Starting with Netflix this week and a sweet drama, Penguin Bloom. Sam (Naomi Watts) is confined to a wheelchair after an accident. She struggles to accept what has happened her and her relationship with her husband and sons suffers as a result. But when the family rescue and look after a magpie, that they name Penguin, the little creature starts to bring them together. Despite being based on a true story, this seems fanciful stuff and a lot of the dialogue is on the nose, but it does have a charm.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Outside the Wire is a functional but formulaic action flick. In the near future an army drone pilot (Damson Idris) is sent to get experience in the field. He is teamed up with an android officer (Anthony Mackie) to stop a nuclear attack in the Ukraine. The action is handled pretty well but the plot involving cross and double crossing is hackneyed. Also, setting this in the future and having Mackie play an android instead of a human adds nothing.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Kids may get some enjoyment from Finding ‘Ohana but only if they have very low standards. This story of New York kids hunting for treasure in rural Hawaii is predictable and cliched.
Rating: 3 out of 10
On rental services, the pick this week is the documentary 76 Days. This is shot in fly on the wall style and is set in a hospital in Wuhan during the start of the Covid pandemic early last year. It documents, the dedication, bravery and patience of the medical staff to good effect, and follows a small group of patients who are infected with the virus. That element is vital as, as brilliant as the doctors and nurses are, we never see them out of their extensive protective equipment, it is hard to distinguish between them or forge an emotional connection with them.
This is obviously a timely film and in many ways an important one. However, with the extremely well equipped hospital and so little running time given to people who don’t survive their infection, it is also one that the Chinese authorities will be pretty happy with.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Echo Boomers is a run of the mill depiction of a criminal gang who steal from the houses of the rich. Lip service is paid to the idea that they are doing it because of the unfairness of the American capitalist society, but that idea is quickly forgotten when writer/director Seth Savoy has the opportunity to show the gang partying in a sea of drink and drugs. A talented cast that includes Michael Shannon and Hayley Law is wasted.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Baby Done is a sparky New Zealand set comedy starring the talented Rose Matafeo as a woman who unexpectedly gets pregnant with her boyfriend, as is determined to tick all the items off her bucket list no matter how inappropriate they are for someone in her condition. There aren’t any real belly laughs but Matafeo and Matthew Lewis as her partner keep things moving nicely, and it raises a few chuckles.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Finally this week, Recon is a new drama set in Italy in the second world war. Four American soldiers see their sergeant murder an innocent civilian so are sent on a suicide mission with an Italian guide who they don’t trust. I could put up with so historically inaccurate this is and how absurd the plot is if it wasn’t so incredibly dull. The deaths of the soldiers could not come soon enough.
Rating: 3 out of 10