Film Reviews by GI

This is a great cop thriller, uncompromising, gritty and a real thrill ride. Jason Patric plays Nick Tellis, a traumatised undercover narcotics detective, who has been suspended for 18 months after he accidentally shoots a pregnant woman. He is offered a way back to duty by agreeing to help in the investigation of the murder of another undercover cop. Nick is reluctant but he finds he has to work with a fellow detective, the unpredictable and violent Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) who is out to find and kill the murderers. Tellis has his own demons from his time working as a 'Narc', where he developed a drug dependancy that nearly drove him to madness. There's plenty of plot twists and the story has no spare fodder, everything you see is connected, and director Joe Carnahan films with a washed out look giving the film a bleak and highly realistic feel visualising Detroit as a grim, unwelcome and sorrowful place reflecting the deep chasms of emotion in the characters. This is a remarkable crime story, it's violent and tough but it's presented as a serious drama without recourse to cliché resulting in a riveting film. I highly recommend this so if you've never seen it then seek it out, you'll not be disappointed.

A typically sweet British comedy drama set in a failing Yorkshire geriatric hospital. Adapted from an Alan Bennett play this has the witticisms that you'd expect from a Bennett inspired script and the well known cast are all on top form. The story is that this locally beloved hospital is scheduled for closure by the unfeeling bureaucrats in the Health Ministry because it's losing money. But a local campaign is underway to try and stop this. The staff led by the indomitable matron played by Jennifer Saunders rail against closure and the ignorance of the politicians who can't see beyond their spreadsheets. The patients are a collection of British stalwart actors such as Judy Dench and Derek Jacobi and who are played for laughs mostly by being curmudgeonly. It's Dench character, a retired librarian, who reveals a surprising plot twist that turns the film into a dark corner! But the focus of the film is around David Bradley's ex miner who exaggerates his illness in order to stay in the hospital rather than return to the care home he came from. He's visited by his son, Colin (Russell Tovey) who happens to be a Government mandarin and who is converted to the cause of people over money during the course of the film. Essentially this is an ode to the National Health Service and apart from the quite unpredictable twist the film follows a fairly obvious narrative arc. It's all pleasant and entertaining with several messages intermixed regarding death, the value of people even when old, the political ramifications of privatising the Heath Service etc etc and that's all wrapped up in a neat little film that probably worked better on the stage in some areas.

Greta Gerwig's debut as a director in this reportedly part autobiographical coming of age comedy drama is an excellent film, highly amusing and centred around the remarkable performances and on screen chemistry between Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf. Ronan is a high school student named Christine but who insists on being called Lady Bird. She has a creative streak but has reached that point where she finds the life in her home town and the rules of her Catholic High School to be too restrictive. She has a particularly sparky relationship with her mother (Metcalf) and their emotional battles form the centre of the narrative as Lady Bird decides she wants to go to college in New York much to her mother's consternation not least due to the expense. The family dynamics on show here are wonderfully scripted with Tracey Betts as her loving but depressive father and her two relationships with local boys including her deciding to lose her virginity, an act that brings some quick life lessons. The drama follows Lady Bird's emotional strife as she navigates being embarrassed by her family's relative poverty compared to some others and trying to be part of the 'cool' group, which threatens her true friendships. This is a film about family as much as growing up and Lady Bird's final scene as she realises the importance of it to her makes the film very heartfelt and deserving of its accolades.

Adapted from the popular novel this was a pet project for director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Sean Connery, whose career at the time was on the wane, gained a revived appeal (he went onto get an Oscar the following year) and he excels in this mystery thriller set in a remote monastery in the mid Twelfth Century. He plays William, a Franciscan friar, who along with his young novice (a fifteen year old Christian Slater), arrives at the monastery for a religious debate. But the strange deaths of some of the monks stirs William to investigate whereas the monks all think the devil is at work. William soon discovers the killings are somehow connected to the mysterious library. But the arrival of the Inquisition led by a malevolent F. Murray Abraham leads to a hunt for heretics and devil worship. This is a a fantastic whodunnit, in a unique setting and with a great cast of actors chosen for their grotesque appearances. It's essentially a Holmes & Watson type of story but Connery gives it gravitas and the director creates an unsettling vision of a time when religion and fear ruled. This is great film and I guarantee you'll love this if you haven't seen it.

A cross cultural romcom that has some entertaining moments and it's certainly lavish and ambitious, but ends up being predictable and a little clumsily scripted that it lacks the freshness of the best in this genre. Lily James, here with a role that has more for her than some of her previous films, plays Zoe, an award winning documentary film maker with problems forming relationships much to her sparky mother's (Emma Thompson) chagrin. When she bumps into her childhood friend, Kaz (Shazad Latif), a British born Pakistani man, she learns he is about to embark on an arranged marriage. Fascinated Zoe gets him to agree to her documenting the process from finding the potential wife to going to Pakistan for the wedding. On this journey they discuss issues of love and relationships. You can guess where it all ends up and you'd be right, the ending pretty much signposted from the get go. There's some laughs along the way although the comedy is sparse mostly down to the somewhat poor script and the film doesn't quite decide what it wants to say about the issue of arranged marriage in a modern cross cultural society. Perhaps that was the idea and it's more about the cultural anomalies as well as a look at modern relationships. Thompson is obviously having fun and has most of the funny lines and some of the characters are stereotypical but here is an enjoyable film that will bring smile and romcom lovers will not be disappointed.

This is a wacky, almost screwball comedy based on a real event but mostly fictionalised and it's certainly funny yet at times quite heavy laden with the script struggling to make anything light hearted enough for it to be a real blast. Set in the mid 1930s it follows two veterans from the First World War; Burt (Christian Bale), who lost an eye in combat and is now a New York doctor specialising in helping disfigured veterans and his army buddy, Harold (John David Washington), who was also wounded in the war and is now a NY lawyer. They are both active in helping their old comrades and planning a big gala for them. But they become embroiled in a strange plot when the daughter of their former general is murdered and they are accused. Their attempt to clear their name and find out who's behind it brings their old friend Valerie (Margot Robbie) back into their lives. She's a former nurse and they all bonded as friends during the war and after the armistice lived together in a sort of bohemian threesome in Amsterdam, where they all achieved some sort of harmonious existence. The plot concerns an attempt by über wealthy businessmen enthralled by the right wing politics they are seeing in Europe to overthrow the US Government. They want a famous General (Robert De Niro) to help them and the three friends work to convince they General to stay true to the ethos of their comradeship. It's a heavy story and quite serious which causes the comedy to be lost in the complicated script. Bale has a great time playing Burt almost as a sort of bumbling Columbo style character and Robbie is as adept as ever at comedy with Washington underplaying his role nicely to balance their dynamic as the main protagonists. The support cast are great and include Anya Taylor-Joy, Andrea Riseborough, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers (who at one point does an Egyptian sand dance for no real reason but it's hilarious), Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant and even Taylor Swift who handles it all perfectly. This is a weird and difficult to really nail as a comedy film, there's a heavy touch at times and the central plot is obviously very dark but like director David O. Russell's other films there's something clever and original even though a feeling of being left a little unsatisfied by the end.

This is one of director Martin Scorsese's minor masterpieces, often forgotten when his films are studied or discussed but an essential one of his New York centrally based narratives. It's quirky little drama with comedy undertones and a great central performance from Griffin Dunne. It may seem a little dated in some ways but it's such an unusual and cleverly scripted film with shades of Alfred Hitchcock in the use of the camera that it's well worth discovering if, like me, it has passed you by. Dunne plays Paul, a bored computer operator in a New York firm. After work one evening he meets Marcie (Rosanna Arquette) and attracted to her he goes to her apartment. This sets him on a night of bizarre and frustrating experiences where coincidence and trouble abound. It's an intriguing and very entertaining film that goes in some very unlikely directions and has a good cast that includes Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr and John Heard.

A lavish and very entertaining romantic adventure of this oft filmed classic. Here we have Part 1 with the story more or less like the novel and the brilliant and never beaten Richard Lester films of the 1970s. D'Artagnan (François Civil) arrives in 17th century Paris with ambition to become a King's Musketeer. In his bumbling country way he insults three musketeers and ends up with duels scheduled with all three. But when forced to fight the personal guards of the Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) they all bond and become firm friends getting themselves embroiled in a plot to discredit the Queen (Vicky Krieps). If you've seen other adaptations especially the Lester films then the story will be familiar. There's a certain amount of contemporary ideas thrown in here including some modern sexual politics but the action is entertaining and realistic although there's more shooting than swordplay. Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris and Pio Marmaï play the titular musketeers very well although the characters aren't given much room to develop over the contrived plot laden script. Richelieu, as the chief baddie, isn't quite bad enough but Eva Green as the self serving 'Milady' is beautiful and gives her usually excellent performance and no doubt will have a bigger screen presence in Part 2. This is a roistering swashbuckler with great set pieces and it looks fantastic. Enjoyable.

There's more 'rom' than 'com' in this romcom which is aided by the star power of Anne Hathaway and presented with the slick look and finesse of mainstream Hollywood production even though it's straight to streaming on Amazon. Overall it's an assured and reasonably entertaining film that really pushes the boundaries of credibility and stops short of addressing any of the issues that it raises and in that sense it seems clearly aimed at a certain audience. Hathaway plays Solène, a 40 year old single mum still bruised from the collapse of her marriage to a real dickhead, and manager of a slick art gallery. Accompanying her 16 year old daughter, Izzy (Ella Rubin), to a music festival she has an encounter with the hottest member of a famous boy band, Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine). A relationship gradually begins between them despite Solène's wariness due to their age difference (he's 24). She doesn't seem to consider the media storm that soon engulfs them when their relationship gets revealed. Of course the trajectory is always towards a happy ending but the narrative doesn't deal effectively with why Hayes, a young man who can basically sexually have anyone he wishes, pursues this older woman quite so energetically. Solène's sexual desires are clearly on display here, and you can't ignore that she is actually Anne Hathaway who is a very beautiful woman and has the experience that perhaps Hayes hasn't yet found. The main narrative theme of the age difference seems hardly one of concern here although it crops up throughout especially once Solène begins to be the subject of hate and trolling. The dark role of social media and the paperazzi is obvious here too but not fully explored to a satisfactory level. It's the ultimate arc of the narrative that is predictable and uninspiring that leaves the film short but it's a film that will be popular I've little doubt and a shame that the ending didn't follow the more cynical one of the novel from which the film is adapted.

A film based on the 70s TV series that starred Lee Majors about a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter. It wasn't a particularly memorable series and to be honest this film won't be either. It's entertaining in it's own way and is definitely a film to see on the big screen as it's all about the stunt work which is intermixed with a comedy plot. The ever versatile and very watchable Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the stunt double for mega star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a shallow and cowardly chap. After a stunt goes wrong Colt is seriously injured and leaves behind the film business and his new girlfriend, Jody (Emily Blunt), a camera operator. Sometime later he's contacted by producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) who tells him Jody is now the director on a huge film and wants him to do the main stunts. Colt jumps at the chance to reconnect with Jody but soon finds he's been duped and Hannah has instead recruited him to find a missing Ryder. Soon Colt finds he's caught up in some kind of conspiracy. This story is played out while Colt and Jody comically deal with their feelings for each other and Colt gets more and embroiled in fights, chases and predicaments in his search for Ryder. There's plenty to enjoy here but it all feels like it's not fully developed and that the stunts are more important. And perhaps they are, this is after all an ode to the stuntman and remembering that director David Leith was once one himself. Taylor-Johnson is not used nearly enough, nor is Teresa palmer as his movie star girlfriend. Blunt and Gosling have a great screen chemistry but it's somewhat undercooked leaving you with a faintly unsatisfied feeling once the film is over. It's all ok for a big action based blockbuster but it could've been a lot better.

The surprising popularity of the martial arts films of the early to mid 1970s gave the BBFC (the UK's film classifiers then called 'censors') a bit of a headache. They were clearly comic book in style, faintly laughable and yet young people swamped to see them and a craze began in kids buying or making martial arts weapons. Ultimately the films were classified for adults only and yet they are clearly a teenage type film. Epitomised by Bruce Lee who made the successful transition from poorly dubbed Hong Kong cinema to Hollywood and who has now become a film legend, Way of the Dragon is a fan favourite. Viewed today it's borderline silly and sits as a film to be considered as part of film history. This one has a somewhat drawn out story, poor script and an awful soundtrack although snippets of Ennio Morricone can be heard. It's played for comedy and all the characters are cartoonish. Depending on which language you watch this in the very bad dubbing is all part of the nostalgia here if you remember these films from the 70s. Here Lee plays a naïve young man sent to Rome to help the niece of his boss who is having a hard time with baddies wanting her restaurant. After a very slow start Lee brings in his unique fighting skills to deal with the villains and the big bad boss summons a killer to deal with him. This is Chuck Norris and the film climaxes with the Lee/Norris fight in the Colosseum (although despite some scenes actually filmed there the fight is on a sound stage with a poor backdrop). The outcome is never in doubt though and the final battle does have some bone crunching violence. This is a film you'll chuckle at due to its bad acting, poor use of editing and shots including a slow motion section where all the falseness of the fighting is highlighted. It has its fun moments but if you really want to reminisce about those Kung Fu films you loved back in the day then Enter The Dragon (1973) remains arguably the best.

Director Cornel Wilde was a heart throb actor in the 40s & 50s but reinvented himself in the 1960s and directed and produced a short series of very interesting films. The Naked Prey is perhaps his most celebrated and it's certainly a very rewarding adventure drama with some interesting thematic ideas behind it. Set in the 1800s he plays the unnamed manager of a safari taking a couple of rich and belligerent elephant hunters into the deep African bush in search of ivory. Despite his warning one of the hunters insults a local tribesman and they finds themselves attacked. The tribe ritualistically kill everyone but the man is stripped and set free only to be pursued by the tribal warriors. He has to discover and resort to survival skills in order to escape. Whilst there's a great deal of exciting adventure in the story the film delves deeply into the primal instincts of man and his relationship and place within the natural world. Scenes of death in the wilderness litter the film as the man at first fumbles then finds his natural skills to survive. This is a remarkable film and I cannot recommend it enough. If you've never seen this then seek it out you won't be disappointed.

On his return from duty in the Second World War director John Ford chose to make this as his first film back as a civilian. It's an interesting choice because although Ford now has renown for his westerns he had in fact only previously made one 'talkie' western, Stagecoach (1939). His choice of Henry Fonda to play the lead is also an interesting one. Fonda had been in other Ford films of course but as an actor he exemplified a quiet dignity rather than an outright man of action like John Wayne for example, a style not normally attributed to westerns of this period. The resulting film is now deemed one of the great American films, certainly one of the greatest westerns, and it's a poetic, lyrical masterpiece and a film that all true film lovers should study. The story of Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at The OK Corral has been filmed many times yet here Ford chose to abandon historical accuracy in order to make a heroic, almost gentle version (creating legend from fact!). Fonda plays Wyatt who along with his brothers (including another Ford stalwart Ward Bond) are taking a cattle herd to California. A stopover in Tombstone results in the theft of their herd and the murder of their younger brother. Wyatt takes on the job of the local lawman in order to find the culprits. This brings him into conflict with the wayward Doc Holliday (Victor Mature in a rather good performance reputedly obtained by ruthless bullying from Ford) and the sullen Clanton family led by Walter Brennan. It all culminates at the Ok Corral but this is a film about much more than a gunfight, which here is somewhat underplayed. Into the narrative is built a complex relationship with Holliday and two dysfunctional romances, one with the prostitute Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) and the other with the 'respectable' Clementine (Cathy Downs). Ford adds in a structure built around community and stability and leaves the film's end unresolved. This is a truly classic piece of film making and if you are interested in film then make sure you see this.

There's been quite a few adaptations of Agatha Christie's famous whodunnit novel and this one doesn't really offer much that sets it apart from the others than some very impressive visuals and a stellar cast although the 1974 film also had one of those. The difficulty with this is the often excruciating time it takes for exposition and talking to build the various plot points and all the smoke and mirrors topped by the lengthy reveal in the film's finale. Kenneth Branagh directs and well as stars as the famous detective Hercule Poirot here sporting pretty magnificent moustache. Having solved a case in Jerusalem in the films prologue he decides to make a break aboard the Orient Express from Istanbul to London. An assortment of characters on board are introduced including Johnny Depp's nasty criminal who ends up stabbed to death. Poirot then takes on the case to solve his murder while the train is temporarily halted due to an avalanche. If you know the book or the other films then there's no surprises here and the film seems very dragged out and all style over substance. The cast are impressive and all perform superbly including Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Willem Dafoe, Penélope Cruz, Olivia Colman and Derek Jacobi. It's a reasonable watch on a rainy afternoon.

This rather self indulgent dystopian/sci-fi/fantasy film from Wim Wenders is a very mixed bag that is surely far too long (in the 287 min Criterion Collection 4K restored Director's Cut) and narratively drifts along in a story that's hard to pin down. Cinematically there's a lot to admire here especially visually but it's a strange film in the sense that it's often incomprehensible even though the plot is there to see but to where is it going and why? To be honest by the end I was exhausted and struggling to find the film at all interesting. Set in an alternative 1999 the world is on the brink after a nuclear satellite has gone out of control and the future of civilisation is in doubt. With that introduction the narrative focuses on Claire (Solveig Dommartin), whose story the film follows. In a Eurotrash style she is travelling through Europe and has a car crash that involves two bank robbers. They convince her to take their loot to Paris for them where she decides to keep it but then discovers a handsome yet enigmatic hitchhiker, Sam alias Trevor (William Hurt) has stolen some of the cash from her. So she sets out to track him down and he in turn is on the run from the US government because he stole a gizmo from them that his father invented. Anyway after what is effectively a very long road movie that globetrots all over the world the pair of them, now lovers, and her ex (Sam Neill), the bak robbers and others end up in Australia where Sam's father (Max Von Sydow) is experimenting with a dream machine. And if none of that seems to make sense you'd be right because the film seems senseless for most of the time. You watch in the hope some dramatic swing in the narrative will occur but it actually doesn't. It seems another of those films where an uncontrolled director has been allowed to run riot. Apparently the theatrical 3 hour version isn't any better although I've not seen it. This is not a film that you'll want to watch twice and you need the patience to sit through it for the sheer length alone. But I'm positive it will have its admirers.