Eleven of these are available on Amazon Prime Video, though with a rental fee, and some of them for the same price on Blinkbox…

Appropriate Behaviour

Desiree Akhavan wrote, directs and takes the lead in this story of a bisexual young woman of Iranian descent trying to make sense of her recent break up. Akhavan is clearly talented and a decent actor but the story is way to self-indulgent.
Rating: 5 out of 10

Slow West

A lot of people have liked this western but I failed to engage with it. Competently made all round, and Michael Fassbender is never less than watchable, but I found the experience a bit dull.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Mia Madre

Nanni Moretti had a great run of films in the late 90s, early 2000’s culminating in the emotionally devastating The Son’s Room. His career has tailed off since but he is back on great form with Mia Madre. A film director, Margherita (Margherita Buy) has to juggle the demands of directing her latest film, managing the ego of the star (Barry, John Turturro) whilst her mother is dying in hospital.
Funny at times, with great observations on the movie making process, but also very touching. Buy is excellent and is well supported by Turturro and Moretti himself as her brother.
Rating: 9 out of 10

She’s Funny That Way

Peter Bogdanovich’s first film in 12 years harks back to his classic screwball comedy What’s Up Doc? It never reaches the hilarious heights of that film but it does have a lot of small pleasures with its typical farce like situations. Imogen Poots stars, and impresses despite a dodgy New York accent because of her ability to capture the gauche physicality of her character. Jennifer Aniston is a hoot once again, and it is good to see the great Austin Pendleton back on the screen.
Rating: 6 out of 10

Catch Me Daddy

Hugely disappointed by this social realist drama. It tries to capture the spirit of a Ken Loach film, but with its completely unlikable characters, hard to understand dialogue and meandering 2 hour run time, it fails.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Survivor

Decent action flick, that despite some techno trappings is pretty old-fashioned. Milla Jovovich plays a security expert in the US embassy in London that gets implicated in a terrorist plot and finds herself on the run whilst trying to clear her name. A couple of clunky scenes of exposition and a few plot holes aside, I enjoyed this fun film. Jovovich is perfect in the lead, displaying the right amounts of vulnerability and resourcefulness. Pierce Brosnan fares less well in a villainous part that he feels too old for.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

White God

A politically allegorical Hungarian story about a young girl’s beloved dog that is abandoned on the streets by her Dad. As she searches for the dog, it, along with other stray dogs, starts to display unusual behaviour. This is an excellent film that keeps you thinking all of the time and featuring the best child performance I’ve seen in a long time from Zsófia Psotta. However, if you are an animal lover like me then some of the scenes are pretty much unwatchable.
Rating: 8 out of 10

The Connection

Set in Marseilles in 1975, this is the French angle on the french connection made famous in the film of the same name. Magistrate Pierre (Jean Dujardin) is trying to bring down crime kingpin Tany (Gilles Lellouche). Although not entirely original and with a predictable personal subplot added on for Pierre, there is a lot to like about this film. Both the leads, especially Dujardin, are very good, the period detail is spot on, the plot moves at a good pace and Laurent Tangy’s cinematography gives a real 1970’s feel.
Rating: 8 out of 10

Only available on Blinkox:

Beyond the Reach

This had the feeling of a 1970’s made for TV movie, and that is not meant as a criticism! Michael Douglas stars as a powerful businessman, Madec, who goes on a hunting trip in the Mojave Desert with a young guide (Ben, Jeremy Irving). Tragedy strikes and Ben has to flee for his life.
Douglas can play this Gordon Gekko type role in his sleep, so it is a credit to him that he appears so invested in the role.
Ultimately fairly silly, but holds the attention throughout. Also features another great score by Dickon Hinchliffe.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Finally, one for you Netflix subscribers:

Coherence

A mind being sci-fi story. It is best to watch this with no prior information on the plot, so suffice to say it involves a passing comet uncovering multiple dimensions. I felt like I needed to stop the film to take notes but really enjoyed being baffled by it! All of the cast does well, using largely improvised dialogue and director James Ward Byrkit is someone to watch out for in the future.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10