Film Reviews by HW

Watching this 80s classic felt like riding a really cheesy, nostalgic theme park ride. It’s a shame this fun movie was mostly filmed in dark (but imaginative) sets of booby-trapped caves with cheesy props. Nevertheless this movie is still a celebration of classic adventure, as a bunch of loveable 80s kids (you can see where ‘Stranger Things’ pinched the dynamic for their characters from) go on a good old-fashioned treasure hunt (although surely the scriptwriters knew what they were doing when they named the treasure’s owner One-Eyed Willy). It was fun to watch young versions of recognisable actors like Josh Brolin and a wide-eyed Samwise Gamgee. I also liked the very Italian villains and the building bromance between my favourite characters, Chunk and Sloth. 

John Ford certainly did not fail to deliver with another western epic. Three bank robbers on the run in the middle of the desert discover a woman in an abandoned wagon giving birth. They vow to be the child’s godfathers and dedicate themselves to redemption by agreeing to deliver the baby to the nearest town: on foot, across the desert with little water. 

This is not your typical action-driven western but the quality of the performances (perhaps John Wayne’s best besides Ethan Edwards in ‘The Searchers’), the outlaws’ moving embrace of redemption and the mounting Biblical pathos make this epic utterly captivating. There’s even some comedy as the three tough hombres argue over how to best care for a baby and of course, there is Ford’s persistent message on the strength of community in the face of cruel nature and human selfishness. 

An epic, atmospheric, beautifully shot and extremely faithful adaptation of Hardy’s tragedy of a woman wronged. Perhaps the film lacked the emotional punch of the novel, as Polanski’s treatment of emotion was quite restricted and Kubrickian, but the spirit of Southwest England was captured fairly well (despite the film being shot in France!). Lots of gorgeous pastoral landscapes shot in golden summer evening light with long shadows, making this possibly the most visually pleasing period drama I’ve yet seen. Yes, Polanski is an extremely controversial figure but he made amazing films. 

This is a faithful, atmospheric and moving adaptation of the book. The streamlining of the plot did actually help clear up some of the novel’s complexities for me, as we follow a range of characters from London to revolutionary Paris. Dirk Bogarde’s turn as our alcoholic, bitter hero Sydney Carton did move me to tears by the end. The other main parts also did justice to the strong emotions of the characters. Also fun to see horror legends Donald Pleasance and Christopher Lee in small villainous parts! All in all, if you haven’t read the book this is still an impressive historical drama of revenge and romance that swings from Gothic suspense to revolutionary hysteria, with raging street battles in Paris. 

This film is worth watching for the special effects of the time. There’s a reason why Ray Harryhausen is the king of stop motion. All his creatures move so smoothly and naturally some of them were very convincing: from the adorable Eohippus to the monstrous Gwangi itself. The plot is quite entertaining: a mixture of circus performers in Mexico discover a hidden valley full of dangerous prehistoric creatures. Having not seen King Kong, they try to bring some of the past back with them for their show and reap the deadly consequences. I think the film could have done better with its rather stereotypical characters. There’s a rather hammed-up love triangle the audience is forced to follow, but the spectacular action scenes more than make up for any dull romantic cliches. As a realisation of my dreams of combining westerns and dinosaurs, this is still a fun watch! 

There’s so many elements to this film it’s hard to categorise and explain. It starts off being about two women who murder samurai warriors for their armour and then becomes a story of sexual tension and jealousy when the return of a male neighbour comes between them. Then horror imagery comes into play when a scary demon mask turns up. What unifies all the different elements of this historical horror-drama is the menacing, brooding atmosphere that builds throughout, helped by the black-and-white shots of wind-tossed, engulfing grass and the moody tension between characters. A grim depiction of human behaviour that’s still worth watching for the remarkable imagery and original plot. 

A fun war action flick. It’s good to see that the same director of ‘Where Eagles Dare’ can deliver a similar movie with more humour and grit. Clint Eastwood plays another super-cool dude who gathers a bunch of grunts to go deep past enemy lines in WW2 France: not for any noble, strategic reason but to steal a fortune in Nazi gold bars. I wonder if this movie was referencing Eastwood’s other wartime heist movie ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. What both movies do share is a cynical sense of satire. The grunts choose to do something in their own interest for a change rather than be marched across Normandy by distant generals. The Normandy invasion is not a noble enterprise; it’s an inconvenience. One war-crazed general and the French public consider these raiders as brave liberators. I really enjoyed watching Donald Sutherland play Oddball the tank commander, a hippy decades before his time. As well as laughs, this comedy delivers on action and some poignant moments of peril, when the soldiers realise they could all get killed in the name of gold and the odds are stacked against them. 

A fun, bloody mix of 80s action movie cliches (drugs, bad guys in white suits and ex-special forces turned bank robbers) and western film features (Texan and Mexican locations, dusty shootouts and a granite faced Texas ranger as a hero). Nick Nolte plays the aforementioned steely-faced ranger facing off against an ex-buddy turned border drug kingpin; who the ex-soldiers are also attempting to set up. Both the lawman and the outlaw are in love with the same woman, which gives this otherwise brutal film an almost romantic undercurrent (which the film perhaps tries too hard to maintain). Still this is an excessive, exhilarating joyride with some rather unsubtle nods to Sam Peckinpah (the climax is a decadent Mexican fiesta turned into a fatalist machine-gun battle). 

You can see the themes of Peckinpah’s later work beginning in this early western, his second film. Both Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott play their last western roles as ageing partners going on one last job: to protect a payroll of miners’ gold. But Scott’s character has more personal plans for all that bullion, adding tension to the plot. 

This almost feels like a gentler prototype of Peckinpah’s classic western epic about ageing gunmen, ‘The Wild Bunch’. This film becomes more of a romantic drama than an action film, when the two old partners and their younger, hot-headed companion become entangled with a young woman named Elsa: escaping from her religiously overbearing father to marry a miner at the camp the men are riding for; a scheme the younger man is not so keen on. Arguably Elsa is the strongest female character in all of Peckinpah’s male-driven films, even if she makes some poor decisions. If romantic complications aren’t your thing, there’s still some spectacular Californian scenery and a couple of thrilling shootouts at the end. They may not be as gruesomely exhilarating as the director’s later bloodbaths but they still have his trademark poetic edge. 

This movie rocks. A thriller set in a punk rock setting feels almost too good to be true but this pulls it off. It feels like a realistic yet heartfelt portrayal of the punk scene (opening with the band travelling 90 miles to a cancelled gig and enthusiastic musical performances from the actors) while also being a high-quality thriller. The action and dialogue is genuinely gripping and tense, helped by the claustrophobic setting of the small, back-woods club where the young punks are besieged by the Neo-Nazis, often confined to one room. The violence is brutal and savage and you can’t help but feel for every fun-loving punk maimed and murdered by machetes and mutts: a rare feat in a horror film. This film is also worth seeing for Sir Patrick Stewart’s amazingly convincing performance as the menacing skinhead chief, trying to charm the punks with traits of Picard and Xavier mannerisms! 

Discovering more great Goodies episodes has been a delight. From scary girls to a villainous record mogul; from living diggers to puppet governments; from aggressive Royals to Medieval house sitting: there appeared to be no limits to the Goodies’ imaginations or access to practical FX! Dated? Yes but timelessly fun. 

I do admire Del Toro’s style. I like how in his personal films like ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ he blends the supernatural with more historical, realistic topics. This smaller movie blended a lot of different elements which all somehow make sense together. A mute woman named Eliza (Sally Hawkins) who cleans for a top-secret government lab is drawn to their latest and most closely guarded addition: an amphibious humanoid dug up from the Amazon (Doug Jones in a costume years in the making). Eliza realises she’s so fond of the creature that she must take drastic action in order to save it from the military’s plans to dissect it for parts. 

Feelings do somehow grow between Eliza and the monster. She identifies with the fish man’s lack of speech and his affinity for water and this somehow grows into a physical relationship. Under this 1950s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ story, other characters have complex backstories (including the villain Strickland, played by the frightening Michael Sheen) and under all this is the threat and paranoia of the Cold War and America’s rush towards cold modernism. 

What we get is a movie that shouldn’t work but instead has the complexities of any realist Academy-award winner and a truly believable romance between two outsiders of different species. The FX are out of this world, the cinematography is rich and the whole package draws you in like a dream. It’s clear this was a labour of love. 

Although McDonagh’s streak of black humour is here, this is a more mature and tragic affair than ‘In Bruges’ and ‘Seven Psychopaths’. A grieving mother (Frances McDormand) deals with her despair and hopelessness over finding her daughter’s murderer by channeling her pain into maintaining three billboards. These billboards outside her town happen to criticise the local police for not finding the killer, incurring the wrath of cop Dixon (Sam Rockwell) for one, who deals with his own rage and grief through violence. 

This unique premise leads to a truly unpredictable and moving drama on death and despair, fuelled by powerful performances. 

A Victorian werewolf movie in a pub is such a cool idea. This is like the spawn of ‘Dog Soldiers’ and ‘Evil Dead’. Impressive werewolf costumes, make-up and over-the-top performances. 

A good piece of action with a simple plot and a surprising amount of depth. Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster steal the show as a pair of old comrades teaming up in 20th century Mexico, with Woody Strode and Robert Ryan along for the ride. Their mission: to rescue a rich rancher’s wife (Claudia Cardinale) from the clutches of some Mexican rebels. As is often the case, all is not as straight forward as it seems, adding further difficulties for the heroes shooting their way in and out of the scorching desert. As well as explosive action, there is a sense of melancholy in the scenes where characters reminisce about their violent pasts. It’s just a shame Ryan and Strode’s parts are so small, and why has Jack Palance been browned up to play the main Mexican part?? Nevertheless, this is why I love westerns: you get more with your action.