This is my monthly round up of films seen at home on services other than Netflix.
Starting with films I saw on Amazon but can be rented on all the usual services:
Fremont
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she is struggling to cope with civilian life, feeling both lonely and guilty for leaving her home country. A hit at Sundance, you might think, with its black and white photography, slight story and plaintive guitar soundtrack, that it is just another low budget, too quirky for its own good, American Indie that are so prevalent at that festival. In fact, it is much more than that. The storyline by director Babak Jalali and Carolina Cavalli is much more layered and the performances from Zada, Gregg Turkington as her psychiatrist, Eddie Tang as her boss and Jeremy Allen White as a sweet mechanic are all completely naturalistic and excellent. I found it very touching.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Golda
Helen Mirren stars as Golda Meir, the 4th Prime Minister of Israel, in this biographical drama directed by Guy Nattiv. In concentrates mostly on the period of The Yom Kippur war in October 1973. Mirren is excellent, very convincing as the veteran politician. The film, though, whilst interesting, never becomes as tense as it should.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Haunting of The Queen Mary
This film from directors Gary Shore and Rebecca Harris has a plot that unfolds across two timelines. One is set in 1938 when a grisly murder takes place on the liner, while the other happens in the present day as a family interested in history and the supernatural gets caught up in the ship’s haunted legacy. So, it is certainly an ambitious film but unfortunately that ambition is not met with results. The dual stories cause the plot to drag on interminably and it is directed like Guy Ritchie on speed, with tricksy shots that soon become irritating. Also the screenplay is pretty incoherent and even Joel Fry in the modern day section cannot save this catastrophe.
Rating: 1.5 out of 10
Maigret
Gérard Depardieu stars as the famous detective Jules Maigret, in this adaptation of Georges Simeon’s 1954 book. Maigret and his men investigate the death of a woman in Paris. The victim is dressed in an evening gown and possesses no identity documents in her handbag. The last time I saw this character, he was played by Rowan Atkinson in an ITV series than criminally only ran for four episodes. Depardieu makes a very different detective, more stately and introspective. It does take a little while to get used to him in the role, but the period detail is impressive and the case is very involving.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Mercy Falls
Rhona (Lauren Lyle) takes four friends into the Scottish Highlands in search of a remote cabin legt to her by her father. They are joined by a stranger, Carla (Nicolette McKeown) who says she knows the area. Once far from civilization, an unforeseen tragedy befalls the group. With a bright start and a reasonably interesting cast of characters, I thought this could be a pleasing chiller. However once the first tragic event happens, the story lurches into absurdity. Lyle is good though and the scenery is impressively shot.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Klokkenluider
A government whistle blower and his wife are sent to a remote house in Belgium. Joined by two close protection officers, they await the arrival of a British journalist so they can give her his story. Actor Neil Maskell makes his debut both writing and directing a feature film as it is an impressive one. The dialogue is sharp and believable. Amit Shah and Sura Dohnke are excellent as the couple but it is Jenna Coleman who steals the movie as the ‘journalist’, her appearance prompting a chilling ending.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Over on Sky Movies for subscribers:
Retribution
Liam Neeson stars as family man and financier Matt Turner. While driving his kids to school, Matt receives a call from an unknown number with a distorted voice who says that there is a bomb under his seat that will be detonated unless Matt follows the bomber’s instructions. This remake of a Spanish film of the same name is a straightforward story with a very predictable reveal of the bad guy. So, whilst it is not the best of Neeson’s recent action films it rattles along at a good pace thanks to Nimrod Antal’s lean direction. Neeson is reliably good and Lllly Aspell is terrific as his daughter.
Rating: 7 out of 10
A Thousand and One
Inez kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system and tries to stay safe and ahead of the authorities in New York. This is undoubtedly an impassioned film from writer/director A.V Rockwell and it boasts a terrific lead performance from Teyana Taylor. However after a good first act, it loses all momentum when Terry’s father appears and from then on, it lapses into cliched territory far too often.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Mummies
Juan Jesús García Galocha directs this animated Spanish tale. Three mummies from the underworld embark on a journey to present day London in search of an ancient ring belonging to an Egyptian Royal Family. A bored kid may find some fun in Mummies but it is pretty ordinary stuff. The animation gives the characters the usual computer generated soulless appearance but there are a couple of reasonable jokes for the adults watching.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Infinity Pool
James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em Foster (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation in the fictional island of La Tolqa, when a fatal accident exposes the resort’s perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence and surreal horrors. This feels gory and weird for its own sake rather than doing anything to move the plot along.
Rating: 4 out of 10
The Machine
A man’s drunken past catches up with him, when he is kidnapped 20 years later by the people he wronged whilst inebriated. The star of The Machine is the stand up comedian Bert Kreischer. I don’t know if his stand up is any good, though I doubt it, but his acting is abysmal.
Rating: 1.5 out of 10
Polite Society
In London, British-Pakistani teenager Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) enlists her best friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) to help save her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) from her impending marriage.
This is a slightly strange movie in that large parts of the story seem to be aimed at the young teen market but the language is definitely not. It does however, have a real energy and Kansara is very promising.
Rating: 6 out of 10
On Comedy Central:
Office Race
An unmotivated office drone refuses to go the extra mile at work but is willing to go 26.2 miles to one-up his insufferable boss. This is the first Comedy Central produced movie so let’s hope any future ones are better. There are really not enough funny lines to sustain the story and the talents of Alyson Hannigan and Kelsey Grammer are wasted in supporting roles.
Rating: 4 out of 10
On Paramount Plus:
Supercell
In one of her last roles, and oddly the second storm related film she appeared in in the last few years of her life, Anne Heche stars as Quinn, an ex storm chaser. Despite her husband being killed in a storm her son Will (Daniel Diemer) is determined to follow in their footsteps. It is impossible to see a movie on this subject without thinking of Twister and the makers nod to that superior film early on here. After a fractured start, Supercell gathers interest. It has a nice, grainy 70’s/80’s feel, and some good performances, most notably by Alec Baldwin as a veteran storm chaser.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Zoey 102
Zoey 102 is a sequel film to the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 which ran from 2005–2008. I have not seen any of that series and are not the target audience. However, the oft used plot of a woman getting someone to pose as her boyfriend at a wedding has the potential to be amusing. But the laughs are few and far between and Jamie Lynn Spears who plays Zoey is not very talented.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
On Apple TV+
Flora and Son
Writer/director John Carney has made a great career out of making films about musicians and the music industry. He is in the same territory here. Eve Hewson stars as Flora, a single Mum to a troubled 14 year old boy. She gets Max a guitar but he rejects it, she decides to learn how to play it with the help of a Los Angeles based instructor, Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). This is in the gritty vein of Carney’s non American output and the story consistently fails to go into the expected places. It is funny, warm and quite touching with some great songs and excellent lead performances.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Fingernails
The wonderful Jessie Buckley stars as Anna, in this futuristic drama. A controversial test has been developed, using fingernails, to determine whether a couple are in love. Anna has taken the test with her boyfriend and it is positive, but she still is not sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir (Riz Ahmed). The parts of the story about the institute and the testing did not grip me. However, both Buckley and Ahmed are exceptional and have great chemistry.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Finally, on Amazon Prime and Amazon Freevee:
Jack L Warner: The Last Mogul
Gregory Orr has written and directs this documentary about the co-founder of Warner Brothers and his 50 year career that followed. As Orr is a descendant of Warner, he has good access to archive material and people but it also means that he glosses over the fact that the man was a bit of a monster. From my point of view, too little time is spent looking at the films he produced.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Swim
A family rent a run down beach house for a holiday, but when it floods, they are terrorised by a shark. A pretty standard low budget shark movie with average at best performances and not great effects.
Rating: 5 out of 10
The Artifice Girl
Two special agents discover a revolutionary new computer program that has created a young ‘girl’, Cherry, to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the programme’s troubled developer, they soon find that the AI is rapidly advancing beyond its original purpose. This is certainly a 3 act structure as the film consists of three scenes only, the second set 15 years after the first and the third another 35 years later. I have been ambivalent at best about AI in films but the first two parts where we see ethical debates about its usage are fascinating. Unfortunately the final part is s damp squib though Tatum Matthews continues to give an excellent and eerie performance as Cherry.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Kill Room
An art dealer tries to clear her debts by getting involved in a money laundering scheme. Despite an impressive cast that includes Uma Thurman and Samuel L Jackson, this is disjointed and lacklustre.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose
When famed paranormal psychologist Dr. Nandor Fodor investigates a family’s claims of a talking animal, he uncovers a mysterious web of hidden motives. I would have expected this to be quirky fun, especially with a cast that includes Simon Pegg, Minnie Driver and Christopher Lloyd. But it is sluggish and overly earnest.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Muzzle
After his working dog is killed, cop Jake Rosser (Aaron Eckhart) plummets deep into a sinister underworld to uncover the truth about who may be responsible. If you can get past the particularly grim first half, particularly for animal lovers, then Muzzle pans out to be a decent police procedural.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
The Donor Party
Single Jaclyn (Malin Akerman) wants a baby, so she and her best friends hatch a plan to get her pregnant at a very special party. An absolutely horrible screechy performance by Akerman makes this very hard to watch.
Rating: 1.5 out of 10
A Grand Romantic Gesture
The always excellent Gina McKee stars as Ava, a married middle aged woman who joins a drama group when she loses her job, and unexpectedly finds love. It is a simple story though the attempt to make it more quirky by having the characters break the 4th wall does not work. However there are some funny lines and McKee is a joy to watch.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Mafia Mamma
Toni Collette stars as Kristin unfulfilled by her job as a big pharma PR, with a cheating husband and a son who has just gone away to college. Then she receives news that her Italian grandfather has just died leaving her full control of his “winery” business. This seems like a set up from some obvious but potentially funny comedy and Collette is always good. However, the laughs are sparse.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Butcher’s Crossing
Nicolas Cage stars in this western directed by Gabe Polsky. He plays buffalo hunter from Colorado called Miller. He takes on a naïve Harvard drop out, Will Andres (Fred Hechinger), on his latest hunting trip. This is a bleak, bloody and disturbing film reminiscent of Apocalypse Now as the party gradually fall apart. Cage is great and the scenery is spectacular but it is also an endurance test for the viewer.
Rating: 5 out of 10
The Other Zoey
Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford) is a smart computer major who does not believe in love. A popular college football player gets amnesia and mistakes Zoey for his girlfriend. In true rom com style, before she can reveal the truth, she meets his cousin, with whom she has a lot in common, and finds she has feelings for both of them. There are a lot of contrivances in the plot, but Langford is a bright presence and it zips along nicely.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10