Film Reviews by GI

Although very loosely based on real events this is a gangster film entirely rooted in the cinematic genre. It's bright almost comic book look, interspersed with fast, bloody action makes it highly watchable and very entertaining. When you combine the almost iconic action set pieces with the pounding score composed by Ennio Morricone and add the great performances you have a mix that makes for great, popular cinema. Kevin Costner, then a relatively unknown actor, plays Elliot Ness, a US Treasury agent sent to Chicago to bring down prohibition kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro having the time of his life). Finding that the police are riddled with corruption Ness turns to humble but honest beat cop Malone (Sean Connery, with an Irish accent that slips all over the place but he's riveting when on screen and won an Oscar), and with an accountant (Charles Martin Smith) and a tough rookie (Andy Garcia) the four of them take on the ruthless gangster. There are two stand out action set pieces, one a gun battle on a river bridge, which mixes humour with bloody violence and the second a slow burning, slow motion fight in Chicago's Grand Central Station taking place on the main stairs. It's director Brian De Palma's homage to Battleship Potemkin (1925) even adding some sailors who get caught in the crossfire. It's one of those scenes that makes you love cinema. This is a period gangster film that has sets recreating the old classic gangster films of the 30s with added colour and it's a real treat. A moral tale where law and order is blurred with right and wrong. If you've never seen this then you really must and if its a favourite then time to watch again.

If you were entertained by Underworld (2003) then you'll enjoy this too. It's a direct sequel with the story and action starting immediately where the first film left off. Vampire warrior Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and Michael (Scott Speedman) are now on the run having killed Viktor (Bill Nighy), a vampire elder. Unknown to them the first and most terrible vampire Marcus has been awakened and is also hunting them because they unknowingly have the key to release Marcus' brother William, the first and most terrible werewolf. This film ups the gore and violence, there's a raunchy sex scene and the film has a more distinct gothic horror feel with some impressive monsters. There's a great prologue set in the thirteenth century which features Bill Nighy in a return cameo as Viktor and some fun new characters including Tony Curran as Marcus, Steven Mackintosh as debauched vampire Tanis and Derek Jacobi as the key to the whole story. The whole plot from the first film involving Speedman's hybrid character is made pointless in this film but never mind its best not to over think these films. It's never going to win any prizes and you either will love it or hate it but occasionally this sort of great cinematic entertainment simply fits the bill.

Clint Eastwood's overwhelmingly brilliant revisionist western that completely deconstructs the myth narrative of this uniquely American genre. From the opening shot this is a beautiful picture to watch and an enormously clever story. Eastwood stars as Will Munny, a poor pig farmer, widower and father of two young children. When he hears that there's a bounty being offered to kill two cowboys for cutting a prostitute he decides he needs the money and teams up with his old friend Ned (Morgan Freeman) and a young man who claims to be a gunfighter (Jaimez Woolvett) to go and kill the two men. Years ago Will was a reputedly a merciless killer, a life he spurned after meeting his late wife and now he has to struggle to keep his old vicious temper at bay especially as he has to encounter the nasty sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman). The script delves into how legend and word of mouth stories become warped and romantic in the telling whereas the truth is often much more sordid and violent. This is a story of ruthless men but, unlike the westerns of previous years, these have no code, no honour and are violent by nature rather than need. There are no fair play gunfights this is a story of cold blooded murder. Eastwood, who won the Best Director Oscar and was nominated for Best Actor, is remarkable here and Hackman (winner of Best Supporting Actor) along with Richard Harris as an egotistical killer makes for a great cast. Eastwood's contribution to the western genre is to be applauded and this is his finest achievement in relation to deconstructing the genre. This is a film that deserved the Best Film Oscar, it's a masterpiece and deserves a modern audience. If you've never seen this then I really urge you to seek it out, you will not be disappointed.

A smart, intellectual espionage film based on real events and benefiting from the trademark realism, in this case for the late 1950s, that director Steven Spielberg does so well and very much aided by the sharp script courtesy of the Coen Brothers. Tom Hanks utilises his All American family man persona to its usual full effect as the humble attorney Jim Donovan who is assigned to defend Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance, in a stunning performance), a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI. Donovan is dedicated and does his job properly despite being publicly threatened and vilified in the tabloids and he manages to avoid his client being sentenced to death. A few years later and an American pilot is captured by the Soviets and Donovan is recruited by the CIA to negotiate a trade, the pilot for Abel. Reluctantly he agrees and heads off to Berlin but he decides to carry out the negotiations his way and rejects his CIA controller's orders. Spielberg recreates here the infamous U2 spy plane incident, a key moment in the Cold War. This is a tense drama that attempts to follow the world of spying in the Cold War accurately so consequently this isn't a film with gadgets and guns. It is rather a thought provoking story and effectively a historical one that brings into the public eye an unsung American hero. Hanks gives his usual well crafted performance but it's Rylance that makes the film so very watchable. This is one of Spielberg's more subtle and restrained films and its well worth a revisit if you've only seen it once and definitely one to see if you've not done so.

You need look no further if you want a full on fantasy action film that entertains from the get go because this is sheer adult fun, and admittedly for me a bit of a guilty secret film. The premise is that there's been a centuries old hidden war being fought between a race of vampires and the Lycans (or in other words werewolves). In the present day in an unnamed Eastern European city the vampires have all but wiped out their age old enemy but vampire warrior Selene (Kate Beckinsale - very impressive toting guns dressed in lycra!) discovers the Lycans have been rallied by their leader, Lucian (Michael Sheen), who was long believed to be dead and that they are seeking a human called Michael (Scott Speedman) for some nefarious reason. With the great Bill Nighy supporting as a vampire elder and with some great shoot out scenes, very impressive transformation special effects and a dark atmosphere aided by a loud rock soundtrack this is everything you can wish for in action cinema. The creatures are all fantastic and there's a loose theme around interracial relationships but you don't need to get bogged down in over analysing the text because this is what it says on the tin, full on, fun-filled action at its best. The film was such a success that it's spawned a series of films most of which have gradually become more tiresome (the first sequel is quite good though) but this first film is a must see.

A truly remarkable and highly original film. Categorising this is difficult and depends on your reading of it but it's probably best described as a science fiction/horror film although it's far more subtle and clever than you might expect from those genres. Scarlett Johansson, in arguably her best role, is a mysterious woman who roams the roads of Scotland luring men and taking them to a strange other dimensional place where their bodies are consumed. She maybe an alien entity, and the films opening suggests she is replacing another of her kind who has been killed. She is assisted by another 'alien' on a motorcycle who acts as her bodyguard. She completely lacks empathy with humans and is intent only on luring them to what is their doom. But soon she becomes intrigued by her body and the behaviour of the humans she observes and allows one of the men she catches to go free. Hunted by her companions she disappears into the highlands. There are some very disquieting scenes especially one on a windswept beach and the film has an eerie, dark and at times quite frightening atmosphere to it. But strangely the viewer begins to have some sympathy for the 'woman' as her path becomes more tortured. The end is well worth waiting for too. This is only director Jonathan Glazer's second feature film after Sexy Beast (2000) and on the merits of both he is a director of style and skill and worth checking out any future films. Ultimately this is Johansson's film, she carries the entire film and plays against anything she's done before or since. When you consider that Glazer used a lot of hidden cameras and many of the people she interacts with were ordinary people who were only told afterwards that they were in a film you can see clever she was in playing the part to the fullest. A brave performance and a highly impressive one. Under The Skin is a fantastic piece of cinema and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A classic but forgotten British crime drama, very gritty for its time and especially as its set in Newcastle although there are no Geordie accents. This is quite an evocatively told story that is essentially one of thieves falling out. A group of criminals led by Johnny (Michael Craig) has been planning a wages van robbery for several months but when the company ups the security the gang's inside man, the panicky Dennis (William Lucas), says the job is now impossible. But Johnny goes ahead anyway and a security man gets killed. The gang soon begins to fall apart and the dead man's wife (Billie Whitelaw) decides to hunt the gang down for her revenge. With all the action taking place in the backstreets and outskirts of Newcastle and shot in stark black & white this has a sense of realism that is unique to British films of this time. The violence and sex were deemed very risqué in the early 60s and the film has some great character actors including Tom Bell and Kenneth Griffiths. Billie Whitelaw is especially good here with that steely look she had that made her very menacing. A thoroughly entertaining crime film from a time when British films were something very, very special indeed.

An amiable somewhat self indulgent drama set in the Paris literary world and trying to say something profound about the digital age and the crisis of younger people not reading books. Mixed in is that all the characters are having affairs with each other, some are suspected and some doing so with impunity. There are a couple of running jokes and the film is watchable and occasionally draws you in but the film is overall a little weak. Juliette Binoche stars and is always very appealing. Here she is a TV actor married to publisher, Alain (Guillaume Canet). He's refusing to publish emotionally needy author Léonard's (Vincent Macaigne) new autobiographical novel and who happens to be having an affair with his wife. It's all played out in a series of emotional and complex conversations that have some humour but the film finally feels empty.

The 1970s was a decade of western revival and there are many great westerns to be found made in this period. Director Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid is arguably one of the best and a fantastic performance from Burt Lancaster as an ageing and cynical army scout. The film is a clear allegory to the Vietnam war and in particular the naivety of the Americans in believing they could easily defeat an indigenous enemy. This is a film ripe for restoration and it's quite bizarre that a good version has not been produced for the modern day market. There were two released versions, one by the director and a subtly different one put together by Lancaster. Most DVD copies contain Aldrich's version but it suffers from roughly done editing especially around some scenes of horses falling where tripwires were used. That said the Aldrich version is the more comprehensive in what is a film now considered to be a mini masterpiece. Set in Arizona, the harsh land being a key element of the plot, and an Apache warrior Ulzana escapes from the reservation with a small band of his braves and heads off on a murder spree. Young, inexperienced army Lieutenant DeBuin (Bruce Davison) is sent with his troops to catch or kill the raiders. He is assisted by MacIntosh (Lancaster) and an Apache tracker (Jorge Luke) but as they come across the horrific results of Ulzana's raids on homesteaders the lines between morality and civilised behaviour become more blurred. There's some grisly scenes of tortured bodies and victims but the film is quite restrained in depicting violence. It's in the themes of depravity caused by hatred that the film excels. It's certainly an important film in the genre and, if you're a western fan, definitely one to seek out.

A great noir crime thriller with a western setting and one of director Oliver Stone's smaller and yet brilliant films. With similarities in style to his own Natural Born Killers (1994) and some hints of a Tarantino and a Lynchian influence this is a fantastic film, full of great characters, a topnotch cast and a plot that has some interesting twists and turns. Sean Penn is Bobby, who is driving across Arizona in his 1964 Mustang convertible en route to pay off a debt to a nasty gangster, a rendezvous his life depends on. Unfortunately his car breaks down and he is forced to seek repair in the small dusty town of Superior. But a sequence of misfortunes plague his efforts to get his car fixed and to be on his way. When he strikes up a 'friendship' with the beautiful Grace (Jennifer Lopez) his life takes an even worse turn as she wants him to kill her abusive husband (Nick Nolte) but things are never what they seem to be in Superior. The narrative takes on a nightmarish quality as Bobby is faced with a never ending run of bad luck. There is a uniqueness to the editing here and some wonderfully drawn characters who all seem to be extremes and include Billy Bob Thornton as the disgusting mechanic Darrell, Powers Boothe as the local Sheriff, Jon Voight as a blind Indian, Joaquin Pheonix and Claire Danes as a young crazy couple and if you watch carefully you'll spot Liv Tyler in a cameo. This is sharp filmmaking and Stone litters the film with little references and homages some of which delve into his conspiracy theory obsessions. But as a modern crime thriller this is a real treat and definitely a film to check out if you've never seen it.

This is one of those nostalgic British comedy farce films in the vein of the early Carry Ons with some saucy seaside postcard type humour. The story is essentially a crime caper set in a prison where three hapless criminals plan to escape for one night, steal a haul of diamonds and get back inside before morning giving themselves the perfect alibi. Their plan is thwarted by the arrival of a new chief prison officer who is a strict disciplinarian. If you love these old British comedies and are a fan of the TV series Porridge you'll enjoy this and will clearly see the influence of this film on that iconic comedy show. Peter Sellers (who was notoriously difficult on set) plays the leader of the criminals and Lionel Jeffries is the martinet officer, Grout. There's a host of stalwart British comedy actors including Wilfred Hyde White, Maurice Denham, Liz Fraser, Irene Handl, Beryl Reid and Bernard Cribbins and more. This is fun, occasionally a little silly, but if you grew up watching these great British films this will be a joy.

This is quite an accomplished directorial debut from Jonah Hill who also wrote the screenplay which is loosely autobiographical. It's a sort of coming-of-age social drama and clearly heavily influenced by This Is England (2006). Set in 1990s Los Angeles young Stevie lives with his single mother (Katherine Waterston) and his elder brother Ian (Lucas Hedges), who bullies him ruthlessly. Wandering the streets Stevie eventually latches onto a group of street kids who are every parents nightmare but they become Stevie's surrogate family and he finds life lessons and real affection with them. They all bond through skateboarding and whilst they get into some scrapes it soon becomes apparent that they are a force for good in Stevie's life. The film recreates the times with impeccable detail but it's in the interaction between the gang that the film reveals true heart. Don't be put off by the skateboarding aspect, this not a film that is concerned with that activity as a cultural phenomenon, it's just the catalyst to explore the benefit of friendship, loyalty and ultimately love. Worth checking out.

A basic vigilante/cop thriller, a genre piece that is really a load of twaddle but has some entertainment value. Influenced by far better films like Seven (1995) and Prisoners (2013) this has emotionally damaged cop Marshall (Henry Cavill) investigating the murder of a young girl and finds himself caught up in the case with a vigilante judge (Ben Kingsley), who with a young girl, goes around trapping paedophiles and castrating them. They soon nail a suspect who is a gibbering fool but suspected of having multiple personalities but there's a twist in the plot which isn't that exciting. The film follows a fairly normal story arc but unfortunately never really gets anywhere too inspiring even the presence of Stanley Tucci as the police chief fails to lift it, he's clearly slumming it in this. Back in the day this would have been a 'straight to video' film that no one remembers.

A by the numbers comedy drama based on a true story that has its heart warming and funny moments but is so predictable in its intentions and story that it soon becomes unrewarding. The trouble is it lacks the gravitas of theme that similar films have dished out in spades, such as Brassed Off (1996), The Full Monty (1997 from the same director Paul Cattaneo) and even Calendar Girls (2003). All of the characters are thinly sketched with only Kristin Scott Thomas' Kate being given anything remotely interesting and even her backstory isn't fully explored. She is the brittle wife of an army officer who having an emotional hole in her life (the aforementioned backstory fits in here) decides she should try and rally the other wives when their husbands (and one wife) are sent off to Afghanistan. This starts a thin theme of class struggle as Kate finds it difficult to bond with the enlisted soldiers partners mostly played out through the character of confident Lisa (Sharon Horgan). When someone has the idea to form a choir Kate thinks its all hymns and sheet music whereas Lisa, and of course everyone else, wants harmonised pop songs. This sets the narrative off, very quickly, to them being quite good at it. Sadly even the song that Lisa writes for them to perform and which becomes an object of tension with her and Kate is rather bland by the time we get to hear it. Loosely based on a BBC documentary it will surprise some that impresario Gareth Malone is entirely absent, not even mentioned in fact, especially as he is the creative genius behind the military wives choirs that sprung up around the country. This is a film that will fill a couple of hours, will make you chuckle at times and many will like that it goes exactly how you assume it will. Once over its forgettable.

This is a rather heavy going and at times laborious private eye noir set in New York in the 1950s. Clearly a passion piece for director and star Edward Norton who also adapted the novel on which it's based. Indeed Norton has moved the story from the 90s to the 50s precisely in order to make it a noir type film in the vein of The Big Sleep (1946) and The Maltese Falcon (1941). It has a colour palette that is all the greys and browns to recreate the time and setting and the plot is a mystery all very similar to the 'gumshoe' narratives of yesteryear although it's littered with genre clichés. Norton plays Lionel who works for a private detective agency run by Frank (Bruce Willis). Lionel has a photographic memory and is very good at his job but he has an affliction that can best be described as Tourettes although it's never identified in the film. When Frank is killed Lionel is determined to find out who is behind it which leads him into a conspiracy of corruption of city officials that involved a young black woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Norton is very good here especially in portraying his affliction which adds some humour to the film. But the plot becomes quite turgid after awhile and makes the film seem overly long and the final unravelling all seemed a bit of an anti climax. In here is a good film in many ways but it could have been so much better.