Film Reviews by GI

A weak thriller with a routine and somewhat hackneyed story and Liam Neeson still trying to be an action hero. He's far too old for this sort of thing and here it really shows. He plays Travis, a shady government agent who specialises in rescuing deep cover agents whose cover is blown. He discovers a conspiracy by his boss to assassinate citizens who might be a nuisance to the establishment. There's some unexciting chase sequences, Bournesque fights and shoot outs and the plot is obvious from the get go. In an attempt to spice things up Travis has OCD and a partially estranged daughter and granddaughter with whom he's trying to reconnect. A film that offers nothing new, dull, pretentious and best ignored.

Every so often a genre can throw up such an outstanding film you can forgive the awful ones you've had to sit through before. Logan, like X-Men (2000) before it, is a comic book inspired superhero film with adult themes, gritty violence and a great story. I'd go as far as to say Logan is the best certainly of the Marvel output even outdoing the Avengers series. This is a downbeat, western styled film and a worthy swan song to the Wolverine character after a couple of rather mediocre outings before it. Here Hugh Jackman nails it as the ailing, tired and borderline alcoholic Logan, losing his powers and caring for Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who has early dementia. They are hiding out in Texas and with mutants no longer being born and the X-Men disbanded they have little future. That is until Laura, a young mutant child, comes into their lives and Logan has to rise to the occasion to help her. There's two wonderful relationships built into the narrative here, Logan and Xavier have a tetchy but warm father/son vibe which is really great to watch and is very touching; the second is Logan and Laura, a father/daughter relationship that drives the central story. This is brilliantly bloody and clever and shows that with the right story, right director a superhero film can be bloody marvellous.

This is a hi-octane sci-fi action thriller and it's simply great fun. Don't expect anything sincere here it's just a full on, violent special effects film that owes a lot to Escape From New York (1981), indeed the director of that film John Carpenter won a plagiarism case over Lockout, and Die Hard (1988), one of Lockout's taglines was Die Hard in Space! So if you enjoyed those two films you'll enjoy this although it's not as good as either. It's 2079 and Guy Pearce is Snow, a Government agent framed for murder and treason and sentenced to 30 years on the world's maximum security prison MS1, which orbits the Earth. But luckily for him a group of prisoners manage to take over the prison while the President's daughter (Maggie Grace) is visiting and Snow is offered a chance of freedom if he rescues her. He agrees because he has his own reason for infiltrating the prison. Good solid cast including Lennie James, Peter Stormare, Vincent Egan and Joseph Gilgun who is tremendous as a psycho. The action set pieces are good solid fun and the film rattles along at a great pace although the ending is a bit anticlimactic. It was never going to win any awards but who cares when you can enjoy a good action film like this.

This is the British Pulp Fiction (1994), it's clearly influenced by it and a shame that director Guy Ritchie didn't go on to emulate Quentin Tarantino because Lock, Stock... is his first and best film. Cleverly scripted, humorous, with fantastic quintessential cockney characters and some very nasty violence this film sits up there with the best of British gangster crime films such as Get Carter (1971), Mona Lisa (1986), The Long Good Friday (1980), Layer Cake (2004) and Sexy Beast (2000). The story of four cockney lads who are ripped off by a porn king gangster in a card game and end up owing him half a million pounds. With just a week to pay it back they come up with an audacious plan to steal from another gang but the plot has twists and turns and things don't go well. The film made a star of Jason Statham (who doesn't reveal his action hero credentials here but does show a flair for comedy) and features some unique British talent including Sting, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Flemyng, Vinnie Jones and Steven MacKintosh. Most memorable of course are the real life villains that Ritchie recruited into the cast most notably Lenny McLean, a notorious London character. This is a big favourite with many British film fans and it is a film that deserves repeated viewings.

Local Hero is a gentle British comedy in the style of the endearing Ealing Comedies and it's also a beautiful homage to Scotland, indeed it's often be praised as a love poem to the country. A clash-of-cultures narrative where Texas oil billionaire Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) sends his ambitious gopher Macintyre (Paul Riegert) to a remote Scottish village to buy it so he can build an oil refinery. Mac finds the locals are very enthusiastic to the plan and can't believe their luck. But a local hermit, Ben (Fulton MacKay) happens to own the main beach and steadfastly refuses to sell forcing Happer to make the journey to Scotland personally. The film is very reminiscent of The Maggie (1954), where a rich American comes up against wily local Scots. There's a lovely romance involving a young Peter Capaldi and some delightful comedy moments. The ending is quite lovely and the film has a famous score by Mark Knopfler. This is a beautiful little film and is beloved by critics and the public alike and is well worth checking out if you've never seen it.

This historical action adventure would have fitted perfectly into the 1960s. Its style, story and structure matches the films of that time so in many ways it's a very straight forward film. Mostly though it all seems too good to be true even though there's apparently some fact behind it. Set in the 1820s this is basically a story of tribal conflicts in West Africa focusing on one that has a regiment of fierce women warriors as a sort of Praetorian Guard to their king led by Nanisca (Viola Davis), scarred and emotionally damaged but with some much needed wisdom. The film has roughly two narrative threads that eventually intertwine. The first is the recruitment and training of new recruits that follows headstrong Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) as she joins, struggles, has attitude etc etc and the second is the war with another tribe and slave traders. There are battles and fighting and despite a lot of machetes and spears and throat cutting this is a surprisingly bloodless affair, with more emphasis on comic book style martial arts which weakened the film's impact. It's clearly trying to be family film or at least appeal to younger audiences who will perhaps receive it more as a superhero genre piece. The presence of John Boyega as the king made me realise that this is essentially a Star Wars narrative with Davis as the Jedi master and Mbedu as a Luke persona. There's a big bad baddie (the dark side) but he's somewhat underwhelming but the story is a very basic one of good vs evil. The attempts to discuss slavery are way too simplistic and skirt around the problematic matter that the tribes themselves traded captured slaves to Europeans. The presence of a beautifully muscled mixed race man to be a love interest to the young heroine and to offer a moral position on slavery are to be honest cringeworthy. A rather average and disappointing film that never really does anything other than a standard, predictable story and at times feels all a bit silly

This slow burning political espionage drama is a must see film. A psychological thriller set in East Germany in 1984, a time when the East German security police (Stasi) were highly active in monitoring, interrogating and imprisoning citizens on mere suspicions or false denouncements by so called informants. This is a fantastic and superbly written story that draws you in and the subtle shifts in plot and character are wonderful. Ulrich Mühe plays Wiesler, an experienced Stasi operative who begins an operation of surveillance on playwright (Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) despite there being no suspicions about him. But a high ranking Government official covets Dreyman's actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck) and so insists that something incriminating is found. But as the long hours of dedicated and highly intrusive surveillance carry on Wiesler begins to form a different attitude to his target. The plot twists tiptoe up to you as the narrative unfolds. This is an excellent film revealing the hard truths of life behind the Iron Curtain before the reunification of Germany. It highlights the dangers of despotic regimes and at its heart its a story of humanity and of truth and morality overcoming fear and false duty. Overall it's a delight, a tense and somewhat frightening story that keeps you hooked throughout.

Cate Blanchett is note perfect in this complex psychodrama that begins tiresomely but soon turns into something very original and interesting. She play the title character of Lydia Tár, an internationally renowned orchestral conductor who has become the first woman to lead a huge German orchestra. She's no doubt seen as a genius but she's a narcissistic tyrant ready to manipulate any and all around her as she lives her almost rock star lifestyle with her wife played by Nina Hoss. The suicide of a former lover of Lydia's begins her exposure and downfall as the loyalty she demands of her entourage is not as forthcoming as she expects. There's elements of a descent into madness narrative as Lydia begins to use control. The performances are all so good they are mesmerising especially Blanchett who delivers one take scenes of considerable length and at all times has authenticity in the role. Of equal note is Noémie Merlant as Tár's assistant who is instrumental in her downfall. Julian Glover and Mark Strong also have support roles. This is a film that skirts melodrama and some may find it stretches patience but film has a sensual extravagance that makes you want to keep watching. It's certainly a tor de force in screen acting.

A modern masterpiece Little Big Man is a film that all film lovers should see and see again. It's an absolute delight throughout, a film that debunks the genre conventions of the western and the myths of American frontier history. Dustin Hoffman in one of his most iconic roles is Jack Crabb, a 121 year old man interviewed by a historian about his memories of living on the frontier but who claims to be the only white survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The film is then the story of his life from the massacre of his family as a child to his life with the loving, caring Cheyenne, his return to white civilisation and ultimately his hatred for General Custer. Along this journey we meet a series of characters all of whom are on the face of it stereotypical western characters but each one is subverted to reveal a different angle whether it be the ridiculousness of the movie staple or the reality from history. There's the call girl (Faye Dunaway), the preacher (Thayer David), the travelling showman (Martin Balsam), the gunfighter (Jeff Corey as Wild Bill Hickok), the Indian Chief (Chief Dan George) and some Hoffman himself becomes including the storekeeper, town drunk, a gunfighter, Indian scout, and best of all is the complete unravelling of the myth of Custer played here to wonderful effect by Richard Mulligan. This film has comedy, indeed at times you'll laugh out loud, sadness, and shocking violence including the massacre of an Indian village and the murder of women and children. Ultimately the film questions the staple of myth versus fact and debunks the Fordian idea of 'when the legend become fact, print the legend'. This is a thoroughly remarkable work, one of the finest American films that emerged in the American New wave of the late 60s and into the 70s.

A routine pagan creature feature that is watchable for the bleak, dreary landscape and the presence of Keri Russell in the lead role. She plays Julia, a small town school teacher who lives with her local sheriff brother (Jesse Plemons). There's a sordid history of parental abuse behind them so Julia is only too aware of issues with one of her school kids, the withdrawn and clearly malnourished, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas). He is harbouring a dark secret at home which the inquisitive Julia soon sets out to discover unleashing an ancient horror in the process. There's nothing outwardly wrong with this film, it's competently made, looks good and has the usual atmospheric build ups. It just doesn't really add much to a quite tired sub genre and whilst it maybe thematically about modern generational abuse or societal disavowment of the under privileged, I suspect it's just another film following the current horror trends. There's gore, a monster and daftness in equal measure and Amy Madigan has a cameo. Watchable for Halloween perhaps but otherwise a throwaway.

This British scifi horror film was treated as low budget B movie on it's release and much derided by critics and the public alike but over the years it has gained a cult following and is now regarded as an interesting addition to the science fiction/horror genre hybrid. A space mission to study Halley's Comet as it passes close to Earth discovers a massive object hidden in the tail of the comet. The crew investigate and find the remains of an alien species and three human bodies which they return to their spaceship. But the ship is later found burnt out and the crew all dead although the strange bodies have survived the fire and are taken to Earth by a rescue ship where they awaken and unleash an ancient evil. The film is a great story and although the special effects may appear a little old fashioned by today's standards they are mostly shot in camera and are quite exciting. It's a violent film and occasionally gory and has a notoriety because French actress Mathilda May spends most of her screen time totally naked. The cast includes Steve Railsback as the Commander of the spacecraft, Peter Firth as an SAS Colonel and an early screen role for Patrick Stewart. This is one of my guilty secret films, a really entertaining piece of hokum from the Golan-Globus Productions (Cannon Films as it was to become) and well worth checking out as there's a restored BluRay version with two cuts of the film, the theatrical cut and a longer International version.

This is a first class crime thriller with an interesting structure and a great central performance by Terence Stamp as Wilson, a hardened London career criminal who travels to Los Angeles to look into the circumstances of his daughter's death supposedly from a car accident. It's a tough, gritty film with bursts of violence, a creepy and cowardly villain played by Peter Fonda and his tough security chief played by Barry Newman. This is one of Steven Soderbergh's often forgotten films and underrated films especially considering his use of time swings to reveal his story through the eyes of Wilson which opens up interesting questions about the narrative. Stamp's character is much more nuanced than the over exaggerated cockney persona that dominates and gives the film some humour (his interaction with Bill Duke's DEA agent is really funny). But it's a much more complicated character here which Stamp cleverly reveals in small facial expressions and scenes where the camera lingers on him as a lonely figure highlighting a life of regrets and one reading could be a life he imagines rather than actually lives. However you analyse it this is a remarkable character study, with a slight but clash of culture theme that is not overdone. A film to check out and certainly if you weren't impressed the first time.

A formulaic and poorly scripted musical biopic of the legendary singer. You're better off watching the documentaries about Houston that have been released in the past couple of years if you want to know any details of her life (even those films were hampered by legal issues). What you have here is a whistle stop tour of Whitney's rise from teenage gospel singer to mega star that skirts over any issues and fails to nail its colours to a mast. Everything is just touched upon, the jealous and domineering mother (Tamara Tunie), the greedy and embezzling father (Clarke Peters), the best friend with the 'was Whitney gay?' or not and finally to her drug laden and stressed marriage to Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) and motherhood. None of these major parts of Houston's life are given any depth. There's a scene where her mentor (Stanley Tucci - the best thing about this film) tells her she needs rehab', as a viewer you will, if like me, be surprised and think 'Does She?' because up to that point the drugs issue has hardly been evident. Naomie Ackie does a reasonable job as Houston, lip synching the iconic songs and performances, but the script never allows her to give the character anywhere to really show the despair that she felt. A weak biopic.

A truly original horror film from Sweden. It's teen love story, a bully revenge thriller, a serial killer story and a monster film all wrapped cleverly into one modern masterpiece. It's a gloomy, lugubrious and nightmarish film set in Stockholm during the heavy winter and tells the story of ruthlessly bullied 12 year old Oskar, who lives with his mother. Friendless he meets his new neighbour Eli, also 12, and they quickly bond. She encourages him to face his tormentors but when a series of ritualistic murders occur in the neighbourhood Oskar soon begins to believe his new friend and the deaths are connected. The clever, indeed original, use of a familiar movie trope makes this a really intriguing and rather brilliant film. Adapted from a bestselling novel it's a film to discover and admire.

A film very rooted in it's time, the mid 90s, so much so in fact that it hasn't aged well and can't remotely survive a re-evaluation nor be valued as a film that's 'so bad its good'. It's just a failure on so many levels. Firstly the themes that director Paul Verhoeven attempts around the exploitation of women in the world of Las Vegas entertainment, the links with prostitution and the accepted rape by celebrities is given the veneer of sordid soft pornography as he obviously relishes getting as much naked flesh on screen as he possibly can. All the characters are simply unspeakably horrid and especially the main character of Nomi played by Elizabeth Berkley, whose career this film no doubt ruined. Nomi is a former prostitute (although her past is held back as some sort of justified reveal near at the film's concluding scenes) who arrives in Las Vegas hoping to achieve fame as a showgirl dancer. She's clearly talented but is forced into lap dancing to earn a living eventually realising that the only way to the top is by being a nasty bitch. Berkley's performance is all anger and exaggerated movement making Nomi an unrealistic and petulant figure. The worst part is the viewer has no sympathy for her as she sulks, fights and manipulates her way to the starring role in the show. The rape sequence that is meant to be some peak of the journey loses any of it's intended impact because by the time it arrives you are in the position where you couldn't care what happens to anyone even though the the rape victim is the one character with any sort of morality. The vengeful woman sequence that immediately follows is almost laughable and certainly anti climatic. When you consider Verhoeven's major films, both his European and American, and those of writer Joe Eszterhas who penned this, you wonder what went so wrong. It has to be that the entire concept is ill thought out to the extent that Verhoeven's usual and successful excesses in violence have no part when it comes to female exploitation and misogyny in the American system where he relies on titillation as a means to push boundaries. This remains a poor film and whilst it will have its fans it cannot be remotely admired.