TNSGVR Reviews

Knox Goes Away (2023)

Michael Keaton produced, directed, and stars in this *superb* thriller

[10/10 · 6 April 2024]

Michael Keaton produced, directed, and stars in this *superb* thriller

Why has this film been completely overlooked? We didn't hear of it, saw no advertising, and no entertainment outlets seemed to have promoted it. The plot is unlike any other film, which is a true rarity these days, and Keaton produced, directed, and stars in a powerful, clever, twist on a murder. It is almost Greek in its tragedy and pathos, and Keaton draws you in with his powerful, calm, highly realistic portrayal of a professional contract killer who faces a rapid decline due to a devastating neurological diagnoses.

Michael Keaton is such an underestimated actor, and this film - Knox Goes Away - is a phenomenal platform for his skill portraying John Knox. Because it went under the radar, we don't even realise Al Pacino has an important supporting role as a sympathetic and kind father figure who happens to be a murder-for-hire ringleader of sort, Marcia Gay Harden has a supporting role as Keaton's ex-wife, and James Marsden does a great job playing the estranged and suddenly reunited-by-fate adult son Miles Knox. The perfectly scored jazz music throughout makes it all the more bittersweet.

This is such a terrific film which will leave you wondering where it will go at every step. Keaton's knocked it out of the park, he needs to do more directing, and for crying out loud the Academy should have recognised his acting and directing skills.

It's absolutely worth watching, and it's badly in need of intelligent audiences spreading the word.

Bravo Michael; excellent.

A Call to Spy (2019)

Terribly Acted, Boring, & a Failed Script for Historical Events

[5/10 · 7 July 2023]

This story could have been a good film given the historical facts at its foundation. The story deserves telling.

However, it is atrociously acted, terribly scripted, and the accents are outrageously appalling. Frankly it looks like a Hallmark TV film with people pulled off the street to play a part. The exception is Linus Roache but he is completely squandered due to the dreadful scriptwriting.

And whilst it's tempting to (yawn) boringly portray every single young German or Vichy-French man or woman as perpetually angry and ready to kill every person they meet on the spot, that's a demonstration of how awful the research - and actual understanding of human beings in all history - was. (For contract, see Sean Connery's character in 'Hunt for Red October': human, relatable, and with emotions and empathy, because Tom Clancy could write.)

Manhattan Night (2016)

Really Great Story; Probably Invisible Because of the Title

[9/10 · 20 June 2023]

Adrien Brody is superb playing the old-school neo-noir investigative reporter of yesteryear. Yvonne Strahovski is perfect casting for the lead actress, and played her part excellently.

This is a truly very good film, and I'd never even heard of it until it played on TV. I honestly think the title killed it: it's really bad, it makes no sense (too generic); and implies a Woody Allen film or similar.

Usually I can spot a lot of twisting mysteries' clues to work out the answer long before the end. Whereas this gave me suspicions, the how and why - quite unique - surprised me.

Don't pay attention to any reviews suggesting boredom (those can only come from younger low-attention-span viewers) - this is how a good old fashioned well-made drama/mystery ought to be done.

Beef (2023– )

Absolutely Brilliant

[10/10 · 15 April 2023]

This is absolutely brilliant. Truly exceptional: darkly comic, laugh-out-loud at the same time as ever increasingly dark.

This isn't an 'Asian' series, so no Joy Luck Club story here. This is a story of a minor incident that escalates out of all proportion, gradually over ten 30 minute episodes.

It is so real whilst at the same time being surreal. The scriptwriting is just perfect and the acting sublime. Steven Yeun (Danny) and Ali Wong (Amy) could not have been better cast nor matched across/with each other.

And, having been married to a Taiwanese husband, there are subtleties here that only being part of the Asian culture would make sense, although in no way do they form an essential understanding of the plot.

This better sweep every award out there next year. Masterful, and I really hope there's a Season 2! Very very very well done.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

If you're looking for wit Martin McDonagh is known for, you'll be disappointed

[4/10 · 30 December 2022]

As a major fan of 'In Bruges' and 'Three Billboards', I couldn't wait to see this film. Made a big night of it with friends who are equally in awe of Martin McDonagh's work. If you are expecting ANYTHING close to 'In Bruges', you will not find any of that humour here. You will find the acting skills of Farrell and Gleeson again, but you will be left waiting minute after minute for the humour to burst out. It never does.

The cinema audience had a few chuckles, which frankly felt forced because we were all invested in making this humorous to justify our love of McDonagh, to validate the hype, to not feel we're missing something. We are all post-graduates so we're aware of our Shakespeare comedies and tragedies (see other reviews) - and we were all left VERY disappointed.

This is a mis-billed film and the trailer heavily implies another dark comedy that you'll find once you watch the full film. In reality, it's nothing but darkness, slowness, and a teaser to wrack your brains into working out what the heck the point was.

The best I can do is say it's an allusion to rural living pre modern age, when our grandparents would tell stories of their parents and neighbours who bore grudges, and over generations in the pubs the stories became ever more fanciful with the telling, so that in the end we never really know the truth.

The Patient (2022)

High Hopes for 'The Americans' Writers - This Doesn't Cut It

[4/10 · 26 November 2022]

This felt like it was written for the theatre,, with essentially everything taking place in one room. That would have given this more weight, and better showcased the acting skills. (And Steve Carell as the therapist and Domhnall Gleeson as the serial killer act superbly.)

The problem: so many loopholes. That is very unlike 'The Americans', which was sharp and tight. In 'The Patient', massive mistakes.

Implausibility of Alan's kidnap and death because: 1) CCTV and/or record keeping of Alan's last scheduled patient(s) would have immediately flagged police, a red flag to any patient with a cap and sunglasses on all the time; 2) Alan was missing for a week before his son even started a personal search via local posters instead of police first, media second, a press conference third, family and friends searching fourth, etc, and certainly a therapist's office manager/patients/colleagues/daughter going straight to the police (who would respond because of high risk patients) once a celebrated therapist fails to come to work; 3) the direct causal link to Sam's office manager by means of proximity and then witnessed conflict, with the manager's body instantly discovered dead in the open street; 4) the latter killing in plain view of CCTV or Ring cameras would have been a certainty; 5) the attempted murder of Sam's father would have caused him to go to the police (he wouldn't have cared about his son's punishment); 6) the father would have also come and beat the living daylights out of Sam as payback (no remorse there). And I haven't even touched on the myriad of ways Alan could have escaped, or harmed if not killed Sam.

The ending is bad, made worse by an irrelevant scene with Ezra (I get the attempt), and made even worse because it made all the above Mac truck holes even more apparent.

I would have marked this even lower in rating except for the acting skills of Carell and Gleeson, which added a star.

And too many ads make the totality of 10 weeks of 30 minute sic episodes no more than 3 hours and 10 minutes. This was too high an ask by. Hulu, Joe Weisberg, and Joel Fields.

All I can suggest is, imagine this as a Broadway play, and watch for the acting skill. The plot fails.

Wyatt Earp's Revenge (2012 Video)

Absolutely Dreadful - Cannot Hear A Word For The Music

[2/10 · 24 November 2022]

I'm not a Western fan, but I am Val Kilmer. This came up on TV on the weekend, and I gave it a shot.

Wyatt is in a hotel mumbling. REALLY mumbling. The music overlayed to dialogue means hearing what he's saying is almost impossible.

Cut to flashback, where the actual story commences (Kilmer has a minor, not major, part). Again, impossible to hear any conversation unless one strains.

What possesses editors to do this!? There's already a sub-genre of mumbly movies, but this takes it to a whole new level.

In the end, it's standard bad guy needs to be caught. And is. That's it. All the rest is standard action.

Gorbachev. Heaven (2020)

Deeply touching portrait of a great man's end of life

[10/10 · 3 September 2022]

This is one of the most beautiful examinations of once the most powerful man in the world at the end of his life. Beauty in silence, the filmmakers let daily events shine light on President Gorbachev in this 'interview with a crank' as he describes it himself.

We enter Gorbachev's home, hear him recite childhood poems, listen to him sing of memories of his mother, clearly miss his beloved wife Raisa (the better of them in the relationship he allows), and watch as he struggles with mobility issues at the end of his life.

Illuminating, touching, poignant, revelatory, and somehow pitiful, it's a remarkable documentary. It is a true treasure.

All the Old Knives (2022)

FINALLY: A Classic Intelligent Spy Thriller Along The Lines of Le Carré's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'.

[10/10 · 11 April 2022]

If you agree with Martin Scorsese and you've been aching for an intellectually stimulating spy plot, this is one along the Le Carré 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' mould. The plot keeps you guessing and ends with a twist (although I guessed it ¾ of the way in and needed to find out if that was correct). Tired of the car-chase, Marvel, action, sci fi mumbling no-dialogue mega movies assembly-line made for the revenue, this takes you back to the best of the genre of well-written espionage films that make you ponder various outcomes.

As for other low ratings given here, see the above paragraph: reviewers clearly like that mindless CGI rote cookie-cutter brainless action cinema. Chris Pine and Thandi(we) Newton are excellent, and very glad to see Jonathan Pryce and Laurence Fishburne added to the mix. The restaurant scenes were very well done, with perfect lighting dimming and darkening to echo the point. Flashbacks were necessary and cause no interruption; ignore those who claim otherwise.

Finally, if someone doesn't cast Pierce Brosnan and Chris Pine together as father and son, something's wrong with Hollywood.

The Lost Daughter (2021)

Yet Another Hollywood Vanity Project Pretence At Depth

[3/10 · 9 February 2022]

Hollywood has an unpleasant tendency, especially in recent years, to cheerlead an actor's desire to interpret something they've read and put on screen. The results are often poor, and this is no exception - unless you enjoy Olivia Colman staring, walking, or sleeping a lot.

Remove the leading names (Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, and of course director Maggie Gyllenhaal) and this is a boring and mediocre attempt at directing a book. (The book takes place in Italy, but Greece gave Gyllenhaal movie tax breaks and incentives to replace in the Greek islands.)

Dakota Johnson does a great job, and her character was worth exploration. The parents (played by Dagmara Dominczyk and Panos Koronis) were very good, and ought to have had more exposure. Never revealed is the reason this family is 'bad' - it's key to understanding the risk Colman's character undertakes by antagonising them.

Making a slow burn movie is fine. Making a bad slow burn movie is not. This is the latter. A waste of time except for seeing (a prematurely aged!) Ed Harris.

The Captain (2017)

Tries to mix Tarantino, Schindler's List, & Hogan's Heroes

[4/10 · 27 January 2022]

Overrated. Deeply dark, but not because of the subject matter per se (it is, after all, a true story at its core).

The film attempts dark comedy a la Quentin Tarantino mixed with Hogan's Heroes at times, all whilst attempting the seriousness of Schindler's List. In other words, it just doesn't work.

Profoundly disturbing for trying to inject humour into sadistic killings of detention camp detainees. Furthermore, lacks a starting point for 20 minutes of silence and no explanation as to who Der Hauptmann was or where he came from. As a true story, this was missing.

The cinematography was good, the end credit scenes made their point, but overall - no, it failed to find its intent.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

Pleasantly Surprising Reversed Opinion of Tammy Faye

[8/10 · 22 November 2021]

I lived through the peak of Jim and Tammy Faye's success, but had no idea of how genuine, in fact, a person she was. Had no recollection of how compassionate she was to the AIDS community, for certain. Certainly had no idea of the venal actions of Jerry Falwell, as jealous as he was of them and so anxious to throw them under the bus.

Tammy Faye was always exactly who she was - heart on her sleeve, quirky, made-up and loving it (she'd have been just as at home in Vegas, and made no apologies. By today's standards of vile wealth as exhibited by Joel Osteen or Kenneth Copeland, the Bakkers were comfortable but not obscenely rich. Seems like it's these pastors who wanted to rid themselves of the Bakkers - and they did.

You don't have to have any interest in religion to see this film. And it goes without saying that Jessica Chastain is absolutely unrecognisable in her transformation as Tammy Faye, especially at the end.

Very glad I had this as a new perspective. Would have been great to have had Tammy Faye around still; what would she have made of the political direction of the above, we can only wonder.

All the King's Men (2006)

Superb cast, but made no sense; accents terrible; overrated

[4/10 · 14 October 2021]

So much to say. Without giving the plot away, this promised to look excellent: the cast line-up so good; the cinematography excellent; music grandiose. But...

...it jumps right in to a plot that made no sense, as though it were the 4th episode in a series of 12. Penn's accent is dreadful, and barely understandable. (LA isn't hard to understand; he makes it like TX. Jude Law's was better.)

From the start scenes skip from one to the next with an assumption that we're supposed to know what something meant. Corruption in politics is/was a thing. Fine. That means little to the events. Someone has a relationship and that means dirt needs to be dug to the point of lives on the line, when it's about 1 man's vote among many? No logic.

We're supposed to know Stark may be having an affair, but why and with whom and when and what's the point to the rest? Why is a rich medical doctor in poverty and why does that drive his extreme reaction? Why is the mother ½ bedridden and drunk? What's the point of flashbacks when they don't connect?

And why oh why did Penn's character imply 'the negra' in every other sentence up front, to imply...what? He's for or against? Looking for the vote yes, but genuine? Did he turn once in office, and why?

There is literally no clue given for any of this. Just one scene to the next and 'work it out' badly hanging.

If this is based on Huey Long, you'd have to be a student of history to know. It's a poor one at that.

Survivor (I) (2015)

Formulaic Propaganda

[1/10 · 8 October 2021]

This is pure American-saves-the-world from bad guys (this time French, English, etc) in a nanosecond.

But there are so many gaping flaws: mundane visa checks alerting an American to code red; videoed murdering her boss in broad daylight broadcast 24/7 on the news and yet Jovovich doesn't change clothes, is bloodied and cut up yet manages to penetrate the US Embassy, Tube, Heathrow, and JFK with nary a question; and during a whole a 9 hour flight she gets on a computer to find secret government information in the last 5 minutes during landing.

Besides a dreadful script (eg, 'you saved the world' at the end), we're led to believe she can run all over London (CCTV, GPS legendary) without detection, in heels. But Pierce Brosnan - the world's 'greatest assassin' - encounters her face-to-face multiple times and keeps missing every shot. (Why on Earth did he take this role when he can do much better?)

This is so bad it's not worth your time. I watched only to see the London where I used to live.

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Waste of Time; Unrealistic of MI6 & Terrible English Accent (Theron)

[2/10 · 13 July 2021]

Terrible accent by Charlize Theron - no wonder she barely had 10 lines in the film. Nothing at all like British spy thrillers (or real life), and shame on anyone comparing it to Bond or Bourne (CIA).

If you want female intelligence action, watch SALT or Red Sparrow.

Shattered (2007)

Superb Thriller - Leaves You Guessing

[9/10 · 22 June 2021]

It takes a lot for a thriller to not clue in to the ending long before, but this is one of them.

Very surprised more people don't know about it. Fantastic performance by Pierce Brosnan in his native tongue. Don't miss.

The Godfather Part III (1990)

Pacino's Michael Corleone as Prep for Scent of a Woman

[7/10 · 14 May 2021]

I rewatched all Godfather films back-to-back during the pandemic, Part I & II twice. Waited for Part III: Coda (Director's Cut) because the original was always disappointing. The 2020 re-edit is much better then the 1990 release, but I realised why it was harder to swallow than just the story line and new actors. (Sofia Coppola can't act and should never have been cast; George Hamilton was ridiculous as an untrustworthy slick comical lawyer, with no explanation of why the exceptional Duvall wasn't cast; Mantegna a cartoon mobster; and Garcia a petty thug who barely knew his uncle one minute but yet catapulted the ranks with no resistance/loyalty test from others to reach the top of a multi-million dollar organisation the next. The incestuous 1st cousin relationship was wrong and completely unnecessary - no point at all. And the Papal line of the script was completely implausible).

But Al Pacino wasn't Michael. He was playing as he did in Scent of a Woman (1992).

Michael - the enigmatic, mysterious, quiet, read-my-eyes brooding character that made the film great - was absent. This was a chatty, revealing, yelling or sentimental Michael Corleone, free to talk about his feelings. Pacino changed Michael's character so drastically with his portrayal, it's very hard to transition from Parts I & II to Part III. Basically, it's the Pacino character brought to all his films of the 1990s - gravelly Brooklynite emotion-on-his-sleeve. The exact opposite of the mysterious intense inwardly-acted Michael of I & II.

Coppola is a masterful director; Puzo was an outstanding writer; and the editors of I & II (Reynolds and Zinner) made the films superb. It's obvious those editors were not part of Godfather III. As Puzo died, a Part IV appears off the table, but it is desperately needed - with great casting and fantastic editors, and a nudge to Pacino to remember why his first Michael made him famous.

I wanted to see Michael Corleone, a few years on. Ironically, the title of Part III (Death of Michael Corleone) was true: the earlier Michael was long dead.

The Lighthouse (I) (2016)

Underrated; Haunting

[8/10 · 7 September 2020]

This really is a superbly cast and very well acted film, that psychologically grips us from imagining ourselves in the situations. I am shocked by the aggregate review; it ought to be much higher.

The film is based on a true story, but if you're looking for a light film this is not it.

It haunts so much that I still think of it 4 years after its release.