No need to look closer

Grandma's Reading Glass (1900)

Directed by George Albert Smith (although there are some theories on other attributions) this is a short, silent film. A young boy uses his grandma's magnifying glass to look at various things.

There is not much of a plot to this short film, it is essentially just over a minute of a boy using the magnifying glass on a random selection of things. Historically this film may be important for being the first use of cutting to close-up point of view shots but that is really all it is. This is little more than an early film making experiment in technique.

2/5

Confusion wins the day

Child 44 (2015)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa this film based on the novel of the same name stars Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman. In 1950s Soviet Russia an MGB officer falls foul of the machinations of his co-workers and tries to solve a series of child murders when there are officially no murderers in Soviet Russia.

This ends up being an average film that is never sure if it is telling a murder mystery or exploring the depths of living in a paranoid, repressive state. No element of this film is ever fully fleshed out and it kind of plods along just about well enough. Tom Hardy does a decent jump in the lead role but the script does not really do him many favours.

3/5

Basic midlife crisis

This is Where I Leave You (2014)

Directed by Shawn Levy this film based on the novel of the same name stars Jason Bateman, Tina Tey, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll and Jane Fonda. After finding his wife cheating on him with his boss a man returns home to his fathers funeral with his three siblings.

Not a lot is surprising or original about this film, it's a fairly standard genre piece that plods through some predictable beats that are all telegraphed well in advance. What the film does have going for it is a great cast that at least give the film some charm which helps carry it. It is a big of a shame such a good cast is wasted on an average film but this film still has it's moments that will give the odd laugh.

3/5

In the beginning there was the pen

A Brief History (1956)

Directed by Ion Popescu-Gopo this is an animated short film. The entire of human history is fit into a 3 minute film, from big bang to launching a man into space.

This is a fairly simplistic but entertaining short that has a hint of the comical about it. Taking some very complex concepts and putting them into such a simple film is pretty impressive but possibly not as remarkable or breathtaking as it could be. The animation style is not really worth talking about and might seem a little weak compared to some modern efforts but it does the job well.

3/5

All the names, no quality

Badman's Country (1958)

Directed by Fred F. Sears this film stars George Montgomery, Neville Brand, Buster Crabbe and Karin Booth. Pat Garrett goes off to get married and give up being a law man but Butch Cassidy's wild bunch happen to plan a robbery in the same area.

Despite being filled with characters that are legends of the old west this film has no historical basis and is pretty much just trading on the famous names of it's characters. The plot is very basic, standard genre fare and the characters have little personality going for them. Nothing stands out about the cast either which is filled out with C list actors.

2/5

And the beat goes on

Drum Beat (1954)

Written and directed by Delmer Daves this film stars Alan Ladd, Audrey Dalton, Marisa Pavan and Charles Bronson. In 1872 a well known Indian fighter is sent to make peace between Modoc renegades and settlers.

Edging towards a sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans this film does not get there completely as the antagonist lacks realistic motivation but does show many positive Native American characters. Historical events are fudged, somewhat disappointingly in some areas, but this is still a fairly decent genre piece. It is nice to see Charles Bronson in an early role and alongside an actor like Alan Ladd.

2/5

Sights of shite

2047: Sights of Death (2014)

Directed by Alessandro Capone this film stars Stephen Baldwin, Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Rutger Hauer and Neva Leoni. A military officer working against a corrupt world government is sent into a radioactive city to find a crashed satellite.

It is hard to say if the script of the acting is worse here. Absolutely nothing makes any sense when it comes to the plot and the dialogue is often beyond terrible. What left me scratching my head the most was how this cast ended up in such a terrible film giving awful performances like this.

1/5