Film Reviews by GI

This is one the classic and best of the British cycle of war films made during the 1950s. It's certainly a key film set at the height of the Battle of Britain. Set in 1940 it charts the lives, loves and losses of a Hurricane fighter squadron in the south of England. Yes it's a bit of a flag waver and draws on the slightly mythical vision of care free young men, former public schoolboys, who treat war as a big adventure but equally this is a film that delves a little deeper into the conflict and the difficulties of managing such men. Jack Hawkins plays the Station commander, a tough, no nonsense leader with a big heart and John Gregson, the shy former student, eager to fight but lacking experience. What is especially good here is the faithful recreation of the daily lives of all the staff, from the mess waiter to the women who map the German attacks. Like all these film this has that nostalgic feel of a past time, a time of British class difference, of a masculine dominance (indeed there is the obvious misogyny on show albeit portrayed as a gallant English trait). Overall this is a great film made at the height of the British film industry. It's been painstakingly restored for DVD & BluRay and well worth seeking out if you like a good war film.

An entertaining if straight forward family fantasy action adventure. A more or less remake of Disney's own 1998 animated version of the story but without the songs (although they are referenced in the soundtrack). Set in 4th century China this tells the story of a young woman who steals her father's sword and answers a call to arms against an evil enemy but has to masquerade as a man. Full of brilliantly coloured set piece battles and fights this is good solid fun with everything well managed and staged for family viewing, so despite the swordplay this is a bloodless story and manages to avoid any complicated issues around a young woman in the company of a lot of men who don't realise her gender. The most interesting aspect of the narrative is the parallels between Mulan (Liu Yifel) and a witch helping the bad guys (Gong Li) and their struggles with finding a place in a masculine world. In any event this is well worth a watch with all the family.

Heartfelt, maudlin and occasionally a sweet drama about a man who returns to his roots in an attempt at discovering himself. Henry Golding is Kit, a British Vietnamese born gay man who left his home country aged six when his family escaped at the end of the Vietnam war. There's a thoughtfulness to this film, a tale about reconciliation with something that can't quite be reconciled, there's subtly painful reunions and a touching romance when Kit meets lewis, an American fashion designer and they begin a relationship. Overall I found the film a bit too melancholy and a tad boring but it's a restrained story with a good central performance.

Overstuffed, over long scifi actioner that is so derivative you can spot the rips from other films a mile off, so much so that the film sometimes feels like a series of scenes from other movies stitched together - Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) is the easiest to cite, but you have Starship Troopers (1997) , Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), A Quiet Place (2018) and even The Thing (1982) etc etc. Chris Pratt plays Chris Pratt alias Kit without the tone of comedy that makes him usually good fun in an action role, a former special forces soldier (of course he is!!) who's happy married life, with a young daughter, and as a teacher is shattered with the arrival of soldiers from 30 years in the future who announce that humanity is on the verge of extinction due to an attack by some alien monsters. Recruits are needed from the past and eventually Kit gets sent into the future to fight and it turns out he's a key role to play in the war. There's some time travel conundrums to drive the story forward and whilst there's some entertaining set pieces it all feels so hackneyed. Much of the story is piffle and great big holes can be driven through it, for example with mankind desperate for troops and with a time machine available, albeit with limited capability, the raw recruits receive no training and no information about their foe, this is no doubt so the audience can be suitably in awe of the aliens when they first appear. Believe me you'll be unimpressed. Big budget, loud and overall dull and disappointing I can see why Paramount sold it to Amazon Prime.

Here is a superb dark, mystery thriller from British director Alan Parker. A film that has a twist and turn plot, a great cast and a haunting atmospheric feel to it that draws you in. Controversial too, mainly due to a key sex scene that has an important part in the story but ultimately a brilliantly conceived tale that has a surprise ending. Mickey Rourke, at the height of his star potential, plays Harry Angel, a seedy private eye in 1950s New York. He's hired by a sinister, wealthy businessman (Robert De Niro) to find a former jazz singer who has breached his contactual obligations but went missing after being wounded during the Second World War. The search for this man takes Harry to New Orleans where he has discovered the missing man had connections with two women, the strange Margaret Krusemark (Charlotte Rampling) and the beautiful Epiphany (Lisa Bonet - in her first major film role). The trouble for Harry is that all his key witnesses keep turning up murdered. The film creates a dark, damp and cold atmosphere of New York and New Orleans with key themes of the inherent cultural racism of the times and a supernatural feel in the unravelling of the mystery. This is a bold, creepy and original film that really keeps you watching. If you've never seen this then it's well worth seeking out and even if you have and know what is going on it's worth a revisit.

With two superb central performances from Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Spall this is a low key theatrical chamber piece that follows the complex relationship between the artist L.S. Lowry and his bedridden, cantankerous and neurotic mother. A rather sombre film which lends itself better to a TV viewing it is set in Manchester in 1934 before Lowry has been 'discovered' and paints only to please his mother who is constantly critical and at times downright nasty about his talent. The film is not without its humour and it is of interest in charting the troubled life of Lowry but its the performances that make it worth checking out.

Written by Michael Crichton (the creator of Jurassic Park) and directed by Robert Wise (a director who could turn his hand to any story, any genre) this is a great 70s film, one that has all the hallmarks of science fact - indeed the opening screen info makes out it's based on actual events - but this is actually a very suspenseful and interesting science fiction story. Cleverly made using real, in shot, effects and with a couple of controversial scenes it's a film worthy of rediscovery. A specialist team of four scientists are recruited by the American government to find out why all the residents of a small New Mexico town suddenly died. In a secret state-of-the-art laboratory they race against time to identify the cause, either a micro organism or virus never before seen, and which kills within seconds. With a relatively unknown cast this broke new ground with its depictions of technology (although the computer stuff obviously looks dated today). This is a contemporary film and not set in the future consequently in the early 70s this was a vision of advanced techno. There's an interesting theme over science vs politics and of course viewed today there are clear resonances to the Covid pandemic. Overall though this is a great piece of entertainment, made by a master director and well worth seeking out if you've never seen it.

This is one of the great courtroom dramas and like all good films like this it revolves around twists and turns throughout making it a suspenseful and riveting story. James Stewart (receiving his last Oscar nomination here) plays Paul, a small-town lawyer who'd rather be fishing, who accepts the case of Fred Manion (Ben Gazzara), an Army officer, accused of murdering a local bar owner. Manion doesn't deny the killing but claims he was temporarily insane at the time enraged because the victim had raped his wife, Laura (Lee Remick). The case revolves around whether she is lying and you're never sure who is telling the truth. This film was highly controversial and groundbreaking when initially made due to the detail around sex and the use of words including rape, bitch, sperm, penetration and slut amongst others. Viewed today it's a superb film, and is reputed to be very realistic and has been used in the training of young lawyers. Full of great performances, brilliantly written with a striking depiction of the power of words, with a famous score by Duke Ellington and brilliantly directed by Otto Preminger. If you love a good courtroom story then this is a classic, a masterpiece and a film to seek out.

A quite intense drama that deals with culture and family with Riz Ahmed further cementing his place as an actor (and writer) of note. Here he plays Zed, a British Pakistani rapper on the cusp of international success. Just before starting a world tour he returns to London to visit his family whom he hasn't seen for two years. There he has to reengage with his traditional and patriarchal father ((Alyy Khan) and he discovers many of his old friends consider he has 'sold out' to achieve success. But tragedy strikes when Zed is struck down by an incurable autoimmune disease. There's a complexity to this film and it can be read as a narrative about always moving forward and not going back but there are complicated themes included concerning the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan in dreams and hallucinations Zed experiences. To that end the film has a certain impenetrability that makes it, at times, an unsatisfactory film. Ahmed's performance is excellent (his rapping is good) but ultimately a film about culture that is a bit of an empty experience.

This is a very likeable British comedy drama that tells the story of the slightly wacky and bizarre Women's Liberation demonstration at the 1970 Miss World competition. The film has a charm because it plays out neatly balanced between the serious messages and the daftness of the whole thing. Keira Knightly plays Sally, a divorced single mother who has faced the in-depth misogyny in British life in trying to get a place in university. She becomes drawn to Jo (Jessie Buckley), a slightly fanatical feminist and her newly formed Women's Lib' group. Aided by Sally's more balanced approach they design posters and with the announcement of the forthcoming Miss World competition they decide on a demonstration. The odious organiser Eric Morley (Rhys Ifans) has managed to secure Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear) as the presenter but when he publicly ridicules the accusations of sexism Sally and her mates decide on a more radical attack. The film obviously attacks the ludicrous objectification of women's bodies in this 'cattle market' style event but it also, rightly and perfectly, reveals how the beauty competition did much for women of colour in other nations such as South Africa and this is exemplified especially by Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Miss Grenada, who maintains a dignity and moral seriousness in taking part. It also reveals the iconic Bob Hope to be a rather self centred, promiscuous git. This film is not a feminist rant, it alludes to the abuse that was a part of the beauty pageant world and shows the pioneering protest to open the debates on sexism. In that's sense this is a film that works very well indeed. Great support cast too including Keeley Hawes and Lesley Manville. A very enjoyable and well told film.

A ridiculous film, full of cliché, wooden and unconvincing fight sequences and a story that bounces fruitlessly all over the place. Jessica Chastain plays the title character, a professional assassin working for a shadowy government outfit. She's classy and beautiful (aren't we a bit tired of this??) but is a recovering alcoholic and tends to want to have meaningful chats with her victims just before doing them in. Fatherly boss John Malkovich is patient because he's fond of her but top boss Colin Farrell has had enough and sets her up to fall. That of course all goes wrong and whilst Ava rides the vengeance trail she also has to deal with her estranged mother (Geena Davis) and her ex (Common) who is now shacked up with her sister. Need I go on? A shambles. Poorly executed, boring and lacks any excitement.

French cop drama that attempts to be more than a standard police procedural and delves into the social, moral and legal issues of policing in the projects of Paris where multi racial communities struggle with the authorities, self declared leaders and youth crime. The story centres around a three man police team the Special Crime Unit and follows the first day of new arrival Ruiz (Damien Bonnard). He is less than impressed with the casual corruption, bullying and abuse of authority his new colleagues employ in the cause of gaining respect. When the arrest of a young teenager goes awry they try to cover up their mistakes and have to face the consequences. The trouble here is that the film glides over the surface of the issues but never gets to grips with them. There is no redeeming qualities in any of the characters here from the police, parents, religious leaders and local people, all are shown as contemptuous. This makes for a cold film that is, by the end, unfulfilling.

Everyone has those silly guilty secret films that they love. This is one of mine, a film once voted as a bad film everyone loves. It's actually fantastic fun, gloriously entertaining and makes you think back to those films you saw as child and made you fall in love with films. This one is actually quite well made, has a top cast and it's use of CGI and animatronics is rather well done. It has all the clichés of the 'creature feature' but that's what makes it so great, the characters obviously there to be eaten, the bad guy willing to sacrifice everyone else and the heroes who save the day. Films about manhunting animals are nothing new from sharks to crocodiles and everything in between. In this story a National Geographic film crew head up the Amazon to find a lost tribe. On the way they help an apparently stranded man who turns out to be a snake hunter searching for a legendary giant anaconda and he's prepared to use the film crew as bait. Jennifer Lopez heads the cast alongside Ice Cube, Eric Stolz (very underused here - he stays in bed most of the film) and Owen Wilson as the film crew and Jon Voight as the nasty baddie. There's plenty of shocks and gore thrown in and a climactic battle with the snake. A film to just sit back and laugh, jump and enjoy, nothing to think about but having a good time.

A strange, beguiling and yet fascinating film set in a country similar to Columbia or Bolivia where on a remote mountainside a group of teenage soldiers undergo training for a shadowy organisation. Ostensibly they are there to guard an American hostage (Julianne Nicholson) but indulge themselves in horseplay and sexual experimentation. Eventually circumstances drive them in to the jungle where their team spirit becomes eroded and violence ensues. There is a clear Lord Of The Flies narrative at play here and a thematic message about child soldiers. This has received plaudits but I found the film difficult to penetrate satisfactorily mainly because much is left unexplained. This might appeal to many but I found it just too enigmatic to be enjoyable. Interesting and intriguing so worth checking out.

This remains a thoroughly entertaining and still very original horror comedy that, when initially released, was so innovative in it's story but specifically for it's special effects created by Rick Baker and it caused a new Oscar award to be created for make-up and effects. It is now a cult favourite and is still great fun and if you've never seen this don't be put off by the quirky title, that's deliberate, because this is a film that defies your expectations and will have you laughing one minute and gasping with shock in the next. Two American students David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are on a walking holiday in the north of England. Stopping at a local pub they are made to feel unwelcome by the locals and head off across the moors where they are attacked. Jack is killed and David is badly hurt. Recuperating in hospital David is told they were set upon by an escaped lunatic but plagued by strange nightmares and getting 'visits' from Jack he begins to doubt his sanity. His nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter) decides to help him. Director John Landis cleverly utilised pagan legends, cinematic monster myths and mixed them up with some really funny comedy to make a film that set a new standard and this film has been much imitated since. This is one of the key films of the '80s and even if you don't lean towards horror films you should check this one out because it's very different. A modern classic in fact.