Film Reviews by GI

Remakes are generally considered to be inferior to the original especially when the original is a critically renowned classic but Philip Kaufman's reinterpretation of the 1956 film is a brilliant update making a memorable exception. This increases the horror elements and emphasises its science fiction roots and it's a great suspense film too building the tension slowly (maybe a little too slow for some) and resulting in a paranoia thriller adding some fantastic social commentary along the way. Essentially the story remains the same although the action is moved away from the small-town America setting in the 1956 film to San Francisco where Department of Health scientist Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) begins to notice behavioural changes in her boyfriend. She confides her fears that he is an imposter to her boss, Matthew who is in love with her. In fact the simmering love between them is neatly interwoven into the plot, which deepens as it becomes clear that people are changing into some other lifeforms. There's some interesting special effects and the film is quite unsettling. Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy and Veronica Cartwright support and keen eyed viewers may spot Robert Duvall in a very small cameo and it's a neat piece of film trivia to catch Kevin McCarthy, the star from the original film, and Don Siegel, the original's director, pop up in a homage to it. This is certainly a film to seek out and try if you've never seen it.

A hokey comedy sci-fi (ish!!) that is nowhere near as funny as the cast seem to think it is. I guess this is one of those films that you'll either get and love or, like me, come away thinking what the hell was that? So a film to watch late at night after a few drinks and then forget all about it. However I am a fan of Kristen Wiig, a talented comedy performer and writer, but this film seems to be a hotchpotch of sketches stuck together to try and make some sort of story and ultimately it comes a cross like a kids film for adults. Annie Mumolo and Wiig play the titular middle aged ladies, who live in a small mid western town and who gossip all day, when they lose their jobs in a furniture store they make a momentous decision and go on holiday for the first time ever to a Florida beach resort. Their arrival coincides with the plan of a Bond type villain also played by Wiig, to kill everyone in the town over some past insult of other. Star falls for the baddies henchmen, Edgar (Jamie Dornan) and they have adventures etc etc. There's some musical numbers, a talking crab, a mermaid and all sorts of other stuff goes on that, as I said, isn't as funny as the cast all seem to think it is. This wasn't for me and I felt it was just silly even though I desperately tried to find the meaning of it all. Unfortunately I couldn't so its lost on me as to what this is meant to be.

This adaptation of Len Deighton's successful spy novel came as the Bond franchise was really gaining momentum. Whereas Bond is suave, classy and enjoys the finer things in life Harry Palmer is a cynical, sarcastic and unmotivated agent who is being blackmailed to do the job. Michael Caine in his first leading role plays Palmer to perfection, with small nuances of expression and speech that highlight his disdain for the work, his bosses and that he is only in it for himself. In this regard The Ipcress File is a wonderful addition to the spy/espionage genre and a slightly anti-Bond stylisation. Set in the grimy streets of London it's a tale of blackmail, deceit and treachery as Palmer tries to locate a kidnapped scientist and unearths a double agent in the process. It's a great, unflashy story and shows off Caine for the great actor he is and star he was to become. Very stylish too with its editing and use of close ups and deep focus. There were two sequels to this film but neither live up to this first one. A film to rediscover and check out if you've never seen it as it's one of the best spy films.

Typical comedy caper film from Guy Ritchie but it offers none of his earlier originality and plays like a restrained Michael Bay film. Jason Statham is the nominal lead and does most of the Bournesque fighting but it's Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant that lift the film into a more entertaining one than it otherwise would have been. Statham is super agent Orson Fortune, the top operative of a private company that the UK Government (in the guise of Eddie Marsan) hires to do their dirty work. His team includes cynical computer expert Sarah (Plaza) and they are tasked with recovering a gizmo (the films MacGuffin, a very dangerous AI thingamajig) from the bad guys in a deal controlled by sleazy arms dealer Simmonds (Grant, doing a similar thing he did in The Gentlemen). To get to Simmonds they need his favourite movie star, Danny (Josh Hartnett) This cues a lot of 007 style globe trotting, shooting, fighting etc etc and it's all very stereotypical and predictable. It passes the time, has its moments but its average stuff.

Director Paul Verhoeven, not unknown for his excesses, has tried to categorise this as historical drama mostly because it is allegedly based on a true story (this being his chief defence for allegations of blasphemy) but it's really a quite shallow sexploitation film wrapped up in a sort of friendly version of The Devils (1971). This was bound to rattle some nerves in religious fundamentalists who view such nonsense far too seriously so putting aside all the pretensions what are we left with? In short a story about a 16th Century nun who fakes miracles (or does she??) including the stigmata and in doing so ousts the Abbess (Charlotte Rampling) and gets the top job allowing her to have a lusty relationship with a novice. As you'd expect with Verhoeven there's some audacious sex, some bloody violence and horrible plagued infested corpses but it's a hollow film, lacking any gravitas and at times you want to laugh out loud. Unconvincing and nowhere near his great films whether they be his Dutch or American based ones.

A follow up film to the popular 2007 Black Water this is another Aussie film where five twenty somethings go on an Ella advised adventure and get stalked by a big creature, in this case a crocodile. Like The Reef (2010) there's a host of films of this type often the creature being a shark or alligator of as here a crocodile. This film doesn't offer anything new indeed it's stereotypical in almost every way. The five characters are what you'd expect and you can work out fairly easily the order in which they'll be picked off. Led by alpha male Eric (Luke Mitchell - a Chris Hemsworth lookalike) they go caving in the jungle, stupidly not telling anyone else where they are going and go underground just as a big storm comes along....Der!! The cave gets flooded, they get trapped and a big croc is in there too and very hungry. There may even be more than one croc, its all a little unclear and there's the usual glimpses here and there before someone gets grabbed. It's quite a tame film with little shocks or scares and it can't decide when to end so drags itself on for further slices of croc attacks. Overall it's exactly what it says on the tin, rather average, indeed a bit dull at times and even the relationship drama thrown in for good measure seems ridiculous.

This is a culturally significant American science fiction/horror film which tapped into the American paranoia of the 1950s threat of communism bought about by the Cold War and the McCarthy witch-hunts at home. There was a cycle of such films which dealt with the fear of atomic war or the Soviet threat to the world and this is one of the most famous and renowned of them. Don Siegel directs a fast paced and tense thriller where a small town doctor discovers that the townspeople are slowly being replaced by replicas of themselves which emerge from giant seed pods. A masterpiece of the scifi genre and a film that deserves rediscovery, check it out if you haven't seen it.

For a Hollywood horror film this is remarkably good. A vampire film that tells the story from the monsters' perspective as opposed to the usual narrative of the monster hunter's viewpoint. This has the gothic trademarks and a period drama feel yet still updates the sub-genre by shedding some of the more daft tropes such as fear of garlic, wooden stakes etc. Tom Cruise was a surprising (and much derided) piece of casting as the vampire Lestat who, in seeking for a companion, 'turns' the grieving Louis in 18th Century New Orléans. Cruise is actually extremely good in the role and nails it completely, his action hero credentials are put aside here and he plays Lestat as the nasty, selfish and murderously cynical vampire to perfection. Brad Pitt as Louis is also good although he reportedly hated the experience of the role. However the narrative adds the child vampire Claudia played by a young Kirsten Dunst and she is the most scary and original, a monster permanently trapped in a child's body. The story is told in one flashback as Louis tells his life story to a naive writer in modern day USA. This is an extremely interesting and enjoyable modern day horror film that neatly harks back to the traditional monster films of yesteryear but updates it for a modern audience. It has all the great aspects you want from dark, sexual tension, bloody murder and monstrous characters. A film that is far better than often remembered and worth checking out if you've never seen it.

There's a certain charm to this French romance with a little romcom farce in the mix. It's all a bit too light in atmosphere to hold any sense of a serious film work but the central performance by Anaïs Demoustier keeps it all together. She plays Anais of the title, a giddingly carefree young woman who lives life without a sense of any commitment and isn't afraid to say so. She borders on narcissism but her sheer joy in everything without any idea of responsibility holds this at bay until she has a dalliance with an older man and then finds herself obsessing over his long term partner, Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and pursues her to a symposium she is attending. Romance blossoms until her partner shows up to threaten things. There's a sort of cerebral eroticism at play here and it all jostles along at a pleasant and delightful pace. As I said it lacks that dose of seriousness but it's perfectly enjoyable to watch.

Interstellar is an epic science fiction film that is destined to be considered a classic of the genre. It's spectacular, awe-inspiring, ambitious and enthralling. From the scenes of the slow dustbowl death of the earth to the fantastic vision of a black hole it has panache. Matthew McConaughey is spot on casting as the former astronaut Cooper who deserts his family to go on a mission to another galaxy to seek out earlier explorers and find a new home for mankind. It's his relationship with his daughter Murphy that centres the narrative and ultimately roots the future of mankind in a circular plot that takes some thinking about. The cast are all great from Ann Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine, Matt Damon and Mackenzie Foy (superb as the young Murphy). This is a film that has it's flaws and it's a tad grandiloquent but I can forgive the odd clunky dialogue because this is impressive cinema and this deserves to be counted in any list with 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This is one of the two films that are considered Richard Gere's comeback films, the other being Pretty Woman (1990). This is by far the better of the two with Gere first class as the thoroughly corrupt and manipulative cop, Dennis Peck being pursued by Andy Garcia's uptight Internal Affairs officer who has his own personal problems. It's a very stylish and watchable cop thriller with a narrative basically structured around two similar protagonists who stand on opposite sides of a moral landscape. A tale of toxic masculinity and jealously all wrapped up in taut crime thriller. Garcia is Raymond, an Internal Affairs cop who finds he's investigating an old colleague with drug problems but it soon becomes clear to Raymond that a lowly patrolman, Peck, is controlling his precinct through corruption and money laundering. Peck is though a very clever and manipulative cop prepared to do anything to protect his life. Director Mike Figgis directs with confidence although a director like Michael Mann may have had a more subtle approach especially as the central theme is of two main characters battling for their own take on what is right and wrong, a subject that Mann has focussed on in many films. This is perhaps a bit of a picky criticism because Internal Affairs is a first rate film, gritty, great cast including Laurie Metcalf, and with some good plotting. Definitely a film to seek out if you've not seen it.

A classic mystery film based on the play by J.B. Priestley. The inimitable Alastair Sim plays the mysterious Inspector Poole who arrives at the upper class house of the Birling family during their dinner and begins to ask questions regarding a young girl who has just died. This is film rich in character, dark & guilty secrets and delves into issues, differences and attitudes of English class . It has a sharp twist and is superbly scripted; a film about moral and social responsibility and whilst it may appear a little dated today it's still a real gem and a film to seek out if you've never seen it.

This murder thriller from director Christopher Nolan is neatly atmospheric and has a good twisty plot that sets it apart from other films in this genre. In addition it has Robin Williams in a serious and sinister role. Al Pacino is Dormer, a renowned LA homicide detective who is sent, with his partner, to a small Alaska town to assist in the investigation of the murder of a young woman. Their presence is also due to some internal trouble back in LA that affects Dormer's judgement combined with the permanent daylight in Alaska when they arrive. Both things cause Dormer to find sleeping impossible. As the investigation progresses Dormer finds he has to come to a secret arrangement with the killer. The landscape and Pacino's intense performance give this film a very tense vibe even though when you break it down it is a standard murder narrative but it has some panache to it as the story unfolds. Being a big admirer of Nolan's style and the visual genius of cinematographer Wally Pfister I admire this and it's one of Nolan's smaller films in comparison to his more recent big science fiction films so well worth rediscovering.

An offbeat drama that lacks a satirical edge and is played very, very straight losing along the way its central message. George MacKay, who clearly takes his role very seriously, plays Jacob, a young man who suffers from a mental illness where he believes that inside he's really an animal, in his case the wolf of the title. His despairing parents (we get to hear that Jacob has previously attacked someone) send him to a clinic where he joins a group of other children and young people who suffer from the same condition. The various members include a squirrel, horse, German Shepherd dog, a parrot and a girl who claims to be a wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), and with whom Jacob bonds. Overseeing these patients is a doctor (played by Paddy Considine) who cruelly makes them attempt dangerous acts in their animal personas that will force them to acknowledge they are human. The obvious theme that human society craves normality and strives to outcast or normalise those who see things differently is obvious. Ultimately I found the film a bit ludicrous and it felt like I was watching a drama school exercise. The message that is being delivered here remains too murky to hit home leaving us to assume there's a weak allegory to trans issues perhaps, I just don't know, which results in a film that lacks a certain aspect that could have made it very interesting.

Michael Mann films are always something to get excited about. The Insider is a classic whistleblower tale, a story of brave journalism and the courage of one man to do the right thing. Russell Crowe, in one of his very best performances (he was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this), plays Jeffrey Wigand who under extreme threats and intimidation exposed the lies of the tobacco industry on the health dangers of nicotine. Al Pacino is Lowell Bergman the journalist who tries to protect Wigand and the story, and with the great Christopher Plummer you have a fantastic cast. With Mann's signature camerawork and editing this plays out like a conspiracy thriller. It's tense, exciting and a great story. If you loved Spotlight (2015) then you must check this out.