The highest profile new release this week is on Netflix and is ‘The Old Guard’. Based on a series of comic books by Greg Rucka, Charlize Theron heads the cast as one of a group of immortal mercenaries battling evil. Yes, just what we need, another deathly dull origin story for a potential comic book franchise. You can tell that Gina Prince-Bythewood thinks she is making something of artistic merit as the routine action sequences are interspersed with scenes of mumbled dialogue that are meant to be of great import but are just seemingly endless exposition. With the premise meaning that there is very little jeopardy, this is a very boring, technically proficient, slog.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Currently available for just 99p to rent on Amazon Prime, is ‘Why Don’t You Just Die’. This hyper violent Russian thriller starts well, as a man (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) turns up at the apartment of corrupt cop (Vitaly Khaev) seemingly intent on attacking. The stylised, cartoon like violence that ensues is startling. However it soon becomes apparent that there is little else to the movie and by the hour mark, I was wondering why don’t you just finish.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
A better bet is to save yourself a quid and watch ‘7500’ as it is available for free for Prime members. Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as a commercial airline pilot who has to try to deal with an attempted hijack of his plane. Cleverly shot almost entirely in the cockpit by Patrick Vollrath, it is an original take on the plane disaster genre. The technical details seem realistic and the tension is maintained for a large part of the running time, though it does lose steam after the plane lands.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Sky subscribers now have the chance to see a couple of films that probably would not have got a cinema release, even in normal circumstances.
In 2004, large scale embezzlement by school employees in New York was discovered. Those events are depicted in ‘Bad Education’ by writer Mike Makowsky and director Cory Finley. This had the potential to be fascinating, especially as the illegality was first discovered by Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan), a student working on a school newspaper. Instead her investigation is glossed over and the fraud is not gone into on much detail. With a lot of the focus on district superintendent Frank Tassone’s (Hugh Jackman) personal life, it all feels a little superficial. Also the talent in the supporting cast that includes Alison Janney and Ray Romano is a bit wasted.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Films about kids, troubled in some way, bonding with an unlikely adult are not rare. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I reviewed Driveways, after all. In ‘The Guardian’, Rafa (Andy Garcia) is a used car salesman in a financial crisis who finds himself looking after runaway Ana (Dafne Keen). Whilst the episodic plotting is predictable, the setting of the economic meltdown in Puerto Rico gives the plot more bite. Also, the depiction of how organised religion preys on the vulnerable and gullible was an unexpected and welcome addition to the story. Primarily though, it is the performances of the two leads, and their natural interaction that makes this a treat and film of the week.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10