There has been another glut of releases of films on demand that I missed in the cinemas earlier in the year. Here is a quick round up of TV that are all available on Amazon Video and Talk Talk TV:
Certain Women
It took me a while to warm to director Kelly Reichardt’s work, but her last three films: Meek’s Cut Off, Night Moves and now Certain Women have been excellent, and I think that this one surpasses the other two. Inevitably, for a film comprising three separate stories, one will stand out – in this case it is the achingly sweet near romance between Kristen Stewart’s teacher and Lily Gladstone’s rancher and both women are superb. Laura Dern is also great in the first story centring on her lawyer character and Michelle Williams is good too in the weakest of the three segments.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Sing
This sweet animated musical comedy is one of the best kid’s films of recent years. In a town that has just animals living in it, a koala called Buster Moon tries to put on a singing contest offering a large cash prize even though he doesn’t have the money. Likeable characters provide plenty of chuckles, with only Nick Kroll’s Gunter missing the mark.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Patriot’s Day
I was a bit wary of this telling of the Boston marathon bombing and the manhunt that followed it, as I thought it might be too much of an American flag waver. Although it does falter right at the end, with an overdone Boston tribute, it is otherwise impeccable. Director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg are reunited, and it has a lot of the same feel as their previous film together, Deepwater Horizon. It takes its time to establish the characters and has an amazing air of realism before becoming a superb police procedural. Wahlberg has never been better, John Goodman – who, having lost weight seems to be morphing into Sam Waterston – provides great support and the excellent Michelle Monaghan makes the most of a pretty thin role as Wahlberg’s wife.
Rating: 9.25 out of 10
Split
I have never understood the acclaim for director M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. The big twist was obvious from about 10 minutes in, and it was pretty tedious stuff after that. Apart from his follow up, Unbreakable, his films have continued to be misfires and increasingly became critical failures. There was talk of a return to form with The Visit in 2015, but I found that to be a hokey horror film. This is a little better than that, and it features a bravura performance from James McAvoy, but it still underwhelmed me, and the final scene did not redeem it.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Logan
This wowed the critics earlier in the year and is certainly better than any of the other Wolverine films, though, to an extent, that is damning it with feint praise. Hugh Jackman brings a world weary gravitas and Dafne Keen has a tremendous screen presence for someone so young. However, as with all these films, there just isn’t any stakes with me, as in a year or so, the character could come back from the dead, or a prequel will be made, or a reboot will happen.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10