It is the fashionable thing to praise the quality of Netflix’s output. I can’t comment on their TV series as I don’t have time to watch those, but its original films have so far been pretty under-whelming, so I thought I would take a look at some of their new offerings.
The Circle
A star-studded cast and a topical story about a tech firm with evil intentions promised a lot but this is a boring mess. Karen Gillan and Nate Corddry are good enough in their roles but Tom Hanks is on autopilot and Emma Watson is horrible in the lead role, Mae. There is a ghoulish fascination seeing that Mae’s parents are played by 2 actors that surprisingly died shortly after making this film (Bill Paxton and Glenne Headley) but little else to recommend this.
Rating: 3 out of 10
To the Bone
This film about a young woman’s fight against anorexia has been subjected to a lot of on line debate regarding the accuracy of the portrayal. I don’t know about that, but this is a completely predictable film, right down to the troubled background of the lead character, Ellen (Lilly Collins). Obviously, she is a clever and sassy girl, with a slightly gothy appearance who is much smarter than the adults telling her what to do. Keanu Reeves is one of the least convincing doctors I have seen though Liana Liberato is better as Ellen’s sister.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Take Me
Pay Healy stars and directs in this story of a man who provides simulated abductions. If you can believe such a service exists, you will probably find much of this film pretty enjoyable, as a beautiful woman (Taylor Schilling) becomes a client. However, it is overstretched and the tension is not maintained until the end.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Icarus
With the furore over Justin Gatlin in the World Athletics, and the continued exclusion of most Russian athletes from such top events, Bryan Fogel’s documentary about the use of drugs in sport could not be more timely. Starting off as an investigation into how easy it is to obtain performance enhancing drugs and how they can improve performance, the documentary takes a turn when the State sponsored doping in Russia starts to be revealed. It has to be said that this is interesting for all sports fans, and it must have been amazing to be involved in the film as the story unfolded. However, the revelations and the story are all very well known now, so it fails to show us anything new.
Rating: 7 out of 10