Film Reviews by GI

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 Cate Blanchett plays the title character, a formerly renowned architect who has withdrawn from her work and social connections to live in a rundown house with her teenage daughter (Emma Nelson) and tech guru husband (Billy Crudup).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.

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.