and if so by the Germans? or they unaware of the whole ruse and the invasion is doomed to failure?

Of course we all know how it turned out but the build up and tension are well maintained.

The major drawback is that by playing the parts of the lovers both Firth and MacDonald find they have feelings for each other and this enranges Macfayden who also has feelings for her.

This does take up far too much of the film - ok it can be in there but it really does slow the whole narrative - and there are just too many sub-plots going.

There are some nice touches -one of the team is Ian Fleming (Flynn) with some additions to the deception provided by Q Division and a lot of people seem to writing spy novels and the whole plot becomes a novel in progress.

That said its solid story and performances with a very old fashioned feel to it - its the kind of film you would wach as a kid with your Dad on a wet Sunday afternoon - so overall (soapy romantic sun-plot aside) 4/5

Nick Cave's second collabaration with Director Domonik - the first was around the recording of Skeleton Key the album he made after the tragic accidental death of one of his twin teenage sons.

This is based around the subsequent records (where he is still working through his grief)and is based around live studio sessions filmed in a disused warehouse in Brighton.

The set up is superb - sometimes its just Cave and his long time collabarator Warren Ellis expanding to a 4 piece string section and 4 piece choir plus a drummer (Cave's other surviving son) and they have a built this circular camera track so while one camera does close-ups the other constantly prowls around with the two intercut.

As always the joy of Cave live is him - all angular austerity with his arms spread wide as he sings with hands spread in almost Papal Benediction while Ellis with his long hair and beard looks like an Old Testament prophet - and throughout there is a real religious epiphany element to it all.

The lighting is very good - mostly sombre hews and shadows but the room is suddenly filled with brilliant white light pouring from the ceiling in very short bursts as the music soars.

and the music - I think he just gets better every time - songs packed with trains, ghosts, suitcases, love, loss and redemption - its all quite extraordinary - much to love if you are a fan or not - 4/5

Another of Schrader's chilly detatched character studies.

Isaac plays William Tell a small time professional gambler on the circuit. We learn he spent time in prison and is a very austere figure who checks into a single motel room every time and covers all the furniture in white linen bound with twine.

At one casino he briefly attends a lecture by security consultant John Gordo (Dafoe) and is approached by young man called Cirk (Sheridan). Its revealed that both Tell and Cirk's father served in Iraq - more specificly as interegators at the notorious Abu Graib prison where torture of suspects was routine.

Tell got almost 10 years in Leavenworth military prison as did Cirk's father but on release got hooked on drugs, beat his family and then shot himself.

Cirk holds Gordo responsible (he was never convicted) and intends to torture and kill him and tries to recruit Tell.

He refuses but offers to take Cirk on the road on the gambling circuit - there they meet La Linda (Haddish) who offers to put up prize money to finance Tell in bigger tournaments so the 3 criss cross the US while more and more back story is uncovered......

Its a real slow burner but is really engrossing with Issac giving a haunted electric performance of a deeply damaged man who is desperate for some kind of redemption and sees that possibility in Cirk.

The other performances are equelly good and although Schrader takes his time with the narrative its well worth sticking with.

Its got an excellent score by Robert Levon Been (bass player in BRMC) that really enhances the ambient feel - as mentioned it can be really strange but Isaac's is just superb - 4/5

Hoon-Jung's Korean gangster epic has all mobster activity run by the Goldmoon Coperation who may all wear sharp suits and have gleaming offices but are still a bunch of hoodlums.

The Head is killed in a traffic accident (which may or may not be a hit) so the ground is set for a succession battle between cold remote Joong (Sung-Woon) and his flamboyant Chinese rival Jung (Jung-Min).

To complicate matters Jung's right hand man is Lee (Jung-Jae) who is an undercover cop working for Chief Kang (Moon-Sik) who sees the coming struggle as an oppertunity to influence the future of the Corperation.

Using Lee as his inside man he plays the rivals off each other in an increasingly complex game of chess.

You really need your wits about you to follow the labyrinthian plot as everyone plots against everyone else. It quite slowly paced interspersed with some ferocious violence and as the parts begin to fall into place its takes on a Godfather level with Lee channeling his inner Michael.

Excellent cast with Moon-Sik turning in yet another terrific performance and at 134 minutes well worth your time - 4/5

Watched this to see if its as bad as everyone says and yup it is.....it also remarkably dull....

The paper thin plot has Dr Morbeus (Leto) who has some generic disease that is killing him mixing blood from vampire bats with his own in an attempt at a cure - and before you can say Bram Stoker its fangs for the memory..

Being a conscientious fellow he tries to work out a way to contain all the blood letting - not so his fellow patient and billionaire Milo (Smith) who had enough of hobbling on crutches and decides its time for some fun.

This sets up the rest of the film as the two wrestle with the consequences of this - and that's about it..

As mentioned its really dull with terrible CGI and make-up that looks like its been stuffed in a cupboard since last appearing in some cheesy 80's monster flic.

The action sequences are so underlit and badly edited its almost impossible to make out what is going on - the only saving grace is Smith who early on realises he's in a stinker so may as well have some fun with the part...

Its another Sony/Spidey type tie in with all the laboured references and a truly awful mid-credits sequence that is so shoe-horned in it creaks with every move - it tanked at the box office and you can why- a grudging 2/5

AKA Free Hand for a Tough Cop - become a huge fan of Umberto Lenzi whose work-rate in the 1970's was amazing.

He could make 2 (or even 3) films a year spanning Giallo, Cop Thrillers and Cannibal movies and this is another cracker.

Bad guy Brescianelli (Silva) has kidnapped a little girl for ransom - the twist being she has a kidney condition and must recieve hospital treatment every 5 days.

Cop Sarti (Cassinnelli) decides to by-pass the plodding Italian Police and breaks thief Marazzi (Milian) out of jail as he has loads of contacts may lead Sarti to where the girl is being kept.

Along the way they hook up with Marazzi's old gang and the hunt is on.

Its rattles along at a frantic pace with endless car chases , mass shoot-outs and beatings and is tremendously violent with at its heart another terrific performance by Milian who could turn his hand to anything and here plays the wily thief always with his eye on the main chance......great entry in the Lenzi canon - 4/5

AKA Man from Deep River - Another Umberto Lenzi movie and one of his best.

Rassimov plays Bradley a photographer on assigment in Thailand where after a bar fight goes wrong flees up river with his guide.

He awakes one morning to find the guide murdered and is taken captive by a local tribe. He is used as slave labour and after a while tries to escape but is captured and kills one of the tribes warriors.

Realising his worth the tribal elder invites him to become a warrior helped by the fact that his daughter (Lai) has taken a fancy to him.

Soon that are married and she is with child - Bradley saves a small boy thus undermining the local witch doctor and when Lai is taken ill and goes blind its implied its his doing..

Later in his career Lenzi would make some of the more infamous cannibal movies of the genre and this is seen as the movie that launched them which is a little unfair.

There is only one small cannibal scene and that's when a rival tribe attack and its main influence is a Man Called Horse with a parallel story line where the civilised man sees nobility in the more simple way of life.

it was banned under the video nasty scare in the uk - mainly for the animal sacrifice scenes but its a much better film than a lot of these.

Rassamov and Lai are very good in the roles and it avoids most of the normal condesension about savage natives that tends to be the normal view - 4/5

AKA I AM SARTANA, YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH

Second in the series and to honest a bit of a letdown compared to the original.

Garko returns as the titular character who has been framed for a bank robbery he didn't commit so has to clear his name while being pursued by the Law and an army of bounty hunters.

There are mega shoot-outs galore with the usual sleight of hand gunplay plus Klaus Kinski as a suave gambler who doubles as a bounty hunter but the plot is too overly convoluted to maintain the interest.

It also meanders a lot with lots of sub-charcters showing up only to get shot with no explanation as to what role they played.

There were 3 more in the "official" series which were much better so this one is worth a look but not much more - 3/5