A shorter offering this week with the pick being ‘The County’. In rural Iceland, a struggling farmer, Inga, takes on the local co-operative who have a monopoly on the buying and selling produce in the area.
Director Grimur Hakonarson is probably best known for 2015’s ‘Rams’ and this is has a similar feel. Amdis Hronn Egilsdottir is excellent as the determined Inga, trying to do the right thing for the community whilst being aware if the consequences that her actions will have for her. At first he little acts of rebellion draw scorn from her neighbours but soon a movement against the co-operative begins to emerge.
It’s the sort of film that I can imagine getting a Hollywood remake but with more action and definitely without the bitter sweet ending.Currently available exclusively on Curzon Home Cinema.
Rating: 8 out of 10
I cant really recommend anything else from this week, although the lightweight and predictable ‘My Spy’ also has its charms. It had a cinema release earlier this year and now is available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers. The ever likeable Dave Bautista stars as a CIA agent who is sent on a surveillance mission and ends up forging a friendship with the target’s 9 year old daughter.
The mixture of comedy and action that follows as expected but it is breezy enough. Unusually for an American child actor, Chloe Coleman is not irritating and has a good chemistry with Bautista.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
‘The Host’ made its debut on streaming services a few weeks ago but it has the whiff of straight to DVD/digital whatever the circumstances. A London banker, crippled with debts, gets involved with a smuggling ring run by the Chinese Triads.
This is a tired retread of much better films, that lurches from lacklustre thriller to non-scary horror part way through. The performances are generally adequate, but special mention must go to Finola Geraghty, Brendan Bishop and Laurence Lamers. You would think with three writers, they would come up with something better than this coincidence-bound, hole-ridden script with really clunky dialogue.
Rating: 4 out of 10
However they are surpassed in their awfulness by Carl Morris and David Michael O’Neill for ‘The Stand at Paxton County’. For something based on a true story, although allegedly pretty loosely, you would expect a screenplay with ah least a hint of believability. This tale of the supposedly evil Humane Society of the United States who team up with a corrupt sheriff to ruin rancher’s lives is told in a completely boring and ham-fisted way.
Rating: 2 out of 10