Film Reviews by GI

A London based crime thriller that is surprisingly well done and entertaining. The trailer, poster and even casting suggest a clichéd rehash of any number of cheap exploitation flicks but this one is rather good. Craig Fairbrass who has made a career of playing hard men and has a somewhat limited acting range has of recent times been giving some performances that have some added spice and varied flavour. Here he plays Eddie, a career criminal just released after a long stretch and looking forward to running his family pub with his younger brother, Sean (George Russo). He's soon in for some unpleasant surprises as Sean is in hock to the Garrett brothers (Robert Glenister & Tomi May) who want their money or the pub. Eddie has resort to his old life to resolve his problems. Fairbrass plays this as a man torn between his old life and the redeemed one he really wants. He desperately wants to reconnect with his daughter (Izuka Hoyle) and make an honest new start but inside is the subdued anger of a violent man ready to burst out. On the face of it this has a vengeance narrative but it ends up being more nuanced and intriguing. It has some brutal violence but overall it's actually quite restrained. The female characters are a little underdone and lack depth but that aside this is a British crime film that is well worth checking out.

Fantastic and gritty police thriller with an absolutely stunning cast led by Sylvester Stallone playing against type. If you think of Stallone in his Rambo/Rocky, pumped up persona then he will surprise you in this cracking film. He plays overweight, partially deaf and kindly town sheriff, Freddie in the small town of Garrison, situated just over the state line from New York City. Most of the town's population are cops from the NYPD who tolerate Freddie as he's low key and doesn't interfere with them. But when Internal Affairs shows up in the guise of Robert De Niro hunting for a missing corrupt cop Freddie is forced to face the reality that his town is a mob funded front for corrupt police officers. This has a great story, some neat action and with support by Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Harvey Keitel, Annabella Sciorra and others this is a film that has a suspense driven plot that is very well written and superbly directed. This is great stuff, if you've missed this one then check it out you won't be disappointed.

One the best prison dramas of all time and with an iconic star in one of his best roles. Paul Newman plays Luke who after an act of drunken vandalism is sentenced to a term on a chain gang. Despite being a decorated former soldier Luke is a loner and a man who refuses to kowtow to the establishment. The strict rules of the prison soon has him earmarked by the 'bosses' as a troublemaker but they are unprepared for Luke's constant challenges to their authority. Set in the 1950s this is a sharp condemnation of an American prison system still in operation in the southern states when the film was made. A brutal regime designed to break a man's will and make him law abiding with punishment as the main aim. As a drama this is unequalled with a wonderful cast that includes George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker and the great Strother Martin as the head of the prison. It's full of famous and iconic scenes including the '50 eggs eating contest' and it boasts the sexiest car washing scene ever committed to film. It's tough story with pinches of religious iconography, it's moving, humorous and tense and definitely one of those films everyone should see; you'll be surprised at just how good it is. A key American film of the 60s.

This is a rather touching and tender romance with some added suspense thrown in. And it's actually quite refreshing to see a story that's about the deep love of two much older people. The story is about Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), both retired and living in a small French town. They have neighbouring apartments and on the surface are two friends. But they have a secret. They have been passionate lovers for years and have kept this from everyone due to Madeleine's family and her controlling husband. But since his death they are now planning to reveal all and live the rest of their lives together. But Madeleine fears the reaction of her two children and then fate deals them a serious blow when she has a major stroke and Nina is determined to be there for her. The two main performances are wonderful with Chevallier stunning as the part paralysed Madeleine and Sukowa revealing an icy determination as Nina determined to be by her side at all costs, at times she looks like she's capable of anything. A quite satisfying and lovely film, which if you like romantic drama will push all the right buttons.

Certainly eerie and atmospheric but rather a dull thriller about a young depressed woman who becomes obsessively convinced she is to die the next day. When she tells her friend she too gets the same feelings and so it goes with the 'thing' becoming contagious. The feeling of imminent death manifests as some disco lights and then everyone becomes more and more morose. I get that this fits well in the era of the Covid pandemic but as a narrative film it's just dull exemplified when the lead character repeatedly plays the same side of a record monotonously over and over (Grr) and I can even buy into the theme that death is always somewhere around the corner for everyone but it's still a difficult film to buy into. It definitely didn't work for me.

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.