Film Reviews by GI

Former male model Jason Statham has to be applauded for the niche in hard core action films that he has made for himself. Many of his films are really sloppy and poorly made but every so often one shines out as a little gem. Safe is one of those. Of course it has a preposterous story but that doesn't matter because you know what you're going to get and that is bone crunching fights, gunplay and gritty set piece action and its dished up here in immense quantities. The Stat plays Luke, a former cop (and apparently other things too!) who has been forced into homelessness by some nasty Russian gangsters and wanders the streets of New York. One day he notices a small girl, Mei (Catherine Chan) being pursued by the same Russian gangsters. He steps in and saves her to discover she is being hunted by the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads and corrupt NYPD cops because she knows a very long unique number that is the key to.....something! It's all convoluted and the plot unravels at a nice pace intermingled with some great fights and chases that are exciting and brilliantly executed. This is an action film that is unrelentingly good fun, violent and daft but well worth checking out.

An epic melodrama and if you're a fan of the TV series Yellowstone and in particular it's prequel 1923 you will not only see how this film has narratively been an influence there but you'll find this a great entertainment. It's a story of an American family in the early twentieth century led by the patriarch father William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) who live on a vast ranch in the wilds of Montana. The main story is about the lives of his three sons, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt) and Samuel (Henry Thomas). These three are bonded together but are uniquely different characters and when the youngest Samuel brings his fiancée, Susannah (Julia Ormond) into their home the emotions of the three surrounding her become a source of potential conflict. But it's the First World War which intervenes into the family life as all three enlist and head off the fight in France. Their experiences there define the future of the family, their loves and lives leading to violence, tragedy and family conflict. Ultimately this is an historical romance with the spice of nature to drive the passion. It's a highly entertaining film and one that it's worth rediscovering.

It opens with a torture scene and doesn't let up from there. This is a full on macho ultraviolent action film and it is really great fun as it rattles along at breakneck speed. When Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to films after his stint in politics he found his style of action movie was on the wane and films like the Expendable series, the Stallone throw away Escape Plan (2013) and starring roles in The Last Stand (2013) failed to make any impression. Then Sabotage came along and it sort of tapped into what we expect from an Arnie actioner but still feeling quite fresh. He plays Breacher, the head of an elite DEA tactical team. After a large amount of drug cartel cash goes missing during a raid Breacher and his team fall under suspicion of having stolen it. With no proof of their guilt they are returned to duty but then, one by one, they start showing up dead. The murders are investigated by Olivia Williams' Homicide detective and the cartels are suspected but soon she thinks the evidence implicating them may have been planted. If you like gunplay, chases, and gritty realistic action then this is one to check out. Good support cast too with Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard and Mireille Enos - particularly good as a full on nasty piece of work! It's what you expect from a Schwarzenegger film and whilst there's big flaws in the story and possibly the ending is a step too far this is worth checking out.

A grand epic love story told amidst the tumultuous times of the Irish uprising and the First World War. Set in 1916 on the wild and windswept west coast of Ireland it's an example of how the big cinematic epics made in the 60s partially to compete with the popularity rise of TV were now falling out of favour with the viewing public. Director David Lean certainly has made a visually impressive film with strong intermixed themes of forbidden love, religious intolerance and tortured emotions along with historical reminders of the trauma of the trenches and the growing Irish resentment of English occupation. This is the story of Rose (Sarah Miles), a young woman who dreams of better things, she's passionate and wayward and foolishly feels that the the older local school teacher Charles (Robert Mitchum) is the man of her dreams. After they are wed she is quickly disappointed because Charles is steady, devoted but ultimately boring and fails to sexually satisfy her. Then the local Army garrison gets a new commander, the highly decorated but PTSD suffering Major Doryan (Christopher Jones). Rose and he begin an affair, a situation that affronts the strictly Catholic society and brings to the fore the division between the local IRA and the British Army. The narrative plays out over a long run time that does test the patience somewhat although the drama is well scripted and the performances, for the most part, are exceptional. Trevor Howard as the all seeing local priest with a strong streak of humanity is especially good here and should have been awarded for his performance. John Mills as the village idiot and totally speechless throughout did get an Oscar and arguably deservedly as his devotion to Rose, who loathes him, is subtly and well performed. Mitchum is an interesting casting choice too, possibly miscast although he is reported to have thought this his best role. He portrays the gentle and ordinary school teacher rather well I thought. Miles carries the film and is an interesting choice here. Sometimes she appears to be somewhat bland and others very impetuous it's an interesting mix and a performance that is probably just right for the role. Overall this is an epic story, a little laboured at times, and certainly not Lean's finest film by any stretch but he's an important film maker and consequently this is a film worth seeing.

This is a good solid courtroom drama/ thriller that rattles along at a fantastic pace, has a great twist and turn plot, two great leads in John Cusack and Rachel Weisz and when you have Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, in their first film together, you know you're onto a winner. Adapted from a John Grisham novel this is set in New Orleans and Nick Easter (Cusack) is selected for jury service. The case is a civil one bought by the wife of a man murdered in a mass shooting against the firearms company who made the gun used in the massacre. The all powerful gun lobby company hires Rankin Fitch (Hackman), a professional jury consultant, who believes "trials are too important to be left to juries", to help select the right people from the jury list. It soon becomes apparent that Nick is up to something on the jury and Fitch and the lawyer representing the widow (Hoffman) receive calls from Marlee (Weisz) offering to swing the verdict for a price. There's obviously a massive message about American gun laws and the 2nd Amendment but overall this is just a wonderfully plotted and riveting film. There's nothing here that you won't enjoy and I highly recommend this if you haven't seen it.

The Rover is a really interesting post apocalyptic dystopian thriller that has an enigmatic central character who appears to have lost all connection with his humanity which drives him obsessively on a quest that appears to have little meaning. It's a journey of rediscovery as he starts, albeit briefly, to find again some faith in his fellow man when he is forced to unite with a wounded criminal. It's intense, gripping and has a top class performances from Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson. Set in the Australian outback ten years after society has collapsed and law and order has broken down he plays a man on the road who has his car stolen by three criminals on the run. Obsessed with getting it back he relentlessly pursues them and on the way captures the wounded brother (Robert Pattinson) of one of them and they form a strange bond. The film is not only a post apocalyptic road movie but also a tough thriller, violent and visually impressive. Whilst the basis of the collapse is never given we get to see how people are surviving in shanty towns, with limited supplies and a patrolling military presence. There's the influence of Mad Max (1979) especially in the use of vehicles that is only truly realised in gritty Australian cinema like this. I found this to be a quite remarkable and intense film that creates a future that feels real and worryingly prophetic. Highly recommended viewing.

A stunningly enjoyable film both visually, musically and ultimately because it's really clever. This is a thriller with a dashes of humour and a film that is about time, chance and cause & effect. It looks at how small things can change outcomes and how our everyday lives inadvertently affect those of others often by simple quirks of fate. Lola (Franka Potente) receives a frantic telephone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). He has managed to lose a bag containing a lot of money that belongs to a very nasty gangster. He has just 20 minutes to find the money or replace it and he implores Lola to help him. She certainly tries her best! Without giving anything away this is a film that explores the events repeatedly but with each telling of the story something happens to change the outcome. It's intriguing and brilliantly edited and constructed with the use of different colours to signify various thematic ideas. Potente, who will be familiar from The Bourne Identity (2002) is fantastic as Lola. This is a German film and needs to be watched in German with English subtitles because it's infamous for having very bad English dubbing. I highly recommend this it's a real gem.

A science fiction space exploration film that delves into the 'inner space' trauma of isolation and paranoia. It's a somewhat laboured film for at least the first hour with its character based build up and closeted scenes that lack the wonders of any special effects scenes that the genre usually delivers. But it is a film that is worth sitting through as the narrative unfolds. The story is a simple one. A mission to explore Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is underway. The three man crew spend months at a time in hyper sleep, awakened at certain periods to check on the ship and building up to a momentous and dangerous moment when they have to 'slingshot' the ship around Jupiter in order to reach their destination. However the powerful drugs they are given to induce hyper sleep cause disorientation, confusion and gradually paranoia. This is increased when the ship appears to have been impacted but the computer indicates this hasn't happened. The stoic Captain (Laurence Fishburne) is all for carrying on but Nash (Tomer Capone) is emotionally against this. Johns (Casey Affleck) is torn between the two and begins to have visions of his girlfriend (Emily Beecham) and starts to lose his grip on what's real and what is imagined even believing he's actually alone. Affleck is superb here as he gradually deteriorates into madness and his emotional repression takes hold. This is a low budget but effective film that explores the idea that space exploration isn't the ultimate in awe and transcendence but a struggle with with the inner self; a theme that can be recognised here with other films such as Ad Astra (2019), Interstellar (2014) and Moon (2009). This is worth checking out.

A rather brutal and at times uncomfortable film about a punch drunk cage fighter who is forced into one last fight to pay off a debt and to buy back the home of his beloved foster mother. Aaron Eckhart plays Jack, a washed up and damaged fighter who has achieved some notoriety for his fights around the Mississippi Delta. He's trying to give it all up but bad luck besets him at all turns until a young fairground worker (Bella Thorne) crosses his path and by a very huge coincidence changes his focus. The climactic fight is brutal and takes too long in coming but the film has some entertainment value even though it's a bit drawn out and overall has no redeeming characters.

David Fincher's drama about the invention of Facebook and its controversial creator Mark Zuckerberg is a modern parable about greed, self interest and betrayal. It's a sorry tale really of how low people have fallen in having only a focus on self entitlement and the pursuit of wealth above all human emotional goodness. Jesse Eisenberg is excellent as the socially dysfunctional Zuckerberg who is driven by his own sense of genius, which manifests itself in jealousy. The narrative told in a mixture of flashbacks that intertwine with Zuckeberg's days at Harvard University where with his best, and mostly only friend, Eduardo (Andrew Garfield, also excellent), they create a website allowing for students to interact cleverly recognising that what drives the connections at Harvard is who knows who, who is attracted to who and who is having sex with who. The irony being that Zuckerberg can't fully relate to any of those human connections. The trouble too is he is alleged to have stolen the idea from two brothers (both played by Armie Hammer) who late sue him and he betrays Eduardo effectively sidelining him out of the business after it's success really rockets, resulting in a second lawsuit. The hearings identify the themes of the drama. It's a superbly acted and directed film but it's an unpleasant story that really condemns the state of modern America and probably the wider world too.

Adapted from the ingenious and fun filled novel by Richard Osman I can't help but think that the film has been given a veneer of gentle, Father Brownesque Sunday afternoon TV to make this nothing other than a mildly entertaining mystery with a great cast who often struggle for something to do. Helen Mirren dominates as a feisty former spy Elizabeth, now living in a very plush retirement home with her dementia suffering husband (Jonathan Pryce). Her fellow residents Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) and Joyce (Celia Imrie) get together and pore over old unsolved murder cases which they then try to solve. The details of these cases Elizabeth gets from files kept by a dying resident who is an ex cop. But when there is a threat by the sleazy co owner of the home (David Tennant, having the time of his life) to sell it, the group rally everyone to try and stop him. The resulting murders of the owners starts the group onto a real life investigation much to the frustration of the police led by Daniel Mays. The story comes across in the film as utterly preposterous and rests on ridiculous coincidences which leaves the film feeling rushed and underwhelming. This would have been better as an episodic TV series with a slightly edgier take on the mysteries that run through the story. It has its moments but the plethora of talent often overwhelms the somewhat weak script. Lovers of the book will either love it or be disappointed depending probably on whether the casting matches the reader's vision of the characters.

Ronin is an exciting action thriller from director John Frankenheimer who is often forgotten when discussing great action directors. Shot in a muted palette and set in France the film has a European arthouse feel to it that results in it having a serious edge. It certainly is a tense and gritty film and with a fantastic cast. Five disavowed agents and mercenaries are recruited by Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) to steal a mysterious case from a man protected by heavy security. The five include Robert De Niro who plays Sam, a former CIA operative, Jean Reno as underground fixer Vincent, Stellan Skarsgård is Gregor, a former KGB man, Skipp Sidduth is Larry, a top class driver and Sean Bean plays Spence, a former British soldier. It appears that some of these men have their own agendas and the case (the contents of which are never revealed making it the quintessential 'MacGuffin') is coveted by some Russian gangsters and the IRA, of which Deirdre is a member. The team faces some really difficult choices as their plans get thwarted along the way in an engrossing plot that twists and turns. There's some fantastic car chases and set piece gun battles and they are very realistically executed. This is film that has Bondian and Bourne style action, indeed there's a subtle reference to the world of Jason Bourne if you are familiar with the novels and it's all round a riveting watch. The film's conclusion feels a bit too contrived and the plot relies on some startling coincidences and simplified exposition but overall it's an entertaining treat. Support cast of Jonathan Pryce and Micheal Lonsdale just ensure the quality of this all the more. Definitely a film to check out if you've never seen it.

Roman Holiday is the quintessential romantic comedy, a thoroughly charming film and one that will absolutely delight you. Famous now because it made a star of Audrey Hepburn, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance here, and it gave Gregory Peck a much needed light comedy role after many serious and dramatic ones. Completely filmed in Rome (at the insistence of director Willliam Wyler) it's the story of a Princess (of a European country never named), Ann, who is on a goodwill tour of Europe's capitals. Arriving in Rome she is tired and stressed and one night on a whimsy she slips out and explores the night time streets of Rome. There she meets Joe, an American journalist, who is desperate for a big story. He soon susses who Ann is but doesn't let on hoping she'll reveal exclusive information but they soon begin to be attracted to one another. After a day spent together and getting into various scrapes Joe has to make a decision about what he's found out. Both Peck and Hepburn are fantastic especially Hepburn who is a revelation and it's easy to see how she became a huge star. The film has been very influential and you will see, for example, how Richard Curtis' Notting Hill (1999) is essentially the same story. It's a modern fairytale and a lovely little film and just right for a cosy up on the sofa with a loved one. Simply magic.

A great 70s revenge thriller, the sort of film that Sam Peckinpah would've relished. As it stands it's an interesting little gem that has a strong condemnation of American greed and a showcase for cultural frontier violence. William Devane plays Major Charles Rane, a US Air Force officer who returns to his Texas home after seven years in a North Vietnamese prison camp where he was routinely tortured. Trying to fit back in with his wife and a son who doesn't remember him isn't at all easy although he's treated by the townsfolk as a hero. When he is robbed and his family killed and himself badly injured by a gang of thugs he recruits his old POW buddy (Tommy Lee Jones) and they go off to seek revenge. The film culminates in a gripping shoot out in a sleazy brothel. This is one of the small 70s thrillers, independently made, that has reached a minor cult status and it holds up really well today. A film well worth discovering if you've never seen it.

A thoroughly ridiculous film that from start to finish is riddled with stereotypical characters, poor casting and a really bad script. What you have here is a poor attempt at mixing Coogan's Bluff (1968) with the American cowboy lawman in the big city narrative, with Brannigan (1975), the rough tough American cop clashing of cultures theme with the by the book British cops and the main character channeling Nick Nolte's border cop in Extreme Prejudice (1987). This mix is a thorough mess and actually totally laughable. The worst part is the awful script with nearly every line an absolute stinker. Thomas Jane plays Tyree, a Texas Ranger famous for always getting his man, ending up in London working for British Intelligence in order to nail an Irish terrorist. He basically wanders around with a machine gun and a big stetson!! The why's and wherefores are all irrelevant here but to highlight how bad this is you only have to imagine John Malkovich as the Head of MI6, with a very strange accent that flits between robotic and Russian. There's plenty of violence but none of it has any originality and overall it's a shame money was wasted on this mess.