Film Reviews by AER

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.

Unusual low-budget with big stars, Werner Herzog's story of a San Diego murder centres around a convincing and demented turn from Michael Shannon. Having murdered his mother, th emad man holes up in his house taking two mysterious hostages. Sadly, this suffers in the telling, with a fragmented approach that offers events in flashback and from different POVs. At times it's very abstract too. It's a stuttering film that would have benefitted from a straighter approach. I can't fault the acting and the script though. Great to see Udo Kier in a large supporting role.

I really wanted to like Proxima given its interesting concept of an astronaut's relationship with her child as they prepare for a year's separation. A miscast Eva Green plays the astronaut and Matt Dillon is the mission commander. It's filled with plot inconsistencies and a lack of depth. It's a shame that much of this lies on the surface. Matt Dillon is also saddled with a badly-fitted role. His astronaut is sexist and fairly unlikeable. It's a shame as the training exercises are interesting to watch and the hardware is very cool. It's well-made but somehow slight and unconvincing. Shame as the subject matter betrays something a little more interesting.

Intriguing American indie about the rare cultural phenomenon of the broadcast disturbance. A video archivist gets obsessed with finding out the origins of a series of broadcasts breakins that took place in the late 80s and mid 90s. Some brilliant twists along the way, and an air of creepiness. There's something not quite right about the actors though, I couldn't get immersed. And the score was OTT. Interesting but not a groundbreaker.

This very funny story is about a poison pen letter case in 1920s Sussex. It's only when the film occasionally veers away from the humour does it falter. The cast is very funny and it's all very Brit-com. Enjoyable and worth a look if you can handle all the very blue language.

Well I didn't know John Travolta and Stephen Dorff had another good film in them, but this standard crime thriller is very watchable. It's mostly predictable and is largely on the surface this still stands head and shoulders above most DTV films of its type. The director clearly has aspirations to be taken seriously and he has been gifted great performances by the entire cast from Shiloh Fernandez and Kevin Dillon to bit part players. It's way better than I hoped for. Unlike other low-budget films that put all the action in the trailer and really sex it up and misrepresent the goods, this has lots of cool car chases and shoot outs. A diamond in the ruff. Just don't go in expecting originality.

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?