Film Reviews by GI

A somewhat bland psychological drama in which Eva Green plays Sarah who is overjoyed to be selected as one of the three man crew for a spaceflight to Mars as part of the European Space Agency program. The intense training and difficulties with the misogynistic team leader Mike (Matt Dillon) are hard but nothing compared to the unsettling trauma of the separation Sarah has to endure from her young daughter, Stella (Zélie Boulant - remarkable performance and the best thing about the film). It's in their relationship and it's gradual erosion that the drama is focused. The trouble is the film is anticlimactic and it settles for sentimentality and a huge dose of implausibility making it a disappointing affair. Eva Green gives a sound performance and there are times the film is very watchable but it lacks a sense of the dramatic which is tantalisingly hinted at but never forthcoming.

Here is a great wartime Boy's Own adventure film that sits alongside similar films from the same era such as The Great Escape (1963), The Bridge At Remagen (1969) etc. Hugely popular at the box office and they remain brilliantly entertaining today although some, like this one, don't get seen nearly as much as they should. These films shunned any attempt at war realism focusing instead on action, excitement and clichéd characters and with this being a Hollywood blockbuster this has an American star who is cleverer and braver than everyone else. Indeed there is an element of a clash-of-culture theme here with the thorny relationship between the American characters and the British ones. Frank Sinatra plays American Air Force Colonel Ryan who crash lands in Italy in 1943 and is sent to an Italian prisoner of war camp. He soon becomes embroiled in differences of opinion with the emotional British senior officer played by Trevor Howard. When Italy surrenders Ryan leads the whole camp in a bid for freedom by taking over a train and heading for Switzerland all the time hunted by the ruthless Germans. There's plenty of shooting, and some very tense scenes as the prisoners have to trick their way through various checkpoints etc with raincoat wearing Gestapo agents, and shouty SS officers. It's all great fun, it rollicks along at a fantastic pace and if you can suspend your incredulity at the ridiculousness of the whole thing you'll have a great time.

Villain sits as one of the series of London crime films of the 1970s and ranks alongside The Long Good Friday (1980). Richard Burton plays Vic Dakin, an embodiment of the Kray twins, a gay, London gangster who is a violent psychopath but obsessively loves his ageing mother. With his crew he rules by terror and when he plans and executes an armed robbery that doesn't go well Scotland Yard are soon on his tail. Burton seems a strange choice for the part and his performance was criticised as somewhat over the top but viewed today he captures the, perhaps hyped, portrayal of the violent London gangster from the 60s and 70s. At the time this was an especially risqué film with it's language and portrayal of sexual violence including the controlling gay relationship Vic enjoys with his young protegé Wolf (Ian McShane). The story encompasses corruption, police rule breaking (and in this sense its clearly an influence on the iconic TV series The Sweeney) and it highlights the control such criminals had on their territories in London. This film has a good eye for the rundown state of Britain's capital in these times and has those characters such as the bent car dealer, the seedy police informant, strippers, and even a depraved MP ripe for blackmail. A gripping, adult crime film that has that unique English realism that makes these films so good and make them somewhat nostalgic to watch today. The support cast includes Nigel Davenport, Colin Welland and Donald Sinden. This is a top British film of the 70s and one to check out if you've never seen it.

A brilliant and creepy psychological horror film with a restrained plot that works really well. Set in a small rural English village where one afternoon a strange phenomena affects everyone in the village when they all black out. Everyone recovers with no apparent side effects but a couple of months later it seems that all the women of childbearing age are pregnant even though it's an impossibility for some of them. Twelve children are born a few months later and develop at an accelerated rate and appear to be of high intelligence, they are similar in appearance and soon the villagers begin to fear them. One of them a scientist (George Sanders) who's wife has given birth to one of the children tries to find out why they are so different. This is one of those cycle of films that appeared in the late 1950s and early 60s that delved into the paranoia around technological developments, radiation and atomic energy and like Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956), this is one of the most original and being set in quaint old England gives it a pagan feel of the supernatural. What appeals most about this film is the clever avoidance to over explain the plot leaving the viewer to make their own assumptions but whatever you decide is behind the strange happenings this remains a very unsettling film and a first rate British film. It's a pity the women who give birth to the children and are emotionally and socially damaged by the experience are somewhat sidelined in favour of the superstitions that the menfolk develop but this is arguably a result of the need to divert the audience away from the rather closeted subject of childbirth and appease the censor. A 1964 sequel and a 1995 remake changing the setting to small-town America are not a patch on this original. A film well worthing checking out if you've never seen it.

A roisterous, rowdy swashbuckler full of romance, sex and violence with Hollywood's usual warped view of history. A great adventure film though and one worth seeking out if you've never seen it. Produced and starring Kirk Douglas, who was major box office at the time, but who was notoriously difficult on set. Interesting though that he plays the anti-hero here tipping over into the bad guy at key moments in the story. This is all about the fight over a beautiful woman, in this case Janet Leigh, between the corrupt Northumbrian king (Frank Thring - always good as a slimy baddie) and Kirk Douglas' one eyed Viking warrior. Into the mix comes Tony Curtis as a slave but who may have a more interesting background who loves the same woman and this cues fights, feuds, and battles to get the girl. The great Ernest Borgnine plays the Viking boss and British stalwart James Donald is the English traitor with the knowledge to fill in all the plot points. This film fits into the big, brash, colourful matinee epic that made huge money. With the big budget came a film that rolls along at great pace, over the top characters and great fun. It's always worth checking out these great films from around the late 50s and early 60s because they never fail to entertain.

The perfect Trump era social drama with a nice dose of good humour thrown in which makes this very watchable and quite heart warming even if occasionally its a little underwhelming. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez he also stars as Stuart, a librarian at Cincinnati's large central public library. During a particularly cold winter the library is daily inhabited by the city's homeless trying to stay warm. They're generally an affable lot and Stuart treats them with respect although they cause wannabe Mayor, Josh Davis (Chritian Slater), a lot of angst. One evening a large group of the homeless decide to stay in the library as there are insufficient shelters in the city. Stuart supports them but soon the forces of law and order led by Davis and cop, Bill (Alec Baldwin) treat it as a siege and a stand off begins. There's no doubt the film is a direct attack on the right wing media and far right politics of contemporary USA and occasionally it's very blunt in its messaging. But it's overall a rather pleasant film with it's heart firmly in the right place and for that its well worth a watch. Good support cast also includes Taylor Schilling, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright and Michael K. Williams.

This is one of those period English dramas that oozes charm and a nostalgic vision of a past time, in this case the late 1930s on the eve of the Second World War. It's based on a true story but reimagines the nature of relationships and adds fictional characters. The story centres around the discovery of the Sutton Hoo treasures. Carey Mulligan plays wealthy landowning widow Edith Pretty who has long been curious about the ancient mounds on her Suffolk land. She hires Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) a renowned local archaeologist to excavate the mounds and against the odds he finds a buried ship and much more. The establishment in the guise of a pompous expert (Ken Stott) comes from the British museum to take over the dig. The first act of the film as the relationship between Edith and Basil develops in a sort of restrained romance and the mound reveals its first treasures is arresting and sets a firm sense of the time and place with all the class issues neatly reflected in the clipped accents and local drawl. The second act ditches that to focus on a real romance between two of the diggers at the site played by Lily James and Johnny Flynn. This has less impact and almost overshadows the more interesting characters of Basil and Edith. Overall though this is a comfortable, interesting and gentle film that is a very pleasant evening's viewing. Recommended.

Director Francis Ford Coppola has tweaked the structure and edit of The Godfather: Part III to produce this slightly long version with a different start and a different end. But don't be fooled that this adds anything particularly new, in fact for the most part its the same film, and, for me, the ending here is strangely weird considering the new title - The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.. The original film was much derided on release and has never really garnered the accolades of the previous two films, masterpieces both. I have a suspicion that Coppola has been wounded ever since and this is his attempt to try and convince everyone that The Godfather: Part III is as good. He's wrong. This new cut changes nothing in the plot and if you agree with Al Pacino Michael Corleone's narrative efforts to become respectable don't fit with the conscience free Michael of the previous films. There is much to admire in this film and some of the set pieces are well constructed but the climax is too similar to that of The Godfather (1972) and obviously so. So overall this new edit is somewhat disappointing and bears no similarity to the excitement of Coppola's tinkering with Apocalypse Now (1979). If you want my advice it's stick to the original release version, its slightly more satisfying.

This is a bizarre love story set in an Hungarian slaughterhouse, and some of the scenes of the actual work are not pleasant but they effectively set the back drop for what is a Lynchian style romance story. It follows Endre (Géza Morcsányi), the manager, a dry, ageing man with a damaged arm who is attracted to Mária (Alexandra Borbély), a new girl who has Aspergers and is the subject of mockery at work. They discover that every night they share the same dream and begin to bond over it. Their love is intense within their dream subconscious (and its not a routine sex dream either and I won't spoil it by revealing it) but they have difficulty in turning this into reality. This is a tender film that attempts to place the love story into a surreal world where ill suited people can bond. There are some shocks along the way especially as Mária has difficulty coping with intimacy in any form. Interesting and at times absorbing although perhaps a little too out there for the mainstream.

The title of this gutsy crime film caused confusion when the film was released with people thinking it was a martial arts film. It is actually a very gritty and interesting cop drama set in New York's Chinatown. Mickey Rourke, then a rising star, plays NYPD cop Stan White who is assigned to Chinatown to deal with youth gangs but because he's confrontational and, scarred by his time in Vietnam, a racist he targets the neighbourhoods crime bosses who have traditionally been allowed to operate with impunity. The new boss of Chinatown, Joey (John Lone) is trying to make a big drug deal which Stan is determined to foil. Written by Oliver Stone and directed by Michael Cimino this is more than just a straight forward cop film, it has complexity and an intriguing plot that includes scenes in Thailand. Rourke is excellent here as the determined and damaged cop who refuses to kowtow to his superiors orders, the film also deals with his collapsing marriage and there is some realistic violence although the film is not simply a blood and guts story. This is a film that may have passed you by but it's worth checking out as it's a really interesting and clever variation on the traditional cop drama. There are themes here involving the effect on individuals and society following the Vietnam War and the inherent racism in everyday American life. It also draws a beady eye on police corruption and 'arrangements' made with criminals for political gain.

Based on a true story although it takes a few liberties apparently this somewhat gentle drama is about Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford) a serial bank robber all his life who has escaped from prison multiple times and now in his seventies is still robbing banks; flashing his gun at surprised bank tellers and treating them to a smile and pleasantries. He's part of a small gang of oldies along with Danny Glover and Tom Waits and hunted by cop Casey Affleck. This is set in the 80s and the plot gives Tucker a love interest in the form of Sissy Spacek and some flashback sequences that utilise old Redford movies. It's an ok story, Redford seems a little stiff and wooden at times and I was left not really knowing what the film is trying to be. The central robbery happens off screen and the relationship between criminal and cop is opened up but never fully explored. As Redford's supposed swansong it's of interest but a little lame.

This is a really funny, quite touching and sexy romcom directed by Woody Allen and set in Spain, one balmy summer. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are two old friends who spend a summer in Barcelona. There they meet the charismatic artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who seduces both of them. But as the heady mix and match of the three of them gets complicated, into their lives comes Juan's ex wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), a tempestuous and unpredictable woman and Vicky's boring but safe fiancé Doug (Chris Messina) arrives from the US intent on marrying Vicky in Spain. All of their lives become very tense and confused as who loves who gradually reveals itself. Cleverly scripted and with great performances, not least Cruz who won an Oscar here, this is one of Allen's more appealing films of late and there's something very original about the convoluted relationships that the plot follows. It's also a very funny film too. If I have one big criticism is that the ending is a bit of a damp squib but that said this is still worth checking out if you've never seen it.

A truly remarkable and quite beautiful film that is a very touching period romance with an enthralling mystery story for its main plot and with some very gritty and realistic war scenes thrown in for good measure. Set mainly in 1920 and young country girl Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) refuses to accept her fiancé, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) was killed in 1917 on the western front. She begins an investigation to find out what happened to him even though he is officially listed as one of the dead. She discovers he was one of five men condemned for self inflicted wounds and cast out into no mans land where they were all apparently killed. She finds that the stories of the other four are all wrapped up in the fate of Manech. This really is a delight of a film. The balmy, almost sepia, look of the 1920s and the unbelievably realistic recreation of Paris at that time is really very impressive and this is juxtaposed with the grey, dank scenes set in the trenches in 1917, some of the closest recreations of the the First World War that cinema has produced. The characters are all wonderful and very memorable and the film boasts Jodie Foster in a cameo. Ultimately this has a very clever and intricate storyline constructed like a mystery thriller with murder, deceit and twists that are very unexpected. This is a first rate film and will appeal to everyone as it has almost something for all film tastes. If you've never seen this and are looking for something truly exceptional, look no further.

This is considered to be Alfred Hitchcock's greatest achievement and it has occasionally been cited as one of the greatest movies ever made. It is certainly a masterpiece of suspense and for its time it's a bold tale of sexual obsession, misogyny and an example of the 'male gaze' theory of American drama. A mystery thriller it stars James Stewart, who was criticised for being too old for the role, who plays 'Scottie' Ferguson, a former police detective forced to retire after his fear of heights resulted in the death of a colleague. He is hired by an old friend to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who suffers from blackouts and Scottie is asked to keep a protective eye on her. But soon Scottie becomes obsessively in love with her and they start an affair. When another tragedy strikes and Madeleine is killed Scottie falls into a deep depression until one day he sees Judith who bears a resemblance to Madeleine. They start a relationship and Scottie tries to influence how she dresses and acts in order to look more and more like Madeleine. This has some great twists in the plot and it's a brave role for Stewart who was better known for wholesome roles. Hitchcock utilised new photographic effects to simulate the dizzying effects of Scottie's vertigo and he resisted attempts to over explain the plot. This is a major American film and certainly one that every film fan should make sure they see.

This remains a very relevant film and it's a great story. A very uncompromising condemnation of populism, weak politics, apathy and of course showing what happens when people allow control of their lives to become a reality. Set in a future dystopian United Kingdom where a fascist government run by a dictator, Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), ensures its control of the population by a severe insistence on religion, homophobia and racism all of which is allowed by an apathetic public and overseen by a military style police force. Then a terrorist emerges to challenge the authority, he calls himself V (Hugo Weaving), wears a Guy Fawkes outfit and with the help of a young woman (Natalie Portman) begins a campaign to bring down the regime. On its first release this was criticised for being rather too talky and not enough action but viewed today it doesn't feel like that at all and the action set pieces are quick and effective and very exciting. It's a really detailed story with some very sharp looks at modern society and a warning of what may happen if democracy is challenged and people sleepwalk into its destruction. The cast are impressively good including Stephen Rea as the cop hunting V, Stephen Fry as a broadcaster with a secret, and Tim Piggot-Smith as the regime's second in command - a sort of Himmler character. This film has developed a cult following over the years and V's iconic mask is recognised as a symbol of resistance. A quite powerful film, written by the Wachowski Brothers (now sisters), who were the creative force behind The Matrix (1999)