Film Reviews by AER

This exceedingly silly horror sequel sees Simon Phillips, Sayla De Goede and director Paul Tanter return to make sure our Christmasses are bloody. The plotting and script is super dozy, and some of the supporting actors are a bit lame. However, Simon Phillips as Killer Santa delivers another demented tour-de-force in his signature role. It looks the business with slick cinematography, beautiful snowy locations, and cool SFX, however it's all a bit same old same old, not to mention predictable. This sequel is a moderate improvement on the first one, but on the whole it's still a bad, bad, bad movie.

2 out of 10

Max Cloud is a day-glo cheapo with fairly decent SFX and production design considering it's a low-budget indie. The cast struggle to bring life to the pantomime-grade script - only John Hannah seems to be in the spirit of things as a comic boo-hiss villain. It's like a supermarket brand cross between Jumanji, Galaxy Quest and Pluto Nash (remember that?) Scott Adkins is vaguely fun in a lightweight role, but young teens (who I'm assumed this is aimed at) will sniff out an (albeit intentionally) corny wannabe superhero flick - with the colour scheme of Thor - Ragnarok. Look out for Noel Clarke's best-bud Jason Maza in an intergalactic widow twanky-role.

Clunky and not fit for wide consumption. It's deffo a curio though.

I couldn't fault this gangster biopic of Whitey Bulger, but it didn't really show us anything new that we haven't already seen in Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, The Sopranos etc. The end credits were more interesting than a lot of what was up for grabs. I don't believe John Connolly at the FBI was able to protect Bulger and deceive his superiors for so long though - that aspect was difficult to believe. Johnny Depp and the large cast were all superb though - Black Mass did what it came to do, be a predictable film about the Irish Mob.

This brainless anti-violence violent action film is simple and fun to watch if you don't buy into the preachiness. The villain's quest for internet recognition is quaint (this was made in 2006) but the film's fight / action sequences make up for the sermonising. The acting is better than average too from the lunk-headed cast that is largely unknown (to me) but led by Steve 'Stone Cold' Austin, Vinnie Jones, and Australian character actor Robert Mammone (who once had hopes of being a breakout leading man like his old mate Russell Crowe)... It's a throwaway but way better than it meant to be. Also seek out director Scott Wiper's The Big Ugly.

It's the broad performances that let this cool drama about blood ties down. It could be that the style of acting has dated since the early 90s or that the cast misinterpreted the script. Anyway, the story is compelling as a drifter/conman reconnects with his son and the past comes together to play a cruel trick on all of them. It's a slow burn and certainly looks the part - it's a shame its miscast across the board.

This trashy action flick has no logic, terrible SFX, and even worse acting. The continuity errors were legion and the script dogsh*t.... This made Aeon Flux look like The Godfather. Milla Jovovich's very worst film..... AVOID>

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a renowned composer and former Japanese pop star (Yellow Magic Orchestra / electronic solo work) but he's most widely appreciated for this film soundtracks (The Last Emperor / Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence). Coda see the composer at a time in his life where he is beign treated for throat cancer but is now renewing his zeal and ability to work on new projects. Released in 2017, this covers areas as wide as compostion and his opposition to nuclear power in Japan. We visit Fukujima with him to see the destruction of the 2011 tsunami... It's a well-paced documentary about an artist getting back to work and we as a viewer feel privileged to go along for the ride for a while.

Stuffed with information about the FBI's attempts to discredit and defame Martin Luther King jr during his time as 'most moral leader' in America during the early to late 1960s, this documentary offers much but confirms very little. Hard facts are seen as if through a zoetrope - documents whipped under our noses so fast that we have to catch the talking heads (some survivors of MLK's entourage) as they layer on memories and theories. It's a dizzying, fascinating addition to the welcome myriad of documentaries on the American Black experience. An interesting comments come towards the end that reminds us that the American Black has only enjoyed equal citizenship right for around 60 years... That is no time at all. The ghost of slavery and endemic racism in America casts a very long shadow. Intriguing but densely presented.

Channing Tatum's comeback movie (which he has also co-directed and co-wrote) is a likeable, simple tale of companionship with man's best friend, the dog! A US Ranger is charged with taking the former canine US Ranger (Lulu - a Belgian Maloise) to the funeral of its former owner. The pair are predictably antagonistic towards one another before, through a series of encounters begin to bond. After the funeral, Channing Tatum's ranger is charged with taking the hound to be destroyed so he can recommence his overseas military career, but will it end up that way? You don't need to watch it to guess correctly, but the film's predictability doesn't work against it. The only downside is that it packs a lot into a slim running time and some adventures are given short shrift or are tonally amiss (and in one case badly-judged). With the dog's past as a killer, when she is triggered by the sight of a Muslim in Middle-Eastern style attire, the incident is played for fun and more or less brushed off. Dog's like this cannot be retrained or broken without a lot of time and care - so this whole section of the film almost topples the film's good will. However, the dog is (three dogs play Lulu) convincing and very winning (said scene ahead), and Channing Tatum is a very easy going lead that delivers the drama and pathos just as well as the comedy here.

5.5 out of 10 - Fun and moving. Predictable and it's a shame about 'trigger' scene as this could have been a 4* out of 5, easy.

Back in the 90s, this was the first made for cinema Steven Seagal starrer to go DTV in the UK. It came out at cinemas around the world but the Brits saw sense to bypass this one, and this is also the one that saw Hollywood call time on this waste of space. With an eco-message years ahead of its time, it still fudged the science... An EDA agent goes to the Appalachian Mtns to uncover big-business skullduggery and 'fish acting weird' and finds himself on the wrong end of Stephen Lang and Kris Kristoffersen's ire.

This is p**s weak, with terrible action scenes (excepting a truck plunging off a deep cliff), a soppy romance, and dopey villains (Stephen Lang is terrible in this).... The fight scenes look like they were made in the edit - its just plain duff and from the school of 'one-at-a-time fighting' on ketamine. It's easy to see why audiences gave up on Steven Seagal as he can't fight, cannot act and even for the 90s, looked very silly.

Crap Down Below 0.5 out of 10

Gaspar Noe is a singular filmmaker continuously pushing technical and tasteful boundaries. There are two versions of ENTER THE VOID on this DVD/Blu Ray, I watched the longer cut screened at Cannes in 2008 or 2009 -> at 2.5 hours+ it is an immersive unique experience - however, I found the first person POV of the first 20 minutes very off-putting and a steep way into the film - once this angle changes the film gets easier to enjoy and follow. You certainly won't see another film as handsome, sonically impressive or neon-soaked as this - but I just didn't click with it because the characters were drug-dealing losers with zero personality.

Sorry.

Imagine a John Carpenter-directed feature-length episode of Cheers cast to the brim full of aged character actors who have been a mainstay of big action films (albeit in supporting roles) and you'll have something resembling VFW. If you like Assault on Precinct 13 and Z-grade schlock done well, then this is for you. Director Joe Begos and his imaginatively assembled cast of actors bring the carnage to great effect and it's never less than entertaining. Led by Stephen Lang (Don't Breathe / Avatar), the old-timers find themselves under siege when a girl with a cache of high-value drugs take refuge inside their 'pub'... They are more than a match for the leather-clad zoned out punks that come in attack waves. The cast features William Sadler (Die Hard 2 / Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey), David Patirck Kelly (The Crow / The Warriors / Twin Peaks), George Wendt (Cheers / House), Fred Williamson (Original Gangstas / From Dusk Till Dawn), and Martin Kove (The Karate Kid / Cobra Kai)... It's so good even though it's very, very predicatable.

American director John Sayles' strangest film The Secret of Roan Inish has a beguiling and spooky storyline. Sadly, any chance of immersion in the enchanting story is scuppered by a lousy child actress (sorry). But I am so tired of watching films ruined by bad child actors. The story of selkies is perfect and the old folk rumours in this are convincing and magical - the acting from all the adults is serviceable to great - look out for real-life brother and sister John & Susan Lynch in important roles. I saw this at the cinema back in the 90s and I didn't mind it, watching it today, it felt old fashioned yet it might have worked with a better lead actress. Also the fiddles and pipes on the soundtrack never relent - it got a bit annoying after a while - however, this was the style of films 25+ years ago.

4 out of 10 - Good story, great atmosphere, terrible child actors

Boiling Point was directed by Philip Barantini, whose previous film, Villain, was an above-average thug-flick starring Craig Fairbrass. It didn't really give us an inkling of what would follow though. In an exciting gear shift the director has given us a one-take drama starring Stephen Graham and many of the cast from Villain, set in an upmarket London restaurant. Events come to a head on several fronts that put the staff under immense pressure and it makes for a stressful, gripping watch. All the cast are excellent and this really shows that low-budget films can be contenders. There are small quibbles but I won't mention them here because they seem churlish to bring up in the face of what this brilliant team has achieved - a one-take movie that makes you forget its gimmick. It's more immersive than theatre and the odd plot-blip aside, Barantini, Graham, and Boiling Point's cast have set the bar high for British independent filmmakers. There's no excuse not to be this good every time.

After The House of a 1000 Corpses and its superior sequel, The Devil's Rejects, this largely moribund sequel is a dead behind the eyes flop. The only interesting aspect to this one is recognising the cast of 'where are they now' actors in supporting roles. There are a few chuckles during the banter between Otis and his brother but they certainly don't carry a two-hour movie like this. Rob Zombie should have quit when he was miles ahead with the great sequel (Devil's Rejects) as this thirdquel committed the worst sin of all, it was boring.

2 out of 10 - Boring sequel with no new ideas :(