Amulet (all rental services)
The excellent actress Romola Garai makes her feature directing debut with this unsettling horror. Nun Sister Claire (Imelda Staunton) takes pity on Tomas, a destitute refugee (Alec Secareanu), offering board at a depilated house with the proviso that he helps do it up. He falls for existing resident Magda (Carla Juri) who is caring for her elderly mother. But both Tomas and Magda have dark secrets…
This is really atmospheric stuff and, with the aid of great production design, Garai demonstrates a real visual flair. I appreciated the slow sinister build up much more than the fantastical finale despite Staunton attacking her part with increasing relish.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Escape From Mogadishu (all rental services)
Set in Somalia at the start of the 1990s, this true story depicts initially the efforts of both North and South Korea to gain admittance to the United Nations and the dirty tricks they use on each other to try to do so at their neighbour’s expense. However, when civil war erupts in the volatile African country, the embassy staff for the two countries have to work together in order to get home safely.
This really is a film of two halves, with the first part concentrating on the political manoeuvring and the diplomatic games that were played. In the second half, it becomes almost an all out action picture as the plight of both sets of staff becomes more desperate. Director
Seung-wan Ryu handles both elements of the story brilliantly. His screenplay, penned with Ki-cheol Lee shows a complicated political situation in a clear way, and his action set pieces are real edge of your seat stuff.
It is a gripping telling of a story that I had no previous knowledge of. My one gripe is nothing to do with the film making and I don’t know if it was just a glitch in the version I was watching on Amazon Prime, where it is currently available to rent at the ridiculously low price of £1.99. My subtitles appeared a good 5 or 6 seconds after the words spoken on screen. Consequently, it was sometimes tricky to follow who was saying what during conversations.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Who Killed the KLF? (all rental services)
A few years ago I was moving house so I was de-cluttering. As I did not have a turntable anymore, I stupidly got rid of most of my vinyl records. That included most of the output produced by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the forerunner to the KLF, all of which is pretty valuable now as the records have long since been deleted. That error of judgement was brought back to me whilst watching this pretty comprehensive documentary about the band from director Chris Atkins.
It charts the music careers of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty from the late 1970s up to their burning of £1 million and the chaotic and career ending Brits performance in 1992. It is a tale worth telling as it is still hard to believe that an underground act could becomes the world’s biggest singles band, albeit briefly, in such a short space of time. Casual fans will find plenty of nuggets of information, though there is little that is new for the more obsessive followers. Access to the group members is limited to archive audio and there are more questions raised than answered, but that is probably apt for an outfit who went out of their way to confuse rather than explain their actions.
Rating: 8 out of 10
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (all rental services)
Although still showing on some cinema screens, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is also now available to watch at home. It is a very low-budget affair about Casey (Anna Cobb), a disaffected teenage girl, who gets involved with a sinister online roleplaying game.
This is billed as a horror movie and, at times, it looked like it was going into Paranormal Activity territory, even name checking it once. But, it resists that, and relies on atmosphere and some unsettling visuals to generate a few chills. Instead, it is more a study of loneliness and isolation.
Both Cobb in her debut, and writer/director Jane Schoenbrun, show a lot of promise. However, the film did feel a little unfinished, despite an unexpected epilogue tying up all the loose ends.
Rating: 6 out of 10
All The Old Knives (Amazon Prime)
Adapted from the acclaimed book by Olen Steinhauer, All The Old Knives is a superior spy drama impressively directed by Janus Metz. Chris Pine stars as CIA agent Henry Pelham who was involved in the response to a Turkish plane being hijacked on an Austrian runway in 2012. That event ended in tragedy with everyone onboard being killed. Eight years later information emerges that the CIA team had someone collaborating with the hijackers and Henry is tasked with finding and eliminating the traitor.
The bulk of the film takes place in a near empty plush restaurant as Henry quizzes his ex =-lover and colleague Celia Harrison (Thandiwe Newton). Despite the simple set-up, Metz ratchets-up the tension. For once, the use of flashbacks, to both the events in 2012 and to Henry’s meeting with his immediate boss at the time, Bill Compton (Johnathan Pryce), a week earlier, really work. Just enough detail is provided in each flashback to advance the story without giving too much away. The only real misstep was the unnecessary presence of a minor character in a supermarket in one of the flashback scene that could leave viewers able to guess the twist ending more easily.
The performances all round are top notch and the pacing is just right with Jon Ekstrand and Rebekka Karijord’s score propelling the action well.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Blacklight (Sky Movies)
Liam Neeson is back again in action man mode in this old-fashioned and derivative thriller that is also highly entertaining. He plays Travis Block, a freelance operative working for the FBI when a conspiracy starts to unravel.
Neeson can play this part effortlessly and he does not disappoint. Some good supporting turns from Aidan Quinn, Georgia Flood and Emmy Raver-Lampman plus Mark Williams’ nicely staged action scenes more than make up for the predictable nature of the story.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Also a few films that are out but not recommended:
Joe Bell (Amazon Prime) starring the underrated Mark Wahlberg as a working class Dad who goes on a walk across the USA to campaign against the bullying his gay son received at school. Based on a true story, this is a heartfelt film that should have worked better than it did. The fractured and episodic plotting don’t help and I never felt truly engaged by it, Rating: 5 out of 10.
Charming the Hearts of Men (Sky Movies) has the talents of Anna Friel and Kelsey Grammar wasted in a boring story of racial and sexual discrimination set in 1960s America. Rating: 3.5 out of 10.
Deadlock (Sky Movies) features one of the last performances by Bruce Willis before his retirement. It is impossible to watch this without sadness and his illness is now apparent, but it is the usual sub-standard action fayre that most of his recent CV comprises. Rating: 4 out of 10.