Before I finally decide on my best and worst of 2025, there were a few more films to catch up on at home.
Available to rent on the usual services:
Odyssey
Due to her financial situation a London estate agent called Natasha Flynn (Polly Maberly) becomes embroiled in a kidnapping involving a rival estate agent, Douglas Kelly (Ben Shafik), at the behest of a third, Dom (Daniel De Bourg). Director Gerard Johnson is building up a nice CV of modestly budgeted, skew-whiff thrillers and this may be his best yet, exemplified by a brilliantly off kilter sequence in a nightclub and a stylishly blood soaked climax. Maberly is terrific as the increasingly desperate Natasha, as is Mikael Persbrandt as the mysterious and enigmatic The Viking. The film is elevated by a menacing synth score by the director’s brother, the great Matt Johnson in his The The guise.
Rating: 8 out of 10
On Netflix:
Life of Chuck
Here we have yet another Stephen King adaptation, this time of a novella of the same name, adapted and directed by Mike Flanagan. Tom Hiddleston stars as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, and the film tells his life story in reverse chronological order, from his death coinciding with the end of the universe to his childhood. There have been some really good King adaptations recently, but this is not one of them. It takes an age to get going, and even then, is quite tedious. The end of the world plot had promise but I really did not care about Chuck.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Murder in Monaco
Monaco, 1999. One of the world’s richest men dies in his penthouse. This documentary unpacks the mysterious murder of billionaire banker, Edmond Safra. This a bizarre story with an unexpected twist so it is impossible to make a bad film out of it. But there is much left unexplained and I am so bored with the trope of showing interview subjects arrive, chatting beforehand and the clapperboard closing before they are questioned.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Cover Up
The subject matter of Laura Poitras’ and Mark Obenhaus’ documentary is the career of Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who covered the U.S. Army torture scandals during the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, as well as Watergate. I had heard of Hersh before without knowing who he really was, so this was really illuminating for me. He comes across as remarkable, though irascible character who has had a fascinating life. There are extensive interviews with him and those that know him as well as some good archive footage.
Rating: 8 out of 10
On Paramount Plus:
Trust
Sophie Turner stars as a Hollywood actress who has some intimate photos and her positive pregnancy test leaked onto the internet. To get away from the furore, she hides out in a remote house, only find a new type of danger awaits her. This has the feeling of a Lifetime TV movie and not a good one at that.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Finally to My 5:
An Invitation to Murder: A Death in Cairo
The second in the series starring Mischa Barton as private detective Amanda Green. This time, she investigates a murder and theft in the British Embassy in Egypt in 1934. It may be because I am a sucker for whodunnits in that time period and location, but I thought this was a marked improvement on the first film. It is nicely paced and a decent mystery, with evocative Cairo locations. I was able to get past Barton’s overly brittle accent and enjoy her performance.
Rating: 7 out of 10