It is time for a round up of new films seen on streaming services other than Netflix, this month.
Starting with Amazon Prime:
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
You cannot say that director Guy Ritchie is not prolific. He is back with a highly fictionalised depiction of the creation of the SOE, the British espionage organisation in the Second World War. Fortunately, he has again toned down his annoying visual tics and obviously is harking back to the 60’s and early 70’s era of spectacular war adventure stories. It is fairly entertaining but not in the same class of The Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Jackpot!
Paul Feig has directed three of the best comedies of this century in Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy. He returns with Jackpot! written by Rob Yescombe. Akwafina stars as a wannabe movie star who wins the LA lottery in 2030. Her joy at that is tempered by the fact that anyone who kills the winner before sundown can claim the prize. Unfortunately, this mostly laugh free movie cannot be ranked with Feig’s recent efforts. Akwafina makes the most of the pretty thin material but Yescombe’s script is poor.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Damaged
Samuel L. Jackson stars as a Chicago cop who travels to Scotland to assist on a serial killer investigation because the m.o of the perpetrator matches that of one of his unsolved cases. There is a decent mystery at the heart of Damaged and a very good Scottish supporting cast including Kate Dickie, John Hannah, Elaine C Smith and the late Brian McCardie. But ultimately the reason for the murders is just silly and there are some glaring errors such as the police carrying guns and Jackson’s character saying he is desperate to visit Ireland so he can play golf whilst he is in Scotland, where the game was invented!
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Over on Sky Movies, subscribers can see:
Madame Web
Madame Web has been probably the worst reviewed film of the year – at least until The Crow remake arrived – and was a box office disaster. I am far from a Marvel fan, but how bad can a film starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim be? It definitely is very silly and features some mediocre special effects, but that applies to all of the studio’s output. In fact, it is far from the worst Marvel film I have seen.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Snack Shack
This coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier is set in the summer of 1991. It stars Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle as a pair of teenage friends working at a community pool snack shack in Nebraska City. Their summer plans are disrupted by a lifeguard played by Mika Abdalla. The lads are horrific characters who I hated spending any time with.
Rating: 2 out of 10
On the iPlayer:
The Promised Land
In 1755, retired Danish Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) turns his hand the cultivation of the inhospitable Jutland heath, with the aim of founding a settlement and winning the approval of the king of Denmark. But he falls foul of the sadistic local landowner, Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg).
This is very loosely based on a true story but many of the people portrayed are made up. I am sure that Kahlen was not as liberal as presented here and De Schinkel is shown to be so villainous it is almost comical. It starts well enough but starts to run out of steam at the half way mark.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
On Apple TV+
Fancy Dance
Lily Gladstone, Oscar nominated earlier this year, stars as Jax, who lives on the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation, with her niece Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) because Roki’s Mum has disappeared. Social services, concerned about Jax’s criminal record give her widowed Dad, Frank (Shea Whigham) and his new wife custody of Roki. Jax, desperately searching for her sister, takes Roki and the pair hit the road.
This is a slow burn of a thriller that can only ever have one ending. More than that, it is a critique on the invisibility of Native Americans to the wider society with a compelling script from director Erica Tremblay and Miciana Alise. Most of all, though, it is a showcase for the brilliant Lily Gladstone who gives a more complete and nuanced performance than in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Rating: 8 out of 10
The Instigators
Matt Damon ands Casey Affleck star in this heist movie from director Doug Liman, Damon and Affleck play two robbers who must go on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a theft doesn’t go as planned. This is tremendous fun. The plot twists and turns well thanks to a superb script by Affleck and Chuck MacLean.
Liman keeps the action bubbling along and the two leads spark off each other really well. The supporting cast are outstanding, including Toby Jones, Hong Chau as the psychiatrist, Ron Perlman who chews the scenery as the corrupt mayor and especially Michael Stuhlbarg as the heist organiser.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
On Paramount Plus
The American
American ballet dancer Joy Womack (Talia Ryder) is accepted into Moscow’s infamously tough Bolshoi Ballet Academy, with the dream of becoming a great ballerina. I thin this is for the fans of the art only. For the rest of us, it is a slog.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Little Wing
13 year old Kaitlyn McKay is dragged into the world of pigeon racing as she deals with her parents’ divorce and the impending loss of her home. Released with no publicity onto a platform that few people use, Little Wing deserves better. It may not be very original but it is a sweet story and has a cracking cast, including Brian Cox, Kelly Reilly and the brilliant Brooklynn Prince as Kaitlyn.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Doing the rounds on Movies 24:
Magic of Lemon Drops
When Lolly’s Aunt Gert gives her three magical lemon drops, she gets to experience what her life would have been like if she had lived her unfulfilled dreams. As the plot summary suggests this is a cloyingly sentimental film that I did not have the stomach for.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Just in Time
Hannah (Osnes) and her husband, Rowan (Greyston Holt) have focused all their time, energy and attention into trying to have a baby but have been unsuccessful. Then Hannah receives a call from a stranger, named Franklin (Peter Bryant), who claims to have discovered an antique on the beach bearing an inscription unique to Hannah and Rowan. This is horrible Christian propaganda posing as a serious drama.
Rating: 1.5 out of 10
His and Hers
I had high hopes for His and Hers as it stars two of the very best actors in the Hallmark stable, Brennan Elliott and Lacey Chabert in their ninth film together. They play lawyers Mark and Dana who are the perfect married couple, until they find themselves on opposite sides of a highly public divorce case involving a warring reality show couple.
This is probably their weakest film together, but it has enough amusing moments and natural chemistry to make it a better than average Hallmark effort.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10