Film Reviews by AER

Essentially, Martin Scorses's After Hours is a mad cap film reinterpretation of Franz Kafka's The Trial. It's one of those half-remembered 80s films that got broadcast on late-night TV and you ha;f-remember all through your years, then you track it down to reassess it. the Criterion Collection has blew the dust off Scorsese's strangest film , and I'd say its worth a look even though it's light, annoying, infuriating (like the source material), funny, bonkers, and very 80s. The cast are wonderful in the main, and the ending is a doozy. It's fun to see forgotten counter culture heads like Cheech and Chong show up alongside John Heard,, Linda Fiorentino, Rosanna Arquette and Teri Garr. Griffin Dunne is awesome as the Josef K proxy and some of the set-pieces/non-sequiteurs are very funny. It's slight but if you get it, it's yours for life.

It's very difficult to believe that this craptastic sequel to Fortress was directed by Geoff Murphy who made the New Zealand sci-fi classic The Quiet Earth as well as Goodbye Porkpie and UTU. Even Murphy's Under Siege 2 is a masterpiece compared to this intergalactic alien turd. Nobody makes any effort to elevate this from the z-grade crap it was designed to be. Pity Patrick Malahide and Pam Grier, who rub shoulders with action journeymen like Nick Brimble, Carl Chase and John Sharian. It's hard ot watch in every way. At least Christopher Lambert began to redeem himself by working with the Coen Brothers, Richard Kelly, and Claire Denis more recently in the years since this was made, to show that he can act. But this one is hard to forgive and forget. It even makes the first one look like a lost classic.

Heh heh heh, indeed Monsieur Lambert...

The inventive teaser trailer drew me in, but there's not much to recommend to this prequel to the 70s-80s Horror sequence of films begun by The Omen. One or two set-pieces aside this is too drab and slow to muster much interest. The ending is preposterous and the fiery SFX sub-par. A committed performance from Nell Tiger Free makes this more watchable than it might've been and she is given superb support from Brazilian powerhouse Sonja Braga - otherwise the support is distracting with weird accents and performance choices: hello Ralph Ineson and Bill Nighy. There's a nice cameo by Charles Dance. The pregnancy scene at the halfway mark hits the mark but it's stranded inside a boring and unadventurous film. Coming a week or two behind IMMACULATE with its similar plot, the First Omen has been robbed of some of its purpose. Immaculate was crap too though imo.

Cary Joji Fukunaga's debut is worth a look. Telling a straightforward story about a group of young people trying to escape poverty and gang-life in Central America. Willy is trying to escape his street gang and goes on the run with some Guatemalan refugees who are riding on top of trains to get to the border of the USA. It's very gripping but the plot is very predictable and some turns of the tale are unconvincing. Very watchable however, and you can see that this director was talented from the beginning - Beasts of No Nation and True Detective (S1) being the standouts of his later career - he even directed a James Bond movie (NO TIME TO DIE)!

Like many a horror film, there is a good hook but beyond that the ideas run out. The Curse of La Llorona has an interesting idea of a spectre looking to replace the children she murdered 300 years earlier. Not much makes sense after that - why is it set in 1973 other than to set it alongside other films in the CONJURING universe. Its full of tired jump scares, rote performances, cack CGI, lame acting, and redundant scenes of hide and seek in gloomy rooms. There's nothing new or innovative beyond the backstory in this factory line ghost flick.

Not scary.

Sorry this was a bit flat. I don't think I like Adam Driver as an actor. Most of the time he delivers really boring perfomances and this is another one, slightly compacted by a faintly ridiculous accent. Lines are mumbled too here - however I could hear most of the other performers just fine. Penelope Cruz was excellent but most of the time she was locked away in a parallel part of the film - interacting all too rarely with Enzo Ferrari (Driver). The rest of the supporting cast never really gets a look in: characterisation is as follows: Jack O'Connell as Peter Collins wears funny hats and has a realm of 'jolly hockey-sticks'-type expressions, and Patrick Dempsey's Piero Teruffi likes to smoke cigarettes. The life story itself is quite compelling but this one suffers from a miscast leading man and unclear plotting. I had the same problems with Michael Mann's Miami Vice film - muddy and mumbled. I loved Mann's films like Collateral, Ali, The Insider, Heat, and The Last of the Mohicans... Where is that guy I wonder>?

Flat tyres - 3.5 out of 10

Cuba Gooding jr should have his Oscar confiscated. For his part in this and The Devil's Tomb, he owes me a lot of good will. Hahaha. Backed up by the usually excellent Cliton Collins (who's been left stranded with an appalling script) there is nothing here but warmed up scenes that could've been deleted from Training Day or End of Watch. It's pretty unwatchable as this badly made dirty LA cops movie squanders good actors, a decent score and OK plot. Fans of director David Ayer (Fury / Dark Blue / Sabotage / End of Watch / Training Day (Script)) would do best to avoid this DTV rip-off which centres around an awful central role (how many times can CBjr say Mo Fo in one minute? I counted 41 at one point).

This sh*t is wack. Avoid.

An interesting Australian film about male behaviour and macho lunacy. Donald Pleasance is in a supporting lead and has an interesting line that addresses the main character's initial resistance to the lack of culture. 'What do expect from them, opera?" It's a thrilling, lively, and sometimes shocking film (the kangaroos). One of Ted Kotcheff's very best films and I'm glad it's been restored and made available for us all to watch. Tough going at times, but from my time in Australia, still realistic and relevant as far as behaviour and male toxicity is concerned. Great movie for fans of 70s Australian cinema.

Eye-popping illustration and colours set this apart from the other TMNT reboots. The voice cast are lively and funny - it was the best we could;ve hoped for from the land of the reboot. Holreboot! Cowabunga dood.

Thin and rushed seems to be the bestg two words to describe BOB MARLEY - ONE LOVE. Unlike other recent musical biographies such as Bohemian Rhapsody or Straight Outta Compton this fails to bring the legend of Bob Marley to life regardless of the fine performance by Kingsley Ben-Adir at its heart. It seemed to be a series of thinly written scenes from his life where very little is revealed. Long montage sequences to Bob Marley's greatest hits take up much of the running time. I felt it was a long and boring journey when it should have been inspiring like the man and his music. Dead behind the eyes. Sorry. I and I doesn't even get one love, dread.

It grieves me to say that the late Terence Davies' A Quiet Passion was impenetrable and dull. I loved his early Liverpool films and Of Time and The City but everything else since has left me cold. I'm afraid I couldn't finish this 2 hour trudge of movie about Emily Dickinson. I can usually make it to the end of most films and I hate giving up, but this one defeated me. There was nothing interesting for me. Emily Dickinson (her life and works) is an interesting subject for a film,. but this wasn't the one. RIP Terence Davies' and thank you for The Long Day Closes one of the most beautiful films I'll ever see.

Imaginary builds a strong horror premise and works hard to develop a sense of unease. However, after an effective halfway reveal the storytellers throw the whole story under a bus and it swaps atmospheric slow burn for Freddy Kreuger Dream Warriors territory. There's lots of exposition to get through, and Betty Buckley's character is seemingly only around to spell everything out for us. What began as a show don't tell chiller ends up being a tell at the top of my voice and show too much affair. It's a shame as I was hoping Blumhouse's latest would break a losing streak which includes The Nun II and Afterswim....

3.5 out of 10

Excellent western with horror elements, this gifts fine roles to Kurt Russell (always dependable), Richard Jenkins in particular, evil Matthew Fox, and always boring Patrick Wilson. Some good folk get abducted by feral Native Americans / cannibals who live in a deep dark cave. Loved the character building and the slow burn pace. The violence is creative and effing horrible (gore hounds won't have minded the wait). S Craig Zahler is a fine director, with this, Brawl in Cell Block X, and DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE that's a 3 for 3 winning streak for me. Plus David Arquette steals the show in a supporting role. Also keep a beedy eye out for Sean Young, Michael Pare, and Sid Haig in tiny roles.

In answer to the so-called plothole about Patrick Wilson's rescue - he's says 'the back way'... and even turns off the trail rather than meets the cave/cliff head on. Remember Richard Jenkins saying about reaching somewhere via a perimeter!>?? as a foreshadow? Not a plothole, unless you can question PW's endurance.

One of my fave westerns in years.

This is just about the worst modern superhero film I've ever seen. This is on par with the 90s lame-ohs like The Shadow or The Phantom. Stiff acting, ludicrous plot, log gaps agogo, and one of the worst heroines and villain combos seen in a blockbuster for years. Dakota Johnson plays the part of Madam Web with zero enthusiasm but even she is out-witted by French actor Tahar Rahim as the big bad. He is reduced to a baddie who spouts either exposition or short directives like 'get them' , ' they went that way'. ' They're getting away', 'I have perfected the magic serum'.... It's criminally naff and boring. The worst cinema film of 2024 and it's only March!

Anyone who has spent time in rural Australia has probably had a brush with the contents of this film. Hard, lonely, aggressive men in remote places acting up. And into this world walk too young women to man the local pub. Sparks fliy, men oppress, and behave appallingly. How's it going to end? Excellent performances from Julia Garner (The Assistant), Jessica Henwick (Underwater), Toby Wallace (Babyteeth), Daniel Henshall (The Babadook), and of course Hugo Weaving (The Matrix). At times tense, and always convincing. It has an abrupt ending, I wanted more.