Reviews

Chaplin's little tramp inadvertently ends up working for the circus initially as a clown. It is run by a sadistic boss who frequently hits the beautiful young girl Chaplin now has his eye on.

This was apparently a very difficult shoot as Chaplin's mother died, the negative was essentially ruined requiring reshoots and the press now kept highlighting Chaplin's penchant for young girls, one of whom he married at 16, and was now divorcing him. It is therefore to the auteur's credit that this all ends up with a good number of very clever and funny scenes - best scenes inside and out of the hall of mirror.

Whilst Chaplin was without doubt a clever man and I found much of what he did very funny, I have never entirely understood this near godlike veneration felt by so many - my loss I guess. Hence, on the downside there maybe a metaphor for something here, who knows, who cares, plus I never cared for the syrup and the same twee self indulgent romances that bubbled up in everything he did, including here. Worth it for the laughs though.

Wannabe sleuth Miranda Green (Mischa Barton) is invited along with 5 others to an island owned by a reclusive billionaire. The owner cannot apparently attend due to being fogged in elsewhere, but the group are looked after by the staff. When one of them is murdered, Miranda uses her skills to try to work out who did it.

As to the cleverness of the whodunnit, this is not much better or worse than many others. What distinguishes this though is the childish script, an almost entire absence of acting ability and a clumsy attempt by Americans to try to make everything seem very British a la Agatha Christie, including people saying 'old bean'. Passes the time, but still largely awful.

5 women embark on a company team building exercise, backpacking for 3 days into the forest. However only 4 return and a search is quickly launched for the 5th, Alice, played by the excellent Anna Torv. Enter detective Falk (Eric Bana) who needs to find Alice as she has been working undercover in the company for Falk in an attempt to expose fraud by bad guy Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh).

Sequel to 'The Dry', which whilst not as good as the original is still an enjoyable watch. What director Robert Connolly does is to almost seamlessly intertwine Falk's investigation with flashbacks to what the group did. In most films this is done in large chunks, but here it moves more quickly, neatly shifting from one timeline to the other merging them into one. The 5 women make for a good team playing nicely off each other, mixing truth and lies to Falk and us, with Bana solid and sincere, thinking back to backpacking in his youth which lead to a tragedy and Roxburgh, ideal as the cocky slime ball. Worth catching.

Hitchcock 'thriller' come courtroom drama has top barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) hired to defend Maddalena Paradine (Alida Valli) who is accused of murdering her blind husband. Happily married to Gay (Ann Todd), Keane becomes obsessed with Mrs Paradine putting a considerable strain on his marriage.

Not a success and stories abound about the casting with many parts taken by actors Hitchcock didn't want, plus there was apparently a considerable amount of studio interference from David O Selznick who even contributed to the wordy, dull script. The result is quite a mess, albeit because of a few trademark touches by Hitchcock, still watchable, just. Peck is all wrong and plays the role as a fool and a bore, Valli is playing Greta Garbot - who was offered the part and Judge Charles Laughton plays a strangely unpleasant yet pointless role along with a needless and brief turn by Ethel Barrymore as his long suffering wife. Newby Louis Jourdan isn't bad, neither is Charles Coburn, but Ann Todd is easily the best actor on show.

The trouble is, the story as a whole is a long, disjointed mess. Where it's going regarding guilt or innocence is pretty obvious from the get go, but mostly all the relationships don't stack up with the result that you have a problem marriage story, an unconvincing infatuation and a thriller that fails to thrill. Not one of Hitchcock's best.

The appallingly sadistic murder of a young girl on her way home from a friends one night, leads to a detailed investigation which takes years out of the life of lead detective Yohan Vivès (Bastien Bouillon) and his team. Whilst there are numerous suspects, largely taken from the girls many ex lovers, most who seem to have strange obsessions and / or criminal record, no proof can be found leading to a huge frustration within the team - as the opening remarks suggest, there is always that one case that eats away at you.

Immensely absorbing detective procedural thriller in the vein of Joon-Ho's 'Memories or Murder' and Fincher's 'Zodiac' where the inability to find the culprit for such a nasty, seemingly motiveless crime affects the police involved deeply both in their personal lives and with the general frustration of not succeeding. The performances are incredibly believable, particularly from Bouillon as the young cop in charge, but also notably from Bouli Lanners as the grizzled, seasoned cop whose marriage is collapsing during the investigation. You get thoroughly dragged into this story even somehow willing the team to find the elusive clue which will put the killer away. Gripping stuff.

Jim Cummings plays Jordan Hines, an ambitious, outspoken, extremely wired and deeply confused ex alcoholic Hollywood agent who is days away from getting married. One day he receives a letter inviting him to a confidential, no strings sexual encounter, which he accepts. Thereafter the mystery of who he was with (he had to wear a mask) and the potential threat he is faced with drives him around the bend and he set out to discover who has organised this. Meanwhile users of the service are being killed and prompting suicide when their indiscretions are discovered.

Whether you enjoy this so called dark satire on Hollywood is obviously a matter of taste, however it's unlikely you'll forget it in a hurry. The script and subsequent editing operate at a million miles an hour supported perfectly by a bizarre performance by Cummings, playing an even more bizarre, unhinged character. A lot of it is fun - I wouldn't call it funny, but you come away transfixed by the notion that such people might exist in Hollywood and why haven't they been murdered yet. Unique, somewhat amusing if not altogether fulfilling.

Major Charles Rane (William Devane) returns home from a Hanoi prisoner of war camp after seven years, a local hero. He was tortured relentlessly and is now having difficult acclimatising to the town he left, a wife who thought him dead and a son who can't remember him. When a group of thugs breaks into his home and tortures him and then kills his wife and son, he is not best pleased and goes in search of them.

Writer Paul Schrader has done many films in the man standing alone / a man's gotta do etc mould and this is one of those. Devane, who sadly, too briefly tinkered with A list stardom is excellent as the cool, reserved, but is he crazy, guy out for revenge. There is good support from Linda Haynes as the tart with a heart who clings to Devane and Tommy Lee Jones is solid as his army pal, long before the actor started chewing the scenery. It's a sometimes strange mixture of trying to unscramble what's going on in Devane's bitter and closed to the world mind and shades of the crassest Death Wish films. A typical revenge film then with something of a touch of class - apparently a Tarantino favourite.

French drama with three men pursuing legal and church justice as well as media exposure in seeking the prosecution and defrocking of the Catholic priest who sexually abused the men when they were small boys.

Sharply written, this comes across as realistic and believable and whilst the damage caused to the men's lives is obvious, the film cleverly avoids obvious melodramatic traps. This is also extended to the character of the priest who is portrayed somewhat sympathetically, who confesses his sins at the outset and is sorry for his crimes - this clearly does not though invalidate the crime or the men's quest.

The three men, each very different, wants to pursue the priest in different ways but come together to challenge both the priest and the church and it is here that the villains are drawn out with Cardinals, church infrastructure and indeed Catholic Church goers more intent on saving the church and brushing everything under the rug, rather than punishing and acknowledging their great sins. It really does boil the blood which of course is the intention. A good script, gently crafted, it remains tense and annoying.

Tye Sheridan is Ollie Cross, a rookie paramedic who has joined the service to help people. He is assigned to work alongside cynical veteran Gene played by Sean Penn and soon discovers that he now lives in a difficult, dark and unforgiving world.

Whilst Sheridan is really good here and Penn as grizzled and hypnotic as ever, this is a hard film to watch. It is relentlessly grim with the couple moving around in a world of drug addled, angry, deprived and often violent people largely ungrateful for any help. The duo move from one gut wrenching societally badged incident to another, slowly wearing Sheridan's idealistic character as well as the audience, down. It is perfectly watchable, but without the slightest shift in pace and tone which remains harrowing throughout, the message eventually wears a bit thin and results in a rather overly dramatic and then rather twee and cliched conclusion.

The message here is clearly life is hell and if you have to live in New York make sure you have plenty of money and medical insurance.

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is injured on one of his equalising missions and is taken in by a doctor in a small, beautiful seaside town in Italy. As he recovers he grows to like the place and its people, but realises that the mafia are looking to expand operations there and are making life extremely unpleasant for the locals

More enjoyable than the second film, it is really rather good fun and not without some little tension watching brooding Washington stare at the thugs that come to town causing trouble, deciding exactly when he'll do what he does best. It certainly takes its time, allowing him to love the town more and more, but when they do press his buttons too much, inevitably it's all gets nicely messy. What helps here is that black and white hats are spot on for this type of thing with the townsfolk all very nice Cinema Paradiso types and the baddies unshaven, tattooed young sadistic shouty things all dressed in black with little sense. Good fun.

Jerry Seinfeld directs and stars as Bob in the extremely made up story of the creation of Kelloggs' Pop Tarts. Suffering from competition from Amy Schumer's rival cereal company, Bob hires a number of improbable characters including NASA nutritionist Melissa McCarthy, to create a new breakfast treat which doesn't require milk, something the milk people are not pleased about.

It is rare these days to find a comedy that is just plain silly and riddled throughout with daft jokes and a mountain of strange and funny people. Granted like most comedies it doesn't all come off and overall the whole thing comes across like a long, expensive SNL sketch. That said if you can appreciate that Seinfeld seems to have no pretensions at anything sophisticated and is just looking for fun and frolics it's a pleasant and often funny mess of a film. I smiled a lot.

Eileen (Thomasina McKenzie) lives a less than fulfilling life with her alcoholic, bad tempered father and working at a young man's detention centre as a secretary. Bored with her existence she frequently fantasises about sexual experiences and killing her father or herself. One day, a new smart and glamorous prison counsellor, Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) arrives and much to Eileen's surprise and joy, she befriends her.

Granted this is a slow, not much happens thriller, but the performances by McKenzie and Hathaway and the chemistry between them works well and always keeps you intrigued as to what's coming and when it does, it does so suddenly and surprisingly. The interaction between them also moves along nicely with their characters shifting depending on the circumstances. I assume that many will find this a bit dull and I do sympathise with that view, but overall I still enjoyed the characters and the building tension around where it's heading.

Liam Hemsworth plays Kinney, a young air force operative joining a Delta Force mission to rescue a spy in the southern Philippines. When all goes badly wrong, Kinney is left alone in the jungle with only a drone operated from base to guide him, flown by Eddie Grimm played by Russell Crowe.

Exciting, well played out action thriller. All alone behind enemy lines in the jungle isn't a new idea, but what makes this different is the evolvement of modern warfare and how trained soldiers still work in the field but are supported by amongst other state of the art technology flying, armed battle drones with satellite technology. Hemsworth does a pretty good job in the Ramboesque lead, but scenery chewing Russell Crowe steals the picture as the eccentric, angry but caring (aaah) drone flyer. The action scenes are impressive and some of the violence is pretty nasty for those who yearn for such things, but it's the interplay between in the field and back at base which drives this forward.

Following WWII, the Cold War with the 'red Menace' and the threat of nuclear war persuaded Hollywood to create any number of sci-fi / horror films. Some were classics, some were hits and many were awful.

This documentary makes little attempt to really get under the skin of what made these films so popular. Instead, largely in chronological order through the fifties into the early sixties, the trailers are shown and then actor, director or technician from the day talks about the films, with some providing amusing anecdotes. Whilst some films get mocked eg The Killer Shrews, for the most part these people clearly adore them, and it is clear towards the end that they think America in the fifties was as good as life got. It's fun to hear about these films, but as a documentary it is poorly structured / edited and lacks direction.

Harriet (Lucy Boynton) is still mourning the death of her boyfriend Max in a car accident 2 years earlier. To complicate things when certain songs are played from their time together, Harriet goes back in time to when she was with Max when it was being played. Unable to move on, she is convinced that if the right song comes along she can save him. At the same time a new man, Justin comes into her life - will she mess this up and can she save Max.

Whilst this is a fun romantic notion and the ever excellent Boynton puts in a good performance, this isn't enough to give any spring to the story. Hence everyone goes through the film largely depressed waiting for the next time shift. It's all a bit dull and the relationships with Max particularly but also with Justin don't quite ring true. Still it comes to a satisfying conclusion after 90 minutes, shame the rest couldn't have been more interesting.

Jigsaw serial killer John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is dying of cancer, but finds out about an underground experimental procedure that has had some impressive results. He therefore heads to Mexico where the team, lead by Cecilia Pederson (Synnove Macody Lund) perform an operation on his brain and prescribe new drugs. He soon realises that he has been conned and there was no cure and so he sets out to take revenge in his traditional manner.

The difficulty with the Saw franchise is that whilst the killings are imaginative, deeply unpleasant and with just a touch of black humour, there is little where else to go with the story. This one is a bit more inventive story-wise and whilst there are no great surprises this is quite good 'fun'. This in large part is because of the presence and performance of Bell, who has more to do here than usual including dishing out some delightfully nasty deaths.

Rudolph Hoss, his wife and children live in a nice house with a much beloved garden and have tried to develop a happy life together. However, behind the property's high wall is the extermination camp of Auschwitz where thousands of Jews are being murdered each day and which Hoss is the commandant of. This family contentment is shattered somewhat when Hoss is promoted and must move away.

A difficult film to fully get to grips with. Yes it is well made and acted and whilst you really don't see any actual atrocities there is a deep and palpable tension throughout the run time. That said the film's focus is on the family, their meals, kid's bedtime etc and yes, whilst the comparison with what's going on on the other side of the wall is clear, it must be said that not much happens. There are also a number of 'arty' elements here with black and red screens and night vision scenes of a young girl hiding food for the prisoners, none of which I really cared for.

The most intriguing element of the film is the sound. Aside from soundtrack noises there is a constant noise coming from the camp which the family are used to - screaming, gunshots and occasionally explicit orders and actions. All this is quite harrowing as is the day to day business of mass slaughter, seen as a necessary job of work for the Fatherland. Overall then a troubling but convincing watch, I just yearned for a bit more story if I'm honest.

Will Ferrell voices Reggie, a dog who thinks his master, Doug, loves him, but clearly doesn't. Abandoned, he joins forces with 3 other dogs voices by Jamie Foxx, Isla Blair and Randall Park to have fun and to find Doug and bite his xxxx off.

This is clever to watch and convincingly done, the 'voice talents' do well enough and I will admit that I did laugh from time to time - just. That said it runs for just about 90 minutes, isn't consistently all that funny, has a very slight story and basically once I got over the hilarious notion of dogs swearing and doing the strange and often disgusting things dogs do, I wasn't wholly sold on the notion that this added up to the best use of my time. Allright, with a few laughs.

Liam Neeson plays Finbar, beloved character and apparently a book seller in a small coastal village in County Donegal in Ireland but who is in fact a hitman for a local crime boss (Colm Meaney). He decides to quit and atone for his crimes, however 3 IRA killers on the run turn up and, well, it's just a matter of time....

It's easy to speculate that this must be another of Neeson's tough guy revenge type thrillers. It is not. Instead he plays a disillusioned killer who has a good life with a number of good friends and needs to move on, but is unable to if he is to protect those he loves. The whole thing looks beautiful, Neeson proves what a good actor he is and the supporting cast incl Ciaran Hinds, Niamh Cusack, Meaney and Jack Gleeson all bring much to the party. It is witty, even charming yet laced with the inevitable menace brought by the ruthless IRA, here is the shape of Kerry Condon, terrifying as the women who believes utterly in her cause and fears nothing and nobody - a stellar performance. Not a great film perhaps, but solid, exciting and certainly worth seeking out.

Ernst Lubitsch's classic romantic comedy stars James Stewart as the top store clerk in a leather goods store in Budapest. He's writing romantic letter anonymously to a girl and she is replying to him and they don't realise that they're working in the store together and not getting on.

Generally regarded as near perfect, this has an exceptionally strong, razor sharp script thanks in part because at no point does it descend into sentimentality and slop and even covers such dark elements as infidelity and suicide. The story rolls out very neatly without missing a beat, contained as it is largely within the store and features a fine array of amusing supporting characters to enjoy.

Following directly from Part One, the baddies rescue nasty Admiral Noble's body and put him back together again and he awakes obsessed only with getting Kora. Meanwhile, Kora, Gunnar etc are preparing for another big fight creating cunning traps, putting bombs everywhere etc around their small village.

Whilst like its predecessor there is a great deal wrong with this, firstly the 'good' stuff. The action sequences, whilst we've seen them many many times before in better films are well staged and bordering on exciting, supported by seemingly hours of slow motion and a highly portentous score. On the downside, Snyder seems so eager to create his own galaxy far far away with associated history and lore he fails to create characters that will fill it - all they do is fight, roar as they charge into battle, make speeches and burst into tears, all without a scintilla of humour.

Bottom line, I just don't think I truly understood all this. The cause of the vast empire of soldiers attacking this little village still seems geared around getting grain - really? And the politics is rattled out quickly in a short section at the start - again I wasn't clear on this - perhaps I'm just not bright enough. Anyway it does seem as if Snyder is ready to make 2 more of these plus extended R rated versions of the first 2 parts are on their way - I'm so excited!

Nasty guy Rahmat and his army of followers (who incidentally don't appear to be able to hit the side of a barn) are in Libya to steal nuclear warheads for the mercenaries' mysterious leader Ocelot so he/she can start WWIII. Stallone gathers up his Expendables to take the bad guys out and get the warheads. Things don't go as planned and a tragedy alters things dramatically.

Despite facing some pretty stiff competition, this is easily the lousiest film in a pretty lousy franchise. The story is lame, the effects feeble, it's witty throw away lines should be thrown away, Ocelot's identity is mind numbingly obvious and the slight, predictable twist can be guessed about 20 minutes in. What just about makes this tolerable for some scenes, is the presence of The Stath, the only one who actually looks tough, rather than old and makes such nonsense believable. Stallone, who actually isn't in this that much had problems with this episode - probably the story, script, cast, effects and overall effect - but he does put in another performance as the character he seems to play in every film he makes, yet again. Grim stuff.

A fictionalised semi comedic version of the events that lead to the incredible rise to global success of the BlackBerry only to be smashed out of the market place by the creation of the iPhone. It follows the build and sale from the perspective of the 3 principal players involved, the 2 inventors and the marketing expert who got it out there.

As a film, it fires along at breakneck speed which is often funny, sometimes quite dramatic, but always exciting as they overcome seemingly absurd obstacles to get to the top. What raises this up even more than anything though has to be the performance by Glen Howerton as the marketing whizz Jim Baisillie who shouts and swears and steam rollers his way through everyone. He is so obnoxious, arrogant and down right impenetrable that you just have to love him. It must be said however, and this depends how true this all is, is that the other two characters are less impressive. Jay Baruchel is Mike Lazaridis, the genius here with no real common sense, grasp of what is needed or indeed oomph. At the bottom of the pile is Matthew Johnson as tech wizard Matthew Johnson who comes across as a great big child, I hated him every time he spoke - aaargh.

Still a lot of fun with great pacing and ultimately even rather sad - worth catching.

On a snowy day in a charming riverside hotel near Kyoto the staff and guests suddenly become subject to a time loop. As a result every 2 minutes time resets and they start their 2 minutes again and again from where they were the first time.

Whilst this may not have the humour, pathos and life lessons to be learned elements of Groundhog Day, it follows a reasonably similar path, it's just every 2 minutes. This makes it in some ways more fun as whatever they're in the middle of, they remember, but just have to start from the launch point - so lots of Japanese slapstick type humour with everyone screaming and shouting and running around. It's sweet in its own way and not without a few laughs and never really gets serious. It also offers a really silly conclusion and reason for the time loop. Pleasant enough.

A documentary looking back an anthology horror films which was apparently made throughout lockdown with the 61 so called experts all giving their views from their homes. Whilst it is undoubtedly fun to look back at the many portmanteau films that have been made and you are spoilt for clips, most of the experts (I should say there are one or two real pros here) had something to do with one or two straight to video productions and all think everything made is amazing, astonishing, brilliant! Having seen most of the films they discuss this is patently not the case, although you must applaud their undying enthusiasm.

As a documentary, it is a bit limp as it pretty much shows throughout its running time a bit from each trailer, praises the film to the skies and then moves on to the next one. There is no real attempt to analyse anything just to say how clever and wonderful it is and to get as many films into the running time as they can. Overall then, fun for horror fans looking for a bit of nostalgia, but that's all.