Film Reviews by GI

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.

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.