film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC.  We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream.  We love movies!

  • The BRWC Review: My Scientology Movie

    The BRWC Review: My Scientology Movie

    Having spent time with famous kooks and tackled grounded and sombre issues such as alcohol and drug addiction, Louis Theroux spends a year investigating a religion established in the 20th Century by a famous Science Fiction author.

    Definitely nowhere near as insightful as Alex Gibney’s Going Clear. This is fairly standard stuff for Theroux as it appears to be filled with baiting, skits and pre-planned chaos. As with Michael Moore’s work, you know what you’re letting yourself in for, and as entertaining as these documentaries are, I get frustrated that Theroux and his team only skim the surface of the church, the faith and its followers.

    We briefly witness the mania and zealous nature of the Scientologists but all of the acted portions add nothing to inform or educate. These re-enactments show a warped and skewed insight into the church and its practices as there appears to be very little policing, directing and coaching of how these events supposedly took place. It’s within the moments when Louis and his team aren’t provoking and manipulating when the Scientologists manage to highlight their own mania. Scare tactics, feverish and relentless hounding and an imposing demeanour all in the name of “protecting” their faith come across as quirky at best, extremist at worst.

    While it’s always fun to watch Louis do his shtick I feel it’s going to take a Nick Broomfield or Amy Berg to really dig up some dirt on this peculiar and secretive organisation. There’s far too much of Theroux’s trademark character, Mr. Magoo’ing into a situation, being played for laughs when in actual fact the darker edge to this feature is barely explored. The theatrics and “Englishman in a Foreign Land” persona make light of what should be viewed as seriously as his documentaries on drug and alcohol abuse. We barely skim through the history to provide context for where the Church of Scientology is today. Instead we tread water with a puff piece that offers up nothing we haven’t previously seen in more accomplished documentaries on this troubling subject matter.

    My Scientology Movie will be available on general release soon and is now available to rent and buy on Colony.

  • Another Take On I, Daniel Blake

    Another Take On I, Daniel Blake

    For the uninitiated, Ken Loach is one of the most prolific and quintessentially British Directors that this country has ever seen. His particular brand of socialist realism has been coursing through this country’s film industry ever since his incredible filmic debut “Poor Cow” back in 1967.

    In my house growing up it was generally considered that his adaptation of Barry Hines’ “Kes” was, and still is, one of the greatest films ever made and he has made countless other bonafide classics since then, far too many to list here! It seems absolutely incredible to me that nearly 50 years later that Ken Loach can still make something like “I, Daniel Blake”. Something so wonderfully entertaining yet unbelievably heart wrenching and ultimately hugely important and relevant to the current political climate in this country.

    The story revolves around a late in life carpenter, played by the wonderfully naturalistic Dave Johns in his film debut, who has recently had a heart attack and has been sworn off work by his doctor and physician. He must now try and make his way through the confusing and inpersonal British benefits system to somehow make enough money to survive until he has recovered. Along the way he befriends a single mother and her two kids who have just moved up to Newcastle from London and they bond over the shared experiences within this rigid and unforgiving system.

    The story is told with a stark minimalism and a simplicity, as we have come to expect from Ken Loach, however the performances are just as deep, emotional and resonant as you could possibly hope for. The central performance as Daniel from Johns is palpable. Seeing as it was entirely filmed on location in Byker, Newcastle where Johns was born he was able to channel something inherently Geordie yet remains entirely relatable to a crowd from all walks of life. The other performance of note is Hayley Squires, who is also relatively new to the scene, as Katie. She is the emotional heartbeat of the movie, the one in who we see both tremendous strength and a terrified lost soul. The relationship between Daniel and Katie felt real and safe and it was a heart wrenching rollercoaster seeing their story play out.

    This is a funny, touching, thought provoking piece of cinema. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that the general cinema going public tend to seek but what it does have is a heart and a message that is way stronger and more important than 90% of the films that have released so far this year.

  • Review: In A Valley Of Violence

    Review: In A Valley Of Violence

    By Last Caress.

    In a Valley of Violence, the new movie from horror maestro Ti West, is the latest in a string of recent revival westerns which include Bone Tomahawk (Zahler, 2015), The Hateful Eight (Tarantino, 2015) and the remade The Magnificent Seven (Fuqua, 2016) among several others. But is it any good?

    In a Valley of Violence
    In A Valley Of Violence

    A drifter going by the name of Paul (Ethan Hawke) and his dog, Abby, wander into the almost deserted, former mining town of Denton and are immediately set upon by the town braggart, Gilly (James Ransone). Paul dismisses this idiot with a single punch but the set-to brings the attention of the town Marshal (John Travolta), who also happens to be Gilly’s father. The Marshal ascertains quickly that this drifter, Paul, is a deserter from a lethal post-Civil War military kill squad currently assigned to indiscriminately wiping out the entire Cheyenne nation and decides to defuse the situation by agreeing not to turn Paul over to the army provided he and his dog leave Denton immediately, and never return. And that should have been that, except that the Marshal’s gormless son’s pride has been wounded in front of his hee-haw buddies, he needs reparation.and, if you’ve seen John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), you may have an idea as to how he decides to go about it. When will movie bad guys learn that you can mess with a man’s lady, but when you mess with a man’s canine, you reap the whirlwind? The rest of this economical little revenge western more-or-less tells itself.

    In a Valley of Violence
    In A Valley Of Violence

    In a rare break from his more familiar slow-burn horror territory, In a Valley of Violence was written and directed by Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, The Sacrament), and to be honest I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it at all, initially. The set of Denton didn’t look very well aged and the paucity of extras gave everything a decidedly on-the-cheap feel. Also, I felt that Ethan Hawke and John Travolta, both of whom I like generally, were miscast. But, as the movie progressed, the stripped aesthetic grew on me and so did Mr. Travolta’s performance; his character, at first glance a stock crooked small-town tyrant, is in fact closer to Gene Hackman’s character “Little” Bill Daggett in Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992): A hard guy placed in a bad spot. I still don’t feel that Ethan Hawke’s your man if you’re casting a haunted, no-nonsense agent of death but the dog is worth the ticket price on it’s own (as is the magnificent spaghetti western-inspired title sequence) and, overall, In a Valley of Violence is well worth a look; it’s certainly the liveliest Ti West film I’ve ever seen, by some measure.

  • Doctor Strange: The BRWC Review

    Doctor Strange: The BRWC Review

    After suffering a debilitating condition following from a near-fatal car crash, renowned surgeon Doctor Stephen Strange travels to Kamar-Taj, Kathmandu in search of a means to regain the use of his hands. While there he meets The Ancient One and her disciples who teach him the mystic arts and open a doorway to the near-unimaginable.

    The second film of the MCU’s third cinematic phase and the fourteenth Marvel Studio movie in total, Doctor Strange opens up a realm of possibilities within the mystical and supernatural in the same way Guardians of the Galaxy were the audience’s gateway to the cosmic elements. Director Scott Derrickson is no stranger to the supernatural as he brings his Sinister expertise here with a much larger box of tricks than he’s handled before. Bringing one of the more, “out there” creations of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko to life is no mean feat, and the filmmakers manage to craft an origin story that ticks all the boxes while providing fresh and exciting bells and whistles to amaze and astonish both veterans and more casual audience goers.

    My biggest concern going in was that Marvel were trying to mould Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer into a carbon copy replacement for Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, goatee and all. The story of a super-affluent genius having to overcome a physical disability, who must then battle a similarly equipped nemesis is soooo 2008, but here Derrickson and co. imbue the movie with its own unique infusion of darkness, peculiarity and humour that make Strange stand apart from Iron Man and his peers

    Holding the fort in Kamar-Taj are Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo and Benedict Wong’s er… Wong. Their dynamic as masters of the ancient arts adds weight to the ridiculousness of the premise. Swinton portrays the Ancient One with an imposing serenity where she’s part Yoda, part Morpheus, but all three appear as though they’re about to start reciting Shakespeare at a moment’s notice.

    It is often the case in Marvel Studios features that the weakest character threads are that of the love interest and the antagonist but this time around at least, Rachel McAdams delivers more than we’ve seen from Gwyneth Paltrow or Nathalie Portman. Unfortunately, Mads Mikkelsen is side-lined as the villainous Kaecilius. A couple expository lines of backstory and a solitary tear are all he’s afforded, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a sequel sees an upward trajectory in well-handled baddies.

    If you thought the Quantum Realm sequence from Ant-Man was pretty neat or that Inception featured some hair raising visuals, then you’re going to be spoilt rotten with the special effects and overall design of Doctor Strange. Trippy, hallucinogenic and close to overwhelming, the invigorating optical feats mimic Steve Ditko’s comic representations and go further into the kaleidoscopic, Escher-like and beyond.

    Having been a fan of Michael Giacchino’s since his exceptional score for Pixar’s The Incredibles it amazes me that this is his first live action foray into superhero features. There’s a deft use of far-eastern instruments, synths and harpsichord to accompany the visual feast with a faux prog’ish soundscape that offers far more texture than one would usually expect from MCU fayre. At times his score is reminiscent of Holst’s The Planets by way of Craig Armstrong’s motifs for The Incredible Hulk (2008) as both the bombastic and incidental pieces accentuate the heightened sense of the extraordinary throughout. Sadly, the main theme follows a thread that is too reminiscent to Giacchino’s own work on the Star Trek reboot’quels, which makes for a jarring experience and robs Doctor Strange of a truly memorable, hummable anthem.

    2017 brings us Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2, Spider-Man: Homecoming (set in New York… Strange’s home turf) and Thor: Ragnarok. With Doctor Strange set to appear in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, don’t be surprised if we see Cumberbatch popping up in more MCU phase 3 features over the coming years.

    If you’re not a fan of the Marvel Studios formula, then there’s little here to persuade you otherwise. However, if you’re willing to go along for the ride and can handle the basic origin story, the underwritten villain and unabashed setup for future instalments then I can’t recommend Doctor Strange highly enough. Of all the MCU movies to date, this is the one to splash out for an IMAX ticket for as the ocular spectacular is an absolute marvel to behold.

    Doctor Strange launches in the UK 25th October and in the US 4th November

  • Review: Starfish

    Starfish written and directed by Bill Clark shines an important light on a much misunderstood condition of sepsis or blood poisoning. This film biopic based on a true story shows the life altering impact it has on a young couple and their family when the husband contracts sepsis.

    Tom Ray (played by Tom Riley) and Nicola Ray (played by Joanne Froggatt) appear to have it all – a lovely family, house, each other and a baby on the way to make four. A seemingly innocuous act of eating out of date sausages, hands up who hasn’t eaten something past its use by date, triggers an infection that leads to Tom catching sepsis due to the A&E consultant’s lack of knowledge and attention. What follows is doubly harrowing to watch given all the events in Starfish actually happened in real life. He loses parts of each of his four limbs to sepsis. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sepsis moves to his face and, he must lose part of that in order to stay alive. Does love conquer all? Can Nicola and Tom overcome this terrible event?

    Starfish is an important educational tool for those of us not aware of how sepsis is triggered or what to do if you suspect someone has it. Does this mean it deserves to be on the big screen. The answer is no. This is the perfect film for the small screen to be shown on the BBC. However, on the big screen it’s not cinematic enough to make it engaging for the entire 96 minutes. That’s not to say that the performances are not good. Tom Riley especially captivates on screen so many of his scenes the cameras rest on his eyes and he conveys so many emotions in a blink of an eye. Joanne Froggatt puts in a fine performance but the entire film feels flat. This is a biopic by numbers in reverse order so the worse is at the beginning of the film.

    My recommendation is wait for it to come to the small screen.

    Starfish in cinemas across the UK on Friday 28 October.