Brand new this week, and available on Curzon Home Cinema is County Lines, the feature debut by ex-youth worker Henry Blake who both writes and directs. It is obviously based on his experiences, and all the more powerful for it. At the centre of the story is 14 year old Tyler, played by Conrad Khan. He is a withdrawn and uncommunicative kid with a barely present single Mum and a younger sister for whom he is the main care giver.

Local drug dealer, Simon (a brilliantly terrifying Harris Dickinson), befriends him and Tyler starts to work for him, delivering his goods from London into the smaller suburban towns.

At times painful to watch, this feels really authentic, as you would expect. Khan is extremely impressive as the likeable but troubled kid, outshining more experienced performers like Ashley Madekwe (as his Mum) and Chizzy Akudolu (as his head teacher).

This is based on a short film of the same name, and it does lose its way just a little around the half way point when Simon drops out of the picture for a time. But it remains one of the better British films of the year and my film of the week.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

On the same platform is Mogul Mowgli. Zed, a British rapper with a Pakistani heritage is about to embark on a European tour that could propel him to the big time when an illness strikes. As he sees his career seemingly in tatters, he has to confront family and background issues as well.

Riz Ahmed is superb as Zed. He delivers his political raps with a real intent and conveys the hopelessness of his later situation very well. I also liked the performances from Alyy Khan as his Dad and Aiysha Hart as his manager. However, the film itself suffers from unfocused direction from Bassam Tariq who throws in too many fantasy and dream sequences.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

I have been critical of Sky Movies’ recent premiere options but their selection this week, for the most part is much better. Life with Music is a nicely understated story of a veteran classical musician suffering from stage-fright. The script by Louis Godbout is profound at times and Patrick Stewart is excellent in the lead. Strangely it does share a fault with Mogul Mowgli in that director Claude Lalonde tries to inject too many unnecessary visual flourishes, but he doesn’t spoil what is a quiet pleasure.

Also highly recommended is Waiting for the Barbarians. In another time, this would have been more suitable to see on a big screen, thanks to stunning cinematography by Chris Menges, but it is worth catching at home. It is set in an unnamed remote outpost of the British Empire, at a non-specified time. A magistrate (Mark Rylance) oversees the area but his benevolent style is put to the test when an army Colonel (Johnny Depp) arrives. A measured, thoughtful film with a tremendously restrained great performance by Rylance. The increasingly absurd Depp, though, is way too mannered.

You might think another true story about a group of underdogs triumphing in a competition is the last thing we need, but Critical Thinking was a surprisingly good watch. A Miami school teacher (John Leguizamo) leads his chess team to glory in a predictable but uplifting way. Leguizamo directs as well, and does a very good job.

The ragtag bunch of students are pretty believable, certainly more so than anyone portrayed in another true story, Adam. An unlikeable salesman (Aaron Paul) has a horrific accident, leaving him an unlikeable quadriplegic. Until, of course, he pretty suddenly turns into a nice guy. And that’s it!

Finally on Sky, the disaster that is Dolittle. Released just before lockdown to scathing reviews, a lot of the criticism centred on Robert Downey Jr’s Welsh accent in the title role. In fact, at times he gets it right, but then again he does seems to wander off into Ireland and parts of the subcontinent at various points! The problems do not end with him though. The voice cast for the animals is star studded but none of them match their characters and Carmel Laniado is awful as the child despatched, for some reason, by Queen Victoria to fetch the doctor on an urgent matter. The original Dr Dolittle with Rex Harrison was quite poor but this verges on the unwatchable.

Life with Music: 7 out of 10
Waiting for the Barbarians: 7.5 out of 10
Critical Thinking: 6.5 out of 10
Adam: 4 out of 10
Dolittle: 2 out of 10