Film Reviews by GI

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.

This is most definitely not up there with Woody Allen's best films and his sheer productivity is going to shove up some clunkers occasionally but this isn't that bad either. It's a gentle, occasionally witty romantic comedy, a little contrived, sometimes a bit flat and sometimes quite funny. Much of the good in it comes from Elle Fanning who gives her usual intelligent and fun performance as Ashleigh, a student who has been given an assignment to interview a film director for her college newspaper. The interview is to take place in Manhattan so her wealthy and fey fellow student boyfriend, Gatsby (Timothée Chalamet) plans to go along so they can have a weekend in New York together. But once there they end up separated and get into a series of encounters which affects their relationship. There's a good support cast including Liv Schreiber, Jude Law, Rebecca Hall and Selena Gomez but they fail to lift the film beyond a mildly amusing, reasonably pleasant comedy which is ok if that's what you want.

This is still one of the loveliest and funniest of romcoms and its clever avoidance of cliché makes it still a refreshing film to sit and watch even after you've seen it so many times. The beautiful autumnal scenes and views of New York are neatly balanced to be interpreted as romantic or symbolic of loneliness picking up on the emotions of the two central characters played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Being single and thirty-something is viewed here as being trapped in a wilderness where only true love can reveal the way out and the journey of the two and indeed to a lesser extent their two friends (Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher) shows the difficulty in recognising where your true happiness lies. Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) meet as two young people just leaving University when they share a ride to New York together. On the journey they disagree and annoy each other mainly over Harry's assertion that men and women can never be friends because sex always gets in the way. Years later they meet again and having both recently ended a relationship they become friends but resist the obvious love that each of them has for the other until one day.....! With a great script and of course a very famous and still uproariously funny scene in a restaurant this is a film that is heart warming, hilarious, and one to watch on a cold evening snuggled in front of the fire and if you've never seen it?...well you need to asap.

A taut, suspense thriller with the undertones of gothic horror and two remarkable central performances. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford play two ageing sisters, Jane and Blanche, who live together in a decaying Beverley Hills mansion. Jane was a child vaudeville star with their father who doted on her but she failed to make it as an adult movie actress. Whereas Blanche, ignored by her father, did become a much beloved film star but after an incident in their car was left paralysed from the waist down. Now Jane, out of a deep rooted jealousy, embittered, alcoholic and bordering on psychosis torments Blanche who is unable to leave her room. As Jane's madness becomes more extreme Blanche is desperate to get help but has no way of communicating with anyone outside the house. Filmed in black and white the film has the feel of a haunted house story and Davis' caked make up makes her a grotesque and frightening figure whilst there are elements of her performance that draw in sympathy, it is an outstanding performance. The story is a dig at the Hollywood lifestyle and the destruction that celebrity and fame can cause and in that sense there's a sort of irony in the casting of two of America's major female stars from the classic years of Hollywood. Crawford is equally good here, a former glamour actress she almost plays herself but shows the vulnerability of her character in her desperation to control her sister's more violent rages. This is a dark tale, wonderfully directed and controlled to build the tension. It's a masterpiece of 60s American cinema and definitely a film you should see.

This 70s science fiction film looks very dated today especially the scenes of futuristic technology but its still a remarkable idea and its influence can be found in many, often more famous, films that followed. The Terminator (1984) is an obvious one, as well as The Truman Show (1998). John Carpenter has admitted its influence in Halloween (1978) in the relentless character of Michael Myers for instance. What is interesting is Westworld's prediction that film as an entertainment will develop where the viewer becomes a participant (obviously computer gaming has almost achieved that). Set in the near future the film concerns a holiday resort called Delos which offers three amusement parks for adults where they can interact with realistic robots to recreate the 'worlds' on offer, namely Roman World, Medieval World and Westworld. The latter places the holidaymakers in a western town that represents a fairy tale/Hollwood image of the American West. The robots act as all the characters and can be shot, punched and even made love to. Two businessman John (James Brolin) and Peter (Richard Benjamin) spend a fortune on two weeks in Westworld and soon enjoy the fun of being in gunfights, bar brawls, and generally living like a cowboy in the 1880s but then the robots begin to malfunction and start to murder the guests. Peter finds he is stalked by a gunslinger robot (Yul Brynner - homaging his own character from The Magnificent Seven) and has to use his wits to defeat the advanced brain of the machine. Novelist Michael Crichton wrote and directed this and his inexperience as a director is very evident as the film is often scrappily put together (he later developed the idea of a futuristic park in his novel Jurassic Park) but it has a unique vision and has some humour and great set pieces not least the slow motion gunfights. Whether you're a fan of the recent TV series of the same name or not this film is worth checking out, it's not as deep, cerebral or as philosophical as the series but a fairly straight forward action sci-fi masquerading as a standard western and it does entertain.

This is a quite unusual film in the Ealing Studio canon, renowned more for their comedies this is a wartime drama made at darkest time of the war and, whilst probably intended as a morale boosting film it is rather an unsentimental story. It's also the only film made during the war years that deals with the, then, serious fear of German invasion. It's also a prescient masterpiece and one of the finest British films of the 1940s. In the small picturesque village of Bramley End a company of soldiers arrives seeking billets from the accommodating villagers. But they are German parachutists in disguise preparing the area for the German invasion that is soon to begin. The plucky villagers soon smell a rat and prove to be a force to be reckoned with. This results in a gritty battle and shows the worth of the Home Guard who eventually arrive to save the day. It's a tense story especially as there's a traitor in the midst of the village and the Germans prove to be quite ruthless. In many ways there's the expected stereotyping of the characters, the Germans are all cruel and the villagers include the vicar who refuses to obey the invaders, the local constable, the courageous sailor on leave etc etc but it's the exciting story that marks the film as an exciting drama. Jack Higgins later used it as the basis for his novel, The Eagle Has Landed. A film about betrayal, disillusionment and courage. In many ways it's an odd war film but its clever and exudes a sort of factual look and feel marking it as a landmark British film.

A strange title for this very cold, dark (literally) and quite bleak thriller, I counted quite a few shots so I'm not sure what the meaning is meant to be. Sam Rockwell is a backwoodsman/poacher, down on his luck and pining for his wife (Kelly Reilly - sadly v underused here) and child who've left him. One morning while out poaching for deer he accidentally shoots a young woman and finding her campsite he discovers a horde of cash and greed overtakes guilt. You can guess what happens, and you'd be right. The bad guy is played by Jason Isaacs (again underused) and there's some equally good support from Jeffrey Wright and William H. Macy. But the film drags and goes round and round not keeping the narrative tight and interesting and the climax, when it comes, is a damp squib. Considering the talent this is a disappointing film, it looks drab and it feels it too.

A bittersweet drama that tells the true story of Laurel & Hardy's last performances together in a tour of the UK in 1953. It's beautifully played with flawless performances from Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy. The film starts when they are at the height of their fame in the 1930s but in dispute with movie producer Hal Roach (Danny Huston) over money. Stan leaves for another studio expecting Ollie to follow. Then sixteen years later, now showing their age, with loss of popularity and Hardy in poor health they stage a comeback tour in Great Britain. It goes poorly at first but soon their old spark returns and the theatres fill up. Stan is trying to get a new film deal going which is proving difficult. Ultimately this is a story of friendship and the bond between two men who have old wounds never healed between them and these come to the fore as the tour takes its toll. The film manages to convey the tensions and deep affection the men have for one another even whilst their respective wives (played with aplomb by Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda) have a brittle relationship with each other. There's humour in the clever reconstruction of the duo's famous sketches which Coogan and Reilly carry off to perfection. There's an inherent sadness throughout this story and it is a moving film that is a joy throughout so I highly recommend it.

This is a fantastic adventure war film, a story of derring do with the tension and atmosphere that submarine films have to have and it culminates in a neat land based battle. John Mills plays the commander of a British submarine sent out on a mission to hunt a German battleship. They eventually become the hunted as German destroyers try and sink them and by the time we get to that there's been the introduction to the lives, loves and friendships of the crew members so that the audience is caught up in their desperate attempt at escape and survival. They have to come up with a daring plan to get home leading to a clever final section of the film that's as good as any war film of any age. What is especially entertaining about this film is it seems to be less about flag waving and more focused on being a good war story and like all these films made during and immediately after the war there's the marvellous nostalgic images of England in the 40s. This is an exciting and superb war film, one of the great submarine combat films and well worth seeking out.

A routine whodunnit procedural, a British film, bizarrely set in Pennsylvania, and with plot implausibilities that will make your jaw drop. Excellent Irish actor Andrew Scott is garbage man, Donnie, who exhibits some form of autism, in a small US town when a young boy is found drowned. When the boy's mother tells Donnie that the death wasn't an accident he embarks on an obsessive investigation despite threats from the local police chief to desist. The entire plot is fairly straightforward and offers no real surprises except in some of the sudden things that Donnie does as part of his investigation and they are as surprising and extreme as you can imagine. But for the film they just mark it as rather preposterous, only Scott's dedicated performance makes the film watchable.

This spin-off film based on the Saturday Night Live characters created by Mike Myers remains superbly funny even if you realise it's very silly and occasionally a little childish. The TV format of small 10 to 15 minute sketches worked brilliantly, stretching into a full length feature has resulted in moments of uproariously funny comedy in between sections that can be a bit tedious and especially Myers performance as Wayne. But as a showcase for Myers brand of comedy this is a film that will have you laughing out loud. Wayne and his best friend Garth (a superb comedy creation from Dana Carvey), are rock music fans who run their own public broadcast TV show from the basement of Wayne's parents house. Its popularity leads to a seedy TV producer (Rob Lowe) to con them out of the rights to the show and exploit them and steal Wayne's new girlfriend. It's all anarchic, daft and didn't quite live up to the hype but still worth a trip down memory lane if you remember it fondly.

This is an offbeat semi-comedy social drama set in a roadside restaurant that offers scantily clad girls as waitresses serving the slightly dodgy male clientele but trying to maintain a naughty but safe vibe. The manager is Lisa (Regina Hall) who sees the girls as her pseudo-family whom she fiercely protects even though the owner causes her many problems. The drama of the film follows events there over one day and whilst the performances, especially Hall, are all sound this is a somewhat bland film that failed to raise much enthusiasm. There's a drift into some personal problems that Lisa has but I was left unsure of what the film is trying to reveal.

What has all the initial trademarks of clichéd thriller actually turns out to be more entertaining and interesting. The set up is on the face of it very familiar, young couple go to a remote weekend retreat where they inadvertently become the target for some nasty bad guys and have to defend themselves against the odds. But as this film moves neatly and steadily forwards it takes an interesting direction or two making for a far better film than at first thought. Paula Patton is journalist Brea who is taken to a mountain retreat by her boyfriend, John (Omar Epps) for a romantic weekend where he intends to propose. But a chance encounter with a disturbed woman in a service station restroom leads to a confrontation with a ruthless sex trafficking gang led by Luke Goss. Soon the couple are fighting for their lives. It's in the twists of the plot and the attempt to highlight the scandal of sex trafficking that the film works remarkably well. It's never overly pretentious and the story keeps you entertained throughout. Well worth checking out.

This lurid melodrama from David Lynch is a mixture of nightmarish road movie, romance and thriller with his trademark analysis of America that is both surreal, repulsive and in its details very realistic. Obsessed with the world of the nightmare Lynch even uses the iconography of The Wizard of Oz (1939), arguably the most famous narrative built on a dream, to showcase his array of grotesque characters. Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play Sailor and Lula, young lovers obsessed with each other. Sailor has a criminal past and Lula, raped as a child, is under the obsessive and psychotic protection of her mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd - Dern's actual mother). When they run off together Marietta hires a private investigator to track them down but impatient for results she also brings in a gangster, who is in love with her, to find them and kill Sailor. The warped love story here is littered with shocking violence, graphic sex and bizarre side episodes that may be baffling if you're not experienced with Lynch films. All the characters have an almost unreal theatricality to them that highlights America as a circus of freaks from Willem Dafoe's quite scary and repulsive Bobby Peru to Isabella Rossellini's Perdita with her very weird eyebrows! A film that will stay in the memory I guarantee and it marks Lynch as a filmmaker to be ranked highly, he's original and unique so his films are always worth checking out. Here too you get Cage before he'd decided to make endless throw aways and Dern's performance will shock especially if you're only familiar with her from the likes of Jurassic Park (1993).

A mostly feel good French comedy about a gay water polo team. The story follows dedicated swimmer and Olympic hopeful Matthias (Nicolas Gob) who unwisely makes a homophobic comment whilst being interviewed on TV and under threat of being dropped from the national swimming team agrees to coach the Shiny Shrimps, a gay water polo team heading to Croatia for the Gay Games. It's full of clichéd jokes although many are very funny with the obvious clash between the heterosexual Matthias and the mostly overly gay team, most of who act completely infantile the whole time. A well meaning film that is a little too stereotypical and with a fairly predictable story arc but entertaining enough.