Film Reviews by GI

Based on a true story that was no doubt not at all funny to those involved this drama plays it for the laughs and whilst the humour comes from swearing, indicating that it might be a bit puerile, it mostly works very well mainly due to the stellar cast and the period in which the narrative is set. However the comedy is often clunky and the film gradually drifts into farce bordering on silliness with a strong influence of the Carry On style. That is a shame because in here is an interesting tale that, arguably, would have been better served by something more nuanced and semi-serious. Set in 1920 in a small English seaside town which is rocked by a scandal as several locals begin to receive letters in the mail that are sexually graphic and insulting. One of the recipients is Edith (Olivia Colman), a devout and sanctimonious spinster, who lives with her domineering father (Timothy Spall) and timid mother (Gemma Jones). When another such letter arrives the father heads off to the police station and accuses their neighbour, the Irish immigrant Rose (Jessie Buckley), who has a reputation for coarse language and behaviour. The police are convinced they've caught the culprit and Rose is jailed awaiting trial. But one police officer and some of the local women are not as convinced and start their own investigation. There are broad characters portrayed here from the patriarchal and christian men to the uptight and sexually repressed women who are shocked by the antics of Rose. In that sense this is very much a British style comedy and very reminiscent of 50s Ealing style and early 60's farce. But the film is entertaining for the most part and worth checking out especially as Buckley and Colman are always worth watching.

A slightly whimsical coming of age comedy drama set in Scotland in the early 1980s and a film that was popular as a sexual awakening narrative but is very much of its time and viewed today does seem very dated. Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) is a lanky teenager who has an easy going nature but he becomes infatuated with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), a girl at his school who successfully tries out for the boy's football team where she is soon the star player. As Gregory fawns around her he fails to notice that another girl, Susan (Clare Grogan) really likes him until she hatches a plan with Dorothy to get on a date with Gregory. A film where the boys are incompetently sex obsessed and the girls have a new maturity that allows them to manipulate accordingly. There's a charm to this gentle comedy which is worth checking out of you've never seen it.

I'm unsure whether there was any audience expectation here but this is a ridiculous film in a fairly ridiculous and struggling series. I couldn't help thinking that here we have a Jurassic World meets The Planet of the Apes and to be honest its all totally laughable and not for the right reasons. I actually enjoyed 2014's Godzilla for its serious take on the Godzilla story but beyond that initial film nothing of the sequels has any real meaning. Basically the costs here do not merit the result and I ponder how many more interesting films could've been made with the budget. In short what is here is a battle between various giant apes and other monsters that dwell in the weird world beneath our feet. It's mostly giant creatures slogging it out in a huge punch up whilst they manage to destroy/damage various world heritage sites ie the pyramids, the Colosseum and knock down huge amounts of skyscrapers etc (the film casually glosses over the human body count!). The actors especially Rebecca Hall have little purpose other than to give exposition to explain a story we can understand and Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry are the comedy suppliers although that's weak too. I suppose youngsters will enjoy this on a rain sodden afternoon but otherwise it's dull stuff.

If you are a fan then this new film in the 'Alien' franchise is not a disappointment. It can be accused of relying on too many homages to the original films especially the first and second but that can be forgiven because the film is an exciting, tense, gory and at times shocking science fiction/horror that recreates the dirty, exploitative future that made 1979s Alien so impactful. A group of young mineworkers stuck in company contracts on a distant planet see a way to escape their destiny when they discover an abandoned space station has drifted into the orbit around the planet. Taking a small spacecraft they intend to take the equipment from the station in order to be able to travel to a better life. However once board they find that the station is an abandoned laboratory where an alien life form has been unleashed. There's everything you can want from an Alien film here in a narrative that sits chronologically between the first and second films of the series and with references to the prequel Prometheus (2012). The film doesn't have the grandiose plot and structure of Ridley Scott's two prequels as it goes for a fast paced chase story with some good suspense. Cailee Spaeny is the main character with the clear similarities to Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ripley and David Jonsson is rather good as a synthetic android who changes during the story from friend to potential threat. The reprise of the character played by Ian Holm in Alien using effects technology has been much criticised but I thought it worked well. Overall an entertaining new 'Alien' film that hits the spot.

This motor racing drama, unbelievably based on a true story, is formulaic but entertains. This is a sports story of the underdog who, of course, overcomes the odds, rivalry, tragedy etc etc to ultimately reach success. Much to his parents chagrin (Djimon Hounsou & Geri Halliwell-Horner) Jann (Archie Madekwe) is a dedicated player of the Playstation game Gran Turismo, designed to simulate real motor car racing. He enters a competition organised by Nissan marketing guru, Danny (Orlando Bloom) with the winner getting to be trained as a real racing driver. No one expects him to succeed least of all the cynical chief engineer (David Harbour) tasked with training him in the realities of motor racing but of course he does. The entertainment comes from director Neill Blomkamp's blurring of the lines between the artificial world of the 'game' and the real world of the racing. This involves some impressive effects and some gritty racing scenes and set pieces including crashes and close encounters. The film has the air of a science fiction film and you can't help but remember The Last Starfighter (1984) which I'm sure must have been an influence here. Harbour and Madekwe add a human touch as their relationship as mentor and student deepens but it's in the racing that fans will be enthralled especially if you're a fast & Furious series fan.

Is this an attempt at righting history here in regards the cinematic treatment of the American Indian? It certainly looks like it on the surface but I think it's actually a competent western with the wrong title. This isn't really about Geronimo (Wes Studi) but more about the men who hunted him and were responsible for persuading him to surrender. With Jason Patric and Matt Damon the main protagonists. The film dwells on deep orange sunsets in its depiction of the dry Arizona desert scapes and in between are a series of chases, long scenes of exposition and some bloody shoot outs with a narration by Damon's character to fill in the gaps. It steals from several other westerns not least the famous Ten Bears speech from The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Ultimately this is a meandering tale that is a big anti climax despite the prestigious cast that includes Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall.

Adapted from a popular novel that spawned a series of books with the main character this is a neat and enjoyable British thriller starring Rod Taylor, an Australian actor who made some very interesting but often forgotten films during the 60s and who made a recent guest appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009). In this little gem he plays Scobie Malone, a hard Aussie Detective, who is sent to London to bring back Sir James Quentin (Christopher Plummer), the Australian High Commissioner, on a charge of the murder of his first wife many years earlier. Scobie soon finds the task is a lot more complicated than he'd anticipated as he soon gets embroiled in a political conspiracy. Full of some tough fight sequences and with a twist and turn plot this is a potboiler that shows that the 60s were littered with some great little films especially British productions that used real locations for the action. A film worth seeking out as it's great fun and to see Taylor at his best. NB: The film had an alternative title of The High Commissioner in some other countries.

Burt Reynolds directorial debut and a sequel to White Lightening (1973). This is a poorly scripted film that suffers from an uneven structure and timing probably due to Reynolds inexperience and it can't seem to make up its mind whether it's a comedy or thriller. it managing to be both and neither at the same time. Reynolds made a bit of a career out of wisecracking, hillbilly style comedies with his infectious laugh and boyish good looks with characters that are on the edges of criminality but ultimately harmless and in narratives filled with zany, madcap chase sequences. Here he plays moonshiner Gator McKlusky, fresh out of jail, who is blackmailed by a cop trying to nail the crime kingpins the County who also happens to be Gator's boyhood friend. Reynolds has the boyish charm here and there's an early boat chase where he gets to flummox the inept cops setting the film as a comedy of the likes of Smokey And The Bandit (1977) but quickly drifting into crime thriller territory. There are long and dull exposition scenes, a lacklustre romance with Lauren Hutton as a TV journalist, and a rather unexciting final showdown. The film tries to be somewhat controversial with a baddie who has sex with under age girls who he likes to give drugs to but ultimately it's a very 70s style film that struggles when viewed today and lacks the sharp comedy of Reynolds other output.

In many ways this is like an extended SNL skit that deliberately subverts the Marvel Cinematic Universe and essentially smashes the fourth wall to get its in-jokes across in rapid fast time. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the title roles are a madcap double act in this action/superhero bromance that is really funny, occasionally excruciatingly so and Reynolds can be periodically a bit unbearable. What is good here is the premise where the MCU tradition of a multiverse narrative where characters can be resurrected with ease is very roundly laughed at and in that sense you do have to be fairly familiar with past Marvel 'heroes' to get all the jokes. The fight scenes, and there are lots and some are very long, are fast and very bloody intermixed with comic asides that those who love the first two Deadpool films will love. This isn't as good as the first one but it's fun if a little exhausting and in it's mocking of the MCU it works brilliantly. The story is fairly irrelevant but basically Deadpool, having been rejected for the Avengers, has to find Wolverine in another universe in order to save his own universe. There's a great support cast that includes Matthew Macfadyen, Emma Corrin, Lorena Baccarin and cameos from Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and others who resurrect various characters that you'll either know or be baffled by. Overall this is fun but a little tiring.

Big, bold, macho and downright silly this edition to the 20 year + franchise pushes the boundaries into the realms of the ridiculous but, of course, it's all entertaining and mostly great fun. The main trouble is that it's getting harder to distinguish one film from the other. The crew are all reunited to retrieve a gizmo weapon that is coveted by various baddies with the main reveal here being one of them is Dom's (Vin Diesel) baby brother, Jakob (John Cena) who have been estranged since the death of their father. So we get the backstory and flashbacks intermixed with the new mission as these basically street racers take on another super covert mission across the globe. There's plenty of gritty chases in various cities and a minefield, all of which stretch credibility to the limit not least the trip into space to disable a satellite; there's the usual stares either longingly or hatefully in the midst of the action and all the cameos pop up including Kurt Russell, Helen Mirren, Jason Statham (in an end credit sequence), Charlize Theron and Michael Rooker. And the obligatory family barbecue at the end just to remind you which franchise you are watching. This series has a huge fanbase and as effects laden action adventure goes it delivers. What we need now is something fresher and I must say I enjoyed the 2019 Hobbs & Shaw spin off much better than this rehash of the F & F plots of old.

A Boys Own Second World War crowd pleaser from Director Guy Ritchie who can never seem to rise quite to the occasion of his early films. This is all played for comic book styling and is very reminiscent of Inglourious Basterds (2009) but without that films panache. This is a fictionalised telling of a commando type mission to destroy German U boats and their supply ships in an African port. It's apparently based on a book by Damien Lewis and is about a real Operation codenamed Postmaster. The characters are all based on real people but the film goes for a fun, romp style that is all gung-ho, exaggerated and perhaps a little silly. Henry Cavill leads the ragtag team of ill disciplined soldiers on the mission who all treat war as a big game and relish in the killing of Nazis which Alan Ritchson as his No. 2 does most of. Henry Golding, Cary Elwes and Eiza González co star and Freddy Fox plays Ian Fleming, it being the case that Cavill's character was an inspiration for James Bond. Like much of Ritchie's output in recent times this has an infectiously entertaining veneer but lacks the zing that is promised. The witty banter is just not quite witty enough. It's good fun and there's a lot of explosions and shooting but it's fairly forgettable.

This surreal horror from Director Ken Russell is a typically off kilter work that doesn't live up to the frightening and depraved image of the film's poster. That scene does occur as a dream sequence but blink and you'll miss it, whereas the rest of the film is a mishmash of dark, haunted house scenes, with sexual tension, much of it with a strong hint of that depravity and body horror. The actual plot surrounds a drug induced night hosted by poet Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) with his guests Percy and Mary Shelley (Julian Sands & Natasha Richardson), Dr Polidori (Timothy Spall) and another young woman Claire (Miriam Cyr). It's a fairly plotless film with Russell possibly over indulging in his own reputation to produce a film that is based allegedly on a real event, one which reputedly gave Mary Shelley the idea for her famous novel, Frankenstein. As a horror film it's all rather unfrightening, somewhat tedious and whilst the cast are earnestly giving it their all its a film lost within itself making for a joyless viewing experience.

There's a significant poignancy to this film in not only the story but also in seeing two giants of cinema, Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson, together in their final film performances. Both bring gravitas and utter delight to this true story of D-Day veteran Bernie Jordan who, unable to get onto an official trip to France for the 70 year anniversary of the battle, snuck out of his care home early one morning and made his own way there. Jackson as his wife, Irene, covers for him to make sure he makes it ok. When the staff guess he's missing a media furore begins, unknown to Bernie, where he is dubbed The Great Escaper. Of course he hadn't 'escaped' at all and the film maturely tells the truth that the media embellished the affair for a good story. But the film does give us a heartwarming story of Bernie's trip where he finds the grave of a lost friend and there's a backstory that comes with flashbacks to the war, and these are the weak part of the film and in some ways detract from this story of nostalgia, regret and the pain of memories. Of course there's some comedy in the aged characters coming up against the young but it's Jackson and Caine who exude the charisma and spark for the story of this elderly couple who still love one another deeply and respect each others feelings. They give the film, which some may think a bit overly sentimental, a real sense of true life.

The film that launched Kevin Costner's career as a leading actor and a super smart, cat & mouse thriller it is too. He plays US Navy Intelligence officer Tom Farrell who is appointed as the intel' liaison for Senator Brice (Gene Hackman), the Secretary of Defence. He gets the job through a friendship with Scott Pritchard (Will Patton), Brice's aide-de-camp and who is fiercely loyal to Brice. The trouble is Tom begins a passionate relationship with Susan (Sean Young) who is also Brice's mistress. When she refuses to tell Brice who she is seeing he flies into a rage and kills her. To protect his boss Pritchard begins a cover-up investigation claiming she was murdered by a Russian spy and he puts Tom in charge and he quickly suspects the spy story is false and that Brice is the killer. This is a twist and turn plot with espionage aspects and some fantastic chase sequences. It's a really good gem of a film with a surprise ending and even if you've seen this and know the ending it's definitely worth checking out again. If you've not seen it then it's a real treat.

An assured directorial debut from John Patton Ford, a crime drama with a solid central performance from Aubrey Plaza. She plays Emily, a talented artist who its trapped in low paid jobs due to a stifling student debt and some criminal convictions which prevent her getting the jobs she yearns for. In desperation she turns to credit card fraud under the tutelage of Youcef (Theo Rossi). As she is lured by the ease and increased money she dives deeper down the rabbit hole of crime despite a couple of tense encounters. In deed Emily begins to gain greater confidence in her life. This drama pokes a stick, with admittedly some pretty broad strokes, at the American problem with getting out of debt and living with youthful misdemeanours that continually are used to prevent people realising their proper potential. The film doesn't excuse the path that Emily takes but attempts to explain her. The film rattles along at a good pace and even when this causes big leaps in how Emily progresses to clever criminal it's Plaza who keeps the whole thing grounded and believable. A good solid crime drama that is well worth checking out.