Film Reviews by AER

Mogul Mowgli is one of the UK's best films to-date about the being Asian in Britain. It's not a watered down valley of cliche's like The Kumars at No.42 or even My Beautiful Laundrette, this is the real deal. Co-written by Riz Ahmed, this tale of an Hip Hop MC on the rise to fame who unexpectedly falls ill is a bracing ride. The performances by the entire cast are flawless and convincing, however, I wasn't so sure about the narrative's reliance on dreams, flashbacks and hallucinations. These served as a stylish distraction rather than augmenting the story, and they were occasionally disorientating, which is a shame because this film could have stood firm without the need for flashiness. A floral faced man called Toba Tek Singh haunts Riz Ahmed's character too, he would have been way more effective if used more sparingly. Lots of great scenes, and amazing acting bring this through, the flourishes make the needle skip.

PS: I've not seen the Sound of Metal yet (also starring Riz Ahmed), but that one seems to have a very similar plot too.

This deceptively simple comedy does a backflip two-thirds of the way in and gives us food for thought. For the first hour or so, this film presents Don Jon as an unsympathetic, unfunny caricature, but this slips us a sly twist that belies the keen intelligence of the screenwriter, director and actor. It's a smart film that plays dumb. It's not a rule-breaker or worth more than one watch, however, it was interesting in how it made us reassess every single one of the characters. Brie Larson's taciturn sister probably comes off worse when the film begins to evolve into something a little more thoughtful - she's left high and dry as a stupid Silent Bob-style cipher.

It's not often I begin loathing a film and end up having to rethink everything I've seen before. For a modern American comedy this is very good, uneven but good.

This elusive supernatural story avoids answering just about every question I found myself asking as this film progress. It's all tale no twist and the mysteries are left intact come closing time too. It's well-acted, beautiful to look at, but something about failed to drag me into this one further. It's sad because its premise is super intriguing, and would usually be of interest to me - however, it fails to grip, has no internal logic, and ulitmately flops despite offering us viewers something a little difference. All comparisons to M Night Shymalan's The Village are purely cosmetic, however.

A missed opportunity, and a frustrating near miss. And a near miss is still a miss.

Another Country is a classic British movie made in the 80s about the oppression of homosexuality in public schools and hypocrisy and order of life therein. Rupert Everett (THE HAPPY PRINCE) plays Guy Burnett perfectly as the lovelorn teen whose success on graduation is guaranteed. However, his need to express his sexuality isn' t the 'done thing' and it ruffles a lot of feathers which lead to some decisions that will echo throughout his life profoundly. Also starring Colin Firth (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), Cary Elwes (SAW), and a few familiar faces from 80s TV, this would have benefitted from sharing a bit more detail about how Guy Burnett went onto defect to the Soviet Union and why he was being interviewed by a young woman for his story. He explains early on that he cannot 'name names' and that all he can offer is background. Sadly, this renders the bookending story void as the whole film is told in linear flashback making it hard to relate the 80s to the 30s. More spy stuff would have enhanced this otherwise engaging, important movie.

Recommended.

The Painted Bird is a heartbreaking and gruelling movie about the death of humanity as seen and experienced by a young boy. The levels of cruelty meted out on the characters in this film are unbearably sad, you want it all to stop. All I could think about whilst watching it is how the novel (this film is based on) was inspired by witness accounts from the chaos that ensued across mainland Europe during WW2. I also thought about how any of us would manage in these circumstances where life is so cheap and dangerous. Not only does the main character have soldiers to hide from (sometimes they are depicted as the most humane / or kind to the main boy) he also finds evil in the unassuming locals. Familiar faces break the illusion sometimes, often in silent roles (is Harvey Keitel's priest dubbed?) and some of the deaths are terrible (even if the worst one occurs off-screen). Does the film end on a note of hope? Maybe not, but I read it as a moment of understanding, of an accord being reached.

One of the best WW2 movies I've seen since Son of Saul.

5/5

Cop Land could have been a classic. However, it looks like it's had its place in history cancelled by possible reshoots and some brutal editing. This interesting cop drama offers a tantalising prospect by telling the story of the cop the polices the cops at home. Sylvester Stallone places a sad-sack small-town cop who is pressed to act by internal affairs when some serious police corruption comes to light in his neighbourhood. Stallone has rarely been better, matching co-stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro note for note. Ray Liotta's character is a bit pointless and he overacts here slightly as Stallone's only local friend. What this needed was a longer running time to allow the interesting characters some room to breathe, but it looks to me like this got filleted in the editing room. What could have stood head-to-head with Heat, Good Fellas and other 90s classics is a forgotten also-ran due to (suspected) studio interference.

A good try but a frustrating near miss.

It's as if Hollywood (or Wellywood) had the idea of making a film version of the YA series of books about a marauding mobile London rampaging across Europe to echo Brexit. If you look at Mortal Engines this way, it may be fun marking some of the parallels. However, I don't think the makers had the wit; it's difficult to believe that this film has the same pedigree as The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and King Kong (2005) but it does. Although it wasn't directed by Peter Jackson, it was jointly scripted by him and Pip Boyens, and Fran Walsh (probably with the lights off). All the imagination comes from the source material, none of the rest of its constituent parts make an good impression at all.  COmpetent actors struggle to stay awake with a script that is boring, predictable and cheesy, a plot that has no ideas of its own, and it shows that the the cast know that they are playing second fiddle to the SFX. 

The cities on wheels are a great spectacle and the opening chase is very entertaining, beyond that Mortal Engines is flop with few reasons to recommend it. The chink of light in this brown cloud of cack is Stephen Lang's resurrected human character Shrike. This CGI character alone injects the film with an ounce of identity. Like Lord of The Rings, the makers were definitely the most inspired by the most grotesque and complex of characters (Gollum / Shrike are cut from the same cloth).

Spectacle aside, this has no characters, sleepwalking actors, and SFX to fill 10 films. Shame it had no beating heart or an interesting story to tell.

2 out of 5 

This is the land of capes and one-at-a-time fighting! Jiu Jitsu was made slightly more interesting than your average straight-to-video grade actioners by the presence of Nicolas Cage in a supporting role as perhaps movie land's dopiest wise old man - alas there's nothing to see here. Familiar faces like Rick Yune, Frank Grillo and the awesome Tony Jaa are utterly wasted in the Xena - Warrior Princess style mash up of Mortal Kombat and Predator. It's let down by sluggish fight scenes and a script that was written by software bought in a third-world country. It's a shame as films with this little set-up can get away with anything if the fights, the editing and the acting is up to scratch, in Jiu Jitsu, it's not even worth showing up for crazy Cage, all his 'good' bits are in the trailer - all 5 seconds worth.

I wish I could have a sense of humour about this one, but sadly it's a very dull action film. Although quite how the maker's made Tony Jaa look this bad is some kind of accomplishment.

Beyond some occasionally cool visuals and an interesting cast Daniel Isn't Real trades in secondhand tropes and tired plot turns. It's Dr Jekll & Mr Hyde or Fallen (Denzel Washington's one) all over again. The cast are barely present for the first half-an-hour, struggling to make an impact with some troublesome devices that don't make a hell of a lot of sense. I'll leave it other viewers to describe the story as I'm pretty crap at doing that - however I can let you know that cast never seem to settle into their characters and on the whole it strives for gravitas but is nothing but a throwaway :(

Interestingly, this is the first time I've seen Mary Stuart Masterson in a film since the mid-90s. Also the two leads have pedigree, Miles Robbins is the son of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (Look out for the tribute to Jacob's Ladder in the early nightclub sequence), and Patrick Schwarzenegger is....well it's that's obvious. At times, he looks just like his father minus the muscles. With stronger acting, this film could have been better, however, it's a bit of a slog. Disappointing as this could have been brilliant.  A damp squib.

Like its closed-mouthed subjects, Les Miserables is an aggressive, authentic, and lively film. It runs along at a fair clip and is never less than involving. I'd heard comparisons to La Haine, but this is more like Training Day. It follows the first day of a newly-transferred cop (Ruiz) to an inner-city neighbourhood of Paris where he is on the front line. The new guy clashes with his new team and residents made up of immigrants and French people of Algerian, African, and Caribbean descent, and quite quickly a plot emerges where the theft of a lion cub from a gypsy's circus escalates into a siege. It's astonishing and wrought, but doesn't have time to dig too deep into the characters - which is OK - but would have elevated this film even higher.

The confusing comments about the audio tracks/subtitles are nonsense. If you watch it in French there ARE subtitles, why would you want to watch a film dubbed badly into English anyway? The best way is always 'Original' language - then you can see it as it the filmmaker intended. It also develops your speed-reading (LOL)

Hysterically pitched Canadian horror by national treasure David Cronenberg is big on memorable, cool set-pieces and body horror but fails to delve below the surface of its nutty non-characters.

Alex Donnard knows why he was put on Earth, and to the expense of all else, he does all he can to uphold and facilitate that need. Hold up - rewind - he has set up a trust to help benefit those in need of tech in the third world. To do what he does is hard to understand, we can be awed by his achievement but what introspection there is is limited. Like a lot of athletes, it's about what they do and not what they say, so this one was a hard nut to crack. An interesting watch from a sporting achievements POV but no great shakes on the human front.

If you have read Derek Jarman's diaries Modern Nature and Smiling in Slow Motion, Blue is an even richer experience. In the director's words small memories are read out by himself and a small collection of actors against the backdrop of a never-changing blue screen. Nigel Terry, John Quentin, and Tilda Swinton round out the 'readers'. It's a touching, sad and all-too-human documentary and as such is Jarman's masterpiece. Not for everyone, but if you've heard of it, seek it out.

Synchronic has more ideas than a summer's worth of action films, however, it is unfocused and fails to harness the seriously interesting ideas that run throughout its story. Time is a construct, and two paramedics work to unravel a mystery concerning a legal high called Synchronic that gives us a new perspective of experiencing time as a non-linear. It's a shame that the workings of the plot are lumpy and at times difficult to understand the emotional logic. I enjoyed bits but ultimately, it felt frustrating and baggy. It needed a few more drafts to give it more oomph. There was so many ideas vying for attention that some aspects felt rushed and neglected.

Give me noble failures like this any day though compared to the airheaded reboots, remakes and dead sequels.

Comparisons to American Gigolo and Taxi Driver are probably inevitable given that this was also written by director Paul Schrader, however this is more thoughtful and ultimately more human than the former. Detailing an impasse with his routines and the coming-of-age of a drug courier called John Le Tour, we get to know his lonely world and his attempts to connect with those around him. It's a deep film that is very of its time. The soundtrack works as a third narrative strand but it simultaneously pins it that early 90s period of the 80s comedown from excess. Willem Dafoe has never been better in a lead-role to my knowledge and all the female lead roles are strong too, Dana Delaney (where is she now>?) and Susan Sarandon are amazing. This can be seen as a film about luck and the spirit, about time running out and our options as we get older. It's universal. The hopeful ending is perhaps the sweetest you'll ever see in a crime film. Full marks.