The Gray Man
The big release of the month and the most expensive Netflix original movie ever, The Gray Man justifies the hype. An intense Ryan Gosling stars as a CIA operative, Six, who becomes the target of a hit with Chris Evans as the agent chasing him and Ana de Armas as a colleague who reluctantly helps Six. The plot is pretty straightforward really as Six tries to stay alive whilst rescuing the kidnapped daughter of his mentor, but is the action that makes this worthwhile.

Dashing around the globe, I lost count of the number of countries involved but is a storming set piece in Prague that is the highlight. There are some notable names in the supporting cast, including Billy Bob Thornton and Alfre Woodard, though, other than Gosling, it is Jessica Henwick as a conflicted agent takes the acting honours.
Rating: 8 out of 10

The other two films heavily promoted by Netflix this month were really disappointing. Persuasion is a miss conceived attempt to modernise a Jane Austen book that leaves a talented cast floundering. If you are going to do that, you need to go full on, like in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This feels half baked. Day Shift is a tired and listless vampire hunting horror comedy. Not scary or funny enough and Jamie Foxx looks bored in the lead role.
Persuasion rating: 3.5 out of 10
Day Shift rating: 4.5 out of 10

Don’t Blame Karma
Sara thinks she is permanently unlucky seems to have her belief confirmed when her younger sister, Lucy, gets engaged to the boy she was in love with at school. This Mexican romcom is lumbered with a charmless leading man and an unnecessary subplot involving the girls parents, but it is lifted by an effervescent turn by Aislinn Derbez as Sara and is pleasingly breezy.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

The Man from Toronto
This is a knockabout action comedy about a regular guy getting mistaken for a hit man. Your enjoyment will probably depend on your ability to tolerate the star Kevin Hart. I can stomach him in small doses and thankfully Woody Harrelson as the real hit man steals every scene they share. Pretty good fun.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Rogue Agent
Rogue Agent is based pretty loosely on the true story of conman Robert Freegard, who, in the 1980’s and 90’s posed as an MI5 agent. He used that pretence to seduce women and eventually steal money from them. This is certainly an extraordinary story and James Norton is great in the role of Freegard. Charming and with a hint of danger, it is almost understandable how so many people were duped by him. The most incredible part of his exploits was how he managed to convince young women that they were working with him and live undercover, effectively kidnapping them. Therefore, I think that this film would have been better if that was examined more rather than concentrating on how lawyer Alice Archer was taken in by him and eventually helped bring him down. Alice, based on real victim Caroline Cowper, is played stiffly by Gemma Arterton and she has little chemistry with Norton. Always interesting but what could have been a great film is just a good one.
Rating: 7 out of 10

Wedding Season
A couple of years ago, I reviewed a likable romcom called Plus One where two single friends agree to be each other’s fake dates for a series of summer weddings and end up falling for each other. In Wedding Season, Asha and Ravi, two single people agree to be…well you get the picture! And I am sure Hallmark have used this plot a few times too. But despite the unoriginality of the story it sort of works. Pallavi Sharda and Suraj Sharma make a cute couple, Sean Kleier is fun as Asha’s sister’s fiancée and it is great to see Ruth Goodwin who was so good from the prematurely cancelled Private Eyes as Asha’s assistant. The light script has enough heart and funny moments despite a few cliched Indian stereotypes in the supporting cast and a dreaded dance sequence at the end of the film.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Separation
In the middle of a bitter divorce from Jeff (Rupert Friend), Maggie (Mamie Gummer) is killed in an accident. As her father (Brian Cox) tries to get custody of his eight-year-old grand daughter Jenny (Violet McGraw), Jenny starts to see what might be Maggie’s ghost. That’s an impressive cast but they struggle to breathe life into this dour story. With so much going on, including weird puppets that come to life, it feels unfocused. Some tension is built up in the latter stages but the twist at the end is pretty obvious.
Rating: 5 out of 10

Office Invasion
Three old friends who work for the same company thwart an attempted takeover by aliens. This is a strange concoction. It works pretty well when satirising the corporate world. Not as funny as Office Space but it has the same vibe. It is not so successful as a sci-fi flick, but the personable performances keep it afloat.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

As always with Netflix, there are a lot of dregs this month:
Despite being set in a post pandemic world, Carter is a violent Korean action flick does not feel timely. It also lacks any originality in the fight scenes or characters worth caring about. Purple Hearts is an extraordinarily soppy romance between a singer and a US Marine. Neither are worth spending time with as they seem to try to out do each other with their obnoxiousness. A Cut Above is a Brazilian alleged comedy about a cocky young lad trying to save his Mum’s failing salon.

Amateurishly made, unlikeable characters, and nowhere near funny enough. Code Name: Emperor is a convoluted and pretty boring thriller about the Spanish intelligence services. The grey palette adds to the general tedium. The German comedy Buba about a conman getting involved with the mob tries so hard to be funny that it feels really strained. So quirky it is irritating. The Entitled is a fish out of water comedy from The Philippines about a poor young woman finding out her father is a mogul may have been watchable if it were not for a disastrously bad lead performance by Alex Gonzaga. Her over acting almost has to be seen to be believed.

In Reclaim, Hee Ching Paw is excellent as a mature Taiwanese woman trying to juggle a number of different roles and look for a bigger house. Unfortunately, the film moves at a snail’s pace and feels so inconsequential. Is it illegal in India to make a 90 minute film!? Darlings is a comedy about marital abuse (yes, really) drags on and on for 133 minutes. As you can imagine, it is all over the place tonally. Undiscerning youngsters may get some enjoyment from Royalteen.

The unlikely story involves a nice young woman who falls for a prince with a bad reputation. In the strained Turkish comedy Heartsong, a wedding musician falls for the bride. Frantic rather than funny and probably plays better to a Turkish audience. 13 The Musical is strictly for teens or fans of the original musical. The rest of us have to suffer a cliched script, uninspired musical numbers and poor performances, with the exception of Debra Messing.

Finally, and unbelievably, we have the third part in the execrable 365 Days franchise, The Next 365 Days and it is the usual mixture of sex and plotting. It is slightly better than the previous two instalments. The first one delightfully showed a woman being raped into loving someone and the second was just a collection of soft core porn scenes set to a terrible Euro score soundtrack. This time there is more story and less sex, though that just highlights how utterly dreadful the entire cast are when they try to act rather than take their clothes off.

Ratings out of 10:

Carter: 3
Purple Hearts: 1.5
A Cut Above: 2.5
Code Name Emperor: 3
Buba: 2
The Entitled: 2
Reclaim: 3.5
Darlings: 2.5
Royalteen: 3
Heartsong: 2
13: The Musical: 2.5
The Next 365 Days: 1.5