Film Reviews by GI

An interesting British satire made during the peak period of comedy although this film is light on humour and focuses more on a look at society's relationship with religion. It's a narrative that sort of cuts both ways in saying that people should come first and christian ideals are the way to establish true charity and harmony but yet identifying that society based on capitalism and sound economics will fail if the former takes a hold. Peter Sellers plays the well meaning but naïve vicar John Smallwood, who is mistakenly appointed to a small English town parish dominated by a factory making a vitamin drink which is owned by the aristocratic family who dominate the town. As a result it's a thriving place albeit an intolerant one to outsiders and scroungers. Smallwood begins preaching charity and opens what's basically a food bank, open and free for all. This has the result of collapsing the town's economy even though at first everyone reaps the benefits of free food. There's some nostalgic visions of England in the early sixties reacting to modernisation and the control by establishment figures fighting against the tide of change. The message however is mixed and the emphasis on christianity as the ultimate solution to all man's ills is a bit out dated. The inclusion of racial slurs and a portrayal of the traveller community as just a bunch of scrounging thieves is certainly a controversial one when viewed today. It's not Sellers best film although he plays the role straight and there's a host of great British acting talent in the support cast. Personally I found the film's coda to be somewhat silly too.

A documentary about the troubled making of Apocalypse Now (1979) and really a passionate study of the 'Portrait Of the Artist As A Tortured Soul'. That soul being writer and director Francis Ford Coppola who put literally everything into the making of this film that underwent destruction of sets by tornado, his lead actor having a heart attack and his big star cameo arriving overweight and unhelpful and many other 'hiccups'! What is now considered a real masterp[iece of modern cinema is captured here by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, who filmed footage and recorded her husband without his knowledge ostensibly for her diary but conversations now included that show the emotional anguish Coppola suffered to get his film finished. If you are lover of Apocalypse Now then this is an interesting documentary that most of the actors give interviews for (apart from Marlon Brando, who allegedly had a gripe over money). Well worth a watch.

This second spin off film from the TV series is more of an extended episode really but it has real panache and what may not be readily evident is that it is a very accurate portrayal of the British police of the late 70s. It's also a gritty, violent crime film that utilises actual events to create a realistic London based police thriller. The role of Commander Jupp played by Denholm Elliott is based on a real Flying Squad commander (Kenneth Drury) jailed for corruption. The story here has Jupp about to be convicted for corruption giving Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) one last job, to hunt down a team of armed bank robbers. Jupp's motives in doing this are at first unclear but as this is a more convoluted plot than an initial viewing might suggest he does have one. Regan and his team including Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) begin their investigation and soon realise that the robbers are ruthless and ready to kill their own to avoid capture. This leads to some fast paced action scenes and car chases that are very well executed. Wrapped up in this story is a focus on the lonely lives of Regan and Carter and their need for affection from outside the police, this is sensitively done with comedy and sadness. The language and methods of the police are portrayed very accurately and what I've come to love about this film are the couple of little sub plots that are mixed in the main story including a very funny bomb incident in a hotel. As British crime films go this is worthy of a re-evaluation, it's a tough, enthralling drama with two iconic characters and the move to the cinema screen enabled the makers to push the realism further making for a very satisfying film.

A spin off of the iconic and gritty British TV series and whereas TV spin offs usually make pretty mediocre films this is an exception. Even if you are totally unfamiliar with the 1970s series, which changed the rules on TV cop drama, you can enjoy this film as its a sharp, intelligent crime thriller with a very detailed and convoluted plot. Rather than just an extended TV episode type story the writers cleverly inserted the main characters into a London based conspiracy thriller that has political intrigue (the basis of the plot is from the Profumo Affair), tough, realistic action including some sudden and shocking violence and a very accurate representation of the police of the time. An informant for Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad asks him to look into the death of his girlfriend. Officially she committed suicide but Jack soon begins to uncover a murder conspiracy that goes to the heart of the Government and Jack soon finds he is framed and hunted himself. Dennis Waterman reprises his role as Regan's sidekick, Carter and with a great support cast including Barry Foster, Ian Bannen, Diane Keen and Colin Welland this is a British crime film that ranks alongside The Long Good Friday (1980). It's an unsung gem so if you've never seen this then I highly recommend it (it's been recently restored for BluRay/DVD release). Sadly an attempt to resurrect the characters in 2012 with Ray Winstone as Regan was a dismal failure.

A beautifully bleak post apocalyptic film set in an unspecified future where humanity has become depleted and starvation rife. To writer and director Stephen Fingleton's credit he doesn't indulge in backstory or scenes depicting the fall of society but instead follows the plight of a man (Martin McCann) living alone in a forest shack. Here he lives in isolation, growing his own crops and protecting them ruthlessly against the odd marauding stranger who tries to steal them. Until one day a mother and daughter (Olwen Fouéré, Mia Goth) arrive and putting his desperation for company above his natural suspicion he allows them to stay. But their motives are unknown and they could be his undoing. This is a real gem of a film, it depicts what survival in such circumstances might actually be like. It's a film that juxtaposes man's brutality with nature's vitality and creates a tense, thrilling drama in the process. There are some quite difficult scenes as the three have to make some extreme decisions regarding their lives and future but nothing is gratuitous here and everything has the sense of a new world with the ever present dangers of the old lurking at every turn. A really marvellous little British film and definitely one I highly recommend.

This is an emotional relationship drama that is riddled with ambiguity that makes it a challenging film albeit a compelling one too. It's a story of mother and daughter, Rose and Sofia, who are in Spain where Rose is attending a clinic in order to get to the bottom of her mysterious illness which confines her to a wheelchair and may be psychosomatic. Fiona Shaw gives a fierce performance as Rose, a cantankerous and somewhat selfish woman hiding past traumas. She relies fully on Sofia, played with equal conviction by Emma Mackey. Sofia is tired and lonely, simmering with anger, but she finds herself on an emotional journey when she meets the free spirited Ingrid (Vicky Krieps) and they begin a slow sexual relationship. In many ways this is a story of Sofia's sexual awakening as she yearns for the human connection that she has never apparently experienced especially with her parents. The film gives no easy answers to either woman's journey and at times it's deliberate skirting of resolution feels frustrating but this is an interesting film dominated by two formidable lead performances.

It's easy to see why director Mel Gibson was drawn to this story which is somewhat of a flag waver and the main character being a devout christian following Gibson's own fundamental religious obsessions. The film has an epic structure and whilst it's based on a true story many facts and incidents are changed or fictionilised. This is a Second World War combat film that tells the story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a devout bible following christian, who is moved to sign up after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, despite his religious beliefs making him a conscientious objector. He hopes to train as a medic but ends up in a rifle company where he faces bullying and discrimination for his refusal to handle any sort of weapon. But eventually he gets his way and end up as a medic in the battle of Okinawa against fierce Japanese resistance and saves multiple lives earning him the respect of his comrades. Indeed he was the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honour. As a war film this has a pastel, 'garden of eden' vibe for the scenes set in Doss' home town where he woos a nurse and they fall in love. The training camp scenes follow with Vince Vaughn as the shouty Sergeant and Sam Worthington as a smarmy officer in charge. And then finally the bloodbath combat scenes which feature copious explosions and torn corpses. It's an entertaining film and the gritty and realistic battle scenes are well done but perhaps just more of what we've come to expect of a war film nowadays. This is more similar in style to the TV series Band Of Brothers than other war films of late as it rushes along in order for Doss to receive the remorse of his fellow soldiers who bullied and harassed him earlier after he's revealed as a hero, which is clearly the predictable agenda of the narrative. The need to overly play the christian card here spoils the film at times but it's watchable but needed the restraint in storytelling and style of similar films such as Clint Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers (2006).

A social and family drama that brings director Mike Leigh back into familiar territory. This is a sad, humorous and though provoking story of a family in crisis and one that denies us a satisfactory resolution perhaps mirroring real life where there are often no real answers. The film is dominated by the central performance of Marianne Jean-Baptiste who is marvellous here. She plays Pansy, mother and wife, but she's suffering from acute depression for which she clearly needs professional help but no doubt would reject it out of hand. She's a hypochondriac and perpetually raging against her taciturn husband and morose son, who is withdrawn probably due to her incessant criticism of him. Pansy berates all she comes across often to her own detriment and has a morbid fear of dirt, insects, animals etc. Only her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) tolerates her and their relationship is revealed on a visit to their mother's graveside. Chantelle is the polar opposite of Pansy and while Pansy verbally resents what she sees in Chantelle's happy family and work life she also recognises her own inability to have it. Her family is slowly and sadly collapsing. Leigh offers us a depressing view of this family with no catharsis that you might want and expect but as a modern drama of depression and fear this is a remarkable film.

Director Danny Boyle's existential science fiction epic is often a forgotten gem. With huge nods to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Event Horizon (1997) and some homage to Ridley Scott's deserted corridor shots in Alien (1979) this isn't a film with aliens or space battles but a thought provoking story of a mission to save mankind with a mystery and horror elements thrown in for good measure. In the very near future the Sun has begun to lose its power putting the world into an ice age and humanity on the road to extinction. A huge spacecraft, The Icarus 2, protected by a gigantic heat shield is heading towards the Sun where it will launch a huge device to restart the Sun's waning power. This is the second attempted mission with the Icarus 1 having been lost seven years earlier for unknown reasons. As they approach the Sun Icarus 2 finds the Icarus 1 the decision to divert course to check for survivors proves a fateful decision. It could be argued that narratively the film doesn't offer a fulfilling story but it is still an extremely interesting one attempting to cover themes of the meaning of life, God and the Universe. As things begin to go wrong it is certainly a thrilling story and the visuals are particularly exciting. Written by Alex Garland it has his trademark complexities of plot and theme and the cast are exceptional including Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Mark Strong and Michelle Yeoh. If you like a good, solid sci-fi film that makes you think a bit then this is well worth a revisit if you had doubts before and definitely worth checking out if you've never seen it.

Described as "A Rock and Roll Fable" this is a fantasy film set in a 1950s style meta world city of rainy streets, neon and great music. Director Walter Hill has incorporated here all the great moments of cinema that he loves from kissing in the rain, to motorcycles at night, rock music and gritty fights. In many ways this is very similar to his earlier film The Warriors (1979), comic book in style with a story that is basically a group making their way across a hostile city at night pursued by a dark menacing enemy. There's the influence of The Searchers (1956) and the ending mirrors Casablanca (1942) It's absolutely great fun throughout with a fantastic soundtrack from Ry Cooder and songs written just for the film from the likes of Jim Steinman. 'In another time, another place' a rock star Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped during a benefit concert in her hometown by Raven (Willem Dafoe) and his motorcycle gang The Bombers. Her old flame and ex-soldier Tom Cody (Michael Paré) comes home to rescue her aided by a sidekick McCoy (Amy Madigan). The story follows a Helen of Troy type narrative and utilises western genre tropes in an exciting road movie with some great action set pieces, showdowns, a lovely romance at its heart and a great baddie. Rick Moranis co-stars and Bill Paxton has a small part as a barman. If you've never seen this then I highly recommend it, it's movie magic, one of my all time favourites.

A really entertaining and gutsy cop thriller with a great story albeit a little obvious and some fantastic action sequences. Keanu Reeves is unorthodox vice cop Tom Ludlow, he drinks too much, grieves for his deceased wife and is not averse to shooting the bad guys and covering up the crime scene. His boss, Captain Wander (Forest Whitaker) is only too pleased to have Tom on his team and keeps the bosses off his back. But after a cop threatening to expose corruption in Wander's team is killed Captain Briggs (Hugh Laurie) from Internal Affairs begins to focus his attention on Tom. When Tom starts to look into the killing he finds that not everyone he thought of as a friend in fact is. The action scenes are exciting, violent and bloody. The plot has some neat twists and turns and Reeves does all his own stunts. With a great cast that also includes Chris Evans and Naomi Harris you have a rather neat thriller that keeps you hooked throughout. Well worth checking out.

A picture postcard view of Ireland there is no doubt here and the actors give this their all but ultimately this is a somewhat absurd, overly melodramatic romantic drama that pushes the boundaries of reality a little too far. But one could argue this is also a spiritual, magical look at destiny in love. Either way it's a watchable film, that looks great and has a feel good ending. It's the story of two young people, Nicholas (Fionn O'Shea) and Isobel (AnneSkelly) who are destined for love with each other and the film charts their journey towards their ultimate happiness. Nicholas lives with his bohemian artist father (Pierce Brosnan), they have a troubled relationship but Nicholas gradually comes to see his father may have some wisdom of foresight that will be important to his life and this is focused in a painting his father gives away and which Nicholas eventually feels compelled to find. Meanwhile Isobel lives on the coast with her loving parents (Helena Bonham-Carter, Gabriel Byrne). After being expelled from her Catholic school she marries in haste a local man, but the arrival of Nicholas searching for his father's painting begins a chain of emotional events for them both. There's religious undertones here and the film attempts a poetic and almost period feel to its romantic view of life (it is set in the 1970s though). The top notch cast certainly give the film some gravitas but the overly played theme of cosmic forces at work to ensure love reigns supreme is a little syrupy at times.

Following similar themes to Taxi Driver (1976) which Paul Schrader also wrote but which Martin Scorsese turned into a masterpiece of urban drama, here Schrader clumsily directs a meandering plot that has unconvincing developments and a poor yet predictable ending. George C. Scott stars as a midwest businessman and devout Christian whose teenage daughter goes missing in California while on a church outing. Hiring a private investigator (Peter Boyle) it's discovered that the daughter is now making porn films in LA and so dad heads off to find her. This basically involves him visiting a string of sex clubs, porn shops and having to watch snuff movies. He's aided on the way by a young woman who is involved in the sex trade (Season Hubley) and eventually tracks his daughter down only for her to be happier in her new life than with his religious conformity and hence boring existence. A sloppy film really with a jarring and horrendous soundtrack, clichéd characters and a lead actor who looks bored throughout and is wasted here.

This was director Sam Peckinpah's first film outside the western genre and it remains a strange and interesting addition to his work. It's also one of the key films of the 70s and one that has carried the taint of controversy ever since it was refused a home classification for video by the British Board of Film Classification until 2002. Whilst it's a dark crime drama there are the hallmarks of a paganist horror to it and Peckinpah creates a vision of Cornwall that is completely at odds with the beautiful holiday county that most people know. Dustin Hoffman and Susan George (in her first major role) are married couple David and Amy. He is a maths professor and they have come to Cornwall from the US so David can conduct his research for a thesis. They live at Amy's former family home near a quaint village where the villagers view David as bizarre and mock him at every opportunity. Some of the local men including one of Amy's former boyfriends take an unhealthy interest in her and when a girl goes missing and a local man is suspected events take an ugly turn. When David decides to help the suspected man Henry (David Warner) he and Amy find their home besieged by the local menfolk and David decides to make a stand. This film is often very misunderstood. Whilst this is a study of violence it is often thought to be one where a gentle man is pushed to his limits whereas it's more about the awakening of suppressed violence harboured by Hoffman's character, in that sense he's really the bad guy here. There's a controversial double rape scene that's used to highlight this but the point is often lost due to the emotional impact of how the rape scene plays out. In hindsight Peckinpah perhaps pushed his point too far although as screen violence goes this film isn't anywhere as graphic as other films since but it remains a powerful and nuanced study of a man unleashed into terrible violence and a relationship that balances on the edge of crisis. From the start you get the impression that David is fighting to keep his dark violence at bay. This is an important film, much respected today and definitely one I recommend if you've never seen it.

Adapted from a string of computer games which will sort of give you an idea of what this 'horror' film is like. It's also a Blumhouse production and that too will tell you that it's tonally all over the place, not at all scary and plays like a demented kids film. The plot is almost identical to Willy's Wonderland (2021) and you could argue it's just a rip of Westworld (1973), both of which had more originality and style. Here Josh Hutcherson is Mike, a bit of a loser who cares for his much younger sister. He takes a dead end job as a night security man at a dilapidated and abandoned pizzeria and amusement arcade called Freddy's. When he has to take baby sister to work with him she befriends the large sized animatronic animals that come to life and play with her, basically because they're possessed by the ghosts of murdered children. Mike buys into this pretty quickly and eventually has to battle these robots and the man who murdered the kids in the first place. It's all silly stuff, a damp squib of a film really and no doubt has proved popular with the game fanbase to the extent that there's a sequel and a third on the way. It's all far too tame and hurried with a narrative that tries to step into issues of childhood trauma all the while really wanting to exhibit its weird murderous robot things that are the focus of the film!