It is time for a round up of new films seen on streaming services this month. What with a holiday and with the Euros taking place, I have not had the chance to see so many this time, so I am including, in this round up, Netflix:
Crew
Geeta (Tabu), Jasmine (Kareena Kapoor) and Divya (Kriti Sanon) work for Kohinoor Airlines as cabin crew. They, along with other staff members, haven’t received their salary for months because the airline is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Using their jobs as cover they start to get involved in smuggling and blackmail. This is a bit of a mess, especially in the chaotic opening stages. It settles down after that, but I did not care about anyone on screen.
Rating: 3 out of 10
The following can be rented on the usual services:
Prey!
Ryan Phillipe and Mena Suvari star as a couple who are compelled to leave their Christian missionary station in the Kalahari Desert after being threatened with death by an extremist militant gang. When their aircraft crashes they have to battle for survival in a lion filled reserve.
I was expecting this to be a rip off of the recent Beast starring Idris Elba but it was not that good. The use only of stock footage of lions, with their kills off screen was like something from a cheap 1940s Tarzan movie, but it was not as good as that either.
The landscape keeps changing from plains to desert for no apparent reason, and, every so often it lurches into a faith based drama. Only Emile Hirsch as the smuggling pilot rises above the material.
Rating: 1.5 out of 10
Monster
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda came to my attention with the brilliant Our Little Sister, one of my favourite films of 2015. He followed it up with the equally exceptional After the Storm a year later. His work since then has been good but not at that level.
With his latest, he is almost back to his best. The brilliant Sakura Andō stars as a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing disturbing changes in her son’s behaviour. This makes a nice companion piece with another school set drama from earlier in the year, Teacher’s Lounge. Again it keeps you guessing about what actually happened, using a Rashomon style device of showing you you the same events from a number of perspectives.
Yûji Sakamoto provides a complex and thought provoking screenplay and the late great Ryuichi Sakamoto provides an achingly beautiful soundtrack.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Marmalade
Baron (Joe Keery) reminisces to his prison cell mate Otis (Aldis Hodge) about his relationship with Marmalade (Camila Morrone) and their ill-fated bank robbery. Otis has a long history of prison breaks and the two hatch a plan to get out and reunite Baron with Marmalade. I found this film starting in a pretty stodgy way, and it is well past the hour mark before it clicks into gear. From then on, there are some nice twists that made it a worthwhile watch.
Rating: 6 out of 10
On Fire
Inspired by true events, this disaster movie stars Peter Facinelli as a man fleeing a wildfire with his pregnant wife (Fiona Dourif) and teenage son (Asher Angel). Facinelli also co directs with Nick Lyon and they do a good job of coping with a low budget. It follows a standard template for the genre, though it does have a stand out performance from Ashlei Foushee as a 911 operator. There is a sprinkling of faith based talk but it is not overdone.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Unsinkable: Titanic Untold
Cody and Brian Hartman have adapted Eileen Enwright Hodgett’s stage play, with Cody directing, about the enquiry that followed the sinking of the iconic liner. Cotter Smith stars as William Alden Smith, the U.S. Senator who headed the Senate subcommittee meetings that looked into the catastrophe.
I thought this would be right up my alley. I am fascinated by the disaster, we have not had a good film on the subject since the brilliant A Night to Remember in 1958 and this seemed to be a different take on the story. However, the staging, and maybe that it is because it is based on a play, feels very inert.
The revelation that there were not enough lifeboats lacks the impact it might have had at the time and is hammered home too much. Fiona Dourif also appears here, as a reporter, and gives the best performance.
Rating: 5 out of 10