Paul Greenwood's movie reviews

Director: S. Craig Zahler

4 stars

On the surface Bone Tomahawk is a western in the classical style, a film of sheriffs and posses, saloons and varmints. But the ace up its sleeve is that it’s also a cannibal movie, and a savage and pitiless one at that, opening with an attack on a pair of bushwhackers.

The survivor (David Arquette) makes it into town and into jail, from where he’s taken during the night along with the town doctor (Lili Simmons), forcing the sheriff (Kurt Russell), the doctor’s husband (Patrick Wilson), the gunslinger (Matthew Fox) and the old coot (Richard Jenkins, stealing the show) to head out in pursuit of them.

Maybe there’s a little fat during this long journey of a midsection, but it’s all part of the measured build that allows us time to get to know and like these characters, and dialogue sparkles in a Tarantino-Coen kind of way, with an eloquence belonging to the period that never slips into verbosity.

Once we eventually get to it, the cannibal scenario is at times genuinely disturbing, thanks largely to the inhuman howling sounds they make from a device in their throats, a touch that both delights and horrifies.

Once seen, the climax is likely never to be forgotten, and if you can stomach the ultra-violence, this is one of the great modern westerns.

See it if you liked: The Hills Have Eyes, The Revenant, The Searchers

THE FINEST HOURS (12A, 117 mins)

Director: Craig Gillespie

3 stars

This slightly stodgy disaster movie is based on real events that took place in the 1950s in Massachusetts, when a tanker broke in half on wildly stormy seas.

A very watchable Casey Affleck shows star quality as the coolest head on the vessel, but there’s not quite enough on-boat action to sustain a film which requires padding out with a land-based romance between coastguard Chris Pine and his fiancé (Holliday Grainger).

Eventually Pine heads out with a small crew to attempt a near-impossible rescue, and once that laboured and stuffy set-up is out of the way there are some spectacular shots and good wave action as tension grows. You can see the appeal of blending an old fashioned sweeping romance with a disaster movie, but that long road to reach the thrills is definitely much better when wet.

See it if you liked: The Perfect Storm, In the Heart of the Sea, Everest

TRIPLE 9 (15, 116 mins)

Director: John Hillcoat

2 stars

The week's other Casey Affleck film is a very familiar looking cops and robbers affair that only really manages to come alive during its action set pieces.

Affleck is the new cop in a town blighted by a bank robbing crew led by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and while The Dark Knight closed the book on cinematic bank robberies, the escape following the first heist here is a well staged number.

Once the getaway is over a number of the gang are revealed to be cops - they're in debt to the Russian mob and need to pull off a big job, which will mean killing Affleck as a distraction.

There’s a large cast of well known faces (Woody Harrelson as a cop, Kate Winslet as the mob boss) but few get the chance to make an impression or give us people worth investing in, in a movie that’s visually unappealing and often quite turgid, with only a couple of shootouts where it’s able to raise its game.

See it if you liked: Brooklyn’s Finest, Takers, Sicario

Pick of the Glasgow Film Festival....

HAIL, CAESAR

Thursday Feb 18th, 15.30, GFT

4 stars

This year’s festival opener is a typically wonderful, crowd-pleasing choice and the latest goofball comedy from those masters Joel and Ethan Coen.

Josh Brolin takes the lead as the head of a fictitious 1950s movie studio who’s able to fix most problems that land his way, which includes the production of new biblical epic Hail, Caesar which hits the skids when the film’s star (George Clooney) is kidnapped and held for ransom. As is often the case with the Coens, the plotting is sometimes both wayward and overly dense, but not worth worrying about when there’s so much else to enjoy. Mostly that’s an amazing cast (Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson) on top comic form and countless references and tributes to the golden age of Hollywood resulting in a movie lover’s delight.

BRIDGEND

Wednesday 24th, 20.30, GFT

Thursday 25th, 10.45, GFT

3 stars

Based on the many dozens of unexplained teen suicides that have blighted a small Welsh town in recent years, this woozy drama has a hint of The Falling from last year’s GFF. Hannah Murray is excellent as Sara, who returns to the town with her policeman father after many years away and is caught up in the cultish behaviour.

There’s a compelling European feel to its small town ennui, and what it doesn't provide in the way of engaging characterisation, it more than makes up for in weirdness and oppressive atmosphere.

THE LESSON

Saturday 20th, 22.45, GFT

3 stars

A high school teacher driven to the end of his tether by unruly students kidnaps a pair of them and tries to (sometimes literally) hammer some sense into them in this good looking British thriller.

The Lesson offers a strong premise that intrigues initially but too often falls into repetition, with the teacher regurgitating the same challenge and punishment over and over.

He’s also allowed by the director to be a bit too wacko, and some control might have helped the performance. But it tackles big questions, and while there’s perhaps not quite enough here for a feature of this length, it’s certainly provocative enough to warrant attention.

DISORDER

Sunday 21st, 20.30, GFT

Monday 22nd, 13.15, GFT

4 stars

Matthias Schoenaerts has found some English language success recently but he’s back on home turf in this striking French/Belgian thriller as a soldier with PTSD who takes up private security work between tours.

When he's hired to babysit the family of a shady political figure and senses danger, we don't know if it’s his paranoia or not in a film that features some elements that might be expected from this sort of thing yet finds its own successful path in many ways.

Silent and watching, on the surface it doesn’t seem like much is going on with Schoenaerts, but he commands the screen throughout and tension escalates on the way to a cracking finale.

JAMES WHITE

Friday 19th, 18.30, CCA

Saturday 20th, 13.15, CCA

4 stars

At first this American indie may seem like it's not something we haven't seen plenty of before, as a young man drifts through life looking for direction and purpose.

But it’s not often done with this much insight, as 20-something James White (Christopher Abbott), still reeling from his father’s death, takes care of his sick mother (Cynthia Nixon) while trying to get his own life in order. Filmed in a close up confrontational style, it can be really tough going in places but also hugely affecting, anchored by a pair of stunning performances from Abbott and Nixon.

DREAM TEAMS ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Every morning of the festival at 10.30 (except Saturday 27th), audiences can enjoy a Hollywood classic at the Glasgow Film Theatre completely free of charge.

Thu 18th Feb, Libeled Lady (U) - Thin Man team Myrna Loy and William Powell sparkle

Fri 19th Feb, Swing Time (U) - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at their peak

Sat 20th Feb, The Awful Truth (U) - Cary Grant and Irene Dunne screwball comedy

Sun 21st Feb, The Adventures of Robin Hood (U) - Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in the classic adventure

Mon 22nd Feb, Double Indemnity (PG) - Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Billy Wilder’s noir

Tue 23rd Feb, The Big Sleep (PG) - Bogart and Bacall are as good as it gets

Wed 24th Feb, Woman of the Year (U) - Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy’s first outing together

Thu 25th Feb, Pillow Talk (PG) - Doris Day and Rock Hudson have their finest hour

Fri 26th Feb, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (12) - Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and multiple Oscars

Sun 28th Feb, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (PG) - Paul Newman and Robert Redford's delightful western