Film Reviews by GI

A typically silly, and it gets more so as it goes on, adult and arguably puerile comedy that does have laugh out loud moments courtesy of the two leads, Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd, who improvised many of their lines and have that hilarious ability to make knowing looks that almost break the fourth wall but not quite. They play a couple of losers, Wheeler and Danny, trapped in a dead end job with Wheeler constantly on the look out for his next shag and Danny hopelessly in love with his fiancée, Beth (Elizabeth Banks) but with their relationship failing. After Danny loses his temper they end up with a choice of jail or a sort of community service with a private organisation run by Sweeeny, played by the hilarious Jenny Lynch. They opt for the latter and have to spend their days as the adult 'friend' of a couple of lonely kids, the unsociable Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson) and weird Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is obsessed with a bunch of equally weird people who spend their days role playing as medieval knights. This is one aspect of the film that is pushed to the point of farce and makes the entire film too predictable and clichéd. But Rudd and Scott have a good buddy chemistry that works to keep the viewer amused even if you end up wondering why there's a need to show some breasts every so often or resort to the characters simply ranting at each other to get laughs from the F word.

This is a nifty little British thriller that gradually racks up the suspense courtesy of a great sound track and a good cast. Set in the rural countryside of England three ne'er do wells have hatched a plan to burgle the rambling country house of retired Dr Huggins (Sylvester McCoy) and his dementia suffering wife (Rita Tushingham). Reluctantly joined by Mary (Maisie Williams) their plan soon goes awry when they fail to open the elderly couples safe and so decide to await their return home and force the combination from them by threats and intimidation. But the Huggins' are more resourceful than anticipated and they have a dark secret. Viewers will find familiarities with the narrative that does make the story a little predictable but it's all done with a sense of foreboding and dread making for a great piece of entertainment.

Whilst this sits within the cycle of big budget, all star action war films of the 1960s it is much different from, say, a film like The Great Escape (1963). The Dirty Dozen is a film about murder, there are no heroics, no redeeming characters and it borders on being somewhat nasty. From the opening scene of judicial execution to the climax of mass murder the film retains its controversiality as an action/adventure WW2 story. It is of course pure hokum and bears no relation to real combat in any sense, indeed its star Lee Marvin, a veteran of the war himself, declared it a load of nonsense. He plays a battle hardened officer, who on the approach to D-Day, is given the job to train twelve condemned men, all murderers and rapists, and lead them behind enemy lines to raid a French Chateau used by German officers and kill them in order to create confusion on the eve of the allied invasion. This ultimately necessitates the killing of unarmed men and their women by locking them in the cellar and setting off grenades after pouring petrol down the air shafts. The whole premise of the film is brutal and yet it gets away with it by the way the criminal soldiers are portrayed as victims of a system. With the exception of Telly Savalas, who plays a psychopath and nearly sabotages the mission, the rest are given excuses as to why they are condemned to death by court martial, even Marvin's role is that of a soldier who has broken the rules and is given the job as a punishment. Ultimately the sheer spectacle and characters makes for an entertaining film that is only marred when you stop to think about what is actually taking place. Director Robert Aldrich gives the whole thing a sense of fun even though it's a violent film and all bar one of the dozen die to give a final sense of justice. The survivor Charles Bronson is earlier given a moral justification for his crime and an aura of unfair conviction so he's allowed to live on. The cast are good and include Clint Walker, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, John Cassavetes (who is excellent) and Donald Sutherland, whose career was launched from here. An interesting film that is worth analysing just to see how heroism was being defined by Hollywood at this time.

A sparse, slow burning character study that you'll either totally warm to or be bored by. Andre Riseborough plays Hana, a British surgeon who has just finished work in war torn Syria and is on a holiday in the Egyptian city of Luxor where she once lived. Depressed and probably suffering from PTSD she wanders the city in contemplation, reconnecting with a former lover. The film has some interesting lines in a script that could be construed as improvised and it's beautifully shot as Hana walks the ancient city. The undercurrent of despair and regret can be felt but the lack of any dramatic plot leaves the film feeling empty.

Bill Murray in a film is always a potential thrill but this one lacks the script and comedy to make it enjoyable. It does have its moments but it seems that Murray is going through the motions and opportunities are lost. He plays a retired, wealthy art dealer who lives a whimsical life but dotes on his daughter, Laura (Rashida Jones), so much so that he resents her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) having the top spot in Laura's affections. So when Laura, an author with writers block and mother of two, suspects Dean is having an affair she unwisely confides in her dad. He convinces her to go on a spying campaign with him to entrap Dean. This could've led to some great comedy but it just doesn't appear leaving the film as a damp squib. Mildly amusing at times and ultimately predictable this is one you can take or leave either way it's forgettable.

The Devils is a powerful, bold and flamboyant piece of filmmaking. It's often considered director Ken Russell's finest work and it has many admirers. It's certainly his most political and daring film and it retains the power to shock today so it's quite understandable how much it affected audiences and the studio in 1971. Warner Brothers still refuse to release a directors cut version where controversial scenes are allegedly restored. But championed by renowned film critic Mark Kermode it maybe that Russell's version could one day be released. In any event this is a remarkable film and it's almost beyond comparison with it's futuristic set designs of 17th century France and a story of political corruption to destroy the priest who stands in the way of the ambitions of the power hungry Richelieu (Christopher Logue). Oliver Reed plays Grandier, the handsome priest in the town of Loudun. He's charismatic and a philanderer but dedicated to protecting the town and defies the attempts by the Government to pull down its fortifications which would expose it to enemies. To defeat him false charges of devil worship are levied forcing confessions by torture from his friends and the local head nun, Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), who secretly lusts after him. With it's scenes of sexual abandon and deviant orgies, torture and death the film is a boundary pusher. In many ways it's quite restrained by today's standards but the mix of religious corruption, sex and critique of christianity as the cauldron of disillusionment and selfishness it's a film bound to offend and it still causes great angst in the USA. However it's an important film from the very British of directors and one that all film lovers should see.

A star vehicle for Marlene Dietrich and the film that effectively revived her career that had been in the doldrums. It's also the first western of James Stewart. A real classic not only of the western genre but for the classical period of Hollywood and in particular the year 1939, which seems to have been a major turning point in American cinema. Interestingly this film has all the western tropes of this period, big saloon bar brawls, stagecoaches, town drunks, the sassy dance hall girl and the sleazy gambler/bad guy and yet subverts the conventions in that the 'hero' shuns the use of guns and the womenfolk, usually just victims and side characters, are the force of strength in the narrative. This is a comedy western, with set piece songs for Dietrich to sing and a story of the meek defeating the strong. Here Stewart is the mild mannered deputy sheriff, Tom Destry, who is drafted in to a wild western town to tame it but as an unarmed lawman he becomes the subject of ridicule by the hard drinking men. The town is run by saloon owner, Kent (Brian Donlevy) who cheats at cards and murdered the previous sheriff, the crime which Tom soon latches onto to bring Kent down. Genre convention and American culture demand that the hero straps on his guns to resolve the matter in the film's climax. The film is centred though around Dietrich's performance as Frenchy, the prostitute, who changes allegiances with the narrative having a famous catfight as a centrepiece. An interesting western, yes a classic, and a must see for all film fans.

A pointless and anti climactic fourth instalment in the ever dwindling series. What a shame! The Matrix (1999) was a sharp, innovative sci-fi thriller even if it did use machines as the enemy which The Terminator (1984) had already claimed. The two subsequent sequels were devoid of fresh ideas and relied on effects for their entertainment accepting that some of the set piece chases etc were exciting. And now this tired addition offers nothing much other than reworking scenes from the earlier films and trying to work them into a new narrative that sees Neo (Keanu Reeves), now reinserted into a new matrix as part of a negotiated peace with the machines. When he is...again... rescued from a life as a battery he yearns for Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and she apparently holds the key to the future of humanity. Sadly though Moss has far too little screen time and little to do when she's around. Characters from the previous films pop up so die hard fans of the series will no doubt be happy but overall this is a film that has no real creativity beyond recycling the ones we've already seen. If you are like me and prefer to revel in the first film and forget the sequels exist then you can comfortably forget this one to.

Basically Burt Reynolds' Dirty Harry movie in which he plays a tough, no-nonsense Atlanta narcotics detective who gets busted after an arrest goes wrong and sent to the lowly Vice Squad where he starts an investigation into top class prostitutes run by a fearsome mob boss. It's actually a very entertaining and occasionally quite a nuanced film with some gritty action set pieces including the opening chase shoot out scene and a realistic torture scene. Showing a softer side Reynolds cop also falls hopelessly in love with the woman he has under surveillance played deliciously by husky voiced Rachel Ward. Actually the romance aspects of the story work very well and while there are disappointments in one or two of the story's concluding routes especially the end of the big bad guy which is anti climactic to say the least, overall this is a cop thriller worthy of rediscovery. The cast are prestigious members of the American film world including Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Earl Holliman, John Fiedler and Vittorio Gassman, and all are on tremendous form aided by Bernie Casey. There's humour and well directed, by Reynolds, action sequences. A film to check out if you've never seen it.

Whilst this a sequel to director Robert Rodriguez' low budget 1992 feature El Mariachi it is more or less a stand alone film, and given a bigger budget (albeit still small by many standards) and a more prestigious cast it sits as a great and highly entertaining contemporary action film. The stylish influence of Rodriguez friend and mentor, Quentin Tarantino, is obvious from the get go and Tarantino himself has an amusing cameo as a drug courier. This is set in a Mexican border town ruled over by a big time drug dealer, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida) and his business is run from a seedy bar. He and his thugs hear rumours of a strange travelling guitar player who hunts down and kills drug gangs but they believe its just a myth put about by locals. But then a mysterious stranger turns up (Antonio Banderas), with a guitar case full of weapons and he's looking for Bucho. Delightfully bloody, over the top action set pieces and heavily influenced by spaghetti westerns this is a riot from the outset, with a great soundtrack, some fantastic support from Steve Buscemi and Salma Hayek and a script that could've been written by Tarantino although it's Rodriguez work. Certainly fans of QT will love this.

A rather wry and poignant, with dashes of subtle humour, film that details the refugee experience in post-Brexit Britain. At times the story is heart wrenching and very sad with tragedy that counterpoints the slow, languid life of four asylum seekers who are housed on a remote Scottish island, with a little money waiting to hear if their application to remain in the UK is granted. And they wait and wait and wait! The story is focused around Omar (Amir El-Masry), a Syrian fleeing the war who has left his family behind in Turkey to try and secure them a life in the UK. He is overwrought with guilt at leaving them behind and spends his days either speaking to his mother on the island's one public telephone or walking the island. His three fellow refugees hail from Afghanistan and Nigeria and they form a unique bond as they wait patiently in the dilapidated and bleak house they have been allocated. The film has a deadpan style to reflect the long tedious waiting on an island where there is literally nothing to do other than go to the bizarre lectures given by two officials on how they should behave in the UK. An emotional film that won't be for everyone but it offers a unique insight into the experiences of people like Omar, it's a gentle and at times intimate film so is worth checking out.

Exciting, tense and full of suspense this horror film has the air of originality although influences and homages abound. Film fans will spot the obvious one such as Nosferatu (1922), Carrie (1976) and Deliverance (1972) and a few others but overall the film is a superb addition to the horror genre. The story is a simple one, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), a year after a massive tragedy for which she is still grieving, joins five friends in the Appalachian mountains of the USA for a caving trip. They're all thrill seekers especially Juno (Natalie Mendoza), who leads them down a previously unexplored cave taking unnecessary risks such as not telling the others they're heading into the unknown. When a tunnel collapses they find themselves trapped and have to look for a way out and they haven't banked on the terrors the lurk deep underground. The film's title is clever in that it suggests the obvious descent into the cave but alludes also to a journey into hell and arguably Sarah's descent into madness. Whichever reading you give the film it remains an' edge of your seat', 'hide behind the cushion' viewing experience' and remains pretty scary stuff even when you've seen it before. It's neatly gory with plenty of things to spot for the careful viewer. There are two released endings, the American 'happy' ending and the UK's more in keeping with the sense of despair one, the latter is by far the right one although the 2009 sequel proceeded from the American ending. It matters not as the sequel loses all the originality and can be forgotten. The Descent though is a remarkably entertaining horror film and definitely one to check out if you've never seen it.

A comedy drama featuring sweet, grumpy old men. Set in Australia this is a contrived story that occasionally pushes the boundaries of credibility but it doesn't really matter because its, amusing, sad and uplifting. Its also is the last role of Dennis Waterman, a stalwart of British TV and who sadly died this year. Four former soldiers, who famously escaped from a Vietnamese POW camp, find themselves, for various reasons, in a retirement home for veterans located in Australia. They each have some form of disability including dementia but they need to break out for individual reasons of their own. Ultimately though the planning and attempts give them a new zest for life. Their many efforts are foiled by the ever watchful manager and her security staff. James Cromwell, Dennis Waterman, Roy Billing and Jack Thompson play the four supported by the great Jackie Weaver. The script has some great lines and it will make you laugh out loud. An unpretentious little film that is well worth an afternoon's viewing.

A big extravaganza prequel to the spy romp series first introduced in 2004 with Kingsman: The Secret Service. Like the first film and it's sequel this is comic book Bondian with elements of the styling in The Avengers and tells the story of how the Kingsmen came into being. So we get a warped history lesson where a megalomaniac (think Blofeld complete with balding head) engineers the First World War through cohort of baddies that includes Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). The Duke Of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) mourning his beloved wife, killed in the Boer war, and now an advocate for peace aided by his two servants (Gemma Carterton & Djimon Hounsou) who run a network of spying house servants around the world set out to stop him. There's plenty of big action set pieces and fight scenes that always seem to cross the line of a little over stretched and mixed with splurges of bad taste masquerading as adult humour. It's entertaining enough and could've done with shaving twenty minutes from the runtime but it's ok if you liked the first two.

Director Martin Scorsese once commented that this was the first film he'd made that actually had a plot. And what a great plot it is. A cat & mouse narrative as Leonardo DiCaprio as undercover cop Billy and Matt Damon as gang member Colin try to identify each other to ensure their survival. The film boasts a great cast with Jack Nicholson excelling in the ultimate bad guy role as Boston crime boss Frank Costello, aided by Ray Winstone (with a slightly dodgy American accent) as his chief lieutenant, who cleverly grooms one of his young gang members Colin to join the Boston police and work his way into the very unit trying to catch him. With an insider in the police Frank feels invulnerable until Colin discovers there's an undercover cop deep in Frank's gang. With splashes of Scorsese's trademark violence, a support cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and a traditional crime thriller story that rattles along at a great pace it's no wonder this won Oscars. It was a departure from what we normally expect from this director but it was a welcome one.