Film Reviews by GI

A novelty western that is a bit daft, poorly scripted riddled with clichés and tries too hard making for an unsatisfactory addition to the revisionist styleof the genre that had taken hold in the early 70s. It has a clash of culture theme but really seems to be just an implausible way of mixing the western with the samurai genre. With it's spaghetti western stylings and shot in Spain by British director Terence Young this has some of the customary bloodshed and violence that was a trademark of westerns made at this time but it lacks any sense of originality despite the storyline. Two outlaws, Link (Charles Bronson) and Gauche (Alain Delon) rob the train on which the Japanese ambassador is travelling to visit the President. Gauche steals a prized sword intended as a gift and then betrays Link leaving him for dead. This sets the story up as a long journey across the desert as Link sets out for vengeance forced into the company of the Japanese Ambassador's bodyguard (Toshirô Mifune) who has orders to recover the sword. The two don't get along but have to tolerate each other and of course soon begin to bond on the trail. There's plenty of unpleasantness throughout the narrative not least the portrayal of women who are all prostitutes, mostly get ill treated or made to satisfy the male characters including Ursula Andress who gets second billing despite a relatively minor role. There's an Indian raid thrown in to give the film some climactic action. Of all the great westerns that litter the 70s this isn't one of them. It has that east meets west element making it perhaps something to watch out of interest but it's a minor work despite the international cast.

James Cameron's unashamed pastiche of the James Bond movies and an adaptation of a French film, The Jackpot (1991). It's fun, action packed and clearly star Arnold Schwarzenegger is having the time of his life. The Bond connections are littered throughout the film and are presented as homages that are designed to be recognised but from a director signalling his love and respect for that franchise. Schwarzenegger plays Harry, a super spy who works for a shady Government agency led by Trilby (Charlton Heston in a great cameo and channelling a Nick Fury look and vibe). He leads a double life though as his wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku) believe him to be a boring salesman. When Harry suspects his wife is having an affair he utilises his agency's resources to catch her out but ends up discovering she's bored and seeking some excitement so he decides to involve her in his dangerous mission to root out a ruthless group of Islamic terrorists. This of course doesn't go to plan. The film is action packed, with some fantastic set piece stunts and it's all played for laughs with the comedy coming thick and fast. The famous strip tease scene with Curtis has been much discussed over the years and has been considered as female empowerment or a very overt example of cinema's objectification of the female body. Whatever your view here it's definitely sexy and fun. This is one of Schwarzenegger's films that is often overlooked when discussing his other more cult favourite ones but it is an influential action comedy that shows his development as a movie star and Cameron's pure love of action films. There's little doubt in my mind it's gone on to influence other films not least the Mission Impossible series. Recently restored for 4K UHD presentation this is worth checking out again if it's been awhile since you've watched it.

Michael Caine has been reported as saying that this film was too small for it's own good resulting in it getting little distribution or renown whereas it's quite an amusing black comedy enhanced by Caine as the corporate manager overlooked for promotion in favour of a younger man. He plays Graham, married to a nagging wife but bolstered by the anticipation of a long yearned for promotion. When he is bypassed and after a bizarre incident on the subway Graham discovers a dark side that enables him to remove the obstacles to his happiness. I think if this were made today it would be a Netflix or similar release or even a TV drama as it's a relatively short film which makes it all the more watchable as plot wise it rattles along at a good pace. Caine plays the part of Graham as quite nuanced but with a fiery anger that is a little unsubtle at times. Elizabeth McGovern plays a love interest who starts to suspect Graham is hiding secrets and in some ways this is story a little like Falling Down (1993) of a man who is pushed to breaking point and reacts in a very dark way. Well worth checking out, if like me, it has passed you by until now.

A vey entertaining supernatural mystery thriller with shades of The Exorcist (1973) and other similar religious possession type films. The inclusion of a cover up/conspiracy plot makes the film all the more watchable and the two stars Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne are both excellent. Byrne is Father Andrew, a catholic priest, who specialises in investigating alleged religious miracles and he's adept at debunking them. His Vatican based boss (Jonathan Pryce) sends him on an assignment to Pittsburgh where a young woman, Frankie (Arquette), a party girl hairdresser with no religious beliefs or history, has begun showing strange wounds that appear to be the wounds of Christ known as stigmata and having hallucinations. Andrew, sceptical and thorough, soon finds that he is having difficulty explaining what's causing Frankie's trauma and soon he begins to witness strange events around her. This is a very watchable and enjoyable piece of horror hokum that has a good story, some neat effects and doesn't try to overly shock or add too much gore.

Sharply written, sexy, and thoroughly entertaining this comedy crime/thriller hits all the right notes. It's a real gem of a movie, a genre piece that has a fantastic cast and a superb plot. George Clooney stars as Jack Foley, a career bank robber who fears growing old in prison so decides to breakout. Unfortunately the plan gets interrupted by US Marshall Karen Cisco (Jennifer Lopez) who happens to be visiting the prison at the moment of Jack's escape so he and his partner Buddy (Ving Rhames) are forced to take her hostage. A romantic bond forms between them on the road and later when Jack goes to Detroit for one last diamond heist Karen is on his trail. The cast are all on top form including Don Cheadle, Albert Brooks, Catherine Keener, Dennis Farina and Nancy Allen with cameos from Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson. This is funny, full of action and with a moving romance chucked in for good measure. This is what a good crime thriller should have and it is everything a good adult film should be. If you've never seen this then check it out, you will not be disappointed.

This enjoyable creature-feature is a bit of a throwback film reminiscent of the 50s cycle of giant creature stories and it's all played for larks with the director, Kiah Roache-Turner, displaying his fanboyish love of a host of other films not least Predator, the Alien series and of course Arachnophobia. But all that's ok because it adds to the fun of the film which comes along with plenty of neat jump scares and a well presented creature. This is a spider which arrives in a tiny meteor into the apartment building of 12 year old Charlotte (Alya Browne). She finds it and not knowing its origins thinks it'll make a cool pet and keeps it in a jar calling it 'Sting'. But it grows rather quickly and is soon meandering around the heating ducts of the building killing pets and then of course people. The script throws in some family tensions and there's the quintessential baby that's going to need protecting. It's all strongly derivative of Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 but it makes for a fun horror film.

A survival thriller that keeps you watching although it drags in the final sections and is a bit devoid of heightened tension and if you are looking for gore you'll be disappointed too (there is a little). But it's a decent enough thriller that includes some relationship tensions and actually puts people into the water to face the dangers that come their way. Set in the Caribbean where five girlfriends, part of a wedding party, head out for the day to heal some tensions between some of them. Unfortunately one gets badly bitten by a shark and as they head back in their little boat everything that can go wrong does and they end up in the water miles from anywhere and sharks are about! Not only that but one of them can't swim either. It has all the staple characters from the gung-ho adventure junkie who leads the excursion but has failed to ensure they are properly equipped, to the drippy, panicky one and it's fairly easy who work out who will survive and who won't. All good clean fun, it's not Jaws and it won't feature in any Top 10 list of the best shark films.

Thematically this harks back to the westerns of the 40s and 50s and to the revised westerns directed by the likes of Clint Eastwood and Sam Peckinpah. There's no pretensions here this is simply a tale of frontier justice, right & wrong and with a lovely romance thrown in for good measure. It's arguably one of the finest westerns from the last 20 years and director Kevin Costner keeps the film rattling along and when it bursts into action it's gritty, brutal and exciting without falling in gratuitousness. Robert Duvall stars as Boss Spearman, a small time cattle owner moving his small herd across country with his crew of Charlie (Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and Button (Diego Luna). Their fortunes take a turn for the worst when when they come up against cattle baron Baxter (Michael Gambon) who runs the local town and covets Boss's cows. Outnumbered Boss is forced to fight for what is right and Charlie happens to have a gunfighting past. This is just a great, almost humble film that deliberately sets out to be a classic western and succeeds. Annette Bening co stars and Duvall and Costner are a perfect pair. If you've not seen this then it's well worth checking out.

A Christmas romcom that goes all out to pull your heartstrings and mostly succeeds even though the ending is entirely predictable. A much loved favourite that sits alongside Love Actually (2003) as one of those films that is always worth a watch on a cold winter evening in front of the fire around Christmas time. What I particularly like about this is the contrast set up in the story between the quintessential chocolate box cottage in the English countryside and the palatial, tech heavy mansion in sunny Los Angeles. The four key stars play this just right and the casting is spot on for this story. Kate Winslet (an English rose) plays Iris, a journalist who is lovesick over her former boyfriend (Rufus Sewell) getting engaged to someone else and Cameron Diaz is Amanda, a glamorous business woman who discovers her boyfriend (Edward Burns) has been unfaithful. In their despair at their respective love lives they decide to escape and find each other through a house swap website. So each sets off to spend time in the house of the other. This begins the clash of cultures theme built into the film. Amanda especially struggles with the simplicity of rustic life in England while Iris is overwhelmed by the opulence of LA. Into the rather obvious comedy of their situations comes the men in the form of Jude Law as Iris's brother who quickly falls for Amanda but has some baggage he doesn't know how to reveal and Jack Black as Miles, a colleague of Amanda's who meets Iris and they soon bond but he too has some emotional baggage to deal with. It's fairly obvious what these two couples will end up like but interestingly their respective stories are different from one another and the film neatly cuts between the two at just the right moments. Law and Black are excellent here too and Black especially holds back on his more manic screen persona. There's a touching side story involving Eli Wallach as an aging Hollywood screenwriter and a cameo from Dustin Hoffmann that if you blink you might miss but will make you smile. This is a gentle, heartwarming romcom that has no pretensions it just aims to make you feel good and it does just that.

This is a broody conspiracy thriller full of intrigue even though the setting borders on the laughable. The plot centres on the selection of a new Pope by the Cardinals who gather at the Vatican and are hidden away busily voting on and on until a new Pope is selected. This procedure is apparently a secretive and traditional almost ceremonial procedure so who would believe that out of it this story of jealousies, dark secrets and devious plots has been woven. It really sucks you in and the performances are first rate especially Ralph Fiennes as an English Cardinal who has been charged with running the process known as a 'conclave'. There are some early favourites including Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a very right wing bigot and Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow, deliciously conniving) who harbours some troublesome secrets and Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), who claims to be reluctant candidate but is he? All this plays out in a rather well written and superbly directed film that keeps you hooked. A near, compelling drama that is well worth checking out.

A tender hearted social realistic drama set on an East London estate where 12 year old Georgie (an impressive Lola Campbell) lives alone after her mother has suddenly died. Georgie is fiercely independent and has managed (perhaps somewhat incredulously) to hide from the authorities that she is alone having conned them that an Uncle is looking after her. Emotionally she has created a small fantasy world in the spare room but she's thrown by the unexpected arrival of her errant father, Jason (Harris Dickinson) who she has never before met and who threatens to report her to Social Services unless she lets him stay in the house. The theme of the narrative here is the bittersweet relationship between father and daughter that is explored throughout the film. There is humour and some interesting surrealistic aspects melded into the drama making it very watchable. There's no doubt this arguably should have been a more complex take on the fate of such children as Georgie and the almost ineptitude and cartoonish authority figures shown weakens the film but overall it's fun, well acted and a pleasant surprise.

Recently restored to 4K UHD BluRay this is a rather mediocre Australian thriller that is very dated and was bizarrely retitled The Day After Halloween on its original release it having absolutely nothing to do with halloween nor even being set at that time of year! The film is marked as the debut of the now celebrated Aussie actor Sigrid Thornton, who plays Angela, a young down-on-her-luck hairdresser who is recruited by the glamorous Madeleine (Chantal Contouri) to be an advertising model. Her first gig is so successful she attracts the attention of various individuals and being naïve fails to grasp the exploitative behaviour of those around her. She also has to deal with a creepy ex boyfriend who keeps stalking her in his ice cream van. The film boasts a small twist at the end. But it's all fairly routine and anti-climactic with an overbearing soundtrack and possibly a theme around middle aged men's cravings for nubile and innocent young women! Who knows? It's a film quickly forgotten. The one bonus is Hugh Keays-Byrne as a fashion photographer.

A belated sequel to the ever popular Gladiator (2000) and one could argue it's almost a remake. Ridley Scott delivers a customary epically structured, visually spectacular and exciting sword and sandal action film with more bloody violence and some borderline ridiculous set pieces. There is definitely a need to resist stopping and thinking about aspects of this film and just go with it where it'll constantly entertain you and at times make you gasp with the shock of it. The storyline is roughly the same as the original but here we follow Lucius (Paul Mescal), who was the son of Connie Neilsen's Lucilla in the original and was apparently sent away after the events of first film and has grown up a happy chappy in Africa. That is until the Romans come along and invade, kill his wife, sell him into slavery where he becomes a gladiator under Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Once in Rome he becomes the star of the show all the time vowing vengeance on the General who killed his wife. But this General (Pedro Pascal) is the lover of Lucius' mother and happens not to be a total bad guy after all. Anyway this cues various plots and conspiracies to overthrow the weird and depraved twin emperors. Into this mix there's gladiatorial battles with rabid baboons that resemble the space monkeys in Ad Astra (2019), an enormous rhino and even a sea battle with sharks that is recreated in the arena! This last being one sequence it's best not to overly think about! Mescal handles the action adeptly although some of the heroic speeches lack the gravitas that Russell Crowe brought to Gladiator. Washington is marvellous and arguably the best thing about the film and it's his character that sort of drives the main plot. This is a high energy, colourful and typical Scott extravaganza. It's always tempting to compare to the original and this isn't near as interesting as that film but it's still a cinematic experience that's worth the price of a ticket to see on the biggest screen you can.

This Australian drama must be a little too subtle for me because I found it a disappointing affair and the enigmatic narrative far too underwhelming. It's set in an ignoble period of Australian history when the Government had a policy of taking indigenous children from their families and placing them in strict orphanages to be re-educated and have christianity forced upon them. Yet here we have such an orphanage run by Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett) who has hidden the death of the priest who ran the place and whilst enforcing christian ceremony and ideas on her charges runs the place in a benevolent way. Little of the impact of the trauma is evident here. The arrival of a young boy (Aswan Reid) and his strange manner affects Eileen especially as he appears to have some sort of strange power and he becomes obsessed with the statue of the crucified Christ much to her concern. Is he Christ reborn? Or is it all hallucinations? Who knows. The drama is far too light and easy and needed a more dark edge to grip what seems to be going on here. It's a difficult film to unravel but appeared to me to be a condemnation of organised religion over the native spiritualism that the boy possibly possesses. I found the ending anti-climactic and overall the film lacks the weight and force that the narrative needed.

This crime drama cum thriller is based on a true story and it's a fairly routine affair telling the story of US cop Tim Ballard and his mission to rescue kidnapped children who are sex trafficked. He works on a special anti paedophile unit that is highly successful at catching US based offenders but he realises that the actual victims are held in South American countries where he can't help them. Quitting his job he sets out with the help of some locals to find and rescue sex trafficked children in Columbia. This takes him into highly dangerous jungle areas. The narrative focuses on two children in particular who are kidnapped from Honduras and who Tim pledges to find and return to their distraught father. Jim Caviezel plays Ballard as a rather one dimensional character and the plot as such meanders along with very little real buzz although the obvious plight of the children leaves a horrifically bad taste. This is a film that rests on its message and fails to really grip as a thriller. It's ok but lacks the bite and harrowing intensity needed to make it work as a crime film and indeed to really sell its story. Bill Camp costars and is the best thing about the film playing a former cartel member who helps Ballard in his mission.