Film Reviews by AER

Joel Edgerton is a fine actor and proved to be a good director with his thriller, The Gift. Boy Erased, however, is little more than a TV-style melodrama. An issues movie with a potentially interesting subject of conversion therapy camps for gay teenagers. Some startling figures pop up at the end of the film and these bring home the scale of the madness that these camps exist in the first place. However, a flat script and a choppy edit that doesn't allow us to get a feel for the characters render Boy Erased a bit of a waste. There are a few other films that cover similar ground that are much better such as: BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, and THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST. A waste of good actors like LUCAS HEDGES, NICOLE KIDMAN, RUSSELL CROWE, FLEA!, and JOEL EDGERTON himself.

Robert De Niro plays two reali-life mob bosses of the 1950s - 1980s: FRANK COSTELLO and VITO GENOVESE. Alto Knights sees the return of classic 80s/90s director BARRY LEVINSON (GOOD MORNING VIETNAM. BUGSY, RAIN MAN, TOYS, SLEEPERS. SPHERE) with a gangster flick that could've been made in his hey day. De Niro gives good gangster and whilst the plot runs to very little, the script sparkles with wit as the mobsters bicker and carp about Mormons, the perfect assasination, guns and broads. There's some intentional comedy to be enjoyed as Frank Costello walking boutique dogs garmed up in mink coats through Central Park, and a polic raid on a mobster BBQ in the sticks. It's good to see a gangster flick like this nowadays, but it's something of a dinosaur. I enjoyed it, but it adds nothing to the existing collection of The Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, The Irishman, and Levinson's own BUGSY.

When I saw the trailer for Hard Truths I worried this was going to focus around one of Mike Leigh's grotesques, and for a while I was right. I hated Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky and that film was only rescued by Eddie Marsan, and I thought that the lead in Hard Truths (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) was an inversion. Luckily, this develops into a fine character study and one of Mike Leigh's most astute movies about depression and anger. It's a terrifying move and lots of care has been taken to depict realistic and relatable people. A wonderful ensemble cast remind us that Mike Leigh can still make relevant and moving films. I loved Another Year and think that HARD TRUTHS belongs among his best.

Well-made film about Australia's bloodiest massacre in 1996 by a lone gunman, known as Nitram (Martin Bryant). Played by Caleb Landry Jones (ANTIVIRAL, BYZANTIUM, THE FLORIDA PROJECT, GET OUT) this is sobering stuff. A collection of excellent performances keep you watching as the film snakes towards its shattering conclusion. A peak into a tragic life, NITRAM, is another startling fil from Justin Kurzel - however, I can't recommend it as it's very upsetting. Great support from Judy Davis (BARTON FINK, NAKED LUNCH, MY BRILLIANT CAREER), Anthony LaPaglia (LANTANA, SUMMER OF SAM) and ESSIE DAVIS (THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, THE BABBADOOK).

Competently made, this still had a woeful plot and very dumb villain. Leaving no cliche unused, this slasher flick seems to have been written by an AI app. All the ingredients seems to have been collated from better, smarter and more entertaining films. Chipper leads try to elevate the Z-grade material but nothing can save this fast-moving rom-com-with-gore.... Nice to see Jordana Brewster in something other than a crappy Fast & Furious movie, and also Devon Sawa from FInal Destination has a small role too. It's better than the similarly plotted, David Boreanaz-starring, Valentine from the early 2000s.

Will you be my Valentine? No thanks, bud.

Robert Zemeckis high-concept film told from a single camera POV is innovative and could've been potentially exciting. But it barely focuses on its human characters at all having them srpint through a non-linear scattering of births, deaths and marriages. It also contains wildly inconsistent acting styles and the quality is up and down. The usually dependable Kelly Reilly and Paul Bettany are awful. Tom Hanks and Robin Wright fare slightly better but the dialogue is thin and the events rushed through. In essence, HERE is a 1.45hr-long montage sequence. A better script or even plot idea to pin it's 'device' to would have made this worthwhile. Instead, take a look at David Lowery's Ghost Story, that does the same thing smaller, better and with more feeling. Disappointing.

Now we know why we don't see Adrien Brody as much in the movies anymore, he was taking seven years to make The Brutalist. Brady Corbet's third film as director is astonishing. Lovely cinematography, great acting and a fast moving pace. It didn't feel like 3.5 hours long. Engrossing.

A good ending and a novel hook don't save Presence from being distinctly average with a few missteps plotwise.

Write this off as a cheapo 80s Cannon special at your peril. This is 80s action cinema done correctly. With fierce performances from the whole cast, there is no restriction on the amount of scenery that gets chewed in this. Excellent work on the eerie unstoppable train as it ploughs through the Alaskan wastes. I don't think Jon Voight or Eric Roberts have ever put in more fierce performances. It's gripping and gosh, that ending. One of my fave 80s films of all time.

La Jetee, as far as I know, is a unique piece of cinema. A narrator describes the fate of an unnamed man who gets sent back in time. This 28 minute short film received a remake in the 90s - Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys and it hasn't diminished it's imapct. A moving, sad and unforgettable piece.

I was less fussed about Sans Soleil which felt (at times) like sensory overload. I watched it for 1 hour and called it a day.

Keanu Reeves certainly puts his back into this film but Al Pacino throws it all away. This is The Firm retold with real demons, and not a lot of plot logic. Al Pacino overacts, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron go for broke in the acting stakes and the ridiculous story of a prosecution lawyer who is recruited by the Devil's law firm in NYC is very daft. I saw it years ago on release at the cinema and hated it, somehow I needed reminded how bad it was. It was worse.

Mark Wahlberg is one of my least favourite dramatic actors yet one of my favourite comic actors whether it's on purpose (Pain and Gain) or by accident (The Happening). I enjoyed The Gambler but it only made me wonder how much better it would have been with a more subtle and talented actor. Shame as it is probably the best Mark W film I've seen in years. But why would someone waste a decent script on this guy>?

5 out of 10

Based on a Robert Harris novel, Conclave is an airport paperback in disguise, and it so engrossing. This is a very tense film with twist after twist, some a bit hard to swallow, but nonetheless sold by an excellent cast led by Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. I loved every minute of it. Never before have you heard such bombastic music to accompany the shuffling of paper as you will in Conclave! haha. Recommended for a different kind of 'police procedural-style' drama. Excellent, intelligent and as cinema should be, exciting.

9 out of 10.

Elvis and Nixon passed me by at the cinema and I was interested in catching it. It's a strange one as it revolves around a peculiar meeting between to infamous American public figures. However, this misses the boat because Michael Shannon's Elvis didn't cut the mustard. He's a talented actor but his version of 'the King' is lacklustre and the script makes him out to be an eccentric buffoon (but also one of Michael S's lunatics). Kevin Spacey does a better job as Nixon but he has little to do except react to Elvis. A stooge to the clown, Spacey's Nixon shows none of the ire and complexity I was expecting. Alex Pettyfer pops up in a non-role and sleepwalks his way through in an unconvincing everyman role (friend of Elvis). It's all a bit flat, all a bit pointless, and it doesn't seem interested in trading in fact. I mean, there's prob a lot of speculation about the meeting but something a little more involving would've been a treat. It wasn't awful, it was just surprisingly 'meh'.

I've never seen a John Waters film until today. I was largely dismissive ever since I saw a documentary about him in the late 80s which focussed on Pink Flamingoes notorious dog poo scene. Well, maybe I regret having waited so long to see this absolutely daft musical comedy starring douche-bag supreme Johnny Depp and a cast of Waters' regulars such as Mink Stole, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake and Joe Dallesandro. It has some really catchy songs and memorably lunatic scenes and OTT acting. Even if you don't like Johnny D anymore, this is a good reminder of the before times when he had so much potential. This was made earlier than his first tango with Tim Burton in Edward Scissorhands too>>!>>!