Starting this week with Netflix and Crazy About Her. On a night out, Adri meets Carla and they have a wild time together. When Adri later discovers that Carla resides in a psychiatric institution, he engineers a residency there. Despite the unusual setting this is pretty standard romcom stuff that you know how will end from the start. There are some uneasy moments initially with the treatment of mental health issues but things improve in that respect as the film progresses.

Sentinelle is a movie I expected to like more than I did. Olga Kurylenko plays a soldier suffering from PTSD on the hunt for the people who harmed her sister. It is efficiently enough made but Kurylenko does not convince. The action sequences make little impact and the story is pretty formulaic.

Crazy About Her: 5.5 out of 10
Sentinelle: 4.5 out of 10

Now to movies rented from Amazon…

Has any major star’s career derailed as spectacularly as Bruce Willis’? Since his last outing as John McLane in 2013, he has appeared in a stream of titles that have made no impression on audiences. His latest, Anti Life (aka Breach), does not buck that trend. It is set 2240 when some sort of plague has devastated the human race, Bruce plays a mechanic on a space ship carrying people to a new planet. He has to save the day when an alien creature begins attacking the crew. He is fine, but with a story that borrows ideas from far superior films like Alien and The Thing, shonky special effects, cheap looking production design and ludicrously bad performances by Thomas Jane and Timothy V Murphy, this is an embarrassing low point on Willis’ increasingly desperate CV.

A couple of years ago Icelandic drama Rams made quite a splash on the arthouse circuit. It has now been remade by director Jeremy Sims who swaps the original frozen setting for the blistering heat of the Australian outback. It follows the plot of its predecessor quite closely, though it swaps the dry dark humour for a bit more whimsy. The performances of Sam Neill and Michael Caton as the feuding brothers and Miranda Richardson as a vet are all very good but this can be filed under amiable rather than essential.

Also newly available to rent is MLK/FBI. This is a look at how the FBI monitored and tried to bring down Martin Luther King in the 1960s. A lot of what is told is pretty well known though there are some interesting nuggets. For those new to the subject matter, it covers the years leading up to King’s assassination comprehensively and lucidly.

Anti Life: 2.5 out of 10
Rams: 6 out of 10
MLK/FBI: 7 out of 10

Over to Sky for a narrative film in a similar vein with The United States vs Billie Holiday. This time it is the legendary blues singer who is under investigation by the authorities, particularly because of her song Strange Fruit that addressed the subject of a lynching of a black man. This falls foul of a problem that a lot of biopics have in that it tries to cover too much of the subject’s life. As a result, it feels like a drag at a 130 minutes, especially with the limited talents of Lee Daniels at the helm. Also the decision to invent a romance with an agent investigating her takes up far too much running time. Andra Day is very convincing in the title role though.

Also exclusively on Sky Movies is To Olivia. In 1963, Roald Dahl and his wife Patricia Neal and reeling from the death of their young daughter when Neal is given to re-ignite her acting career with a role in the Paul Newman movie Hud. With the talents of Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes playing the couple this film was always going to have a lot going for it and they are both excellent. Unfortunately, I failed to find any emotional connection with the story for the majority of the running time, as Dahl comes across as an obnoxious and arrogant bore. It is only towards the end, when his wife takes the role and he has a character transformation that things improved.

The United States vs Billie Holiday: 5 out of 10
To Olivia: 6 out of 10

Film of the week can be found on Apple TV/Plus in the shape of Palmer. Justin Timberlake stars as the title character, newly released from prison who unexpectedly becomes a carer for a young boy. This will not win any awards for originality and you know how it will pan out. However, Timberlake is terrific, and director Fisher Stevens brings small town America to life in an effective way.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10