Film Reviews by GI

You need look no further if you want a full on fantasy action film that entertains from the get go because this is sheer adult fun, and admittedly for me a bit of a guilty secret film. The premise is that there's been a centuries old hidden war being fought between a race of vampires and the Lycans (or in other words werewolves). In the present day in an unnamed Eastern European city the vampires have all but wiped out their age old enemy but vampire warrior Selene (Kate Beckinsale - very impressive toting guns dressed in lycra!) discovers the Lycans have been rallied by their leader, Lucian (Michael Sheen), who was long believed to be dead and that they are seeking a human called Michael (Scott Speedman) for some nefarious reason. With the great Bill Nighy supporting as a vampire elder and with some great shoot out scenes, very impressive transformation special effects and a dark atmosphere aided by a loud rock soundtrack this is everything you can wish for in action cinema. The creatures are all fantastic and there's a loose theme around interracial relationships but you don't need to get bogged down in over analysing the text because this is what it says on the tin, full on, fun-filled action at its best. The film was such a success that it's spawned a series of films most of which have gradually become more tiresome (the first sequel is quite good though) but this first film is a must see.

A truly remarkable and highly original film. Categorising this is difficult and depends on your reading of it but it's probably best described as a science fiction/horror film although it's far more subtle and clever than you might expect from those genres. Scarlett Johansson, in arguably her best role, is a mysterious woman who roams the roads of Scotland luring men and taking them to a strange other dimensional place where their bodies are consumed. She maybe an alien entity, and the films opening suggests she is replacing another of her kind who has been killed. She is assisted by another 'alien' on a motorcycle who acts as her bodyguard. She completely lacks empathy with humans and is intent only on luring them to what is their doom. But soon she becomes intrigued by her body and the behaviour of the humans she observes and allows one of the men she catches to go free. Hunted by her companions she disappears into the highlands. There are some very disquieting scenes especially one on a windswept beach and the film has an eerie, dark and at times quite frightening atmosphere to it. But strangely the viewer begins to have some sympathy for the 'woman' as her path becomes more tortured. The end is well worth waiting for too. This is only director Jonathan Glazer's second feature film after Sexy Beast (2000) and on the merits of both he is a director of style and skill and worth checking out any future films. Ultimately this is Johansson's film, she carries the entire film and plays against anything she's done before or since. When you consider that Glazer used a lot of hidden cameras and many of the people she interacts with were ordinary people who were only told afterwards that they were in a film you can see clever she was in playing the part to the fullest. A brave performance and a highly impressive one. Under The Skin is a fantastic piece of cinema and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A classic but forgotten British crime drama, very gritty for its time and especially as its set in Newcastle although there are no Geordie accents. This is quite an evocatively told story that is essentially one of thieves falling out. A group of criminals led by Johnny (Michael Craig) has been planning a wages van robbery for several months but when the company ups the security the gang's inside man, the panicky Dennis (William Lucas), says the job is now impossible. But Johnny goes ahead anyway and a security man gets killed. The gang soon begins to fall apart and the dead man's wife (Billie Whitelaw) decides to hunt the gang down for her revenge. With all the action taking place in the backstreets and outskirts of Newcastle and shot in stark black & white this has a sense of realism that is unique to British films of this time. The violence and sex were deemed very risqué in the early 60s and the film has some great character actors including Tom Bell and Kenneth Griffiths. Billie Whitelaw is especially good here with that steely look she had that made her very menacing. A thoroughly entertaining crime film from a time when British films were something very, very special indeed.

An amiable somewhat self indulgent drama set in the Paris literary world and trying to say something profound about the digital age and the crisis of younger people not reading books. Mixed in is that all the characters are having affairs with each other, some are suspected and some doing so with impunity. There are a couple of running jokes and the film is watchable and occasionally draws you in but the film is overall a little weak. Juliette Binoche stars and is always very appealing. Here she is a TV actor married to publisher, Alain (Guillaume Canet). He's refusing to publish emotionally needy author Léonard's (Vincent Macaigne) new autobiographical novel and who happens to be having an affair with his wife. It's all played out in a series of emotional and complex conversations that have some humour but the film finally feels empty.

The 1970s was a decade of western revival and there are many great westerns to be found made in this period. Director Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid is arguably one of the best and a fantastic performance from Burt Lancaster as an ageing and cynical army scout. The film is a clear allegory to the Vietnam war and in particular the naivety of the Americans in believing they could easily defeat an indigenous enemy. This is a film ripe for restoration and it's quite bizarre that a good version has not been produced for the modern day market. There were two released versions, one by the director and a subtly different one put together by Lancaster. Most DVD copies contain Aldrich's version but it suffers from roughly done editing especially around some scenes of horses falling where tripwires were used. That said the Aldrich version is the more comprehensive in what is a film now considered to be a mini masterpiece. Set in Arizona, the harsh land being a key element of the plot, and an Apache warrior Ulzana escapes from the reservation with a small band of his braves and heads off on a murder spree. Young, inexperienced army Lieutenant DeBuin (Bruce Davison) is sent with his troops to catch or kill the raiders. He is assisted by MacIntosh (Lancaster) and an Apache tracker (Jorge Luke) but as they come across the horrific results of Ulzana's raids on homesteaders the lines between morality and civilised behaviour become more blurred. There's some grisly scenes of tortured bodies and victims but the film is quite restrained in depicting violence. It's in the themes of depravity caused by hatred that the film excels. It's certainly an important film in the genre and, if you're a western fan, definitely one to seek out.

A great noir crime thriller with a western setting and one of director Oliver Stone's smaller and yet brilliant films. With similarities in style to his own Natural Born Killers (1994) and some hints of a Tarantino and a Lynchian influence this is a fantastic film, full of great characters, a topnotch cast and a plot that has some interesting twists and turns. Sean Penn is Bobby, who is driving across Arizona in his 1964 Mustang convertible en route to pay off a debt to a nasty gangster, a rendezvous his life depends on. Unfortunately his car breaks down and he is forced to seek repair in the small dusty town of Superior. But a sequence of misfortunes plague his efforts to get his car fixed and to be on his way. When he strikes up a 'friendship' with the beautiful Grace (Jennifer Lopez) his life takes an even worse turn as she wants him to kill her abusive husband (Nick Nolte) but things are never what they seem to be in Superior. The narrative takes on a nightmarish quality as Bobby is faced with a never ending run of bad luck. There is a uniqueness to the editing here and some wonderfully drawn characters who all seem to be extremes and include Billy Bob Thornton as the disgusting mechanic Darrell, Powers Boothe as the local Sheriff, Jon Voight as a blind Indian, Joaquin Pheonix and Claire Danes as a young crazy couple and if you watch carefully you'll spot Liv Tyler in a cameo. This is sharp filmmaking and Stone litters the film with little references and homages some of which delve into his conspiracy theory obsessions. But as a modern crime thriller this is a real treat and definitely a film to check out if you've never seen it.

This is one of those nostalgic British comedy farce films in the vein of the early Carry Ons with some saucy seaside postcard type humour. The story is essentially a crime caper set in a prison where three hapless criminals plan to escape for one night, steal a haul of diamonds and get back inside before morning giving themselves the perfect alibi. Their plan is thwarted by the arrival of a new chief prison officer who is a strict disciplinarian. If you love these old British comedies and are a fan of the TV series Porridge you'll enjoy this and will clearly see the influence of this film on that iconic comedy show. Peter Sellers (who was notoriously difficult on set) plays the leader of the criminals and Lionel Jeffries is the martinet officer, Grout. There's a host of stalwart British comedy actors including Wilfred Hyde White, Maurice Denham, Liz Fraser, Irene Handl, Beryl Reid and Bernard Cribbins and more. This is fun, occasionally a little silly, but if you grew up watching these great British films this will be a joy.

This is quite an accomplished directorial debut from Jonah Hill who also wrote the screenplay which is loosely autobiographical. It's a sort of coming-of-age social drama and clearly heavily influenced by This Is England (2006). Set in 1990s Los Angeles young Stevie lives with his single mother (Katherine Waterston) and his elder brother Ian (Lucas Hedges), who bullies him ruthlessly. Wandering the streets Stevie eventually latches onto a group of street kids who are every parents nightmare but they become Stevie's surrogate family and he finds life lessons and real affection with them. They all bond through skateboarding and whilst they get into some scrapes it soon becomes apparent that they are a force for good in Stevie's life. The film recreates the times with impeccable detail but it's in the interaction between the gang that the film reveals true heart. Don't be put off by the skateboarding aspect, this not a film that is concerned with that activity as a cultural phenomenon, it's just the catalyst to explore the benefit of friendship, loyalty and ultimately love. Worth checking out.

A basic vigilante/cop thriller, a genre piece that is really a load of twaddle but has some entertainment value. Influenced by far better films like Seven (1995) and Prisoners (2013) this has emotionally damaged cop Marshall (Henry Cavill) investigating the murder of a young girl and finds himself caught up in the case with a vigilante judge (Ben Kingsley), who with a young girl, goes around trapping paedophiles and castrating them. They soon nail a suspect who is a gibbering fool but suspected of having multiple personalities but there's a twist in the plot which isn't that exciting. The film follows a fairly normal story arc but unfortunately never really gets anywhere too inspiring even the presence of Stanley Tucci as the police chief fails to lift it, he's clearly slumming it in this. Back in the day this would have been a 'straight to video' film that no one remembers.

A by the numbers comedy drama based on a true story that has its heart warming and funny moments but is so predictable in its intentions and story that it soon becomes unrewarding. The trouble is it lacks the gravitas of theme that similar films have dished out in spades, such as Brassed Off (1996), The Full Monty (1997 from the same director Paul Cattaneo) and even Calendar Girls (2003). All of the characters are thinly sketched with only Kristin Scott Thomas' Kate being given anything remotely interesting and even her backstory isn't fully explored. She is the brittle wife of an army officer who having an emotional hole in her life (the aforementioned backstory fits in here) decides she should try and rally the other wives when their husbands (and one wife) are sent off to Afghanistan. This starts a thin theme of class struggle as Kate finds it difficult to bond with the enlisted soldiers partners mostly played out through the character of confident Lisa (Sharon Horgan). When someone has the idea to form a choir Kate thinks its all hymns and sheet music whereas Lisa, and of course everyone else, wants harmonised pop songs. This sets the narrative off, very quickly, to them being quite good at it. Sadly even the song that Lisa writes for them to perform and which becomes an object of tension with her and Kate is rather bland by the time we get to hear it. Loosely based on a BBC documentary it will surprise some that impresario Gareth Malone is entirely absent, not even mentioned in fact, especially as he is the creative genius behind the military wives choirs that sprung up around the country. This is a film that will fill a couple of hours, will make you chuckle at times and many will like that it goes exactly how you assume it will. Once over its forgettable.

This is a rather heavy going and at times laborious private eye noir set in New York in the 1950s. Clearly a passion piece for director and star Edward Norton who also adapted the novel on which it's based. Indeed Norton has moved the story from the 90s to the 50s precisely in order to make it a noir type film in the vein of The Big Sleep (1946) and The Maltese Falcon (1941). It has a colour palette that is all the greys and browns to recreate the time and setting and the plot is a mystery all very similar to the 'gumshoe' narratives of yesteryear although it's littered with genre clichés. Norton plays Lionel who works for a private detective agency run by Frank (Bruce Willis). Lionel has a photographic memory and is very good at his job but he has an affliction that can best be described as Tourettes although it's never identified in the film. When Frank is killed Lionel is determined to find out who is behind it which leads him into a conspiracy of corruption of city officials that involved a young black woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Norton is very good here especially in portraying his affliction which adds some humour to the film. But the plot becomes quite turgid after awhile and makes the film seem overly long and the final unravelling all seemed a bit of an anti climax. In here is a good film in many ways but it could have been so much better.

If you found 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) baffling then you'll find this sequel rather more entertaining mainly because it's a fairly straight forward genre piece with a good solid story and specifically adapted from it's source novel by director Peter Hyams. Roy Scheider plays Dr Heywood Floyd (a relatively minor character in the first film) who has been forced out of his job due to the failure of the 'Discovery' mission to Jupiter. But he is enticed back as part of the crew of a joint USA & USSR mission to find out what happened on the first mission. The result is a captivating sci-fi story with some great visual effects, a side plot involving international tensions back of Earth and elements of Kubrick's original surrealist plot. With Helen Mirren, in her first American film, and John Lithgow as co stars this is well worth checking out even if you didn't really get the first film. This one sort of helps explain the basics . But that aside this film often gets unfairly compared to Kubrick's classic but that's a mistake because this is a completely different style of film from a director who focused on the great novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Well worth seeking out if you have never seen it.

A strong and at times harrowing drama that deals with the grief, heartache and sheer pain following an unforeseen tragedy. Martha (Vanessa Kirby) and Sean (Shia LaBoeuf) are a happy couple expecting their first child. He is a rough and ready blue collar worker and she is from a posher background dominated by the family matriarch (Ellen Burstyn). But when an awful calamity strikes Sean and Martha struggle to put their lives back together and hairline cracks begin to emerge in their relationship. The film is definitely a vehement and powerful study and you can't help but admire many aspects of it especially the performances of Kirby and LaBeouf who are superb throughout. But the film does let itself down occasionally, an example being in a rather undercooked courtroom storyline which lacked the emotional punch needed. The first third of this film is authentic, agonising and extremely effective cinema and the remainder perfectly acted with some enigmatic aspects that you'll either like or find a bit strange. Overall this is a strong and confident film and well worth checking out especially to see Kirby in a fantastic performance.

A deliberately provocative film that still divides audiences to this day although often cited as one of the greatest films of all time. It is certainly a bold and ambitious film and probably the first serious science fiction film that attempted to delve into the origins of man and the meaning of intelligence. It deals with theories around evolution, development of technology and artificial intelligence and man's place in the Universe. It has one of there most famous cuts in film history as it jumps four million years from a prologue sequence that follows some early ape like humans as they are transformed by a strange alien object to a time of space travel. The middle section of the film is a fairly straight forward narrative starting on the moon and the discovery of an alien artefact that is sending a signal towards Jupiter to the mission to find out what's out there. A mission that goes awry. The epilogue of the film is a psychedelic exploration of the meaning of existence. There's little doubt that the film raises more questions than it answers and for those who just like straight forward stories this will baffle and annoy but it is a film that should certainly be seen at least once because it's definitely a landmark in cinema history from a genius director. For film fans this is a film that draws you back for repeated viewings just to allow you to check new theories and to puzzle it out.

The story of the ill fated 1912 expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott to reach the South Pole first. The film is a tale of heroism and has a touch of the Boys Own Adventure about it although it eventually becomes a harrowing depiction of survival in a harsh land. Antarctica is depicted as an alien landscape, harsh and unforgiving and whilst, being British made, it's a story to highlight British pluck it also strongly hints at Scott's folly and mistakes. John Mills is perfect casting as the courageous Scott and the film cleverly looks at Edwardian society for the first third of the film. Once the expedition gets fully underway the struggle with the unprecedented freak weather and the gradual decline of the team makes for a compulsive film experience. Ther cinematography in the Antarctic scenes is phenomenal and these allow you to forgive the obvious matte painting scenery in the English scenes. But for its time this is a gritty story, with a very early use of a profanity uttered by James Robertson Justice as Evans and it's a riveting film and a quite wonderful adventure story that as a seriously sad ending. This is an example of just how good British cinema was in its heyday.