Film Reviews by GI

This is an offbeat semi-comedy social drama set in a roadside restaurant that offers scantily clad girls as waitresses serving the slightly dodgy male clientele but trying to maintain a naughty but safe vibe. The manager is Lisa (Regina Hall) who sees the girls as her pseudo-family whom she fiercely protects even though the owner causes her many problems. The drama of the film follows events there over one day and whilst the performances, especially Hall, are all sound this is a somewhat bland film that failed to raise much enthusiasm. There's a drift into some personal problems that Lisa has but I was left unsure of what the film is trying to reveal.

What has all the initial trademarks of clichéd thriller actually turns out to be more entertaining and interesting. The set up is on the face of it very familiar, young couple go to a remote weekend retreat where they inadvertently become the target for some nasty bad guys and have to defend themselves against the odds. But as this film moves neatly and steadily forwards it takes an interesting direction or two making for a far better film than at first thought. Paula Patton is journalist Brea who is taken to a mountain retreat by her boyfriend, John (Omar Epps) for a romantic weekend where he intends to propose. But a chance encounter with a disturbed woman in a service station restroom leads to a confrontation with a ruthless sex trafficking gang led by Luke Goss. Soon the couple are fighting for their lives. It's in the twists of the plot and the attempt to highlight the scandal of sex trafficking that the film works remarkably well. It's never overly pretentious and the story keeps you entertained throughout. Well worth checking out.

This lurid melodrama from David Lynch is a mixture of nightmarish road movie, romance and thriller with his trademark analysis of America that is both surreal, repulsive and in its details very realistic. Obsessed with the world of the nightmare Lynch even uses the iconography of The Wizard of Oz (1939), arguably the most famous narrative built on a dream, to showcase his array of grotesque characters. Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play Sailor and Lula, young lovers obsessed with each other. Sailor has a criminal past and Lula, raped as a child, is under the obsessive and psychotic protection of her mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd - Dern's actual mother). When they run off together Marietta hires a private investigator to track them down but impatient for results she also brings in a gangster, who is in love with her, to find them and kill Sailor. The warped love story here is littered with shocking violence, graphic sex and bizarre side episodes that may be baffling if you're not experienced with Lynch films. All the characters have an almost unreal theatricality to them that highlights America as a circus of freaks from Willem Dafoe's quite scary and repulsive Bobby Peru to Isabella Rossellini's Perdita with her very weird eyebrows! A film that will stay in the memory I guarantee and it marks Lynch as a filmmaker to be ranked highly, he's original and unique so his films are always worth checking out. Here too you get Cage before he'd decided to make endless throw aways and Dern's performance will shock especially if you're only familiar with her from the likes of Jurassic Park (1993).

A mostly feel good French comedy about a gay water polo team. The story follows dedicated swimmer and Olympic hopeful Matthias (Nicolas Gob) who unwisely makes a homophobic comment whilst being interviewed on TV and under threat of being dropped from the national swimming team agrees to coach the Shiny Shrimps, a gay water polo team heading to Croatia for the Gay Games. It's full of clichéd jokes although many are very funny with the obvious clash between the heterosexual Matthias and the mostly overly gay team, most of who act completely infantile the whole time. A well meaning film that is a little too stereotypical and with a fairly predictable story arc but entertaining enough.

Director Ken Loach's follow up and companion piece to I, Daniel Blake (2016) is a bleak and moving story. A social drama about a Newcastle family of couple Ricky (Kris Hitchen) and Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) and their two children. Having had their dreams of owning their own house dashed in the 2008 financial crash he's struggled to find regular work and Abbie works for a care agency travelling around the city (at her own expense) to help ageing and disabled people get dressed and preparing their meals. Ricky sees an opportunity as a delivery driver but he has to buy his own van and the company doesn't employ him but gives him 'work opportunities' with fines for failing to meet deadlines. The company effectively avoids having to comply with workers basic rights and Ricky soon sees he's been sold a lie and debts mount as there are no allowances for time off. The film looks long and hard at the gig-economy culture that traps people in a spiral of debt and pressure to earn little. Like Loach's work in general this is powerful stuff and even if you don't agree with his political views there's no escaping his exposure of systems like this that are constructed to exploit people for profit. The use of unknown and non-professional actors enhances the documentary feel and whilst the narrative slips into melodrama this is used to show how the pressures begin to destroy the family unit. A sad film, and a sad indictment of a system that allows this sort of enterprise to flourish, that is well worth watching.

When the SAS were shown on prime time TV storming the London Iranian Embassy in 1980 after it had been taken over by terrorists there was a wave of euphoria in the British media and amongst the public over the exploits of this famous special forces regiment. It was inevitable that a film would soon follow and producer Euan Lloyd saw the potential for a box office hit. Utilising the popularity of TV action hero Lewis Collins, who was himself a part time soldier and who was being touted as a possible future James Bond, a surefire hit was inevitable. Sadly it failed to give him the mainstream film career he coveted. Viewed today this is an action thriller with a preposterous plot that you can drive a bus through but it's great entertainment. The style is clearly influenced by the gritty TV series' that were abundant on British TV at the time including The Sweeney, Target and The Professionals, in which Collins played Bodie, an agent in a special government department. Here Collins is mostly a more suave Bodie, with an attempt to make him a bit 007ish, in a story that doesn't attempt to retell the Iranian Embassy siege but has a climax obviously based on it. Collins is SAS Captain Skellern who is sent undercover to infiltrate a terrorist group masquerading as an anti-nuclear peace movement. The baddies are led by Judy Davis, ruthless but willing to fall for the hero's charms, and the film is a thriller narrative until the end with a climactic set piece storming of, in this case, the American Ambassador's residence. Plenty of gunplay and tough violence, the best scene being the rescue of Skellern's wife and child by the SAS from the evil clutches of Ingrid Pitt. The film was high profile enough to attract some Hollywood royalty namely Richard Widmark and Robert Webber, also Edward Woodward, Patrick Allen have support roles. There's some memorable lines throughout the film and the best ones go to Tony Doyle as the SAS Colonel ("Live bastards......Dead soldiers"). Politically the film is very conservative and caused some consternation particularly amongst genuine peace groups but overall this is a slice of hokum, not to be taken seriously, but great fun.

This is one of the classic Ealing Studio comedies and the first to be a hit in the USA. Based on a true story and adapted from a novel it's a story steeped in the quaintness of Britain and its people. Set on a Hebridean island during the Second World War where due to shortages all the whisky runs out and the menfolk become despondent. Then one foggy night, as luck would have it, a cargo ship founders and is abandoned by the crew. Its cargo of whisky is soon 'saved' by the islanders but they have to reckon with the Home Guard commander who is all for law and order and is determined to find it. But the islanders prove to be adept at keeping it concealed! This is the sort of film that John Ford would be at home making, as it is it's mildly amusing when watched today and has an interesting theme about the small man taking on the establishment, in this case the shadowy customs men brought in the find the whisky. Worth seeing today with plenty of character actors including James Robertson Justice in a small role as the island doctor and Gordon Jackson in an early role. It is renowned as part of Ealing's canon so is a film the movie fans should ensure they see at least once.

A grandiose remake of Dario Argento's 70s horror ( and infamous video nasty) and a film that is clearly very impressed with itself. In its washed out, bleak, wintry look and overly long running time this is a pretentious film. Somewhere in here its a great film trying to get out, unfortunately it fails and it ends up just being trying. However there are snatches of enthralling film mixed in, its just that they don't make for a coherent narrative and thrilling experience. Dakota Johnson, who is mesmerising here, is a shy, young dancer, Susie, who joins a prestigious dancing school in West Berlin in the late 70s. She soon attracts the attention of the haunting head teacher Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) and rises to become the top dancer but there are sinister goings on with strange dreams affecting the dancers, and some turn up dead. An ageing psychiatrist (also played by Swinton but billed as Lutz Ebersdorf for pointless reasons) begins to look closely at the goings on at the school. There's some gore and horror thrown in here with Swinton having a ball playing three roles including the aforesaid psychiatrist where she channels a pseudo Father Merrin type character. It has a Lynchian approach to horror but without the originality. As Argento said himself, if its the same as the original its just a copy, if it's not the same then why not make it entirely original. In this case he's right because this is a little boring.

"Broadsword calling Danny Boy, Broadsword calling Danny Boy". This line will immediately come to mind when you think about this wonderful action adventure film. A Boys Own story that doesn't need historical accuracy to be one of the greatest war films. It's Bondian in style and has a fantastic plot that twists and turns making for a mystery as well as an espionage and conspiracy story all combined. Richard Burton, in a rare action role, is the wry and cynical Major Smith, a wartime MI6 agent heading a crack team of intelligence officers sent on a covert mission to rescue an important American General held by the Nazis in a Bavarian castle. Clint Eastwood, with his rising star status, is the token American on the team (he basically handles all the shooting killing more people in this film than in any other) but there for a good reason because the basic rescue mission hides a story of double cross, traitors and trying work out who is on whose side. Written by Alistair MacLean specifically as a film script (he later turned it into a subtly different novel) this is simply great fun from start to finish and it's one of those films you watch and remember why you love cinema so much. Wonderful support cast including Mary Ure, Ingrid Pitt, Derren Nesbitt (wonderfully slimy and devious as a Gestapo officer), Donald Houston, Michael Hordern and Patrick Wymark. A thrilling film and even though you can drive holes through the plot it doesn't matter because it works on every level.

A mild interesting horror compendium with some neat monsters but ultimately all a bit tame and somewhat clichéd. Based on a series of books this is a story about a group of youngsters who hide in the local haunted house while being chased by the school bullies. Inside they find an old book of ghost stories which one of them takes home. Soon the book begins writing new stories all by itself and each story has one of the group at its centre. Macabre and spooky events then happen to them one at a time. Despite the involvement of Guillermo del Toro who produces here this offers nothing much new in the genre, we have the standard haunted mansion with a dodgy history, there's a controlling ghost, an asylum, and some dark shadows. For some reason its set in 1968 with continued references to the approaching election of Richard Nixon but I struggle to fathom the relevance. The film has been produced with high quality but its a film for teenagers on a dark night after a few beers.

Whilst this very moving film is about nuclear war it has in many ways a contemporary resonance with the coronavirus pandemic. When The Wind Blows seeks to show that government 'advice' and instruction is often ill-thought out, designed as a placatory placebo or just downright useless. This is a serious British animation film with some dark humour centred around the, now, infamous Protect & Survive booklet issued to the public to prepare them for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills provide the voices for the two characters Hilda and Jim. A retired couple who have moved to the country. They are a typical naive English pair who believe what they read in the papers and tend to see authority as there for their ultimate good. With warnings of East/West tensions Jim follows the booklets instructions and prepares their humble house ready for an air attack and the fallout. He tries to laugh off the booklets contradictions such as removing the doors to build a shelter (which he does) but also to close all the doors to limit the spread of fire! It's here that you can observe the relevance today in the strangely contradictory advice given around the pandemic restrictions. As a film this is a tender and touching story of a very identifiable married pair who view the world and the past through rose tinted spectacles with their fond memories of the blitz and of a time of community coming together as they see it in the Second World War. Hilda is more concerned with Jim using her best cushions for the shelter than the implications of the attack. Ultimately when the attack comes Jim and Hilda are ill prepared for survival because of the lack of information and to that end the film is touched with sadness. This is emphasised by the style of animation and story from Raymond Briggs (who also wrote The Snowman) which combined together gives the film a quaintness and very English quality. Interesting to know that when the film was first released the government of the day was determined the film shouldn't be shown in schools. It was and today it's definitely a film that children should see.

This is an exquisitely nasty thriller about two sociopaths going head to head. Despite its coldness this is eminently watchable and draws you in making it rather enjoyable with very dark humour and a twisty plot. Rosamund Pike, almost perfectly cast, plays Marla, a calculating and cold woman who runs a scam as a court approved legal guardian trapping old people into care homes and milking their assets with the help of compliant doctors, care home owners and conning a naive judge. When she targets a wealthy woman (Dianne Wiest) with no apparent family and has her incarcerated she hasn't banked on the woman having some very dangerous connections. This is a really decent thriller with Pike channeling the same ruthlessness she showed in Gone Girl (2014), Wiest is also really good as the old lady who has a hidden toughness that is a neat surprise and sadly she is underused in the film especially its ending and Peter Dinklage supports. Because everyone is rather despicable you get caught up in the battle between the main characters where it's difficult if impossible to root for anyone. You just have to sit back and see who might win this violent battle of wits. Despite the evil nature of the protagonists this is a film that cleverly avoids gratuitousness making it a very enjoyable thriller. Recommended.

This is a very distinctive and quite original romance drama and clearly a very personal work from director Joanna Hogg. It's quite a mysterious and beautiful film that defies expectations and cliché and consequently at times it's a difficult film to read. The story concerns Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), a sweet, young film student who hails from a wealthy and upper class family, she lives in a neat apartment in Knightsbridge funded by her parents. The social-realism of their position is quite accurate, an honest representation of the position of privilege in British modern society. Julie has a matey relationship with her mother (Tilda Swinton) who lends her money for her film making projects. Then into her life comes the suave, supercilious and patronising Anthony (Tom Burke), who works for the Foreign Office and Julie falls for him. He soon inveigles his way deep into her life and there's a vampiric quality to him. His increasing need to borrow small amounts of money are the early signs that something is amiss but it takes a pompous friend (Richard Ayoade) to reveal Anthony's secret that will affect Julie's life. This film draws you into the relationship in a deft and clever way and with the remarkable performances this is a film of inspiration and intelligence. It won't be for anyone who seeks thrills in their films but if you are open for a relationship/romance film of delicacy and difference then this is well worth your time.

This is one of the finest American motion pictures that's ever been made. Director Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece that set the tone for the future of the western genre but more importantly it's a film that deconstructs the legends and myths created by Hollywood of the history of the American frontier. The themes of contradictory loyalties and the absence of any recognisable code for the protagonists goes against everything that filmmakers like John Ford or Howard Hawks presented (John Wayne is said to have hated this film). For a start the setting is unusual, this is set in 1913/14 on the Texas/Mexico border. A violent civil war is raging in Mexico as rebels are attempting to overthrow the corrupt and dictatorial government. A small gang of criminals led by Pike (William Holden) flee across the border after a robbery of a railroad office goes awry. They are being pursued by a motley bunch of mercenaries hired by the railroad to catch or kill them all. Desperate the gang agree to rob an arms train for a Mexican General but the decision to give some of the stolen guns to the rebels results in the bunch having to decide on what they want from their wasted lives. The film has two very famous set pieces that bookend the film; an opening gun battle as the gang's robbery in Texas goes wrong and a climactic battle against overwhelming odds that finishes the film. This is often thought of as a gratuitously violent film but this is not so, indeed by today's standards it's quite tame, but it is one of the first films to use squibs to simulate gunshot wounds and became controversial as a consequence. But actually the film's depictions of death are balletic with Peckinpah using a unique style of cuts and slow motion to highlight the majestic nature of the action. It's been much copied since but never as good as here. There's been whole books written just about this film which highlights the high regard in which it is held. It is a genuine film masterpiece, a film that has much more going on than a casual viewing reveals. It rarely gets any better than this.

Despite the title this is a totally fictional account of the notorious Australian outlaw and it's a cold, bleak film littered through with brutal violence, homoeroticism and a punk sentimentality. At times I found the film ridiculous and at times fascinating but ultimately it left me empty. The narrative here forgoes a traditional rise of the outlaw type story with bank robberies and a growing notoriety to show an occasionally confusing and emotional journey of a young Ned (Orlando Schwerdt), witnessing the sexual favours his mother (Essie Davis) is forced to give to the local policeman (Charlie Hunnam) to crazed, cross dressing rebel at odds with British policeman Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult). The whole thing has a weirdness about it that was jarring and odd. Russell Crowe has a neat cameo as real life criminal and Kelly's tutor Harry Power and Essie Davis is really good as Kelly's mother. I think this will be a 'marmite' film, you'll either love it or hate it.