Here Today (2021)
Directed by star Billy Crystal this film also features Tiffany Haddish, Louisa Krause and Anna Deavere Smith. A comedy writer struggles with the early days of dementia
There are a lot of dementia films knocking about these days and this one is neither particularly hard hitting or overly insightful. The film is decent enough but does little to stand out and the end does get a little overly sentimental. Do not expect too much from this one.
3/5
Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)
Directed by Robert Wise this film stars James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally and Irene Papas. A young man takes a job as a horse wrangler for a rancher who thinks he is the law of the land.
As westerns go this is a pretty familiar one, it doesn't hit the heights of Shane (1953) which is also from the same writer. If you are a genre fan this is decent enough, otherwise it is a bit bland. There is also not much depth to the message behind the film.
3/5
Crossfire (1947)
Directed by Edward Dmytryk this film based on the novel The Brick Foxhole stars Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan. A police detective tries to figure out which soldier of a group staying at a hotel committed murder.
This is a pretty basic who done it that rams home its message without a lot of subtlety. I enjoyed the film even if it is not ground breaking in terms of content or execution. To be honest the highlight of the film is seeing some of the stars before they made it big.
3/5
Legend of the Lost (1957)
Directed by Henry Hathaway this film stars John Wayne, Sophia Loren and Rossano Brazzi. Three people set off into the Sahara in the search for a lost city.
This is your standard North African adventure film that manages to not dip too deeply into uncomfortable stereotypes common of Hollywood films of this genre. The film makes heavy use of familiar locations so is not that impressive. A decent if unremarkable genre film.
3/5
12 Mighty Orphans (2021)
Directed by Ty Roberts this film based on real events stars Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen, Vinessa Shaw and Wayne Knight. A new teacher sets up a football program at a school for orphans.
Essentially this is your usual American sports film, hitting all the familiar beats. The film simplifies and condenses real events down to such an extent that there is nothing new here. Kind of a disappointment in the end.
2/5
Charming the Hearts of Men (2021)
Written & directed by S. E. DeRose this film stars Anna Friel, Kelsey Grammer, Pauline Dyer and Aml Ameen. Against the backdrop of the Civil rights movement a divorce returns home to find she has inherited only debts from her father.
I'll be honest this film made me very uncomfortable, it may be attempting to be a film about equality but it comes across as rich white woman co-opting the struggle of black people. To what extent the film lives up to its claim of being based on true events I have no idea. At best this is a misguided effort that does not get to grips with its subject matter.
1/5
Esperanca (2014)
Directed by Nathan Cragun this is a short film set in World War 2. We follow a Brazilian soldier during the battle for Montese in 1945.
Unfortunately this film lays on the Jesus far too thick for my taste, theist films rarely go down well with me. I would really love to know more about the experiences of Brazilian soldiers in WW2 however this film really falls short. The script really needs some reworking to make this watchable.
1/5
