Reviews

Margaret, a young novice played by Nell Tiger Free goes to Rome to take her final vows in a convent that runs an orphanage. There she is welcomed by her old friend and mentor Cardinal Bill Nighy, the other nuns and roommate Luz who persuades her to enjoy life once more time before taking her vows. Initially content, she is though troubled that one girl in particular is treated severely and she finds strange things start to occur at the convent including a very unpleasant suicide. One day a priest approaches her with a bizarre story and ask for her help.

Rather impressive prequel to the seventies horror classic 'The Omen'. The film is finely paced with a strong sense of dread and horror aligned nicely with the tone of the original - this really sits well as a prequel. Like the film that followed this, there are a number of juicy deaths punctuating the sense of impending horror, but the real strength and what makes this in places an unnerving watch are the scenes of births and the presence of the devil which seem frighteningly real. Much much better than I was expecting with imaginative photography and a fine score - well worth catching.

Following the tragic death of his wife and daughter, acclaimed composer and music scholar John Russell (George C Scott) takes a job at a college and rents out a large old house to live in, helped along by local historian Claire (Trish Van Devere). Soon after arriving he starts to hear strange noises and even has weird visions. He starts an investigation to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Underrated ghost story which avoids many of the pitfalls of out and out horror and makes a serious and impressive grown up stab at chilling our bones, which it does very nicely. Scott is terrific as the devastated husband and father who starts almost a detective piece trying to find out what's hiding away in his house. It's a good story with plenty of well crafted scenes and a memorable score, as he gets closer and closer to the truth and throughout it's well acted by all including the great Melvyn Douglas. Turn the lights off and enjoy.

When he discovers that the woman he loves is more smitten with a foreign legion soldier than him, Olly decides to commit suicide. During a chaotic suicide attempt, he and Stan are persuaded to join the legion and innocently head off to the desert.

Sadly, this rather falls short of the work from their heyday. The boys do though remain good company and there are indeed a few good laughs to be found here - I particularly liked the notion that Olly thinks it only fair that Stan commits suicide as well. It's also nice to see a few of Stan and Olly's stalwarts such as James Finlayson and Sam Lufkin. Charles Middleton, better known as Ming the Merciless, seems to recreate the role perfectly as the camp commander.

Baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) has dreams of being a top private detective. From his death row cell he tells some journalists how he got into the mess he's in. He relates the story of how Carlotta (Dorothy Lamour) had sought his help in finding her kidnapped husband and gives him a secret map as a clue.

This is a fun mixture of typical Hope quick fire gags as well as a parody of film noir. Peter Lorre is great, sending himself up from numerous thrillers, here dubbed 'cuddles' by Hope and Lon Chaney Jr amusing as the dopey tough guy in the gang with a heart of gold. It all goes pretty much as expected, but the script is sharp and designed for Hope with a couple of nice cameos thrown in for good measure.

A group of men including Mario, played by Yves Montand live in an isolated, run down desert village in South America, which is essentially supporting a local U. S. oil company outlet. To get out you need a flight and for that you need money and to get money you need a job. Mario and 3 others are offered $2,000 each if they will transfer nitro glycerine to an oil well that has caught fire. The slightest vibration or increase in heat will set it off - it is incredibly dangerous, but all the men desperately need the money and take on what will be a shattering existential crisis.

Easily up there as a movie great with tension you could cut with a knife. There are a number of incidents which I won't give away that seem so intense you you can barely watch. These are handled brilliantly by Clouzot that they seem completely real and you can imagine the actors really going through it to get these great scenes.

The actors are universally excellent with Montand giving one of his finest performances although he is equalled, maybe even surpassed by Charles Vanel as his co driver. To see these 2 men's characters change so much throughout the film is extraordinary, particularly in comparison to the excellent opening scenes in the village where their characters behave so differently to that which they will dramatically become. A masterpiece

PS - I didn't care much for the ending.

Set around an air base in Canada and the village nearby, Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson) is asked by his Colonel to investigate a spate of sudden, violent deaths nearby, which the simple village folk blame on radio activity from the base. However, when a couple are killed, a post mortem reveals 2 puncture marks on their necks and that their brains and spinal cords are missing. Cummings is convinced that local atomic scientist, Professor Walgate is involved and goes to see him only to be told that the Prof has been experimenting with thought projection.

Whilst this has clearly been pulled together on a small budget in the UK - very obviously not Canada - this is a lot of fun, rather reminiscent of the earlier Quatermass films. In its day it had quite a lot of trouble from censors given the blood and goo which today is not remotely troubling. It's well written and despite some pretty dire effects by today's standards, stands up pretty well. Thompson is fine, if rather bland, leaving it to the villagers, particularly Kynaston Reeves as Walgate to give it colour. Late night fun.

Based on the successful stage play, co-author Andy Nyman plays Professor Philip Goodman, a tv personality famous for exposing psychics etc. He very much admires Charles Cameron who did similar work in the seventies and who unexpectedly invites Goodman to come and see him. Here he gives him 3 case files which he says will prove that Goodman is wrong and ghost do exist. Goodman investigates.

This is a very British anthology 'horror' film, focussing though on ghosts rather than viscera and is indeed quite spooky with a liberal spread of decent jump scares. There is more to it though than the 3 case studies and I would suggest that your viewing would benefit from some concentration. As with all anthology films, some bits are better than others but overall this is a satisfying, spooky gathering of stories, although I found the last 20 minutes a good idea, but rather weakly pulled together.

With war looming, Robert, the Marquis de la Chesnaye, invites many of his wealthy guests to his country estate for a weekend shoot and party. He is married and loves his wife Christine but has been having an affair with Genevieve plus he knows of his wife's dalliances with national flying hero Andre. On the advice of his friend Octave, played by the film's director Jean Renoir, he invites Andre for the weekend. Meanwhile the servants mirroring their 'betters' behaviour, are also having affairs of the heart, leading to a class satire and farce which can only lead to tragedy.

Defined as a masterpiece this film flopped and was then banned because of the sweet, but venomous stab at the French upper classes leading up to war. Whilst all the characters, and there are many of them, all of whom remarkably have distinctive characters, are charming and amusing and play nicely with their servants and underlings, they play by certain rules and almost subconsciously see themselves as the leading, senior class. The only difference here is Octave played by Renoir whose character seems to manage to bridge the gap between the various machinations going on upstairs and downstairs and who indirectly leads the story and indeed the path to destruction. It's a wonderful, funny and thought provoking film, seeming very modern for its time including how it is filmed. Inevitably with masterpieces it has been picked apart and analysed to death, which is sometimes rather interesting to read, however watching and enjoying this will actually suffice.

Superhero movie with Xolo Maridueña playing Jaime Reyes, who has just returned home to his family after university. He gets some cleaning work at giant tech company Kord Industries run by nasty Susan Sarandon who is trying to control Palmera City with a new breed of Robocop type machines / people hybrid. When a sentient alien scarab Sarandon needs picks Jaime and transforms him into the titular beetle, Sarandon's men go after him and his family.

Whilst the story is not particularly original, what makes this one of DC's more enjoyable romps is the characters, especially Jamie's rather crazed, eccentric family who despite their age rush to assist and remarkably unleash a number of, until then, hidden talents. It's all nonsense of course, but done with charm and great wit - some genuinely funny lines here - coupled with some fun visual effects. Fun and not as brooding and dark as most of DC's catalogue.

Sam (Megan Suri) is a bright young student having a hard time adjusting to western society versus adherence to her native Indian culture, fondly and strictly followed by her mother. Her once best friend Tamara approaches her one day, terrified and holding a jar and asking Sam to believe her bizarre story. Irritated, Sam smashes the jar - something she will later regret.

Whilst this is handled effectively enough and the Indian menace driven by an ancient culture makes for a bit of a nice change, we have seen this all many times before. Hence you have a nasty beastie in the cupboard given to wandering around in the dark and snarling, an old book and a horny boyfriend with a nice car (do all American teenage boys have nice cars?) all building to a climactic battle - in the dark! - even the beastie is a bit naff. It's ok and there are some solidly crafted spooky bits, but this is just not original enough. To note, it is surprisingly free of entrails etc etc.

Ian Carmichael is Henry Palfrey a rather weak, socially inept office manager who fails at every turn, particularly in getting the girl he loves, Janette Scott, away from his competitor and all round cad Terry-Thomas. He therefore enrols at the School for Lifemanship run by Professor Potter (Alastair Sim) which teaches you how to get the upper hand in all situations. Taught, he returns to get the better of those who look down on him.

Amusing British comedy featuring the glorious trio of Carmichael, Thomas and Sim and a wonderful turn by Dennis Price and Peter Jones as two disreputable car salesmen. It's a film you titter at all the way through rather than roar with laughter, but watching all these consummate comedians, particularly the core trio, is a rare treat.

Steve McQueen stars as Porsche driver Delaney, driving in the 24 Le Mans race a year after competitor Belgetti had been killed in the race, potentially because of Delaney. Begetti's widow, who blames Delaney attends the new Le Mans.

Clearly a passion project for McQueen who apparently wanted to make a piece of art about the race and racing. Hence, whilst the racing scenes, including a number of crashes are undoubtedly thrilling, cinema goers, as opposed to racing enthusiasts, are left with few bones to chew over. There is a sultry, mysterious relationship between McQueen and Elga Anderson as Begetti's widow with both staring soulfully into space fretting over their pasts and a script that must have been written on the back of match book when visionary McQueen had a spare moment. Ok, so he's Mr Cool and he loves racing and this is in part what he was intending, but it flopped and is largely very dull. I guess we should be grateful that McQueen wasn't interested in stamp collecting.

Based on a true story, Johnny Depp plays retired and disgraced LA Cop Russell Poole who devoted a large part of his life to identifying who murdered famous rap artist 'Notorious B. I. G.' Forest Whitaker plays Jack Jackson, a journalist assigned to look back at the crime and Poole's work. Through a series of flashbacks Poole explains that he was constantly told to drop the case, because he had identified numerous LA Cops who were in the pocket of Death Row Records and its head, Suge Knight who was believed to be responsible for the killing as revenge for the earlier killing of Tupac Shakur. The LA Police department could not be seen to be employing such corrupt individuals not least because they could not afford the legal costs when sued, to say nothing of the heads that would roll.

Whilst this is a real powerhouse of acting on display here from Depp as well as Whitaker and Toby Huss, it remains sometimes a struggle to keep up with. Aside from the endless mumbling and street banter which sometimes needs translating, it seems to be trying to create a number of points which just don't meld together around a police procedural whodunnit (which rather gets knocked in the head), a police corruption story and a tale building up the hero Poole. The first half is therefore gritty, convincing in its way and rather confusing whilst the second is easier to follow, more cohesive and dramatically satisfying. Good in places - watch it for Johnny Depp.

A strong willed, but seemingly on the way out journalist runs a podcast covering unsolved mysteries from her parents' lavish, isolated home. When she receives an anonymous email she follows it up and is told of a strange black brick that had altered the life of an ex maid. Investigating further she discovers an art dealer who has acquired a few of the bricks and had them scanned - he sends the results to the journalist. As the investigation progresses further and more people contact her, she begins to realise that she may in fact be directly involved in the mystery herself.

A tense and interesting low budget independent sci-fi thriller filmed entirely in the house and with just one actor seen, the unnamed journalist, played convincingly by Lily Sullivan. The investigative element involving interviewing various affected characters over the phone is well done and is actually the best part, as the possible ways in which the brick might be affecting people slowly emerges leading in turn to how the mystery might be directly involving the journalist. It is sci-fi and inevitably it brings the threads together with a bit of out there weirdness, but it's well enough handled and overall this is a fascinating and tense 94 minutes.

Cleo is a successful singer who is also self obsessed and something of a hypochondriac. Awaiting a hospital test result which she is convinced will be cancer and spell her doom, she spends a couple of hours wandering around Paris meeting friends and strangers and slowly begins to start appreciating her life and future.

Directed by Agnes Varda, this charming French new wave classic is a surprising delight. Very naturalistic and full of frankly very little, accompanying Cleo through Paris is though somehow a very rewarding cinematic experience. It's witty and clever with many wonderful scenes - I particularly liked the musical review of her new songs, the film at the cinema and her time with the soldier - not the frog man though! Most impressive of all though is the slow and discreet transformation of this arrogant young woman into a someone at who is more at ease with themselves. A strange little film I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did.

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a top Hollywood stuntman and double for superstar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and is in love with up and coming cameraman and potential director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). When he breaks his back during a stunt fall, he takes 18 months off to recuperate and hide. Returning to stunt work on director Jody Moreno's big sci-fi epic, Ryder's agent / producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) tells him that Ryder is missing and if he doesn't find him, Moreno's film will be shut down. He starts investigating, but clearly his attentions are not welcome.

This begins with a messy and rather dull first 45 minutes where like so many Hollywood comedies the leads talk utter drivel at break neck speed but actually say very little. This mostly explores ad nauseum the will they, won't they get back together again story, but eventually the film settles down, bringing together a fun and even exciting comedy thriller. The stunt work is, as it should be under the circumstances, pretty breathtaking and the leads and the supporting cast are good and amusing company. In the end there is much simple fun and impressive crash bang wallop to enjoy. Disengage brain and enjoy.

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 mirrors.

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 about his life or career, who knows, plus, accepting this is from a long time ago, I never cared for the syrup and the same twee self pitying romances that bubbled up in everything he did, including here - now that's a metaphor. 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.