Film Reviews by GI

Adapted from the celebrated American novel and directed by Greta Gerwig this is a fresh, warm, funny and really heartfelt period drama that succeeds on every level. The direction and editing is clever and the film is beautiful to watch. The all star cast are all exceptional and it's difficult to find anything to fault with this film. Gerwig's adaptation really works and she plays around with linking the fictional story with the life of the author, Louisa May Alcott, which makes it intricate, involving and thoroughly enjoyable. Set in Massachusetts in the latter half of the nineteenth century it follows the trials and tribulations of four sisters told through the eyes of Jo (Saoirse Ronan), a feisty young woman who wants to make a life for herself and shuns the social expectations of marriage. The family, with their father (Bob Odenkirk) away at war and mother (Laura Dern) trying to hold everything together in relative poverty, consists of Meg (Emma Watson), the thoughtful one, the pugnacious Amy (Florence Pugh) and the quiet one Beth (Eliza Scanlen). Their story involves romance, feuds with one another and trying to find their place in the world. It's in their ultimate love and bonding with each other that lies the centre of the story that does have some sadness and tragedy. And what a delight it is, you get drawn into this without even trying and possibly despite yourself if this isn't your normal thing. When you add Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper in supporting roles you have a rather lovely and very special film and one that is well suited to Christmas too. Highly recommended.

Along with It's A Wonderful Life (1946) Miracle on 34th Street is the Christmas film that should be watched every year. It remains a constant delight, a comedy with real heart and enchantment that captures the magic of the holiday and its attack on the commercialism of Christmas resonates today. Winning an Oscar for his performance Edmund Gwenn plays a kindly old man who calls himself Kris Kringle who gets hired by Doris (Maureen O'Hara), a manager at a big Manhattan Department Store, to be their Santa Claus. He's marvellously good with the children but when he begins declaring he is the real Santa he finds himself facing an insanity hearing. It's up to Doris' lawyer boyfriend (John Payne) to prove that Kris really is Santa. The story is just lovely and it attempts to recall the imagination and innocence of childhood for adults not only in the film but for viewers too. This is exemplified in the character of Susan, Doris' daughter, who has been schooled by her mother not to believe in fantasy, played by Natalie Wood, who is an utter delight in the film. This is a Christmas classic, a story about keeping hold of your dreams and imagination however old you get. It's one to seek out for family viewing and it will leave a warm feeling for everyone. (a 1994 remake isn't bad either but this, the first version, is the one to see)

A powerful British social-realist drama with tragedy and sadness at its heart. This is an impressive first film from director Fyzal Boulifa and has two excellent central performances from Roxanne Scrimshaw and Nichola Burley in the title roles. Set on a tough Essex housing estate Lynn is a housewife, who had a child at sixteen (now a young teenager), but is happy with her life mainly because her childhood bestie, Lucy, lives opposite her. Lucy is more mercurial but has recently settled down with her boyfriend and had a baby. This, in Lynn's mind, bonds them ever closer. But all is not right in Lucy's world, and the narrative hints at post natal depression and a deep dissatisfaction with her life. When a tragic event happens Lynn's security and place in the world is threatened. This is a story about community and friendship, and especially looks at where these are hollow and easily fractured. There's the strong influence of Ken Loach here and the film doesn't hold back on hinting at horrific events that affect the pillars of life these characters believe are necessary namely work, relationships, motherhood and friendship and where Lynn and Lucy believe happiness is to be found but this story shows how these can come crashing down resulting in choices that can destroy lives. With its hints at repressed sexual desire, the overriding need to feel wanted and accepted and ultimately betrayal this is a first class British 'kitchen sink' drama that is well worth checking out.

Director Danny Boyle's enthralling film starts as a caper movie but soon moves into a mystery crime thriller that blurs the realms of fantasy and reality to create a really interesting story. During the heist of an auction house a priceless Goya painting goes missing. The gang, led by Frank (Vincent Cassel) believe their inside man Simon (James McAvoy) has double crossed them and taken it for himself. But he claims that being struck on the head during the robbery has left him with amnesia and he doesn't remember anything. So Frank sends him to renowned hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) in the hope she can release his suppressed memories. Only Elizabeth sees an opportunity to play a dangerous game of her own. This is one of those films where you never can really tell who is telling the truth and because of the hypnosis plot also what is real or in the mind of the various characters. It's a brilliantly constructed film and even after watching it and seeing the various plot lines get unravelled you still want to watch again. It's quite gripping and very gritty in places with some sudden shocks. The sea change in the various characters is well written as the weak turn out strong and vice-versa. I admire Boyle's ease at attempting a variety of genres and with this Hitchcockian themed thriller he succeeds. yes it's all far fetched in regards the power of hypnosis on which the entire plot rests but that can be put aside because this is a damn good story.

Basically a romcom with two outstanding central performances and a clever parody of the media representation of women in the public eye. Charlize Theron is Charlotte Field, a US senator with her sights on the presidency. By chance she bumps into Fred (Seth Rogen), an idealistic, liberal minded journalist and who, when she was a teenager she used to babysit years before. She hires him to help write her speeches and his old schoolboy crush on her returns and soon romance is kindled. But her political ambition and position and his moral honesty threatens their new relationship and her career. There's plenty of great laughs here and at least one very gross out comedy moment but it all seems to work even though they seem the most unlikely of couples. The support cast are also good and include Bob Odenkirk as the outgoing president, an unrecognisable Andy Serkis as an odious media mogul and Alexander Skarsgård as the Canadian prime minister, a small role but he makes it really memorable. An entertaining comedy that is well worth trying.

If you are a big fan of the original you shouldn't be disappointed with this sequel because director Danny Boyle has brought an energetic and at times extraordinary ode to male middle age disillusion, the past, regret and redemption into the story of the four surviving friends twenty years after the events of the first film. There's an overall melancholy to the film and whilst it retains black humour and sadly sidelines the key female characters it's pays off in spades. Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) feels drawn to return to Edinburgh after twenty years and reunites with Spud (Ewan Bremner), still addicted to heroin, and Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), aka Sick Boy, who is earning a living blackmailing men after filming them bonking his girlfriend. Tensions and emotions run high as Simon harbours anger over Renton stealing his money years before but it's the sudden return of the psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle), intent on violent revenge, that will decide their future. There's a frantic, lyrical and weirdly moving story here considering the characters are all totally extreme and manic and ultimately it's a pessimistic film about wasted life and empty futures but it is still damn good. Support cast are excellent including Kelly Macdonald as Diane, Shirley Henderson and James Cosmo as Renton's Dad. The use of scenes from the first film interwoven in the narrative work wonderfully to highlight the theme of nostalgia and I loved the Blade Runner (1982) homage. If you weren't sure the first time you watched this then give it another try it's worth it.

A return of director David Fincher after six years and clearly a passion piece for him not least as the screenplay is written by his father. This is a film celebrating the Golden Age of Hollywood whilst also revealing it's sordid corruptions at the same time. Gary Oldman, in what is surely to be an award contending performance , is genius screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, who in 1942 is hired by Orson Welles (Tom Burke in a spot on cameo) to write a new screenplay that will revolutionise film making. The trouble is Mank is a serious alcoholic and recently broken a leg in a car accident. So he's installed in a remote ranch house in the desert to complete the script for the film eventually to become Citizen Kane, banned from drinking by Welles, he manages to get it smuggled in all the same. The film charts not only Mank's battles with Welles and the booze but also in flashbacks looks at his relationship with movie mogul Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) and the money behind him, media giant William Hearst (Charles Dance) on whom Mank based his screenplay. Shot in nostalgic soft toned black and white and following the style of Citizen Kane itself it's certainly a beautiful film to look at and the performances are all exceptional especially Dance, as the sinister Hearst, and Tuppence Middleton as Mank's long suffering wife, Sara. As a film about Hollywood it's very interesting but you really have to have some idea about the tortured journey of Citizen Kane to the screen and about the various characters the film includes, like Irving Thalberg (Ferdinand Kingsley) for example. At times I felt the film dragging occasionally but overall this is clever, interesting and very well made but perhaps not for everyone.

A dark journey through the squalor of drug addiction told through a brutally and shocking black comedy and one of the best British films of the post modern age. The film follows five Edinburgh based friends, three of whom are committed heroin users, one a violent sociopathic criminal and the fifth a clean living fitness freak who acts as the groups conscience although his fall is inevitable. Ewan McGregor, in arguably his best role, is Renton who narrates his journey through heroin addiction, underage sex, habitual theft, HIV and the disloyalty that accompanies drug misuse. There are scenes of overdose, cold turkey and some very realistic violence mainly committed by the psychopathic Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Brilliantly written for the screen by John Hodge based on Irvine Welsh's novel (who cameos in the film too) and superbly directed by Danny Boyle, this is by far his best film and it deserves multiple viewings to appreciate the subtleties in the film's themes and construction. Yes it's clearly a sharp and obvious condemnation of the grimy sub culture of drug addiction with surreal elements that highlight the collapse of reason and responsibility all told in some highly memorable film making. This is a remarkable achievement and it's a film that has a cult status and a relevance that, sadly, continues on. It's an important film and certainly needs to be seen if you've somehow missed it so far. This is a powerful film, and will make you cringe, wince, laugh and shudder but it's also a masterpiece.

Marketed in the UK as 'Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula' this is not really a sequel to the 2016 film in any real sense. None of the characters from the earlier film are present and sadly this lacks the social commentary aspects that the first film cleverly incorporated into its narrative. This latest film is an action packed zombie film that just happens to set itself in the same Korean zombie outbreak albeit four years after the events of the first film. Essentially the Korean Peninsula has been sealed off and no-one is allowed in. A Hong Kong gangster recruits four people who managed to escape at the start of the zombie apocalypse to go back in and retrieve a lorry full of cash. One of them, an ex soldier, goes as he has a guilt complex about abandoning people before but he finds survivors including a young woman and her children and a gang of rogue soldiers. This sets the story up to a great big shooting match, some fast car chases and there is a great deal of Mad Max and Escape From New York about the whole thing. But it doesn't amount to much I'm afraid, it's clichéd and a bit tired and doesn't deserve to be linked with the fantastically good first film.

This is a fantastic war film shot in black and white to give it the authenticity that really works but cost it at the box office where technicolor was the more popular with cinema goers. A shame because this is a highly entertaining action film with a clever plot, superb editing and direction and has some great set piece scenes including train crashes and air attacks. Burt Lancaster plays Labiche, a Parisian railway manager who is also the leader of the local resistance group. It's 1944 and the allied armies are near to liberating the city. German Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) plunders the priceless artworks and intends to send them by train to Germany. Labiche is ordered to prevent this happening albeit he only does so reluctantly as he doesn't see the importance over saving people. Here is based the central theme of the film, whether art, however rare and priceless, warrants the loss of life. Director John Frankenheimer is content to make an exciting war adventure film with something to say over becoming too bogged down with a morality play and the result is a first class film that deserves discovery by todays film fans. Shot entirely on location in France and using mostly local actors it has the look and feel of the period and maintains a tense story throughout as it becomes a battle of wits between Labiche and his adversary to stop the train. A marvellous film and if you like a good war film then seek this out you will not be disappointed.

Boy is this good. An exhilarating thrill ride that doesn't let up and has everything you want from an action/horror film. Don't be put off by it being a South Korean film with subtitles because if you do you're denying yourself some fantastic entertainment. This is basically a zombie film but it's the best one since Shaun of The Dead (2004) and sets a pace that is difficult to rival. It also has the key issues relating to how people act when faced with a dire survival situation that all good horror films should have. So it's in the survivors the main themes are seen but as a film that is set within a quite well worn sub genre it manages to be original and exciting at the same time. A rich businessman and his young daughter are amongst the passengers who board a train to the city of Busan. However outside, unknown to them a leak at a biological research facility has caused people to become rabid beasts attacking anyone on sight. One bite from an infected person is enough to cause the victim to turn. But one of the infected has managed to get aboard the train. These zombies are quite something, none of the shuffling monsters from say a George A. Romero film, these are attracted by sight or sound and charge at you with frightening intensity which increases the tension of the film. But it's in the confines of the train that the narrative plays out with such effect where unaffected people have to find courage or indeed lose it. Overall this is a super little film and keeps you hooked from the outset with some quite impressive and stunning set pieces. I highly recommend this, it's a topnotch genre film that will really make your day.

A fantastic swashbuckler from the classical Hollywood period and starring the big heart throb of the day, Errol Flynn. Set in the Elizabethan age with Spain at loggerheads with England ruled by Elizabeth I, played with gusto by Flora Robson. Flynn plays Captain Geoffrey Thorpe, a privateer who attacks Spanish ships robbing them of their gold and valuables which he secretly gives to the Crown and so he's in the Queen's favour. But the Spaniards consider him a pirate and when he attempts to rob a gold shipment in Panama he is captured and made a galley slave. But he must escape to warn England of the impending Armada Spain is launching against his country. Full of great swordplay, romance with Brenda Marshall as the love interest, this is a film of derring-do, posh accents and the mythical view of English history as seen by Hollywood. It's pure escapism, great fun and one of those magical films of yesteryear that gets little attention these days. It deserves rediscovery by a modern audience. Flynn was great in tights with a sword in his hand and his early films were all of similar stamp such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) indeed similarities between the films abound and under the direction of Michael Curtiz, who was a master action director of his day they make great family viewing.

A compassionate and quite moving social drama about a young boy, Femi (Tai Golding), who is of Nigerian background, growing up in foster care in rural Lincolnshire. His life is idyllic and he has a host of friends, does well at school and has a loving foster mother. But then his mother Yinka (Gbemisola Ikumelo) arrives from London to take him home. Femi is thrust into the alien environment of inner London where he is confused and isolated, beaten by his mother and generally becomes withdrawn. The film then fast forwards to Femi (now Samuel Adewunmi) as a teenager, still feeling adrift in the world where he is torn between the overtures of the local gang leader and the patience and encouragement of his teacher. This is told in a profound and moving style confidently photographed and with an interesting use of sound that highlights Femi's confusion and loneliness. The performances are all powerful and at times the s tory is heart wrenching but it's a clever film highlighting the experience of young people whose potential is constantly exposed to danger.

A fantasy comedy that needs a severe injection of comedy! Inspired by Big (1988), as if the title didn't signpost it enough, and Regina Hall plays Jordan, a cantankerous and bullying boss of a Tech company who treats her staff as servants especially her assistant April (Issa Rae). Then one day a young girl who does magic tricks puts a spell on Jordan and she awakes the next day as a teenager. Her teenage self (Marsai Martin) then has to navigate school etc as an adult in a teenage body with only April there to help her. The comedy is hackneyed, mostly unfunny and at times painful (like when she comes onto her hunky teacher). Probably a neat idea for a film but it just hasn't made it to the screen very well. A shame because the cast try really hard and it has the odd moment of good, solid laughs but overall it's a failure.

A quasi science fiction tale with a hint of horror that never really pushes itself to any satisfactory conclusion. Emily Beecham plays Alice, a geneticist at a research company, she and her team are developing a plant that has a scent designed to increase happiness in people. They nickname the plant Little Joe. But one of the team, the neurotic Bella (Kerry Fox) is convinced that the plant has altered the behaviour of her dog (which bizarrely she is allowed to take to work) and is also subtly affecting people. Alice has given one of the plants to her young son and she begins to believe he has started to exhibit personality changes too. The trouble is that's about it. The build up is good and there's a creepiness to the gradual alteration in the people connected with the plant and in the plant itself as it subtly moves when people are around but the narrative never does anything else. There's some obvious links here to Invasion Of the Bodysnatchers (1956 & 1978) and Village of The Damned (1960) but the film never gets into a stride and the conclusion is a just a massive disappointment. This has promise but it didn't live up to the build up.