Film Reviews by GI

Here's a full-on gutsy action film that is fun filled, fast paced, brutal and bloody and manages to be firmly tongue-in-cheek. Starring Bob Odenkirk who made his name in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, he's perfect as Hutch, a put upon everyman who lives a mundane, suburban life with his family, although his marriage to Becca (Connie Nielsen) has gone somewhat stale. One night they are broken into by two hapless burglars and Hutch avoids an opportunity to get the drop on them making him a big disappointment to his son. Later when his daughter finds the thieves have taken her 'kitty' bracelet Hutch decides to go and find it. What no-one realises is the events have awoken in Hutch a dark past that will unleash a maelstrom of violence. Thematically and narratively similar to John Wick (2014) - both films share the same screenwriter - this works mainly because Odenkirk really gets across the 'nobody special' persona intregal to the story. He's a totally average sort of guy, both physically and emotionally, so when he reveals his true self it's a real humdinger of a surprise. Most of all this a film that simply entertains throughout, the action scenes are great and the film avoids cliché making it a constant surprise. Just for the sheer fun of it this is a film to sit back and just enjoy.

Martin Scorsese's film about greed, corruption and gambling in Las Vegas is a gangster film and companion piece to Goodfellas (1990). Both films are structured similarly with voiceover narrations and sharply observe the brutal criminal world that controls key aspects of American society. Casino is loosely based on real persons and events and follows the criminal rise and fall of Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a gifted gambler who is employed to run a huge mafia owned casino in Las Vegas. While the money rolls in his bosses are happy. But Sam's old school friend and mobster Nicky (Joe Pesci in another juicy gangster role) comes along to run his own scam and has plans to control all the illegal activity in the city. Everything runs fine for Sam until he meets and marries the unreliable hustler, Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Nicky begins to take things too far giving the FBI an excuse to investigate everyone. Interestingly while the film rattles along at a great pace it doesn't really have a plot as such. It simply follows the lives of the key characters along the road to their own fall and in some cases they end extremely violently. Scorsese doesn't flinch from these aspects and the film has some of the most brutal killings you'll get to see in cinema. But this is a key modern film and although set in the 70s and early 80s it's also a condemnation of contemporary America. All the performances are excellent and Pesci excels as the psychopathic Nicky in a role very similar to the part of Tommy he plays in Goodfellas. This is one of the best films about organised crime in America since The Godfather (1972) and whilst it's shocking and disturbing it's a film that is epic in structure and shows a filmmaker at the top of his game. A must-see film.

This French drama is very impactive, a story of sexual exploitation and grooming in sport, in this case championship skiing. Impeccably acted and beautifully shot the film has the power to act on the viewer by lulling you into believing this is about a young girl with huge potential undergoing her journey to success whereas it's about the casual acts of her coach to abuse her. Lyz (Noée Abita), a 15 year old ski protegé, is a member of the training camp of former ski champion Fred (Jérémie Renier). He sees her potential for the Olympics as a downhill racer and bullies and harangues her to get better and better. His subtle grooming of her exploiting her loneliness (her mother works away leaving her alone much of the time) and abilities culminates in his sexual abuse of her. First time director Charlène Favier cleverly shows how, when the sexual approaches happen, they are awfully inevitable as Fred has carefully spent many months getting Lyz used to his intimate touching which he disguises as coaching. Liz is torn between the emotional fear and angst and wanting to reach her full potential as a champion. This makes this film a powerful story of abuse that makes one wonder how endemic it is in all sports. A film I recommend, horrifying on many levels but passionately portrayed and directed to highlight this behaviour and its consequences.

One of the great classical Hollywood romance dramas with Humphrey Bogart the epitome of the American anti-hero here as a cynical bar owner in French Morocco, still under French rule following their European defeat by the Germans in the early years of the Second World War. This is a story ripe with melodrama and intrigue and made Bogart into a megastar. He really is a most unusual star too when you watch him today, not a classically handsome man and prone to having a sneering look which made him quite menacing. As a bad guy he fitted perfectly, as the romantic hero he's a strange choice but he hits every note just right in this wonderful film. He's Rick, an American, who owns the most popular bar in Casablanca. An uneasy truce exists between the French authorities in the form of the police commissioner (Claude Rains) and the Gestapo, who are on the look out for enemies attempting to flee occupied Europe via Casablanca en route to the USA. Corruption is rife and Rick has a hand in most of it. He has come into possession of some blank exit passports that are worth a fortune on the black market. When an anti-nazi fugitive, Laszlo (Paul Henreid) arrives in town hoping for passage to America Rick couldn't care less until he discovers he's accompanied by his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Rick and Ilsa once had an affair in Paris and he's still very much in love with her. He's faced with a choice of helping Laszlo and Ilsa escape or betraying Laszlo to the gestapo so Ilsa and he can be together. Full of very famous film quotable lines (often wrongly I may add, for example "Play It Again, Sam" is never said in the film) and with a superb cast of support actors and the famous song 'As Time Goes By'. This is a film noir full of dark shadows, betrayals, and double cross with a beautiful love story at its heart. A film that is essential for any true film fan, a real classic and one that its worth seeking out if you've never seen it. It is a real classic from the classical period of American cinema.

After the success of Carry On Sergeant (1958) this sequel of sorts was made and proved even more popular (surprisingly in the US too). Both dealt with British institutions the first being National Service and the Army, and this second film the National Health Service. Like all public sector bodies at the time the NHS was run on a basic military style set up with ranks, discipline and an authoritarian structure. Carry On Nurse is, for the most part, a subtle comedy of manners, it does move from satire into farce at one point but mostly this is a film that draws humour from the institution and it's a film that nostalgically shows what going into hospital was like in the 1950s. Set entirely on a male surgical ward the film gives snapshots of British society especially the issues of class and the lives of ordinary folk in the scenes of visiting hours. The various couples each being very sharply drawn characters. The staff are exemplified by the hard pressed nurses (including Joan Sims in her first 'Carry On' - she eventually appeared in more of them than anyone else) and by the fearsome Matron (Hattie Jacques), whose rounds cause utter panic amongst staff and patients alike. Many of the actors from the first film return including Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton and Terence Longdon (an actor often forgotten but one who appeared in many films and TV throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s). This is a great comedy film that deserves a modern audience. From this the series was launched and viewed today it's a joy, with romance, fun and some, for the time, risqué stuff including a scene involving a daffodil!

A film that starts as a 1960s set family drama that accelerates into a hard edged thriller. A story of a tragedy where happily married couple Margaret (Diane Lane) and George (Kevin Costner), a retired lawman, live contentedly on their Montana ranch. Their son, his wife and their baby boy live with them until one day the son dies in a riding accident. After a couple of years their daughter in law, Lorna (Kayli Carter), remarries and her new husband, Donnie (Will Brittain), a morose, ill tempered man, decides to take his new family away. Distraught that she might never see her grandson again Margaret persuades George they should go and find where they are. Eventually they track them down and find they are living with Donnie's mother, Blanche (Lesley Manville) and her other sons. Blanche is the matriarch presiding over a family of very unpleasant men and Margaret quickly realises she needs to get Lorna and the boy away from them but Blanche won't let them go. Lane is the centre of this story, a woman who is stoically determined to get her grandson away from the obvious harm he is suffering under the evil of Blanche and here is the film's great contrast of characters, Manville clearly relishes the role of Blanche and the film wisely keeps her onscreen appearances to a minimum making her all the more an impactive evil character. You know that the confrontation is on the way from the moment these two women meet and when it comes it doesn't disappoint. So there's some good action to be enjoyed in the climax of the story. An entertaining film, the time and setting beautifully portrayed in what is a character driven film, wonderfully performed, and blending family drama with violent retribution. Well worth checking out.

A nicely sentimental family drama set in the 1990s about a Korean American family who relocate from California to Arkansas. Jacob (Steve Yeun), tired of his chicken factory job has brought his family, wife Monica (Yeri Han), daughter Anne (Noel Cho) and young David (Alan S. Kim) out to the back of beyond to an unworked 50 acre farm where he plans to grow Korean vegetables for the growing Korean population. Monica is sceptical and feels that Jacob has promised much but delivered little. With young David having to be near a hospital due to a heart murmur and the hard work necessary to get the farm working she thinks they've made a huge mistake. Jacob agrees to allow Monica's elderly mother (Yuh-Jung Youn) to join them from Korea. She's a cantankerous woman prone to swearing who spends her time growing a Korean herb, Minari, by a creek in the woods. But her arrival affects them all. The story is a pursuit of the American Dream narrative and the reality behind the dream, mostly told through the experience of young David. This is a film of real heart and while you wait, rightly or wrongly, for a racism issue to arise the film avoids this. This isn't a film about race it's one centred on family and the drive for a better life and the strain that results on marriage and health when the work is hard in order to find that life. Sad, humorous and gentle this is a quite lovely film that is worth checking out.

A warm hearted and thoroughly pleasant little British drama that is just right for a cold winter's evening film. It starts with a tragedy when Sarah (Candice Brown) is killed in a tragic accident on her way to collect the keys for the Notting Hill empty shop her and her best friend, Isabella (Shelley Conn) plan to open as a bakery/coffee shop. Left financially in difficulty Isabella has no idea what to do. But Sarah's 19 year old daughter, Clarissa (Shannon Tarbet) in grief, thinks they should open it anyway but they need the help of curmudgeonly grandma, Mimi (Celia Imrie). They call the shop Love Sarah and when expert baker and former friend of Sarah's, Matthew (Rupert Penry-Jones) joins them it looks like success maybe coming their way. But the relationships between them are fraught with past memories and problems. The film could've had a touch more humour and the characters are a little too thinly drawn but overall this is nothing but a lovely little film. that will appeal to those who want a quiet drama with a happy ending.

Another of the great cycle of war films made in Britain during the 1950s and different for having a woman character as the main protagonist although the casual misogyny of the times is still very much evident. This is loosely based on the true story of Violette Szabo, a young woman from London who marries a French officer after a whirlwind romance in the early days of the Second World War. They have a daughter but after a couple of years he is killed in action. Violette is recruited into the Special Operations Executive, mainly due to her French language skills, and trained for operations in France. Virginia McKenna, a rising British actress, stars as Violette in one of her most famous roles. The story is one of British pluck, with love and patriotism the drivers behind her courage. In that sense it's a flag waver like most of the war films from the period but this has a great story if a little sentimental, it's been dramatised for the cinema so don't be caught believing too much of what you see on screen. This is a film that has romance, action and is also a bit of a tearjerker, it's a classic British film and very entertaining. Paul Schofield co-stars as a fellow SOE agent and the great Jack Warner plays Violette's father. Keen eyed viewers will spot Michael Caine in a very early role too. A film that deserves a modern audience, well worth your time.

The first in what later became the famous British comedy series although it was only after the box office popularity of this film and the following one, Carry On Nurse (1959), that the further films were planned using the 'Carry On' label. British film comedy has a rich history and this film is like the great Ealing comedies. It's set in the time of National Service, the dread of many young men in 1950s Britain, and follows a bunch of hapless new recruits through their basic training. Many of the actors who later appeared in the subsequent films are here including Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor and Hattie Jacques although this one stars Bob Monkhouse, who never made another of the films and is more remembered for his TV stand up work. These early Carry On films are situation comedies and are a real treat when watched today. There's the sheer nostalgia of seeing the Britain of the 1950s combined with a great laugh out loud comedy. It was only later as ideas began to wane that the films became pantomime farces often too silly but the first six films are well worth checking out. Here Drill Sergeant Grimshaw (William Hartnell - the first Dr Who - who often played strict NCOs) is due to retire and yearns to have the champion platoon for his last one. Unfortunately for him he gets a ragtag bunch of no hopers including Connor as a hypochondriac and Monkhouse as a lovelorn newly wedded husband pining for his beautiful wife (Shirley Eaton). You can spot a host of famous British actors who went onto later TV fame here but that aside this is a film that deserves to be seen not only because if its place in film history but also because it is a great British comedy film.

A bawdy female comedy that is a mix and match of silly ideas, with some laughs but overall a film that seems to think that women talking about sex is always funny. The plot has some promise with Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne as Mia and Mel, two best friends since forever who are partners in their own cosmetics company. Unfortunately it's financially struggling and so an offer from ubër bitch, Claire (Salma Hayek), a big cosmetics company owner, to buy 49% of their business divides the two friends allowing Claire to attempt a full take over. Sadly the film relies overly on camp and silly dancing to try and retain some comedy along with shoe throwing and vagina references. The film doesn't waste the opportunity to remind the audience that Mia is black and Mel white and the social issues that go with this, all unnecessary really. There was the promise of something here, a kernel of being a good descendant of Bridesmaids (2011), but it relies on the mistake that women will be thrilled by jokes where they just talk filthily about sex all the time.

One of the great and iconic horror movies and still a great film experience, which, if you've never seen this before, makes it a film to definitely make sure you see. Adapted from the first novel of Stephen King this is a horror story that doesn't fit easily into any of the usual sub-genres. There are narrative connections with The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) but Carrie isn't a demonic possession story nor a devil worship story. The elements of extreme religious belief are there and some may read the film as one involving demonic power. However the themes here are more involved and complicated. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a High School student, she's shy, introverted and a social outcast mainly due to the sheltered life she lives under the domination of her deranged mother, a religious zealot. Unprepared when she has her first period while at school she is ruthlessly bullied by the other girls led by Chris (Nancy Allen) and Sue (Amy Irving). Sue feels remorse and arranges for her boyfriend, Tommy (William Katt) to take Carrie to the school prom but nasty Chris devises a prank to pull on Carrie to humiliate her further. Unfortunately for them Carrie has a unique gift that they are unprepared for. In many ways this is a coming-of-age story linked with a narrative around feminine empowerment. The horror elements are left unexplained but that matters not because the shocks are enough in their own right. Director Brian De Palma carefully lulls the audience before unleashing the full effects of what Carrie can do and the film has some very famous scenes. This is a key film of the 1970s and today it retains the power to be unsettling and full of dread. This is also John Travolta's first major screen role. This is a great film, if you haven't seen this then give it a go, you maybe surprised. There is a remake but, in my opinion, this original is the better film

A spectacular, enthralling science fiction film made in Switzerland and mightily impressive it is too. Set in the 23rd century where the Earth has become uninhabitable and the surviving population live on overcrowded and epidemic ridden satellite cities. The dream of everyone is to be able to buy a ticket to the planet Rhea. Laura (Anna Katharina Shwarbroh), a doctor, takes a job on a huge cargo vessel in order to earn the money to join her sister on Rhea. The journey to the destination, a space station, takes eight years there and back and for the most part the crew remain in cyrosleep with each having an eight month shift awake to maintain the ship's systems. On Laura's shift she begins to suspect a stowaway is aboard and awakens the crew. Soon strange things begin to happen. A great story that has mystery, intrigue and unravels into a really interesting idea. The effects are fantastic and film aficionados will see the influence of other sci-fi films including Alien (1979), The Matrix (1999) and Event Horizon (1997) in the look, style and elements of the storyline. This is bold, ambitious film and once that has slipped under the radar probably because it's a European production. But don't be put off by that because this is an excellent film and well worth your time.

A tragic and passionate love story set in the wilds of the USA in the 1850s. With two wonderful central performances this is a film that is quite spellbinding. The cinematography beautifully captures the landscape and draws you into the harshness of the times, an element central to the story. This follows Abigail (Katherine Waterston), a stoic farmer's wife, both of whom are grieving after the death of their five year old daughter a year earlier. Abigail keeps a diary the entries of which, with a voice over narrative, allows her to share her thoughts and loneliness. Her husband (a nice underplayed performance from Casey Affleck) is caring but distant so Abigail devotes herself to the routines of their isolated life. When couple Finney (Christopher Abbott), a dour, unfeeling man and Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) , his beautiful and carefree wife rent a neighbouring farm Abigail is shocked by Tallie's attitudes to life and they begin to ignite hidden passions within one another. Kirby and Waterston are really remarkable in this restrained yet rather lovely film. The patriarchal and misogynistic elements of the times resonate with a contemporary view of relationships which here drives the story to tragedy but at the same time highlights that deeper feelings that, once set free, give life a true purpose. A delight and a film well worth checking out.

This is basically The Lord Of The Flies in space. The premise is good and the idea very apt in these days of worrying climate change but the film stays rather muted and errs on the side of caution. This its a shame because it would have benefitted by being a more adult orientated and gutsy narrative. Set in the late 21st century with the Earth steadily becoming more uninhabitable. To ensure the survival of humanity a space mission is planned to reach and colonise a distant planet. The journey will take 86 years and so mission specialist Richard (Colin Farrell) has the crew genetically engineered from birth. He will manage them on the flight which it's known will mean the grandchildren of the original crew will be the ones to colonise the new world. But when, as teenagers, they start to develop emotions including jealousy and anger the mission begins to go awry and different factions vie for control. The idea of emotionless future people (in this film they are given a drug to suppress them) has been done before and it creates a good contrast when they suddenly discover love, fear etc etc. But the film then slips into a good guys/bad guys mode without the excitement of the violence or passion that has been built up. This makes it all very tame and whilst it looks good, for the most part, it drifts along to the inevitable and predictable end. Tye Sheridan and Lily-Rose Depp are the good guys with Fionn Whitehead the one who lets his emotions get the better of him!. Watchable but nothing special.