VOD: The Invisible Man (dir: Leigh Wannell, 2020)

"Where are you?"

So this is how you take a well-worn idea and make it fresh for a modern audience: shift the focus from the titular character to a female protagonist, in this case an abused wife, and explore not only her mental health but the reactions of those around her.  This film is held together by an absolute tour-de-force performance from Elisabeth Moss, but it also hugely engaging in its Hitchcockian story-telling and often inventive direction.  With interesting implementation of the core idea and a couple of decent twists in the final act, The Invisible Man is a worthwhile update/adaptation of a classic story.

VOD: Calm With Horses (dir: Nick Rowland, 2020)

"I don't know why I'm screaming."

Showing the underside of rural Ireland life, this gritty and powerful drama plots the course of a revenge-gone-wrong story through the eyes of a drug-and-booze-fuelled damaged ex-boxer Douglas, played impressively and compellingly by Cosmo Jarvis.  The writing is taut and purposeful, and both the violent main story about two feuding families that sees events spiralling out of control and the quieter domestic drama and relationships between Douglas, his ex (a beautifully-placed performance by Toni O'Rourke) and their autistic son are equally engaging.  Calm With Horses is a strong, thoughtful and very well-crafted movie that has a real emotional hook.

VOD: Onward (dir: Dan Scanlon, 2020)

"... and best of all, there was magic!

Pixar delivers yet again with this bright and breezy romp that falls into the category of the studio's more lightweight entertainments, in spite of still dealing with big emotional themes of family and loss that is their trademark.  Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are perfectly cast as the two brothers on a magic quest to bring back their deceased father to spend one more day with him, with Holland in particular giving his character room to breathe by using thought and restraint in his performance effectively.  The film is well-written, and again the advancement in background detail in the animation is quite astonishing in both rural and urban settings.  Onward is probably not going to stand out as one of Pixar's most memorable films, but it delivers entertainment in every department.

VOD: 1917 (dir: Sam Mendes, 2020)

"Some men just want to fight."

The simplicity of the premise - two young recruits are tasked with delivering a crucial time-limited message on the Western Front in the First World War - is here delivered in an unusual, ambitious and compelling way.  The technical and acting challenges of this near-single-continuous shot experience are met with aplomb, and the technique means that the film engages the viewer relentlessly and gives the film real drive and urgency, even with quieter moments used to reflect on the horrors of the conflict.  Peppered with appearances from top-notch British actors, most credit goes to another excellent and sympathetic performance of impressive depth by George MacKay, with whom the audience shares this entire cinematic journey.  1917 is very much a companion piece to Nolan's Dunkirk as one of the very best and most immersive modern-day cinematic takes on the war movie.

VOD: Moffie (dir: Oliver Hermanus, 2020)

"It's all right."

This festival circuit favourite was an early cinema-release casualty of the pandemic lockdown, telling the tale of a young South African's experience of compulsory miltary service during the time of Apartheid.  As the film tackles a big shopping list of issues such as toxic masculinity, racism, homophobia and bullying, it is always sincere but occasionally uneven, often brutal and confrontational but sometimes twee and predictable.  Kai Luke Brummer does well in his debut central role in a film that perhaps serves best as capturing the attitudes and experiences of the time in which it is set rather than revealing anything new.

VOD: A Shaun The Sheep Movie - Farmageddon (dirs: Will Becher and Richard Phelan, 2019)

"STAY ALERT!"

As a sequel to the delightful 2015 movie, Farmageddon is another hugely entertaining slice of Aardman that delivers what you would expect, playing like a modern-day yet timeless homage to silent comedy, successfully ambitious stop-motion work with genuine heart and character, and a uniquely British daftness that is so appealing to audiences of all ages.  Perhaps the most predictable aspects of this film are the sci-fi genre trappings - you can almost sense the impending references to everything from The X-Files to Explorers to Close Encounters and many more, with the whole movie riffing on E.T. - but it deploys them well and retains the charm and gentle humour required.  As with all Aardman productions, there are many delights in the details (posters on walls, newspapers headlines, etc), but the central character and story are strong enough to sustain this second film.

VOD: Birds Of Prey (dir: Cathy Yan, 2020)

"It's not a party without a little drama - am I right?"

Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn gets her own fully-justified spin-off from Suicide Squad in a movie that is a bit less generic than its originator but still wends its way down a well-trodden path.  This movie is all about the main character and Robbie is never less than captivating, to the extent that no-one else really gets a look-in, and whilst it does not exactly wear out its welcome, the film's one-note tone does become a little numbing for its long running time.  Nevertheless, Birds of Prey is a spirited and worthwhile addition to the emerging DC stand-alone stable.

VOD: Bad Boys For Life (dirs: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, 2020)

"Mike, you don't need a grenade launcher."
"Yeah, but I WANT one."

The long-mooted third Bad Boys movie has taken so long to be made that it can playfully address the fact that its stars are much older now but it still delivers very well on the action front.  Taking some bold narrative steps in the first act that grab the audience's attention, at its heart this is a lean, propulsive revenge thriller that almost seems self-aware of the franchise's inherently outrageous cheesiness and for the most part plays it admirably straight.  Sunshine-bright and neon-soaked Miami looks fantastic, both leads use their seasoned professionalism to good effect, and overall Bad Boys For Life is far more effective and entertaining than could have been expected.

VOD: The Old Guard (dir: Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2020)

"I've been here before....over and over again...."

Amazon's second big action movie of the tail-end of Covid-19 lockdown - in the absence of the promised but postponed cinema-released Summer 2020 blockbusters - is proficient but not as entertaining overall as Extraction.  Again based on a comic series - but incredibly with no ties to Marvel or DC! - the twist of an immortal and near-indestructible quartet of timeless and ageless mercenaries creates sufficient interest, with a 'new recruit' providing the audience's get-in, but a boggle-eyed British billionaire trying to capture them to monetise their DNA is far more predictable and less satisfying.  The action/fight sequences are well-staged, and Theron, as ever, never wavers in performance for a moment, but the whole enterprise is a painfully straight, dour, grey, sombre affair, which cries out for a bit of levity - the troop may be world-weary from living through centuries (which some of the extended 'dramatic' sequences also feel like), but surely they would not have lost all of their sense of humour along the way?

VOD: Colour Out Of Space (dir: Richard Stanley, 2020)

"Isn't it insane?"

Like JG Ballard, the stories of HP Lovecraft have proved to be notoriously difficult to translate to screen.  Apart from its modern-day updating, this version sticks quite substantially to the source material whilst also referencing various genre film tropes, from the appearance of the Necronomicon to some transformative Cronenbergian body-horror.  Director Richard Stanley (a welcome return) marshals the visuals and tone effectively for the most part, but the experience is based around a wildly hallucinatory soundscape (Surround Sound or headphones are a must).  It is certainly an upgrade on 1987's The Curse, yet the visualisation of Lovecraft's more fantastical visions still do not always convince as they should.

VOD: The Vast Of Night (dir: Andrew Patterson, 2020)

"I don't know what you just said, but you sound like a mouse being eaten by a possum!"

This lively, snappy little film uses its limited resources wonderfully well and to very good effect - this is a well-thought-out and effectively and satisfyingly-crafted film.  Set in the late 50s (imaginatively and creatively recreated) and set on the night of a big local game, leaving a (very) smalltown radio DJ and a teenage phone operator to investigate a mysterious signal, the camera cleverly keeps us with the two protagonists throughout in a very engaging way.  It is also very refreshing to see a film that is so straightforward, tight and focused in its storytelling; rather than create a multi-character set of parallel narratives, this film takes it s central story idea and simply runs with it to its (perhaps inevitable but) well-staged conclusion.  Emerging as an Amazon Original, The Vast Of Night is a small-scale but well-formed movie.

VOD: Never Surrender - A Galaxy Quest Documentary (dir: David Bennett, 2019)

"It just couldn't be better."

If you haven't dusted off and watched Galaxy Quest in a while, make that a priority - it remains an absolute joy to watch in so many ways.  Then watch this warm, well-made documentary that assembles almost all the major players on-screen and from behind the scenes and tells the interesting story of the film's tortuous development (which feels effectively open and honest), and onward through the casting process, studio expectations and misjudged marketing to the wonderful ensemble cast's recollections, with the inevitably emotional section remembering the late Alan Rickman.  Director of the film Dean Parisot comes across as an immensely knowledgeable and practical but genial wrangler of the film project, but the sheer enjoyment that the film engenders comes across in every single interview with everyone involved.   Never Surrender is a genuine and sincere love-letter to a genuinely deserving movie.

VOD: Daniel Isn't Real (dir: Adam Egypt Mortimer, 2020)

"I have a really cool idea...."

Although the central promise - the adult return of a childhood imaginary friend - is hardly original, Daniel Isn't Real certainly punches above its weight both in terms of ideas and execution.  The consideration of what becomes of a forcibly abandoned part of the human psyche makes for an interesting story, with bold choices in characterisation, sparingly but effectively deployed visual effects and also use of camera in particular.  Invested performances from the two leads (Miles Robbins and Patrick Schwarzenegger) and storytelling momentum maintained to the end, Daniel isn't Real shows that a bit of ambition and creativity can go far. 

VOD: Bloodshot (dir: David S.F. Wilson, 2020)

"Your body can't do this forever."

To put it simply, if you have seen Robocop, Universal Soldier, Crank and Total Recall, then you can save yourself 100 minutes of watching this limp mash-up.  Handsomely-lensed but weakly-scripted - if you are a fan of wince-inducing dialogue, this is a film for you - the film becomes less interesting and more confusing in the second half, with a daft CG-laden finale to round it off.  Diesel does what he does appropriately, the reliable Guy Pearce escapes with his dignity just about intact, but overall the film's repetitive structure and over-reliance on very familiar elements renders it largely uninteresting and rarely rising above adequate.

VOD: Trick (dir: Patrick Lussier, 2019)

 "The old 'quiet-one' cliche."

Trick is an unexpectedly smart and interesting update of the slasher genre.  The annual killing spree of an brazen unstoppable psycho on Halloween over recent years purposefully takes in influences from different iterations of the genre, most evident from Halloween to Scream to Saw, delivered in an energetic, slick and well-shot style.  The episodic year-to-year structure keeps the action tight and moving along briskly, and there are sufficient ideas introduced along the way to maintain interest and lead to a very satisfying finale.  For genre fans, the film does not hold back on blood and body count,  and the first big jump scare is a belter.  Director/co-writer Lussier's long experience in horror pays off here with one of his best and strongest films.