Film Reviews by AER

This one exploits ill feelings toward the youth of time (2007-2008) trumpeted in some of more conservative and fear-mongering newspapers. A pretty couple go to a reservoir for some quality time and find themselves hounded by a bunch of chavs lead by Jack O'Connell. It taps into very real fears that speaking out can get you into situations where you are physcially out of your depth. Very quickly things violently escalate and events propel themselves towards a horrible open-ending. In an increasingly segregated right-wing UK this film pre-empted the siren call to stay in our lane, ot this is what will happen to you.

Nice early film for Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O'Connell, and Thomas Turdgoose.

How can a film that tries to up the ante on Jaws fail to be at all thrilling? I don't know, but Shark Night did everything wrong. Bad SFX (that were 3D in cinemas), terrible characterisation, unconvincing kill scenes, and ridiculous baddies. I've seen some of the cast in other films (sometimes good films) but David R Ellis of Snakes on a Plane and Final Diestination (sequels) fame doesn't deliver on one single promise. This is dead in the water. More sharks less horror. How did that happen? Joshua Leonard from the Blair Witch Project has a supporting role and he's terrible (is it his fault?) - Blair Witch should have kept him under wraps.

Toothless.

The only good thing about Screamers 2 is the creature FX. The only person capable of acting in this film shows up for under 10 minutes at the ending (Lance Henriksen - Falling, Aliens, Dead Man). Everything else just serves to make the so-so original (starring Peter Weller) feel like a masterpiece. Stealing from films such as Aliens, and Starship Troopers this has no ideas of its own. All interest has been cribbed from the first film, and the twists are well-telegraphed. It's badly acted, poorly plotted and populated by characters who make verrrrry stupid and erratic decisions. Why Lance Henriksen signed on to appear in this bog-blocker is anyone's guess (even his lines are dyslexic) - 'If he killed himself, it wasn't suicide...' huh? I doubt anyone will ever read this review, because there are about 4 people on earth that know this film exists (even the cast don't know it exists) - so I leave this review as a lone probe into internet space hoping someone picks up my signal... It reads - 'don't watch this!' It's all second hand parts.

1 out of 10 - rusty

So many friends have asked me over the years 'have you seen Hot Rod? It's soooo hilarious!' My friends are sometimes right, sometimes they are wrong. They were kinda right this time, it was hilarious but for other people. It had it's moments but mostly I wasn't moved. I did like the co-c-c-cool beans and some of the more surreal aspects of it though, like the kickboxing sandwiches.

To OTT for me, like torrtally dood. Funky Fresh.

This full-length version Thanksgiving based on Eli Roth's fake trailer made for Grindhouse (2007) isn't as inventive as the trailer made out, or half as gross-out as the 'original'. Grafted to a standard revenge template, this features teens vs a masked murderer who in the run up to Thanksgiving has a axe to bury in people's heads. The killer is very easy to pin in this whodunnit and it runs it's rails very close to the style and tone of the Scream films. It's very watchable but offers nothing new, where in fact it could've been more creative based on what the fake trailer (and it's own trailer) promised us. Where was Michael Biehn from the fake trailer! Wish he'd have been in it. Instead we got Patrick Bateman this time around.

Thanksfornothing.... :)

By far, Saw 7 - The Final Chapter is the worst of the sequels. It's only a bit better than SPIRAL (Chris Rock's fan-made spin-off). It ends up chasing its tail creating polt holes galore in its wake. What promised to sew up the original run of films forever just left us with more impossible questions to answer. The return of key played Dr Gordon (Cary Elwes) is a waste of time and doesn't add any intrigue and there's no reason for Hoffman's endless psychotic bloodbath. Vol.7 killed the franchise of with bad acting, no new ideas and a thin plot. Jigsaw was better (purer) and Saw X was something of a return to form after the low points of 5, 6, and 7 (maybe 8) and SPIRAL....

Saw bore

Sadly, I'm going to follow the crowd and agree by saying a potentially great idea is squandered by a (usually) talented cast. Watching the one-at-a-time line delivery of the actors (at times) was excruciating. It was a film of unfunny monologues and lame twists. It was like a fanmade LOCK STOCK and TWO SMOKING BARRELS - no flare, no verve, no feeling for quality or entertainment value. The standout was the stalwart Tim McInnerny, but even he was wasted. I stuck it through to the ending but I regret it.

Lousy.

This was a very solid movie bolstered by great acting and an interesting story. Unconvincing plot turns marred the narrative: a black cop turns a blind eye and lets them escape at one point, they run out of petrol twice - 1st time a ride shows up right away on a lonely road, 2nd time, they come across a filling station at the exact right moment, - other tiny contrivances scupper what could have been more interesting if the random nature of life had led the way. Can't fault the acting and it was watchable, raising awareness of how different the USA and the UK are in some respects but all too similar in others.

A poignant tale of a woman who longs to see a mulberry tree that stood on her family's plot of land. It is the only living thing in her family that stood against the expulsion of her family and so many others from their homes in Palestine when the Balfour Declaration came into effect. Since childhood Fadia has lived in a permanent refugee camp over the border in Lebanon, just 15 minutes from her old village but she is unable to cross the border. It's a sad tale, one full of wistfulness and hope. Fadia makes friends with a British documentary filmmaker who sets off in search of her tree with very little concrete fact to go on.

There is also an interesting parallel story of birdwatchers and wild migratory birds who have no need for borders.

Interesting, heavy emotions, and worth a look to see a very human story to focus on as Israel and Palestine are at war in 2023.

This Guy Ritchie film is needlessly complicated. The framing of a simple revenge tale isn't the only thing that scuppers this potentially interesting Jason Statham starrer; what also ruined it is a poor script, flat characters and a miscast Statham. Nothing convinced me and everything felt laboured. The action sequences were slick but you had to wait 90 minutes for anything thrilling to happen. None of the cast seemed comfortable with a ropey script, I pitied Josh Hartnett who is just terrible in this. Eddie Marsan and Andy Garcia both struggle with weird accents too. So there's not much to say except the makers decided to build a maze in the middle of a very common or garden plot. Needed a better script and better performances (actors) for this to have worked. Even Den of Thieves and Ambulance were way better than this. PS: Wrath of Man was robbed of a cinema release in the UK because of the Covid epidemic...

This came out during Nicolas Cage's wilderness years that began with Bangkok Dangerous and ended around the time Jiu Jitsu came out. A few blips aside like JOE and BAD LIEUTENANT 2, NC's films were largely toilet duck. This stands head and shoulders above many of NC's films including the recent Renfield and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and I'm sad I ignored it all these years thinking it was wack (like Sorcerer's Apprentice or Willy's Wonderland). This psychedelic revenge flick is aces - high is style and contains great performances. An interesting cast including Linus Roache (son of Ken Barlow from Corrie) and Andrea Riseborough. I loved the cameo from Bill Duke (PREDATOR) too! Inspired, f***** horrible, and brings something original to a well-worn plot model. A bit slow paced for action / horror fiends perhaps but I wasn't at all troubled by that.

8 out of 10 - Horrrrrrrible.

Talk To Me comes with a lot of hype as 2023's most inventive and scary horror film. Whilst it's an effective chiller with a good degree of momentum to its plot, it doesn't have much to offer that I haven't seen elsewhere. Essentially, this is OUIJA in Australia. Unsympathetic and stupid characters populate Talk To Me, and there are a few plot holes which made me wonder, what's so special about this one? It's more gory than scary too. Mind you, if you're after a fast moving horror on a Saturday night, you can do a lot worse.

5 out of 10

Christopher Nolan definitely got better at making films (to state the obvious). I've seen a lot of low-budget British indie films and this is MOR when compared to some gems out there. It's taken me a long time to come and seek out Following, I'm glad I've seen it. Great end twist aside this is let down by uncertain and flat performances from a game cast. A curio nonetheless but pretty poor. There were quantum leaps made in quality when compared to Nolan's next film, Memento.

How he got a shot in Hollywood based on Following is a mystery, as it really isn't anything special.

2 out of 10

Set-bound with theatre-style acting of the broader kind, The Outfit suffers from uncertain performances, strange continuity errors, and a wordy script. Mark Rylance leads an interesting ensemble of American and British actors (with shakey American accents), and whilst it is watchable, it is essentially a filmed stage play. It's not remotely cinematic and the twisty plot isn't at all convincing or plausible. Characters stand around listening to others villainous or moral reasons for their motivations when a fast gun would have made it all a bit easier to swallow. I'm not a fan of Mark Rylance (who overracts) or Johnny Flyyn (who's always a bit wooden), so I found them distracting. Also Zooey Deutch's role was thin, and she was miscast. Sorry, I love period gangster movies but this one didn't work.

3.5 out of 10

Patricio Guzman's potentially fascinating documentary that blends subjects as wides as the extraterrestrial origins of water, Pinochet's reign of murderous terror, and the genocide against Chile's indigenous tribes of the South over the centuries. As a gateway to gleaning stories and information, The Pearl Button is a good start but at an hour and 18 minutes long, this packs too much in and you only get a mood flavour as opposed to a focused message.