It is time for a round up of new films seen on streaming services other than Netflix, this month.
Starting with Amazon Prime:
Treasure
American journalist Ruth (Lena Durham) travels to Poland with her father Edek (Stephen Fry) to visit his childhood places. But Edek, a Holocaust survivor, resists reliving his trauma. The mixture of the deadly serious subject matter and comic moments did not gel at first, but thanks to Durham and Fry, I eventually found it quite touching.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Duchess
A small time crook, Scarlett, tries to enter the treacherous underworld of diamond trafficking and ends up left for dead when a deal goes wrong. Determined to seek retribution, she launches into an unwavering pursuit for vengeance. Director Neil Marshall had a stellar start to his career with Dog Soldiers, The Descent and Doomsday. But the last of those was in 2008 and he has done nothing of note since. This, like his last few films is a showcase for his talentless fiancé Charlotte Kirk, who plays Scarlett here. This feels like sub Guy Ritchie, with its supposedly funny voiceover, characters being introduced with their names appearing on screen and cartoonish violence. An extra half mark for using The brilliant The Wedding Present’s Kennedy for the pre-credits sequence though.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10
Lore
Four young friends (Miles Mitchell, Dean Bone, Sally Collett and Samantha Neale) book a horror-themed camping excursion led by Darwin (Richard Brake), a strange and eccentric guide. One night around the campfire, Darwin encourages them to tell the scariest and most twisted story they can think of. British anthology horror films were popular back in the 1970s, thanks mainly to Amicus studio, and this is a nice throwback to those. All four stories are well made. Only one, about a ghostly ballerina, raises real chills but the last, a slasher in a near empty cinema has some genuinely funny moments. Brake is underused but I thought Collett was the pick of the cast.
Rating: 7 out of 10
The Whip
Sadie (Shian Donovan) is a full-time carer for her sister Emily (Meg Fozzard) who suffered a brain injury. With a vote looming on brutal new legislation that will unfairly deem Emily fit for work, she decides that she will bring down the Tory government. She recruits a disillusioned MP, Michael Harrington, (Tom Knight) who was recently sacked from the cabinet and who opposes the bill, along with friends Abi (Gala Wesson) and Jason (Daniel Davids) to steal the whip’s little black book filled with MPs’ darkest secrets. This was obviously filmed on a tiny budget and there are major implausibilities in the plot. However, it is clearly made with passion and it is a pretty entertaining depiction of a heist There are also some sharp lines in the script. I particularly liked Sadie assuring Abi that they will only break the law in “a limited and specific way”! Knight is very believable and Donovan excellent.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Canary Black
Directed by Pierre Morel and written by Matthew Kennedy, Canary Black stars Kate Beckinsale as CIA agent Avery Graves whose husband has been kidnapped by terrorists. The kidnappers blackmail Graves for information that would betray her country. Although the identity of one particular bad guy is pretty obvious and there are some major plot holes, I enjoyed this slick thriller. Beckinsale can do this sort of role easily and both Ray Stevenson, in his last completed role, as Avery’s boss and Romina Tonkovic, as a hacker, give good support.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Over on Sky Movies, subscribers can see:
The Book of Clarence
Jeymes Samuel has written and directed this comedy with LaKeith Stanfield starring as the eponymous hero. He is a down on his luck man living in Jerusalem in A.D. 33 who looks to capitalise on the rise of Jesus Christ, by claiming to be a new Messiah sent by God, in an attempt to free himself of debt and start a life of glory for himself. Watching this, I could not help compare it to Life of Brian and it really pales in comparison, lacking both its satirical edge and its laughs.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Dune Part 2
After the massive success of the first film, part 2 was inevitable. Its release earlier in the year generated more box office records and the reviews were almost universally fawning. Despite, the hugely talented Denis Villeneuve directing, I found the first film to be no more than a visually impressive bore and this does not change my mind. The tedious story and clunky screenplay left me totally cold.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Sasquatch Sunset
In the wilderness of Northern California live four nomadic Sasquatch spend their days exploring, foraging, and performing rituals where they drum with branches in hopes of getting a response from other Sasquatch. I felt like this was one extended joke that I did just not get.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10
Widow Clicquot
After her husband’s untimely death, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (Haley Bennett) flouts convention by assuming the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured together. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she defies her critics and revolutionises the champagne industry to become one of the world’s first great businesswomen. She may have been a pioneer and a key figure in the history of champagne, but that does not make a biopic of her essential. Bennett is a fine actress but she cannot breathe life into this plodding, tedious drama.
Rating: 4 out of 10
The following can be rented on the usual services:
Babes
Previously inseparable friends Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) grew up together. Dawn is married with a couple of kids but Eden has not really grown up, until she decides to have a baby on her own after a one-night stand. Glazer co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Rabinowitz and there are some very funny lines, sharp observations about how friendship changes over time and the infantilisation of modern society. Glazer is also excellent as the expectant mother, as is John Carroll Lynch as her doctor.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Timestalker
Alice Lowe, who also wrote and directed this new romcom/sci-fi mash up, stars as Agnes who falls in love with the wrong man. She then gets reincarnated and falls in love with him over and over again, travelling through 1680’s western Scotland, rural England in the 1790’s, and 1980’s Manhattan, and then an apocalyptic 22nd century. Lowe has demonstrated her talent before and Timestalker starts pretty well, with a few good laughs in the first two segments. But the second of those goes on to long and the 1980’s story is very tedious. Tanya Reynolds, who appears as a character called Meg in each episode is good throughout but the film becomes tiresome and the inability to cover up the low budget because more and more obvious.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Classified
My favourite habitual straight to streaming action star, Aaron Eckhart, is back as a career CIA hitman who’s been solely using the classified section of various newspapers to receive his orders suddenly discovers that his division has actually been shut down for years. It is easy to pick holes in action films like these, especially with how all the bad guy’s henchmen are terrible shots, but this was really enjoyable. It went along at a great pace, Eckhart is a solid presence and is ably supported by Abigail Breslin as an MI6 agent and Tim Roth as his friend who may not be all he seems.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Kill
Not the Indian action flick from earlier in the year, but a low budget British thriller where three brothers hatch a plot to murder their abusive father on a hunting trip, only for things to go very wrong, very quickly. This film works better as a study of the effects of an abusive parent, played well by Paul Higgins. The latter part of the film is a bit too overwrought and the twists do not really work.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Two Tickets to Greece
Childhood friends Magalie (Laure Calamy) and Blandine (Olivia Côte) meet again after many years apart, and end up taking the dream vacation to Greece that they had always talked about. This initially seems like a lightweight comedy about friendship but later in the film, much more serious subjects are explored. Calamy is consistently great and is a force of nature here.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Close to You
Elliot Page stars as Sam, a trans man, who returns to his home town for the first time in years. On his journey he confronts his relationship with his family and reunites with his first love. Director Dominic Savage provided the actors with script outlines and most of the dialogue was improvised from there. That has mixed results. We seem to be eavesdropping on real conversations sometimes to good effect, but some of it is a bit repetitive and lacks the articulation that a well crafted script can bring. There are great performances from Page, Hillary Baack as his lost love and Daniel Maslany as an in-law.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
A Family Affair
Again, confusingly, there was a film earlier this year with the same title as this British comedy. Joe Wilkinson stars as Edward who gives up his life in London to buy a country pile with his wife Helen (Laura Aikman). They’ve turned it into a silent spiritual retreat, but the reviews are terrible and the bank is about to repossess. This feels very old fashioned, like an extended episode of a 70’s sitcom. It is not awful but it does not move at a fast enough pace for a farce.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Boy Kills World
Moritz Mohr’s comedic action movie revolves around a campaign of vengeance enacted by a martial arts expert, rendered deaf-mute by an attack that killed his entire family. I found this profoundly irritating.
Rating: 2 out of 10
Exorcism
Exorcism bombed at the box office earlier this year, amidst scathing reviews. Any film that refers to the 1973 horror classic is setting itself up for a fall and there was bemusement that Russell Crowe stars in this a year after the unrelated The Pope’s Exorcist. Here, he is an alcoholic actor playing an exorcist in his comeback film after leaving rehab. I don’t think this is as terrible as its reputation suggests. Crowe, who I was not a great fan of in his pomp, surprises me for the second time this year, after Land of Bad, with a nuanced performance. The rest of the cast are really good too, notably Ryan Simpkins as his teenage daughter, David Hyde Pierce as a priest working as an adviser on the movie and Adam Goldberg as the cruel director. It works well as a drama concerning struggles with addiction and of the process of film making. The latter part of the film, though, is a bog standard exorcist horror that we have seen countless times before.
Rating: 6 out of 10
On the iPlayer:
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
This documentary about the legendary film making duo is directed by David Hinton, but it is very much Martin Scorsese’s film. It concentrates on how they shaped Scorsese’s craft and how a later friendship with Michael Powell left an indelible mark on his life and helped restore Powell’s reputation. I can listen to Scorsese talking about movies all day – his documentary series A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is essential viewing – and his insights here are very telling. There are a wealth of clips and archive footage as well, making this an excellent tribute to one of Britain’s greatest film making partnerships.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Finally, on Paramount Plus:
Air Force One Down
Allison Miles (Katherine McNamara), a rookie secret service agent, is forced to save the United States President, Edwards (Ian Bohen), after terrorists attempt to hijack Air Force One. The bad guys manage to take over the plane with ridiculous ease and the patriotic tone is hard to take, but the action scenes are pretty good and McNamara is proving herself to be a versatile actress.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Wanted Man
Dolph Lundgren – yes he is still going! – stars as Travis Johansen, an American policeman who has to travel to Mexico find two eye witnesses to murder and give safe passage to enable them to give evidence. Nearing 70, Lundgren is pretty immobile and the plot is predictable, especially the identity of the bad guys. But, it is efficiently made with some unexpected characterisation such as making Travis a racist.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Bloodline Killer
A woman tries to rebuild her shattered life after the murder of her family at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin. Despite a decent cast including Shawnee Smith, Taryn Manning and Bruce Dern, this is neither scary nor thrilling.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10