FILM: Fighting With My Family (dir: Stephen Merchant, 2019)

"Don't worry about being the new 'me' - be the first 'you'."

Based on a true story of a Norwich wrestling family whose teenage daughter gets picked up the WWE circus with great success, Fighting With My Family follows a very well-trodden path but does it very well.  Storywise it does little to subvert expectations, but Stephen Merchant directs with an upbeat energy that imbues both the performers and the film with a very watchable and likeable quality.  It is good to see Lena Headey in a softer than usual role as the mother, Florence Pugh is quite engaging as the daughter, but there is truly powerhouse performance to look for here from Jack Lowden as the brother who stays at home, and Dwayne Johnson's involvement and appearances are also well judged on familiar home territory.  This is a spritely, good-humoured and well-played British film that delivers sound entertainment overall.

FILM: Fisherman's Friends (dir: Chris Foggin, 2019)

"Retro's back....again...."

Fisherman's Friends is another 'based on a true story' British underdog story that tends to play well with UK cinemagoers, here telling the story of a group of singing Cornish fishermen/lifeboatmen from picturesque Port Isaac who unexpectedly land a record deal and have minor success. The basic premise proves to be rather thin for a nearly two-hours runtime, so we are mostly saddled with an improbable romance story.  The lacklustre script is saved by strong performers (including James Purefoy, Daniel Mays and a really nicely-judged unshowy performance by Sam Swainsbury as a younger member of the ten-strong group).  The singing is an inevitable strength of the film, and it is pleasant enough, but it does feel rather stretched.  

FILM: Us (dir: Jordan Peele, 2019)

"It's all just craziness!"

With the heavy weight of expectation following the success of Get Out, Jordan Peele's follow-up almost delivers.  Pushing the horror aspect perhaps even further than in his first offering, Peele employs a dizzying and disorientating set of references, from Hitchcock to Haneke to Carpenter, from fairy-tale to J-horror to 80s slashers, making Us a real joy for horror fans, notwithstanding the callous and gleeful use of violence throughout.  The game cast absolutely plays it to the hilt, the score is always interesting, the narrative again pulls real surprises with only a part of the story revealed by the trailer (although the 'big twist' is evident very early on) and there is a real energy to the piece that never lets up.  The bigger issues are nowhere near as sharply focused as in Get Out and come across as either blunt or diffuse in their handling, but make no mistake: this film is Jordan Peele cutting loose and having fun, and audiences who buy into it will have great fun too.

FILM: Captain Marvel IMAX 3D (dirs: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, 2019)

"She can do a lot more than make tea with those hands..."

The long-time-coming female superhero-fronted Marvel movie turns out to be not one of the studio's very best, but once it gets going, is very entertaining to watch.  The first act does some good world-building but feels uncertain, as do the early scenes on 1990s Earth, but as the titular character starts to find her identity, her powers and her purpose, the film picks up rapidly and has great pace and story in the final hour. The cast plays well, with Larson proving to be confident and commanding of attention in the title role, and the effects work is dazzling, with a real sense of scale being created to impressive purpose.  The tie-in to the final Avengers movies comes in the mid-credits scene, with a throwaway joke scene at the very end of the credits.

VOD: Dave Made A Maze (dir: Bill Watterson, 2017)

"I want to go inside!  Can I go inside?"

If you bought into the quirky madness of a film such as A Town Called Panic, you will absolutely love this hilariously bonkers little film that barely got a release.  Frustrated artist Dave's girlfriend Annie arrives back at their apartment after a weekend away to find that not only has he built a fort/maze out of cardboard boxes in the middle of their living room but that he is also lost inside his unfinished creation (as Doctor Who is prone to saying, it's bigger on the inside), so Annie and a bunch of Dave's mates go in to rescue their friend.  You can take it seriously, as it takes inspiration from sources as diverse as Greek myth and Alice In Wonderland, with the big central metaphors about life conveyed in all manner of interesting ways, or you can just revel in the absolutely unpredictable and wonderfully creative madness of it all.  Above all, however, it is a film brimming with ideas, it has a whole bunch of characters who are a delight to watch and with whom to go on the journey, and it provides loads of entertainment from start to finish.

VOD: Paranormal Investigation (dir: Franck Phelizon, 2018)

"I don't feel anything."

This belated French entry into the found-footage supernatural genre turns up on Netflix taking the very familiar Paranormal Activity template (intertitles announcing which night is playing, ominous soundtrack rumble, open doors with darkness beyond) and using it to little effect.  With its evidently low budget, it makes an effort to employ the multi-camera set-up device to purposeful effect, but it is undone by very weak performances, although Anderi Indreies just about holds things together in the titular role,  investigating the apparent possession of a young man following an opening Ouija board session that unsurprisingly goes wrong.  Even references to other films, such as the arrival of the priest to the family home in a weak low-budget (presumed) homage to The Exorcist are hard to take seriously.  It is hard to imagine why this film was attempted with nothing new to offer when even the original American film franchise has given up and gone away.

FILM: The Kid Who Would Be King (dir: Joe Cornish, 2019)

"It's really good when it works..."

...and The Kid Who Would Be King works consistently well.  As with Attack The Block, Joe Cornish delivers a deft mix of the mundane and the fantastic,  here mixing Arthurian legend and the life of a twelve-year-old schoolboy who (oddly) stumbles across Excalibur and pulls it from the stone on a local building site, thus setting him and three young allies on a journey to save Britain from the imminent resurrection of Morgana (a beautifully psychotic Rebecca Ferguson) from her underworld banishment.  Dialogue is well-written, the four child leads are very strong, effects work is good, and the rousing score adds much to the film.  Perfectly pitched for its young audience, this film is a thoughtful, lively and very well-delivered movie that is unusually ambitious and effective for a British children's film.

FILM: Instant Family (dir: Sean Anders, 2019)

"You're not terrible..."

Instant Family pretty much does what you expect from the trailer and the genre.  The in-your-face browbeating about adoption (especially in the first act) does often sit uncomfortably alongside the broad family-comedy tropes on display, but there are plenty of funny moments which land well.  Mark Wahlberg's easy charm and sincerity is tailor-made for this type of role (and his comic timing is very good here), Rose Byrne is unusually genuine here, and the three children - especially Isabela Moner as the older teen - work very well.  Also of note are performances from Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro as the duelling adoption counsellors, and the joy that is Julie Hagerty and a powerhouse performance by Margo Martindale as the two adoptive grandmothers.  Overall, this is a well-meaning film that offers little that is unexpected (there is even a Christmas morning scene in which the children prefer the cardboard boxes to the toys) but is well-made and entertains.

FILM: Happy Death Day 2U (dir: Christopher Landon, 2019)

"You've died enough, haven't you?"

Happy Death Day 2U is one of those films with which you will have a lot of fun if you saw and enjoyed the first film and be rather bemused if you missed it.  Expanding the idea from Tree (again wonderfully played by Jessica Rothe) repeatedly facing death in a horror time loop, the first film's high concept was gleefully daft and relatively clear in narrative terms, while the sequel takes the viewer on a hugely enjoyable wayward rollercoaster ride of unpredictability - not all of it quite works, but there are many smile-raising moments along the way, especially when hearkening back to the original movie.  There is bags of energy on display, the core cast are clearly having a whale of a time together, and this is again a great set of characters with which to spend time.  The only slight niggle is that it does not add much to the ideas shown in the first film, so a hinted-at trilogy-closer might need something fresh.  Nevertheless, leave your brain in the car park, strap yourself in and enjoy this silly but rollicking journey.  Note: there is a fun mid-credits scene.  

FILM: If Beale Street Could Talk (dir: Barry Jenkins, 2019)

"It's solid."

The follow-up by director/writer Barry Jenkins to the award-winning Moonlight has some similar qualities but tells a very different tale of black experience adapted from the James Baldwin novel.  Essentially a very sweet and genuine love story about a young black couple who find themselves expecting a child, the story takes darker turns by introducing elements such as (a shockingly abrupt moment of) domestic abuse and the effects of justice system on an old friend, before really challenging the couple with the man falsely accused of rape and incarcerated, seemingly through the machinations of a racist white police officer with whom the couple had a previous bad encounter.  At times there is an odd tension between melodrama and polemic and the pace makes it occasionally dreary, but Kiki Layne and Stephan James make a charming and beautifully-played couple who are completely captivating throughout, and the film is vibrantly lensed.