Film Reviews by GI

This is a highly enjoyable and watchable wartime drama made more so for its traditional styling as a British film that you'd see made in the 1950s. Director Steve McQueen delves into the culture of London in 1940 often with quite big broad strokes but manages a film that is rich and well structured. The narrative is centred around the story of George, a young schoolboy who is mixed race living with his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and his Grandad (Paul Weller) in Stepney. He's never known his father who was deported after an incident before George was born. Being of mixed race George faces the casual everyday racist slurs from other children but is much loved by his family. Rita, who works in a munitions factory, takes the heart wrenching decision to evacuate George away from the city as the German bombing increases. George is far from happy and decides to jump the train and make his way home. The film is essentially his journey where he encounters people good and downright bad in trying to get back. In these encounters McQueen has drawn in big slices of the cultural life of London involving class, black/white, criminal and the traditional held view of the working class Londoner sucking up the horrors of the blitz including the initial refusal of the authorities to allow shelter in the Underground stations. Ronan is as good as always although her character is a little one dimensional; Weller is calm and assured as the Grandad who loves his grandson. Especially interesting is Stephen Graham and Kathy Burke as nasty criminals who rob from the damaged properties and the dead themselves. The images of the burning city are fantastic and the story grabs you really well throughout. A thoughtful, traditional British wartime drama that is all the better for being exactly in that vein.

A film recently restored under the supervision of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and one with a troubled yet interesting history. Adapted from a celebrated novel originally by Sam Peckinpah it was due to be directed by Stanley Kubrick who then fell out with star Marlon Brando who then directed the film himself, his only directorial effort. The story is a loose retelling of the Billy The Kid tale and you can see Peckinpah's influence all over the film. Brando plays Rio, mostly referred to as 'Kid', he and his partner Dad Longworth (Karl Malden in the Pat Garrett type role)) rob a Mexican bank but Rio gets caught having been betrayed by Dad. After five years in jail Rio escapes and goes in search of Dad for his revenge. Rio finds he is now the sheriff of a small Californian coastal town, with a family and it's here that the majority the narrative plays out. This is an unusual western, made before the revisionist westerns came along, and because of this it's a film of real appeal and interest. Westerns usually bring a genre defining masculine honour to the stories, but not here. All the characters are without any honour or sense of belonging. They lie, cheat and torture and only in love does Rio find a way towards redemption although the film ends without us knowing if he'll stay the course he promises. Brando is superb and the film showcases his genius. Set mostly on the coast, an unusual setting for a western, he used the raging sea to contrast and illuminate the emotions of the characters. It really is a remarkable achievement for its time. This is definitely a film to get ahold of if you've never seen it, a flawed masterpiece and a film that gets you thinking.

This is a melancholy and at times painfully sad film with an incredible central performance from Cillian Murphy. Set in the early 1980s in Ireland where Murphy plays Bill, a coal merchant who has a moderately successful business. He's a quiet, introspective family man with a wife and several daughters who are all educated courtesy of the local church. Bill is haunted by some childhood memories which are built up through flashbacks and chiefly concern his mother. Bill is constantly moved by the visions of severe poverty he sees around him. Things come to a head one Christmas when he's delivering fuel to the town convent and inadvertently he witnesses the abuse inflicted on the young women who are forced to live there because they had a child out of wedlock. The tyrannical mother superior (Icily portrayed by Emily Watson) realises that he now has possession of a secret that could harm her and makes moves to ensure he stays silent but good hearted Bill makes a decision that could threaten his family. There's a Dickensian feel to this film that is thoroughly absorbing, so much so that when the film ends it takes you by surprise. This is a story of the infamous Magdalene Laundries scandal that was a well kept secret in Ireland for many decades where young women were subjected to a life of relative slavery all because they violated the strict rules of the Catholic Church. A slow burning, powerful film and highly recommended.

Exceptionally well done and really interesting rock documentary charting the life of an almost legendary figure in the history of rock music mainly due to his sacking from Pink Floyd and subsequent drop into obscurity. This is the story of Roger 'Syd' Barrett, arguably the genius behind Pink Floyd and its first creative mind. The story of his descent into an LSD fuelled mental breakdown is told here and unravelled in detail bringing in interviews with all the key players. Like all documentaries of this kind there is an element where being a fan helps but this is well worth checking out. It follows Sydney Barrett's life from his early days in Cambridge through to the heady days of Pink Floyd in London to his casual dismissal from the band and onto his rather sad and early death years later. Directed by Storm Thorgerson, a childhood friend and later collaborator as the founder of Hipgnosis who designed the band's album covers.

A stark, violent and rather unpleasant telling of the massacres of the indigenous Indians by a wealthy landowner in Chile in the early days of the Twentieth Century. This is brutal film that is mixed with some eerie yet beautiful images of the vast empty landscape and follows three mercenaries, a former British soldier (Mark Stanley), an American cowboy (Benjamin Westfall) and a quiet Chilean ranch hand (Camilo Arancibio) as they roam the vast lands searching for and murdering the local tribes people. There's a political drama element to the film as well as the story of the quite nasty men involved in the killing and raping. This is a story of corrupt power and evil men and ultimately a powerful film that is a difficult watch.

Tremendously influential it is a surprise that this was basically a box office failure and yet it has had volumes of study applied to it and it's style, vision and ideas continue to be seen in films today. Richly detailed and with a unique vision of a future world (although it's actually set in 2019) this is a film that continues to reveal more details and is open to ever more interesting critical analysis on each viewing. Having seen it many, many times I still find something new every time. Set in a dystopian mega sized Los Angeles with a heady mix of cultures, fashions and styles and where the Earth has become so polluted that the rich and healthy have fled to 'off-world colonies'. All animal life is more or less extinct but advances in genetic construction have allowed very expensive artificial animals to be designed and made including humanoid type ones called replicants, they have become so advanced they are virtually indistinguishable from humans. These are used as slave labour in the colonisation of other worlds and are illegal on Earth and any found are killed by special police units. When a group of replicants find their way to Earth Deckard (Harrison Ford) is assigned to hunt them down. The philosophical concept of 'I think therefore I am' is a key theme here as the film looks at what makes us human. Ford's character struggles with the role of executioner in a world where his boss, in a form of post-modern racism refers to the replicants as 'skin jobs'. As such it poses the question of who is morally stronger, humans or the artificial replicants. Scott creates a world here that takes a few viewings to really grasp it's complexities and the trespassing replicants are wonderful constructions exhibiting high intelligence and yet are emotionally child like. It really is a film of such intellect and creativity it's a modern day masterpiece and is unsurpassed in the science fiction genre. Rutger Hauer as the leader of the replicants is an iconic movie character and has the best lines ("All those moments will be lost...in time...like tears in rain"). There are various versions of this film out there from the initial Theatrical Cut, which has a narration voiceover (added later by the producers) and a tacked on ending, a so called International Cut (essentially a version released in Europe), a Director's Cut (which isn't really as Scott had nothing to do with it) and in 2007 came a Final Cut. This last is the one to watch, Scott was given the opportunity to tidy up some effects and to cut the film as he intended. It is this version that is the more fulfilling film and it helps to answer the vexing questions that the film asks and huge debates still linger around the stars of the Dockyard character. A key dream sequence links neatly with the final moments of the film to reveal a key plot point. A significant and important film, a masterpiece and a film to savour over and over. If by some slim chance you've not seen this then it's a must.

This is an intelligent, powerful and very funny drama and in my opinion Jack Nicholson's best performance. Set in a US mental hospital in the 1960s where the highly charismatic petty criminal Randal McMurphy arrives having agreed to be mentally assessed to avoid work in prison. He brings a change to the mundane lives of the various male patients and challenges the authority of the tyrannical Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher in a frighteningly cold and award winning performance). The comedy whilst dark is absolutely hilarious mainly through Nicholson's wonderful reactionary performance. But the comedy is tinged with the terrifying portrayal of the conditions which are used to shine a very bright light on society and it's treatment of difference. If you go by this film's message then everyone should be incarcerated!. There's a really disturbing scene of electro-shock treatment being applied and even after many viewings it's scary stuff. The film has uplifting moments but ultimately it's a sad tale and it's one of those films that even though you know how it ends you secretly wish that just this one time it maybe different; a bit like wishing Steve McQueen makes that jump in The Great Escape (1963). This is one of those films that everyone should make sure they see, it's simply a masterpiece of modern cinema and deserves the many accolades and awards it has received.

This may well be a post apocalyptic story or it may not! It's a difficult call but certainly this is a most unusual and yet beguiling film the very set up hinting at a silly comic book style adventure but, whilst there is a lot of humour here, this is like a wildlife film only it's about legendary creatures. The narrative follows a small troop of Sasquatch creatures (aka Bigfoot) as they struggle for survival in the dense forest of North America. There's four of them at at various times they attempt to signal others but to no avail suggesting these are the last of a dying species. They exhibit human and animal traits and communicate by grunts or whoops similar to apes. We get to see their jealousies, their sexual habits and inevitably the journey brings them to the edges of the human world, a baffling and dangerous one. And yet we never see any humans which leaves the post apocalyptic reading open and indeed there are other things that suggest this. Riley Keough is the female accompanied by Jesse Eisenberg as one of the males.There performances are quite remarkable and they communicate to us the viewer with an eloquence that makes the film quite witty in an unnerving and at times gripping way. A surprising film that is well worth your time.

This biopic based on Priscilla Presley's autobiography is at times a meandering affair and perhaps deliberately so in trying to represent the boredom and isolation of the central character trapped in a bizarre relationship. Cailee Spaeny is absorbing in the title role as the schoolgirl isolated and lonely on an American airbase in Germany in the late 1950s. At a party she meets the already world famous Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) who is serving his time in the military. He takes a fancy to her and a strange, borderline perverted, relationship begins although Presley treats her like a doll and refrains from any sexual connection. Eventually Priscilla is allowed by her military parents to join Elvis at Graceland where this bizarre romance develops while she still attends a local school! She is introduced to drugs and sees little slips of temperament as Elvis occasionally exhibits uncontrollable anger and controlling behaviour. It all spirals towards collapse of course and the film focuses on this young girl's further isolation stuck in a mansion while her lover is on the road and apparently having affairs with famous actresses. This is a story that has a coming of age narrative drive but highlights the immaturity of a naive child obsessed with a handsome and famous man. But one mustn't forget that this is Priscilla's version of events and she also produced the film so some scepticism is required. Elordi as Elvis is downplayed to enable the narrative to be rightly directed at Priscilla and there are no Elvis songs on the soundtrack as these were denied for use in the film. Overall, an interesting story with an excellent central performance from Spaeny and it works as a story of coercion, control and misogyny but it leaves more questions than it answers.

Basically this is Paddington does Indiana Jones in a lacklustre third outing that lacks the wit, comic timing, ideas and above all the magic of the first two films. With a new director there seems to be a sense that this is a by-the book film that is hampered by a mediocre script and feeble laughs. It also lacks a decent baddie,here with Antonio Banderas hamming it up and hardly trying. There's a mid end credits sequence with Hugh Grant which is the best bit of the whole film. Hugh Bonneville returns and Emily Mortimer replaces Sally Hawkins and Olivia Colman has a key role as a nun. The story is all summed up in the title really, Paddington is lured to Peru ostensibly to visit his Aunt Lucy, only to find she has gone missing and so he and the Brown family set off into the Amazon to find her and get into all sorts of mostly dull scrapes. Of course there's a plot behind all this and you have to remember this is basically for children but is missing the adult themed aspects that made the first two such a joy. A family film suitable for younger children, the rest will be disappointed.

The follow up to the 2016 original was hugely awaited and it didn't disappoint. A bigger budget, bigger cast and bigger better effects and set piece action this is an adult action comedy that is a real delight. Obviously the key factor at play here is the continued subversion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that makes it all such fun and Ryan Reynolds has cemented the role deep into the franchise. The issue for him is that this character maybe the only one he's celebrated for! Anyway his wisecracking antihero who continually breaks the fourth wall, makes inside jokes about the MCU creative process and manages to combine bloody violence with hilarious comedy is a real joy. Here Deadpool is enjoying taking bad guys down around the world dealing out death as the only price for crime.But when his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is murdered he falls into a deep grieving and wishes himself dead, a problem as one of his powers is regeneration! But he begins to find redemption by helping a mutant boy (Julian Dennison) who's being hunted by a cyborg soldier from the future (Josh Brolin). The risk with a sequels that the originality of the first film cannot be recreated as effectively but here the director and star have embraced the character and just turned the volume up to 11. Great fun and not least in spotting a couple of very famous cameos.

An interesting feminist drama that deliberately subverts any expectations that the narrative and plot pushes towards. There's a slow burn towards what feels like a thriller in nature but ends up as a quirky drama about female empowerment. Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are two Canadian women backpacking around Australia. Running short of money they get a job as barmaids at The Royal Hotel, a grand name for a grubby pub in a mining town run by Billy (Hugo Weaving) and Carol (Ursula Yovich). The pub is frequented by hard drinking locals and the two girls have to navigate a culture of sexual jokes and innuendo whilst dealing with the drunken clientele. Hanna grows increasingly uncomfortable whilst Liv sees that harmless flirtation appeases the customers. As the situation gets more ugly it's Hanna that decides enough is enough. This never descends into horror despite the setup but manages to steer an interesting course by highlighting the often difficult situations that young women have to deal with far too often. Enjoyable drama that is well worth checking out.

Films about the making of films are often celebratory even if occasionally aimed at ridiculing the process but Official Competition goes straight for the jugular and take sit's pleasure in mocking the pretentiousness of the process and those that make films. Penélope Cruz plays award winning film director Lola who is hired by a billionaire to adapt a Nobel prize winning novel into a film that he hopes will be part of his legacy. She in turn selects two famous actors to play the main characters, two brothers who hate one another. One of these actors is Felix (Antonio Banderas) a mainstream star, rich and loving the rewards of fame, the other is Iván (Oscar Martínez), a renowned theatre actor who believes wholly in the craft of acting and shuns the glitz that Felix revels in. Lola has very unconventional methods of preparing her actors and the two men soon hate one another, sparring at every opportunity. This mix forms the basis of the narrative, an intriguing one that has plenty of humour. The three main cast are exceptional and in particular Cruz whose deadpan expression heightens the extremes of what occurs during the several days of rehearsals with the actors. As they say in the film you can admire it but that doesn't mean you like it. I found this to be true for me, interesting, amusing and at times very magnetic but ultimately just ok.

This is an entertaining and gutsy little western that has a nice plot twist. It has a period realistic visual style and the action is swift and violent. A widowed pig farmer Henry (Tim Blake Nelson) lives on his small remote farm with his headstrong teenage son in 1906 Oklahoma. One day he finds a severely wounded man and a bag full of cash in the brush and reluctantly takes the man in to help him. But soon a posse of lawmen led by Stephen Dorff arrive looking for this man. Henry suspects all is not as it seems and soon a stand off begins that climaxes into a bloody gunfight because Henry has a hidden past! Tim Blake Nelson excels as the scruffy little farmer with a beady eye who has a 'special set of skills' and soon brings them to the fore. There's a dynamic with his son who thinks little of his Dad but will soon change his mind. Good fun, well acted and worth a watch.

Emma Stone proves herself one of the greatest actors of our age in this second feature she has made with director Yorgos Lanthimos after The Favourite (2018). She truly deserved her Oscar for her performance here as Bella Baxter, the rejuvenated creation of somewhat warped anatomist Dr Goodwin (Willem Dafoe), who she calls God. Set in the mid to later 19th century and Dr Goodwin finds a newly dead suicide and implants the brain of her unborn baby into her head and she awakes as Bella. The film follows Bella's journey unhampered by social rules and learning about life and the world, including the pleasure of sex which opens up her emotional maturity and sets her on a path of adventure. There are elements of the Frankenstein story obviously and Lanthimos openly homages it throughout but this is not a horror story but more a steampunk, surrealist, Jules Verne type fantasy that is at times hilariously funny. This world is shown through a mixture of changing colour palettes, comic book imagery and fish eye lenses. Emma Stone is a revelation here fully embracing the sex scenes that are intricate to exploring Bella's innocent vision of the world. Mark Ruffalo costars as the bounder and cad who takes Bella on a journey of discovery, he's a riot in this role. The film is ultimately a story of a woman's ideal journey through life unimpaired by any conventions imposed on her against her better judgement. In short everything in this film is remarkable. It's a real treat.