Film Reviews by GI

This post apocalyptic science fiction tale is very watchable and quite moving. It's a film of two storylines and admittedly they don't make for a natural fit but director and star George Clooney has managed to pull it off and produce a tense and emotional film. It's set 30 years in the future and an unnamed cataclysmic event has left the Earth losing its breathable air. Clooney is an ageing and ill astronomer, Lofthouse, who has remained alone at an Arctic station when the rest of the crew headed off to try and find safety elsewhere. With time running out he is attempting to contact a spacecraft he knows is on its way home from exploring one of the moons of Jupiter. The crew of the spacecraft led by Adewole (David Oyelowo) and his four crew including his partner Sully (Felicity Jones) are unaware of what has happened on Earth. Lofthouse has further problems when he discovers a little girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall) has been left behind with him. They have to make the perilous journey to another station to use the communications equipment to speak to the space crew who have their own problems. In essence the film is a survivalist narrative for the Arctic scenes and a relatively standard sci-fi story for the space one. Indeed the spacecraft story has all been done before and occasionally the film dwells a little too long with them when the more interesting events are with the man and little girl on Earth. Despite this though it is an enjoyable and well made film and it has an emotional twist that I didn't see coming. This is definitely worth checking out.

Powerful and compelling this drama is film everyone should see. It's certainly a masterpiece of tension with themes about bias, racism and the psychological effects of persuasion and conflict resolution. Even though the entire film (bar small introductory and concluding scenes) is set in one room it draws you in and becomes a film you can't turn away from. On a stifling hot summer afternoon twelve men acting as jurors in a trial of a young under privileged man accused of murdering his abusive father retire to the jury room to decide the boy's fate having been told that a guilty verdict will result in the death penalty. From the start eleven of the men are convinced the boy is guilty but one man has doubts. The resulting deliberations bring forth personal prejudices, hatreds and attitudes that sharply highlight the views of white privileged America. The issues of justice and the rights to a fair trial are openly there to see but underneath the film gets into the heart of social injustice and the effects on behaviour even when it may cost someone their life. This is a riveting film, one of the finest examples of serious drama in the classical Hollywood period and despite its age all the themes resonate today and, indeed in other countries not least the UK. This is essential viewing, a film to really savour for the direction, use of camera and the wonderful performances led by Henry Fonda and aided by Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and all those who play the jurors. Simply a fantastic and thoroughly rewarding film.

A huge spectacular post apocalyptic fantasy film that is best described as a steampunk Star Wars with more than a little influence of Mad Max, a little bit of the Terminator and Terry Gilliam. Produced and written by Peter Jackson with his partnership team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens this is all style over substance and ultimately it ends in a predictably battle fuelled climax. The film starts a thousand years after an apocalyptic war where the earth was decimated and the land mass altered. Now humanity lives in roaming mechanised towns and cities that prey on one another. The most fearsome is 'London' a huge machine that engulfs smaller 'towns' and steals their fuel and energy. A young woman, Hester (Hera Hilmer) has survived in the wilderness but attempts to kill the leader of London, Thaddeus (Hugo Weaving) but failing she joins up with Tom (Robert Sheehan), a young expert on old world technology in order to stop Thaddeus from building the weapons that nearly destroyed the world centuries before. This cues masses of CGI and an interesting vision of the future but it all feels a little derivative and tiresome and the whole idea needed some explanation in the story (like how did these massive moving engines get built?). The performances are ok and as a teenage action adventure I'm sure it does the job but the obvious Star Wars storylines make it one big homage.....or steal.

This is exactly what you expect from a Terry Gilliam film although considering the troubled history of getting it made it ultimately feels a little underwhelming. But it has a charm, an originality and a delightful innocence to it that makes it quite watchable and at times hilariously funny. Adam Driver, on top form here, is Toby, a cynical and stressed film director who is in Spain making an ad. As he is close to the location of his first student film that he made years ago about Don Quixote he decides to look up the locals he cast from a small village. He soon discovers that his little film has left a lasting and not too good an impression especially with Javier (Jonathan Pryce), a humble cobbler who now believes himself to be Don Quixote and is looked after by the villagers. When Toby visits him Javier takes him to be Sancha Panza, his faithful servant, and a series of mishaps cast the two of them onto a surrealist fantasy adventure that has Toby believing he is going crazy. This is a comedy that is about lost love, regrets and trying to be something. It lacks the dark edge of Gilliam's better films but it is quite a fun film and worth a watch.

This is one of a series of British war films made during the Second World War and designed to show the viewing public a morale boosting view of military life although this one takes things a bit further and follows a melodrama style story. It's set on an RAF bomber base in southern England beginning in 1940 and initially follows the trials and tribulations of a small group of RAF Blenheim bomber crews as they face life and loss. Led by Michael Redgrave as the caring commander and involving the, at first novice but later battle fatigued, Flying Officer Penrose played by John Mills. This is not a film that follows the characters into combat but relies on the effects of their roles on those left behind principally friends and lovers who congregate in a small country hotel near to the base. Eventually the base is passed over to American crews and the same story lines continue and in one the film is actually quite risqué for its time in suggesting an adulterous relationship between an American pilot (Douglass Montgomery) and the hotel owner (Rosamund John), whose husband was killed on an operation. Like all these films made in the UK during this time there's a delightful sense of the times and the film oozes with nostalgia. The cast includes early roles for Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons as well as some very regular British actors of the day. A film to seek out if you have a fondness for these war dramas from the 1940s/50s, it certainly is an interesting film and a delight to watch the various aircraft scenes.

A first rate crime film, violent and action packed with western influences. This has a great plot, some neat twists and turns and led by two great characters played by Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro. They play two drifters who see an opportunity, after overhearing a conversation, to kidnap a young pregnant woman (Juliette Lewis) acting as a surrogate for a rich couple and hold her to ransom. What they quickly find out is that the baby's father-to-be is a top crime boss and soon has a host of mercenaries on their tail. James Caan is in a support role and two menacingly cold mercenaries are wonderfully played by Taye Diggs and Nicky Katt. This has some unique chase sequences and action set pieces and the film ends in a deserted Mexican brothel in a climactic battle that has obviously been influenced to some extent by The Wild Bunch (1969). This has some unflinchingly tough scenes but it is at all times exciting and well executed with a sharp script, editing and confidently directed by Christopher McQuarrie in his first film. Good, solid adult crime thriller that is well worth seeking out if you've not seen it.

This is a good solid western enhanced by the presence of Tom Hanks as former Confederate Captain Kidd who now tours the Texas towns of 1870 reading the news to the illiterate populace. These are dangerous times and Kidd, being a former Confederate has to be wary of the Army still suppressing any rebels. One day he chances upon a young white girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel) abandoned after the Indians who captured her have themselves been massacred and finds he has to take her on the long trek to her German immigrant relations. This is essentially a journey film with dangers along the way, not least from some vicious men who want the girl for themselves, and there's some of director Paul Greengrass' visceral action although overall the film is a restrained affair concentrating instead on the relationship between the curmudgeonly Kidd and the frightened girl. There's been a few westerns that focus on the issue of white captives, either the rescue of them or their reintegration into white society with all the prejudice that accompanied that but this story deals with neither issue and is more about a lonely man and an abandoned child bonding. To that extent this is watchable, entertaining but a little bland. Worth seeing for Hanks inevitably sound performance and Zengel's excellent one as the girl who has been orphaned effectively twice.

A British war film made during the Second World War to attempt to highlight the prestige of the conscripted army and consequently it's a flag waver but like many films similar to this it's actually a gloriously exciting, gritty and quite nostalgic war drama and vision of British life during the war years. David Niven, who gave up his Hollywood career to rejoin the Army when the war began was a Major when the film was made (it is said that Winston Churchill asked Niven make a film about the army) and used his film connections to make this, at first a recruitment film, but later turned into this feature film. Written by Peter Ustinov (who has a small role in it too) and Eric Ambler and directed by Carol Reed it follows a small group of men who are called up in 1941 and all hate the idea of being in the army. They go through their basic training under the tutelage of very tough Sergeant Fletcher (William Hartnell, who often played NCOs), who they grow to hate and their officer played by Niven. The training is of course nothing compared to combat in North Africa in which they inevitably find themselves via a series of adventures along the way. This is less a combat film, although the last scenes are quite realistic battle scenes, and more a story of good ol' British pluck. Yes of course its propaganda but it painted a picture the Government of the day wanted to ensure the morale of the country was maintained after four years of war had begun to erode it. There's a host of familiar British actors supporting including Stanley Holloway, James Donald and John Laurie (later to become Private Fraser in the TV series Dad's Army). A marvellous golden oldie of a film and one definitely worth seeking out if you love these old British war films, they certainly deserve a modern audience.

Over the years this big budget post apocalyptic film has gained a reputation of being a bad film. It's true it failed to find an audience on initial release and stories of arguments between star Kevin Costner, then at the height of his fame, and director Kevin Reynolds didn't help. Costner had invested heavily and cut the film substantially to try and recuperate potential losses against Reynolds wishes. All that aside this is actually not a bad film by any stretch and in it's restored longer cut - known as the Ulysses version - it is a very entertaining adventure film, best described as a sort of Mad Max at sea. It certainly has some impressive set piece action sequences and the story is quite clever and interesting even though you can dig holes in it easily. Set hundreds of years in the future after the polar ice caps have melted and the Earth is totally covered in water. Humanity has survived albeit just a few isolated floating bases and loners who roam the seas in various ramshackle craft. One of these is a man (Costner) who by circumstance finds he has to look after a woman, Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a young girl, Enola (Tina Majorino) who draws pictures of strange, long extinct animals. The 'pirates' of the seas are the Smokers led by psychopath Deacon (Dennis Hopper - always good as a zany baddie) who is hunting the girl as it's believed she has a map that reveals the last location of dry land, something the man believes doesn't exist. The film ripples along at a great pace, there's loads of gritty chases, fights and even some sea creatures to contend with. Some of the images of this desolate world and glimpses of the old one are impressive and if you like a good solid action adventure story then this does the trick. I strongly recommend the extended cut especially if you've only previously seen the somewhat limited theatrical version.

This film is a mini masterpiece of tension and story construction. It's a fictionalised reconstruction of a real event, a massacre in a Canadian Engineering college in 1989 when a student rampaged through the school targeting the women staff and students. Shot in a dreamy yet bleak black and white adds to the suspense giving the film a realistic feel that makes it a truly gripping experience. Director Denis Villeneuve's third film before he began to make a big name for himself in Hollywood and here you can see an inspired film maker beginning to blossom. This is a very accomplished film, wonderfully edited, and with occasional yet curious jump cuts that work very effectively. The film is told through the eyes of three main characters. In the mid winter a disaffected young student (Maxim Gaudette), never named, takes a high powered rifle and with a grudge against women for stealing what he sees as the rightful places for men, begins to shoot, at first with careful precision, but later randomly students at a Montreal Polytechnic college. Karine Vanasse plays Valérie, a student with ambition to be a mechanical engineer but faced with the social misogyny that such careers are the preserve of men who is in class when the killer arrives and has to deal with the attack and the aftermath. A male student, Jean-Françoise (Sébastien Huberdeau), and friend of Valérie tries to help the wounded but also faces emotional problems once the event is over. This film has some quite shocking moments so be prepared it's a powerful and emotional experience without needing to resort to gratuitous violence and this is down to Villeneuve's skill at story construction and visuals. An amazing film and one I highly recommend. It will impress you and leave an indelible mark.

The Superhero film genre has become arguably one of the most popular cinematic film genres in the last fifty years and it continues to grow. So it was inevitable that films that seek to subvert the genre and the narrative tropes would come along eventually. Most that have looked into the genre as a social phenomena have often opted for comedy as a way of understanding the appeal but Watchmen, based on a popular graphic novel, attempts to look at superheroes as flawed, as essentially people with power and how it corrupts or emotionally damages them. Set in an alternate 1980s where superheroes emerged in the 1940s and who then spawned a new generation that take on the American Dream and open it up for scrutiny. Here the heroes, known as The Watchmen, have inevitably become political and corrupted. Assisting Richard Nixon to stay in power, ensuring that America wins the Vietnam war (indeed making Vietnam a new state of the USA) until eventually the public begin to turn against them so some opt for obscurity and retire to private life, and some publicly become good Samaritans, the most powerful, Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup), helping the USA to build a new energy system. With a nuclear war brewing between the US and USSR, one of the most violent of the Watchmen is murdered which brings others out of retirement to find out who's behind it. The superheroes here are all unique creations although they are based around the DC comic book heroes, Dr Manhattan is the Superman of this world for instance, but they are viewed here as violent, morally flawed, emotionally as conflicted as normal people and shown enjoying fighting and killing and having sex. There's a convoluted plot on offer here that is quite involved and there's plenty of very gutsy violence on offer which does make the film very exciting. Overall this is a very clever look at the genre and cult of superheroes and although the film is epic in length and quite complex at times, it is a bold, entertaining and stimulating film. Repeated viewings reveal lots of details that are not immediately obvious the first time of watching

A terrific cult action film, a fantasy story with a Greek mythology based storyline. In director Walter Hill's 'ultimate edition' it's a comic book styled story that is great fun and very stylish. Set in New York the leader of the biggest street gang tries to organise all the rival gangs to control the city but at a gathering to arrange this he is murdered. A gang from Coney Island, The Warriors, are mistakenly blamed and the word goes out the eight members at the meeting are to be caught or killed. They have to fight their way back home. This cues one big chase movie with violent action set pieces as they encounter various gangs along their journey. The different gangs all have an individual identity and many dress in bizarre uniforms such as the Baseball Furies, who paint their faces and arm themselves with baseball bats. It's all a bit daft but works really well, mainly due to the great use of iconic camerawork to capture the night time rain soaked streets reflecting the lights of the city. The fights are great and Hill employs an effective use of slow motion at key moments. This is one of those films that has a huge fanbase because it's creates an exciting mystical image of gang life, no-one is attempting to make a realistic documentary-drama here this is an adult fairy tale, a story of young men who live by a code and it is, in short, absolutely fabulous.

Despite its many flaws this science fiction film, adapted with a high degree of accuracy from the famous novel by H.G. Wells, is actually very entertaining and does have some of director Steven Spielberg's innovative flashes of genius. The main problem is actually in the writing. Moving the setting from Edwardian England to modern day USA is a clever move and works well but the narrative never seems to make up its mind what it wants to focus on so there is a mix and match of themes and story lines going on that don't always work well. Wells is probably responsible for the idea in fiction that any visiting aliens will be malevolent and alien invasion stories are nothing new in cinema and TV, indeed this story has been adapted for both before. Spielberg sets the action through the eyes of one dysfunctional family trying to survive and principally the experience of Rachel (Dakota Fanning), the young daughter of Ray (Tom Cruise). Unfortunately the narrative doesn't stick to this and the film veers about somewhat. But there are some great scenes too not least the first reveal of the alien 'tripods' (based very much on the original novels description), the sinking of the Hudson River ferry and also the multiple bodies seen floating down the river and a speeding train totally afire hurtling through a town. These are all impressive. On the downbeat is a rather weird relationship crisis between Cruise' unconventional father and his teenage son (Justin Chatwin) which reaches a peak at the most ridiculous time and it's a story arc that detracts from the film's essential motives. In short, a massive lightening storm heralds the arrival of alien invaders who, in giant machines, hunt, kill and feed on humans. Ray and his two children, who he is looking after for a weekend hit the road to try and escape with a plan to get to the children's mother, from whom Ray is divorced. Like similar films the main drama comes from the actions of other survivors rather than the aliens but this film has an interesting take on the book and where some scenes appear implausible they are actually lifted from the novel. Perhaps trying to be too respectful to the novel has flawed the film a little too much. I get the impression that budget restraint may have restricted some of the set pieces being fully realised and as a result they lack the suspense necessary to work well. But if you like a well made science fiction film this remains very watchable.

Walkabout is an important modern film, a poetic, almost dreamy survival film that looks at the role of nature and of man's loss of connection with it. There's a beauty in the cinematography of the Australian outback and the dilapidation and corruption of the modern world. A teenage girl (Jenny Agutter - in her first film) and her younger brother (Lucien John) are taken on a picnic into the outback by their geologist father. He abandons them there and they are left wandering, lost and without food and water. Nearly dying they are found by a young Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) who is on his ritual 'walkabout', a separation from his tribe in preparation for adulthood. They tag along with him and find the world around them has more to offer than just death. There's a magical element to this story and there's a theme of sexual awakening in the girl and her saviour, but the clash of culture leads to tragedy. British director, Nicolas Roeg, here making his first solo directorial film, adds that unique style he often displayed that subverts the images so you aren't sure what is real and what maybe imagined. But this isn't a confusing film, far from it, this is a impressive story of modern day survival, against the odds, and a rediscovery of our place in the world. Highly recommended if you've never seen it.

Archive is a science fiction film that owes a fair bit to Blade Runner (1982), has similarity in theme and vision to Ex Machina (2014) and has a neat visual homage to Metropolis (1927). It's an entertaining film and has a very unexpected twist that I didn't see coming. The story links two separate future technologies into a paranoid thriller plot that works quite well. Theo James plays George, a genius robotics and AI scientist, who is installed in a remote laboratory deep inside a Japanese forest. Loads of things keep going wrong with the building so he's often distracted by having to conduct repairs. His work is the development of android robotics and he is assisted by his first two prototypes while he builds a much more advanced third. But George is also grieving for his wife recently killed in a car accident and at the laboratory he has an 'Archive' box in which the consciousness of his wife is retained for a limited time. This is a technology run by a sinister corporation who routinely arrive to inspect the box. What they and his own boss don't realise is George is planning to break all the rules by transferring his wife's consciousness into the new android he's developing. Even the new android is against the idea! The support cast of Stacy Martin as the wife and Toby Jones as the Archive boss assist in lifting the film even further. This is an enjoyable look at issues of what is real, and 'I think therefore I am' philosophy wrapped up in a good, solid film that works on several levels. Well worth checking out.