Film Reviews by GI

One of the definitive American films of the 70s with a mesmerising lead performance by Robert De Niro. He plays Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle. Suffering from PTSD, he has insomnia and takes a job driving a New York taxi on the night shift where he witnesses the degradation and sleaze of the city night life. Pent up, bigoted and steadily slipping into psychosis Travis attempts to find normality in his life but socially inept and uneducated he cannot relate to others. He tries and almost succeeds in a relationship with the beautiful Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign worker for a local politician. But when this collapses Travis decides a different path which involves trying to 'rescue' 12 year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) from the clutches of her pimp (Harvey Keitel). Travis decides his only route to salvation is through the catharsis of violence. Taxi Driver is a key film in the 70s 'cinema of loneliness' that incorporated works from eminent directors such as Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick and Robert Altman. It's a study of the toxic and destructive American masculinity in the post Vietnam War era and a very powerful one at that. With a score by the legendary Bernard Herrmann that is both ominous and reminiscent of 40s and 50s Hollywood and some key moments from the opening slow motion scene of the taxi emerging from the city smog to De Niro's improvised "you looking at me" soliloquy, this is an important film that every film fan needs to see and see again. A study of the perverted product of American society that leads to unprecedented gun violence. It's a masterpiece of modern cinema.

A compelling, outwardly disturbing true story set in Brazil in the early 1970s when a military dictatorship took over the country. The drama recounts the emotional plight of the Paiva family centred around the mother, Eunice (Fernanda Torres, in a dominating and focused performance). With her husband, Rubens (Selton Mello), they have five children and live in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Rubens is planning the building of a new house for them all and was previously a left wing politician. One morning agents of the regime ask him to go with them to make a 'deposition' and he is never seen again. Eunice, herself is arrested and tortured, but eventually released she focuses on protecting her family, remaining stoic and protective while she tries to find out what has happened to her husband who the authorities deny they have arrested. This is a story of courage, intelligently told and centred on a mother's protective instincts in the face or real terror, especially as the family are kept under constant surveillance. The performances are excellent, with Torres superb and the children are all flawlessly played. I did feel however that the film shields itself and the audience from the full extent of the horrors of the regime especially in the narrative decision to focus on Eunice's aim to retain normality at home including her resolve to never cry in front of the children. This focus on Eunice doesn't allow the film to really display the effects of the countless miseries the regime inflicted. We get a glimpse occasionally as the children, especially the eldest, tries to probe her mother for answers. But this is a minor criticism in many ways because this is a first rate drama deserving of the accolades it has received.

Sequel? Reboot? It matters not this is a Scream/Scooby Doo (without Scooby) slasher type mystery horror that is cheesy, full of clichés and offers absolutely nothing new to this somewhat tired genre. Five spoilt twenty somethings cause a road crash where a man dies and decide to keep it quiet that it's their fault. A year later a mysterious killer with a meat hook begins offing them and their friends one by one. Plot holes galore, in fact a plot that is daft and makes little sense but has apparent references to the 1997 original film and some characters return here including the one played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, oh and Sarah Michelle Gellar gets a cameo in a dream sequence. There's a couple of gory deaths but for the most part this follows standard tropes for this type of narrative. It seems to me this has been rushed out following the success of the Scream reboots and it's more of the same. Dull and pointless.

A flimsy, poorly scripted dark adult fantasy set in some kind of post apocalyptic future world where human survivors live in a hellhole city with a Queen but controlled by a religious cult. Based on a George R.R. Martin story it's about a witch played unconvincingly by the director's wife, Milla Jovovich, who heads off into the CGI wasteland to steal some power from a werewolf, all the time chased by the religious nutcases trying to stop her. She has the help of a gunfighter (David Bautista) who appears to be the lover every female character yearns for in this world! There's a train, lots of shooting and grimacing. It really is a load of tripe, with little tension, no real sense of action and a daft ending, that definitely looks like they hope to make a sequel!! It's a nonsense film and hardly worth anyone's time.

A typical big budget mid 60s action adventure, made when Hollywood was worried about the increasing rise of TV and the fall in cinema box office receipts. It remains entertaining and fun today with a big cast and a stirring story of derring do, Cold War espionage and survival. Rock Hudson is the main star as a the captain of a US nuclear submarine sent on a hurried mission to the Arctic to save the crew of a US weather station after there's been a fire. But he soon realises there's more going on when he has to take along a British Intelligence Agent (Patrick McGoohan) and a Soviet defector (Ernest Borgnine). It all surrounds a typical movie 'maguffin' and director John Sturges, by this time a master of the epic big production, thrills us with taut scenes of the submarine navigating dangerously below the arctic ice and whilst the studio bound sets are a little false by today's standards this is a great film for a Saturday afternoon.

Tarzan films have been churned out since the days of silent cinema and into the 70s and included the wonderful 1960s TV series starring Ron Ely. A shame that attempts to reintroduce this heroic screen character in recent times have failed possibly by trying to take the stories too seriously (2016s The Legend Of Tarzan was a mediocre affair). Producer Sy Weintraub resurrected the films in the late 50s with Gordon Scott as Tarzan in six wonderful adventure films of which this is probably the best. It certainly has an astounding cast including veteran actor Anthony Quayle and a pre 007 Sean Connery. Admittedly they may appear a little B movie cheap today in the use of stock animal footage, studio sets, back projection and some shoddy continuity but they are great fun and solid family entertainment - I certainly loved them as a young boy. This beautifully coloured film has some quite gruesome deaths including quicksand and nasty spiked traps and of course the stock fight with a rubber crocodile but who cares these were simple yet thoroughly exciting films. In this one four men led by the psychopathic Slade (Quayle) commit murder to steal boxes of explosives and head up river to a lost diamond mine. Tarzan begins to hunt them hindered by having to rescue a damsel in distress along the way. There's everything you want in a Tarzan film with none of the 'Me Tarzan, You Jane' nonsense. This is a quite gripping yarn made by a veteran director. Fantastic fun.

One of the great crime thrillers of the 70s, a real classic of the genre. When a New York subway train is hijacked by four men armed with sub machine guns police Lieutenant Garber (Walter Matthau) begins the negotiations with the hijackers. These are led by a man using the codename Mr Blue (Robert Shaw) who demands $1million dollars or he'll begin killing the hostages and he soon proves he's not bluffing! The Mayor agrees to pay as he wrestles with his falling popularity but Garber wrestles with how the men are planning to get away and how to catch them. This has a tense plot that never lets up and whilst it's a film of its time it remains a first rate thriller. There's a casual racism and sexism throughout the film that may jar a modern audience somewhat and the portrayal of the police, subway controllers and politicians as all highly stressed and forever angry is, at times, a bit strange but it creates a realistic portrayal of a city under strain - the Mayor is more concerned with votes and bases all his decisions on that! This is a favourite of Quentin Tarantino who copied the colour codenames of the bad guys when he made Reservoir Dogs (1992). There was a couple of pointless remakes the most notable in 2009 with Denzil Washington and John Travolta but it has nothing on this original. This is gripping, exciting and full of suspense and worth seeking out if you've never seen it.

A load of daft tosh from start to finish with writer and director Robert Rodriguez mixing The Matrix (1999), Inception (2010), Memento (2000), The Truman Show (1998) and even possibly Trancers (1984) into some big pot, boiling it up and out came Hypnotic. Ben Affleck plays Danny, an apparently grieving cop whose daughter was abducted awhile back. He's on the edge, you know the sort of cop I'm talking about. Anyway during a bank holdup Danny chases a mysterious man (William Fichtner) who seems to be able to control people. Danny discovers the man was after a photograph of his daughter from a safety deposit box. Yes it's all implausible and weird but basically nothing is as it seems as really there's a strange agency that looks after people with special powers and everyone is looking for the cop's daughter including Alice Braga playing street hustling spiritualist....or is she?? It matters not as this is just a preposterous film that has the odd moment but is really a lot of scene chewing nonsense and once seen can be instantly forgotten.

A hefty and very enjoyable final instalment of the great TV series in what could be classed as an extended episode but given a cinematic film look and class. Admittedly you have to be familiar with the storylines from the six TV series to understand the convoluted plot at play here and if you are then this will not disappoint. There is a great story about Nazis and counterfeit currency but at its heart this is a climatic story of the turmoil that's Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy). The setting is 1940 with Britain almost on its knees from the German blitz. The Peaky Blinders gang are still operating in Birmingham and with impunity and led by the wild and violent Duke Shelby (Barry Keoghan) who even has the Chief Constable in his pocket. He steals armaments meant for the military from the bombed factories and shrugs off the contempt shown by the locals. Meanwhile his father, Tommy, lives isolated in his run down mansion haunted by remorse and grief and writes his memoirs. He is lured back to the fray by the sister of Duke's gypsy mother who warns Tommy of his son's wayward ways and the need to reign him in especially as he's about to embark on a conspiracy with Tim Roth's nasty Nazi. Rebecca Ferguson is the sister of his erstwhile lover who seduces Tommy and warns him to get back in charge. There's plenty of set piece action and gunplay, and Murphy is brilliant here as the conflicted Tommy who is a mix of ruthless gangster, guilt ridden father and Svengali like leader. The Romany family link allows an aspect of spiritual even supernatural aspects to the narrative led by Ferguson's beautiful yet devious Gypsy Witch character. Stephen Graham assists as a Liverpudlian gang leader who comes to Tommy's aid. The depiction of a war torn Birmingham is fantastic, all mud, dreariness and rain amongst which Tommy Shelby arrives on his black horse. Great fun and a brilliant conclusion to this great series.

This hi-octane, brutal thriller was a massive hit that reinvented Liam Neeson as an action hero. It's all heavily influenced by the Bourne series and the Bond films of recent times and whilst the whole plot relies on some jaw dropping coincidences and paints Europe as a hell of a dangerous place, especially for young girl teenagers, it's still a very entertaining film. Neeson is Bryan Mills, a retired black ops CIA operative with 'a very special set of skills" who dotes on his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). She happens to be the most annoying and spoilt teenager that has ever existed and lives with her mother and very rich step father. When on a trip to Paris with a friend she gets kidnapped by sex traffickers and Bryan sets off to rescue her. This reignites his skills in killing just about everyone he identifies as being involved in the kidnapping often in nasty ways, including a tough to watch torture scene. Interestingly he cares little for any of the other young women also kidnapped who he comes across only saving one who has information that's helps him. Kim's poor friend is never mentioned again until she turns up dead! The baddies are all stereotype Eastern Europeans and everyone is corrupt except good ol' Bryan but never mind this film rattles along at breakneck speed, plenty of great action, bloody violence and the predictable ending. I can't help but enjoy this every time I watch it so it is worth seeing if you've so far missed it but be warned it's occasionally very gruesome. And of course there is the now very famous telephone speech that Neeson resurrects on most chat shows. A pity they didn't leave it at this, as a one off it would have gained cult status but in typical Hollywood fashion there were two dull, repetitive sequels (to be avoided) and Neeson has then really only played ageing action heroes in a series of relatively weak films. Watch Taken, enjoy it and then move on.

This dark comedy crime thriller is quite diverting and enjoyable even though it meanders into various subplots and refuses to really offer any real satisfactory closure to any of them. That may well have been the intention and it's resulted in the film that gathered very mixed reviews. In some ways it has a Lynchian vibe and brings to mind elements of Twin Peaks mixed with the noir yet sunshiney vibe of Chinatown (1974). Margaret Qualley plays Honey, a private investigator in a dusty small southern town. When a woman who had an appointment to see Honey for reasons unknown to her turns up dead Honey feels it necessary to investigate. Yet she investigates in vague way, easily becoming distracted by either sex with various women she encounters including a local cop played by Aubrey Plaza or other events including looking for her missing niece. None of the 'mysteries' the film shows are resolved with any sense of plot fulfilment and there are various violent and rather funny murders along the way. Chris Evans plays a sex obsessed preacher who is involved in some kind of drugs racket as an example of a plot line that falters to a stop. However, this is all presented in a style reminiscent of a classical Hollywood noir even with Honey shunning the use of modern appliances including mobile phones and she looks like a femme fatale from an old detective thriller. It's a film that sort of draws you in and I ended up chuckling with enjoyment at the whole thing. It seems to me that the whole idea here was for a thriller with a rambling almost nonsensical plot that is ultimately meaningless and meant to be so. Great performances all round and I think one of those films that will eventually gain a bit of a following.

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.