Film Reviews by GI

Jeremy Saulnier's brutal crime thriller is simply excellent. Perhaps influenced by Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) it is on the basic level a siege narrative but it's all done with such panache and a gritty tension with the addition of gruesome and at times shocking violence. It also boasts Anton Yelchin in his last role and a good British cast that includes Joe Cole and Imogen Poots. But of course this is a film that has Patrick Stewart in a sinister performance as the chief bad guy. Here he plays DArcy, the owner of a club situated in a remote wooded area of north west USA, he runs an ultra right wing movement of thugs from there too. He's a cold, frightening character portrayed as a calm, in control psychopath. The story centres around a punk rock band who are on the road looking for gigs and the chance of a record deal. They end up playing at Darcy's club but as they're about to leave they witness the murder of a young girl and find themselves trapped in a room inside the club. The narrative plays out in some unexpected ways as the young band hope to negotiate their way out but Darcy has evil intentions. You will gasp at the shocks that come but the film is nothing short of a great thriller. Here's a relatively small film that is a real gem.

A strangely unexciting post-apocalyptic sci-fi film despite the impressive visual effects. Tom Hanks plays Finch, a lone survivor in a world decimated by the loss of the ozone layer. By day he forages for food for him and his beloved dog and at night he builds a droid which is later named Jeff, played by a motion captured Caleb Landry Jones. When lethal storms build Finch realises he must head west. Along the way he ties to teach Jeff how to be more human and ultimately programs him to protect the dog. What is weird here is the obvious lack of any real danger even though there are references to avoiding other survivors and at one point they are pursued by a car, the occupants of which are never seen and the car eventually disappears never to be seen again! Hanks channels the loner such as he did in Cast Away (2000) and there are similarities to Silent Running (1972). In some ways the narrative picks up on the theory by scientist James Lovelock that AI will be the next evolutionary change but the film doesn't specify this and I'm only guessing. Watchable but a little too tame and overly sentimental with that curious lack of jeopardy that the film needed.

The somewhat wretched genre of video game movies isn't improved upon with this ultra gory, badly acted action fest. I suppose if you're a fan of the game you might be impressed or at least enjoy this although it's probably best watched late at night after a few beers. I'm guessing though that playing the game is a far more fulfilling experience, if you're a gamer, than watching a story about the characters. In essence this is just a comic book style superhero film with two batches of sweaty, muscle bound warriors, one of good guys and one of bad guys. There's a monster or two thrown in for good measure. Loads of swords, punch ups and special effects all amounting to nothing more than a violent, silly teenage film despite the adult violence. For fans of the game only.

This is a fairly typical British farce from the 50s and a pretty lame one really. It carries on the type of British humour that was very popular and later transitioned into the Carry On series and it's very similar to the style of the early films in that series. This one has a dark edge to the story where a hapless vacuum cleaner salesman (George Cole) stumbles across a plan by a professional killer (Alastair Sim) who intends to kill a pompous politician (Raymond Huntley) by putting a bomb inside a radio. Everyone converges on a pub/hotel called the Green man where things go from daft to downright silly. If you're a fan of these films then this has a nostalgic element that will appeal and Sim is always worth watching but this is by far not his best film. Fans will spot a host of British character actors too.

A famous Second World War adventure film that sits as one of the multi star vehicles that were popular in the 60s and designed to be the cinematic attraction that could woo people away from their television sets. Director John Sturges was adept at big budget films such as this and reunited several of the American stars he's worked with on The Magnificent Seven (1960), namely Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn (attempting an awful Australian accent). But it's a nice mix of British character actors led by Richard Attenborough along with the American western stars including James Garner, that works really well. Sturges directs and edits this big story expertly especially in the final third. The film loosely tells the story of a famous escape by allied air force officers from a German POW camp using tunnels and managing to get 76 prisoners out under the watchful eye of the guards. The film is roughly set in three acts, the planning and building of the tunnels, the actual escape from the camp and the adventures of the various escapees as they attempt to get to a safe haven. It's in this last part that Sturges keeps the action going as we follow several diverse storylines. There's the famous stunts (McQueen getting to ride a motorcycle and that big jump!), humour, sadness and ultimately big tragedy. It's a thoroughly entertaining and spectacular film and has become a Christmas season favourite for some reason (there is a rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas at one point). Despite the big names it's the smaller characters that are the most memorable especially Donald Pleasance as a forgery expert who is going blind and Angus Lennie as Ives, an RAF officer who begins to suffer mental breakdown due to his incarceration. A film to watch once a year, to sit back and simply relish the sheer entertainment of the whole thing. Don't get bogged down on what is true and what isn't, that's all irrelevant, this is just brilliant fun.

David Lean's fantastic version of the Dickens classic. A wonderful story and a remarkable depiction of Dickensian Victorian England. At its heart this is a romance, a story of deep passion but also a film about family, friendship and the danger of ambition and materialism. It's a wonderful story from a great English novel and though it's been filmed numerous times for cinema and TV this remains the best adaptation. With it's use of chiaroscuro lighting especially to simulate the imagination of a frightened child and with a fantastic cast of British actors this is still a real treat and perfectly captures a vision of England of the 1830s. John Mills plays the young orphan, Pip, who is apprenticed to the blacksmith and husband (Bernard Miles) of his elder sister. As a child he had, out of fear, assisted an escaped convict and later was sent to the dark and mysterious house of the eccentric Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt) to play with her ward Estella (Jean Simmons). As he comes of age he learns that a secret benefactor has decided to make him a gentlemen and in London he meets the now beautiful and adult Estella (Valerie Hobson) and falls for her although she has been groomed to deceive men. The film captures the class divisions on which English society has culturally been built, one of snobbery and privilege. Lean went onto make a second Dickens adaptation, Oliver Twist, in 1948 and showed that he had a magic eye for detail and structure. This is a superb film from when the British had a film industry in which to be proud.

A political comedy drama that is a condemnation of particularly, American politics and the ridiculous amount of money spent to win at all costs. Steve Carell, always worth checking out, is Gary, a liberal minded political strategist who sees an opportunity for the Democrats when he sees a YouTube video of a local man challenging the Republican town mayor's policies. Gary heads to the small Wisconsin town to convince the man, Jack (Chris Cooper) to stand for mayor in the forthcoming election. But as soon as he starts the campaign his arch rival, Faith (Rose Byrne) arrives to ramp up the competition for the Republicans. As their rivalry heralds more resources and importantly cash are utilised as Gary and Faith want to win at all costs. There's a clever narrative twist in the tale and the film has some good natured humour as it delves into the American political system played out in a tiny community. A very watchable film worth checking out.

Science Fiction disaster and survival film that rattles along at a steady pace, is tense, exciting, visually spectacular none of which lets up for it's neat 90 minute running time (90 mins is also narratively relevant as watching this will reveal). Sandra Bullock holds this all together as Dr Stone, an American NASA scientific engineer, who, with a space shuttle crew, are conducting repairs to the Hubble Telescope. Disaster strikes when the debris from a damaged satellite hits them before they can get away, killing the crew except Stone and one other (George Clooney). He's the experienced astronaut and quickly comes up with a plan to get them home. But things go from bad to worse. Even if you've seen this it's still an exciting adventure story and even though it was filmed in 3D for cinema screenings, watching in normal format takes nothing away from the film (in my view 3D was just a gimmick designed to attract waning audiences, which added nothing to film as an art form). There's some nice twists and turns in the plot making this a very entertaining thrill ride.

Probably John Ford's most sentimental film. It is certainly an emotional one and for a staunch conservative Ford kept faithful to the socialist ideals of the original novel. Viewed today it still resonates around the plight of the poor against the greed of the rich and historically it reveals the devastating affects of the Depression in 30s America. Essentially a road film narrative it tells the story of Oklahoma farming family, the Joads, forced from their tenancy by the advancement of farming technology who head west to California where they hear there's work aplenty picking fruit. Led by the family matriarch, Ma (Jane Darwell), and supported by her eldest son Tom (Henry Fonda), who is on parole from prison, the large family travel in a run down truck laden with all their possessions. Along the way they encounter hardship, bigotry, corruption, death and near starvation but also kindness and hope. It's ultimately a sad story albeit a powerful one and Ford directs with his usual majesty often with his trademark static camera and stark lighting. This is an impactive film and an important one which holds up very well today. It's a significant classic made by one of America's greatest filmmakers and a true masterpiece. Certainly a film all cinephiles should ensure they see.

The eccentricity of director Wes Anderson's films is never better exemplified than with this hilariously funny and thoroughly delightful one. Anderson's love of art litters through this and even if you neither care nor worry about spotting the many references it's that love that directs the style of this film. In a way this is a sort of 1930s picture postcard depiction with influences of silent cinema and early animation methods yet visually exceptional film. At times it's like a child pop up picture book and other times a dark mystery novel all rolled together. Set in a fictional Eastern European country at a huge, prestigious hotel starting in 1968 when an author (Jude Law) meets the hotel's owner (F. Murray Abraham) who, over dinner, tells the story of his early employment at the hotel in the 1930s when it was a magnificent and famous place. The main part of the film is how he is befriended by the influential concierge, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) who runs the hotel with efficiency and discipline but becomes embroiled in the death of a dowager (Tilda Swinton), imprisoned for murder and escapes to clear his name. The plot surrounds a valuable painting and there are Agatha Christie influences throughout. It's the fact that the film is one giant gag reel, from the script to the visuals this is just a treat and if your comedic tastes stretch to the slightly off-the-wall then this is a genuine treat. I've seen this many times and still spot something new and highly funny every time. Many of the performances are exaggerated and vaudevillian and the cast list is impressive which shows the keenness that actors have to work with Anderson. Here you will Tom Wilkinson, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan and Léa Seydoux and more. And they are all note perfect throughout. A simply marvellous and original film, a genuine piece of cinematic wonderment.

This is the sort of film that would have been straight-to-video a few years back, it's based on a graphic novel and is essentially a hyper violent load of tosh. A pity because when you have an actor of the gravitas and versatility of Mads Mikkelsen there's an opportunity to make something far better than this. Here he plays Duncan, an expert assassin who works for a shady company run by a grotesque clown named Blut (Matt Lucas). Duncan is due to retire, has invested wisely and is due to receive a large pay out for his years of service. Except Blut doesn't want to pay and sends his young assassins to bump Duncan off. And yes of course that's a big mistake. The subplot involving Duncan's neighbour is pointless. There's a lot of far better films about hitmen retiring and finding themselves the target. Here we have a film that just wants to show gratuitous and nasty violence for the sake of it. The film rips from loads of other films and it looks like it's trying to cash in on the John Wick success. Matt Lucas is thoroughly ridiculous, not only in his casting but in characterisation too, an over-the-top Bondian villain who reminded me of Clint Eastwood's boss in The Eiger Sanction (1975). There's nothing worth your time here unless you're into prolonged torture scenes and graphic sex for graphic sex' sake. A puerile film.

This is an amiable and very watchable historical drama mostly due to the screen chemistry of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones who are reunited after appearing together in The Theory Of Everything (2014). A fictional account of scientist James Glaisher's (Redmayne) attempts to prove aspects of weather predictability. He's a true character although Jones plays the completely fictional one of Amelia Rennes, a balloonist and carnival performer. Together they go on a ballon trip to try and go higher than ever before so Glassier can make various studies. Of course they nearly die and the bulk of the film is there surviving the hazardous ascent having to face extreme cold and storms. There's some beautiful visuals on show here and the film has some flashbacks which seem to be to flesh out the running time as they count to little. There's a good support cast that is mostly underused including Robert Glenister, blink and you'll miss him Tim McInnerny, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtney. As I said it's a very watchable film with some tense moments so worth checking out.

Had this been Clint Eastwood's final screen role it might have been a fitting end to his acting career and the screen persona that he has become known for. He has of course appeared in films since and yet this still seems to be a concluding chapter in some aspect of his cinema appearances. It was at one tome reported this was to have been a final 'Dirty Harry' film and I don't know if that was ever the case but here Eastwood has the gravelly voice and hard bitten crustiness of several of his previous characters including Harry Callahan or Gunnery Sgt Highway or even Ben Shockley. Here he plays Walt, recently widowed, grumpy and bigoted, a Korean War veteran who decries the changes to American society he sees around him including the influx of immigrant families into his neighbourhood. In many ways he epitomises the generation of older people who struggle with multiculturalism and the attitudes of younger generations who they see as lacking moral fibre and respect. So Walt is horrified when an asian family move into the house next door to him and he is less than surprised when the young son Thao (Bee Vang) attempts one night to steal his prized 1972 Gran Torino car. But forced by his family to make amends Thao has to do chores for Walt and soon they bond with Walt finding a relationship he has never had with his own two sons. When Thao and his sister are harassed and assaulted by a local street gang Walt decides to act. The set up is therefore for a revenge/vigilante narrative but Eastwood, as director, defies expectations and the film concludes in a way that plays against type. There's conflicting issues at play here and perhaps the bigotry of Walt is overplayed making his actions more contrasting than they needed to be. Eastwood also plays with issues of the role of the church in American society, in this case the Catholic Church, but Walt's initial cynicism is overcome in a way that jars with the character and story arc and I'm unconvinced this works. In any event whichever way the film is viewed as either a scrutiny of generational bias and bigotry or a story of redemption for past sins it's an interesting film in Eastwood's canon.

An amiable comedy adventure that will appeal to anyone just wanting a film that requires no real thought but it's really just a lacklustre and vague remake of Romancing The Stone (1984) with the obvious influences from the Indiana Jones series. Indeed Sandra Bullock is playing a hybrid of Kathleen Turner from Romancing... and Kate Capshaw from Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom (1984). She's a bored novelist of romance adventure stories forced onto a book tour with the hapless male model, Alan (Channing Tatum) who plays her books hero on the covers. When she's kidnapped by an über rich maniac (Daniel Radcliffe) who thinks she can help find a lost city and its treasure on a remote island Alan sets off to rescue her. The film is not without its comic moments but overall it's all pretty tame with no real zest to it. the main joke seems to be Bullock navigating through the jungle in a spangly, pink jumpsuit. Radcliffe is a poor villain and a cameo from Brad Pitt lifts the thing only a tad although a mid end credit sequence is unfunny and pointless

Director Don Siegel, in many ways, pioneered the maverick cop movie in the 60s and 70s, bringing western stars into the city in what is basically a western structured narrative. Coogan's Bluff (1968) even blurred the two genres more closely and with Clint Eastwood moving on from that to Dirty Harry (1971). Many nominally western stars were lured to the cop genre as a result of the success of these films, even John Wayne had a go!. Here Richard Widmark plays the loose cannon cop, Dan Madigan, known for rule breaking who along with his partner, Rocco (Harry Guardino), makes a hash of an arrest letting the bad guy escape with their guns. The by-the-book Commissioner (Henry Fonda) is less than happy but gives the two detectives 72 hours to get their man. That's the basis of the story and it's a pretty straight forward one in truth and you always know they will get him by the end. But what sets this film apart is the exposure of the New York police life, the depictions and references to casual sex (even with minors), drug taking, corruption, marital strife and infidelities was all ahead of its time. There's little violence on show here and unlike the films mentioned above this is not a story of men born in the wrong time or that violence is the only way to do the job properly, this is a procedural tale designed to show the realities of police life and cops as flawed characters, there are no heroes here. Shot on the streets of New York with all its detritus and seediness on show it certainly was seen as a shocker in 1968. There are more gritty films to emerge in the 70s, for example Serpico (1973), that really dug down into the murky, dirty world of policing but Madigan is a film that started a trend. It remains an interesting example of the police thriller from this time.