Steve

Gun Crazy

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Laurie and Bart, both with guns in their hands

A crazy mixed-up kid is dragged to hell by a sexy dame in Gun Crazy (not for nothing also known as Deadly Is the Female), a film that has us by the scruff of the neck right from its fabulous opening scene. In super-sharp close-up a kid smashes the plate glass window of a hardware shop, steals a gun and then falls flat on his face in the rain as he tries to run away. Bad luck of this sort is to dog Bart Tare for the whole of his life. Flashback scenes flesh out this pretty decent kid with a strange obsession with guns – “Shooting’s what I’m good at. It’s what … Read more

Becoming Led Zeppelin

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Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on stage

When Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty were setting out to make Becoming Led Zeppelin they didn’t realise that surviving band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones had all seen their TV series American Epic, about roots music in the US, and were big fans. So it came as more than a surprise to them when Page, Plant and Jones readily agreed to take part in a documentary about the crucial early days of one of the most famous rock bands of all time. They’d expected the sort of blank refusal this notoriously publicity shy band generally dished out to would-be suitors. The result is in many ways a traditional documentary, … Read more

Follow Me Quietly

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Ann and Harry with a blank-faced mystery killer

Follow Me Quietly is only one hour long and so desperate to use its time well that it’s already running its first scene beneath the opening credits – a woman walking to and fro in the rain. From the way she’s pacing, and shielding the glowing end of a cigarette like a soldier in a trench, we can tell she’s a femme fatale. Inside the next five minutes all the other key characters have been introduced in a similarly concise way, by which point we know this is a thriller about a serial killer called the Judge, and that this is a story about driven characters – the killer, the cop on his … Read more

Cold Storage

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Travis and Naomi investigate

Cold Storage is lo-fi sci-fi done on a decent budget, it’s written by David Koepp, who did the original Jurassic Park the first Mission: Impossible. And it is stacked with actors of the calibre of Lesley Manville, Vanessa Redgrave and Liam Neeson, though none of them is the star. Smartly made, well acted, it’s entirely enjoyable and not very demanding and is the sort of film you might once upon a time have brought home on VHS from the local video shop. In fact Redgrave is in it so little that I wondered if her presence was some kind of joke. Neeson and Manville get more of a shake, especially in the opening … Read more

The Bribe

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Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner

In Casablanca “everybody comes to Rick’s”, in The Bribe it’s Pedro’s, a sweaty canteen somewhere in venal Central America, around which this messy mix of thriller, romance, exotic adventure and detective story plays out. Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner are the stars, but Charles Laughton is the standout, taking it upon himself – probably not for selfless reasons – to save this odd mishmash from itself with a performance that lifts everything up several rungs. The story centres on a racket dealing in hooky war surplus, which FBI agent Rigby – no first name – has been sent in to sort out. Instantly suspicious characters include alcoholic ex-pilot Tug Hintten (John Hodiak) and … Read more

Pillion

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A topless Alexander Skarsgård lies in the grass

Described bafflingly as arthouse in some quarters, Pillion is much more your seaside-postcard Full Monty-style Britcom of yore sexed up with Alexander Skarsgård in his scanties, in a story about a timid boy-man (Harry Melling) willingly entering into a BDSM relationship with a biker. If you approach it as arthouse, you’ll leave disappointed. But come at it from the cosy comedy direction and it’s quite rewarding, and if you’ve ever wanted to see Skarsgård more or less in the buff – no spoilers – you’ll be doubly happy. Colin is a shy man who sings in a barbershop with his dad, Pete (Douglas Hodge), and has dates with other diffident nerds arranged by his … Read more

The Big Steal

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Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer face to face

Of course The Big Steal is a noir. With a title like that what else could it be? And yet it’s also an undeclared screwball comedy. The IMDb might say crime, film noir and romance, but screwball is the real dynamic, and that’s how Don Siegel directs it and stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer play it. It’s a cat and mouser, with Mitchum as Halliday, an army lieutenant trying to clear his name by tracking down the man who really ran off with a huge amount of the military’s money. Along for the journey, in an uneasy alliance, is the man’s fiancée, Joan Graham (Greer), who has has been conned by him … Read more

The Chronology of Water

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Close up of Lidia's lip bleeding

So Kristen Stewart made a movie and, in spite of what the goons hoped, didn’t fall flat on her face. The Chronology of Water will infuriate people who harbour a grudge. Though, on the other hand, surely the twittersphere (Xsphere?) can’t still be hating on Stewart? After all this time? For the RPatz stuff? Or the sulky features and mumbling performances. Or suddenly becoming the highest paid actress in the world – briefly, till she walked away from all that. Who knows? There’s an irrational hellbeast out there for all of us if we look hard enough. Personally, I’m a fan, of Stewart’s “fuck you” attitude but particularly of the sort of films … Read more

The Window

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Tommy, wide-eyed, witnesses the murder

If you like Rear Window you might like The Window, a thriller from 1949 running on the same fuel – impotent voyeurism. Both films are based on short stories by Cornell Woolrich. This one from a “boy who cried wolf” tale called The Boy Who Cried Murder, about a doughty kid who, on a hot summer’s night goes out onto the fire escape of his parents’ New York apartment to sleep, and while out there sees his neighbours killing someone. Tommy (Bobby Driscoll) is a bit of a loner who makes up stories to fill the gaps where friends should be, so when he tells his parents (Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy) what he … Read more

In Cold Light

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Ava head on

Maika Monroe’s lean athleticism – she used to be a professional kiteboarder – suits her to In Cold Light, a grungey thriller in which she plays a drug dealer who goes on the run when things take a “shit got real” turn. It’s a subjective chase movie, very tightly focused on Monroe’s Ava, who we meet in a pre-credits sequence in the middle of a police raid during which she crashes through a window and tries to make a break for it. Post-credits it’s a few years later and Ava is fresh out of prison and trying to take back her drug business from her brother, who now has his feet under the table. … Read more