The saint (2017)
Starring Adam Rayner & Eliza Dushku
Simon Templar has a 21st century reboot in this film. The 70's saint Ian Ogilvy plays the main villain, and the original Simon Templar, the late great Sir Roger Moore has a cameo role. I really enjoyed the film, well worth watching for the lovely miss Dushku in a swimsuit alone.
8/10
G.I Joe: The Movie (Animated)
7/10
Cross Of Iron(1977)
An often overlooked war film made in Europe by director Sam Peckinpah after he "fell out" with Hollywood.With a screenplay based on the novel,The Willing Flesh by Willi Heinrich.Set in 1943,the story follows a German platoon as they face certain death at the hands of the Russian army.The lead performances from James Coburn,James Mason and Maximilian Schell are top notch.
7.5/19
Rupture (2017);
Sci-fi/Thriller starring Noomi Rapace (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,Prometheus) as a young single mother Renee who is unaware she is being tracked & monitored by a secret organization headed by Peter Stormare (Prison Break) & Michael Chiklis (The Shield).When the coast is clear they seize their opportunity they abduct,drug & take Renee to a secret lab facility.
Renee wakes up in a cell strapped to a hospital bed & screams can be heard coming from cells nearby.When she asks her captors why she & others have been kidnapped & locked-up she is told that they are the 'chosen ones' in other words they are being experimented on as lab rats & it takes a while for the penny to drop something extraterrestrial might be occurring.
As for the story it's madder than a field full of March hares & nuttier than squirrel shit & even though I made it through to the end of the film I'm still none the wiser of what went on.A film not as clever as likes to think it is,3/10.
The Gift (2015) Joel Edgerton directs and stars in this thriller, in which a couple(Rebecca Hall and Jason Bateman) move into a new house and soon an old school mate of Bateman's ,played by Edgerton, insinuates his way into their life. So, on the surface, it doesn't sound particularly original, but with a couple of twists and some fine acting it turned my expectations around. Hall is as good as you'd expect and its nice to see Bateman in an non comedic role, and it is quite a complex performance, and indeed the whole film works well as drama as well as a thriller. Edgerton's directing is good, with good use of a camera moving backing from the players, seeing them in isolation. Also starring P.J Byrne,Adam Lazzare-White,Busy Philipps,Tim Griffin and Alison Tolman. 7.5/10
Hellzapoppin'(1941)
A truly postmodern and crazy adaptation of Olsen and Johnson's hit Broadway show about their interpretation of hell.Director H.C. Potter somehow made it work by being entertaining,funny and disturbing simultaneously.
7/10
Dark Places (2016);
Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn this film is a thriller starring Charlize Theron as Libby Day where as a 7 year old girl both her & her older brother Ben were the only survivors of a home invasion that saw the rest of their family murdered.Libby provided testimony that saw her brother Ben charged with the murders of their family.
Fast forward 25 years later with brother Ben still incarcerated Libby (Theron) is still struggling with day to day life & earning a living,she is contacted by an odd-ball group (where solving crimes is their hobby) headed by Lyle (Nicholas Hoult) where they try to convince Libby that they believe that Ben wasn't the murderer & with Libby's help they wan't find out what really happened & who the true murderer was.
And hence the story constantly flips back to the past & the present happenings as the truth unfolds, with the story featuring more twists & turns than a mile long corkscrew.
The film has quite a studded cast with Charlize Theron,Nicholas Hoult,Corey Stoll, Chloe Grace Moretz,Tye Sheridan etc.
Charlize Theron also proves again her versatility at playing the more gritty roles like she did in Monster.Pretty good.6.5/10.
Brothers Of The Head(2005) Based on the short story by Brian Aldiss , the story of Siamese twins(Luke and Harry Treadaway's debuts) who become 1970's punk stars. Entertainingly filmed as mock documentary using acted scenes and talking heads, it drops the horror element of the excellent short story, and doesn't really capture the reasons for the twins' path through life. However, both the Treadaway's performances and the punk soundtrack are very good. Also starring Elizabeth Rider,Sean Harris,Bryan Dick and Tania Emery. 6.5/10
Robot and Frank(2012)
A wonderful film from Jake Schreier set in the not too distant future and starting Frank Langella as Frank,a former cat burgler who has been put in a retirement home by has family after showing the early stages of Alzheimer's disease,where he finds empathy in the form of a robotic butler(voiced by Peter Sarsgard).A bond of trust and friendship forms as Frank tries to convince the morally inclined robot to help him plan one last job.Emotionally touching with a great lead showing from Langella and strong support from Susan Sarandon,James Marsden and Live Tyler.
7.5/10
Even Lambs Have Teeth (2016);
Revenge horror/black comedy film about 2 young pretty ladies Sloane & Katie who take off to the countryside about start their new jobs working on an organic farm.On the way they stop off at a cafe for a bite to eat & meet a couple of local lads who offer to give the gullible young ladies a lift to the farm.The girls naively accept & it isn't long before the girls are drugged,kidnapped,chained up in shipping containers out in the sticks & are used as sex slaves.The girls somehow manage to free themselves & escape but instead of going to the police the girls manage to transform somehow from traumatized victims into psychopathic killers & they visit the hardware store to stock up on tools/weapons & plot their bloody revenge on their captors.
The acting is as wooden as hell,the filming poor & cheaply made,the plot feeling like a piss-poor imitation of I Spit on Your Grave (the remake not the original).As the women carry out the executions the deaths have a comedy kind of feel to them (a combination of poor acting & barbed comments) particularly when one unlucky guy whilst tied-up has a heavily nailed stick inserted up his tradesmen entrance.
Verdict;Shockingly bad & probably the worst film I've seen this year,a load of dog-eggs;2/10.