VOD: Extraction 2 (dir: Sam Hargrave, 2023)

"Soldiers! These men are killers!"
"Yeah, so am I."

Picking up directly from the ending of the original Netflix smash, this sequel very quickly resolves the apparent death of the wonderfully-named Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), introduces the antagonists in uncompromisingly brutal fashion (murdery East European drug-lord brothers) and places a wounded Hemsworth in isolated retirement at a remote Austrian cabin...until Idris Elba turns up with a family-connected mission that brings everything together.  Cue a brief Rocky-style montage of rehabilitation training and we are up-and-running with an impressive extended prison break-out.  This film swaps the sun-baked Eastern climes for more wintry-hued mid-European tones, and it is based around three lengthy set pieces, the best of which is a nerve-shredding and extraordinarily well-staged high-rise rooftop sequence.  The strategy of using lengthy single-take-style action sequences works extremely well, with excellent fight/stunt choreography and delivery and an engaging if exhausting relentlessness.  It is interesting that the finale reduces the scale to make it a more intimate and impactful ultimate confrontation, but it is nevertheless effective.  Together with Sam Hargrave (director) and Joe Russo (writer) returning from duties on the first Extraction, Hemsworth gives his all and really sells the character and the full-on physical action in a very entertaining performance, and Tornike Gogrichiani delivers well as his dead-eyed and merciless nemesis.  Alongside the film's well-handled theme of family in different variations, essentially Extraction 2 is a very well-made pursuit/revenge action potboiler that delivers effortlessly.

VOD: A Beautiful Life (dir: Mehdi Avaz, 2023)

"It doesn't matter who you are, what's important is who you can be."

Danish singing star Christopher takes centre stage here as an ordinary working trawlerman Elliot, who gets 'discovered' when supporting a mate at a birthday party gig and tries his luck with the music industry.  Teamed up with an initially spiky young female producer, their relationship develops, he becomes an overnight internet hit, his old less-talented friend resurfaces... yes, it seems there are no real surprises in the narrative trajectory that unfolds here until two huge personal twists come into play right before the biggest break of his career so far.  With Christopher proving to be a very pleasant and likeable performer both as actor and singer, picturesque settings and a gentle laid-back vibe, A Beautiful Life is hardly earth-shattering but it is a very easy and pleasant film to watch.
 

VOD: The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (dir: Tom Gormican, 2022)

"Have you any idea how all of this sounds?  'Cause I mean, it's not...it's not good."

Nicholas Cage plays a hyper/self-aware version of himself as a deluded and washed-up actor, failing as a husband and father, who finds himself whisked off to Spain to meet with a wealthy fan/patron Javi who has written a screenplay for him, but who turns out to be hunted by the CIA as a crime boss and thus Cage gets recruited to spy on him and finds himself in a real-life action-movie scenario.  If you are a fan of Nicholas Cage's particular unwieldy and enthusiastic style you might enjoy this film, Pedro Pascal seems a little lost as Javi, but the unexpected presence of Sharon Horgan as Cage's acerbic ex-wife adds a little bite.  For the most part, however, the film frequently strains to be funny and comes across as smug rather than entertaining and laboured rather than smartly knowing, making it feel like a very long and testing film to sit through.
 

VOD: A Man Called Otto (dir: Marc Forster, 2023)

"I was, uh, parallel parking."
"Parallel to what?"

This utterly charming film stars Tom Hanks as a curmudgeonly widower who is a stickler for rules and suffering the trials of modern-day life, unwanted retirement and his neighbours, and just as he is about to end it all he is distracted by the arrival of a new energetic family, which starts off his journey to redemption.  The film is lovingly-crafted in every aspect and it conveys Otto's feelings of loss, frustration and loneliness beautifully, but there are also plenty of chuckles to be had along the way from Otto's utter disdain at everyone.  This is perfect casting for Tom Hanks who delivers terrific work, and Mariana Trevino is a delight as his upbeat and more chaotic new neighbour.  This feels like a very complete, emotional and satisfying film to watch with its perfect marriage of writing, screencraft and performance
 

VOD: Bones And All (dir: Luca Guadagnino, 2022)

"I don't kill people.  At least, I try not to."

In this unusual love story, a new-to-town high-schooler sneaking out to a slumber party might not seem the most interesting of openings, but what happens there certainly changes the tone suddenly and unexpectedly, setting in motion a road trip across America to find her birth mother, meeting like-minded souls along the way and indulging in her particular urges.  Taylor Russell gives a nicely-controlled performance as the central character Maren, and there is strong character work from Mark Rylance.  The occasional very strong violence is sudden and brutal but necessary.  The film is hypnotically languorous, reinforced by another excellent dreamlike Reznor/Ross score and soundscape.  Not a lot happens rather slowly overall, but Guadagnino's eye for light and landscapes makes the film look stylish.  With its sad but fitting end to the doomed relationship, this is a hauntingly beautiful film that lingers rather than ending with a bang.     
 

VOD: Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (dir: Guy Ritchie, 2023)

"You're here to translate."
"Actually, I'm here to interpret."

Dealing with the American military presence in Afghanistan, The Covenant charts the relationship between a U.S. officer (Jake Gyllenhall) and an Afghan interpreter (Dar Salim), working in a specialist arms/explosives unit hunting down I.E.D. factories.  The pairing of two cynical/world-weary opposites works well and is played deftly by both actors as their bond is forged under the hardest of circumstances, with Gyllenhaal's usual clarity and precision of performance being a major strength in a film that is achingly simplistic but tightly focussed, with Ritchie using location shooting very well and creating an unusually grounded and sombre feel that is very effective.  The film also manages to humanise its rather basic characters quite well, making this one of Guy Ritchie's more compelling and watchable films.
 

VOD: Creed III (dir: Michael B. Jordan, 2023)

"It's an adjustment...for both of us."

An opening flashback of two decades to a young Adonis and his older best friend Damian sets the scene for their modern-day reunion after Dame spends years in jail and comes looking for an improbable shot at the world heavyweight title.  This trilogy-closer is perhaps inevitably a more muted affair than the preceding movies as the central characters deal with their post-career/domestic phases and lives, which sit somewhat awkwardly with this very unlikely underdog/comeback story layered on top.  Slow pacing, weary soapy melodrama scenes and an unconvincing story hold back this entry, and whilst the main players - Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad and especially Michael B. Jordan - are all quality performers, this reasonable but underpowered third entry never really flies like the best moments in the first two Creed films.
 

VOD: Tin & Tina (dir: Rubin Stein, 2023)

"That's not jam..."

Opening with a grand Spanish wedding set in 1981, happiness soon turns to heartbreak for the newlyweds in this Spanish chiller.  Finding themselves unable to have children of their own, they adopt a pair of smiling blond-haired youngsters (think Children Of The Damned meets The Omen) from a nearby convent orphanage, whose rather unconventional way of communicating with God, obsession with religion and disturbingly detached bad behaviour has an increasingly unsettling effect.  Indeed, religion weighs heavily over the story, as the children believe that their increasingly extreme acts are justified by literal reading of The Bible allied with concepts of sin and the soul.  Some questionable parenting aside, this is an adequate creepy thriller with interesting off-kilter performances and that manages a couple of 'look away' moments in the second half, all building to a reasonably hysterical thunderstorm-at-night set finale.

 

VOD: The Whale (dir: Darren Aronofsky, 2022)

"Do you ever get the feeling that people are incapable of not caring?"

Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a morbidly obese online tutor, in Aronofsky's first major film since the uncompromising Mother! which proves to be just as emotionally brutal but in a very different way.  Brendan Fraser's remarkable physical on-screen transformation enables him to fully inhabit a character of gently despairing resignation with utter credibility and sensitivity as he spirals towards his impending death.  Fraser's performance is all the more impressive for him being the relentless focus of the film, trapped within his apartment. giving the intimate feel of theatre that is amplified by the use of the old-school film ratio.  Also of note are a wonderfully-judged performances from Hong Chau as Charlie's dedicated friend/nurse and Sadie Sink as his challenging teenage daughter.  The Whale is a sombre, quiet and heartbreaking film that is exquisitely written and directed and impeccably performed.
 

VOD: In The Earth (dir: Ben Wheatley, 2021)

"I wouldn't try to make any logical sense of it."

 Ben Wheatley's pandemic-created movie is a slow-burn creepy eco-thriller, starring Joel Fry as a soil scientist going deep into the woods with a local guide (Ellora Torchia) to investigate a missing colleague and linked to researching nature's 'neural network' and ancient folklore.  As they encounter a strange man (Reece Shearsmith) living in isolation, reality and metaphor blur, the situation rapidly becomes very unstable and desperate for the pair as the different narrative elements collide.  Perhaps closest to his A Field In England in style at times, Wheatley does a good job of presenting nature as a quietly creeping invasive force, but the unfolding mysteries are quite thinly drawn and the performances are adequate at best, and the link between the pandemic backdrop in the movie and the environmental aspect is awkward, yet the hallucinatory attempts to ambitiously establish communication between man and nature is constructed effectively, even if it all leaves the viewer somewhat flummoxed by the end of it all.