VOD: 7500 (dir: Patrick Vollrath, 2020)

"...and thank you for putting your trust in us."

Not so much about creating tension as presenting a relentlessly visceral experience, 7500 - the call-sign for a plane hijacking - is a claustrophobic, brutal and extremely well-executed thriller.  Cleverly, it employs minimal but purposeful set-up and then does little that is particularly original or surprising in how those narrative elements are deployed within the genre, but that then allows the focus to fall on character, which it does superbly.  The conceit of filming almost all of the action within the confines of the cockpit is delivered through smart and creative direction that works (and is maintained) very well, and the whole film hinges around a superb performance on the welcome return of Joseph Gordon-Levitt to acting, whose honest and credible performance once again carries a film so commandingly and engagingly.  This is not one for the faint-hearted, but it is an excellent example of how a shift in focus and bold execution can energise a well-worn genre.

VOD: Eurovision Song Contest - The Story Of Fire Saga (dir: David Dobkin, 2010)

"The elves went too far!"

Hitting a tone and style similar to Ferrell's previous hits Blades Of Glory and Anchorman, This film is fully aware of the entertaining absurdities of the world's biggest annual song festival but never strays into mean-spirited  parody territory.  Instead, what we find is a surprisingly sweet, warm-hearted light comedy that is a love-letter to Eurovision, established from the outset as we follow the massively over-reaching disaster-prone Icelandic duo from singing in their home town pub to the Eurovision semi-finals and then the final itself.  Ferrell is just about on the right side of tolerable here, with Rachel McAdams giving an absolutely delightful performance, Pierce Brosnan doing really good work in limited screen time, and Dan Stevens stealing every scene and perhaps enjoying himself a little too much as the rampantly oily Russian singer.  Like the Eurovision Song Contest itself, the film veers from silly to serious to outright daft with complete abandon, is too long but does not outstay its welcome, and is an entertaining enough celebration of inclusion, people coming together and going for their dreams.

VOD: The Personal History Of David Copperfield (dir: Armando Iannucci, 2020)

"What an adventure we have had!"

This adaptation of the Dickens novel has all the intelligence, flair and energy that we have come to expect from Iannucci, and by and large it delivers beautifully.  Whilst a fairly liberal adaptation of its source material, it manages to convey the freewheeling journey narrative aspect of the picaresque novel, as well as deliver on the broad and colourful characterisations of which Dickens was so fond.  The intentionally diverse and eclectic casting that skewers the standard historical-drama 'posh white people' trope is very powerful; Dev Patel delivers yet another excellent performance in the title role, and there are many lovely character performances, from Daisy May Cooper's warm-hearted Peggoty to Nikki Amuka-Bird's haughty Mrs Steerforth to Hugh Laurie's perplexed Mr Dick and many more.  Apart of a couple of sequences feeling a little stretched, this film provides a smart, lively and creative take on what can be a restrictive genre for film-makers.

VOD: Days Of The Bagnold Summer (dir: Simon Bird, 2020)

"Is it so hard to believe someone might want to go out on a date with me?"
"Yes,"

Simon Bird's directorial film debut is an absolute delight. It is a gentle, warm slice-of-life British suburban drama that mostly centres on the relationship between a very ordinary middle-aged divorced librarian  mother and her stereotypical moody heavy-metal-loving teenage son as they negotiate a whole summer together when his trip to visit his father in Florida falls through.  It negotiates the blandness of suburban life and the inner lives of the lead characters extremely well through well-controlled pace and well-placed emotional beats, reflecting their shared but juxtaposed everyday lives rather than heightening them for effect.  Monica Dolan and Earl cave are spot-on with their characterisations and interactions, the lovely Belle & Sebastian songs add an almost dream-like Summer quality, and there are a lot of funny and touching moments that will ring true for a lot of viewers.  Not only an assured and promising debut for Simon Bird,  Days Of The Bagnold Summer is a pleasure to watch.

VOD: Porno (dir: Keola Racela, 2020)

"Is this an art film?"

Don't worry about the title - it refers to a film reel that the employees of a Christian-run cinema find in an abandoned cellar of their moviehouse to screen as their after-work entertainment, but the playing of it summons a voracious demon spirit - this latest release under the Fangoria banner is a solid old-fashioned locked-in splatter movie.  It could be argued that the film aspires to debate Christian morality and hypocrisy whilst exploring issues around sexuality and society, but in reality it is more about exploding testicles and voyeurism.  The cast is acceptable, it knows its genre limitations and influences, and the film delivers fairly effectively and efficiently.  It says a lot about what Fangoria thinks about its readers, who it presumably thinks are mostly simple American male teenagers who pore over blood, breasts and stabbings, but for its more knowing genre-aware audience, this film has some interest.

VOD: The Addams Family (dirs: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon, 2019)

"Is he all right?"
No - he seems perfectly demented!"

The latest incarnation of this much-loved property goes the CG-animation route, and it proves to be quite faithful to the original comics, the 60s TV show and the more recent Hollywood movie versions.  The stylised visuals work well on screen, and there are plenty of effective visual and verbal gags that fly and are fully appropriate to the franchise, with a purposeful reality TV element that sits usefully within the narrative.  This 2019 entry into the franchise is well-made, effectively presented and pleasantly entertaining but but hardly essential.

VOD: 365 Days (dirs: Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, 2020)

"Spare me the bulls**t and shoot me!"

The latest Netflix controversy-courting and opinion-dividing film has been dubbed the 'Polish 50 Shades' by many critics and viewers, and the inspiration is clearly there to see.  However, 365 Days makes the Shades movie trilogy seem polished and nuanced by comparison, and it is quite extraordinary to behold.  Glossy, vacuous and unsubtle, the tawdry tale of a Mafia boss who is instantly smitten on seeing a glamorous businesswoman from afar, kidnaps her and then gives her a year in which he sets out to make her fall in love with him displays unforgivable sexual politics, preposterous plotting, dreadful dialogue and eye-wateringly bad sex scenes. It also takes quite a degree of skill to deliver lines convincingly in another language, and there is little evidence of that ability shown here.  With two more novels in the series already out there, and a film sequel planned, the film's instant success far outweighs its quality.

VOD: Parasite (dir: Bong Joon Ho, 2019)

"Wow - this is so metaphorical."

Parasite is one of those films that comes along occasionally in which every aspect knocks it out of the park and presents something really special, and the film deserved every award it hoovered up.  As with the director's previous successes such as The Host and Snowpiercer, it wears its themes and ideas very openly on its sleeve, yet here it is done with a precision and purpose that is beautifully realised on screen.  Parasite cleverly invokes the masters of cinema, with influences evident from Kurosawa to Pasolini to Haneke, but it also cleverly fits into the current trend of elevated horror such as Get Out and Hereditary.  There is so much to enjoy about this film as it unfolds all the way through, leading to an incredibly bittersweet twist at the very end that proves to be an excellent conclusion to this hugely accomplished movie.

VOD: JoJo Rabbit (dir: Taika Waititi, 2019)

"Don't do that!"

Taika Waititi deftly juggles the daft comedy with the film's serious themes in a very satisfying way in this unusual but very enjoyable movie.  The first two acts are largely silly flimsy whimsy, providing plenty of chuckles along the way, which pave the way for the big emotional beats in the third act which truly land powerfully.  Credit goes to young Roman Griffin Davis as the eponymous character, on-screen in almost every scene and delivering really well, with a delightful performance by Scarlett Johansson as his mother and another winning character turn by the ever-youthful Sam Rockwell, not forgetting Waititi's own hilariously off-kilter playing of JoJo's imaginary-friend Hitler. For all its heavy impact towards the end, the film nevertheless culminates in one of the biggest sudden laugh-out-loud moments since the end of Spiderman-Homecoming and a lovely final feel-good moment on which to end this entertaining film.  

VOD: Blue Story (dir: Andrew Onwubolu, aka Rapman, 2019)

"What are you trying to prove?"

Blue Story proved to be a controversial film on its cinema release, confronting current race, gang and postcode-wars issues head on and allegedly inciting young urban cinemagoers at some screenings.   It is an uncomfortable film to watch, not only because of the terrific authentic breakout performances of Micheal Ward and Stephen Odubola but largely because it puts the viewer in the situation of utter helplessness as two best friends follow an inescapably inevitable path.  The film bristles with energy, rage and always-imminent violence (where even a late-night stop at a chip shop turns suddenly into something horrible), with clear and appalling consequences for everyone.  Indeed, whilst the film does vividly portray and point out the futility and devastation of this social set-up, it perhaps disappointingly offers no real alternative or way out of the cycle of recruitment, retribution and destruction that it displays right to the end, but as a dramatic snapshot of a particular social and cultural moment, Blue Story is a raw and powerful film-making statement.

VOD: Attraction (dir: Fedor Bondarchuk, 2017)

"You guys aren't good with feelings, are you?"

This hit Russian blockbuster rides on the recent sci-fi/YA wave and turns out to be an odd mash-up of The Day The Earth Stood Still (Keanu-style) and The Man Who Fell To Earth. It has all the weaker trappings of modern Young Adult films - unsophisticated storytelling, naïve politics, a silly love triangle - but it also has flashes of something more interesting, from the spectacular opening crash landing of a spaceship on Moscow (and its eerie 9/11 parallels) to the late clash of aliens/protestors/military police.  It is clearly over-long, not helped by a typically strained English dub in this version, but it is nevertheless interesting to see this weak and weary sub-genre filtered through the non-Hollywood film-making lens.