Film Reviews by GI

A taut, smart and tense thriller that recounts the coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympic tragedy by the American ABC Sports news team who were suddenly faced with this internationally important news event happening in fast time right before their eyes. The film captures the speed at which the events unfolded and the decisions made in the team to get the story covered including negotiating the satellite time allocated and the sudden realisation that the terrorists maybe watching the live broadcast they are sending out including the police preparations to raid the rooms where Black September terrorists were holding members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage. It cleverly utilises real footage with recreated scenes to great effect. The film deals with issues of national animosities, misogyny and the moral dilemmas faced by the journalists over what to show on TV. Historically it's a really interesting docudrama and a reminder of this horrific terrorist crime that shocked the world. The cast are exceptional including Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin and especially John Magaro as the ABC studio manager and Leonie Benesch who plays a fictitious German assistant who faces the antipathy of colleagues over the German guilt of the Holocaust. One of the best films about journalism for awhile.

This is without doubt an awful film. From script, acting, music score, plot it's amateurish, poorly directed and you'll find yourself laughing more out of embarrassment than anything else. This horror film is out of the Andy Warhol Factory group with director Paul Morrissey a leading figure. Despite some smatterings of solid production values the overall film is a mess. Count Dracula (Udo Keir - who at least did go on to a renowned acting career) is ailing and in need of virgin (pronounced wirgin here!) blood so he trots off to Italy where his faithful servant assures him there's a plethora of virgins to satisfy his needs. Toting his coffin on the roof of the car the two find a villa with four virgin daughters for him to ravish. But the gardener (Joe Dallesandro) has been shagging most of them causing some frustrations for the Count and plenty of blood vomiting. This is a film that is an excuse for plenty of female nudity, some incestuous lesbian sex and the rape of a fourteen year old (to protect her from the vampire of course!!). The climax is more reminiscent of Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975) than any horror film and even the worst of the Hammer Horrors is nowhere near as bad as this.

This is one of the greatest American crime thrillers of the 1960s and it holds up very well indeed. Tough, violent and tense with a superb plot and an intriguing use of timelines, flashbacks and editing it makes for several different readings of the narrative. Essentially it's a story of revenge. The great Lee Marvin plays Walker who is double crossed by his friend and partner Mal (John Vernon) and his wife Lynne (Shirley Acker) during their robbery of mob money. Mal leaves Walker for dead but a year later Walker suddenly reappears seeking revenge and wanting his share of the money. Mal is now part of an organised crime group led by three men. Assisted by Lynne's sister, Chris (Angie Dickinson) Walker goes on the rampage causing massive disruption and chaos along the way. This is a film that takes the basic American thriller and gives it an arthouse structure and European style of narrative. It's a film that has a rich text which continues to deliver even after multiple viewings. A riveting, hugely stylish film and ahead of its time it's a modern masterpiece and it identified director John Boorman as a major talent. This is one of my all time Top 10 films and I hugely recommend it if you've never seen it.

With two highly compelling lead performances from Léa Seydoux and George MacKay this futuristic drama holds your attention even though the long runtime and somewhat impenetrable plot makes it occasionally a trial. In 2044 the world seems controlled by AI which sees human emotions as a harmful thing and consequently people are encouraged to have their DNA purified of emotions. To deal with her anxiety Gabrielle (Seydoux) agrees to undergo the procedure which amounts to her reliving past lives where she has a strong emotional connection with Louis (MacKay). There are two other timelines that she has to revisit, one in Paris in 1910 during the Great Flood and the second in 2014 in Los Angeles where she is a model and actress who its stalked by a psychopathic Louis. It's a confusing narrative and the whilst the performances are truly excellent the film doesn't really allow you to grasp its intent. In many ways the influence of David Lynch seems in evidence and there are some tense and disturbing set pieces but by the end I found the film very tiring.

This is a provocative, quite daring thriller that defies expectations and a film that I found myself increasingly compelling. It has the hallmarks of Tarantino or even Tobe Hooper in its jarring plot twists, structure and the quiet setting of the American backwoods. Basically a serial killer narrative but one that goes in some uncomfortable and surprising directions that in fact make this an undeniably intriguing film. The plot is divided into six chapters that are told out of linear order, with each chapter having a title that hints at the macabre events to follow. The off-kilter structure adds to the sheer brilliance of the plot. The film opens with some onscreen titles explaining how a few years ago a serial killer went on an extended killing spree and the film to follow will show the final part of those events. This information leaves the impression the film is based on real events (it's not) and this adds to the horrors to follow. We then cut to a young woman (Willa Fitzgerald) fleeing an armed man (Kyle Gallner), she is clearly badly hurt and he hunts her as she flees through the forest to an isolated house and begs for the help of the aging couple who live there. Then we cut to the same man and woman in earlier events as they arrive at a motel and discuss having casual sex eventually beginning a night of kinky sex that sets the scene for an uncomfortable ride for the rest of the film. As the events jump back and forth in time we get revelations in the story that will shock and surprise in what is a first class thriller and a film that is highly recommended.

It's quite remarkable how powerful this film still is when considering what has been made since. It is genuine anti-war film and depicted the Vietnam War as a conflict not of heroics but of survival. There are scenes of rape, the murder of women and children, US soldiers murdering one another and discussing the killing of their officers, drug taking and cowardice. It's ultimately a story of the loss of innocence centred on the character of Taylor (Charlie Sheen) who has dropped out of college and volunteered for combat in Vietnam. His idealism is quickly shattered as he finds his fellow soldiers consider his life worthless because he has yet to put any time in. As he witnesses death and murder he's awakened to the horror and the duality of man barely keeping his humanity intact. The conflict within him is visualised in the opposites of Sgt Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Sgt Elias (Willem Dafoe) who battle one another for the moral souls of the men. The combat scenes are gritty and realistic with some now very iconic images. This is an unrelentingly tough film to watch but a remarkable work from director Oliver Stone, based on his own experiences in the war. It's a film worthy of repeated viewings so if its been awhile I recommend watching it again.

This period drama is thematically quite dark and probably suffers from the main character being a total cad. There's little, if any, chance that the plot allows you to feel anything but antipathy towards him. This is Georges (Robert Pattinson), who in 1890 Paris, is a former soldier, uneducated, resentful and jealous of the wealthy and more privileged classes of people he sees around him. His only connection is with whores in a rowdy brothel where one day, by chance, he bumps into a former colleague, Charles (Philip Glenister) who charitably invites him to dinner. Georges soon realises that Charles and his male colleagues are strongly influenced by their wives and he sets out to ingratiate himself with them including seducing them and soon finds his way into the society he craves for. But his selfish and immoral appetites soon start to backfire on his plans to gain wealth for himself. Pattinson is certainly an adept leading man here especially up against the renowned cast that includes Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristen Scott Thomas as the wives he targets as well as Colm Meaney, Glenister and James Lance as the men who gradually see through him. As a steamy period drama this works well and it's an entertaining film mostly as you wait for Georges downfall to happen. You'll wait in vain though as the ending is a little anti-climactic but that aside this is a well produced, very well performed film that has that dark edge making it quite interesting.

A witty, humour filled and yet serious drama from writer, director and star Jesse Eisenberg that is clever, moving and a real treat. Basically a road movie that hovers between the trivialities of modern day problems and the horrors of history in this case the Holocaust. This is the story of two American cousins, the introverted David (Eisenberg) and the free spirited Benji (Kieran Culkin) who were very close as children but have since grown apart. David has a secure job and a family whereas Benji has a more laid back life still living in his parents basement. They have reunited on a tour to Poland basically to honour their recently deceased grandmother who was a Holocaust survivor and to find her childhood home. The tour is an organised one with a small group of tourists, led by a tour guide (Will Sharpe), who David hesitatingly tries to be a part but Benji embraces with full on intensity of personality in a tour de force of uncontrollable personality flitting between mood swings of emotional bonding to sharp anger. The narrative cleverly explores the real issues that lay deep within these two especially Benji who harbours demons that gradually reveal themselves. It's not explicit but Benji certainly has serious anxiety as he borders on alienating his fellow travellers but seems to unite them too whilst David cringes in horror at his mood swings. This character driven part of the story is intertwined with the experience of the Holocaust tour and highlights the American experience of trying to come to terms with the horrors that a previous generation preferred to keep silent about. The script is a masterclass of understatement and yet is has a strong message that resonates throughout the entire film. Culkin gets the funny lines and he dominates the film but rightly so as this is about his journey. His child like reactions and switch to fierce anger is a cleverly written and performed character. There's a lot to enjoy in this film, it's sort of arrived without fanfare but it deserves to be recognised for the sheer cleverness in its easy nature and moving story. The ending is a tear inducing one.

This is a little gem that arrived without any hype back in 2000. A science fiction thriller where a merchant space craft crash lands on a desert planet with only eleven survivors including a convict, Riddick (Vin Diesel) being escorted to prison by Johns (Cole Hauser). Riddick is a notorious murderer and as the survivors try to work out what to do they also have to worry about what he might do to them! In any case their fears are doubled when they discover that the planet is home to large nocturnal beasts and when it's realised a month long eclipse is about to happen they have to work out how to get off the planet very quickly. This is Diesel's first big starring role and he's suitably menacing and interesting as Riddick, a criminal with adapted eyesight. The cast includes Radha Mitchell as the ship's pilot and Keith David as one of the surviving passengers. Visually striking this film has originality even though the story has elements of Alien (1979) to it but there's enough freshness here to make this a fantastic sci-fi film and certainly one I recommend if you've never seen it. There have been a couple of ambitious but disappointing sequels but you can ignore those and just enjoy this great little film.

A thoroughly predictable and extremely implausible science fiction film that warns of the dangers of AI. It's another robot narrative that is schlocky and daft and tries to play in the themes that hugely better films have done before such as Blade Runner (1982), Ex Machina (2014) and The Stepford Wives (1975); there's even a Terminator scene thrown in for good measure. This is set in the near future where very human-like robots called SIMS are freely available as workers, servants etc etc. When humble construction manager Nick (Michele Morrone) is faced with looking after his two children as his wife is hospitalised he buys a SIM which he names Alice (Megan Fox). Despite the fact that he can afford what should be a highly expensive piece of kit it also happens to be a very sexually alluring model! Eventually of course he fucks Alice and fails to act when it begins to offer some disturbing behaviour. When Nick's wife comes home Alice proves to be rather dangerous for reasons that are not really followed through in the narrative. There's some huge gaps in this image of the future, indeed apart from robots that are basically indistinguishable from humans (more human than human as a better film once said) there seems to be nothing else much different. There's even a lack of basic CCTV allowing the plot to have a crime that would be easily resolved today let alone in a few years time! In short you can pull holes galore in this and despite some horrific violence it's a film that could have been great but is sadly a throwaway.

This low key crime drama, based on real events, is a quite intense and vivid story with a remarkable central performance from Imogen Poots. It tells the story of Rose Dugdale, an English debutante from a wealthy, aristocratic family, who rebels against her privileged upbringing, is radicalised at Oxford University and becomes an activist prepared to use violence in the name of her causes. The main one of these is her support for the IRA which she joins and is then instrumental in the planning and execution of a daring robbery of an Irish stately home where pricelsss paintings are stolen and held for ransom. The draw of this film is that the events are not given an embellished cinematic thrill ride, and in many ways it's a biopic of Dugdale. She is portrayed here as a contradictory character, sometimes a gentle, conscience ridden woman and at others ruthless and prepared to kill. Her struggle with these contradictions is where Poots excels in showing Dugdale as partially naive and immature and partially a very professional terrorist. There's a scene where Dugdale visits her partially blind and elderly neighbour who may have worked out who she is and she sinisterly considers murdering him. It's a quite unsettling scene. The film has a structure of mixing events and timelines that highlights the contradictions in Dugdale's motives and personality. This is a drama that draws you in and keeps you hooked and, in the main, it's Poots performance that holds the film together, she is very good here. This is a film that is well worth checking out.

Stylised to appeal to the violent gaming fandom, which I assume is teenage boys, this ultra violent, buddy cop movie is an example of the tedious big budget rubbish that Hollywood still churns out. There's nothing in the story that's particularly memorable as it all seems so clichéd and ultimately boring. Full of shoot 'em ups, wisecracking between the two leads and typical baddies in a routine script there's nothing very interesting or different here. Admittedly I've never seen much in any of the previous films in this tired franchise as they're light on the comedy and heavy on the usual implausible action and effects. Here the two buddy cops played by Martin Lawrence and Will Smith have to find the bad guys who are trying to allege their late boss was corrupt so as to divert attention from the real corrupt cops. If you're a fan then this is more of the same and if not then this might pass the time but it's absolute tosh.

The title signposted that a sequel was always intended if not the series that eventually arrived. And what a disappointment that series turned out to be when this first film is such great fun. A swashbuckler fantasy film that was very original in its concept and much of the sparkle and originality comes from Johnny Depp's characterisation of the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, reputedly inspired by Rolling Stone Keith Richards. Any follow up film was always going to struggle once the audience knew this character and so they relied more and more on the spectacular whereas this film had some very good character emphasis. Ok there are extravagant effects but they work so well to create a family fun filled film that has monsters, sword fights, romance and a great story. As a child Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the daughter of the British Governor of a Caribbean island chain, comes into possession of a strange gold medallion. Years later this medallion is sought after by a band of ruthless and cursed pirates led by Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). They kidnap Elizabeth for nefarious reasons and are pursued by Will (Orlando Bloom) and Norrington (Jack Davenport) both of whom are in love with her and they are aided by the notorious Jack Sparrow, a pirate with his own agenda. Marvellous fun, similar in style to The Mummy (1999) and the Indiana Jones series, this has laughs, excitement and is brilliantly written. Forget the sequels and just enjoy this as a stand alone movie.

This incredibly moving drama has a very dark undercurrent. Based on the book by journalist Martin Sixsmith it tells the story of how, during the 1950s, the Roman Catholic Church systematically abused young unmarried mothers in Ireland, forced them to work and sold their children to wealthy Americans. Written and produced by star Steve Coogan who plays Sixsmith, having recently been sacked from his job with the Labour Party becomes depressed and aimless. Until he finds out the plight of Philomena (Judi Dench), a woman who yearns to find her son who was forcibly taken from her by the nuns of an Irish convent. Martin reluctantly takes on the story which leads the two of them to America. On the journey trying to track down her son Philomena and Martin bond together especially the cynical Martin who becomes more angry at what he discovers went on. The film intentionally highlights the international scandal of the Church's actions and the thousands of women who are still trying to track down their lost children today obstructed by the Church and it's minions. Coogan plays Sixsmith with a weary cynicism and humour and Judi Dench is as excellent as ever as the lovely yet thoroughly sad Philomena who can't bring herself to be angry at what happened to her and her son. But I challenge any viewer not be enraged by the story. A moving and quite heartwarming story and a film I highly recommend.

This is one of Clint Eastwood's most underrated films as a director. It's a multi-layered crime drama set in Texas, 1963. Kevin Costner stars as 'Butch' Haynes a career criminal who escapes from the State Penitentiary and a manhunt begins led by Clint Eastwood's cynical lawman, Red Garnett. Forced to take hostage 8 year old Philip (T.J. Lowther), Butch takes to the road and a bond forms between the boy and the criminal, he becomes the father figure that Philip has never had. It's a relationship that is very touching and as the story plays out other connections are gradually revealed along with some of Butch's past. There's so much to admire in this film. It has humour, gritty action pieces that are suitably restrained and fitting and a good support cast including Laura Dern as a young criminologist who recognises what motivates Butch and respects his intelligence. Eastwood wisely takes a supporting role and doesn't actually have any scenes with Costner until the films climax. One of Eastwood's best films as a director and one that reveals more every time you watch it. It's a marvellous movie and definitely one I recommend if you want to see Eastwood at the top of his game.