Film Reviews by GI

Based on a true story signposts this as a B movie exploitation film, a comedy creature feature that never really excites but is sporadically good fun. With an opening scene that homages the opening of Jaws (1975) this has a large consignment of cocaine dumped in the forests of Georgia where a black bear eats some and becomes extremely agitated and murderous all the while craving more of the drug. For victims it has the drug dealers who want it back, led by Ray Lotta in his final film and his disheartened son played by Alden Ehrenreich, a love sick Forest Ranger (Margo Martindale), some local street thugs, a cop and Keri Russell, as a mother searching for her daughter and her friend who are playing hookey from school. It all amounts to what you'd expect, the bear chases down people gorily killing as it goes while the surviving humans battle each other over the drugs and /or surviving. The film lacks the punch and scares that are a prerequisite of a film like this and many of the laughs are fairly routine jokes. It's enjoyable enough but that's the limit of it.

Even accepting director WesAnderson's famed eccentricity in film this maybe impenetrable for many and it's certainly not a good starting point to venture into the Wes Anderson filmography. Asteroid City retains the light comedic sophistication of all his films, rich in detail (indeed you'll have fun scanning the screen for all the tiny and funny details that are on offer), it's ensemble cast, the pastel coloured images reminiscent of American 1950s comic books and it's pop culture roots. Set in the mid 1950s in the small desert town of Asteroid City, so named because it's on the site of a meteor crater, and the US government has a space observatory there and a nuclear testing site close by (mushroom clouds of atomic bomb tests routinely appear on the horizon), it also hosts an annual school science project prize giving. A group of people with their science minded kids show up for this and they have a host of bizarre inventions including a 'death ray'. Former war photographer Augie (Jason Schwartzman) is one of the parents as is film star Midge (Scarlett Johanssen), and we watch as they fall in love during the quarantine that is forced on everyone due to a strange event. There is also a framing device to the narrative that shows the film to be a play and highlights the artificiality of the drama. This is essentially a pathos, framed around the theme of grief, with Anderson's usual dead pan style and his presentation that appears as some other medium. Here it's cartoonish, driving home the American fascination with weirdness and the unknown that was at its height in the 50s (Area 51, space aliens, Bermuda Triangle etc). If you're a diehard fan of Andersons's work then you'll love this, I do admire his films but this is a bonkers film and not one I enjoyed more than many of his previous works. You have to give some kudos though to a director that gets such a list of people wanting to work with him. Here the cast includes Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Steve Carell, Rupert Friend, Matt Dillon and others. Try this because its original and different.

Probably the best example of the Roger Corman B movie exploitation cinema that was hugely popular in the 1970s. It's cheap, cheesy, bloody and with large dollops of female nudity. A black comedy that is laugh out loud when viewed today with its dystopian narrative but 70s styling and it's a film that has definitely influenced many since. If you watch for example Robocop (1987) you can see the seeds of Death Race 2000 there. In a future fascist USA an annual cross country road race in weaponised cars is hugely popular mainly because the racers are allowed to kill innocent bystanders in order to gain points. The champion racer, and due for his unprecedented third win, is Frankenstein (David Carradine), a mysterious driver who claims to be disfigured by traumas received in previous races hence his monicker and masked costume (like a superhero). His biggest rival is Machine Gun Joe (Sylvester Stallone) which doesn't amount to too much as there's only five racers. This year Frankenstein has a new navigator (Simone Griffeth) who is a member of the rebellion out to sabotage the race and bring down the corrupt President. All the women characters have nude scenes, the men have none, there's lots of speeded up footage to show cars running fast, some very daft fights that are very unconvincing. Indeed Peter Fonda who was offered the lead refused it on the grounds the whole thing was insanely stupid and he was right. But this did launch a film career for Carradine, was very popular with a certain male demographic mostly because it was controversial in its violence which is really tame by later standards. The attempt at a serious indictment of violence is not lost on the viewer but Rollerball (1975) released around the sometime was a more powerful film on that score. This is a cult favourite and a much copied film to see out of interest and you'll have a good chuckle watching it.

This is one of the great classic British horror films that taps into a culture of folklore, gothic old houses and pagan history. It was made at a time when good storytelling was the principal aim and of course technology for special effects was limited. Watched today the effects may seem rather fake but if you can put that aside this is a compelling, tense and very original horror film. American matinee star Dana Andrews plays psychology Dr John Holden who has travelled to England to participate in an investigation into the claims of Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) that the supernatural is real and that he can summon demons. Holden has made a career of debunking such things and refuses to give up the task even after the sudden death of his colleague and when Karswell predicts his own death in three days. Director Jacques Tourneur uses shadow and a jarring soundtrack to create an eerie and unsettling atmosphere as Holden finds that there maybe more to Karswell's claims than he is prepared to accept. A great British film and a precursor to the Hammer cycle that came soon after this was released. A must see for all film fans.

Witty and sharply scripted romantic comedy, a glossy production (Judd Apatow being linked here) that makes this gay comedy something of a first in the sense it's about a gay couple in a film that received a wide theatrical release. Written and starring Billy Eichner as Bobby, a New York based man who campaigns endlessly for the LGBTQ+ community mainly through a podcast but at the sometime rues the clichés of the gay world all the while indulging in them. He shuns commitment explaining, to us the audience, that gay men view marriage, sex etc in a different way to heterosexual people. And then he meets Aaron, a hunky man who epitomises everything Bobby despises about the gay community. Aaron too is not into commitment but as you'd expect there's an initial spark that soon grows and the main narrative structure of the romcom is assured. The couple navigate the minefield of love through the film which starts as a very funny and well observed comedy but ultimately slips into sentimentality. There's a rich display of support characters that help the film retain it's comedy roots and whilst this may have had the ambition to be the 'first' real gay romcom it certainly is a film that you don't have to be gay to really enjoy.

This is a seriously compelling psychothriller and courtroom drama anchored by a superb central performance from Sandra Hüller. It's a most intriguing film with its ambiguous title and equally ambiguous narrative arc. This is obviously a did she/didn't she story but it's so grounded, unhurried and delves deep into issues of patriarchy, family, love, guilt and actually life itself. When Sandra's husband is found dead in the snow outside their chalet home an investigation begins to unravel how he came to die. He has a fatal head wound and the police begin to suspect she killed him but she claims it was more likely suicide and an accident cannot be ruled out either. The only reliable witness is their young son, Daniel, who is partially blind following an accident years before. He didn't see anything but may hold the key to what has been happening in the house. The film has a smooth texture and emotional intensity which makes impossible to not become involved in the narrative as it plays out, mostly in Sandra's trial for murder. The film is beautifully written and directed with a sure hand by Justine Triet. There is a lot going on here from the theme of justice is blind epitomised in the son's handicap to the family pet dog who sees and hears all! A clever and exceptionally focused film.

Director Kathryn Bigelow's first directorial effort and a great little horror film it is too. Set in the American mid west it's the story of bored rancher's son Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) who meets the mysterious and sexy Mae (Jenny Wright) who seduces him after which he is forced into the company of a vicious gang of drifters led by Jesse (Lance Henricksen). They turn out to be killers who shun sunlight, feed by drinking blood and apparently have lived long lives. So this falls into the vampire sub-genre although the word 'vampire' is never used. Many of the tropes of vampire films are absent here so there's no fangs, wooden stakes, garlic, issues with mirrors etc and the reason these people are as they are is never explained. They do have huge strength, can't be killed in normal ways and definitely avoid sunlight which becomes a major plot point. A contemporary road/horror film with the influence of John Carpenter all over it, it's bloody, great fun and has the great Bill Paxton on fine form as one of the very nasty baddies. This is a little gem of a film and highly recommended if you've never seen it.

A deceptively complex yet subtle drama about memory, childhood and possibly regret. It's set in the 90s and as the film progresses we see that the main narrative is indeed the memories, some faded and some perhaps misremembered, of the main character twenty years in the future. This character is Sophie (Frankie Corio) an 11 year old girl who goes on a Turkish package holiday with her dad, Calum (Paul Mescal). He's divorced from her mum and they are set to have some time together. Sophie is on the cusp of that moment between childhood and teenage years and Calum is devoted yet somewhat uncomfortable in his relationship with his daughter. There's nothing untoward in it but Calum is nursing a deep depression that occasionally shows itself during the holiday. The narrative has a simple structure occasionally like home movies being shown but there's an ever present sense of something not right as if a very bad or sad event is about to happen. In many ways it's as if there's a mystery lying under the surface of what you are seeing. This makes the film very compelling aided by two top class lead performances. This is a film of startling originality and it may take awhile for the subtlety and brilliance of it to reveal itself whilst watching it but once it's over it really does take a hold and you realise you've seen a film that is rather interesting and a pleasure.

Whilst Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is a full on and an unrelentling chase film this prequel is a revenge narrative with a gut load of chase set pieces thrown in for good measure. Director George Miller has really nailed this dystopian wasteland world and he has produced here a worthy new film in the series. It's a bold, exciting action film with swift, bloody violence, awesome cinematography of the Australian desert land and also has a really well scripted story. This tells the story of Furiosa who was played in Fury Road by Charlize Theron and in this backstory of her character there's Alyla Browne as the young Furiosa and Anya Taylor-Joy as the older. The film tells of her abduction from her tribe by the narcissistic and psychopathic Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) the leader of a bike gang, who trades her to another tyrannical leader of grotesques, Immortan Joe (Lacey Hulme) where she rises to become a formidable driver of the 'War Rig' under the tutelage of Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). But she is all the time plotting her revenge on those who have wronged her especially Dementus. With minimum dialogue and extended action sequences fans of the Mad Max series will love this. You do have to have seen Fury Road to understand the story and whilst there's no Max (if you're careful you'll spot that he does put in a small appearance) you do have Tom Burke whose character is a sort of pseudo Max here. I'm a fan so I absolutely delighted in this. The casting is impressive with Browne and Taylor-Joy uncannily resembling each other and Hemsworth is having a blast playing against type as the chief baddie. The longest Mad Max film to date this is a film to watch on a big screen. It's fantastic stuff, action cinema at its best.

A good solid drama told in a refreshingly straight forward way of the two New York Times journalists who doggedly investigated and broke the scandal of sexual harassment, assault and rape of young actresses and staff by the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the two reporters, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who struggle with the cover up and Non Disclosure Agreements that Weinstein and his organisation have used to silence the victims. The film effectively deals with the difficult presentation of journalists spending endless time on their mobile phones balancing the two women's own difficult lives as mothers and wives with trying to get the victims to go on the record. It's a powerful story, very well edited and directed and with first rate performances from the two leads ably assisted by Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher as their bosses. Ashley Judd, who was a key witness and victim the first to speak out, plays herself very effectively. Like other major exposé type dramas such as All The President's Men (1976) and Spotlight (2015) this is a disturbing true story and a tale of remarkable journalism. Well worth checking out.

Also entitled The Fate Of The Furious. If you take a moment to think about the evolution of this series where it has moved from cheeky illegal street car racing narrative to full on Mission Impossible/James Bond territory you will also be able to understand just how silly the whole thing has become. This latest instalment is definitely hi-octane action cinema that will appeal to those who just want full on stunts and action set pieces regardless of how utterly daft the plot is. But you can't take away from this that it's cinematically entertaining and if you've liked the series you'll continue to love this although it offers nothing particularly original apart from a nifty sequence where numerous cars in a huge chase are like a zombie apocalypse scene, that was clever.. It kicks off with an illegal street race just to ground it within the Fast & Furious world with Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) living the good times in Cuba. The old team have retired and all is peachy until Dom is blackmailed by the big baddie (Charlize Theron) who has him stealing world changing gizmos and eventually up against his old team who are pulled together by Kurt Russell's covert agency to stop the baddies and bring Dom down. This cues a globe trotting mission of lots of fighting, shooting, chasing and everyone is having great fun. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are now allies after being big enemies in the previous film and back into the fray is Luke Evans bringing with him Scott Eastwood, who sort of replaces the Paul Walker character from the previous films and Helen Mirren has a funny cameo as Statham's mum. An action film, high production, fun in its own way and more of the same and you'll have to be up on the series to get the story and relationships.

Partly autobiographical coming of age drama from writer and director James Gray who has fallen into the trap of an overly sentimental story that ends up as heavy laden and too caught up in it's time setting. This is New York in 1980 and follows young Paul (Banks Repeta), the youngest son in a Ukrainian/Jewish family, who dreams of becoming an artist, rebels at school in small, puerile ways but is close to his maternal grandfather (Anthony Hopkins) who tries to instil some moral courage in the boy. There are the usual issues around racism, privilege and stereotyping that are far too often present in overly serious America dramas like this where great dinner table debates take place that are actually quite uninteresting here. Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong play Paul's parents and give the film some sense of the struggles with parenting in this era and the fear instilled by the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan who was banging on about moral armageddon much to the consternation of many. But you do get the Clash song Armagideon Time which is a bonus! A bit of a slog as a film though.

If you are a fan of the MCU world then I suppose this will entertain but this third film featuring the Ant man character is just an unashamedly derivative of Star Wars and the same ol' plot as countless other similar films that, despite whatever super powers are on show, it all ends up in a good old punch up. Ant Man (Paul Rudd), girlfriend The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), his daughter and her parents (Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas) get sucked into the Quantum world and fight evil....... blah blah blah. It's all over the top CGI with strange creatures, bad guys and good guys and Bill Murray is a cameo. It drags on for too long, lacks any humour that isn't totally forced and resultantly unfunny. I'm sure there are links to other MCU films as there's 'multiverse' references etc etc but this is for kids who love comic book films. I get that the big money is in getting a franchise gig but these actors deserve better

I can see why this became an unlikely hit probably with a certain demographic as its very glossy and the two main protagonists are like an advert for swimwear as they cavort more or less the whole time in nothing but underwear or swim suits. But it's a fairly unfunny, thoroughly clichéd romcom that's all too predictable (aren't they all) and features two very beautiful people pretending to hate each other......and we're not fooled for one moment! Not least the central story, based around Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, that they have to pretend to be in love for reasons I won't go into but where actually just telling the truth would have been easier. The simple enough story has Bea (Sydney Sweeney), a young law student, and Ben (Glen Powell), a handsome finance guy, randomly meet, are attracted to each other and spend the night but through a misunderstanding end up with deep animosity for one another. Months later and surprise surprise they are both at a wedding in Australia where for pointless reasons they need to pretend etc etc but we all know they're in love really! It's a standard romcom set up with little gravitas and a silly script. It's has some entertaining moments but its all a bit stereotypical and empty.

A rather engaging growing up comedy drama set in the early 1970s and adapted from a popular novel. This seems to hit all the right notes in its portrayal of a pre-teen girl who has to navigate the emotional journey of puberty. Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is a 12 year old girl who is less than pleased when her parents, Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Sadie), move the family from New York City out to the suburbs where Margaret must try to fit in at a new school and with new friends. Just as importantly for her is the separation from her paternal grandmother, the overbearing yet lovable Sylvia (Kathy Bates). With this wrench in her life she then has to cope with the pressures from her peers where boys, the arrival of breasts and periods become a daily issue. There are family issues too which are all too complex for the young Margaret. The film also has an interesting story arc for Barbara and McAdams really nails the nice balance of a mother trying to help her daughter and fit in with her new neighbours at the same time. What is equally refreshing is the film eschews the usual character tropes that are often present in this sort of comedy drama and characters that you think may follow certain traits will surprise you. The obvious ones being Nancy (Elle Graham), the leader of the 'club' that Margaret is invited to join and Nancy's mother (Kate MacCluggage) the head of the local PTA. This is one of the best coming of age comedy dramas that has arrived for awhile. A pleasant and engaging film that has humour and a main character beautifully played by Fortson. A film that all the family can enjoy.