This is my monthly round up of the films I have seen on Netflix.
The Conference
A team-building conference for municipal employees turns into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate. At the same time, a mysterious figure begins murdering the participants. I watched this on Halloween night, and it was a pleasing slasher with some good comic moments and an identifiable cast of characters, some quite grotesque, for anyone who has worked in an office. There are a few inventive deaths, but the identity of the killer is quite obvious.
Rating: 7 out of 10
The Pain Hustlers
Emily Blunt heads a fine cast as Liza Drake, a pharmacist who gets involved in a criminal conspiracy. This felt like a Wolf of Wall Street – a movie I have issues with – light. Blunt is great and you will be rooting for her in the enjoyable first half because of her character’s dire financial situation. But as success leads to excess, things get a bit dull. There are clearly massive systemic issues with the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S healthcare system but Pain Hustlers barely scratches the surface.
Rating: 6 out of 10
The Killer
Director David Fincher returns with this action thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Michael Fassbender stars in the title role, as a cold hearted, nameless, assassin who finds himself the target when, for the first time, one of his hits goes wrong. Fassbender, in his first film in 4 years, brilliantly plays the cold calculating killer in a film that feels icy itself. After a slightly sluggish start, I found myself falling into the rhythm of Fincher’s stylish direction, even hoping that the assassin will survive.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Apocalypse Clown
A troupe of failed clowns embark on a chaotic road trip after a mysterious solar event plunges the world into anarchy. This is a wildly uneven absurdist comedy. For every joke that really hits the mark, there are another 5 that fall flat and there are long sequences that drag. Natalie Palamides is the pick of the cast as a scary clown that resembles Pennywise.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Locked In
When a devoted nurse investigates how a patient in her care who can only communicate via blinking, ended up in the hospital, she uncovers a twisted murder plot. This plodding thriller keeps threatening to veer into gothic horror territory but does not quite make it there. Instead, it unfurls its largely predictable plot using overlong flashbacks. Anna Friel is good as the nurse, though she is side lined for a lot of the film.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Nowhere
Mia, a pregnant woman fleeing from a totalitarian state gets separated from her partner and is left alone in a shipping container, floating in the ocean. Anna Castillo does well as Mia in what must have been a physically demanding part and some of the scenes of her finding ways to survive are effective. However, there is too much that is implausible and the ending did not work.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nyad
Annette Bening stars as swimmer Diana Nyad in this biographical sports drama, directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, and written by Julia Cox. Three decades after giving up marathon swimming, Diana decides she needs to try again to undertake a 110 mile swim from Florida to Cuba. This was a swim that she had previously failed to complete on two separate attempts and had not been done by anyone before.
This a typical against the odds sports story with the added jeopardy that the participant might die. I found it interesting seeing all the preparation and the support staff required and it has a set of excellent performances. Not only Bening but especially Jodie Foster in a less showy role of her best friend and coach and Rhys Ifans as her gruff navigator.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Also this month:
French heist movie Gold Brick hits all the expected beats but is not original enough.
The Great Seduction is the second remake of 2003’s Seducing Dr Lewis. It is inessential at best.
Once Upon a Crime is a mash up of the Red Riding Hood and Cinderella fairy tales with a murder mystery thrown in. It is not as interesting as the set up suggests and is hindered by hammy acting.
Freestyle is a tired Polish drama about a rapper getting involved in drug dealing.
Did we need another Spy Kids movie? Director, Robert Rodriguez thinks so. After watching the precocious child actors in Spy Kids: Armageddon, I do not.
Three uninteresting women are desperate to get married and have kids in How To Deal With a Heartbreak. I was desperate to stop watching.
In Overhaul, a truck racer (do they exist!?) becomes a getaway driver. Good action scenes but the film drags between them.
Khufiya is a spy drama that suffers from bad writing and, being Indian, an excessive running time.
The Devil on Trial is a documentary about the supposed possession depicted in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Absurd stuff with poor dramatic reconstructions.
Do Not Disturb chronicles the first chaotic shift for a hotel night porter. Has its moments but runs out of steam.
Nun based horror Sister Death is atmospheric and well shot but with a limp storyline.
Nigerian revenge thriller The Black Book has echoes of The Equalizer but Richard Mofe-Damijo is no Denzel!
In the overly simplistic Crypto Boy, a cocky young man loses everything when investing in cryptocurrency. For fans of schadenfreude.
Keys to the Heart is a well-meaning but dull drama about a boxer moving back in with his mother and autistic brother.
By the awfully forced acting, I assume that Kandasamy’s the Baby is meant to be a comedy. Not funny.
Burning Betrayal is an attempt to revive the erotic thriller that flourished in the straight to video market of the 1980’s and 90’s. It is not a success.
Gold Brick: 4.5
The Great Seduction: 3
Once Upon a Crime: 3.5
Freestyle: 3
Spy Kids: Armageddon: 2.5
How To Deal With a Heartbreak: 2.5
Overhaul: 4
Khufiya: 3.5
The Devil on Trial: 2
Do Not Disturb: 4
Sister Death: 4
The Black Book: 3
Crypto Boy: 2.5
Keys to the Heart: 3.5
Kandasamy’s the Baby: 2
Burning Betrayal: 3