Here is a quick round-up of the non Netflix movies I have seen at home this month…

Catherine Called Birdy (Amazon Prime)
In medieval England, a 14 year old girl called Birdy has to navigate life whilst her financially strapped father tries to arrange a marriage for her. The reviews for Lena Dunham’s film have mostly been glowing but I found it incredibly tiresome. That was largely because of an extremely annoying performance by Bella Ramsey in the title role. Even Andrew Scott playing her Dad cannot save it.
Rating: 3 out of 10

The Reef: Stalked
Another month, another shark movie! This is billed as a sequel to 2010’s The Reef and it shares the same writer/director, Andrew Traucki but none of the characters from the first film. Nic (Teressa Lianne) is in recovery following the murder of her sister. In honour of her memory, she teams up with her other sister, Annie (Saskia Archer), and best friends Jodie (Ann Truong) & Lisa (Kate Lister) on a kayaking trip. They soon start being terrorised by an angry shark.

No one could claim that there is anything new in this film. The score is Jaws Lite and some of the acting is questionable. However, it is better than the others that have been released this year. The shocks may be jump scares, but they are well staged, and, apart from the first kill, who lives and who dies is not obvious. Crucially, and unusually, none of the characters are hateful so I was rooting for the people rather than the shark!
Rating: 6 out of 10

Argentina 1985 (Amazon Prime)
In 1976, a right wing, military lead and United States backed, coup overthrew the Peron presidency. The resulting 7 year dictatorship was a brutal one, with approximately 30000 people killed or disappeared. In 1985, for the first time in the country, the military architects of the regime were put on trial in a civil court. Argentina 1985 focuses on the prosecution lawyer, Julio Strassera (Ricardo Darin) and his young team of lawyers as they build a case and go to trial.

I remember the events in the 1970s, especially with the absurd decision to hold a World Cup there in 1978, which seems very apt right now. However, I was not aware of the court case and I found it in equal parts riveting and shocking. Darin is absolutely brilliant as the reluctant, grouchy lawyer and the script by Mariano Llinas, Santiago Mitre and Martin Mauregui lays out the complex story in an entertaining way.
Rating: 9 out of 10

Weird: The Al Yankovich Story (Roku)
I guess the comic singer Al Yankovich is a bigger deal in America than in the UK. He has barely made a ripple here, with his biggest hit ‘Eat It’ only reaching number 36 in the singles charts. That is probably why I spent most of this biopic wondering why it was made, and therefore not really caring about anything in it. It is competently enough made and has a few amusing moments, but does not amount to very much.
Rating: 4 out of 10