All the films below can be seen on Sky Movies unless otherwise indicated.
Big Gold Brick
Andy Garcia stars as Floyd Deveraux, middle-aged father of two who enlists Samuel Liston (Emory Cohen) to write his biography. You may think that sounds a bit dull and you would be right. There seems to be little point to this messy film that is annoying and tedious in equal measures.
Rating: 2 out of 10
All That Breathes
Nominated for an Oscar, All That Breathes can be found on the Sky Documentaries channel, and on demand. Delhi is one of the world’s most polluted cities. One of the casualties on the environmental catastrophe engulfing the city is the bird, the black kite. They fall from the sky after being choked in the smog. Brothers Salik Rehman and Mohammad Saud have set up a makeshift hospital in the basement of their home in order to care for the stricken birds.
This is a quite fascinating insight into a problem I was unaware of and the selfless people who are trying to save the birds. Director Shaunak Sen sensibly keeps the camera at a distance, so we can observe the brothers rather than include interviews/talking heads. There is, though, a little too much focus on the tensions between Salik and Mohammad at the expense of the prejudice and violence threatening their neighbourhood thanks to the corrupt and evil Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend
Frank Grillo stars in this biopic of Ferruccio Lamborghini. It charts his life from humble beginnings, building tractors through to him becoming an iconic car designer. This is terribly pedestrian stuff, despite the speed of the cars on show. A totally uninspired biopic of a less than interesting man, full of genre clichés.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Paradise City
Finally we have the release of Bruce Willis’ final film before his ill health forced retirement. He plays bounty hunter Ian Swan who is shot and is presumed dead after disappearing in Hawaiian waters. Swan’s son, Ryan (Blake Jenner), his ex-partner (Stephen Dorff), and a local detective (Praya Lundberg) set out to find his killers. As well as Willis and Dorff, there is a part for another actor who is in a career slump, John Travolta, who appears as a ruthless power broker. Although the film is totally formulaic, it is a lot better than Willis’ recent offerings.
He has little to do, disappearing for a large part of the movie, but seems more engaged than in a lot of the trash he has featured in during the last decade of his career. Dorff is fairly charismatic and Lundberg holds her own amongst the testosterone.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Dakota
Kate Sanders (Abbie Cornish) lost her husband in the Afghanistan war. In his absence, she is trying to run their farm, as well as the local volunteer fire department, and look after their daughter Alex (Lola Sultan). The arrival of combat dog Dakota, who Abbie’s late husband pledged would be looked after if he is killed, initially seems to complicate things. There have been a glut of lovable dog movies recently, but Dakota is probably the worst of them.
The plot that features an x-marks-the-spot treasure map and a treasure location literally marked by stones in an x shape, would have been rejected by the Children’s Film Foundation as being too juvenile. There are also dollops of sickly sentimentality that Americans seemingly cannot avoid when it comes to the military. Young kids may find some enjoyment though. The dog is cute and young Lola Sultan shows promise despite having to deliver some poorly written lines.
Rating: 4 out of 10