VOD: Nightmare Alley (dir: Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

"You drawl slow, but all the while you're hustling fast."

Imbued throughout with noir trademarks and del Toro's masterful storytelling right from its opening frames, Nightmare Alley is an elegant and sumptuous film to savour.  Following the rise and fall of an enigmatic drifter (Bradley Cooper) who hooks up with a carnival and learns the tricks of the clairvoyant act, which he then takes to the monied clients of the big city and teams up/locks horns with a cool psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett).  The film is a gorgeously-designed and shot period piece (1930s/40s) that is effortless to watch with its easy flow and propulsive narrative.  Del Toro's cinematic intelligence and visual flair are fully evident from the early earthy carnival sequences to the wealthy stylings later on.  Both Cooper and Blanchett utterly inhabit their characters and are mesmerising to watch, especially when together, but del Toro also fills the story with smaller powerful female characters and performances, with Toni Collette and Mary Steenburgen particularly impressive.  Once set up, the fall from grace might be a little too inevitable, but it is delivered with considerable relish and panache, making the stylish journey shown in Nightmare Alley very satisfying indeed.
 

VOD: Turning Red (dir: Domee Shi, 2022)

"I accept and embrace all labels."

Although this movie might win the prize for most unsubtle allegory ever, it is another sweet and gently entertaining hit for Pixar.  Set in 2003,  Meilin and her gang of trendily diverse friends  traverse the perils of eighth grade, boys and - gasp - puberty.  In the studio's latest effort to represent a range of cultures, Turning Red straddles Asian/American culture extremely effectively.  The film has an amiably breezy carefree feel and energy, a pleasant pastel day-glo colour palette and a retro-sitcom feel that shows ambition in its animation and style.  The film is also propelled by strong voice and character work by Rosalie Chiang as young Meilin and Sandra Oh as her mother.  It sticks firmly to its target audience (8-12 year-old girls) and - unlike the very best of Pixar - offers little for any other demographic.  Turning Red may not be one of Pixar's true greats, but it is a lively and entertaining film nevertheless.

 

VOD: Deep Water (dir: Adrian Lyne, 2022)

"That's kind of a moral grey area, isn't it?"

Billed as director Adrian Lyne's return to the erotic thriller genre, Deep Water falls short on both genre counts, with its luridly silly twists and unconvincing scenarios.    The consideration of boundaries in relationships is clumsy and uncomfortably portrayed, especially when the lead female character is objectified sexually at every opportunity.  Ana de Armas plays the free-spirited wife, proving to be an engaging actress with interesting attention to detail in her performance, juxtaposed with Ben Affleck as her seemingly closed-off and tolerant husband played in a more understated and workmanlike manner.  Lyne's style here echoes his Fatal Attraction at times, reflecting the couple's slick, glossy and monied milieu.  Ultimately, however, it is hard to buy into this couple staying together at all, making it a struggle to buy into and care about their life for even the first act, let alone the whole film.

 

VOD: Black Friday (dir: Casey Tebo, 2022)

"You look like you don't want to be working on Thanksgiving!"

Possibly a first for the holidays-themed horror calendar, this low-rent but enthusiastic movie takes the trials of the worst shopping day of the year for workers at a toys megastore and throws in James Gunn's Slither, as a meteor shower delivers some kind of alien creature/parasite that starts to take over our intrepid band of stereotyped and mismatched co-workers via straightforward practical effects.  There is great stunt casting of committed horror B-movie stars Devon Sawa and Bruce Campbell who are reliably effective here, but generally performances lack a sense of timing and authenticity in delivering a somewhat simplistic script.  Black Friday itself is hardly a truly memorable or celebratory day, and this film is unlikely to become an annual repeat play like Halloween or the original Black Christmas, and if it is aiming to be a critique of modern American consumerism, this film is hardly Dawn Of The Dead.  Black Friday is perhaps not funny enough to be a full-on horror-comedy, nor is it gory enough to satisfy true horror fans, but its ambition and enthusiasm shown for its limited resources is notable. 
 

VOD: Paranormal Activity - Next Of Kin (dir: William Eubank, 2021)

"All right, guys - bad news..."

A documentary film-maker going to trace her biological mother in a remote Amish community is the way in for this latest Paranormal Activity series side-project.  Far more Blair Witch than Paranormal Activity, especially in the later sequences, the film oddly straddles the found-footage genre and generic horror tropes in its presentation, with the parent franchise's signature conventions (such as the date intertitles and ominous bass rumbles) used as the overall framing device but with incongruous sound effects added to emphasis the jump scare moments.  There are some effective choices made to expand the franchise beyond the main series, such as the remote and wintry setting, the children and the central narrative driving device, but Next Of Kin is not as enjoyable or effective as 2014's The Marked Ones.  The paranormal aspect here is limited, and the rather blunt placing of foreshadowing elements makes watching the film a rather bleak trudge towards the inevitable and expected ending.
 

VOD: The Adam Project (dir: Shawn Levy, 2022)

"Cute kid!"
"Precious, isn't he? Don't you just want to hold him underwater until the bubbles stop?"

Ryan Reynolds is in watchable actor mode in this film as a renegade pilot from 2250 time-travels back to the present day where he meets up with his 12-year-old self.  A snappy script with the occasional chucklesome retort propels this high concept with enjoyable energy.  The effects work is impressively shiny and expensive-looking, particularly in the busy finale, and the action sequences are lively and well-staged.  Aside from its lead star, Zoe Saldana kicks ass effectively, Mark Ruffalo delights as always as the father, Jennifer Garner engages nicely as the widowed mother trying to connect with her son, and young Walker Scobell keeps up well with the adults.  The film feels somewhat 1980s with its E.T./Back To The Future vibes but with a modern look and sensibility, as older/future Alex connects with his mother and his younger self.  The story hangs together surprisingly well, the huge music score by Rob Simonsen supports the film strongly, and the neat ending packs an unexpectedly emotional punch.  The film is instantly forgettable but it definitely provides enjoyable family entertainment.  

 

VOD: Spencer (dir: Pablo Larrain, 2021)

"No-one is above tradition."

Set over a particularly bleak and glacially unfestive Christmas at Sandringham with the Royal Family, Spencer focuses on Diana in the dying days of her marriage to Prince Charles and her own inner demons.  At its heart, Kristen Stewart does give a strong performance (indeed, one of her best) that embodies the typical public perceptions of Diana very well.  The script, however, often veers between clumsy melodrama and bizarre artsy flourishes, and by portraying Diana as a mix of helpless victim, delusionally paranoid and dangerously unhinged, the film hedges its bets and fails to find a consistent identity or point of view.  It portrays typical assumptions about The Firm as viewers would expect, from the lavish but strictly regimented royal routines through to the family's chilly emotional repression, augmented by an intriguing score that juxtaposes classical and jazz-inspired stylings that reflect the formal regal moments and Diana's troubled and unhappy state of mind very effectively.  In smaller supporting character roles, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris and Sally Hawkins all give noteworthy performances. Spencer is a reasonable if inconsistent and not entirely convincing fictionalised account of the events leading towards her tragic ending, artfully staged and featuring a well-cast leading performance.
 

VOD: Demonic (dir: Neill Blomkamp, 2021)

"I saw things..."

Director/writer Neill Blomkamp's first real horror film ticks as many boxes as it can, as a woman learns that her estranged felon mother is in a coma at a cutting-edge medical tech facility and is asked to communicate with the patient via VR.  Shot during the pandemic, the film is clearly limited in scale and low-budget and contains a lot of slow wandering around (almost found-footage in style at times, especially in the final act), but it does try  to give an original spin on the demonic possession genre, even if feels way too late to the party.  In the lead role, Carly Pope is solid and keeps things reasonably grounded, and Blomkamp occasionally shows some visual style that he often uses to elevate fairly ordinary material, but overall what we end up with is an efficient if rather limited and routine schlocker.

 

VOD: The Hand Of God (Fue La Mano De Dios) (dir: Paolo Sorrentino, 2021)

"Humanity is dreadful - didn't they tell you?"

This semi-autobiographical Italian coming-of-age tale follows a budding film-maker/football-loving teenager, Fabio, growing up in 1980s Naples through the creation of a lively range of colourful characters that depicts an energetic, open and direct-talking portrayal of 'extended family' life which is warm-hearted, wryly observant and very engaging.  The first half is nostalgically funny and warm with a delightful group at its core, but a huge world-changing incident mid-way through the film (including a harrowingly raw scene from young Filippo Scotti in the lead role) gives the second half a very different tone and a huge emotional punch, but still finding some humour and hope even in the depths of tragedy.  By turns funny, wistful and poignant, and set against a stunningly-shot background of Naples, The Hand Of God is an absolute treat of a film.
 

VOD: The King's Man (dir: Matthew Vaughn, 2022)

"Why is it that boys are always so messy?"

Setting its tone from the start, the opening sequence to The King's Man is far more grounded than the fantasy spy-caper equivalents in the parent films, which is followed through in this prequel as a whole.  There is a real attempt to evoke history using a sense of scale and epic sweep, although the film occasionally suffers from the amount of historical exposition, whilst the prototype Kingsmen's involvement in historical events works nicely here with some fun revisionism at play.  Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson work well as the father-and-son Harry/Eggsy substitutes, and the references to formative Kingsman touchstones are effective, alongside some surprisingly powerful commentary on the futility and destructiveness of war.  Although the main villain may be somewhat thinly drawn, overall The King's Man proves to be an unexpectedly entertaining and engaging side-step from the main franchise.
 

VOD: Encounter (dir: Michael Pearce, 2021)

"Everything I do is to protect you."

This intriguing take on the alien invasion genre flips the usual oversized-spaceships/machines tropes and instead posits a microscopic parasitic incursion and its impact on a particular family, as the estranged ex-soldier father takes his young sons on an impromptu road trip to save them.  As the film develops and increasing paranoia sets in, the film starts to go in interesting directions and no-one (including the viewer) quite knows what is true and who to believe.  The relationship between the father and his two boys (aided with two excellent child performances) is played out with touching sincerity and credibility.  In the lead role, Riz Ahmed once again inhabits his character completely and is compelling to watch in this low-key but interesting and thoughtful mood piece.
 

VOD: Hotel Transylvania 4 - Transformania (dirs: Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska, 2022)

"It's like Freaky Friday, but on a Tuesday, though!"

Starting off a the hotel's 125th anniversary party and Dracula planning to retire and hand over the business to his daughter Mavis and her wacky human husband Johnny, a human/monster transforming ray-gun wreaks mayhem as human becomes monster and vice versa.  Similar to the Ice Age franchise, on reaching this fourth (and allegedly final) film installment delivers more of the same perfectly efficiently but does little to upset the formula.  It is simple and gently humorous for its very young target audience, the central idea is somewhat thinly-developed, and the extended quest to South America only really serves to generate visual gags and makes the film more generic once away from its signature settings.  The ending suggests the future of the franchise lies away from feature films, but Transformania provides a moderate finale (with a nod to the future) to this pleasant children's series.
 

VOD: Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (dir: Patrick Hughes, 2021)

"Do NOT f**k this up!"
"Oh, we are DEFINITELY going to f**k this up!"

This unnecessary sequel that nobody wanted is as overblownly tiresome as the unlikeable original.  It is largely indulgent and crass, with little real purpose.  Salma Hayek provides a reasonable shining light with her sweary, over-the-top devil-may-care performance, whilst Ryan Reynolds here plumbs new depth of smugness and sucks the potential humour out of every line, and Samuel L. Jackson seems simply bewildered.  The film peculiarly positions the viewer to care about nothing that happens, as the film lurches from one frantic, desperate and noisy action set-piece to another, punctuated by dull and frequently unfunny dialogue stretches.  The film would have benefitted from much sharper writing and stronger directions for the characters and story overall.
 

VOD: Pirates (dir: Reggie Yates, 2021)

"I think she's into me."

This confident and solid big-screen debut from writer/director Reggie Yates sees three older teenage mates and pirate radio gang (the Ice Cold Crew) crossing the capital to try to get into their dream New Year's Eve party at the turn of the millennium.  Shot in the curiously deserted capital (for the time it is set), it meanders along pleasantly with three amiable characters and decent central performances as we follow their small-scale but nicely-handled antics.  The film captures the spirit of boys trying to be big men well enough, and the friendships feel sincere, leading up to a nicely-played feel-good ending.  Pirates is straightforward, not overly-ambitious but well-delivered and entertaining British film.