It is time for my monthly round up of new films seen on streaming services other than Netflix, this month.
Starting with Amazon Prime:
Holland
Nicole Kidman stars as a teacher in a small midwestern town suspects her husband of living a double life but things may be worse than she initially imagined. This is a curious film. The plot could have produced a taught thriller, but instead in meanders and I was not sure if it was meant to be a thriller, fantastical drama or a quirky comedy.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Gunner
When the two sons of war veteran Colonel Lee Gunner (Luke Hemsworth) are taken by drug dealers, he uses his special set of skills to get them back. This is pretty inept stuff, full of clichés and some painfully bad CGI.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Picture This
In this British romcom, a single 29 year old woman, Pia (Simone Ashley), attends her sister’s engagement party and is told that she will meet the love of her life among her next five dates. It would be easy just to dismiss Prarthana Mohan’s comedy as totally derivative. Pia is too attractive to be long term single, she claims to be focused on her career and not interested in dating, but ends up with a guy, and she has a catty gay best friend and an artsy job (photography) that means that she has to spend very little time working.
But, it also has a lot of charm. There are good turns from seasoned performers in supporting roles, such as Sindhu Vee, Adil Ray and especially Asim Chaudhry as a truly horrific potential partner. Ashley lights up the screen and her first two dates have some funny moments. Hero Fiennes Tiffin is a bit of damp squib as Pia’s eventual love interest though.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
G20
Viola Davis stars as U.S. President Danielle Sutton, who is attending the G20 summit in Cape Town, where she will put forward a proposal to increase financial aid for the world’s poorest countries. When terrorists, who want to cause financial chaos in order to make themselves rich, try to take all the leaders hostage, Sutton leads a small group of people as they try to get to safety. Hopefully you are not looking for realism in your action thrillers as the thought of an American President caring about anything other than themselves, and be interested in helping non-Americans rather than locking them up seems very far fetched.
Indeed, the script does have some clunky lines, but there are plenty of decent action sequences well helmed by director Patricia Riggen and Davis is very convincing in a better than average straight to streaming thriller. Obviously, sections of the online community have gone into meltdown as the hero is a black woman President who is not looking to crash the world economy for their own financial gain!
Rating: 7 out of 10
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
2018’s Den of Thieves was a film that I did not like very much but it was popular, so the arrival of this sequel is no surprise. Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. reprise their roles from the first film, while Christian Gudegast returns to write and direct. Deputy Sheriff Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien (Butler) follows a suspected thief to Europe in an attempt to team-up with him for a robbery. The grittiness of the original is eschewed in this more sleek follow up. But, with a 2 and a half hour running time, it feels bloated and self indulgent. Apart from the 2 leads and Evin Ahmad as the heist organiser all the characters are bland and interchangeable.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Over on Sky, Sky Movies subscribers can see:
The Parenting
A young couple, Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn), host a weekend getaway with their parents in a rented country house. Things take a turn when they discover the presence of a 400 year old evil entity. The talent on screen is considerable with the parents played by Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow and Dean Norris. Kent Sublette’s script though is not sharp enough, too often mistaking embarrassing situations for funny ones, although Kudrow does get some amusing lines. The horror part of the story feels tacked on.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
The following can be bought or rented on the usual services:
Gator Creek
Biology student Kyle (Athena Strates) and her friends Alice (Madalena Aragao) and Malika (Elisha Appkebaum) are travelling to scatter her brother’s ashes. When their light aircraft crashes into the Louisiana bayou, they, along with the pilot and other passengers, are confronted with a swamp full of alligators. But they are not the normal creatures, they have been sent into a frenzy by leakage from a busted drug production facility. So, we have Alligator or Crawl meets Cocaine Bear! There is everything you would expect from a low budget creature feature: a very basic plot, ropey CGI and practical effects and the stranded people picked off one by one, with the most peripheral characters the first to go. It is enjoyable stuff though, and Strates is surprisingly good as the grief stricken timid girl who unexpectedly takes charge because of her knowledge of the reptiles.
Rating: 7 out of 10
F***, Marry, Kill
Lucy Hale stars as Eva Vaugh, a true crime obsessive who is persuaded by her friends, on her 30th birthday, to sign up to a dating app. She meets three men but after listening to her favourite podcast, she believes that one of them is the notorious Swipe Right Killer who is terrorising the city. She decides she has to figure out which one is the serial murderer. Director Laura Murphy and writers Ivan Diaz, Dan Scheinkman and Meghan Brown skilfully combine rom com elements with a murder mystery that will keep you guessing. This is a really fun watch and both Lucy Hale and Brooke Nevin, who features as her sister, give breezy performances.
Rating: 7 out of 10
The next two films are available to watch on Shudder:
Black Cab
Anne and her obnoxious, controlling boyfriend Patrick (Synnøve Karlsen and Luke Norris) hail a cab after a tense night out. The driver, played by Nick Frost, seems chatty and over friendly at first. But after a while, the couple realise that he has locked the doors. Frost has made a habit of being the best thing in less than stellar movies since the end of the Cornetto Trilogy and this is the case here, where he gives glimpses of his humour behind the menace he exudes, though Karlsen is pretty good too and director Bruce Goodison provided some atmospheric visuals. After a good first half with an intriguing set up, though, the explanation for his behaviour is muddled and the ending unsatisfactory.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Bloody Axe Wound
Abbie (Sari Arambulo) is the adopted daughter of Roger Bladecut (Billy Burke), a prolific serial killer. The family makes their money by selling tapes of Roger’s slayings at their struggling horror themed video rental store. When Roger realises he is too old, Abbie carries on the family tradition. This has some nice slasher moments and writers Sasha Nathwani (who also directs) and Helen Simmons provide amusing dialogue. I also liked Evan Garcia-Renart and Miles Taylour-Sweeney’s John Carpenter inspired music. However. a lot of questions, such as who is filming the movies, how they are made and why no one notices that the killings are of real people, are left unanswered.
Rating: 6 out of 10
The documentary Antidote had a brief and limited cinema release. Rebranded as Kill List: Hunted by Putin’s Spies, it can be seen on All4. It follows the lives of people trying to expose those who work as spies on behalf of Putin’s Russia, with a particular focus on open-source journalism website Bellingcat’s former lead investigator Christo Grozev. Grozev come across as a fascinating figure, admitting that his stress levels are permanently high and lot letting the suspicious death of his father or the dangers that his wife and daughter are facing, stop his investigations. He is an admirable figure, as is a scientist who defects from Russia. His dash across a field to safety across a border and the later escape of his family provide the most nail biting moments.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Doing the rounds on Movies 24 is:
An Unexpected Valentine in which Hannah (Lacey Chabert) gets a ride from Uber driver Finn (Robert Buckley) on the evening of Valentine’s Day in New York. She finds a ring on the floor and the pair race around the city trying to find the owner, assuming that they were going to propose to someone on that night. If you can set aside that the roads in Manhattan seem virtually deserted and that Finn is able to park so easily, you might find this very enjoyable. Chabert is at her charming best and she has good chemistry with Buckley. For a Hallmark romance this had an original and inventive plot. On the same channel you can find the terribly titled The Royal We that features a European princess, who has been living a regular life in America, who must return home and take on her royal duties and an arranged marriage with a prince. It is painful stuff and America’s fascination with royal families baffles me.
Ratings out of 10:
An Unexpected Valentine: 6.5
The Royal We: 2