It is time for a round up of new films that I have seen on Netflix this month.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners
The lead character in this action movie is a disillusioned hitman coming out of retirement so it is no surprise to see Liam Neeson in the lead role. What is unusual, though, is that it id set in his native Ireland in the 1970’s and his target is an on the run IRA terrorist.
A lot of people are sniffy about Neeson’s career shift into the action genre but I have enjoyed the majority of the films he has appeared in since making that move. This, though, is a level above those, the period and geographical setting giving it more depth. It also has an extraordinary supporting cast, including Kerry Condon, Ciarán Hinds, Colm Meaney, and Niamh Cusack.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Unfrosted
In the last year or so, there have been a number of surprisingly enjoyable movies based on the development, rise, and sometimes fall of various products: trainers in Air, a computer game in Tetris and a phone in Blackberry. Those all largely stuck to the truth, with dramatic licence, but with Jerry Seinfeld directing and co-writing, with Spike Feresten, Barry Marder and Andy Robin, this depiction of the creation of Pop Tarts in 1963 is very different.
Apart from a few of the characters involved, the story is completely fictionalised. It is, for the most part, pretty funny. Not all the gags hit the mark and it feels like the running time is stretched by 10 minutes or so, but it is a silly, breezy watch. Of the star studded cast Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer and a hilarious Hugh Grant fare the best.
Rating: 7 out of 10
City Hunter
An exceptional marksman and hopeless playboy, private eye Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) reluctantly forms an alliance with his late partner’s sister to investigate his death. This is depressing stuff, cliched and extremely sexist with the Ryo, and the camera, leering over female flesh.
Rating: 2 out of 10
Mother of the Bride
Brooke Shields seems to have been mostly employed by Hallmark recently. But now she has teamed up with Netflix for this rom com. She plays Lana, who is surprised when her daughter Emma (Miranda Cosgrove) announces she is getting married in Thailand. When Lana arrives in Phuket she discovers that the groom is the son of a man who once broke her heart, played by Benjamin Bratt. This is neither very romantic or funny but it is an acceptable Sunday afternoon watch, and Bratt has an easy charm.
However, I am a little tired of seeing hugely wealthy and privileged Americans going on holiday and making minor mishaps out to be major issues. The biggest problem with the film, though, is the character of Emma. Inevitably she is an influencer who has everything handed to her for no apparent reason. She is a loathsome, self entitled, self obsessed brat. I have seen mass murderers in movies that I would rather spend time with!
Rating: 5 out of 10
Atlas
Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. When plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it. Lopez has firmly secured the slot for the worst film of the year with her vanity project, This is Me Now – A Love Story. This is not as bad but it is a silly trope laden sci fi.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Breakwater
Dermot Mulroney stars in this thriller written and directed by James Rowe. He plays Ray Childless, a devious convict who convinces a fellow inmate, the young and impressionable Dovey (Darren Mann) to track down his estranged daughter. It takes time for Breakwater to take off, but once Ray stages his prison escape and the real reason for Dovey’s mission is revealed it picks up momentum. The ending ties everything up a little too neatly though.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Which Brings Me To You
Jane (Lucy Hale) and Will (Nat Wolff) meet at a wedding and spend the next 24 hours together sharing stories about their romantic disasters and heartbreaks. Hale and Wolff are decent actors but they do not gel in this very predictable story.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Colours of Evil: Red
When a girl’s body is found on a beach in Poland, a prosecutor teams up with the victim’s mother on a quest for the truth. This works pretty well as a procedural, and there is definitely an unexpected twist at the end. However, there are too many flashbacks, slowing down the action.
Rating: 6 out of 10