Film Reviews by GI

A very entertaining science fiction film set a few years in the future where the Earth's energy supplies are almost exhausted and international tensions are spiralling towards a major war. A huge orbiting space station, the Cloverfield, has been launched that contains an experimental device that could solve all the world's energy problems. But test firings of the device keep failing. The small scientific crew try to rectify the problems in a race against time and unwittingly cause a rift in the space/time continuum and find themselves trapped in a parallel universe which threatens their own as well as the one they are now in. A clever story that links the other films in the 'Cloverfield' series although you don't have to see any of the other films to really enjoy this as it's a stand alone story. If you enjoy sci-fi of the likes of Event Horizon (1997) and Alien (1979) then you will definitely enjoy this. It's has some great effects and an intricate plot which keeps you thinking throughout especially as it concerns the idea of multiverses similar to each other but with significant differences. There's some shocks along the way and the script adds in some good humour to soften the horrific elements. The great cast of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Chris O'Dowd, Daniel Brühl et al makes for a very enjoyable space film.

A somewhat cold drama about obsessive love. Laetitia Dosch plays Hélène, a divorced mother and University lecturer who begins a passionate relationship with a slightly dodgy Russian diplomat, played with cool indifference by former ballet dancer Sergei Pollunin. There's some very crude sex scenes, it's actually all they appear to do together, as Hélène talks of love her lover seems to be just using her. He's married and takes off every so often leaving her in a bit of a state. When he returns to Moscow she falls into a deep depression. The film drifts around with much idle talk in between rough bonking. Overall it's a rather dull film although Dosch manages to capture the hell of loneliness and abandonment very well

A comedy drama that really shows the talents of Aubrey Plaza who is intense and mesmerising here as Allison, a filmmaker who goes to stay with a bickering couple at a lakeside retreat in the hope of some inspiration for her next script. The three part relationship drama builds into something quite intriguing and with suspense as the couple, Gabe and Blair (Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon) are at each others throats and Blair thinks Gabe is flirting with Allison. Indeed things build to a confrontation and possible tragedy but then suddenly the film switches to a completely different storyline. The second act of the film has the same location but now a film is being shot at the house and Gabe is the director with Allison, his wife, as the main star and Blair as a support actor. Gabe and Blair hatch a plan to get Allison jealous to fire up her performance but this backfires in an dramatic way. As a depiction of indie filmmaking and the emotions of so called artists this is also an interesting watch but what I didn't get is the juxtaposition of the two acts. It seems that Act 1 is abandoned just as its reaching its peak and we miss out on a really good suspense drama. Certainly I enjoyed the first half more than the second. Plaza is excellent throughout, her powerful performance is superb. It's the structure of the film I found unfulfilling.

This drama has Matt Damon playing against type as a father trying to reconnect with his daughter whilst trying to help her prove her innocent of murder. There is a vigilante..ish story here but don't expect Damon to Jason Bourne his way through this story. He plays Bill, an American blue collar worker with past demons, who's daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) is serving a prison sentence in Marseilles for killing her lover. He visits her whenever he can afford to and on his latest trip she wants her lawyer to get her case reopened on a snippet of information about a boy who she claims is really the guilty one. But much to Bill's frustration the lawyer and authorities do not consider there are sufficient grounds so Bill embarks on trying to find the individual himself. Not speaking French he's helped by a local woman, Virginie (Camille Cottin) and he soon bonds with her young daughter. Bill is a gentle man trying to amend for his earlier failures as a father and so is somewhat blind to whether Allison may actually be guilty of not. There are obvious parallels to the Amanda Knox case and the story is clearly influenced by it and, for the most part, the film has some good plot twists but does tip occasionally into some odd storylines. But overall it's an entertaining drama that keeps you watching but don't expect a gritty action film because this is not that it's a story of relationships caught in extraordinary circumstances.

Director Michael Mann has a unique style, instantly recognisable and much envied and copied by others. His genius is his depiction of cityscapes especially at night combining sharp angled close ups with wide shots of the city. In this case it's Los Angeles where he creates a story of two men, on opposite sides of a moral divide, a theme Mann has often been attracted to in his other films. The story is set over one busy night in LA where Max (Jamie Foxx), a night shift taxi driver with ambitious dreams, drops off City prosecutor Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) at her office where she's preparing a big case and picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise) who has five locations he needs to visit in one night and offers Max a big tip if he ferries him around. Max reluctantly agrees but soon regrets his decision because Vincent is a highly professional contract killer with five 'hits' to carry out and Max realises he's not going to survive the night. But circumstances forces Vincent to have to use Max and the two begin to develop a strange rapport. Cruise is excellent here and proves he's an actor far better than often thought and I certainly wish he'd make more films like this rather than big, brash action films. Coldly professional but hinting at an emotional past that sees him make decisions around Max that are ultimately to his detriment. The action is fast, realistic and gritty with a superb complimentary soundtrack throughout the film. The support cast includes Mark Ruffalo as a detective on the trail and Javier Bardem has a great cameo. You will not find a modern crime thriller as brilliant as this. It's sharp, original and directed with a style that utilises digital techniques that enhance the story and the setting. It's really a mini masterpiece.

Very loosely based on real events this is a wartime tale of derring-do as plucky British officers attempt to escape from the infamous German POW camp of Colditz Castle. Starring the great John Mills this is an entertaining story of how his character, Captain Pat Reid (the film is also loosely on an adaptation of Reid's memoirs as a POW) arrives at Colditz which was a prison where the Germans sent all officers who had tried to escape from other POW camps, his time as 'Escape Officer' and his eventual daring getaway. The film is a series of episodes depicting various escapes, the Germans are depicted as expected (sly, cunning, ruthless etc etc) and the British as a slightly snobby, class focused, group of public schoolboy types who treat escaping as a jolly jape. Interestingly there is the odd moment of scripted xenophobia as the Brits find their fellow allied prisoners, French, Dutch and Polish, as a damn nuisance until they agree to work together. Overall this is humorous and highly entertaining and is an example of the very well made war films that the 1950s British film industry excelled in. Film fans will notice Ian Carmichael, Lionel Jeffries, Richard Wattis, Bryan Forbes and Eric Portman as the British Senior Officer. This is a classic British film, enjoyable and interesting and well worth your time if you've never seen it.

One of Steven Spielberg's best films and a science fiction epic that posits that visiting extraterrestrial life would be friendly rather than have nasty designs on the Earth. Spielberg, who also wrote the screenplay, avoids his over sentimentality that he often dripped into his films and tells a remarkable two pronged story which run in parallel and eventually converge. The main one is that of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an electrical engineer, who is called out one night after a series of strange power cuts. Whilst out in the road he has a strange experience with what he believes to be a UFO and whilst his chaotic family don't believe him they become angry and fearful when he begins to obsess over a strange shape he sees in his mind. Alongside this the film intersperses a scientific investigation led by Lacombe (François Truffaut) into the appearance of strange lights seen in the sky and the discovery of formerly missing aircraft found in bizarre locations. Eventually the characters converge on a remote American location at a landmark mountain site the shape of which mirrors Neary's visions. There they experience the arrival of visiting aliens. A remarkable film brilliantly directed and edited to bring the two story lines together, the special effects are excellent for the time and this is a film that deserves recognition as one of the best science fiction films. It's a lovely story too, a family film that is has mystery, excitement and a feel good ending. It's one to sit down with your children and enjoy today. Interestingly there are three versions available, the original theatrical, a 'Special Edition' and the Director's Cut. I recommend the last one which allowed Spielberg to refine some scenes he was unhappy with in the original release and to remove a new ending that appeared in the Special Edition, an ending that was a step too far and was unnecessary.

A preposterous and daft Second World War spy story that has a hopelessly miscast Eddie Izzard as a British agent who infiltrates an Anglo/German school for young ladies located on the English south coast. Why he needs to do this is anyone's guess but in any event he impersonates a teacher, witnesses the nazi ideology being taught to the girls (who are all related to prominent nazis apparently). He's not sure about the headteacher (Judi Dench, who is wasted in the role) who he catches doing a nazi salute. Set in August 1939 and with tensions between the two countries the British want to keep these girls in England. Why is also anyone's guess, I presumed as hostages but it's not very clear because Izzard spends most of the film running across beaches and moors in Richard Hannay style trying to escape from either the police or nazi agents. The whole thing is thoroughly silly and everyone does stupid things which will make you groan out loud. Even Jim Broadbent supports as a bus driver!!

A black situation comedy where embarrassment and lies are excruciatingly revealed. It follows young Danielle (Rachel Sennott), who having just had sex with an older man, Max (Danny Deferrari) who pays her because she tells him she needs money for her school fees, goes to a shiva ( a sort of jewish wake), with her parents. She knows she'll have to go through the torment of elderly relatives telling her she needs to eat more, get a boyfriend etc etc, but she is mortified when Max also turns up, along with his wife and child. Max is equally wary especially as he learns Danielle is from a wealthy family and doesn't need any money. Danielle's day gets worse when her former lover, Maya (Molly Gordon) is there too and begins to suspect that Danielle and Max have some secrets. Apart from the opening scene the film is set in an overcrowded house where the characters have to navigate to avoid each other. It results in a sharp comedy of manners that is occasionally a little callow and intense. It's a confident debut from director Emma Seligman and the screenplay, also written by her, is based on real experience. Funny and a bit cringy at times but well worth checking out.

A surprisingly absorbing documentary that tells the story of the strange experiment that took place in the Arizona desert in the early 1990s when eight volunteers were sealed inside an enormous dome, the Biosphere 2 (Biosphere 1 being the Earth), as a study of how humans, plants and animals might survive in future planetary exploration. The whole thing originated out of the 60s hippy counter culture under the vision of John Allen, a bizarre guru type character, which helped the later accusations that the entire experiment was the work of a cult. Of course the experiment largely failed due to simple things like the oxygen running low and accusations that the organisers cheated and of course tempers inside the dome soon deteriorated. The billionaire who provided the money eventually kicked the hippies out and bought in bankers. The overall interesting aspects are that the experiment tapped into the more serious issue of climate change and survival plans for humanity and the problem of profit over science. Interesting and well told story.

A cliched clash of culture story with homophobia as the central theme. A conservative Texas church choir conductor inherits her estranged son's gay drag bar and overcome with grief and guilt she embraces it and its staff and customers. Jackie Weaver uses all her screen panache as Maybelline, a wisecracking woman who battles her homophobic husband and learns all about a different culture albeit too late for her son who has died. The story is all too obvious and cheesy to hold one's attention for long although Lucy Liu is good as a single mother that Maybelline befriends.

It's easy to think of James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt when considering action spy films and easy to forget Dr Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst and academic who has appeared in several films and a TV series after being a character in several novels by Tom Clancy. Whilst Ryan is the thinking mans espionage hero he does get himself embroiled in some very racy action at times especially in this film. Harrison Ford is arguably the best remembered actor to have played him having done so twice along with Patriot Games (1992). Here he's been promoted to Deputy Director of Intelligence after his boss becomes seriously ill. This coincides with the discovery that a drug cartel has murdered a family who were close friends of the President (Donald Moffat). In an emotional rage the President orders action against the cartel and an illegal covert military operation is commenced. Jack is kept in the dark but soon suspects something is amiss and very quickly becomes caught up in the political intrigue and has to risk his life to stop it. The set pieces here are excellent especially a street ambush in Columbia and Ford plays Ryan as a liberal minded family man and patriot but who won't stand for law breaking even if it's from the very top. The support cast is great including Willem Dafoe as a covert operative and James Earl Jones as Ryan's ailing boss. Overall this is a superb thriller full of conspiracy, murder and politics intermixed with gritty action. It's probably the best of the Jack Ryan cinematic outings and you don't have had to watch any of the other films to enjoy this.

Based on the stories from Greek mythology this is a magical family fantasy film that has monsters, witches, a hero and a beautiful princess all overseen and controlled by the capricious and lustful gods led by Zeus (Laurence Olivier). This is the story of Perseus, a handsome hero, who happens to be the son of Zeus. Proud and protective Zeus gets into a feud with his fellow god, Thetis (Maggie Smith), all because he deformed her own son. In revenge Thetis plans to sacrifice Perseus' love, the Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) to the Kraken, a monstrous sea creature. Perseus sets off to rescue her but he must deal with some very dangerous witches and the evil Gorgon, Medusa, whose head holds the key the killing the Kraken. The story mixes green mythology with titbits of Shakespeare and even capitalises on the popularity of Star Wars by adding an R2D2 type character, which will either amuse of annoy although your children will love it. For film fans this is the last film of veteran visual effects maestro, Ray Harryhausen, who pioneered and made a career from stop/motion effects before the arrival of CGi. So whilst the effects here may seem somewhat dated they do represent what was then state of the art. For anyone who grew up watching these films they are a great reminder of being enthralled by cinema. Additionally it has a simply fantastic cast that includes Ursula Andress, Tim Pigott-Smith, Claire Bloom, Burgess Meredith, Flora Robson, Siân Phillips and Donald Houston. Here's an adventure film that is worth rediscovering and trying out on your children (although be advised this has some gritty and scary scenes and a little bit of nudity!). This was remade in 2010 but in my view it's not a patch on this original version.

Kenneth Branagh's follow up to his 2017 new adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express is a disappointing film, a rather stale and routine whodunnit that feels more an extended episode of the Agatha Christie styled TV series Death In paradise. It's all very glitz and pizzazz but the characters are all two dimensional and the use of comedy actors in serious roles is jarring with the expectation they will suddenly do something zany left unfulfilled. The basic plot is that Hercule Poirot (Branagh) has been invited to join the honeymoon party of Simon (Armie Hammer) and socialite Linnet (Gal Gadot) on a riverboat touring the Nile. Also on board is the happy couples stalker Jacqueline (Emma Mackey), Simon's former lover, who is very jealous and keeps making threats etc etc. There's also a host of friends and relatives including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Russell Brand (ie the comedians mentioned above). The film is more concerned with big vista shots of 1930s Egypt than building a credible plot and when people start getting murdered you'll not really care. There's a prologue set in the trenches of the First World War that is impressive but serves only to explain why Poirot has his weird moustache and just when you think the film is over there's a pointless epilogue too. A bit of a letdown that brings nothing new to the whodunnit sub genre, what a shame.

A captivating and magical romantic comedy that has the essence of a fairy tale to it. It's a sheer delight throughout and challenges religious dogma that morality is governed by banning things rather than embracing the joy's of life. Set in a small French country village in 1959 where the mayor, the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), ensures a strict moral code is adhered to by the villagers through the local church and preaching the wrath of god. He's a frustrated and unhappy man who dominates everyone to hide his own sadness. He is therefore most unhappy when a strange woman, Vianne (Juliette Binoche) arrives in the village with her daughter and opens a chocolatier, selling the most wonderful delights. Gradually her influence changes the way the local people see themselves and gives them a renewed 'joie de vivre'. When a happy troupe of river folk also arrive with their free-spirited ways the Comte is determined to stamp his moral code back into the community. With its elements of magic and wonder this film leaves you with a warm feeling. It's a lovely story and with a great cast that includes Judi Dench and Johnny Depp. Yet while the film poster etc suggests this is a film about love and relationships it's not one that centres on two main protagonists living happily ever after, it's actually a film about redemption and embracing all that life has to offer for everyone involved. And it works on every level and deserved the award nominations it gained at the Oscars and BAFTAs. A lovely film that can be enjoyed by just about everyone. Check it out if you've never seen it because its a real treat.