Film Reviews by AER

amateur hour - this film feels like somebody's played a very bad joke on you. don't waste your time. warning - this contains lethal-strength Jon-Paul Gates.

Oversimplified yet muddled cop thriller that badly wants to be an action film. Swapping conversation for endless gun battles, 21 Bridges doesn't short change on the set-pieces, however, it's a bit empty above the neck. A muddled plot which champions the hard working ethics of the police, yet presents 9 out of 10 as corrupt drug dealers is a hard sell. Well acted, the script is largely cornball, and Chadwick Boseman (in the lead role) struggles to convince here, whereas he's pretty much owned every other role I've seen him in (42, Get On Up, Black Panther). It's alright but this makes Den of Thieves look like Heat.

If you grew up loving Hip Hop like I did in the 1980s then Beat Street was VHS rarity. In the UK there were zero video shops that stocked this. So the most accessible way to get into this was via the accompanying LPs - VOL 1 & 2. Now, the story is throwaway, the script basic and the acting a bit ropey, but if you want to see what Hip Hop was really like in the 1980s watch this or Wild Style for a dash of authenticity. The breaking is world class in it and features the Rocksyeady Crew and NYC Breakers. On the music tip, you got Melle Mel & The Furious 5, Us Girls (Queen Lisa Lee, Debbie D, Sha-Rock), Jazzy Jay, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force (feat. Shango), Tina B, The System, Wanda Dee and so many others... It's as 1980s as it gets but if you want to see just how much Hip Hop has evolved from it's street origins - take a peak at this.

This peculiar Australian film from the mid 1990s fails to get under the main characters' skin. However, with better characterisation and more sympathetic editing this could have been a compelling drama - thriller. Set in Papua New Guinea, Jack (TCHEKY KARYO - BAD BOYS) and his new wife Kay (RACHEL GRIFFITHS - MURIEL'S WEDDING) live in a rural community where they mix with the natives and a few rough ex-pats. Jack's former wife, Rose died under mysterious circumstances. After a few incidents see him begin to unspool it becomes apparent to her that Jack is playing out his marriage all over again with her in the Rose role. Things turn murderous when she realises that she is effectively his prisoner and there's no one who can help. The plot is as muddy as the river in the film and the actors splash around unconvincingly until the mystery of Rose's death becomes apparent and Jack finally flips.

An interesting back drop and location make this just about watchable, but mostly it's a botch best forgotten. Director John Hillcoat went on to make much better films after this like THE PROPOSITION and LAWLESS...

Turgid, muddled and badly scripted.

Flat, amateurish Welsh horror movie. This a sequel to an unreleased movie called Cleaver - Rise of the Killer Clown. This has an amateur cast strangling Kansas accents who have a talent for sucking the air out of any scene that ended up in this unfinished s**tfest. Awful acting which required everybody to speak really slowly - like broken autocue slowly - and move even slower. Packed with more cliches than a James Cameron film festival, this is a sub-student film workout which was probably fun to make but was an absolute chore to watch. Viewing films like this is a lonely experience and I really should stick to films I know are gonna be good. I should be able to sniff t**ds like this a mile-off. Two of the cast are regulars for director Andrew Jones who is similarly bad. There must be something bad in the water in South Wales as there aren't any good films coming out of South Wales these days. Sad, unscary, unfunny clown slasher flick. If you want a bad clown movie that is at least a little bit watchable seek out Clown Kill.

Who remembers Geordie filmmaker Mike Figgis? Well, this was one of his earliest films (possibly his first American film) and it had an intriguing plotline about an architect whose past is linked to cast-iron department store building. On the verge of being demolished by a friend the architect becomes obsessed with preserving it and becomes embroiled in a murder that happened at the store decades before. He also has designs on his friend's photographer wife.

This is definitely style over content. Derailed by stilited performances and very poor dialogue, the premise for this potentially good mystery-noir is squandered. Memorable locations and set-pieces brought me back all these years later to see if I was too young to understand it when it was released back in early 1992. But in fact it was just as ponderous, poe-faced and silly as it was back in the day. it stars lots of forgotten 90s stars like Kevin Anderson (SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY), Pamela Gidley (TWIN PEAKS - FIRE WALK WITH ME), Kim Novak (VERTIGO), Anne Lange, Catherine Hicks (CHILD'S PLAY), Graham Beckell (LA CONFIDENTIAL) and an early lead from Bill Pullman (INDEPENDENCE DAY).... (not including BP in my list of forgotten stars here.) Director Mike Figgis would get better with practice - LEAVING LAS VEGAS and ONE NIGHT STAND are great. But where is he now???

Fun thriller of the kind that was on UK cinemas every week back in the late 90s - early 2000s. Good to see David Tennant hamming it up as a nutso woman abducter square off again Robert Sheehan. Too many plotholes and stupid moves by the main characters will have you shouting at the TV, and the ending was preposterous. Still we don't watch films like this to educated ourselves - it did what is said on tin. It passed the time nicely and won't tax anybody's brains. Nice product placement of Quick Lime! LOL

Man so many filmmakers are playing with dollies these days. The mini homunculous who looks like Willem Dafoe has returned to wreak havoc in slow motion alongside Lee Bane's Toymaker. These films are notable for their lack of special FX, suspense, good acting or anything to reason to recommend them. Probably the worst in the cycle so far but that's very feint praise. You could watch it to laugh at the bad Russian accents and Lee Bane's really hilarious old man make up. This is low-budget filmmaking at its worst. Cheap and terrible. But 5 films in and Robert is still going strong. Someone out there must be watching these.

All three sequels are forgettable and I only saw the newest one last night. I keep on going back for more but the magic of the first MIB is beginning to look like a fleet footed ghost that cannot be bottled up and sold again and again. Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones came back for two more sequels but were wise to give this new one the swerve as its attempts at invention and fun fall flat again and again. Maybe, I'm getting too old for MIB but if films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Logan can draw me then this has missed a giant trick.

See the cinema paradiso review because I essay my thoughts better an I agree with his thoughts. I will add though that the character keep on referring to H's (Chris Hemsworth) former glory days, that he's coasting and that the joy has gone. It's almost as if they are talking about the acotr himself who looks stoned and very bored. Tessa Thompson is too vapid to make much of an impression, her origin story and rise to the top of the ranks is faster than a Rocky montage on fast forward and you never get to know her.

It's a shame that MIB 4 is a throwaway as bits come to life and are actually quite charming but it soon becomes apparent that this is a cynical money spinner in this dead blockbuster period of boring cookie-cutter sequels / reboots / remakes / undercooked CGI BBQs. This one gave me a belly ache. Still it's nowhere near as bad as the MIB rip-off RIPD.

Negligible but young teens may well like it.

An unflinching portrayal of life on the streets. A gay street hustler, Michel, finds himself imperilled an a cycle of increasingly dangerous situations with his sex clients. He also learns that his health is rapidly deteriorating and despite his best intentions and ways to live an alternative safer and healthy life present themselves we learn the truth about what Michel really wants.

This is one of the best French films about being human and living at the far reaches of society. It's a bracing, sexually explicit, and ultimately engrossing tale about choice. I loved it, but I found some of the sex scenes near the bone for my tastes - it's full on.

Tapping into our modern day fears - this is the cinema of unease rather than the dumb jumpscare-a-minute horrors that take up space in the cinemas. Creepy rather than scary, this dials up the terror slowly and before you know where you are you are ensnared as the characters. Midsommar is the horror of 2019 (so far). I think it's better than Ari Aster's debut Hereditary too which is surprising. The director has definitely aced the 'difficult' second film test here by developing his style into something more consistent and utterly convincing.

Clues are all around as you wonder what will become of a girl (who's overcoming a tragedy) and here 4 male friends who travel to Sweden to be the guests at a mysterious pagan worship ceremony. That's all I'll say - and I will say, go in to the film with as little information as possible - it's so much better enjoying this film cold and ignorant.

Horror perfection.

A neat idea and a cool twist in the tale is undermined by a poor script and Logan Marshall Green doing a 'Nicolas Cage'. Finding himself at the centre of a conspiracy after his techy wife is murdered and he has been left paralysed - he is enhanced with a top-secret gadget that calls itself Stem. Stem has the power to operate his body and mind at any time (with his permission). The AI helps our hero solve his wifes murder and his own hospitalisation. The fights with a series of enhanced goons are gory and eyecatching. The film looks the part as its set in the near future and all the sets look excellent. The mood is bolstered by a very atmospheric soundtrack that works - it's a shame the performances are too broad and the plot has some unbelievable plot holes and logic gaps. So all in all - it seemed like it needed a better script and smarter actors. It's a good idea squandered and the rush towards it's great conclusion is like watching someone dying to tell you a secret but buggering up the facts as the lay the foundations of the story down.

Interesting but really flawed.

Fun and bittersweet tale of friendship found in strange places. An ageing female impersonator Jack (DERREN NESBITT) and stand up comedian makes friends with a gender-fluid singer, Faith (JORDAN STEPHENS) at the Brighton revue bar where they both work. When Jack is told that he has 6 weeks left to live, they embark on a mssion to live life to the full and make amends for past mistakes. Sounds a bit soppy but this satin puppy has sharp teeth. Rage against the dying of the light.

The only downside was the misjudged, abrupt ending, and a penchant by the maker for montage sequences to really bad music (that probably took up 10 minutes of the slim running time). It needed to be longer and do these great characters even more better justice. Derren Nesbitt and Jordan Stephens are superb - so good. And there's a lovely cameo by Lucy-Jane Quinlan as an exotic dancer.

Recommended if you like character pieces. Very moving but you may well feel robbed by the lopped off ending.

5.5 out of 10

This is really Cain and Abel retold in the East End - on this outing we see mad dog Scott Adkins square-off against his toe-rag criminal brother,(Lincoln (geddit?)), played by the solid and reliable Craig Fairbrass. Cain (Adkins) went to jail for nearly 10 years and has run the gauntlet of daily deadly fights. When he finds out that his brother has sponsored a hit on him he sets about planning a jailbreak. This culminates in him taking Lincoln's gang hostage in a grotty pub HQ. The dialogue in Avengement is poor and the plot predictable, but such is the energy of the fantastic leads and the cool fight scenes (very gory) that this stand head and shoulders above many other low-budget British gangster/action flicks (that usually star Adkins anyway).

This is directed with flair by frequent Adkins collaborator Jesse V Johnson (GREEN STREET 2 / TRIPLE THREAT / ACCIDENT MAN) and it's a fun quickie for fans of basic action. Scott Adkins pushes himself here by trying a bit of character acting on for size (for once) and it's a success. One of the best new DTV actioners to come out of England in recent years.

Co-starring Nick Moran, Thomas Turgoose, Kierston Wareing and Leo Gregory.

Swinging Safari is an unfunny madcap comedy with some great actors in. Stephan Elliott (A FEW BEST MEN / QUEEN PRISCILLA / FRAUDS) is a wildly inconsistent director who has made a string of nutty, commercial movies for nearly 30 years and this is pretty much the worst yet. Guy Pearce heads an ensemble of wooden child actors who have to carry much of the weight. With better performances, a less frantic pace and a funnier script this could have been pretty good but it has nothing to recommend it. Everybody in the adult cast is capable of way better things.

Set in the 1970s three families who live on the same street have an orgy (the adults) whilst the kids attempt to make a homemade sequel to Jaws when a dead whale washes up at the local beach. I got about 30 minutes in and gave up. I love Australian cinema but sometimes you will find a film that's a 'bit much'. It's bold, loud, shouty and unfunny - I won't say the obvious.

There are heaps of great Australian films that remain unreleased in the UK, how the *(&$ did Swinging Safari make it out?!?