Film Reviews by Steve

Unlikely buddy picture about the relationship between Edward D. Wood (Johnny Depp), the legendary director of bad films- responsible for Plan 9 From Outer Space- and a heroin ruined Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) going through the final indignities of a career that peaked two decades earlier.

The fictional story is written into the crazy real life events and then polished by an impressively imaginative script. Depp and Landau make one of the screen's most endearing odd couples; as a pair of deadbeats we are encouraged to reappraise for their love of cinema, and for their endurance.

You really root for them! The support cast playing the diverse ensemble of exotic outsiders and weirdoes is astonishing. Jeffrey Jones' charlatan clairvoyant is a standout. The recreation of the period and the lustrous b&w photography are genuinely thrilling. Even the opening credits are a blast

Miraculously it manages to avoid sentimentality while delivering a massive dose of feelgood optimism... plus a fascinating, vicarious experience of life on poverty row, on the peripheries of '50s Hollywood. There's a lot of warmth up on the screen, and a love of B films will only increase the glow.

Devastating real life biopic from the civil war in Cambodia, which led to the murder of up to two million citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the dictatorship of Pol Pot. Inevitably the focus is on an American... Sydney Schanberg was a reporter for the New York Times caught up in the bloodletting initiated by the Communist regime.

But the emotional driver is his relationship with local translator Dith Pran, who was sent to the labour camps where survival was mostly a matter of luck; and from where he attempts an extremely hazardous escape by foot over the mountains into Thailand. Sam Waterston is fine as the brash American taking huge risks for his byline.

But the main the reason to watch is the Oscar winning performance as Dith Pran by Haing S. Ngor, himself a Cambodian who survived the killing fields, but who had never acted before. Director Roland Joffé- on debut- noted that the conflict is ultimately the context for the emotional overload of the friendship, which is overwhelming.

Except for the human interest, this doesn't get made; though the recreation the of genocide is still harrowing. The Oscar winning photography is mostly about the edgy anxiety of the constant danger, but also at times reflects the tranquil beauty of the country. The only significant flaw is playing Imagine by John Lennon in the epilogue.

Ominous state of the nation address from Mike Leigh about the collapse of society, provoked by the Thatcher revolution. It's absolutely the London I remember from this period, of rootless, insecure outsiders who got on their bikes. With the dark, desaturated colours and relentless pessimism, it feels like the end of the world.

David Thewlis dominates as a literate, traumatised Manc motormouth delivering a contemptuous stream of consciousness; roaming the capital by night while spitting out cruel, apocalyptic conspiracies. His violent misogyny prevents him from being even an anti-hero, but it's easy to identify with his wounded alienation.

He confronts the unconsidered precariat, the pitifully waged, the mentally ill and the merely anxious, the homeless and the chronically lonely in a country which he sees as irrevocably damned. The centrepiece is his meeting with a security guard (Peter Wight) who watches over empty office space... which is utterly spellbinding...

It's uneven and ends badly, but any reservations are eclipsed by the good stuff. It's so funny- but so desolate; and a must-see even if only for the rapture of Thewlis' ecstatic performance. Mike Leigh once again captures the zeitgeist forensically and prophetically; though like all his films, it gets a hugely polarised response.

Glossy polemic aimed at class inequality and western consumerism, which will divide any potential audience along the pressure points of its ideologies. This opens up like a hip political thriller inspired by the direct action of millennials turned off by laissez-faire government.

Eventually it becomes more like a dramatised debate- so not very cinematic. Daniel Brühl, Julia Jentsch and Stipe Erceg play the photogenic dropouts who aim to challenge the system by breaking into the secure mansions of the 1% to contaminate their pristine privileges.

Until one of the complacent fatcats (Burghart Klaussner) unexpectedly returns home. So the activists kidnap him, leading to an extended exchange of ideas on what happened to the idealism of the '60s counterculture from the perspective of the radicals of the new century.

And there's a decent twist. OK, it looks like the revolution will be sponsored by Gap... maybe because advertising has absorbed the symbols of rebellion! But it's an effective nudge for disengaged liberals which doesn't compromise on its recycled message- never trust anyone over 30.

Sensitive indie melodrama about a sincere, dedicated history teacher who educates poor ghetto kids in Brooklyn, New York while locked into his own downward spiral of substance abuse. Naturally he is unorthodox, but also conscientious...

So he tries to protect a 13 year old black girl with bad connections. And she discovers his heroin addiction and the wreckage of his personal life. Despite their precarious situations and unsuitability, they find unconventional moral support.

There's an ultra-realistic documentary approach, which means maximum handheld camera wobble, natural light and VHS level clarity; and the combination of regional accents, poor sound and extreme mumbling may be an issue for some*.

The focus is on the raw, fragile relationship. Oscar nominated Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps, on her feature debut, go straight to the heart, despite the slightly contrived set up and bleak themes. It's a persuasive insight into the lives of others.

*note, there are no subtitles on the dvd.

This is a sequel to Mystery Road (2013), and both are apparently from a wave of post-millennial Australian crime pictures collectively called Outback Noir. Which seems to be inspired by Scandi-noir, but this one has an additional racial aspect. Aaron Pedersen stars as a cop locked into a boozy downward spiral after a messy divorce.

If this is a cliché, then the difference is he's an Aboriginal detective, which adds another level of prickliness to the already cantankerous rural rednecks. He's on the trail of a missing Chinese woman trafficked into prostitution for a mining company which is beyond the usual reach of the law. Which is the reason for all the noirish pessimism.

The story is compelling, even though the resolution depends on unscrupulous scumbags developing a conscience, which surely happens more in fiction than real life. But it hits several worthy political targets, including the corrupt dominion of big business. Because once the settlers took this land off the indigenous people...

...And now the corporations have stolen it from everyone. The performances are strong with Jackie Weaver contributing another of her psycho-wrong 'uns. It's just one more laconic, low budget neo-noir; but better than most and well directed by Ivan Sen, whose use of the widescreen format is ideal for the lonely desert panorama.

After their massive success with colour revisions of Dracula and Frankenstein, it must have been inevitable that Hammer studios would return to the Universal vaults to remake The Mummy (1932). A major difference is the previous legends were filtered through classic novels, whereas the concept for this ancient Egyptian melodrama came from a Hollywood staff writer.

The mythology isn't as strong as for the other icons of Universal horror- even if it clearly borrows from Dracula- mainly because of the idiotic rituals and incantations. Hammer never got much out of the mummy franchise but they set their best creatives on the task and at least it's the best of the series. It recycles the original ideas, then gives them the novelty of Technicolor.

The main weakness is the long flashback of the burial of the Egyptian queen which is overextended. And Hammer, who were so good at budget set design, are out of their comfort zone in the ancient world. They do much better with the scenes in Victorian London. Yvonne Furneaux has an important dual role both as ancient royalty and the wife of the leader of the excavation...

But her contribution is underdeveloped and she doesn't do much more than scream while the reanimated mummy goes on the rampage, which Christopher Lee performs as well as can be expected under layers of latex. Peter Cushing is appealingly sprightly as the limping explorer... But it's not as good as the classic '30s version, or the other Hammer horror remakes of the late '50s.

Polished neo-noir with a big switcheroo. This isn't an unexpected plot twist... but, instead of conventional lovers who conspire to eliminate an unwanted husband, there is an affair between two young women. Maybe something like this was done covertly in classic noir. But this isn't coded...

So I suppose it invents... lesbian-noir. Jennifer Tilly is the ditzy femme fatale who lures her butch neighbour- Gina Gershon- into a scheme to rob the mafia of two million dollars and leave her psycho-boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano) holding an empty bag. Which leads to unexpected complications.

It's directed with ostentatious style by the Wachowskis (on debut) who make a big impact on a small budget And they contribute a lively script loaded with irony and laconic wit. Admittedly, the plot is standard noir and the twists are nothing special. The pitch is mostly that the lovers are female.

Otherwise- except for the violence- this could be made for tv. It's not creepy, and there's no nudity but it's still tastefully hot. Tilly and Gershon have chemistry to burn, like a pair of prowling cats. Pantoliano as the male dupe barely registers. For lovers of noir or sexy thrillers this is a cult classic.

Raw, mythic love story about a couple of derelict lost souls living on the Pont-Neuf under reconstruction. In the title roles, Juliet Binoche and Denis Lavant seem to slowly evolve from monsters into vagabond angels. This is a romance, but volatile, wild and unorthodox.

And very French. It isn't much like contemporary cinema; it continually echoes the early sound films of René Clair and the conclusion on the barge is an obvious reminder of Jean Vigo's L'Atalante (1934). So it's in the tradition of pre-WWII French poetic realism.

And as in that era, it's mostly set on a huge soundstage with location footage cut in. The stars are incandescent, whether water ski-ing down the Seine during the Bicentennial fireworks, or even just living with the sadness; and yet both creative in contrasting ways.

Which is a classic French rejection of bourgeoise convention! There was a famously exploding budget, but posterity doesn't care how much things cost. Leos Carax creates screen poetry; and as he didn't make another film on this level, it feels even more like a miracle.

Harrowing documentary style polemic based on the racially motivated murders of young black Americans by Detroit police in 1967. During a ghetto riot, three cops separate some bystanders for unlawful interrogation at gunpoint, leading to homicide. The film builds slowly to the historic incident. Which is hard to watch.

Then afterwards... a sham trial which acquits the guilty parties, with the lawyers more intent in putting the victims in the dock. There's a strong ensemble cast led by John Boyega as a security guard who gets tangled up in the offence. Algee Smith is memorable as a black soul artist who loses faith in American justice.

The impression of malign racial hatred is intensified by a genuinely horrifying portrayal by Will Poulter of an ostentatiously racist patrol officer already on a charge of killing a looter. But still on the street with his badge. Clearly this is meant to reflect on the fatalities still inflicted on black men in custody.

There is some editorialising, and it's needlessly long. But Kathryn Bigelow constructs a strong impression of the period... and the reduced rights of the black urban poor. There may be some doubt about how closely this relates to a UK audience. Though there are some parallels. It is at least a warning from history.

True story based on the the disappearance of a US citizen during the CIA backed military coup in Chile, led by Augusto Pinochet... which led to the mass imprisonment, torture and murder of political prisoners. It's based on a book by Thomas Hauser about attempts to find Charles Horman, a young journalist touring South America, who is arrested by the fascist junta.

His father and wife search for him, but how to locate one man in a land of undocumented corpses where there are no human rights? They are obstructed and lied to by US government officials intent not only on hiding their complicity, but are themselves engaged in oppressing liberal Americans. Costa-Gavros brings his considerable experience in directing political films.

He adopts a documentary approach; but while this feels authentic, it is also as compelling as a thriller, with Vangelis' electro-score accenting the raw emotions. Jack Lemmon is supremely well cast as the naive, conservative father who believes in the virtue of the American way, but is quickly disillusioned. Lemmon was nominated for an Oscar as was Sissy Spacek as the wife.

Watching this as a teenager was a massive insight into US overseas conspiracies, as well as the atrocities inside the sports stadiums of Chile in '73. It makes the news make sense. This is a heartbreaker which lays bare the reckless corruption of American foreign policy and is always relevant. It is periodically withdrawn but currently the first amendment holds fast.

If this has dated at all, it's only in good ways. The pre-CGI effects/models look astonishing. Plus the incredible stunts. The pulsing '80s techno soundtrack is just right. And even though its budget is clearly a limiting factor, this just adds to its cyberpunk/tech-noir charm. This is the blockbuster-action picture which plugs in and turns on for non-genre audiences.

And it's where Arnold Schwarzenegger crossed over to a mainstream, multiplex audience. The role of a monosyllabic cyborg from the future with an Austrian accent is an ideal fit. The Terminator must kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) because she will be the mother of the rebel who brings down Skynet, the computer network which controls the dystopian future.

Michael Biehn is the dissident who travels across time to protect her, and more. There's a classic sci-fi script; it's loaded with necessary exposition, but the info is so thrilling it doesn't matter. It's also full of punchy, laconic dialogue. The mechanical SFX are crucial, but the human factor is primary; Hamilton establishes herself as the ultimate female action hero...

And not a 1D sex symbol in lycra either. Her evolution from good-girl doormat into the mother of the revolution is the emotional core of the story. Plus the long climax is as intense as the action film can be. Yes, this is sci-fi, but absolutely convincing within its own genre rules and the themes have entered the culture. It's now a factor in how we fear the future...

RoboCop- the cyborg law enforcement agent played by Peter Weller- is essentially a hybrid of Dirty Harry and the Bionic Man. And RoboCop- the action/SFX blockbuster directed by Paul Verhoeven- is satirical, dystopian futurism, like Judge Dredd. Still, even if the premise is not groundbreaking, it's fertile, relevant... and entertaining!.

And it’s a bonus see the mechanical effects just before CGI turned action pictures into cartoons. In a shabby, near-future Detroit, society has collapsed due to rapacious billionaire greed and violent organised crime. Weller plays an honest cop who is murdered by the gang of feral lawbreakers which runs the illegal trade in narcotics.

So Omni-Consumer Products upcycles his corpse into an inexorable agent of law enforcement; part human/part machine. And who wouldn't want an omnipotent robot to clean the scum off the mean streets. Even if it ultimately reports to the board? But the gizmo runs amok when the dead man’s memories reassert themselves…

There are few surprises and the cast can’t do much with the banal script; and we mostly just see the actor’s mouth behind the mask, spitting out recycled Schwarzeneggerisms. But the theme of the corporate ownership of justice now applies even more than in ’87. And its pre-digital effects and stunts look better than they ever did.

Obviously like Airplane (1980) but this time spoofing '70s cop shows. Maybe it won't play for younger audiences, as they are unlikely to have done the prep by wasting their childhood watching Kojak and Starsky and Hutch on tv. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker return to their brief, unsuccessful network series, Police Squad!

They repeat many of the same gags, while borrowing a few from others- the exchange about shooting murderers in Central Park, who are actors performing Julius Caesar, is taken almost verbatim from Dirty Harry (1971). And fans of Raymond Chandler will recognise two direct lifts, which may be intended as tributes...

On second viewing, the biggest laugh is Leslie Nielsen as Lieutenant Frank Drebin, outside the sky-high hotel window of a busty visitor, hanging from the huge stone phallus of a giant statue... which is an indication of how sophisticated this is... but it's still funny. And this gets nearer to why it is still so bloody hilarious.

There's slapstick, a whole lot of puns and dad jokes and absurd non-sequiturs... But it only really pays off because of Nielsen. Is this one of the all-time comic performances? Sure, he's just doing schtick, but he transforms so-so material into comedy gold. Hard to imagine even the legendary Peter Sellers surpassing this...

Creepy psychological horror which stretches its slender premise maybe further than it can take, but then delivers one of the most unsettling final reveals in cinema! A Dutch woman vanishes at motorway services in southern France leaving her boyfriend to obsessively search for three years.

When eventually contacted by her murderer, the unhappy stooge pays a horrifying price for the truth... Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu is disturbingly convincing as the psychopathic serial killer and dominates Gene Bervoets and Johanna ter Steege as the young Dutch couple. Which is fair enough.

Director George Sluizer underplays the tension; there are no jump scares or horror music cues, or flashy gimmicks, which makes that denouement feel a long time coming. Critics have likened the approach to Alfred Hitchcock... but there is no comparison in terms of suspense or iconic set pieces.

This is more procedural. But the way the story puts the audience in the viewpoint of the imperilled hero is an inspired conceit which the Master would have endorsed. The viewer wants the truth as much as the fixated, anguished schmuck! It's a must-see, though the pay-off only works the first time.