Film Reviews by Timmy B

Amy Winehouse was a complete one-off: a searing talent which to me (as much as I am an atheist,) was practically God given. But she was also a woman whose significant personal troubles (relationships, addiction,) meant she was often both traduced & reduced to tabloid fodder, held up as an example of completely out of control self-destructive behaviour. Her death at the age of 27 was both shocking & unsurprising, her name joining the pantheon of geniuses whose talent was only matched by their seeming determination to destroy themselves.

A few years later, the family/record company commissioned Asif Kapadia to make a documentary of her life, which was an absolutely incredible & profoundly moving look at her rise from a precociously talented young girl to the all-conquering global superstar, then finally as the extremely unwell woman who was powerless against her demons.

But the documentary generated significant outrage from Winehouse's family, especially her father Mitch, understandably so seeing as he comes out of it extremely poorly. So we now have Back to Black, fully endorsed by the family, to tell Amy's story from her perspective, as well as looking at the origins of many of the songs from that album.

One thing which is important to dispel from the off is that this film is in no way simply a vehicle to rehabilitate the Winehouse family's reputation after the documentary. I myself was concerned that this would be the case, but the filmmakers were extremely clear that the family had no creative control over the process.

I really, really enjoyed this film. And interestingly, I actually think that the documentary does it a favour: if you've seen it, a lot of the questions you may have had will have some kind of answer, but that also allows the film to put meat on the bones of the story. We see Amy at various points in her life, in a film which feels completely authentic. Her grandmother, Amy's biggest influence, is given plenty of time to show why she was so special to the singer growing up. Camden Town, where Amy lives & frequently made reference to, is also another major character in the film, including shooting in many of the places Amy actually spent time in, including the pubs she gigged in as a young talent.

But my biggest praise is towards not only Marisa Abela's mesmeric performance, but also how Amy is portrayed. In no way is this sanitised or muted for fear of alienating the viewer (unlike with Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.) Winehouse is shown as an extremely strong-minded & obstinate artist, as well as a highly volatile & sometimes violent woman. And what the movie does perfectly is show that not only was it highly likely that she had significant mental illness, but that she was in many ways trapped in a spiral of her unpredictable behaviour.

In many scenes, whilst there are these outbursts, there is also significant attention given to the aftermath, whether it is waking up on the floor after a violent seizure caused in part by drowning herself in alcohol, or breaking down & agreeing to go to rehab. And that is totally to the film's credit.

The only fault I can pick with this film is that we are never fully shown just why Amy became so besotted by Blake Fielder-Civil. As much as there are multiple scenes of the 2 of them falling in love, he was never anything more than a drug-taking lowlife who seemed to ride on the coattails of her success. And when a big part of the film is about her love for him, it does affect the film's quality.

But throughout all of it, Abela is incredible. She does all her own singing, as well as playing Winehouse with reverence & perfection. In a time of many biopics (Elvis, Freddie, Elton, Marley,) this performance really does stand out. And like the best biopics, at the end I just felt sad. I so wish that Amy had been able to get the help she needed, but her star was just too bright...

June Squibb is an absolute treasure. After a long & varied career doing mainly supporting roles, she came to wide public attention in Alexander Payne's critically successful road movie Nebraska, garnering an Oscar nomination in the process. Now, many years after that success, she has been given her first lead role in Thelma, another road movie which takes a gentle look at the determination of a elderly woman to bring a man who scammed her to justice.

Thelma Post (Squibb) is a 93 year old widow who lives in a big Los Angeles apartment. She is a spiky, vivacious & active woman who, despite her age, is still very much her own person. She is close to & supported by her grandson Danny, who is a good-hearted but aimless & directionless young man, whose constant nagging to take it easy and let him do everything for her has become grating. One day, she receives a scam phone call, convincing her to send $10,000 to a PO Box. Once she realises she has been conned, she decides to go on one last adventure to get her money back, assisted by her friend Ben (Roundtree.)

Whilst I only gave this film 3 stars, don't for a second think that it is not a gentle & extremely watchable adventure. As has been highlighted by many reviews, one of the best things about it is it's emphatic & pointed refusal to treat Thelma & her older friends in a patronising or mollycoddled way, which is a beautiful contrast to how many of the other characters do. One of the most amusing ways it does this is in an early scene, where Thelma & Danny are watching Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, running across London rooftops (funnily enough showing the moment where Cruise mis-judged a jump & broke his ankle,) this being used as a juxtaposition of Thelma's impending adventure and the concern those around her would have that something similar would happen to her. The script instead treats her & Ben in particular as people who have had a rich and fulfilled life, but still have the spark of adventure inside them.

One of the other wonderful things this film does is to not make Thelma a picture-perfect, stereotypical grandmother who smiles sweetly & feels she has to blend into the background. She is an at-times tricky & obstinate woman, who refuses many of the aids which have been developed for older people, not to control them, but to assist them & stop an accident which could be devastating for them. By doing this, Thelma feels like a real person (although she was based on the writer/director's own grandmother, obviously in everything there is dramatic licence.)

But the main reason I gave the film 3 stars is due to the many times where the script attempts to inject comedy into scenes, but which are unbelievably tiresome & derail things, no more so than with the writing of Thelma/Danny's parents/daughter & son-in-law. At one point, when they are frantically in a car trying to find Thelma after she goes missing, the narrative stops for them to have an argument about how Waze is not a good satnav app, then the father panicking about turning onto a freeway. In other scenes, the parents incessant squabbling where they are in the nursing home or out searching for her, ranging from why their son's relationship failed to how they didn't exert enough control over Thelma, whilst played for laughs or impact, just came off as annoying.

But despite this, I did enjoy watching it. Malcolm McDowell, despite being 80 when filming, has lost none of the electric presence he brings to his roles. And Fred Hechinger really does wonders with his role, the polar opposite of the murderous Roman dictator in Gladiator 2. And leading the charge, June Squibb alone is worth the price of admission.

Sean Baker truly is an independent film titan, in many ways an American Danny Boyle or Nicholas Winding-Refn. Mainly making films shot on a shoestring budget (whilst Anora is the exception to this, it's $6 million dollar pricetag is still small change in the grand scheme of things,) he populates his stories with many highly idiosyncratic & feisty characters, predominantly sex workers or people tangentially connected to the industry.

But for me, whilst he has attracted huge acclaim from many film reviewers, I felt quite differently. Whilst I loved the ability & chemistry between the child actors & Willem Dafoe's cranky motel manager, The Florida Project was not the masterpiece I was lead to believe. Following on from this, Red Rocket was another case of beautiful production & colour palette combined with a protagonist who wasn't charming, funny or someone you wanted to spend nearly 2 hours with. So when Anora won pretty much every award going & swept the Oscars, I was interested to watch it, but also skeptical.

We follow Ani (Anora,) an idealistic & extremely motivated stripper who works at a seedy club & clearly is meant for better things. One day, she is requested by her boss to entertain Vanya, the spoilt & revolting son of a Russian oligarch, primarily because she speaks his language. This encounter goes from a private dance at the club to going round to his parents mansion, then Ani being offered a massive sum of money to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week. During these 7 days, consisting of non-stop partying, drug-taking & every type of revolting behaviour imaginable, Ani falls in love with, then agrees to marry Vanya. However, this shotgun wedding horrifies his family, who dispatch their goons to break up the union & drag Vanya back to Russia.

This film is saved by Mikey Madison. If she had not been cast, this film would have absolutely floundered. As much as a couple of the supporting characters are funny, she is the feisty & genuinely believable center of the story. And her fearlessness is on screen from the opening moments, with multiple scenes of nudity & intimacy, which she totally commits to, making Ani the fully fleshed-out character that Baker can write so well. I also really liked the motivation she had, combined with a street-smart & sharp tongue, especially towards a fellow poisonous stripper.

However, having said all of that, this film has for me a massive problem: despite Madison clearly giving it her all in showing the genuine love & committal Ani has for Vanya, she is made to look absolutely idiotic by his behaviour. Vanya is a total & complete scumbag, petulant and so narcissistic it makes your eyes water. He is totally supported & reliant on his parents wealth for everything, and would be nothing without it. And having set Ani up as a streetwise & smart woman, the film then asks us to do the most ludicrous mental juggling act possible of accepting that she would not only be blinded by love, but genuinely believing that this creature had hidden depths & wasn't just shacking up with a beautiful woman who he met whilst on a night out.

And I couldn't get past this hurdle. Baker's determination to try & make us believe this, even after Vanya flees when his parents mobster buddies turn up, rapidly runs out of road. And the more hysterical Ani gets insisting this love is real simply adds to the idiocy. There are some funny moments, as well as a great character in the shape of Igor, who brings so much to the role of the lunkhead hired muscle.

When we finally get to the end, there was no massive pay-off, although the final scene was touching in the sense of showing how someone reprehensible could make amends for their previous actions. It was all just a bit "meh."

I am absolutely glad that Sean Baker is creating these types of films, to counteract all the crap released en masse by the studios. However his choice of characters leaves a lot to be desired.

For many people, simply mentioning Straw Dogs conjures up mental images of horror, or if they haven't seen the film, the hysterical & venomous press coverage of it. It is a film which I had wanted to see for many years for a very simple reason: so often the reputation a film has, especially a controversial one, is either totally wrong (many people accused Trainspotting of glamourising drug use when it does anything but,) or people becoming fixated on a particular aspect of it which then becomes the main topic of conversation, totally writing off the actual quality/impact of the film (far too many to name.)

And in many ways, mainly due to it being released when films were really starting to push the envelope in terms of depicting sex/violence (the same year A Clockwork Orange made it's debut,) it was guaranteed that controversy would (ironically) dog this film. But, despite the stellar cast & crew, to me this film is almost total rubbish.

David Sumner (Hoffman) and his wife Amy have moved from the USA (his country,) to Amy's father's house in the Cornish countryside. It is insinuated, but not explicitly stated, that the move was due to the increase in violence in America, prompting mathematician David to apply for a UK grant to escape. However, the town they move to is full of extremely immoral & dangerous people, including men from Amy's past life who massively resent the presence of David. This leads to increasingly violent repercussions & the terrorisation of the newly married couple.

The irony with writing this review, which I have struggled in some respects to put together, is that as much as I have given it 2 stars & it has some of the worst dialogue I have heard in a major motion picture, I cannot deny the horrible impact it had on me. The extended rape scene is without doubt the most horrendous thing you can imagine. It is sub-human behaviour, made all the more unsettling due to the reaction of Amy during it. The slow ratcheting-up of tension also really gets under your skin, making this an extremely uncomfortable watch.

But despite having said all that, I simply hated everything else about this film. The characterisation is terrible, from the totally unbelievable chemistry between David & Amy (how they ever had more than 1 date, let alone exchanged vows is beyond me,) through to their completely illogical actions. David goes (in 1 scene,) from being meek & mild to domineering to the life & soul of the party. He also seems to be totally emotionally repressed, showing his wife almost no affection or support in any way.

As for Amy, the film genuinely doesn't seem to know what to do with her, after Susan George fulfilled the "beautiful & sexually provocative" requirements of her character (this is no slur on George, who does outstanding work with what she is given but cannot fix the significant script issues.) Amy also changes her character traits at the flip of a coin: 1 minute she is a loyal wife trying to support her husband, then berating him for hiring a group of useless builders who she cannot stand, then 30 seconds later deliberately walking topless in full view of them...

There is much more I could say, however honestly, as much as I watched to the end, this was simply to see if the film got better (which it didn't.) For some people, this is Peckinpah's masterpiece, an exercise in slowly turning the screws on a hapless couple with horrific violence to really traumatise it's viewers. But for me, along with many others, it was simply an exercise in watching an extremely poor script being acted out, with ridiculous contrivances (the fact that no-one in the surrounding areas saw a full-on siege taking place for over 20 minutes, including the farmhouse being set on fire & multiple gunshots, and didn't call the police, is one of the most stupid things imaginable.)

Whilst it's place in cinematic history is guaranteed, that doesn't mean it's any good...

After seeing multiple films in which Saoirse Ronan was the best thing in them, this film to me was going to be a home run: a look at addiction set in & around one of the most beautiful parts of the UK, with one of our best actresses delivering a masterclass in trauma & recovery. However, as with many other times where you feel that something is a certainty, the finished product is very different.

We are introduced to Rona as she is dancing in a nightclub & very quickly see she has a serious problem with alcohol, ending the night minesweeping leftover drinks from the bar before being thrown out by security. She then returns home to her family farm in the Orkney Islands to help with the lambing season. Her mother, a devout Christian woman who believes that she can cure her daughter with prayer, suffocates her with attention & subtle attempts at controlling, whilst her father is more laid back. We follow her as she attempts to get her life back on track as well as dealing with her demons.

This film is absolutely terrible. It is so boring & badly made, it almost makes me wonder how it was green-lit. In the 30 or so minutes I could watch it, we just see a lot of random events, interspersed with old wives tales & legends of the Orkney Islands. The narrative and direction is all over the place, the timeline jumping about without giving any thought to the fact that not only does this make the film unwatchable, but also means you never really know what is happening. Then after a while, I found myself not caring.

After half an hour, I switched it off. I simply wasn't interested in spending any more time trying to work out what was happening, why I should care & if the film was going to get better.

In 2011, Gareth Evans wrote & directed The Raid. It still is one of the most seminal & groundbreakingly breathless pieces of brilliance I have ever seen, with flawless action sequences & a story which was simple but made you care. However after this, his output didn't build on this promise. The Raid 2 was a huge disappointment, primarily because it took the world so perfectly created in the 1st film & suffocated it under meandering & endless exposition/dialogue. And by the time you got to the incredible action Evans can do so well, you just didn't care.

Gangs of London righted the ship somewhat, giving us a compelling story & performances, alongside the sort of action scenes normally reserved for the big screen. But I was waiting for a big film to revisit the potential so clearly on show in The Raid. So when it was announced that Evans had teamed up with Tom Hardy, one of the best young actors who genuinely can do action & martial arts (he is purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,) I was pumped. And after a long delay, we now have HAVOC.

Patrick Walker is a burnt-out, exhausted cop who has more skeletons in his closet than a jail full of gang members. He is on the payroll of Lawrence Beaumont, a mayoral candidate who claims to be determined to clear up the corruption but happily contributes to it with no feelings of hypocrisy. A drug deal which involves his son Charlie goes catastrophically wrong, leaving a trail of dead bodies and an army of triads swearing revenge. Adding into the chaos is Walker's fellow corrupt colleagues, who are determined to tie up the loose ends themselves.

The single biggest stroke of genius this film has is Hardy. Walker is, on paper, action hero cliché 101 (he even has a daughter he has repeatedly let down, with an ex who won't let him see her for Christmas.) But Hardy genuinely makes you feel & care for Walker's plight, as well as fully buy into his incredible fighting skills. And Walker many times takes an absolute beating in this film, as he battles to maintain his sanity, protect Beaumont's son & girlfriend, and stopping the gang war spilling out of control.

And when it comes to the action, we are once again in the sweet spot of cinema. The brawls are vicious & brutal, with everything from meat clevers, metal poles & even harpoons being utilised in ever-more wincing ways. Hand-to-hand combat is captured in frenetic & brilliant cinematography, the camera weightless as it is thrust straight into the thick of action. The gun fights are equally demented, with pistols able to fire scores of bullets without needing to be reloaded, as well as baddies having whole clips being emptied into them & their lives being saved by backstreet doctors.

But unfortunately, there are also some gaping flaws with this film, chief among them its look. Whilst it is incredible this entire film was shot in Cardiff & in parts you genuinely believe you are in Chinatown or a US state, the CGI is at times absolutely horrendous. The look Evans is going for, a kind of snow-swept desolute hellhole, sometimes looks like those twee dramas you get on the Hallmark channel.

The story itself also sometimes comes to a shuddering halt with narrative choices & characters who feel like padding. But when it is good, it is great. Timothy Olyphant in particular is great, utilising his phenomenal ability to bring intensity & threat to any situation. And in what is effectively a glorified cameo role, Luis Guzmán makes an impact as the father of Charlie's girlfriend.

Ultimately, if you are a fan of incredibly brutal & amazingly shot action, you will find much to love, as well as forgiving the shortcomings. However, for many, the look & length may put them off.

When Spotlight was released & went on to Oscar glory, it reinvigorated the investigative drama and proved beyond a doubt that you don't have to send actors running down corridors to create tension, simply give them an excellent script/story & brilliant direction. Spotlight's success also clearly influenced other films around that time, with mixed results. Somehow (and I still can't believe quite how they managed to do this,) Spielberg, Hanks & Streep made The Post one of the most boring films imaginable, despite the powerhouse of talent involved. But there was also a French film, from a very different director, which is brilliant.

François Ozon is in very different territory to his normal works. His previous film, L'Amant Double, was an erotic thriller which did not shy away from showing the more provocative & intimate scenes. Whereas in By the Grace of God, the sexual activity is associated with horrendous trauma, abuse & life-changing injuries.

The film is based on the crimes of French priest Bernard Preynat, although the other characters are based on composites of many of his victims. We follow Alexandre Guérin, a successful banker who on the surface has the life anyone would want (loving family, successful career, beautiful home, devout wife,) who discovers that Preynat, who was moved from the parish, is working with children again; François Debord, a medical professional who is far more volatile & reported the abuse to his parents, fracturing his family almost irreparably; and Emmanuel Thomassin, a haunted & horrifically mentally/physically scarred younger man, who unlike the previous 2 men, has had a life of disarray & addiction, as well as having multiple toxic relationships.

Like Spotlight, the film is crafted unbelievably carefully. Generous amounts of time & world-building are given to develop each of the characters, plus Preynat is also mercifully not turned into the caricature which so many writers might be tempted to go down (a demonic, almost pastiche-level evil being,) but as a pathetic & cornered old man whose protection from the Church has finally run out of road.

We watch as the 3 men, along with their families & eventually others who come forward, form their own group which they take public to force the Church to confront not only the rampant sexual abuse within their parishes, but also to properly punish the men committing these heinous acts and destroying multiple lives in the process. For me, I also welcomed the fact that these characters were sometimes challenging & abrasive, especially Debord.

The only real issue I have with this film is that towards the end, the story & narrative starts to falter, which is then compounded when it abruptly ends, with a quick epilogue about the court case. And it is a real shame. I felt like the film was in many ways rushed to completion, which just made it all the more frustrating, considering how for over two thirds of it, it was impeccable filmmaking.

But I still recommend it, for the performances, direction & script

Civil War is clearly being made to show what could potentially happen in the next few years, and what did nearly happen in some respects in '21. The notion of a despotic leader refusing to give up power & causing a split in the country they run is nothing new, but here it is given a shocking & all-too-real edge, clearly taking inspiration from world events.

Lee Smith is a battle-weary & PTSD-riddled war photographer, whose iconic pictures have won her every type of award, which she has seemingly had in exchange for her sanity. She is linking up with an old colleague, fellow photographer Joel, on a seemingly impossible & suicidal mission to locate and interview the embattled president. This requires them to travel across multiple conflict-ridden states to reach the White House. Along the way, they are joined by Sammy, their mentor, and wannabe war photographer Jessie, much to Lee's protests.

The battle scenes, as well as the smaller moments, are brilliantly shot. You really feel, due to the staging & camera work, that you are in the thick of battle, with bullets whistling overhead. Dunst is also excellent, as is Stephen McKinley Henderson as the father-figure to the main protagonist. Cailee Spaeny unfortunately drew the short straw in terms of character, with her struggling to make the evolution from the blue-eyed & innocent hero-worshipper to battle-scarred photo journalist an original or compelling journey. This is in no way a slur on Spaeny's ability, just simply poor writing.

And this theme carries on throughout the film. The journey these characters make is at times good & certainly well-shot, but often my mind wandered. Various scenes simply weren't that interesting, or feeling workmanlike in order to give a slice of exposition or the set-up to the next part of the story.

The ending battle is again well-shot, but isn't the big payoff which is the writers think it is. We simply watch a battle clearly inspired by multiple Call of Duty games, which also is nonsensical in its setup. There is simply no way that the President would be where he is following the events of the film. There are other plot holes which are so ludicrous they verge on pastiche, as well a convenient lack of any responses or action from the outside world.

But this film does have an ace up it's sleeve in terms of cameo appearances. An actor makes a brief appearance as a disgusting, despicable racist, which is so impactful that the movie loses some momentum which it never regains afterwards. That is the main takeaway you have from this film.

A good effort but a better script would have done wonders for the story

Yorgos Lanthimos genuinely is a Marmite director & writer. In one respect, it is an admirable trait, considering how when most people in the entertainment industry get the first whiffs of success, they change both themselves and their style. This is something Lanthimos could never be accused of, consistently creating weird, deeply idiosyncratic & often highly sexualised works, with the rare benefit of being able to cast A-List actors in these roles.

But the risk of Lanthimos's style is when a story doesn't work or keep your attention, it just becomes an exercise in watching the screen and trying to keep following what is happening, whilst getting more & more bored. And this is how I felt watching Kinds of Kindness, a triptych of stories with tangentially connected events.

I just sat watching a collection of characters saying stilted & off-paced dialogue, acting out a story which progressed at a snails pace, made no sense and slowly I became less interested in following. Jesse Plemons plays a man whose life is controlled by a creepy & weird older man (Defoe,) who makes extreme demands of him then gifts random rewards when he completes the tasks. Whilst looking for logic in a Lanthimos film is as pointless as trying to kick water uphill, it simply wasn't interesting.

The following story, concerning a man (Plemons) whose wife has gone missing at sea, follows a similar pattern. She returns but he believes that she is not his real wife, but someone pretending to be her. Again, there is a lot of stilted & meandering dialogue, alongside sudden and shocking bursts of violence & sex, but none of it is funny or engaging, just boring.

I kept going with it for probably an hour 40 before giving up. It is one of the most pointless films I have watched recently, which took a chunk of my life I will never get back. And, whilst at this point, Lanthimos fans would probably say something along the lines of "But that's his style, you just don't get it," I loved Dogtooth. It's not Lanthimos's style I hated here, it's the rubbish film he made...

If you live in the UK and are a fan of film, it is almost impossible not to have seen something either related to or influenced by Get Carter at some stage. The iconic image of Michael Caine in his immaculate suit holding a shotgun will forever be a part of our culture & history. I had never seen Get Carter before, but was waiting until the 4K remaster was released (which given its status, was always going to be commissioned.) And this remaster is excellent, really fleshing out the picture without making it look fake or cloying.

Jack Carter is a Newcastle-born gangster who is based in London. He is informed that his brother has died, but the circumstances are highly questionable & Jack suspects foul play. He returns up North to attend his funeral, then goes on a one-man crusade to expose the truth of what happened, unleashing hell on the criminal underworld.

Whilst the story today would be the most clichéd movie imaginable, in 1971 this was a highly shocking & controversial film. The violence, relatively tame by today's standards, had never been seen in this context before, especially when coupled with sex, nudity & the pornographic industry. Jack Carter himself is also a highly immoral & vicious man, who is as violent towards women as he is men. But what the film makes clear is that there are no heroes or decent people in the world Jack inhabits. If you came looking for a hero, then you're out of luck.

This film is a template for hundreds of others that came after it, many of them poor imitations. I deliberately tried to watch it as if I'd never seen any of these types of films, which only enhanced my viewing pleasure. It is a gripping & shocking film, with Caine it's sensational center.

One of the best British films ever

In 2006, I saw The Dreamers, primarily due to it being Eva Green's 1st role, after seeing her in Casino Royale. And it was an incredible, bold & provocative film, looking at a Ménage à trois between 2 siblings & a naïve but curious American student. But as much as most people will remember it for Green and the copious amounts of nudity/sex she does, for me Michael Pitt was just as brilliant. His role was an extremely risky & bold choice (so much so Jake Gyllenhaal dropped out of the film due to the sexual content,) but he made it so much more than just the wide-eyed, innocent tourist. I had seen him pop up in other stuff, but nothing that particularly interested me.

But then I heard about Day of the Fight, as well as seeing the incredible cast, and was immediately interested. And whilst I haven't seen many boxing movies, I have always loved the way the sport is used as a metaphor for the struggle of the characters, how the underdog who has been forgotten or written off, can triumph against all odds. And whilst some may moan about the clichés, recycled from original boxing films, for me when they are used well, it tells an incredible story.

Mike Flannigan is an almost totally broken boxer, who was a world champion back in the day, but whose life has turned into a living hell. His life choices & arrogance has ruined multiple lives, resulting in time in jail, as well as being reduced to living in a fleapit apartment with only his cat for company. He then scores a wildcard comeback fight & the film looks at his actions on match day as he meets up with & makes amends for his previous transgressions.

This film lives or dies on its central performance, especially as you have to buy into the protagonist, who is at times unbelievably unlikeable. But Pitt is absolutely flawless. This is a towering, emotional sledgehammer of a performance, imbued with nuance & vulnerability. Whilst it is easy to write & almost dismiss, it is clear the commitment to the role Pitt has given: whilst he is in incredible physical shape, you also see the hunger & malnutrition of a man who lives hand-to-mouth. And the weight of guilt he carries is almost back-breaking.

The supporting characters are also great. Whilst I never watched it, for many it will be great to see Pitt & Buscemi back together after Boardwalk Empire. Ron Pearlman is the old-man trainer, who chews up the scenery with glee. There is also powerful work done by Nicolette Robinson as Mike's ex, who has been through a life of hell & pain, watching her boyfriend ruin everything he touched. But the highlight is Joe Pesci, making an extremely rare appearance as Mike's father, who gives a wordless masterclass in acting. The scene they share together is incredible.

Unfortunately, after a flawless build-up, the final fight is actually rather boring & off-key, which is all the more tragic given that Pitt & the other actor REALLY are beating the hell out of each other (the fight was the last thing they filmed, in case one of them got injured.) Unlike in films such as The Fighter & Warrior, where the fights are the incredible payoff you as the audience are waiting for, this fight just doesn't impact in the same way. The ending goes some way to correcting this, but after the events leading up to the brawl, I did wish it had been better choreographed.

However, don't let that put you off seeing this film. It is such an incredible, rich story, with beautiful monochrome cinematography, a real heart and Michael Pitt giving his best performance at its center. An amazing film

This is one of the only films I have watched where I genuinely cannot find a single thing wrong with it. Literally every single element is perfect. Its story is fiercely compassionate but never saccharine or reduced to kumbaya moments. The two characters are totally real, complete with flaws & deep emotional scars. And the hurt that is shown on screen you feel in your bones.

We are introduced to Tahir as he is interrogated by a policeman after being arrested. He is a deeply religious, gentle man who fled from war-torn Nigeria & has overstayed his visa, living on the streets and making money from playing the drums. He was arrested after being maliciously targeted by the police and, whilst incarcerated, had most of his belongings stolen. One day, he sees Hannah, who is struggling with addiction, begging on the streets & offers to help her. The two of them form an unbreakable bond which we then witness over a year, dealing with the highs & lows of homelessness and addiction. 

I cannot overstate just how profoundly this film affected me and I am staggered that it has not had the enormous success it so deserves. It is such a beautiful musing on how, no matter how bad your life is and your own personal demons, there is hope. The love which is shown on screen between the two characters is one of the most realistic I have ever witnessed, never for a second feeling forced. And this is down to the performances of Mackie & Connelly, as well as the direction from Paul Bettany. I actually cannot choose between them as to which was my favourite. Whilst Connelly has the naturally more headline-grabbing performance, don’t think for a second that Mackie is sidelined. The trauma which he wears like a second skin is on screen for every single second. 

This film also has some incredibly difficult moments, which are neither watered down nor done for shock. One moment, which sees Hannah’s fragile sobriety implode, is heart-wrenching to watch, in part due to the way she injects whilst Tahir watches powerlessly. Another scene where Hannah is desperately trying to find shelter results in one of the most rancid & horrendous moments I have seen put on screen. But the power of Connolly’s acting, her refusal to be broken & to support Tahir, takes your breath away with its impact. 

But if I had to choose one element of this film which I loved more than anything else, it is this: not for one second does this film hit you over the head or lecture you with its themes or story. In the past few years, I have watched so many films which think the best way to tell their story is to subtly or overtly preach to you, thinking that this makes for a good movie, when it for me does the opposite. When the acting, story & production are perfect, you don’t need to go down the route of treating the audience in that way. And when the moments of unbelievable bleakness happen, they hit like a sledgehammer. 

But, despite my praise for Connelly & Mackie, Paul Bettany deserves all of that and more. Considering this is his first film, as well as being shot on a nano-budget, what he has created stands toe-to-toe with the all time greats. In many ways, this film shares a lot with London to Brighton, another seismic story dealing with many of the same issues as Shelter. It is clear that the multiple revered directors that Bettany has worked with over the years have fed into his vision, creating this masterpiece. 

I loved this film. It is a mature, perfectly written & sensationally performed piece of storytelling. I was transfixed from the moment it started until its heartbreaking but hopeful end. It has & will probably always stay with me as an example of what a piece of drama can do.

This movie is one of the reasons I love film. That’s how good it is

After renting the first Dune purely on the fact that Denis Villeneuve was the director, I wasn't particularly blown away by it (I certainly didn't think it deserved the nearly-unanimous 5 star reviews.) But it was still entertaining and I did enjoy parts of it. Following that film's success, the sequel was green-lit and added new actors to the massive roll-call already cast.

Again, as much as this is a stunningly beautiful film to look at, it was never more than good for me. I didn't remember a lot of what happened in the 1st film, hence couldn't follow a lot of what was going on. But there was enjoyment to be had in just sitting back and allowing it to wash over me. There are also some unintentionally funny moments. Stellan Skarsgård made me chuckle every time he was on screen, simply due to his character (a great big, fat, repulsive slug-like creature, which is perfectly complimented by his raspy voice.) Austin Butler also is extremely good as the psychotic would-be ruler of the planet, extremely convincing in the hand-to-hand battles.

However the weak point for me, as with the first film, is Timothée Chalamet. He is just not in any way convincing, intimidating or believable. And this really comes to the fore in a later scene where he proclaims himself the leader of the people. He preens & screams, his high-pitched voice on the absolute edge of breaking, whilst trying to hold it together. And for me it just didn't work. And this gets worse as the film goes on. At one point, there is a scene where he is opposite Christopher Walken, trying to assert his dominance and power. Walken is an incredible actor, one of the best ever in my opinion. In films like True Romance, he does in 10 minutes what some actors fail to do in 3 hours. Chalamet is so out of his depth, it is almost cringe-worthy. But the film still lumbers on to it's conclusion, setting up part 3, which is currently being made.

For the fans, as well as a large number of reviewers, they will get exactly what they want and more. But for me, whether it is because I am simply not a massive sci-fi fan, or have not bought into the story, whilst it is a visual feast, it was simply a continuation of a story which I have only a passing interest in.

Argo is a film which will be many different things to many different people. This is displayed in the other reviews which are on the Cinema Paradiso site, with some absolutely furious about the way this film wilfully & blatantly rewrites history in order to make it look like the Americans (along with the assistance of the Canadians,) basically saved the day, like so many other flag-waving American films. This anger was increased ten-fold when it won Best Picture at the Oscars, alongside other awards.

But for me, and many others, I look at it differently. I am first & foremost a film lover, who jumps head-first into the incredible worlds which are created by writers, directors & actors. And as much as I also dislike the flag-waving Americanism of these types of films, I am also able to, if the film is good, separate this from the actual movie I am watching. And this is the case for me with Argo. I would also point out that the historical inaccuracies have been so roundly reported & critiqued that there is an effective counterbalance to the events which are distorted by the film makers. For some, that still isn’t enough, but it is for me.

Argo tells the story of the Iranian revolution & hostage crisis, predominantly the deep-cover mission to exfiltrate 6 US Embassy workers who managed to escape the storming of the American consulate. Having found sanctuary & shelter at the Canadian Ambassadors house, they wait to be evacuated. Meanwhile in Washington DC, the various intelligence agencies frantically work out how to bring the Americans back home without starting WWIII. Tony Mendez, a CIA veteran who specialises in evacuations, comes up with a plan to go into Iran using the cover of a film production company who want to shoot a sci-fi movie in the country. The film looks at the creation of and actual evacuation of the 6, by Mendez.

The main thing which sticks with me, both when I first watched the movie over 10 years ago, and tonight when I rewatched it to write this review, is just how well-made this film is. Ben Affleck is an extremely competent & skilful director, who is able to strike the difficult balance in film making of creating a story with serious subject matter but also a lightness of touch. The film zips along at a brilliant pace, never once losing momentum. The smoke-filled offices of the CIA & FBI, where these types of films can often be dragged down with the conversations/back & fourth arguments between different heads of departments, are filled with tension and don’t go on for a second longer than they need to.

When it comes to Mendez himself, Affleck also makes him extremely relatable, as well as openly showing the grave doubts he has, alongside the massive responsibility he has taken on in getting the 6 hostages out. It is said to him in no uncertain terms that if his/their cover is blown, they should hope to be shot first, to spare them the torture which awaits them. In no way is Mendez the stereotypical cocksure hero these films usually have, which again is a refreshing change.

Affleck & the writers have also sensibly put a large amount of humour into this film. Bryan Cranston, John Goodman & Alan Arkin all have excellent barbs in this film, which again adds to the lightness of touch. Cranston, taking a break from being Walter White, clearly relishes the change of role, chewing up the scenery for all he’s worth, especially as the mission threatens to go awry.

I really enjoyed this film. I totally bought into the world which it created, was gripped by it and also loved its structure. Whilst I would never have called it a Best Picture winner, it is still a reminder of the power of good cinema to transport us to another world for 2 hours. For those who simply cannot countenance it's rewriting of history, I simply say: Your loss

Killer Joe is an out-and-out masterpiece. In a time filled with films trying to shock but usually failing miserably, this is a brilliantly acted movie, filled with genuine surprises as well as brutal violence & sex. You find yourself at times going "Oh no... You're not gonna... Oh you are!" before bursting out laughing.

Chris Smith, a trailer-trash lowlife scumbag drug dealer, has been thrown out by his mother, who has also stolen his supply of cocaine, leaving him seriously in debt to some very bad people. In desperation, he returns back to his father & step-mother, with a plan: hire a contract killer (Joe) to kill his mother & collect the insurance policy, which is in his disabled sister Dottie's name, giving them an easy payday and clearing Chris's debt. However, things get complicated when Joe demands a retainer as security & claims Dottie...

With a film like this, if the cast were not totally committed to it, it would fail within the first 5 minutes. Characters are revealed in the most embarrassing ways imaginable, take part in sleazy sex & generally are the most unlikeable vile people imaginable. And yet they are also a perfect metaphor for what you yourself may very well be like if you were born into that pit of hell, scheming & screwing over your own flesh and blood, knowing that if you won't, they will.

Matthew McConaughey, in full McConaissance rebirth, is absolutely sensational. In 2011 you have to remember that, after an early career in more serious films, he then became Mr RomCom, churning out pretty much the same movie with a slight story variation. After a deliberate hiatus, he took on a series of totally against type films, including this one. Gone is the slightly goofy, relaxed guy looking for a good time. The perfect six-pack on the tanned torso has been transformed into a hulking monster, never more than a second away from violence, with the added power of being an officer of the law. McConaughey is genuinely intimidating. 

But whilst he got most of the headlines, to me as much praise needs to go to Juno Temple, who plays the far more difficult role of Dottie, the developmentally disabled sister of Chris. This type of role is so difficult to get right, because it can be in danger of tipping into a grotesque impersonation of disability. But one of the main reasons this film works is because Dottie is not treated any differently to any of the others. She has her own agency, makes her own decisions and is also an extremely strong-minded woman. However the film also makes sure that everyone in their own way also cares about her, whilst screwing over everyone else. 

The other thing which makes this film so good is its brief running time. Friedkin is an extremely efficient director and this film doesn’t have an ounce of fat on it, perfectly paced & finishing exactly when it should. The scenes are brilliantly constructed as well. It is one of those rare things: a brilliantly acted, no-holds-barred story, performed by actors at the top of their game, making you as the viewer feel a whole range of emotions. 

I absolutely loved it. I just won’t ever look at a piece of KFC the same way again…