VOD: Dog (dirs: Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum, 2022)

"It doesn't make us feel warm and fuzzy inside.  It is what it is."
 

Dog offers a simple and very sincere story of a brain-injured soldier (Channing Tatum) desperate to get back into active duty but finds himself unwanted, who gets tasked with taking a military war-traumatised dog on a road trip to its handler's funeral.  The road trip of course enables dog and soldier to bond as they encounter a range of colourful characters along the way on their journey.  Tatum deploys all his industrial-strength charm, sincerity and easy comedic skills here, and the film balances both the soldier's and the dog's stories well.  Ultimately, the film offers little more than its basic story suggests, but it is told well in a surprisingly unsentimental manner and comes across as a real human story with simple dignity.

VOD: Ambulance (dir: Michael Bay, 2022)

"You shouldn't have worn f***ing sandals, dude!"
 

In Michael Bay's post-lockdown-produced action fest, estranged brothers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul Mateen II) team up for a bank heist that goes wrong and end up escaping on an ambulance with a paramedic and - entirely coincidentally, of course - the badly wounded cop that one of them shot in the raid.  The film very quickly benefits from its COVID production limitations and tight focus by starting off reasonably grounded and character-based, but once the action starts it is absolutely frantic, tight and relentless in typical Bay style: lots of shooting, lots of running, lots of shouting, impossible car chases, lots of dry one-liners and of course plenty blowing up.   The two leads are fine and work well together, but particularly of note is Eiza Gonzalez as the seen--it-all paramedic.  Playing at times like a contemporary version of Speed or a particularly lively episode of TV's 24, Ambulance offers spritely, daft and energetic action entertainment that does not outstay its welcome but is instantly forgettable.

VOD : A-ha The Movie (dirs: Thomas Robsahm and Aslaug Holm, 2022)

"Mood is everything."

This thorough and well-assembled music documentary follows the Norwegian pop band A-ha from its earliest beginnings to the present day and their MTV Unplugged performance preparations.  Perhaps the tactic of conducting separate interviews with the band members accentuates the feeling of dissociation from each other that the film markedly conveys, but a strength is that the tactic enables good portraits of the three individuals to emerge and some stark honesty about each other and themselves.  The film employs a very good range of archive material together with some cute linking Take On Me-style style animations, and there is a pleasingly deep dive into the very early days, although overall the film offers little new to surprise the fans.  Like the band, the movie is tinged with typical Scandi-melancholia putting across a barely-existent professional friendship between three very separate musicians with differing ambitions and creative needs, emphasised well in the film as their huge success in the 80s also brought huge tensions between pop success/record company demands and the band's artistic ambitions.  The ending of the movie is suitably bleak, as a very personal reveal shows that Magne's heart was literally broken by the band, making the inevitable closing play of the poptastic Take On Me sound unexpectedly sad and hollow. 

 

VOD: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (dir: Jeff Fowler, 2022)

"Feels like the Owls and the Echidnas have been fighting each other for centuries."
"Like Vin Diesel and The Rock!"

Starting off on the Mushroom Planet where Robotnix was marooned at the end of the original film, a new nemesis for Sonic and an ally for the villain is introduced, and with the opening sequence this sequel quickly establishes its lively old-school cartoon action vibe. At times feeling more like a modern Saturday-morning-TV-cartoon, there is nevertheless sufficient snark and laid-back sarcasm/pop-culture referencing to lift the film.  The Sonic character looks more nuanced this time, and the integration of CG animation and real life is mostly seamless and impressive.  As the strength of the first film lay in the relationship between Sonic and Tom (James Marsden) and their interplay, unfortunately Marsden is unwisely sidelined for the first half in a weak wedding subplot, although young viewers would probably prefer the focus on Sonic and his other animated cohorts here.  Quite why Hollywood thinks that a children's game property such as this needs a movie that runs over two hours is questionable - for example, a dance-off sequence drags on very unnecessarily - but overall this film goes some way toward matching the energy and fun of the original film.
 

VOD: Benediction (dir: Terence Davies, 2022)

 "There's only one thing worse than remaining in the past, mother, and that's begrudging the future."

This earnest British period (World War I) drama charts celebrated war poet Siegfried Sassoon's journey through his emerging anti-war stance, his creative life and his personal relationships, with the questioning younger incantation (Jack Lowden) juxtaposed with the older embittered self (Peter Capaldi).  The cast is impeccable, with both lead actors providing excellent character work, and with notable supporting performances from Ben Daniels as young Sassoon's counsellor and Jeremy Irvine as his obnoxiously self-absorbed lover Ivor Novello.  Incorporating real contemporary black and white war footage works well for the most part, although some of the narrative and filmic devices used are less convincing and feel self-indulgent.  The film is somewhat dour and self-conscious in style, but it works best when the script with wit and intelligence, and it is possible that there could have been more time spent with the older Sassoon to give the film more balance.

VOD: Everything Everywhere All At Once (dirs: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022)

"We can do whatever we want."

This indie favourite stars the magnificent Michelle Yeoh at her energetic best as Evelyn Wang, dealing with her demanding family, their laundrette business and an unfriendly tax office, and at the same time finding herself becoming the reluctant and unlikely saviour of the multiverse!  This indie favourite is attention-grabbing and frenetic from the outset, packed full of rapid-fire ideas and creative delivery, with inventive visuals, unexpected camerawork and dynamic use of sound, with an unexpected eclectic mix of references from Ratatouille to The One to Wong Kar- Wai.  It offers such a relentless barrage of beguiling and surreal ideas that it careers along in a hugely entertaining and offbeat manner, with mention for Jamie Lee Curtis at her comedy character best as the relentless tax officer.  The film is inventive, laugh-out-loud silly at times and simply a pure blast of cinematic fun yet - bizarrely - also utterly life-affirming by the end.
 

VOD: RRR (dir: S.S. Rajamouli, 2022)

"The shepherd will travel however far to retrieve the missing lamb."

With the pre-title sequence clocking in at forty minutes and a run-time of just over three hours, this lauded Hindi historical action epic offers huge entertainment and takes the viewer on a real journey.  Set in British-ruled/pre-partition 1920, RRR has all the heightened reality expected of an Indian blockbuster on a massive scale, as a young girl is snatched from a tribal village by the ruling white leaders, a highly-trained man from the village (Bheem) is sent to bring her back and a superhumanly strong officer (Raju) is tasked with stopping him.  In a nice touch, the film develops Bheem and Raju's close friendship very effectively before they realise they are actually each other's nemesis.  The film shows some ambitious use of camera, and there are many classic Bollywood elements present - romance, undying friendship (touchingly conveyed here), anachronistic modern song/dance numbers (which are all very good), mesmerisingly insane action set pieces - all of which make RRR an exhausting but utterly compelling and massively enjoyable film.
 

VOD: Purple Hearts (dir: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, 2022)

"God, I just love nuanced conversations like these."
 

Struggling diabetic bar waitress/singer Cassie meets troubled handsome all-American Marine Luke in this Netflix hit romantic drama.  They initially butt heads at every opportunity (of course), and an unlikely marriage of convenience follows (so that she can claim full health insurance as a military wife!), a tragedy befalls Luke as her performing career moves forward and (no spoiler) they eventually find love together, all at alarmingly unconvincing speed.  The film has drawn attention for its blunt politics, and whilst the script does frighteningly and simplistically juxtapose stereotypical right-wing military toxic masculinity with liberal feminism in order to drive the narrative, there is at least some character development in the later stages of the film (within the narrative limits of a romantic drama) and the capable leads (Sophia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine) do their very best to sell this slightly awkward mix of unbelievable melodrama and the more hard-hitting emotional truths and bigger issues at play.

VOD: The Next 365 Days (dirs: Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, 2022)

"It would be good for us to forget about this...unfortunate incident...."

The team returns for this third entry in Netflix's improbably popular glossy soft-core soap-style Polish film series which carries on directly from the first sequel (shot back-to-back), and pretty much delivers more of the same, although this time there is a bit more structure than the previous film and even an occasional appearance of human emotion.  The series is now far removed from its 50 Shades Of Grey-inspired origins and focuses on its obsessive love triangle, but the sexual politics at play still show a gobsmacking lack of awarenesss and there is a unique combination of glumness and the ridiculous at odds all the way through.  Massimo and Laura's failing marriage is tested to its limits, her lover Nacho reappears and sets his sights on winning Laura, sister Olga remains the awfully weak comedy character, and the whole enterprise occupies a curiously unreal fantasy world that distances the viewer throughout.  Dialogue veering between Polish and English for no apparent reason also remains an issue with performances.  Not so much 'so bad its good', simply puzzling!
 

VOD: Lightyear (dir: Angus MacLane, 2022)

"Well, I'm going to be blunt here: I wish that hadn't happened."

Toy Story 4, Finding Dory, Monsters University and now Lightyear: all Pixar sequels that are perfectly pleasant, reasonable and utterly superfluous films.  The high-concept at play here is that this is the film that was Andy's favourite movie that led to his desire for a Buzz Lightyear toy in the original film, and it feels like a meta-step too far.  Whereas properties like WandaVision and Obi-Wan work because they weave their stories into the the established worlds and characters whilst at he same time give them development and purpose, Lightyear clearly misses the ensemble of the Toy Story films and Buzz's team here feels a poor substitute and sends him on a lacklustre mission.  The original Toy Story films also had a knowing eye on its adult audience, whereas Lightyear does seem to target the Saturday-morning-TV children's audience in a rather straightforward manner.  Apart from the occasional dull patch, there is nothing particularly bad about this film, but it adds very little to the character or the mythos that feels meaningful.
 

VOD: Prey (dir: Dan Trachtenberg, 2022)

"A long time ago, it is said, a monster came here."

The latest crack at the Predator franchise proves to be the best entry since the original film, and not just benefitting from the obvious tactic of setting it in tribal American-Indian past with a young female protagonist.  Employing simple but purposeful parallels between Comanche and Predator rites-of-passage hunting, and noting that aliens are not the only predators faced by the natives, the protagonist here is much more than conventional cannon-fodder.  It highlights the powerful link between man and nature that Dutch/Arnie realised at the end of the first film, used as an integral part of the story and also shot beautifully.  The film is written and directed with a real clarity of purpose, lead performances by Amber Midthunder as Naru and Dakota Beavers as her older brother Taabe are very engaging, and the slow introduction and reveal of the Predator is handled well.  It is interesting to consider that the film would still work without the Predator/alien aspect as a coming-of-age tale, and saving us from another retread with yet another gang of toxic-male soldiers here proves not only refreshing but also very satisfying and enjoyable to watch.
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VOD: Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets Of Dumbledore (dir: David Yates, 2022)

"Can you believe this place?  They got pint-sized little witches and wizards running around here!"

The Potterverse machine trundles on with this third entry in the Fantastic Beasts saga, which has a slightly more downbeat and mature feel from the outset, making it perhaps the most interesting of the first three films but also often makes it painfully dour and slow, although the gang-on-a-mission format works fairly well.  The world-building is as usual impeccable (notably here the German Ministry of Magic), there are a couple of good pay-off moments for longer-term franchise followers, and whilst the set pieces are good, the action seems more scaled-down and less flashy here.  As expected, Mads Mikkelsen is quietly terrifying as the new face of Grindlewald, Callum Turner and Jessica Williams give noteworthy performances, but the true strength is again Jude Law as the younger Dumbledore.  Perhaps a fundamental problem is that whilst the Harry Potter film series really was targeted at children and consequently nailed the magical fantasy elements, Fantastic Beasts seems to want to be more adult in its themes and treatment which gives these films an uncertainty in execution.  With two films left in this proposed series, dwindling audience interest and a lack of confidence shown in this film's conclusion will be interesting for next production, which could be improved with a simple re-introduction of a bit of the original series' joy and sense of discovery.
 

VOD: Day Shift (dir: J.J.Perry, 2022)

"You're so weird!"
"If only you knew..."

Jamie Foxx stars as a down-at-luck pool guy/maverick vampire hunter who makes an enemy of a coolly vicious and ambitious vampire and gets teamed up with an uptight suit-wearing pen-pusher (well played by Dave Franco) - think Blade meets Men In Black.  The mis-matched buddy-comedy elements run effectively if predictably, sunny California is used well, and the film is capably made with a number of nice incidental details deployed.  The vampires in this film are athletic and lively, with one particular extended vamps-nest fight sequence being extremely well choreographed, and overall the whole film is a slick, easy and undemanding watch.
 

VOD: Office Invasion (dirs: Gareth Crocker and Fred Wolmarans, 2022)

"Your hair smells wonderful! What is it?"
"Fear, mostly."

This simple low-rent South African sci-fi-comedy seems to be aiming for a similar vibe to TV's Spaced and the early Peter Jackson films but does not quite get there, as three downtrodden employees of a corrupt mining company find themselves in an even worse situation after a takeover and undertake a heist to rob the company as payback, only to find themselves contending with an alien invasion as well.  The first act is limp office comedy, full of stereotypes and forced humour, the second act continues in much the same vein whilst setting up the heist element, and the livelier final act pits our hapless but quite endearing protagonists against their three new (alien) bosses. This is a very small-scale film which plays up the relationships and quirk level to try to compensate, and saves some reasonable effects work until the low-powered finale.
 

VOD: Wedding Season (dir: Tom Dey, 2022)

"Is there something wrong here?"

In Wedding Season the standard New York rom-com collides with the Asian-Indian community with moderate results, as a career woman and a laid-back guy fake a relationship to stave off their marriage-obssesed families during wedding season (similar to 2020's Christmas-themed Holidate)...and you can guess the rest.  In spite of the different cultural backdrop, the film sticks rigidly to the upwardly-mobile middle-class rom-com template.  Slightly above TV-movie level, the film feels too underwritten and underpowered to nake much of an impression, and the broad-strokes comedic characters and contrived storyline are unconvincing, although the leads (played by Pallavi Sharda and Suraj Sharma) are reasonably engaging.  To be fair, the film does pick up a bit in the second half, and American groom Nick's misjudged wedding entrance is spectacularly silly, but overall the film is just about passably entertaining.