Film Reviews by AER

At least this sequel had a few tricks and twists up its sleeve than Guillermo del Toro's noisy and tedious first film. However, this one is still full of boring non-characters and a crap script to ruin everything, This and never-ending CGI-heavy action sequences. These films would work better as animation movies because as film-real spectacles they don't convince, I mean how could they?

Uninvolving and ridiculous thriller with unlikely plot turns and huge lapses in logic. Nothing makes sound sense when you stop for a minute to recap on what you've just seen. Nothing adds up and it's all for nothing. I hate these kind of thrillers.

One of Disney's biggest ever flops isn't actually that bad. Seen in isolation without any context or outside the release schedule, this unfashionable sci-fi film is very weird and creative. The plot is rather standard but that's perhaps because it's based on a very old book by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The tale of a 18th century explorer who gets teleported to Mars is a very interesting concept - but on the whole the story doesn't offer much new. It's the standard Avatar, Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai style plot of the outsider that leads a lesser tribe against an opressor. Much of the cast are saddled with thankless support roles / voice work pity the mighty Art Malik as a bumped-up extra in one short scene. Lots of the scenes are action packed and there's lots to look at - it's fun but it's not very memorable.

I am laughing at how the other reviewer took this film so literally. Besides that, this movie is a lot of fun - it follows a bored psychiatrist that meets a completely insane red head and follows his lead just for kicks. After pointing him at a few situations to get the mad man out of his shell, the psychiatrist both joins in the mayhem and takes a back seat to see what will happen next. It's a road movie of sorts that takes you to some messed up places. The ending is great. I'd never heard of this film before and I can't even remember adding to my cinema paradiso list. I've already recommended it to my ginger mates.

With strong female leads,THE END WE START FROM is loose-limbed like the book it's based upon. The crisis of the world in peril is seen sparingly and abruptly in the background and this makes the film more interesting than many of the pack of end of the world movies and TV shows doing the rounds. Strong performances make up for a simple and thin plot throughline. This more abstract and painterly than other films in the genre, yet I found it was all the more effective for it. There's food for thought here, but it needed to be louder and a bit more dramatic to be memorable and hit home more astutely with it's world in peril message.

I saw GO back when it was released at the cinema and I thought it was great. All these years later I decided to revisit it. Of course, it's dated, very of its time but the sheer levels of comedic mayhem and the wrought script make this worthwhile, still. The superb cast keep you glued to the screen - and it's interesting to see actors who were hot and upcoming at the time - Sarah Polley and Timothy Olyphant are probably the most prolific (still) these days as many have faded from view for various reasons like Katie Holmes for instance. Special mention to William Fichtner as a very creepy cop who comes top of the pile in a real rogues gallery of brilliant movie characters. It's very 90s but hey, I don't mind.

Fast-paced, very funny, dated humour at times, and entertaining after all these years. Was this Doug Liman's second film as director after Swingers?

I enjoyed this American romcom a lot more than I thought I would. The first 90 minutes or so is very funny, with some funny twists and turns. I was almost thinking of it as a romantic version of Magnolia or Todd Solondz's Happiness. The cast is great and the script very sharp, however, the last 20 minutes resorts to crass formula where characters conform to cliche and it all goes a bit corny and limp (and vaguely creepy in more than one plot strand). So whilst this is better than the majority of American comedies, I wish it had kept its nerve and its sweetness to go the distance. There's also too many plotholes for this to be fully effective - it would've been better to leave a few plotthreads untied...

Close but no cigar my friend. Corny, creepy vs funny and sharp....

I vaguely remember when this came out on the cinema and I really wanted to see it - I think I may have seen it sometime over the years but I can't remember. I think this is possibly Sam Raimi's worst film by a long chalk. Bad SFX (even for the 80s), a terrible script, lazy plot, very very bad acting from everybody concerned, even the cat. If you are looking for evidence that Comic Book Superhero Movies were once written off as crap then look no further - this is Exhibit A. Even the worst MCU/DC isn't as bad as this. Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, and Colin Friels have never been worse. Only Larry Drake is worth a look, as well as a cool Bruce Campbell walk-on at the end.

Very sh*t.

For the first half, Argylle is very entertaining and fun to watch. However a twist around the halfway mark bins anything interesting and sets a course towards generic SFX-laden action. Not all is lost though, a few action sequences stand out but on the whole, this could've been way better if it stuck to its guns and knew where its strengths lay. Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard and Bryan Cranston are all good, so the most undemanding viewer might find some things to enjoy.

5 out of 10

Perhaps one of the finest films about Auschwitz. It's a question of what makes us a monster and what makes us human - and that its possible to be both. It's an astonishing film that everyone should see and all the more pertinent given the current political climate. 10/10

One of the most effective ghost stories I've ever seen. Well-plotted, unpredictable, short and very scary when it needs to be. I've seen this twice now and it was even better on second viewing. It has way more invention than ten Blumhouse movies. Shame this is virtually unknown and low budget but it needs to be seen. Very effective chiller. 10/10

PS Crappy title though.

Beautiful film that makes you appreciate life. Sad and thoughtful. Recommended, just don't try to 'logic' the plot out of existence. Great performances all round.

I've never seen a bad Ken Loach film before; I've seen boring Ken Loach films but never a bad one, that is until today. This culture clash love affair contains a great performance by Eva Birthistle but sadly its stranded in a film full of melodramatic twists and turns. It's about as subtle as a brick and the story fails to convince not because of how the families react to the relationship between and an Irish Catholic and a Glaswegian Muslim but how the pair react to eachother. They characters aren't developed enough for my liking, all they do is argue about religion and they don't even seem to like one another all that much. It fails to sell that the central couple are in love. So everything else falls down around it. Disappointing because this tale has been told with more conviction and cohesion elsewhere.

I happened upon this by chance when it was reviewed in the pages of Total Film mag some time ago - so it sat in my list for yonks. An upcoming trip to Hong Kong made me want to take a look at it. I don't think this saw a cinema release in the UK back in 97 - 98 so it completely passed me by. Something of a lost classic, it's been released after a restoration in 2017 by Eureka for their masters of cinema series. I really enjoyed the characterisation by the actors, particularly the lead trio. I also liked the style of the movie. Somewhat rough and ready with it's handheld moves, yet shots were framed with innovation and care, yet they didn't jolt you out the story. It gets quite melodramatic towards the end but somehow it all fits as the main guy is a drama queen anyway. Very funny at times, thrilling or sad in others, MADE IN HONG KONG deserves its reputation as one of Hong Kong cinema's hidden treasures.

The fourth instalment in the Undisputed film series sees one-time bad guy Yuri Boyka take centre stage. The fights are accomplished if not a little bit repetitive and the storyline is staight out of TV's The Equalizer or The A-Team with a Russian slant. The acting is above average, but the script is pedestrian and the drama scenes too cliched to offer anything but undemanding cinema. This is only 1 star because the scale is 1 to 5.... I would give this 2.5 out of 10 because Scott Adkins is a great performer and a decent actor.

Undemanding 4