Film Reviews by GI

Having been a bit bruised by the response to Prometheus (2012) director Ridley Scott focused this sequel on the horror roots of the first Alien (1979). The iconic creature returns in a new form and we have a sort of new 'Ripley' type character in Daniels (Katherine Waterston) but Scott has still kept to his vision of joining the story to the 1979 film albeit we must wait for the final instalment which hopefully will be made. For now the story has moved ten years since the conclusion of Prometheus and follows The Covenant, a huge spacecraft carrying two thousand people in hyper sleep to a new life on a distant planet. Events go awry and the crew are awakened to discover a nearby planet from which a human voice message is being received. On investigating they discover the android, David (Michael Fassbender) who alone has survived, having crash landed there, from the Prometheus mission. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting crewmen David has his own sinister agenda. The significant link here is the malevolence of the android which links neatly with Alien where the android Ash turned out to be in the service of the notorious 'company'. This is an exciting, gory, at times quite scary scifi horror film that has an intricate plot and wonderful visuals that are Scott's trademark. It's a film worthy of re-evaluation if you weren't convinced before and hopefully we will eventually get a concluding part to this story. In the meantime if you like the Alien franchise this is a fine addition and worth checking out.

This has its fans but I find it a silly film that takes the franchise nowhere and it seems to me its a film made to cash in. Even Sigourney Weaver only eventually agreed because of the huge amount of money she was paid. The conclusion of Alien3 (1992) effectively closed the 'Ripley' trilogy neatly and conclusively, this pointlessly reopens it. As a science fiction film this has some interesting moments and the visuals are impressive at times especially the spacecraft docking sequences. But ultimately this is yet another story of humans trying to escape through a labyrinthine huge spaceship chased by the iconic aliens. In the hands of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet the film has a EuroTrash feel with some attempts at gory comedy. So here we have a story set 200 years after the events of the previous film and Ellen Ripley has been cloned by a dodgy US Military team in order to harvest an alien that is gestating inside her. Ripley grows into a sort of hybrid super powered person and whilst Weaver clearly has fun with the part it just doesn't seem like the Ripley we know who was at all times vulnerable yet had resolve. The cast are good with Winona Ryder as an android and Ron Perlman as a tough guy. But it's the conclusion that really irks, the introduction of a creature that is so daft you end up laughing when you're meant to be appalled. Well I was appalled because the film ends up as a giant joke which may have been the intention of course. Either way I think this addition spoils what was the original intention and, for me, its best ignored in the Alien franchise.

Massively underrated yet a significant science fiction film, beautifully filmed and with a very intriguing, clever and intricate story. It is obviously a prequel to Alien (1979) but not a direct one and I'm guessing that die hard fans of the Alien franchise expected another chase film through dark corridors by the iconic monster and were disappointed when they got a film that attempts to delve into more involved themes. This is set 30 years before the events of Alien and the discovery on Earth of ancient cave paintings leads scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) to believe that an alien race somehow 'engineered' humanity into existence. Funded by the hugely rich and powerful Weyland-Yutani company a space mission sets off to find this race of 'engineers'. They find something much more sinister and frightening. Like many great scifi movies the film thematically attempts to deal with the origins of mankind, it's an attempt at working into the world of the Alien franchise some sense of meaning and complexity. For me it's flawed yet quite a wonderful film with so many clever twists and turns that it warrants repeated viewings. A central issue here is the role of the android David (Michael Fassbender) and his position in the hierarchy that includes the coldly domineering Vickers (Charlize Theron) and the very old, malevolent Weyland (Guy Pearce). Director Ridley Scott always wanted to look at an origin story for the Alien universe and he has really opened up the franchise to the extent that the original film and its two sequels gain a different sense of meaning. I urge anyone who was disappointed before to give this another go. It has some superb visual scenes and it's epic in structure but overall its a film that actually fits rather well into the story you know so well from the earlier films.

A clumsy, laborious and pointless sequel to Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016) and director M. Night Shyamalan's attempt to create an original superhero world. The film starts reasonably well but it soon fizzles out into an anticlimactic mess. Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn, the main character from Unbreakable (actually an interesting gem in Shyamalan's canon), who was the only survivor of a train crash and has super strength and is able to read people's mind after one touch, he now roams the streets in a dirty raincoat as some sort of street avenger and is on the hunt for Kevin Crumb (James McAvoy), a schizophrenic psycho who kidnaps and murders young girls when he manifests as 'The Beast' (a sort of poor mans Wolverine). They get themselves caught and sent to a psychiatric hospital where sinister doctor, Ellie (Sarah Paulson) has some devilish plan for them but doesn't count on the dastardly Elijah Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) who has one of his own. McAvoy is clearly having a ball playing about twenty characters (I lost count) and obviously relished his time in the gym preparing for the role(s) but this attempt at a high gloss interpretation of the superhero genre is a damp squib. Watch the two earlier films as they are fun and weird but this one is a step too far.

This is actually a rather effective finale in a trilogy that tells the story of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her relationship with the iconic alien creature. To appreciate this film requires two key things, first that the 2003 'Special Edition' is the version viewed and that the silly Alien Resurrection (1997), which followed it, is ignored (it took the franchise nowhere). This is despite the controversies surrounding Alien3 not least that the director, David Fincher, has more or less disowned it due to studio interference (the 2003 version is closest to his vision of the film and it's vastly superior to the theatrical release version). The story picks up almost immediately from the conclusion of Aliens (1986) and Ripley crash lands on a desolate planet formerly a huge industrial lead refinery and now a maximum security prison housing an all male set of rapists and murderers. Unfortunately an alien is also loose and with no weapons and the notorious 'company' somehow involved Ripley has to find a way to destroy this new threat and survive. Aliens was always going to be a difficult act to follow and returning to a story where there's just one alien to contend with after an army of them in the previous film was potentially an anticlimax. But we now have Ridley Scott's prequels to consider (both also worthy of reconsideration) and Alien3 fits quite neatly into the full story of the history of the creature. This is especially relevant in regards to how the creature takes on an appearance dependant on it's environment and helps create a more interesting evolutionary story. Alien3 is in itself a tense, bloody chase story, full of menace and threat and with a superb cast (most of whom are British - Pete Postlethwaite, Phil Davis, Brian Glover, Paul McGann, Ralph Brown) and continues with a bleak, uninspiring vision of a future that despite advanced technology holds little for humanity, encapsulated in the 'company', here given a name for the first time, which is prepared to, literally, risk the future of humanity itself in the pursuit of profit. A film that is worthy of re-evaluation and to round off the 'Ripley' story. I certainly recommend it if you haven't seen it and to try again if you found it unrewarding before.

A fantastic, exciting and gutsy sequel to the 1979 science fiction classic and it cleverly takes the story in a completely different direction and sets itself as a combat film over a basic horror narrative. It also focuses on the central character of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) giving her more complexity and depth. After drifting in space for 57 years Ripley, the sole survivor from the first film, is rescued but finds the 'company' deny any culpability in the deaths of her crew mates. She is forced to return to the planet where the derelict alien craft was located because communications with the new colonists there has stopped. Ripley accompanies a team of tough marines who have no idea what dangers the plant holds. Plenty of action, tension, scares and a gripping plot make this a film that is the equal of the original and arguably it's one of director James Camerons best films. Considering the franchise that followed this introduces the theme of motherhood into the main character but ultimately this is science fiction action cinema at its very best. It's a visual treat with a dreary, industrial vision of the future including vehicles and advanced weaponry. There's a brilliantly haunting score and a first rate cast including Michael Biehn and the late, great Bill Paxton. A top film that never fails to entertain, and one to most definitely see if you enjoyed the 1979 original. The version to check out is the 1991 'Special Edition' which replaced scenes removed from the theatrical release but which enhance the story and action.

An adaptation of Jane Austen's eighteenth century comedy of manners. It's a lovely looking film, shot in delightful buttery hues and the sense of privilege of the characters in the period is wonderfully captured. Overall this latest version doesn't offer anything much that's new and it's a pretty faithful retelling of this story (the director seems to like showing buttocks which are surprisingly on offer at various times). Anya Taylor-Joy plays Emma as the bored rich girl who delights in match-making but who makes a right royal cock up when she tries to sort her friend, the low-born and gawky Harriet (Mia Goth), out with the local Reverend (Josh O'Connor). It all goes horribly wrong and affects her own suppressed love for the handsome Mr Knightley (Johnny Flynn). The first third of the film is a little confusingly told but overall there's nothing wrong here especially if you like period dramas such as this. The cast are good and include the brilliant Bill Nighy as the father and Miranda Hart as the boring Miss Bates who Emma cruelly insults.

A fun filled family fantasy movie reminiscent of those wonderful matinees from years ago such as The Lost World (1960) and Jason & The Argonauts (1963), and in similar vein to Zombieland (2009), with a tongue-in-cheek adventure story full of those scary thrills that appeals to the young and the young at heart. The story here is that the multiple missiles fired to destroy an approaching asteroid resulted in radiation fallout contaminating the world and causing insects, amphibians etc to mutate into giant monsters. Survivors have fled to various ramshackle bunkers and seven years after the event hapless Joel (Dylan O'Brien) yearns to see his former girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick) who is 85 hazardous miles away. With hopeless survival skills Joel heads off to find her. The film is funny and has a central hero who shrugs his way through the dangers barely making it each time when he is pursued by various creatures all of which are superbly constructed with CGI. O'Brien plays the part of a lovesick fool just right mixing accidental heroics with utter hopelessness. There's a cute dog thrown in just to make it all the more appealing. Like with most apocalyptic narratives it turns out its the humans who are the most dangerous. Michael Rooker has a cameo in this entertaining little film that's just right for family viewing.

A film that defies expectations and turns out to be a rather intriguing thriller which tips into a bit of horror and a bit of science fiction. It's certainly quite entertaining and I found it quite a pleasant surprise. Its a story centred around seven year old Chloe (Lexy Kolker) who lives in a rundown house with her father (Emile Hirsch). He's over-protective and paranoid and keeps Chloe confined to the house (she's never been outside) and tells her that people are out to kill them. But Chloe, plagued by nightmares and hallucinations, is enticed out by the ice cream man (Bruce Dern) who tells her about her mother, who Chloe had been told was dead. She soon realises her dad has been hiding many truths from her. In order to avoid plot spoilers I'll go no further other than to say that there's a clever story here which, once the general idea is revealed, opens the film to some interesting action set pieces. This is a little different and well worth checking out.

A masterpiece and a game-changer. A science fiction film that's influence cannot be underestimated, indeed it's style, editing and ideas have been much copied since. When this arrived it was an unbelievable experience, not only because of its, now infamous, scenes but also because of its look, its vision of future technology and the sheer tension and excitement and it went onto spawn a hugely popular franchise with mixed results. But as a key science fiction film this remains a benchmark in the genre. In the far distance future a commercial tug spacecraft, the Nostromo, with it's seven crew in hypersleep, are en route back to Earth. The ship's computer picks up an unknown signal and awakens the crew to investigate. On a small, desolate planet they find an abandoned alien ship but one of the crew is attacked by a strange creature that attaches itself to his face and by bringing it aboard the Nostromo they unleash something very terrible indeed. With it's imagery and themes of primeval awakenings, deviant sexual assault and unique designs by the concept artist H.R. Giger this is a film that deserves close and careful viewing. There's a host of things going on here that are complex and very interesting. There's plenty of shocks including a now very famous and bloody scene and plenty of unexpected twists. The small cast are all exceptional: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver (in her first major role), John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Ian Holm. Director Ridley Scott is responsible for two of the most influential scifi films ever made this being the first. It's a must see film, and I recommend having a look at the Directors Cut which adds some interesting character scenes, a significant extra scene which links it neatly to the sequel Aliens (1986) and trims some other scenes to make them more impactive. A modern masterpiece, if you've never seen it then it's worth your time believe me.

A key British film of the 1960s and one that really evokes London from that era and of course a film that cemented Michael Caine as a major star. Highly risqué at the time mainly due to the then taboo subject of abortion which is a significant issue of the narrative. Interestingly the misogyny of the main character was less an issue then as it is when the film is watched today and despite the comic veneer this is a serious and at times disturbing film. But it's a film that's a British masterpiece and one I highly recommend if you've never seen it. Caine plays the title character, a jack-the-lad cockney, who's chief goal in life is to bed as many women as he can. He casually views women as objects to be used and cast aside at whim often referring to them as 'it'. But Alfie's attitudes and lifestyle are thrown into chaos by events he tries to treat as lightly as everything else and leaves him destined to a life of loneliness. In the end this is a tragedy, a stark warning of toxic masculinity and selfishness. Caine is superb here in a challenging and controversial role aided by a brilliant support cast of Shelley Winters, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Denholm Elliott, Vivien Merchant and Millicent Martin. The famous song that accompanies the end titles has two versions, when originally released it was sung by Cher and later replaced by Cilla Black who had a huge hit in the UK with it. A film that has a unique style, Alfie sporadically addresses the viewer in what is often referred to as 'breaking the fourth wall', in what ultimately this is a social drama that confronts some delicate and complex issues. A film to definitely check out.

A by-the-numbers action thriller with a formulaic plot, loads of shooting and a reasonable cast. Other than that it's all a bit routine and whilst entertaining will be quickly forgotten. Adapted from a Tom Clancy novel it fits into the Jack Ryan world and characters with names of Greer and Ritter will be familiar to anyone who either loves Clancy's books or the Harrison Ford starring Ryan films. The central character John Kelly alias Clark (Michael B. Jordan) has appeared in the Jack Ryan films too, most memorably played by Willem Dafoe in Clear And Present Danger (1994). This new film is his origin story. He's a Navy Seal who is part of a CIA op' in Syria to rescue a captured agent. When the team are back in the US some of them are murdered including Kelly's beloved wife and he goes on a revenge mission all because of some conspiracy involving Russians. Jamie Bell, Guy Pearce and Jodie Turner-Smith support in what is a shoot em up. Ok but could have been better.

John Wayne's epic historical adventure, a passion project for him and the first of only two films he directed in his long career. It's an exciting, grand war epic depicting the 1836 battle of a small Texan mission held by a ragtag bunch of militia and volunteers against the massive Mexican Army who were delayed for fifteen days from their invasion. The battle holds mythical status in the US and Wayne saw it as the pinnacle of the American Dream reflecting his political ideals. That aside it's a highly entertaining film and once the main battle commences it's a cinematic treat. There are some misfires not least in the first third when Wayne adds a big dose of humorous western tropes with saloon fights and drunkenness (he even slips a very small cattle drive in there!), no doubt the effect of years of working with John Ford. The film is also littered with profound, political and macho speeches which spoil the films flow and a pointless, albeit mild, romantic interlude with Linda Cristal. A more experienced director might have trimmed these areas to concentrate on the main battle. Overall though this is a fine film enhanced by three stunning lead performances from Wayne as Davy Crockett, the former Tennessee congressman who fought and died in the battle, Richard Widmark as legendary Jim Bowie and especially Laurence Harvey as the martinet commander of the Alamo, Travis. He was woefully ignored for an Academy nomination which he deserved. There's the usual great support cast of character actors who had long worked with Wayne in his films. As a big war epic this is a film that is worth checking out, it's a rousing and at times very moving film and the battle scenes are wonderful. To top it all it has a very famous score by Dimitri Tiomkin including 'The Green Leaves of Summer'.

The classic romantic adventure film with two of Hollywood's biggest stars whose onscreen chemistry is so magical and forms the centre of the film. It's essentially a journey of peril narrative set in Africa in 1914 just after the start of the First World War when the sister of a missionary, the very devout Rose (Katherine Hepburn) is left alone when her brother dies and is faced with the Germans interring all foreign nationals. She is offered a chance of escape by gin swilling Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) on his grimy tramp steamer 'The African Queen'. But the journey up river is a hazardous one and the continuous danger from the river and trying to avoid detection eventually pushes Rose and Charlie together. This is a marvellous film, shot in glorious technicolour and on location. Bogart and Hepburn are flawless here (Bogart won his only Oscar for his performance) and John Huston's direction is spot on. This is one of those films that makes you fall in love with cinema. It's exciting, touching and has a great climactic confrontation with a German gunboat. If you've never seen this it's a must see and recently released in a new restored BluRay & DVD. A masterpiece.

A rather unsentimental comedy about three disabled guys trying to lose their virginity. This is essentially a road movie where the three, Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer), a paraplegic since birth, Matt (Hayden Szeto), paralysed after an operation and sight impaired Mo (Ravi Patel) head to Canada where they have discovered that a brothel catering for the disabled is located. Chased by their worried parents but helped by their no nonsense driver, Sam (Gabourey Sidibe), there are funny moments, the odd silly one and a narrative arc where the three bond and come to terms with their lives. Where the film excels is in the scenes that reveal the daily humiliations the three suffer and the attitudes of naivety and downright unpleasantness from abled bodied persons who have dealings with the three which hit the mark in showcasing the trials and tribulations of disabled persons. Overall this is a briskly told story, based on a true story and a remake of a Belgian film Hasta La Vista (2011). Entertaining and funny as far as it goes although a tad predictable.