Film Reviews by GI

A gritty cop thriller and the first Hollywood film starring Clint Eastwood after he became an overnight star appearing in the famous and iconic spaghetti western 'dollars' trilogy. This is a clash of cultures themed story that also clashes the cinematic genres of the western and the cop film, which is interesting as Eastwood came to dominate both genres throughout the 70s and beyond and the film is littered with sly and funny digs at westerns. Eastwood plays Arizona deputy sheriff Coogan, an uncompromising and tough cop, expert at tracking fugitives and a big ladies man. He is sent by his boss to New York to bring back a prisoner, Ringerman (Don Stroud). But Coogan faces the processes and bureaucracy of NYPD and struggles with what he sees as deliberate obstacles designed to impede him. Deciding to bypass all the rigmarole of court orders etc he sets out to get his man and clashes with the local police. When Ringerman goes on the run Coogan will use any means to get him even though he's out of his depth in the big city. This is obviously a contemporary western in so many ways but it also signals the waning of that traditional American screen hero and the advent of the tough cop figure. Coogan uses casual violence even against women whom he sees as figures to seduce or use at his whim (he does get a teeny bit of redemption towards to end) and the film ends with mutual respect by the modern cop. It definitely pushed boundaries with the violence and the depictions of the drug and gay scenes of New York. This is a good solid cop thriller and set Eastwood on course to be the top box office star for many a year to come. Lee J. Cobb is as excellent as ever as the cynical and frustrated NYPD boss and Susan Clark supports as the love interest. This film was the basis for what became the 'McCloud' series with Dennis Weaver. If you like the 'Dollars' trilogy then this is certainly a film to check out if you've never seen it.

A mesmerising rock biopic about the short life of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division. It's also a story of mental illness and the destructive nature of fame and celebrity. Shot in black & white to represent the bleak nature of Britain in the 1970s & 80s and giving the film a pseudo documentary style this is a story of a tortured soul and with a remarkable central performance from Sam Riley. He portrays Curtis as a somewhat sad yet kindly young man, bored with his life in the north of England but who loves music. He marries his teenage girlfriend, Debbie (Samantha Morton), and works in the Employment Exchange as a clerk. Suffering from epilepsy and prone to sudden fits Ian joins a local band as the singer and his genius as a songwriter and his unique stage style soon brings them fame although fortune eludes them. But torn between his wife and baby daughter and a new girlfriend Annik (Alexandra Maria Lara) and overcome with depression exacerbated by his medication his life spirals out of control. The actors playing the remainder of the band play the music in the film themselves and the support cast are all exceptional especially Toby Kebbell as their cocky manager Rob and Craig Parkinson as Tony Wilson the owner of Factory Records. Whilst the film is sad it's also an inspired story of a lost genius. Even if you're not a fan of Joy Division and their music this is a really excellent film and well worth checking out.

A good solid Cold War espionage thriller based on a true story and starring the always dependable Benedict Cumberbatch. He plays London businessman, Greville Wynne, who sells machine parts across Europe in the early 1960s. A family man who likes his drink a bit too much but otherwise is an unremarkable chap who lives with his wife (Jessie Buckley) and young son. One day he is approached by MI6 who need a man that would never be suspected to act as the contact for a potential Soviet spy. Wynne agrees and heads off to Moscow but is unprepared for the full risks and the friendship that grows between him and Oleg (Merab Ninidze), the Russian who has some big secrets to pass over. A remarkable slowburning story well directed and with an ominous colour palette that reflects the times and the suspense as the film moves towards it's final chapter. Cumberbatch is solid as the naïve man who has his ego pricked by the task given to him but who puts loyalty to his new found friend above his own safety. Entertaining, interesting and well worth checking out.

Director Steven Soderbergh is adept at following multiple interlinking stories in one narrative and keeping them all interesting and balanced. Contagion is one such film and it is quite riveting following various characters and events as a new virulent disease spreads very quickly across the globe causing rapid deaths, social collapse and panic. The story starts with Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) who whilst on a business trip in Hong Kong catches a flu type illness which she brings back to the USA where she infects her son albeit her husband (Matt Damon) appears to be immune. As the infection spreads health experts and disease control officials struggle with containing the spread and searching for the cause and a vaccine. Along the way a seedy conspiracy theory journalist (Jude Law) spreads misinformation about the disease and promotes a false cure. It's a riveting drama and quite frightening in places too and of course especially pertinent when viewed today during the Covid 19 pandemic. However that aside this is a film that is really good and it's power is increased at this unusual time making it well worth checking out if you've never seen it. The cast includes Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, John Hawkes, Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Ehle so some great talent on show too.

A routine ghost type story where a strange entity haunts a young man during a night's vigil of a corpse. It offers few scares and its all gloomy lighting and the odd glimpse of something strange in the background which is hardly anything new so you end up thinking you've seen it all before and better done. The setting of a young Jewish man, lapsed from his religion, who is hired for cash to hold the traditional night time vigil over a dead man is the only original thing and the entity is supposedly something from jewish folklore. The Holocaust gets mentioned in the narrative and that feels rather trite to be honest. I found it all rather dull.

This is a pleasant family centred comedy chiefly about motherhood and isolation. Cate Blanchett plays the title character, a formerly renowned architect who has withdrawn from her work and social connections to live in a rundown house with her teenage daughter (Emma Nelson) and tech guru husband (Billy Crudup). Depressed, anxious and resorting to pills Bernadette feuds with her neighbour Audrey (Kristen Wiig) but her family and former friends urge her to get back to being creative. Frustrated and worried hubby thinks it's time that he got his wife some professional help but Bernadette has other ideas and decides the only way for her to reconnect with the world is to push herself out of her comfort zone. Whilst the film rambles occasionally it does hold together and has some really funny and touching scenes all because Blanchett can really do comedy very well and even in the tense scenes that show her mental anguish she keeps the film light and fun. This is a decent film with great performances not least from Cate Blanchett who is always worth your time.

A bizarre and fascinating horror film that challenges the modern attraction of suburbia and modern living. Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) are a young couple looking for their first starter home and wander into an estate agents where the weird agent recommends a new development called Yonder. When they visit they soon find themselves trapped in a labyrinth of identical houses but with no way out. The arrival of a baby in a box with instructions to raise the child and be released starts the two off on a frightening experience as the rapidly growing yet emotionless child pushes them to their limits. There's a subtle link here to the the Village Of The Damned (1960) and one could read this as a black comedy but it's too disturbing, in my view, to induce anything other than surreal terror. The film has some interesting twists but ultimately remains enigmatic and in that sense slightly unfulfilling. Two strong lead performances and a an interesting visual look make this worth a watch.

A goofy screwball romantic comedy that has a time loop plot such as Groundhog Day (1993), Happy Death Day (2017) and Edge Of Tomorrow (2014), indeed it assumes you are familiar with the mechanics of those films and thus avoids over-explaining. The story centres around a wedding and bored maid of honour and sister of the bride, Sarah (Cristin Milioti) is rescued from an ill prepared speech by Nyles (Andy Samberg), a guest who seems to have a very care free attitude dressed in shorts and Hawaiian shirt. They hook up and basically Sarah follows Nyles into a cave despite him urging her not to and she discovers, much to her surprise and annoyance, that she becomes trapped in a time loop having to relive the same day over and over. Nyles reveals he's been similarly trapped for a considerable time. Spending their days together they fall in love, have loads of fun but eventually Sarah wants it to end and desperately looks for a way out. There's plenty of laughs and the two leads have a charm especially together and assisted by J.K. Simmons as the strange Roy, who is also trapped in the loop. Unfortunately the film drifts towards the end and it all feels a little disappointing but overall this is a pleasant enough romcom that uses a well worn device for it's story.

Based on real events this a gung-ho combat film of the likes of Black Hawk Down (2001). It's a fast paced, gritty war film that is full on action, typically very patriotic yet highly entertaining. Set in Libya in 2012 just after the overthrow of Gaddaffi and the country is now in chaos as serious heavily armed factions vie for control. The USA has kept a small diplomatic outpost and a CIA covert site, both unofficial, in Benghazi protected by a small team of ex-military security contractors. When a US Ambassador pays a visit the two compounds are attacked by a mass of nasties and the small team mount a defence. This has some tense moments and is all round exciting stuff but does suffer from director Michael Bay's occasional clumsy direction so keeping up with the characters is occasionally a challenge. Overall though this is really good and if you like your action fast and furious with plenty of gunplay then look no further. John Krasinski is the nominal star and James Badge Dale and Toby Stephens add support.

Contact is an interesting science fiction story enhanced by the involvement of Carl Sagan in the film's production and script and who sadly died before the film's completion. I'm not convinced the film holds up well today, not in the presentation of the story or the special effects which are quite a clever way of portraying the events, but in the script and story. The film's theme is presented as a way of melding religious faith with scientific facts & discovery and the posits the idea that just because a lot of people believe in a God there must be some truth in it. I'm not convinced this works. The main thrust of the plot is the search for extraterrestrial life and Jodie Foster plays a young and brilliant astronomer who is obsessed with the search and works for SETI, a science project dedicated to looking for life in the stars. It's an area that is not supported with funding much to her annoyance until one day a signal is heard that seems to come from a distant planet and has a coded message buried in it that is a blueprint for a machine to enable one person to travel to meet the aliens. Of course Foster's character gets chosen after some troubles along the way and the journey is very different than your standard space travel film. The politics and religious viewpoints are very grounded in American society and jar with a more secular audience. So whilst the film is entertaining and has some interesting highlights it's a bit too narrow minded to lift itself into the great sci-fi film arena. Good support cast including Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Angela Bassett and Tom Skerritt.

Some great special effects don't save this silly film. Based on a DC graphic novel by Alan Moore the story has promise but it takes itself far too seriously making it all the dafter. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a man who can see ghosts and demons etc and spends his time exorcising demons that break the rules and try and enter the human realm. When the twin sister of police detective Angela (Rachel Weisz) apparently commits suicide she is down to seek out Constantine to help her find out what happened to her sister. John eventually uncovers a weird conspiracy involving Satan (Peter Stormare) and the Archangel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton). I've no doubt everyone is giving their best but sadly the film fails, and the first hurdle it fails to overcome is Hell, which is visualised as the aftermath of a bomb run with silly cartoonish demons with only half a head. By the time you get to Constantine's golden crucifix gun you'll either be groaning or have switched off.

A powerful suspense thriller with a very touching and tender love story at its heart. Adapted from the novel by John Le Carré this is a really riveting film, beautifully filmed in Kenya and directed and edited in a cleverly structured way that tells the story as a mystery whilst also allowing the audience to see events early on that drive the characters towards the film's climax. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz are married couple Justin and Tessa. They are an unlikely couple as Justin is a mild mannered, gentle and an unassuming British diplomat who loves gardening and Tessa is an activist and a bit of a firebrand. When Justin is stationed in Kenya Tessa spends her time with the locals in the company of a Belgian doctor (Hubert Koundé) leading to rumours they are having an affair. But when Tessa is murdered Justin begins to suspect the official reports are a cover up and embarks on his own investigation to find out what Tessa was involved in despite threats to stop. In many ways this film is about political corruption and murder which drives Justin onwards in trying to expose his wife's killers but it's also his own discovery of how deep his relationship with his wife actually goes. Much of this he discovers after her death making to story both sad and uplifting and very moving. The plot is really clever and involves espionage and dark dealings with governments and private companies, in this case the pharmaceutical industry. Fiennes and Weisz are both on top form here and assisted by a superb support cast that includes Danny Huston and Bill Nighy amongst others. A first class film and one I highly recommend if you've never seen it.

A great sword and sorcery epic set in a mystical Norse like world and adapted from the very popular series of books by Robert E. Howard. It's also Arnold Schwarzenegger's first narrative film and set him on course for the action star he later became. And he's rather good in this and perfect casting too. When his parents are murdered during a raid on his village the young Conan (Jorge Sanz) is sold as a slave and later trained as a gladiator growing into a formidable warrior. When he is set free the now adult Conan (Schwarzenegger) embarks on a path of vengeance on the leader of the mysterious snake cult that killed his father and mother. If you loved Game Of Thrones then you'll really like this as it's adult, action packed and filled with bloody battles, strange monsters, witches and sorcerers with sex and romance and has a great story with a wonderful recreation of a fantastical land of snowy wastes and deserts. Great fun and the end suggests a series was contemplated and although a poor sequel followed in 1984 and a remake in 2011 the series never arrived. Support cast of James Earl Jones and Max Von Sydow just adds to the mix because this is a a great fantasy film and well worth checking out if you've never seen it.

Pure adrenaline rush action and a film that is so preposterous it's brilliant. The whole thing is such great entertainment and it's the ultimate example of cinema where there's nothing pretentious or meaningful its simply there for you to sit back and have a great time. So if you've never seen this then it's one to check out because its a riot. Nicolas Cage, in arguably his best film, is former ex soldier Cameron Poe, who killed a man defending his wife and ends up in jail for manslaughter. Eight years later he is paroled and is looking forward to reuniting with his wife and daughter, who he has never seen. To get home he joins a prison transport plane on it's way to transfer dangerous prisoners to other parts of the country including some of the most dangerous. But led by Cyrus The Virus (John Malkovich) the prisoners have a clever plan to take over the plane and escape. Poe decides he has to foil their plans. With a great support cast that includes John Cusack, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi and Colm Meaney this film rollicks along at a great pace, has a thoroughly daft macho script ("Put the bunny back in the box"), plenty of humour, explosions, chases, gun battles and ends with a massive set piece chase in Las Vegas. You'll never have as much fun watching a film as this one.

The Commitments is one of those social comedies that always entertains regardless of how many times you've seen it. Hilariously funny and yet it manages to reveal the grime and deprivation of the working class estates of Dublin where wheeler dealer Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) puts together a soul band made up of locals who nearly make it big. It's in the scenes of everyday life from the auditions Jimmy holds in his parents house (Colm Meaney as Jimmy's Dad is a riot) to his walking around the city where we get to see life going on (including a boy putting a horse into the lifts in a block of flats) that the little gems of comedy and social drama are seen. But its when the band, who gradually fall out with one another for various reasons, start performing that the film adds it's real magic because they are really good putting on their covers of such classic as Dark End Of The Street and Try A Little Tenderness. Director Alan Parker mostly used unknown actors, many of whom went onto careers in TV and film, which gives the film it's mock documentary style. With it's very colourful language courtesy of a great script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais ( famous in the UK for TV comedy such as The Likely Lads and Porridge) and Roddy Doyle from whose novel the film is adapted, this is a riot. A wonderful film, it'll have you laughing out loud, singing and dancing. It's a sheer joy.