This is a round up of new films seen at home this month on all services other than Netflix.
Starting as usual with Amazon Prime:
The Pickup
Two mismatched armoured truck drivers, Russell (Eddie Murphy) and Travis (Pete Davidson), are ambushed by ruthless criminals led by Zoe (Keke Palmer), with plans that go way beyond the cash cargo. I have enjoyed Davidson before and Palmer was terrific in One of Them Days earlier this year, but neither of them can generate a laugh in this action comedy. The plot and action scenes offer nothing new.
Rating: 4 out of 10
The Map That Leads To You
College graduate Heather (Madelyn Cline) has her whole life planned out. Before she starts her finance job in New York she goes backpacking round Europe with two friends. On a train, she meets fellow American Jack (KJ Apa). He is carefree, living in the moment and she falls for him, agreeing to continue her trip with him. So, this is a romance about two people in their late teens/early twenties. That means one thing: one of them must be dying (see also My Oxford Year, currently stinking up Netflix). Predictable, sappy and with some embarrassingly terrible dialogue. Director Lasse Hallström makes it look nice though!
Rating: 2.5 out of 10
Over on Sky, subscribers can see:
Long Gone Heroes
When reporter Julia Peterson (Eden Brolin) is abducted in Venezuela, her uncle Gunner (Frank Grillo), who fortunately and inevitably is an ex special forces soldier, has to rescue her. I have come to like Grillo over the last few years but he is most often the best thing about the largely shoddy action movies he stars in. This one also has talent in the supporting roles, but Melissa Leo, Andy Garcia and Mekhi Phifer are barely in it. Attempts to give the story more depth just make it plodding until some decently staged action sequences appear late on.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
The Thicket
When Lulu Parker (Esme Creed-Miles) is kidnapped by a gang led by a ruthless killer known as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), her brother, Jack (Levon Hawke) employs bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) to track her down. Set in a bleak winter in West Texas in the early part of the last century, this is a chilly western that director Elliott Lester makes quite atmospheric. It is a brutal tale that may lack in originality but it boasts excellent performances by Dinklage and Lewis.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
The following can be bought or rented on the usual services:
An Ordinary Case
Daniel Auteuil was one of my favourite actors of the 1980’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. He has continued to work steadily but his films have rarely been released here, including ones, like this, that he also wrote (with Steven Mitz) and directed. He plays lawyer Jean Monier who agrees to represent a client named Nicolas Milik (Grégory Gadebois), who has been accused of murdering his wife. While trying to prove his client’s innocence, Monier finds himself more and more involved in the case. This is a fictionalised case based on a real lawyer’s writings but that did not lessen the interest for me. I changed my mind a couple of times about Milik’s guilt and was stunned by two revelatory scenes towards the end. Auteuil is a more stately presence now but he still commands the screen brilliantly and has a nicely languid style as a director.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Along Came Love
In post World War 2 France, single mother and waitress Madeleine Villedieu (Anaïs Demoustier) meets rich but shy student François Delambre (Vincent Lacoste). They fall in love and marry, but François is hiding a secret that could ruin their relationship. I have always said that you don’t have to find characters likeable to enjoy a film. I happily watch stories about gangsters or serial killers, for example. But in a romantic drama, it is essential, so having Madeleine a Nazi collaborator and a cruel mother and François a selfish bore was a mistake. It starts reasonably, and Demoustier does the best she can in her thankless role, but lapses into overwrought melodrama later on.
Rating: 5 out of 10
It’s Raining Men
Iris (Laure Calamy) is a woman who has almost everything: a wonderful husband, two perfect daughters, a successful business – but no sex life. She decides the time has come to find a lover. This is very light stuff with Iris’ predicament played almost entirely for laughs. Despite a neat ending, it feels quite inconsequential as a result, but it is carried by the always charming Calamy.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Doing the rounds on Movies 24 are two new Hallmark offerings
In Polar Opposites, Emma (Rhiannon Fish) needs to get to Antarctica to reach her father and travels to South America but can’t get on a boat for the last leg. She sneaks onto a cruise ship and meets engineer Andy (Markian Tarasiuk). This is another example of Hallmark trying to vary their formulaic plots but Fish is pretty awful and her character unlikable. In Hats Off To Love, Stella (Ginna Claire Mason) designs hats and fascinators for socialite Rosalind (Holly Robinson Peete) and meets her son Christian (John Clarence Stewart) who’s training a horse to compete in the Louisville Derby. Yes, it is a film about hats and the insufferably snooty people who wear them. Mason does her best as the only barely likeable character but this is dire.
Ratings out of 10
Polar Opposites: 3
Hats Off To Love: 2