Film Reviews by GI

Comparisons with Stephen King's It and the film adaptation (2017) are inevitable, indeed the style and story are almost a homage to King. The director Scott Derrickson describes this film as paranormal thriller and that's about right. It's a serial killer and ghost story combination that has its moments but the sheer implausibility of some basic areas of the story weaken its power and the end result is a watchable but unfulfilling film. A serial killer, dubbed 'The Grabber', is terrorising a 1970s Denver neighbourhood abducting boys (although there seems no attempt within the community to put in place simple cautionary measures and victims are easily caught wandering alone in isolated places... Der!). When shy, bullied and intelligent Finney (Mason Thames) is grabbed he finds himself locked in a dismal basement and taunted by the villain in a scary mask. When an old wall mounted and disconnected telephone rings Finney finds the ghosts of the previous victims on the end of the line and trying to help him avoid their fate. An intriguing idea thus begins and the voices on the phone gradually give Finney the means to escape. Although this involves a lengthy and detailed preparation which seems somewhat daft considering the daily visits of The Grabber to the basement. The ghostly aspects of the story are simply plot devices to allow a complicated way out gradually emerge creating the tension intended by the director. Meanwhile Finney's younger sister is revealed to have some psychic abilities and begins to help the police who seem to go along with this child psychic all too quickly and easily. As much as the film has a suspenseful atmosphere its narrative is dragged out a bit overly long and Hunt in a scary mask is not that frightening. It's ok but nothing memorable.

Hi-octane action thriller and the third in the series so you need the other two under your belt to know what on earth is going on! This carries on directly where No. 2 left off and from the opening it's fairly relentless with chase and fight scenes often combined which go on for quite a length at times. They're also bloody and after awhile can seem a tad tiresome. It's all totally comic book and choreographed like a computer game and if you've bought into the story from the previous two films then this will be a hoot. Fully entertaining and huge fun even when it's totally over the top. The story builds on that conspiracy theorist favourite that the world is run by a secret all powerful group of people, here called 'the high table' and former assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has committed the heinous crime of killing an enemy within the sanctuary of the High Table's hotel run by Winston (Ian McShane) and so he's now a hunted man. He has to call in some old debts to try and survive (Anjelica Huston in a nice cameo and Halle Berry showing off her action chops as well as a return of Laurence Fishburne). There's a few homages to enjoy spotting and I did smile at the The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966) one and a reprise of a famous line from The Matrix (1999) which fans should easily spot. There's also Blade Runner (1982) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) ones in there as well. It has the cliffhanger ending to bring you neatly not No.4.

Very much like Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic this is a drama with the edginess of a thriller that follows three stories that more or less intertwine and that highlight the opioid epidemic in America. It's all rather well done and keeps you hooked throughout. Gary Oldman stars as a university biology professor who carries out drug trials for big pharmaceutical companies that help fund the university. When he discovers a new opioid drug may be harmful he finds the system and the big company are out to discredit him. Armie Hammer is an undercover DEA agent on a dangerous operation to trap a big trafficker ferrying illegal opioids across the huge open USA/Canadian border and Evangeline Lilly is the distraught mum of a teenager who dies of an overdose and who tracks the dealers down for revenge. Even without the obvious social attack on big pharma and the failure of a legal and regulatory system to protect and control the production and distribution of drugs this is a first rate, well acted, well told drama. The direction is sound and the winter landscapes add to the gritty realism of the story. This is rather good and very well much worth your time. The support cast adds to the mix and includes Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans and Lily-Rose Depp.

An interesting psychological horror that will appeal to anyone who can nostalgically remember the video nasty period of the mid 1980s when the media and occasionally the UK government was only too ready to blame the ills of society on some pretty ropey horror videotapes. The story here, set in 1985, follows Enid (Niamh Algar), a conscientious member of the British Board of Film Classification, who spends her days viewing horror and violent exploitation films deciding whether to pass them for the general public. When she watches a newly submitted film she becomes convinced it is reenacting the disappearance of her sister many years ago and becomes obsessed with finding the films elusive director. Here we have a horror narrative where fact and fiction are blurred as Enid is shown possibly descending into madness. The film opens the debate of years ago of how can the censor be spared the effects he/she is exposed to whilst arguing the public must be so spared. Enid's colleagues are shown conflicted too with the men less affected by scenes of rape and yet shocked when a film passed by them is reported to have caused a murder. This is an assured debut from this director and it does have the some gore. The change in aspect ratio is a clever trope to simulate VHS tapes but also to hint at what is actually occurring is dream or reality. There's a a bit of a Lynchian vibe to this and it's worth checking out.

The inevitable sequel and an even bigger money maker leading to the making of two more. The trademark here is unchanged, a slightly weaker story, this is all about hi octane action and bright, arthouse visuals to create a relentless shoot 'em up that is pure entertainment. The story follows from the first with top assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) still on the final leg of his revenge to recover his coveted Ford Mustang. This sequence has it all, car chases, martial arts fights and lots and lots of shooting and all before the opening credits. Then we get into the new story and wishing to return to quiet retirement John is forced to honour an old debt and has to travel to Rome for one last hit but he finds he becomes the hunted and has to go on the rampage to get free of the life. This episode ups the story of the strange secret criminal society to which Wick belongs and has Ian McShane and, in this film, Franco Nero as two of the upholders of its rules and rituals. Laurence Fishburne has a cameo too. It's all comic book stylings, brash, bloody and fast paced but these films take their place in amongst Bond, Bourne and Hunt in the action franchise genre. There's homages galore so it's fun spotting them including Enter The Dragon (1973) and you'll smoothly roll onto watching the next instalment as this one ends on a cliffhanger. Great fun and best of all these films don't take themselves at all seriously.

A huge misjudged mess of a film. There's a lot of running and jumping in there that just distracts from the narrative that fails to exploit its own set up, which could have been very interesting. No wonder that the film was delayed and plagued with reshoots so it's anyone's guess what it looked like in its early edits. Anyway this science fiction story is set on a distant planet in the 23rd century. It's been colonised by humans many years ago who now live in a sort of 19th century frontier type existence and in one settlement only the men survive with the women mysteriously gone. The boss is a controlling bully (Mads Mikkelsen) who claims the women were all killed by the nasty indigenous aliens during a war. The strangest phenomenon of the planet is that all the men's thoughts can be seen and heard by everyone else, which they call the 'noise'. The women were not afflicted with this. When Viola (Daisy Ridley) crash lands in her scout ship she is found by Todd (Tom Holland), whose sexual yearnings are awakened but he has to protect her from the boss who covets the mothership he knows will eventually arrive for her. So they go on the run, hence the running etc through the woods chased by men on horses. There's a few special effects thrown in but not nearly enough and we're left with a basic story that throws in some religious craziness courtesy of a preacher (David Oyelowo) and the predictable yet scrappy finale. It's dull with a few interesting visuals and a film that will be quickly forgotten.

This second of Timothy Dalton's outings as James Bond was the most violent and darker of the Bond franchise up until that time. It's an interesting addition to watch today. Whilst it has all the usual Bond tropes and action set pieces you can see shades of the Connery and Moore films wrapped up in the narrative whilst Dalton brings a softer, more human and yet dangerous slant to the character. The very spoof nature of the Moore films has gone whilst maintaining some of the daft plot lines. And I have no doubts without Dalton there would not have been Daniel Craig as you can see now where the influence from this film has crept into Craig's version and Pierce Brosnan was a sort of Dalton clone. Licence To Kill hasn't the espionage roots that The Living Daylights (1987) brilliantly went back to, here we have a full on action/adventure film with Bond tackling a drug cartel in a vengeful mood when his best friend is cruelly maimed (that scene is a lift from the novel Live And Let Die by the way). There's sexual violence, some very nasty torture and deaths and colourful language chucked in for good measure. You can see that the producers were trying to reinvent the franchise. They nearly succeeded but it would not really work until Craig took over in 2006. In any case this and Dalton's previous film as 007 are worthy of re-evaluation as they represent a sea change in the approach to Bond after Roger Moore departed. I often think it's a pity Dalton didn't make more.

A complex relationship drama that seems a little self indulgent and mildly pretentious from director Anthony Minghella who is well respected but this film seems be a reflection of modern London and those that inhabit it that drifts into a story of selfish and entitled characters. The performances are all spot on but as the narrative progresses you end up not rooting for anyone at all as they all pursue their own emotional and occasionally materialistic needs. Jude Law plays Will, an architect for a posh firm working on a major redevelopment of parts of the city. The firm is burgled by some young men including Miro (Rafi Gavron) working for a mobster. Will, who is in a troubled marriage with an autistic daughter, discovers Miro's address and ends up in a relationship with his mother (Juliette Binoche), which leads him to have to make some difficult decisions which will affect all around him. The complexity of the plot that is centred around the relationships as they ebb and flow makes for some interesting ideas but the film always feels a little hollow. Robin Wright as Will's wife, Ray Winstone as a cop and Vera Farmiga as a local prostitute all contribute admirably to the overall structure of the story but it's not one that ultimately leaves you satisfied. I want to admire this but I struggled to feel at all concerned about the fate of anyone.

With plenty of swagger and panache this, supposedly, last in the Guardians series making a neat trilogy, is a fun filled, overlong but simply great entertaining sci-fi fantasy spectacular. As a cinephile that is less and less attracted to the superhero genre and especially the MCU films I still have a great fondness for the Guardians films. They stand apart from the complex Avengers films and are all the better for it and much of this is to do with the injection of laugh out loud humour. Chris Pratt has cemented himself as a movie star with these films and he carries on admirably here as the lovelorn Peter Quill mourning the loss of his beloved Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) who has to rouse himself to save his friend Rocket (Bradley Cooper) who is badly wounded and dying. This sends the Guardians on a mission to retrieve a life saving code held by the big baddie and sends the story into the secrets of Rocket's past. This cues loads of great effects and space battles with Dave Bautista especially brilliant as Drax. A big spectacular comic book science fiction film that is pure entertainment.

Cutter's Way fits into the cycle of American films of the 70s and early 80s that can be described as conspiracy narratives. It's also a relationship drama and taps into the American obsession with the Vietnam War and the dark underbelly of society centred around the haves and the have nots. Jeff Bridges, who is riveting here, plays Rich, a young gigolo and drifter who is temporarily staying with his alcoholic friends Alex (John Heard) and Mo (Lisa Eichhorn). Alex is a traumatised Vietnam veteran who has lost an eye, arm and is partially crippled, and Mo is his unhappy wife who is attracted to Rich. The setting of California with its sunny and wealthy lifestyle creates a contrast with these three who are all struggling in one way of another. The drama is set off when Rich inadvertently sees a man dump a woman's body in an alley and the two men become convinced the culprit is a very rich and powerful oil baron. With no evidence Alex comes up with a plan to blackmail him proving he's the killer if he pays up. It all goes tragically wrong. This is less a film about the crime than one about obsession over injustice and unfairness centred around money, sex and, indeed, human beauty. There is little doubt it has three wonderful central performances particularly Heard and Bridges. Viewed today it's somewhat of a challenge as the themes are not as relevant and the film loses its meanings in a narrative that drifts along and is focused on character rather than plot. But it's an interesting film worthy checking out if you've not seen it.

Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond is a neat crossover from the Roger Moore series and predicts the style of the Pierce Brosnan films and ultimately to Daniel Craig's interpretation. It's interesting that the film was conceived for Roger Moore and when he stepped down Brosnan was to be the next 007. Contractual problems led to Dalton who had been on the cards to take the role way back in 1969. The Living Daylights contains nearly all the tropes you'd find in the earlier films especially Moore's; gadgets, bevies of bikini clad girls, an Aston Martin and the odd comedic quip but also in here is a dark espionage film, sometimes struggling to get out but definitely there if you watch closely and some brutal violence from Bond to remind us he is after all an assassin. Dalton was an excellent Bond and could've gone onto some great future films with the right scripts. This one lacks a decent arch-villain, Joe Don Baker as an overweight arms dealer doesn't really cut it but the twists in the story of a Soviet defector and the move across the world from Bratislava to Afghanistan (then under Soviet control) make up for this. A worthy addition to the franchise and certainly a Bond film to re-evaluate in light of the series today with Craig.

A typical B movie creature feature much like the popular films of the 70s such as Orca (1977) and obviously Jaws (1975) although here we have a weak story and a faintly ridiculous scenario. Idris Elba (playing American for some unknown reason) is a widowed Doctor (this comes in very handy when the wounds start appearing) who takes his two teenage daughters to Africa to visit a wildlife biologist friend (Sharlto Copley). On a trip out into the bush they encounter a very angry and vengeful lion, which then stalks them for the rest of the film. Throw in some sacrificial poachers and a stupid fist fight with the lion and there you have it. It's not very scary, the lion is a bit anti climactical and the two teenage girls continually keep putting themselves in danger making them very annoying! The CGI lion is done rather well but for a film in this sub genre it's very average and Crawl (2019) was far better.

A sombre almost bleak biopic about the First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden). It's a typical Terence Davies film, much applauded but at times a very maudlin filmmaker. This film will test your patience even when you're trying to accept the visual splendour and the clever editing that includes documentary footage. It's in the harsh and unpleasant characters and their evident self pity that the film grates. It charts Sassoon from his time as a young officer, a gallantry medal winner, but who openly challenges the way the war is being conducted as he despairs of the continued slaughter. For his troubles he's sent to a psychiatric hospital where he meets and mentors Wilfred Owen (Matthew Tennyson). The narrative explores Sassoon's various gay relationships with a variety of unpleasant and selfish men before detailing his subsequent marriage which is shown as deeply unhappy. Peter Capaldi plays the older Sassoon as a cantankerous and sad individual. The film is here trying to reveal the possible regrets and guilt that Sassoon may have suffered by the obscurity in which he found himself and the survivor guilt that many who returned from the war experienced. It's a long film and while the cast are fantastic it's a sad film with a lead character that is quite opaque.

There's little doubt that Roger Moore is really looking his age by the time he came to make this and it's not entirely a surprise that the script was written with the intention of a new Bond taking over (Pierce Brosnan was on the cards) but Moore agreed to stay in the role mainly because this was an attempt to move the franchise back towards the more serious style of film. The previous film, Moonraker (1979), had lurched the series into screwball comedy territory and whilst it was a big box office earner it marked the Bond label becoming more of a spoof spy series than action thrillers. In some parts For You Eyes Only succeeds in its attempt to be more gritty with some brutal killings including a cold blooded one by 007 himself but a silly prologue and and an even sillier epilogue marks the film as typical latter day Roger Moore in style. We even get a major plot clue revealed by a talking parrot!! But there are some good action set pieces including an early car chase, an underwater fight and a ski chase. Bond is sent to recover a British targeting computer which the Russians are after too. He teams up with the beautiful daughter of murdered parents who were working for MI6, and who is out for revenge with a crossbow! Bond manages to woo her into bed fairly easily as well as teaming up with a Greek gangster to fight the bad guy. Story wise it's all a mishmash of other Bond narratives and compared to others in the Roger Moore series it's entertaining and very watchable but it bears little comparison with Connery's first four films nor On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and fans had to wait a few more years before the series went truly back to basics when Timothy Dalton came on board.

The first in what has proved to be a very entertaining series. It's Jason Bourne on testosterone, all very comic book in stylised action but with Keanu Reeves as the title character this was destined to be a hit. In it's very essence this reminds me of the great 70s films of Walter Hill such as The Warriors (1979), it's clearly not to be taken as anything remotely seriously it's there to be a hi octane, superb fun film that has panache and it delivers on all counts. John Wick is a grieving man who has recently lost his wife, her final gift to him a cute puppy. When the punk son of a big gangster covets Wick's classic Ford Mustang, steals it and kills the puppy he doesn't bank on the relentless trail of revenge that Wick unleashes on him because John Wick is a former über assassin and a member of a secret elite hitman's club. There's plenty of bloody gunfights, chases, punch ups and all in cool suits and with heavy metal music. What's not to love, it's just great fun.