Film Reviews by AER

I generally love Icelandic cinema and this was one of the hold outs from the international breakouts that I still had to see. Wish I hadn't. Rekjavik 101 is a tedious sex comedy with shrill, repetitive performances from an overqualified cast which includes Victoria Abril! Lame, flaccid, largely unfunny.

Director Mark Jenkin has a unique approach to filmmaking - implementing old tech hardware and dubbing the sounds on later, his movies are certainly an acquired taste. Rose of Nevada is his third feature and you should know what to expect - stilted acting and a liberal respect of linear coherent narrative. If you don't mind the mysterious nature of its storyline and are happy to piece it all together afterwards, The Rose of Nevada really is something special. It's a timemachine/ghost story that falls somewhere between Jenkin's relatable BAIT and his elusive arty ENYS MEN. At a glance, the plot may look like a Cornish Event Horizon but it's so much more... :)

A waxwork museum of a biopic of one of the 20th centuries finest poets/novelists, Sylvia Plath. Daniel Craig overacts as her Ted Hughes and Gwyneth Paltrow is strangled by a repetitive script which leaves her in a loop of jealousy and depression. It's disappointing considering this was directed by Christine Jeffs who's debut 'RAIN' (2001) was really promising. Dead behind the eyes. Criminally boring.

This was released long before news reached us that Bruce Willis was very ill. I'd begun to notice his face on the front of lots of DVD covers for films I'd never heard of, so I was wondering if he'd been blacklisted. So with knowledge of how poorly he was I decided to try one of the higher profile releases from the last few years of his career. In a supporting role, it's a cushy, snoozy job for Mr Willis, who has little to add to the main plot.

MIDNIGHT IN THE SWITCHGRASS has name support from Megan Fox (Transformers)... and decent character actors like Emile Hirsch (LORDS OF DOGTOWN) and Lukas Haas (BRICK), however, the lousy script and the sleepy acting from everybody makes this tortuous. The film is like the bits you fast forward through in a soft-porn story movie. It's shockingly wooden, dreadfully plotted, and one hundred percent moronic. Why did Bruce sully his legacy for this? To build a decent nest egg for his kids? Had to be the green.

Interesting coming-of-age drama set near Wirkworth in NZ. This one deals with burgeoning sexuality head on with troubling results. Excellent performances from the cast, from the youngest to the most experienced. Some artistic fluorishes distract rather than enhance it, dating it in the early 2000s. The seventies setting is effective, and the production design convincing. Marton Czokas is really good in a complex role, but the film belongs to Alicia Fulford-W as the observant, all-too-aware of herself daughter and Sarah Peirse as her alcoholic bored and sexy mother.

The dual denouement is tricky - we needed full-committment from the difficuly original ending only for it to get trumped by a trite tragedy. All is saved by astonishing acting for the cast.

Technical point: No subtitles and a murky soundmix also do their best to scupper viewing comfort.

Like a lot of short-film anthologies, Wild Tales has its ups and downs. Some of the six untitled stories are funny and dynamic whilst others drag on and on with little reward. Because the subject matter centres on revenge and violence, there is a crashing inevitability to each of the stories. Some of the punchlines are worth it, others not. A mixed bag but only two out of the six films worked for me... I liked the road-rage one best and the corrupt lawyers (drink driver) one too.

Totally gutted as this empty sequel is completely empty. Whereas the first film was full of originality, verve and thrills, this sequel is flat, plodding and boring. I'm convinced Ethan Hawke only lent his voice to this film, as The Grabber is barely seen in physical form and only in his eerie Viking mask. So devoid of Hawke is this sequel you realise that his presence was the key to the first film's power. Black Phone 2 is repetitive and ultimately pointless. My least favourite cinema release of 2025 by a long way.

I'm not a Sally Hawkins fan. I think she over acts and lacks subtlety. However, she seemed to be just right for this role of the schizophrenic Jane, who was jilted on her wedding day sending her into a life of psychosis. She's not aided much by her family or friends - who alternately serve to alienate her or humour her or avoid her. We step inside some of Jane's fantasies, and although some of this works a treat and drums up the desired emotion, some of it comes across as trite or even smart a**ed. Eternal Beauty is in fact a wildly unpredictable and scattergun affair which seems to be intentional but I think a more even tone could have won me over. Worth a look for David Thewlis' cameo as an unreliable boyfriend.

This round of Resident Evil brings back old cast members in different roles (Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, and Colin Salmon) and utterly wastes them. In fact this is lackluster in every way and could be Paul WS Anderson's very worst film. Terrible dialogue that amounts to stage directions or a minute-by-minute countdown until home time. Literally everything is counting down to something in this movie. Three quarters of the lines are along the lines of 'we have 20 minutes left, we gotta move.' Awful SFX and no real plot motivation except to team goodies up with baddies to go against former allies, and an old villain from the first film (The Red Queen). Plus there is an awful scene that rips off entire scenes from Aliens that makes zero narrative sense. Perhaps one of the crappest films to garner a wide cinema release since 2000...and the worst film in the cycle... Minus 1.

A decent attempt at the recreating the Before Sunrise-trilogy for gay men. However, the first 30 mins is devoted to a full-on sexually explicit gay orgy. If you don't mind a bit of pornography (no comment), if this element is unexpected, it may block the way to an intelligent, naturally played romance with an unusual hook. It deals with serious STDs and the possibilities for burgeoning love with that backdrop. Interesting but the prolonged scenes of hardcore sex were a bit off-putting, especially as I'd sat down to eat my dinner whilst watching it. A film like this doesn't need flavours... haha. More c*cks than KFC.

This 80s sci-fi directed by stalwart Peter Hyams and starring Sean Connery, this 'High Noon-in-space' feels like a tribute band. Bad model work and SFX (even for the time) distract from a potentially sturdy action-thriller that does everything it can to scupper itself. The pace is plodding, the acting inconsistent and plotholes unavoidable. A promising opening 30 minutes leads nowhere and only highlights how bad the script are and how good some of the actors are, as the expose the crap and uncomfortable to the OTT (hello Steven Berkoff)...

I was hoping for something like The Thing, Alien, or Silent Running. I got a film that made Red Dwarf look posh....

Wack.

Good Boy is elevated by its premise - it's main protagonist is a dog who is accompanying his terminally ill owner to fulfill a ritual at the end of their life. It's a bold premise and the dog is amazing. The film is low budget and the SFX and slightly wooden acting by the main human let the side down. However, the dog wins you over and if you can see past the dodgy bogey men, there's some thoughtfulness in the mix. Well done Indy. Good Boy, indeed! :)

Great documentary about a unique cinema... but it was just a cinema. Not as wild as half the pundits claim... at least not on the nights I went. :) Fun talking heads from the staff to scene doyens such as Mark Moore...

For me, the original was an unexpected hit. I loved it's back-to-basic cops and robbers rules and the great swing at a Usual Suspects-style twist near the end. Even 50 Cent couldn't ruin the first film. It was just a pure and thrilling piece of Hollywood B-movie entertainment. So why this dull-plodding sequel which only seems to exist to even the score between the old enemies. Not a lot makes sense and the feeling of high stakes game is largely absent now that Gerald Butler and Ice Cube II are playing on the same side. There are no significant bad guys and the very little in the way of thrills. The central robbery defies logic at every turn and the climatic car chase is OK. The number of endings tries to out-do The Return of the King... and they don't feel well earned. Stick to the first film, which proves, lighting struck the once.

Skindeep attempt to dramatise Brian Clough's notorious reign as England's most famous football manager of the 70s and 80s. Michael Sheen is miscast and the script basic. Just felt like a TV movie made for people to lazy to read and interesting book about this complex man. Well-made overall but it's just another non-cinematic brick in the wall of safe British movies starring the usual cosy suspects (Jim Broadbent & Timothy Spall). Open goal, shot wide.