Film Reviews by GI

Better entitled Dune Part 1 (that's what you'll see in the opening titles) this is an epic blockbuster of a film and a real achievement from director Denis Villeneuve. Adapted from roughly the first half of the much celebrated novel by Frank Herbert this film is probably best described as Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings for anyone unfamiliar with the complex world in which it is set. Both those series are strong influences here in a science fiction drama set many years in the future where the Universe is governed by an Emperor aided by a number of big Dukedoms. The key to the Universe is a magical spice that allows unlimited space travel and has some mystical qualities. It's only found on the desert planet of Arrakis. The Emperor hands control of Arrakis to the Atriedes family pushing out the brutal Harkonnens, who resent losing their control. Duke Atriedes (Oscar Isaac) suspects political conspiracy in his appointment and his son, Paul (Timothée Chalamet) keeps having strange dreams about the planet and it's people, the oppressed Fremen. Soon the Harkonnens plot their revenge. Here we have a complicated world that involves strange powers, strange creatures, intrigue and various types of peoples. It's intricate, mesmerising and intelligent and the story has plenty of great action. The effects are magnificent and the visuals are powerful especially of the desert world but also the spacecraft and futuristic cities. Superb cast too including Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgård. Don't be put off by the poor 1984 version, this new one is ambitious, faithful to the novel and epic cinema at it's very best. This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen where it can be best appreciated.

If you're a passionate fan of the 1982 original film then this sequel from director Denis Villeneuve will not disappoint. Equally if you love thought provoking science fiction then this is destined to be a classic of the genre. Set 30 years after the end of the first film and the world has suffered a cataclysmic event known as 'the Blackout'. A brilliant but strange scientist, Wallace (Jared Leto) emerged with technology that saved mankind and has been allowed to revive the 'replicant' manufacturing programme although all older models are still hunted down and 'retired' by Blade Runner units. Officer K (Ryan Gosling) on a routine killing of an old replicant discovers a buried box containing a skeleton, the identity of which leads to a potential major crisis for the future of humanity and K must track down Deckard (Harrison Ford) to find the answers. This film creates a wonderful vision of a dystopian future, bleak, weird and dangerous with child slavery, corruption and murder commonplace. In may ways this is a post apocalyptic tale and for fans of the first film there are tantalising links to the original film that reveal clues and interesting ideas as to what is going on. Fantastic special effects and visuals and a great cast that also includes Robin Wright, Ana de Armas and Dave Bautista this is a film to watch carefully because it needs concentration. In many ways it has an arthouse feel and it is certainly an impressive piece of work. Spectacular in my opinion and it will be a cult film.

As music documentaries go this is well worth checking out. The Bee Gees, often remembered only for their contribution to the 'Disco' era via Saturday Night Fever, are actually a much more varied band and have been around since the mid 60s when they had a string of big hits. This is a bittersweet story of sibling discord and rivalry, the perils of fame and regrets as expressed by the only surviving brother Barry. This is a quite sober yet interesting account of the band's ups and downs and has some good contributions from the likes of Eric Clapton, Mark Ronson and Noel Gallagher, who gives some interesting insights into brotherly ego problems. So this is a routine chronological run through of the history of the Bee Gees that reminds you what wonderful songwriters they were. If you love contemporary music then I recommend this even if you might dismiss them as a falsetto voiced disco boys.

Highly detailed and visually spectacular this epic medieval story is typical of Ridley Scott's flair for the big, historical drama. Essentially this is a rape/revenge tale based on real events and has bloody and tough battle scenes, a great realisation of 14th Century France but is ultimately an unsubtle film. The basic story is of two knights Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), friends in the army of their liege lord Pierre (Ben Affleck). But when Jean believes Jacques has cheated him of some precious land they become estranged with le Gris in favour with Pierre to the detriment of de Carrouges. When the latter's wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer) alleges Le Gris has raped her Jean appeals to the King to be allowed trial by combat. This story is told three times from the viewpoint of these three main characters with Marguerite's account left to last and which reveals possibly the truth. These all lead to the titular duel at the film's climax, and it is worth the wait because it's long, bloody and brutal with Marguerite facing being burned alive if her husband loses. There's a few astute observations along the way about class and position that have contemporary resonance and Games Of Thrones fans will delight in some of the more bloody fights and the, perhaps, unnecessary sex scenes. There will be the inevitable criticism over accents but I always forgive this as being irrelevant. Everyone is on top form and Comer especially is very good. This is a film that revels in spectacle and considering some of the subtle themes it's perhaps too blunt but still, for the most part, very entertaining.

Based on real events and actually filmed in Rillington Place in Notting Hill before it was finally demolished this tells the story of one of Britain's most notorious serial killers, John Reginald Christie. Richard Attenborough is appropriately creepy as the unassuming former Special Constable who in the late 1940s and early 1950s raped and murdered a series of women possibly even having sex with the bodies. The film focuses on Christie's relationship with the young Evans family of Timothy (John Hurt), Beryl (Judy Gleeson) and their young baby daughter who lived in the flat above Christie and his wife. As a tale of murder this is shocking and even though the film is restrained in what it shows it still manages to be unnerving. Principally this is also a story of a major miscarriage of justice and a condemnation of capital punishment as Timothy Evans was convicted of crimes later admitted by Christie. The scene of his execution was the first realistic portrayal of this on film as the process of hanging in the UK was kept secret for many years (the film had a former executioner as a technical adviser). This is a thriller, a tale of murder, with a courtroom drama as a central part of the story. It's brilliantly acted and directed utilising real locations capturing London of the period very realistically. A superb British true crime story that is well worth seeking out.

Directed by Michael Mann this superb cyber crime thriller bears all his stylistic flair, his trademark close ups and nightscape visuals so if you loved his earlier films such as Heat (1995) and Collateral (2004) then I guarantee you'll love this too. It's a shame this slipped under the radar on first release and hasn't been as appreciated as Mann's other films because it really is a tense, carefully constructed crime film with a complex plot that travels from the USA to China to Malaysia and Indonesia. It has some gritty action set pieces action that are very realistic and it keeps you hooked throughout. When a Chinese nuclear power plant explodes the Chinese Security forces discover the computers controlling it had been hacked and a similar attempt was made on a US plant too. Parts of the computer code are discovered in the malware that were written by convicted hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) who is serving 15 years. Both the FBI and the Chinese realise that only he can help them and bring him out of jail to try and find who is responsible for the attacks and what the motive behind them is. Hemsworth gets to play the flawed action hero here but in a story that is intelligent and interesting as he uses his computer know how to track down the bad guy. The gunplay is fast and exciting with Mann's stylised realism making the scenes very impressive. Most of all this is another of this director's studies of flawed courage and heroism focused on a criminal. A top class adult thriller that I highly recommend.

This spin off from the little loved Suicide Squad (2016) is a wacky and weirdly watchable addition to the DC Universe, who have cleverly discovered there's more mileage in the villains than the heroes in their world. Margot Robbie is perfect as the pop-eyed, grinning Harley Quinn, a psychopath and former girlfriend of The Joker. This film starts with Harley feeling low having been dumped and she is constantly coming up against people she's done bad things to. When a young street girl steals a valuable diamond from über bad guy Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) Harley joins up with disgraced cop Renee (Rosie Perez), Dinah (June Smollett), a club singer with a unique power and Helena (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a woman on a mission of vengeance and they set out to protect the girl and take the bad guy down. The script with voiceover narration, fourth wall breaches and violent yet funny fights is wonderfully in bad taste, crazy and a joy. This is played for adults and for laughs in the vein of Deadpool (2016) with influence of Kill Bill and Sin City thrown in for good measure. Great fun.

An ultra violent gangster film written, starring and directed by Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano in his only foray outside Japan, a move he later claimed to have regretted. It's a bit unclear as to whether this film was intended as a dark comedy but if not it is certainly laughable in places. The set pieces are somewhat clumsy and if it wasn't for the gratuitous bloodshed then this is a film that only teenagers would probably enjoy or those that play violent computer games. Half the time the film is simple and yet often incomprehensible and so it's best to sit back and just watch it for what it is. Kitano is a sort of Japanese Charles Bronson/Clint Eastwood hybrid and his crime films are usually big, bloody shoot em ups, and this is oe exception. Here he plays Aniki, a Yakuza enforcer forced to flee Japan for Los Angeles where he meets up with his small time drug pusher brother. With Aniki's ruthless, violent experience he soon builds a drug empire killing all rivals un til eventually he has to take on the mafia. This plot cues beheadings, stabbings, excessive gunplay etc etc. If it's your thing great but it's all a bit puerile.

This is a very good, twisty romantic thriller starring Juliette Binoche. It explores the perils and pleasures of life online. She plays fifty something Claire, a depressed and disillusioned college lecturer who has been abandoned by her husband who has run off with a much younger woman. She's been in a sexual relationship with a younger man who has 'unfriended' her on social media and on a whim she creates a false online identity of a 24 year old girl she calls Clara and begins a sexually charged relationship with Alex (François Civil). Claire finds she enjoys being Clara more and more and becomes increasingly excited by her interactions with Alex. But she fails to consider how he is dealing with 'Clara' and his confusion as to why she always finds a reason not to meet. The film looks at the fear of getting older and feeling the loss of being attractive to others. Claire's passion is in being Clara although she dreams of a proper relationship with Alex. Binoche's performance is excellent and she captures her characters increasing contradictions between youth and age, passion and obsession, sadness and madness. A really entertaining and interesting film, well worth checking out.

With its overcooked and unnecessarily complicated plot, pointless scenes and an anticlimactic ending this is a weak film in director Don Siegel's canon. This is his first film shot in Europe adapted by Siegel from an average pot-boiler novel. Michael Caine plays Tarrant, an MI6 agent (a character somewhere between his own Harry Palmer and a boring James Bond), who after attempting to infiltrate a subversive terrorist group finds his young son is kidnapped for ransom. His bosses suspect Tarrant is behind the whole thing and he has to unravel a convoluted conspiracy whilst trying to save his son. Of course there's a traitor in the mix and when it's finally revealed who it is you'll not care. It all adds up to a pointless story, which after awhile you'll begin to lose any interest in. There's a host of contemporary English character actors including Donald Pleasance as the MI6 boss with some weird personality traits, Joss Ackland, Clive Revill and others. John Vernon, a Siegel regular, is the nasty kidnapper who gets shot in the balls for his trouble! A critical and box office flop and I can see why.

A big, loud, bloody science fiction film from Russia. There's some excellent special effects on show here in this story set at an unspecified time in the future. A sudden blackout across the world occurs except for an area in eastern Russia and the baltic states. Expeditions into the blackout area finds only corpses and any deep penetration results the team being lost. Eventually a military operation into the 'zone' is attempted after contact is made with a strange alien who may or may not be a friend to the survivors. Plenty of gutsy action and a quite interesting story makes for a rather entertaining film, it's overly long and suffers a bit from a lack of tighter editing but overall it's a film to try. The influences of Aliens (1986 and including the art of H.R. Giger), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Stephen King's novel The Stand and the zombie genre in general are very obvious. There's themes here of the origins of humanity and man's predilections towards war and violence which are wrapped up in a clever idea. One to try if you're into action scifi.

A gritty action cop thriller with a clash of cultures theme. Directed by Ridley Scott it has all his usual visual flair and attention to detail and is particularly impressive in the cityscape night scenes with the use of reflecting neon (indeed very reminiscent of Blade Runner). This is not however considered one of Scott's better films which is a bit unfair because, whilst it is more in the style of his brother Tony's films, this is a first rate, highly entertaining film with some fantastic set piece action scenes. Michael Douglas, at the height of his box office fame, is New York detective Nick Conklin. He's an uncompromising cop who is under investigation for corruption. He and his partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) witness a Japanese gang hit and manage to arrest the killer, Sato (Yûsaku Matsuda) and are assigned to take him back to Japan where he is wanted by the police. But on their arrival Sato escapes and Nick is suspected of colluding with him and to prove his innocence sets about finding him. Nick soon finds he's up against the very rigid Japanese police' methods. Plenty of gutsy violence and a great story this keeps you hooked throughout and it's one of Douglas' best action films. It pushes the boundaries of credibility at times but this can be forgiven for the impressive structure and look of the film from a gunfight in a metal refinery to a motorcycle chase through a vineyard. A good solid thriller, well worth seeking out if you've never seen it.

An iconic British film, very risqué for its time, and one that still shines today as a high watermark of risk-taking cinema. It has a rich, striking and vivid colour palette and use of sound to create an aura of wonder mixed with suspense and dread. This is a film with a powerful, inherent style and there's a certain majesty to it. Deborah Kerr plays Catholic nun, Sister Clodagh, who is promoted and assigned to set up a mission on a remote Himalayan mountainside in a former palace once used as a harem. She struggles to hold discipline in the hostile environment which seems to affect all of the nuns especially Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron). The presence of Mr Dean (David Farrar), a cynical English agent for the palace's owner, begins to bring out old passions in Clodagh and Ruth who begins to feel jealousy and rage as a consequence. This is a story about corruption of faith and morality, a film about passion and lust with a hint of thriller about it, a psychological drama that has become very influential. It's a sumptuous masterpiece of cinema and one of the finest British films ever made. It's definitely one of those films everyone should see.

A pointless, tired and unfunny new version of Noel Coward's celebrated play. It's not a patch on David Lean's 1945 film. There is overacting, childish farce and no new perspective offered. It makes you wonder why anyone considered it was time for a remake. If you don't know the story it's set in England in 1937 and celebrated thriller writer Charles (Dan Stevens) has writer's block but the germ of an idea for a story means he needs to observe one of the fraudulent mediums who are popular so invites the eccentric Madame Arcati (Judi Dench) to hold a seance at his house. Against the odds she manages to summon Charles' deceased first wife, Elvira (Leslie Mann) from the grave who fully intends to hang around much to the chagrin of his new wife Ruth (Isla Fisher). As comedy ghost stories go all the ingredients are there for a very funny film but this one just isn't it. There is overacting and silliness that is groan inducing even though Judi Dench tries her best with the material. Lean's earlier film is very funny, this one just is dull and daft.

With the ability to watch this afresh having seen the entire 'Dark Knight' trilogy this origin picture of the iconic superhero is actually a clever, intricate action adventure film with some interesting themes behind it. Director Christopher Nolan effectively shifted the superhero genre into a more darker and adult oriented movie experience by returning to the roots of the character as a rage filled avenger whose morality is constantly being questioned. The choice of Christian Bale to play The Batman has been one that has divided audiences but, with the wisdom of hindsight, he does feel exactly right for the role and made the character his own. There is no doubt this first of the trilogy tests younger viewers as Batman doesn't appear until nearly an hour into the film as the story focuses on what drives the young Bruce Wayne to become this character in the first place. It's the murder of his philanthropic billionaire parents that pushes young Bruce, filled with hatred, anger and a desire for vengeance, to leave his luxurious life and disappear. He finds himself taken under the wing of a mentor, the leader of The League of Shadows, an organisation that it claims is there to right wrongs. But disillusioned Bruce eventually leaves the umbrella of the League to create the Batman, designed to instil fear in criminals in his home city of Gotham. But he soon finds that the League have designs of Gotham and the Batman must take them on to prevent the city being destroyed. The action set pieces are fast and creative with the vehicles and gadgets given the veneer of being real so the film feels like it's grounded in the real world rather than being obviously comic book and/or science fiction. The topnotch cast are all on great form and include Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Rutger Hauer, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson and Morgan Freeman. This is essentially the superhero film made for grown ups and it's well worth a revisit if you weren't convinced the first time. It's a very different film for example from the MCU styles films, and of course the trilogy was yet to produce the best of the bunch.