Film Reviews by GI

Another dumb superhero film, this time from DC, and a character that only fans would have heard of. Dwayne Johnson, probably the most likeliest of superheroes, finally gets to don a suit and fly around punching the lights out of anyone he fancies. On the plus side he's a sort of an anti-hero here, an ancient warrior somehow or other linked to a magical crown and imprisoned 5000 years ago but finally released in the modern world. He comes up against a gang of other superheroes led by Pierce Brosnan, none of whom I'd ever heard of before but all reminiscent of X-Men or Watchmen. They eventually all have to team up to fight a big bad villain which cues loads of the usual destruction. Indeed this is violent and darkish like the DC films tend towards but yet it's very MCU is style and structure. When you break it down it's a routine superhero film, it offers nothing new or particularly original and one can't help but think its just dredging the well of comic characters in an attempt to get a film onto the screen. If you're a fan, enjoy but for the rest of us.....yawn!

A well constructed and gratifying relationship psychodrama that has some clumsy narrative swings including one near the end that I didn't think fitted very well but overall this is an entertaining and very well made film. Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Edrenreich) are an in love couple preparing their future together but who both happen to work for a cutthroat hedge fund firm in Wall Street. Firm policy means they keep their relationship a secret but things begin to unravel when Emily gets a promotion that Luke thought was rightfully his. This has the effect of slowly eroding his self confidence, his sexual prowess, increasing his jealousy and killing his very masculinity made even more damaged when Emily offers to try and help him get the next promotion as if he can't do this on his own merits. His mental decline drives the narrative towards destruction forcing Emily to make some bad decisions that affects her relationship with her boss (Eddie Marsan). As a story of toxic masculinity badly wounded by the simple issue of a woman being cleverer and more successful than the man this is a strong story. It works brilliantly in showing Luke's gradual decline but occasionally steps a little too far in Emily's story arc especially the final scene which, for me didn't really sit with the narrative. Overall this is a watchable, well acted and interesting film.

A magnificent fantasy epic full of gritty, brutal battles and a far darker tone than the first film in the trilogy. The second film in a trilogy can often be the most difficult as audiences know that the conclusion is to come in a further episode and consequently a director must make a full narrative whilst setting the scene for the next instalment. The level of detail in this film is something to behold and the cleverness of following various characters as they go on different journeys in the narrative is beautifully edited to ensure the various story arcs are interwoven so as to keep all of them in the mind of the viewer and not to inhibit the action in any one of them. The cast remain impressive and in the Extended edition, which is always the version to watch, the story is more rounded, more enhanced and characters return from the earlier film to help explain the motivations of the characters, for example Sean Bean as Boromir is shown in a flashback with his father and brother in a scene that will give full meaning to later events in the third film. This film showcases the whole ethos behind Tolkien's celebrated novel. Its a tale of heroism and intermixing myth, legend and history to create a remarkable fantasy epic. This is a modern masterpiece, a superb piece of cinema and a film to relish over and over again.

For serious film aficionados and students of film form and critical analysis this is an interesting and though provoking documentary from film director Nina Menkes looking at the institution of the 'male gaze' in cinema and she proposes its repercussions in social-political environments of the real world. Menkes carefully shows the construction of image around the female form and her clear and evidenced look is eye opening. When I did Film Studies many years ago the 'male gaze' was an openly discussed issue but never within the context of sexual assault and female disempowerment. Menkes takes a really hard look at this using a wide range of film clips to emphasise her various points. I support the theory that the presentation of the female form as an object of desire can have a knock on effect within the context of real world ideas about women's roles and opportunities and their position within sexual relationships. There are one or two flawed concepts within the film and the role of female directors exploiting the 'male gaze' phenomena are not always pushed to a satisfactory exposé. But this is a very interesting and eye opening documentary and any student of film should see this.

Whatever your film preferences or where you stand on the fantasy genre this is a remarkable achievement. Director Peter Jackson's finest film and it will retain it's place in film history, not only for putting the fantasy genre into the mainstream of serious film making but also for the magnificence of the whole experience. Adapting the complexities and convoluted world of Tolkien's Middle-earth with such panache and beauty was a challenge but Jackson and his team aided by a stunning special effects department and a cast of actors who took the whole thing seriously achieved it. The story and world in which it is set is actually very involved and Jackson cleverly and wisely didn't feel the need to over explain, he left it to the audience to understand. This is a film for adults, a dark tale set in a mystical and legendary world inhabited by different peoples from men to elves, dwarves, hobbits and orcs. A land of evil, courage and with a complex history it's the story of the Ring of Power forged by a Dark Lord who returns after 3000 years to dominate the land but requires the Ring, long since lost, to do this. It's essentially a mythological story, a story of flawed heroes, unlikely heroes and evil monsters; of sword fights, strange creatures, peculiar peoples all with a history that the viewer quickly buys into too. This is a modern masterpiece and with it's sequels these are films to enjoy time and time again, indeed when you see a bad film this is a film to turn to to remember what magnificence cinema can do. My advice is always look to the Extended Edition its a more complete film and experience.

A 'Ten Little Indians' style whodunnit set in a lavish mansion during a menacing storm. On the surface a routine, unoriginal narrative but then this quirky little film does throw in some little surprises and there's some neat character development that is often lacking in this sort of film. A small group of twenty something friends, plus Bee (Maria Baklava) who tags along with her new girlfriend, congregate at the huge country house of David (Peter Davidson), who is obnoxious but tolerated by the others. It's a weekend party just as a hurricane is expected to arrive and it duly does knocking out the lights, telephones etc etc. Things begin to go awry when a party game ends up with David dead and the bodies begin to pile up......but who is the killer? Old animosities begin to seep out as the pressure grows amongst the group and the script drips with humour as they argue over some quite trivial yet hugely contemporary matters that shouldn't be relevant when murder is afoot but for these entitles young people are so so important! The denouement will either make you smile or groan but either way this is a surprisingly entertaining little film in a genre that could be described as hackneyed.

Director Walter Hill is quoted as having referred to this film as 'a strange piece'. It's an interesting description because despite it's genre roots it has a meandering feel to it and certainly doesn't know when to end. This can be described as a revisionist western combining historical realism with Hollywood and genre traits. The shoot outs are all slo-mo bloody squibs with bodies being thrown through windows etc by the sheer force of gunfire and in these aspects it's all very OTT. In the scenes in bars, whorehouses and homesteads there is an attempt to recreate a sense of history. All of this makes the film interesting, entertaining and needy of some cohesion. Hill is a Sam Peckinpah wannabe but lacks any of Peckinpah's lyrical poetry or his sense of balance. The big set piece gunfight in Northfield which is almost the film's conclusion is a direct copycat of Peckinpah's opening scene in The Wild Bunch (1969). Anyway what we have here is another telling of the Jesse James story, it's been told better before there is no doubt but this does have some interesting twists, the obvious one is the casting of four sets of brothers to play brothers: James & Stacy Keach are the James brothers; David, Keith & Robert Carradine are the Youngers; Dennis & Randy Quaid are the Millers and Christopher & Nicholas Guest are the Ford brothers. These all perform admirably but the novelty was unnecessary and doesn't enhance the film to any real extent. Hill adds two codas to the film and they tend to make it lose its way; the first is showing the murder of Jesse James and lastly the arrest of Frank. These could have been dealt with much better by other means and their inclusion leaves the film with a sense of over-indulgence. But overall it's an interesting addition to the genre.

What promises to be a fairly typical scifi action flick soon defies expectations and becomes a very entertaining, plot twisting, time travelling story that hooks you in and goes in places very unexpected. Set in 2044 it follows Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) an underworld hitman who shoots persons sent back from 30 years in the future on the behest of a top crime lord known as The Rainmaker. When his next victim turns out to be his future self his whole future is changed. This has the whole time travel paradox elements woven into the narrative, some great visions of two future times and Bruce Willis playing the 'older' Joe has not been as good for many a film. Aided by the always tremendous Emily Blunt and with Jeff Daniels as a baddie you have all the ingredients for a superb addition to the scifi/time travel genre.

A fairly routine procedural crime thriller with a plot that is overall nothing particularly original but does have a compelling central performance from Benicio Del Toro. He plays Tom, a seasoned detective with a slightly murky past, who investigates the brutal murder of an estate agent. Of course the narrative sets itself from the outset as a mystery with various suspects emerging as the film goes along including the victim's boyfriend, the slightly sleazy Will (Justin Timberlake) and the local weirdo Eli (Michael Pitt). Tom's fellow cops also act a little weirdly around him during the investigation making him more and more paranoid and there's a great little scene when his jealously over his wife (Alicia Silverstone) comes frighteningly to the surface. But overall considering the plus 2 hour run time the film fails to deliver a satisfying denouement and ends predictably and typically. It's all ok and entertains as far as it goes but don't expect anything too much.

The inevitable sequel to the 2018 film that was much celebrated but never really lit a fire in my belly. This new film is a homage to Chadwick Boseman and the death of his character is woven into this sequel giving it a morose tone that jars a little with the spectacular sci-fi elements and the usual big punch ups that superhero films inevitably end up being. This is overlong and overblown and you'll have to wait until the two hour mark for the title character to make an appearance even though it's obvious who it will be. The story is fairly generic for this type of picture. The powerful state of Wakanda resists giving other nations the secret of the magical element which gives them their power and advanced technology as they don't trust anyone else not to use it as a WMD. But the discovery of a vein of this metal is discovered in the ocean where it's protected by a strange people who live in the sea. But a war develops between the Wakandans and this new lot which means that a new Black Panther is needed to win the day. I found this to be wonderful to look at but the same tired old cliched narrative that seems to be the lot of the MCU cinema. Hence this is a film for fans only and I'm sure they'll love it but it offers nothing new and like James Bond apparently the Black Panther Will Return!!

One of the finest British gangster films and highly influential. Here you will find the roots of modern British crime stories including Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). This was the breakout film for Bob Hoskins who plays Harold Shand, the top London crime lord who is wooing the New York mafia to invest in his huge development project. But when his men start being killed Harold has trouble discovering who is attacking him. Helen Mirren is also first class as his wife, and not just the classy bimbo but a more involved and complex character than normally written for such roles. There's a host of British character actors and some gritty scenes. This is a film that looks into the heart of London organised crime, a tale of murder, corruption, ruthless ambition and nasty violence. Interestingly it's a film that looks deeply at the British obsession with its history. Harold is a patriot who sees his crime empire as a symbol of the past British empire and it's not by accident that his downfall is caused by the ambitious younger member of his gang. This is a classic of British cinema and arguably Hoskins best, and definitely most famous, role.

This exhausting tale of debauchery and corruption in 1920s and 30s Hollywood is certainly overcooked, overlong and far too much a pastiche that it lacks any real credibility. Don't get me wrong there are things to admire here but you have to wait for them in what seems an endlessly tedious film. The first and best thing is Margot Robbie as a young wannabe star in the silent age who rises to become one but is rendered emotionally damaged by the process. It's a bold and riveting performance so much so that when she's off screen you can't wait for her return. The second thing is some of the set pieces are intriguing even though the film is structured around a long series of such scenes. From the opening orgiastic party to a visit to a weird and depraved subterranean club you will perk up in the hope that something interesting is about to occur. But those individual scenes aside the film is deeply flawed in its presentation of a time and place so ludicrous that it almost feels cartoonish. The narrative is broadly about a series of persons who all live and work in the world of Hollywood movies and attempting to make the transition to sound. As I said Robbie is great as Nellie, a young woman destined to self destruction. Brad Pitt is the suave star who is on the decline and the linking character is Manny (Diego Calva) a Mexican eager to work in any role in the film business and who manages against the odds to rise and he's in love with Nellie, which will be his downfall. All these characters are loosely based on real persons or a conglomeration of them and some of the events are based on real ones but the biggest issue is the film feels a messy affair, somewhat incoherent and at times dull. It never seems to really nail the vile corruption of the place nor the real glitz of it either although it does try very hard. Overall it's a bold film and may indeed survive a future re-evaluation but I was not that impressed as I couldn't unravel what the film is trying to be.

This is certainly a gritty, hard-edged modern war film full of blood and gung-ho and being an American film based on true story it's also a bit of a flag waver. That can be forgiven because it really delivers as a genre film with a four man Navy Seal team led by Taylor Kitsch with Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as the crew sent into Taliban country to kill a notorious tribal leader. They are disturbed by some goatherds and have to abandon their mission but are relentlessly pursued by a large force of Taliban. The combat scenes are realistic and violent, the stunt work is especially impressive and I did like the scene where the four men debate whether to kill the three goat herders or not but are restrained by the rules of engagement. The story doesn't shy away from the fact they did debate it although the films nominal star, Wahlberg, does opt for the moral choice as you'd expect. Americans and Hollywood love their heroes and consequently you do get the sense of patriotism strong and bold through the narrative. That's ok because it's a gripping war film and doesn't fail to deliver. A pity the title gives away the ending!!!

Lone Star is a gem of a film; a crime mystery drama set in modern day Texas close to the Mexican border. A skeleton is found buried in the desert and Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) begins an investigation and soon comes to believe that it's the remains of former Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) who disappeared forty years ago. As he begins to delve into the circumstances of Wade's disappearance he begins to uncover dark secrets that will get to the heart of his relationship with his father and his lover. The narrative plays out over two timelines and the director, John Sayles, brilliantly uses in-shot edits to move between the present day and the events of forty years earlier. It's a marvellous ploy and gives the film a poetry and tempo which makes it really engrossing. The narrative delves deep into issues of racial tensions that span, unchecked, across the decades and highlights disputes over the interpretation of history. The very plot is a treatise on how events can be manipulated and controlled. But mixed in here are really bold family dramas that intertwine with the mystery story. A superb support cast including Clifton James, Matthew McConaughey and Frances McDormand sets this film apart. It's a mini-masterpiece and definitely one to seek out.

A cheap, cheerless and ultimately silly futuristic rip off of Squid Game or The Hunger Games with a company offering über rich businessman the chance to hunt people on a remote island. There's some science fiction effects, which probably chewed through the budget, and then the film is mostly set on a forested island where arch criminal Malone (Bruce Willis) is selected as the prey when top client Rainsford (Neil McDonough) wants a bigger challenge. The trouble with this film is that it's a poorly put together story, with the hunters bickering and murdering one another for the most part and the finale is anticlimactic to say the least. Willis is far too old for this although his age is a running joke during the film and I've no doubt it's his presence that the filmmakers hoped would attract some kind of audience. This is a clunker and best avoided.