Film Reviews by LC

The premise here is excellent: a girl is reported missing, but no one seems to have seen her - did she ever really exist? It has to be said that the film stumbles heavily in the final act, as the ultimate reveal turns out to be very melodramatic, but up till then it does a great job of keeping the mystery going, and misdirecting the audience. The black and white photography is excellent, and there are a wealth of interesting locations and oddball supporting characters. The inclusion of some blatant plugs for pop band The Zombies feels jarringly out of place (did the band's manager slip the filmmakers some money for the exposure?), but are typical of the film - it's messy, but interesting.

Following the struggles of a perennial underachiever who considers himself a 'dark horse' who will win in the end, this film manages a nice mix of bleakly dark humour, awkward interactions and human drama. The film doesn't quite rank up there with writer/director Solondz's classic 'Happiness', but it's still pleasantly offbeat stuff. The narrative itself is fairly straight, and very tightly-focused on the lead character, so the pace does drag slightly at times, but ultimately it's an emotionally affecting piece.

This Australian coming-of-age drama is charmingly quirky, with its oddball characters matched by some nice directorial flourishes, such as sudden outbreaks of synchronised dancing, or titles ('Later that day' etc) embedded into cereal packets and posters within the film's world. Ironically, probably the weakest aspect is the extended dream sequence towards the end which gives the film its title - it's full of interesting Lynchian imagery(feeling very 'Twin Peaks' at times), but it feels slightly heavy-handed in its treatment of what are ultimately fairly standard adolescent fears. Despite this, the lead characters and their waking interactions are ultimately more than enough to get invested in, and for anyone looking for some offbeat human drama this is recommended.

This horror film is essentially 'Jaws' on land, only with a demonic man-eating car rather than a shark. The premise is goofy enough that I was expecting some low budget trash, but some aspects are surprisingly classy, with some great locations, widescreen cinematography, decent music and general direction. Unfortunately however, the characters, dialogue and acting, are pure '70's B-movie shlock, so this is a very mixed bag. Clearly an inspiration for Stephekn King's 'Christine', this is entertainingly weird fun.

This Stephen King scripted film shows the author at his goofiest, with a central premise so bizarre it's difficult to imagine this project getting greenlit without such a big name behind it. It's actually pretty well directed, and Twin Peaks fans will enjoy Madchen Amick putting in a good turn as the heroine. As for the script? Vampires allergic to cats; shapeshifters with the power to make cars transform or turn invisible; a cop who drives around with his feline sidekick; a side serving of mother and son incest - at every angle this is nuts. Leave your brain at the door however, and it's possible to have some fun with this movie - I refuse to believe that any film where a character is stabbed to death with a cooked corn cob doesn't have it's tongue firmly in its cheek.

Like it's main protagonists, this film is big and dumb - sadly it's only moderately fun. The action is on an epic scale, and the CGI monster fights are colourful and impressive. Granted, that's the main selling point, but it has to be said that the human characters are particularly woeful here, being a bunch of walking cliches with terrible, hammy dialogue. Most annoying are the two children and their bumbling conspiracy-theorist sidekick, who seem to exist only to attempt to add some comedy. There's a potentially interesting storyline here about a hollow earth (why wasn't this tied into the conspiracy guy?), and it looks pretty, but doesn't get explored in any depth. Kong himself is also now so massive in scale that it's hard to maintain any belief in his interactions with the humans (particularly a small child), as they are the equivalent size of an ant - I'm surprised he notices them at all. I thought 'Skull Island' from a few years back was a surprisingly decent film, but this really has nothing to offer other than CGI spectacle.

This film has its moments, and the sound design is quite effective, but overall I'm slightly at a loss as to why it has received so much praise. The storyline seemed both slow-moving and fairly predictable, and I felt both the main characters could have been explored in more depth. Not a bad film, by any means, I just found it a distinctly average one.

Whilst I found the first series enjoyably quirky, this second outing sees a bit of a dip in quality. The 'romance' between the two lead characters is so slow-moving it just ends up being frustrating, with the whole thing being very drawn-out and ponderous. A few charming moments along the way, but on the whole this is pretty tiresome, and just doesn't have enough depth of character or story to carry this running time.

For much of it's length, this story of a child kidnapping gone wrong is essentially a two-hander, and both Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley put in incredible performances as a hen-pecked husband and his mentally-unbalanced wife. The film is well-shot, allowing both actors equal opportunity to shine, whilst the plot has plenty of tension and enough twists for the climax to keep you guessing how it will all end up (at least on first viewing). Highly recommended for any fans of classic British thrillers.

Ironically this CGI-laden adventure film about a quest to steal gunpowder never quite catches fire: the plot is functional but formulaic, and the characters are not particularly interesting. Matt Damon is particularly dull as the lead, so it's a bit like watching an Indian Jones film where Harrison Ford has been replaced by someone with zero charisma. On the positive side it looks fantastic and colourful, and clearly plenty of money has been thrown at the screen. Certainly nothing special, but for a couple of hours of entertaining nonsense, this will pass the time pleasantly enough.

A fairly convincing portrayal of a woman dealing with depression and feeling trapped in her family life, this is reasonably well shot and acted, but drags terribly over the running time. The story itself is so slight that the entire plot can be described in a couple of sentences, so that one waits an entire hour for the inevitable 'escape' to occur. In some ways this does help to bring home the feelings of being hemmed in, but it's not exactly a pleasant viewing experience. I still think there is an interesting premise here, and it's a subject worth exploring, but there simply isn't enough story here to justify the running time.

In terms of genre, this film would probably be best described as a tragedy, though there are enough touches of humour to keep it from becoming unenduringly bleak. In other hands, this material could easily have become a tearfest, but the filmakers resist easy sentimentality, or offering any pat resolutions. The narrative offers a few interesting parallels between the locals attitudes towards a giant headless statue, and actual human suffering, but is never heavy handed. A slight criticism might be that possibly we spend too much of the film with the main character after his accident, and not before - though maybe that sense of loss is itself deliberate? (3.5 out of 5)

Amazing the 10th film in the series, this is one of the better sequels in recent years (which admittedly, isn't saying much). The film looks good and is pretty well shot, we get a decent amount of time with the Cenobites, and the storyline actually tries to develop the mythology, rather than just redoing past glories. Less successfully. the serial killer aspect of the plot is fairly generic, and ultimately the killings are so elaborate that it's hard to take seriously. The addition of a force opposite to the Cenobites own also makes sense on paper, but I'm not sure it entirely works in execution, as it does slightly rob the series bad guys of some of their threat. Nevertheless, at least the filmmakers here are trying to do something new, and there's enough here that works (or is at least interesting) for it to be worth a look for any fans of the earlier films.

Going in, the only thing I had heard about this film was that it contained a scene of infamously gratuitous sexual violence. This is true up to a point, and squeamish viewers might wish to stay clear, but this is a long way from a cheap shock exploitation or horror film. Highly formal in composition, this is as much a cerebral take on events as it is a sensual one, inviting thoughtful analysis as much as gut reaction (even during the attack there are interesting touches, such as the woman's face never being shown, or the way the camera is pinned stationary to the ground along with the victim). The way the narrative plays out in reverse chronology invites the viewer to try and piece the story together, hinting at a certain inevitability to events and the character's fates, and also highlighting the ultimate inability of revenge to turn back the clock. Posters for Kubrick's films are given prominence towards the end, and it's a fair comparison - if you're the sort of person who finds something like 'A Clockwork Orange' interesting (rather than just mindless violence), this will be right up your street. One final note: this should probably come with a warning for those who suffer from light induced epilepsy - the final scene is incredibly 'flashy'.

There is a glorious period feel to this '70's giallo thriller, with atmospheric music, vibrant colour and fashions, some nice cinematography and a stunningly attractive female lead. We also get a generous serving of sex and nudity, so much so that it almost feels like a soft porn film at times, though it's all pretty classy and stylised. Less pleasant, but in keeping with the period, is the casual animal cruelty (several ducks are shot in a hunting scene, whilst a live eel is sliced in half). The 'whodunit' plot has a great hook: a novelist's secretary has disappeared, so her friend takes over her job to try and find out what happened to her. The author begins to dictate what seems like the answer to the mystery - but is he telling the truth, or just creating more fiction? Unfortunately the script gets a bit bogged down with red herrings that ultimately lead nowhere, and the final revelation doesn't quite satisfy. Nevertheless, despite the script being slightly below par, there is more than enough of interest here for this to be well worth a watch.