Film Reviews by GI

A big budget comedy caper film that 'steals' from most of the Indiana Jones films presumably intentionally as there's a direct homage if you are not bored enough to spot it by the time it shows up. Allegedly this was Netflix's biggest film to date and sadly it's a bit of a patchwork of clichés offering nothing that hasn't been seen before even from the two stars. Dwayne Johnson plays an FBI agent who globetrots around hunting for a notorious art thief played by Ryan Reynolds. The plot forces them to team up after another even more proficient thief (Gil Gadot) frames our FBI hero and he's now on a mission to catch her and clear his name. The 'macguffin' of the film is a sacred jewelled egg once owned by Cleopatra and coveted by the two thieves and a nasty gangster wants it too. It's all chases and stunts and wisecracking, mostly from Reynolds. There is the odd laugh to be had here but it's all so hackneyed and once the film moves into a full on 'Raiders' treasure hunt story it just gets silly. Reynolds needs to look beyond the same character he now seems to play all of the time and Johnson, with his bulk and obvious limitations, perhaps needs to relook at his career as these whimsical action comedies are being to test the patience now

A modern masterpiece and one of the defining American crime films of modern times. Director Michael Mann, a cinematic auteur if there has ever been one, has here made his greatest film and it bears all of his narrative and visual style, involves an intricate character study of two protagonists at opposite sides of the moral divide and is edited cleverly and uniquely opening up several small storylines that all seem to add to the mix of this fantastic film. Set in Los Angeles where a small yet highly professional criminal crew led by Neil (Robert De Niro) carry out a daring daylight armoured car heist. Their decision to use an untested and unreliable addition to their team who acts bloodthirstily during the robbery starts a chain of events that forms the basis of the film's plot. The robbery is investigated by the equally professional and dedicated police unit led by Vincent (Al Pacino). The two main characters of Neil and Vincent are the centre of Mann's story with Neil planning a big robbery and Vincent prowling around on the hunt for him and his team. The film has two famous scenes, the fast, realistic bank robbery that results in a street gun battle and a meeting in a coffee shop between Neil and Vincent who form a respect for each other. With Mann's typical but beautiful cityscape visuals especially at night and his eye for the close up juxtapositioned with sharp, quick violence makes this a compiling almost hypnotic film. There's also a great soundtrack that compliments the film perfectly. The support cast including Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd and others are all excellent. This is modern American cinema at its very, very best and you'll be hard pressed to find a better film.

Robert Wise' fantastic haunted house film based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (a real treat if you haven't read it). What sets this apart is that it's a film about atmosphere and character with no reliance on special effects or 'cattle-prod' style jump scares. The result is a very spooky and interesting film that centres on Eleanor, played wonderfully by Julie Harris, as a woman arguably suffering from delusion. The end result is the film opens up the opportunity for a variety of readings, all of which make it a classic of the ghost/haunted house sub-genre. If you are only familiar with the inferior 1999 remake or the recent TV series then I highly recommend you seek this little gem of a film out, it's worth the effort. Oh and watch it late at night it'll unsettle you too!

Certainly unconventional and very bewildering this mystical film will either enthralled you or leave you totally baffled. It pushes the slow burn narrative to the extreme so be prepared. It pushed to the limits my endurance for such films and ultimately I found it quite impenetrable but I'm a genre cinema lover and so this was always going to be a challenge. Tilda Swinton, an actor always worth watching, is Jessica a Scottish woman living in Columbia where she runs a flower business. She travels to Bogota to visit her ill sister and begins to hear sudden boom sounds that no one else appears to hear. Trying to discover the source of this sound sends her on a surreal journey that may or may not be a spiritual change in the world. I'm sort of guessing here and the surprising and quite extraordinary science fiction scene near the end will divide viewers I'm sure. This isn't s film I enjoyed, it's too deep and strange to be enjoyable especially combined with its snail pace. But some will revel in it I'm sure.

Tarantino's epic and visually spectacular western that mixes whodunnit mystery and revenge themes all into one and with Tarantino's brash influences from spaghetti westerns to Hong Kong action films all rolled into one. Like Django Unchained (2012) there is an element of self-indulgence here because here's a director who is allowed to do exactly what he wants without restraint. Both these two westerns needed a bit more sharp editing and could have done with losing 15 to 20 minutes off the running time and there are times when this one seems to drag on just a little bit to its detriment. However that aside The Hateful Eight is sheer enjoyment and improves with each viewing. The exterior winter scenes are wonderful and sometimes it's feels a shame that more of the film doesn't utilise the outside and the wonderful Wyoming vistas. The majority of the film is set inside a large cabin where the plot is formulated and unravelled. The harsh winter serving to concentrate the characters in the shelter where the twists and turns come to the fore. In short a group of travellers including a two ruthless bounty hunters (Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson), one prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a stranded lawman (Walter Coggins) reach the waystation of Minnie's Haberdashery as a blizzard sets in. They are forced to sit out the storm with a strange mix of characters already there until someone poisons the coffee and all hell breaks loose! Into the mix there some horror genre influences and great performances all round including from Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dean and Demián Bichir. It's full of QT's usual over-the-top comic book bloody violence and a great soundtrack from Ennis Morricone. In short it's a film that grows on you so if you weren't convinced the first time around give this another try.

A tough, brutal and in very gritty British social crime drama and thriller that has its roots in the vigilante sub-genre. On the surface the film follows the normal narrative structure of films of this type, e.g. ex military expert, inadequate justice system, animalistic criminals, but with Michael Caine, the very British urban housing estate setting and some fantastic characters this is a really sharp and interesting film. It has it's flaws not least that Emily Mortimer's police detective character is somewhat underused and incomplete, but this is balanced by Sean Harris' fantastic performance as a zombie-like drug dealing criminal and Liam Cunningham as the bored pub landlord with a secret. Caine is the titular Harry, a lonely, recently widowed pensioner who lives on a London council estate riven with gang crime. Harry avoids any confrontations until his only friend, Len (David Bradley) is murdered and he decides that the only avenue open to him is to take the law into his own hands as he finds the police to be ineffective. For the most part this is a sad indictment of modern Britain but it does dip into cliché in some of the characterisations such as Iain Glen's arrogant police commander and the riot scenes don't quite hit the mark and serve only to conveniently allow a plot point. But that aside this is a strong Michael Caine film and Harry Brown is clearly written for him. A very British take on the 'Death Wish' scenario and a film that really hits the spot.

A belated sequel to 2009s Avatar, which if you can recall was lauded for its immersive effects creating a planet, Pandora, and a story that was effectively the Pocahontas story or even Dances With Wolves in space. Admittedly on first viewing I was unimpressed although over the years I've found myself enjoying it on the TV as a reasonably entertaining science fiction drama. The difficulty with this sequel is that director James Cameron seems to believe his own hype thus producing a self indulgent rehash of the original movie with large doses of his other films chucked in and squashed together for good measure. The end result is a 3 hour + runtime that tests the boredom levels to almost breaking point. The main problem being that Cameron seems to think that we are so totally in love with the world he has created that we want to watch what's going on there for ever and ever. In short the story picks up from the first film with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), now permanently a N'avi tribesman, having successfully led a war to rid the planet of humans, has raised a family but shock horror the humans come back, they've cloned his old nemesis Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who is determined to hunt Jake down. Jake and family decide to flee and join another tribe that lives by the sea and he and his children have to learn the 'way of water'. This is where the film becomes ponderous with teenage angst and in fighting, befriending of intelligent whale like creatures until eventually Quaritch shows up for the shooting to begin. All this 'learning new ways' bit is some similar to the first film it has no wow affect at all. In fact none of this is particularly exciting and the film feels and looks like a computer game rather than a film accepting that some of the set pieces are well executed. But Cameron can't seem to finish the film and some of the storylines are left unfinished probably to be concluded in the 50 sequels he's threatening! This is a lavish, over produced and at times lazy story that has come too late. The addition of the likes of Kate Winslet fail to offer anything memorable. A disappointment.

This remake of the 1947 film and an adaptation of a popular novel is a typical Guillermo del Toro surreal, noir and 'Grand Guignol' style thriller/melodrama. Fortunately here he avoids the flourishes of supernatural themes that occasionally make his films lose their way. Set in the late 1930s it follows Stan (Bradley Cooper), a drifter, who following a violent past that we see in haunting dream flashbacks and needing to disappear, stumbles into a travelling carnival where he is intrigued by the freak shows and attracted to the quiet Molly (Rooney Mara). Offered a job he takes up with a fortune teller (Toni Collette) and her aging husband (David Strathairn) who teaches him the tricks of mind reading. Years later Stan and Molly become a celebrated couple doing a mind reading and spiritual act in posh clubs and occasionally private sessions for the rich wanting to 'speak' to their departed loved ones. When Stan agrees a scam with femme fatale psychologist Lilith (Cate Blanchett) his world starts to unravel. The film has a visual intensity creating a sort of nightmarish world while at the same time being authentic for the 30s and 40s and the story arc is a really cleverly constructed one. It is a long film but it doesn't really feel like it is and watching Stan's decline and downfall is compelling. The great cast is rounded out with Richard Jenkins, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman and others. An enjoyable drama that Cooper carries very well.

An American small town drama centred around a contest to win a truck where the contestants have to keep one hand on the vehicle. The last one standing wins. There are some other rules but suffice to say the contest highlights the desperation and personal issues of the characters to some degree. Sadly the film delves too little into them instead concentrating on Kyle (Joe Cole), an unemployed man with a wife and baby to support and Joan (Carrie Preston), an employee of the dealership who oversees the competition. As the hours and days drag on the competitors become more catatonic through lack of sleep and tempers get frayed leading to some bizarre events which may or may not be hallucinatory. There's a narrative twist that kinda works but by the time it occurs you'll probably not care because as the characters become more dozy so will you! It's a watchable film but lacks depth as we basically spend the near two hours watching people sort of worshipping the truck by simply standing there hands on.

Walter Hill's directorial debut and fairly typical of his output through the 70s and 80s. Like all of his films it's a genre piece, in this case a contemporary western set in the 1930s, although it lacks the unique European style he bought to his later and better films. Charles Bronson, an unlikely star if there ever was one, plays a drifter, Chaney, who arrives in Louisiana and is looking to make money as a bare knuckle fighter. He teams up with Speed (James Coburn), a local fixer and soon proves he's a tough fighter especially when he beats the previously unbeaten local champ. But Chaney is soon embroiled in Speed's problems as he is in debt to big hoodlum and Chaney is forced to fight a super tough Mob fighter from Chicago to get Speed out of trouble. The film is well produced and it's a solid drama focusing around two or three big brawls all of which are predictably won by the laconic Chaney. Bronson's wife Jill Ireland has a small and insignificant role as a love interest and Strother Martin is underused as Speed's partner in crime. The fight set pieces are reasonably well done but the film lacks any sense of itself and suffers by deliberately keeping the lead character of Chaney as just a drifter with no back story. It's entertaining in it's way but definitely a 70s film and shows it.

Poorly conceived thriller that has a narrative that's been done much better in earlier films, Breakdown (1997) comes to mind, as here we have a routine disappearing wife scenario and an innocent husband who frustrated by slow police action heads off on his own investigation. It's all very tame and the main protagonist, Will (Gerard Butler) does some inexplicable things that stretch credibility even in a thriller such as this. In short Will and wife, Lisa (Jaimie Alexander) are having troubles so he reluctantly is taking her to her parents for a break, they stop to refuel and she goes missing. The police delve into their marital troubles and come to suspect Will may have done her in. We, the audience, know differently from the get go so there's no mystery here and as the thin plot unravels it's all a big stretch for any imagination. Will basically tracks her down and rescues her! That's it. Fortunately it all wraps up pretty quickly and you can comfortably forget this even quicker.

Even if you don't like The Beatles or think they are no longer of any relevance this is still an important film and it remains hugely enjoyable. Richard Lester created a zany comedy that captured the phenomenon of 'Beatlemania', showed a sort of snapshot of the daily lives of the band and more importantly delved craftily into the divisive nature of British society of the mid 1960s with the teenage generation conflicting sharply with the 'establishment'. There's no real plot as such and the film is mostly the Beatles being chased by fans and/or the police and Richard Lester basically filmed them doing whatever they wanted. Their individual personalities are neatly captured though and there's a host of British comedy actors supporting including Wilfred Brambell of Steptoe & Son fame playing Paul McCartney's fictional grandfather. Mostly of course you get a great collection of songs that are still magical today and everyone knows them whatever your age or taste.

A great British classic comedy in the mould of the Ealing Comedies and the St Trinians films, indeed the British class based private school system was a launchpad for comedy in film, literature and comics. Indeed you can see how films like this later influenced the early Carry On movies and later comedy such as TVs Fawlty Towers. But this is a cut above because of the fantastic lead actors in Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford (often forgotten British treasures). It's basically a farce centred around the restrained attitudes to sex and gender politics and one or two aspects may seem out of place to a modern audience. Set in the comedy gold world of a public school Sim plays Wetherby Pond, a pompous headmaster who fawns around the parents and Governors in the hope of advancement. When a Girls School is boarded with his boys it's more the gender mix of the teachers that causes such a hullabaloo rather than the pupils. This is a gloriously funny film and portrays a nostalgic picture of post war rural England.

Based on a real 'Bush Ranger' or Australian outlaw and filmed in the typical revisionist style that Hollywood had applied to the western in the 1970s, and I suspect influenced by Sam Peckinpah and even Clint Eastwood's westerns of the time. It's a rather disjointed film with some narrative aspects not properly followed through and in the end it's structure is of the outlaw riding around robbing or befriending folks chased by the police until they inevitably confront one another. Indeed the final climax, long in coming, is disappointing to say the least. There's some pointless and gratuitous violence often amateurishly portrayed in an attempt to emulate Peckinpah but the film lacks any sense of his poetry or keen eye. Dennis Hopper, never a strong leading actor, is fairly uninspiring here and rumour has it he was mostly drunk during filming thinking he was getting closer to his character! In the end it shows as he's not nearly enough interesting to make the central character anything but a shoddy thief. Australian cinema can be extraordinary and in the right hands makes that great link between the land and the characters, that is attempted here and there are some great scenic visuals especially with David Gulpilil, the ubiquitous native Australian actor who adds a sense of realism to this and all his films. This film has its fans but ultimately it's of its time and cannot compete with similar genre pieces from then.

A gory horror reminiscent of the 80s cycle in this genre here mixing body horror with demented serial killer narratives. The main issue is the dodgy pacing of the film that almost reaches the depths of tedium before revving up for a reasonably interesting finale. With a prologue set in a medical research facility where someone or something has been 'a naughty boy' we are the fast forwarded in time leaving the opening unexplained and unexplained for too long really. In any event the main story follows Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who is pregnant after three previous miscarriages but fearful of her abusive husband. After a violent assault by him Madison begins to have visions of gruesome murders which turn out to have actually happened. The police think she's bats but can't quite answer why she knows so much about the killings and consequently she becomes a suspect. The final reveal is a good one and unexpected making up for the time it takes to get there. But overall if you're a horror aficionado then you'll love this but for the rest of us it's an entertaining horror thriller but somewhat uneven and at times copycat and derivative utilising too many genre tropes for its own good.