Film Reviews by GI

A well meaning drama that is all just a little too neat and risk free to make it really good despite the first class performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry. We get a good glimpse at the Lawrence who shot to acclaim in Winter's Bone (2010) here in this sincere film about a mentally and physically wounded soldier trying to recuperate. Lawrence is Lynsey who was involved in an IED attack in Afghanistan and the film begins with her recovery with the help of a nurse but her recovery is rushed through the narrative until we get Lynsey back at home having to reignite a relationship with her rather insensitive mother (Linda Emond) and where old family traumas prove just as hard to overcome as her battle injuries. Her journey to happiness comes from her relationship with a sensitive local mechanic played by Henry. Both are excellent but the narrative is all a bit light and over sentimental making for an unrewarding film. It's all a bit risk free and whilst it's worth checking out it lacks the actual drama that is always hinted at.

A plainly bland and dull title gives way to a reasonably entertaining if fairly routine action thriller. Gerard Butler does another action hero job here as an airline pilot (with a history of a bit of justified violence) who is forced to emergency land his aircraft after it's struck by lightening. Finding themselves on a jungle island near to the Philippines and without communication means a long wait by the passengers and crew for rescue but unfortunately the island is occupied by nasty rebels who are only too eager for foreign hostages. Luckily for the hero he has help from a murderer who was on board being escorted by the FBI back home for his trial and sets out to foil the baddies with some traditional violence. Thereafter it's all Die Hardish action with plenty of shooting and the whole thing is wrapped up in a decent runtime making for a gutsy action film that keeps you watching even though it's all been done before somewhere else.

Whilst this spy thriller stretches implausibility to the extreme limits it is very entertaining. Based on the popular 60s TV series it is heavily influenced by the early Bond films and filled a gap that wasn't satisfyingly filled until The Bourne Identity (2002) and when the Bond franchise rebooted in 2006 with Casino Royale. The only character to cross over from the TV series to this film is Jim Phelps, here played by Jon Voight, who leads a covert intelligence team of young agents from a top secret branch of the CIA. One of his team is Ethan (Tom Cruise) who ends up being the only survivor when a mission in Prague goes wrong. Suspected of being a traitor Ethan has to go on the run and come up with a plan to prove his innocence. The scene is then set for great set piece action including a break in at CIA HQ, some very clever plot twists (some of which seriously upset fans of the TV series) and a 007 style ending. Cruise proves his action hero credentials here in a film that is aimed at a wide audience although there is some brutality. The gritty realism will come later in what has now emerged as a highly popular franchise. Great support cast includes Ving Rhames, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas and an uncredited Emilio Estevez. If you've seen all the series then this, the first, still stands up well and slightly apart from the rest of the films.

With it's slight European feel and a look very much of the Hammer Horror style this horror (with sci-fi) has become a bit of a cult favourite although I suspect that's more a nostalgic issue with people who flocked to see it back on its first release when it was the go-to late night film at many cinemas. It had benefitted from a big TV advertising campaign which focused on the infamous flying sphere sequence and drew audiences in and that sequence still garners excitement from some even today. The film is a sort of one man band effort with director Don Coscarelli writing, producing, directing and editing and it shows because it's really a poorly written and very clunky film that makes little sense and has some clumsy continuity errors. The narrative is influenced around the Hammer like vampire and zombie films with lots of coffins, shadows and strange things glimpsed every so often and there's even a pair of boobs for good measure. The story is simple and daft. A young boy (Michael Baldwin), mourning his recently deceased parents, becomes suspicious about the funeral home that is in a big country house and overseen by weird 'Tall Man' (Angus Scrimm). The boy and his elder brother investigate and discover the whole thing is a cover for aliens who reanimate human corpses into murderous dwarfs and send them back to their home planet for use as slave labour. None of it is presented in any remotely believable way and the presentation is about effect over good story telling. The final ending still rankles with many! Viewed today it's a cheap B movie horror more laughable than scary and if you've never seen it then don't expect too much.

A relationship drama centred around the appalling duplicity of a narcissistic man. It's essentially a love triangle narrative with a mercurial young film director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) married to artist Martin (Ben Whishaw) who begins a passionate affair with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Tomas is a selfish, self absorbed young man who can't make up his mind which relationship to commit to and causes an emotional avalanche between the three of them. There's a lot of sex in this film although it's presented sensitively and in keeping with the story. The frustration here is that whilst this is a study of modern relationships the three main characters are either awful (Tomas) or naïve in the extreme and unable to fathom what fools they are in being gaslighted by Tomas. It's superbly acted and Exarchopoulos is especially good here. Ultimately though the film didn't really grab me although it is on occasion very funny.

Basically a heist movie and the first in the series I found entertaining. It's a full on action film with a decent plot and while it's an occasionally clunky script and all very 'Grand Theft Auto' it holds the attention nicely. The old frenemies of Dom (Vin Diesel) and ex-cop Brian (Paul Walker) are now on the run and hiding out in Brazil. Brian and Dom's sister, Mia (Jordan Brewster) are a loved upon couple now but they need cash and so get involved in some daredevil action, cross the big bad mob boss and decide to steal his fortune. To add to their troubles we have the addition of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) as a DEA agent on their tail. We get a full on scrap between Diesel and Johnson and of course they have to join up to take down the big nasty but leave their issues for another film. There's less of the lingering close ups of female bottoms and only one real car race as this instalment moves into a Mission Impossible style although without the cleverness and characters of that series. Entertaining but simple.

Whilst there are several plot holes this is one of Steven Spielberg's best science fiction films. Based on a Philip K. Dick short story and set in 2054 it gives an interesting vision of the near future where genetic experimentation has resulted in the birth of three gifted humans who can see murders before they happen. A police unit led by Tom Cruise is able to arrest the murderer before they commit the crime. But when he is predicted to be the next killer of a man he doesn't know he has to go on the run and try and unravel the mystery behind this future event. Spielberg presents the film with a bleached look which adds to the bleak vision of the future where commercialism dominates daily life with retina scanning and people still live in over-populated projects controlled by a very powerful police force. There's plenty of action including some great chase sequences and for the most part Spielberg avoids his tendency towards over sentimentality. Colin Farrell excels as a cop who is out to discredit the system and the great Max Von Sydow is the man who invented it. There's some fantastic details to be enjoyed and this is a great story however implausible it all sounds. Well worth checking out if you've never seen it.

The Coen Brothers subversive gangster film is a real treat. Utilising clichéd gangster speech as if laughing at old Hollywood gangster films that featured Paul Muni, George Raft, James Cagney etc but bringing a convoluted, twist and turn plot and cartoon style violence intermixed with gruesome reality this is a film that defies expectations and makes the gangster genre fresh and exciting. Indeed it could be argued there's almost a Fordian style to the film. Set in the Prohibition era it has Gabriel Byrne as Tom, the chief adviser to top mobster Leo (Albert Finney). But rising gangster Caspar (a hilarious Jon Polito) has ambitions and when Leo refuses permission for him to kill Bernie (John Turturro) Tom senses Leo has made a mistake and that their downfall may result. From then the film becomes a cat and mouse game of changing sides and loyalties. It's tremendous fun and has a great script and some beautiful cinematography. This is one of the Coen Brothers great tributes to classical Hollywood and a unique film in it's own right. Simply fantastic this is a film to enjoy time and time again.

This is a routine French police procedural that starts superbly but fizzles out to a most disappointing ending. In 2016 a young girl on her way home is brutally murdered and a top investigative team is drafted in to save the crime. hey soon discover the girl was promiscuous and several 'boyfriends' surface as suspects. meanwhile some of the police team have their own relationship issues to deal with. I won't give away the ending over than to say the investigation drags on and you'll be very disappointed. A shame really as this had potential.

This latest addition to The Conjuring franchise is a real damp squib. Full of the usual attempted jump scares that don't make you jump it's a simple camera track down lots of gloomy corridors and rooms, all very dull and boring and the actual 'Nun' makes very little actual appearance. Here we have a horror that has nothing to say and has nothing very original to see either and is best avoided. Set in France in 1956 and the demonic nun from the 2018 film is still on the loose in a girl's boarding school. A young nun is sent to sort it out. Oh and there's some ancient artefact that she has to find but sadly Indiana Jones is not around to help with that. Give this a miss.

A baffling, enigmatic, enthralling and mystifying film from director Nicolas Winding Refn. It's certainly Lynchian in style and narrative structure and any fan of David Lynch will, I suspect, really like this. It's a film that needs a few viewings to appreciate and perhaps unravel and even then it may remain a 'marmite' film, you'll either hate it or be thoroughly engrossed and in admiration. The story is actually very simple. Julian (Ryan Gosling) runs a boxing club in Bangkok. The club is a front for a major drug dealing business that he runs with his elder brother, Billy (Tom Burke). Psychopathic Billy viciously murders a young prostitute and is in turn killed by the girl's father at the insistence of a police officer, Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm). The brother's mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) turns up wanting revenge and insists Julian kills all responsible. But not only is Julian reluctant but Chang proves a complicated adversary. Thematically this is a tale of good vs evil. Crystal is a monstrous character and the film strongly hints at incestuous relationships with both her sons and Chang is a dark avenger with a supernatural ability. The bold colours of the film and the dark, sinister lighting gives the whole film a sense of a hallucinogenic trip. There is little said by the characters and there is an all pervading sense of depravity and foreboding. There's some disturbing scenes and lots to unravel not least the emphasis on hands as symbols of sin. I find much to admire here and I'm constantly drawn to the film looking at the various clues on offer but it is a challenging film and definitely not for all. However cinema like all art needs to be challenging and complex and open to conflicted interpretations. This fits that idea very well.

Midnight Run is a superbly entertaining adult crime comedy/thriller from director Martin Brest who was very lucky to get Robert De Niro who was looking for something a bit lighter after The Untouchables (1987). Even more great casting came when Brest cast Charles Grodin after objections from the studio who actually wanted the character changed to a woman and for Cher to take the role. Brest refused and he was right because the screen buddy chemistry between De Niro and Grodin makes this film so wonderful. De Niro is Jack, an ex Chicago cop now working in LA as a lowly bounty hunter tracking down bail jumpers for a seedy bail bondsman. He lost his job, his wife and family when he refused to take corrupt payments from a big time mobster and now he dreams of getting out of the grubby world he now works in. So when he's offered a $100 grand to bring in Jonathan (Grodin), a humble accountant wanted for embezzlement of mob funds, he sees his way out. Jack soon tracks him down to New York and he has 5 days to get him back to LA, hunted by the FBI (a brilliantly sinister and funny Yaphet Kotto) and the mob (in the form of Dennis Farina) and with Jonathan turning out to be far cleverer than Jack anticipated, they have to go on a long road trip. The journey proves very adventurous. This is an absolutely great little film and I highly recommend it. And it's really good to see De Niro clearly having fun away from playing nasty gangsters!

The MCU cinematic universe adds another rather pointless and at times dumb down antihero in a fairly uninspiring film. Maybe MCU fans all rave about this but it doesn't add anything very original nor has any particular entertainment value. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) has a genetic blood disorder along with his best childhood buddy Milo (Matt Smith). Michael dedicates his life to finding a cure before early death strikes and ambitiously mixes the DNA of vampire bats with his own resulting in his developing vampiric superpowers and the inevitable bloodlust. Trying to control his new body and urges he ends up having to battle with Milo who also tries the new 'cure' and loves the power and ability to kill a little too much. It's all very silly and it is very similar to Venom (2018) and, of course, we've already had a vampire superhero in Blade (1998) and there are hints of Underworld (2003) here too. It's a film strictly for fans of the comic books, all a little hackneyed and taken far too seriously.

This is a bold, visually spectacular science fiction extravaganza from director Gareth Edwards. It really is impressive, influenced extensively by Blade Runner (1982) and a host of other films not least the Star Wars series. In a future about 40 years from now the developments in robot technology have led to Artificial Intelligence on a grand scale but a nuclear disaster in the US has led to the banning of all AI. In the east however AI is welcomed and has integrated into human life and this has led to a global war with the US who have developed a massive weapon with which they plan to wipe out AI once and for all. Former ex Special Forces Joshua (John David Washington) is persuaded to return to the east on a mission to destroy a dangerous weapon that will lose the war for the west. Joshua is a traumatised soldier having lost his pregnant wife on a previous mission. When he finds this new AI weapon it's not what he expected. There's been quite a sub genre of man vs machine narratives such as The Matrix (1999) and the Terminator series (1984 and others) and this latest has some clever twists on the story form especially around the good v evil idea. Edwards has created a really impressive film here and whilst I felt the story was a little rushed towards the end and perhaps a little underwhelming the overall structure, vibe and entertainment values are all superb. A film to catch on a big screen if you can, the futuristic scenes are extremely good, but definitely one to enjoy at home too.

Considering this was director Tony Gilroy's first film, which he also wrote, it's a remarkable achievement. A really gripping conspiracy thriller with a dark, convoluted plot that keeps you hooked all the way through aided by great performances. George Clooney is the titular Michael Clayton, a lawyer in a big New York firm which is about to merge with an even bigger London based law company. Michael is a gambler and heavily in debt but he's also a highly skilled 'fixer' for his firm, a lawyer who sorts out the mess others make! When their top lawyer Arthur (Tom Wilkinson) appears to lose his marbles and threatens the success of a lawsuit case involving a big chemical company Michael is called in. But he soon finds himself caught up in a murderous conspiracy. Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack co star and the film garnered Best Supporting Actress Oscar and BAFTA for Swinton and a host of nominations including direction and acting for Clooney and Wilkinson. This is one of the best thrillers to come out of Hollywood for many a year yet it's one many people have either not seen or have forgotten all about. Now's the time to seek it out because it's damn good.