End of the Road
Queen Latifah takes time out from her fun hit series The Equalizer, to star in this thriller as ER nurse Brenda. With her money spent on her late husband’s medical bills, she has been forced to sell her LA home. On the road to Houston where she is re-locating with her kids and sketchy brother, Reggie (Ludacris) the family book into a motel. They hear a murder in the room next door and Reggie takes a bag of drug money from the room. Before long they are being hunted by the mysterious local crime lord.

It could be easy to dismiss this movie. The story is quite familiar and the identity of the bad guy is very obvious. However, director Millicent Shelton keeps things moving, Ed Wu’s shooting of dessert vistas is impressive and Latifah is perfect in her role. There is also some nice commentary on the black experience in the less progressive parts of America, without it being preachy or heavy handed. This lean film reminded me of something that might have been made during the golden age of TV movies in the 1970’s, and, from me, that is a compliment!
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Lou
The wonderful Allison Janney stars in the title role as an ex CIA operative living alone in a shack in the woods. She rents out another house to Hannah (Jurnee Smollett) who knows nothing of Lou’s past. As a storm rages, Hannah’s daughter Vee (Ridley Asha Bateman) is kidnapped and Lou sets out with Hannah to rescue her. I enjoyed the set up for this film and most of it works really well. Janney has some great, often funny, lines and in one terrific hand to hand combat scene with two bad guys, she gives Liam Neeson a run for his money! However, the movie falters when we learn more about Lou and her connection to the kidnapper, leaving the climax feeling a little flat.
Rating: 7 out of 10

Athena
Athena boasts the most impressive pre title sequence since Spectre in 2012. A 13 year old boy of African descent has been killed, apparently by rogue cops. As the police chief and Abdel (Dali Benssala), the detective brother of the boy, give a press conference saying that the killers will be identified and brought to justice, an assault on the police station takes place. The astonishing action filled ten minute or so scene that follows was shot in one take by Romain Gavras. The mob, led by Karim (Sami Slimane), another brother, steal weapons and head back to their housing complex. Also held up there is a fourth brother, gangster Moktar (Oussaini Embarek).

The police lay siege and the protestors demand they release the names of the killers. Gavras maintains a furious pace for most of the film, his camera fluidly roving the corridors and rooms of the apartment blocks. I was able to cope with the idea of the four very different brothers being the centre of the drama and the racial tensions/police brutality seem pretty realistic. However, an event involving Karim towards the end of the film leads Abdel to totally change his behaviour in a manner I did not buy.
Rating: 8 out of 10

The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football
Of course, I am old enough to remember Luis Figo transferring from Barcelona to their hated rivals Real Madrid in 2000 and the controversy that surrounded it. I did not strike me as a big a deal as Mo Johnstone signing for Rangers in 1989 after playing for Celtic, but maybe that’s because I am British. This documentary goes into great detail about how the transfer happened and all the political, behind the scenes, manoeuvrings that it required. There are interviews with all the main protagonists and it can certainly be considered comprehensive. It also claims that it will show why the transfer happened. That is an easy one to answer. Money. More for the player and plenty for the people who engineered the move.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis
Between 16 and 18 August 1988, two men – Jürgen Rösner and Dieter Degowski – plus Rösner’s girlfriend Marion Löblich, robbed a bank in Gladbeck Germany. As they fled, they initially took two bank employees as hostages. Later, they grabbed a bus and took 27 people on board hostage before transferring a couple of hostages to a car and taking off for the Netherlands. I have no recollection of this event happening, so I found this documentary unfolding like a thriller.

Director Volker Heise wisely chose to stitch the story together using just the wealth of archive footage available, thankfully not slowing things down with interviews. Anyone who has seen the fantastic One Day in September (1999) about the Munich Olympics hostage crisis will not be surprised by the ineptitude of the police. What is more shocking is how the TV crews following the story were helping out the criminals by giving them interviews, drinks and directions, in order to get better access. Then, just when you think things cannot get more shocking, we see reporters telling the criminals to put a gun to a hostage’s head so they can get a better picture…if it was a not true, it would be unbelievable.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

The Festival of Troubadours
After 25 years estrangement, Heves Ali (Settar Tanriögen) turns up at his son’s door. His son, Yusuf (Kivanç Tatlitug) agrees to take him to a troubadour festival, but just after starting their journey, he finds out that his Dad is terminally ill. A father/son road trip with more than a touch of melancholy is not exactly ground breaking. However, the combination of two outstanding performances, sensitive direction by Özcan Alper and some stunning vistas really elevate this film. It is nice to see a foreign language film on Netflix that takes its time to let a story unfold in a natural way.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

And now for the rest this month….

Firstly, a batch of underwhelming documentaries.

Bank Robbers: The Last Great Heist tells the story of a notorious robbery in Argentina in 2006. The smug criminals are quite hard to stomach and again we see how re-enactments hardly ever work in docs.

Anyone who has had the misfortune to purchase his crap software will not be surprised to learn that John McAfee was definitely an oddball and possibly a murderer. Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee is meant to examine the events surrounding the death of his neighbour in Belize but is far too scattershot.

In 2007, NBA referee Tim Donaghy was found to have been betting on games he officiated. This is examined in Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul. There was almost certainly crooked behaviour by others in the sport, including Commissioner David Stern, but far too much credence is given to Donaghy is a series of self serving interviews.

The murder of journalist Kim Wall by Danish entrepreneur Peter Madsen after he invited onto his submarine is covered by Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case. Although it is an odd case, there is not much more to it than that.

Bank Robbers: The Last Great Heist: 4 out of 10
Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee: 4 out of 10
Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul: 4.5 out of 10
Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case: 4 out of 10

In The Assistant , Zafik (Iedil Dzuhrie Alaudin) is unjustly sent to prison. On his release, he seeks revenge. Zafik spends most of the film wandering around looking bored. I know how he feels. Presumably the Full Metal Alchemist films must be popular in their native Japan as two new sequels have popped up on Netflix. Full Metal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar and Full Metal Alchemist: The Final Alchemy are strictly for fans of the series. They both feature woeful CGI, hammy acting and are played like comedies but have no laughs.

The Assistant: 3 out of 10
Full Metal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar: 2 out of 10
Full Metal Alchemist: The Final Alchemy: 2.5 out of 10

Seoul Vibe is billed as Korean’s Fast and the Furious. I can see why as it has a semi-interesting core plot drowned in a bloated story and unrealistic, heavily CGI’ed, car chases. In the Brazilian comedy Fenced In, Walter (Leandro Hassum) moves from the noisy city to the countryside only to find that his neighbours are insufferably loud. Unsubtle and forced at times, but Hassum’s energy generates a few mild chuckles.

Seoul Vibe: 4 out of 10
Fenced In: 4.5 out of 10

In Italy in 1975, some young lads raped two girls. Their story is told in The Catholic School. It is definitely their story as the girls do not appear until the last 30 minutes, and most of what we see in the first two acts has no relevance to the terrible events. It is hard to know what the makers of this are trying to say. It almost goes without saying that frantic Indian comedy Plan A Plan B is way too long. It is also devoid of anything funny. In the animated Entergalatic, Jabari (Kid Cudi) is a comic book artist on the verge of becoming a big success who starts to fall for Meadow (Jessica Williams). It is nicely animated but is merely diverting as the story is fairly mundane.

The Catholic School: 4 out of 10
Plan A Plan B: 2.5 out of 10
Entergalatic: 5 out of 10

Togo is a sincere and well acted story about a homeless man in Uruguay. It lacks originality though. Rainbow is meant to be a modern take on The Wizard of Oz, but lacks that classic’s charm. It is far too frantic and features one of the most annoying openings to any film in recent times. Do Revenge is a tired American high school drama that us notable only for including no likeable characters. The cliched Polish mountain climbing movie Broad Peak is only made watchable by some excellent cinematography. Jumping From High Places is a typically unfunny Italian comedy with an irritating lead performance.

Togo: 5 out of 10
Rainbow: 2.5 out of 10
Do Revenge: 2 out of 10
Broad Peak: 4 out of 10
Jumping From High Places: 2.5 out of 10