VOD: Occupation (dir: Luke Sparke, 2018)

"Mum, it's a country town.  Nothing's gonna happen."

There is an alien invasion, and a small Australian town fights back.  Expectations were not high based on that premise, but Occupation surprises.  Director/writer Luke Sparke aims for the scale and sheen of a Hollywood blockbuster with visuals to match and an epic James Horner-style score that thunders away tirelessly, making this film look and sound very cinematic from the first alien assault onwards.  It is all played unwaveringly straight, solid lead performances from Dan Ewing, Temura Morrison and Stephany Jacobsen are engaging, and overall the characters are given effective depth and story arcs to make it interesting.  Occupation has more scale and bite than expected of its type, which makes it worth a spin.

 

VOD: Atlantic Rim - Resurrection (dir: Jared Cohn, 2018)

"This is gonna be as bad as it was the first time, probably worse."

Just as Pacific Rim Uprising followed Pacific Rim, so Atlantic Rim spawns Resurrection the the mockbuster factory.  At least this low-rent sequel goes off in its own direction after the first act.  A kaiju attacks Los Angeles, a highly-improbable team of robot-jockeys attempt to bring it down whilst battling cheap-looking sets and barely-successful CGI.  Just above average for this type of fare thanks to a couple of reasonable performances and a story that is not stretched too thinly, Atlantic Rim Resurrection does what you would expect and no more.
 

VOD: The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things (dir: Ian Samuels, 2021)

"I just have all this...this time..."

Most of the time the YA genre is enough to set anyone's eyes rolling, but The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things is a sweet, good-natured and enjoyable film.  Yes, it is the YA genre's take on Groundhog Day (and it gets the Groundhog Day/Doctor Who references out of the way pretty early), as teen Mark finds himself stuck in a time-loop with no-one else aware, until one day he comes across someone else who is aware as well...  The film bounds along, held together by a charming performance by Kyle Allen in the lead role, and the film captures not only the optimistic energy of youth but also so many of those 'tiny perfect moments' referred to in the title that make this movie a surprisingly very pleasant watch indeed.
 

VOD: Anna And The Apocalypse (dir: John McPhail, 2017)

"Christmas is fast becoming my least-favourite C-word!"

This is High School Musical...with zombies..in Scotland...at Christmas!  On paper, this unholy hybrid should not work, but Anna And The Apocalypse is an absolute unexpected treat.  The cast is delightful, the songs are epic authentic-80s-sounding anthems that work really well, it is enjoyable throughout and the whole venture comes across as confident and well-made on a tiny budget.  (Do not be misled, however: it does not stint on the gore!)
 

VOD: One Night In Miami (dir: Regina King, 2020)

"We're all just gladiators...with our ruler sitting up there in his box, giving us the thumbs-up or the thumbs-down.  Well, I don't want no damn ruler!"

Muhammed Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown in a hotel room - what else do you need?  Throw in a pitch-perfect script, tight and seamless direction, compelling inter-character dynamics and four simply stunning performances, and One Night In Miami is about as good as film gets.  There is nothing more to say about a film that is as utterly engaging, entertaining and impressive as this one.
 

VOD: The Rental (dir: Dave Franco, 2021)

"You guys don't find this creepy at all?"

Dave Franco's foray into directing (and co-writing the screenplay) is on very safe tried-and-trusted territory with this generic potboiler thriller, as two couples spend the weekend at a seemingly-idyllic cliffside rental house where all turns out to be not as perfect as it seems.  There is a grinding inevitability at every stage, with Dan Stevens outperforming everyone from the mediocre material.  Whilst there is nothing really bad about the film, but there is little that lifts the film above average at any point. 
 

VOD: Big Time Adolescence (dir: Jason Orley, 2019)

"Don't you have friends your own age?
"But you're way cooler!"
"This is true."

Naive teenager Monroe idolises his older sister's ex-boyfriend, 20s slacker Zeke, and it is their journey as unexpected best friends that the film interestingly follows.  The difference in age and lifestyles of these two 'best friends' makes for an unusual mix, and both are played winningly by Griffin Gluck and Pete Davidson as Monroe starts to grow up and follow his buddy into criminal activity and the consequences it wreaks on his friendship and his own life. More than a standard coming-of-age movie, this is sharply, humoprously and sensitively written and directed by Jason Orley, and it does not shy away from the power of friendship and the harsher side of low-life criminality.

 

VOD: Mank (dir; David Fincher, 2020)

"Who was that again?"
"Just a writer."

David Fincher's long-gestating project  - from his late father's script - about the Golden Age of Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he battles his raging alcoholism and the writing of  Citizen Kane is an astonishingly accomplished film.  There is so much to enjoy, from the sumptuous recreation of the 1930s to the gloriously crisp black-and-white cinematography, the cinema-sounding acoustics, the razor-sharp dialogue, a superb music score from (unexpectedly) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the fictionalised characters and situations from the Hollywood of that time, and most of all another utterly towering performance by Gary Oldman (with superb support from possibly career-best Amanda Seyfried and Charles Dance) and relentlessly pitch-perfect direction from Fincher.  Mank is simply one of those very few films that come along every year that you can simply revel in, and it will make inevitable appearances in awards season.

 

VOD: Bill & Ted Face The Music (dir: Dean Parisot, 2020)

"Dude - with all due respect, I don't think you're quite getting this!"

Bill & Ted 3 could have been a disaster, but a sensibly long wait for the right script and director brings the same qualities as the two previous outings - it is a good-natured, silly runaround that pinballs around different time periods and iterations of the dopey duo to mildly humorous effect.  With Bill & Ted now middle-aged, their two daughters are a welcome addition, and the 'greatest hits' touches are inevitably rewarding when they happen.  Unlike their song, this film is not a world-changer and it could hardly be called essential, but it is pleasant viewing nonetheless.
 

VOD: Space Sweepers (dir: Sung-hee Jo, 2021)

"Space is full of trash!"

This South Korean sci-fi actioner is a huge, daft, noisy, fast-paced slice of fun.  Set in 2092, a ragtag rough bunch of scrap-merchants-in-space discover a humanoid android child called Dorothy and delight in the potential reward money, until they discover it is a nuclear bomb in human form and they themselves became the target of the bad guys.  All of this lies on top of a conspiracy thriller involving the environmental destruction of plant Earth and an unhinged corporate billionaire genius, meaning there is plenty of story to tell, yet the film also takes time to build the crew's individual characters well and uses their enforced interaction with the child to humorous and heartwarming effect at times.  Space Sweepers is a slightly mad romp, the wildly ambitious effects often (but not always) hit the mark, and it is a wild but entertaining ride.

 

VOD: Monster Island (dir: Mark Atkins, 2019)

"Something is there...."

...certainly not King Kong, Godzilla or other great kaiju of recent movie spectaculars.  Monster Island is one of the weaker mockbusters from The Asylum, where a thin script and cheap settings are not overcome by the performances, here achieving the remarkable feat of the actors seeming to be giving such a range of performances it is as if they were in different movies.  Achieving a coherent movie under tight budgetary circumstances is always to be applauded, but the end result is simply quite dull here. 
 

VOD: Skyfire (dir: Simon Webb, 2020)

"Nature doesn't love, nor does it hate.  It simply builds and destroys."

The recent trend for big-budget Chinese films taking on Hollywood blockbuster tropes is interesting to see, and Skyfire takes on Dante's Peak and the disaster movie genre to spectacular effect.  Based on the daftest of high-concepts - a holiday resort opening next door to an active volcano! - the inevitable occurs with a handful of truly expansive set pieces and creditable special effects.  The cast is clearly invested, background artists are brutally offed, and whilst Skyfire adds nothing new to the mix, it is definitely an entertaining genre entry.
 

VOD: Tremors - Shrieker Island (dir: Don Michael Paul, 2020)

"We didn't come all this way to shoot clay pigeons!"

The lush Thai locale makes this seventh entry in the Tremors franchise look terrific, and in general the film is far better than a late-entry sequel should ever be, although inevitably nowhere near the classic original.  As hunters go up against genetically-modified Graboids, this film is standard Tremors fare that unashamedly mashes up Predator and Jurassic Park in a reasonably entertaining manner, and with the awful humour that has blighted recent Tremors films mercifully dialled down.