Director: Remi Weekes Stars: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba Remi Weekes' film, new to Netflix, turns the apprehensions and traumas of two refugees arriving on UK soil into the stuff of empathetic nightmares. It's an odd but welcome get for the streaming service, which more often trades in the kind of louder, brighter material that can … Continue reading Review: His House
Director: Oz Rodriguez Stars: Jaden Michael, Sarah Gadon, Imani Lewis There are strong Attack the Block vibes coming off of this New York teen-horror picture new to Netflix. Set within the neighbourhood of the title, Oz Rodriguez's playful feature takes aim at opportunistic real estate firms buying up properties to wholesale gentrify urban communities. Capitalist … Continue reading Review: Vampires vs the Bronx
Director: Kirsten Johnson This year has seen a lot of people lose elderly relatives to the ongoing global pandemic and most families have been unable to say a traditional goodbye through funeral ceremonies. Reduced gatherings, social distancing... these things and more have been barriers at times, stopping us from communing when we most feel the … Continue reading Review: Dick Johnson is Dead
Director: Sarah Gavron Stars: Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson Sarah Gavron first came to my attention with her quirky, singular documentary on life in a remote Greenland hamlet, Village at the End of the World. That film prominently featured a young man often dissatisfied and at odds with his environment. Gavron's latest - a narrative … Continue reading Review: Rocks
Director: Harry Bradbeer Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Helena Bonham Carter, Susan Wokoma Few if any fictional characters have been brought to both the large and small screens as exhaustively as Sherlock Holmes. Truth be told, this ubiquity has led to a certain weariness, on my part. Being confronted with yet another iteration? Fine, okay. Here, … Continue reading Review: Enola Holmes
Director: Antonio Campos Stars: Robert Pattinson, Riley Keough, Tom Holland The Southern States and the lineage of the American Gothic continue to attract creatives. Often the stories set among the forests of the Appalachian hills cleave close to the mythos of the American outlaw and also the roiling temperament of Man, and that nub of … Continue reading Review: The Devil All The Time
Director: Maïmouna Doucouré Stars: Fathia Youssouf Abdillahi, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou Thanks to a significantly damaging and thoughtless marketing snafu, the reputation of Maïmouna Doucouré's Mignonnes (Cuties to English-speaking countries) has been contorted beyond her control. One overtly sexualised poster of it's child stars later and the film has courted the kind of blind ire so … Continue reading Review: Cuties / Mignonnes
Director: McG Stars: Bella Thorne, Emily Alyn Lind, Jenna Ortega Three years on from his apparent career-restart and McG hasn't gotten very far maturing. 2017's The Babysitter had gusto going for it, but not a lot else. Like Steve Buscemi asking how his fellow kids are, it came off as trying a little too hard, rocking … Continue reading Review: The Babysitter: Killer Queen
Director: Charlie Kaufman Stars: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis I get anxious when I have to go home to see family. It's only a 10 mile trip, thereabouts, but it takes a lot to go and I feel bad that that's the case. Seeing family makes me feel infantilised in ways that frustrate and … Continue reading Review: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski Stars: Zahia Dehar, Mina Farid, Benoît Magimel The low-stakes French film about a summer of love and sexual awakening is, at this point, a subgenre all of it's own. Comfortable, nostalgic movies that feel like mini holidays all by themselves. Beautiful countryside, beautiful beaches and beautiful people. Male directors incuding Éric Rohmer, … Continue reading Review: An Easy Girl
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood Stars: Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts What is the strange draw of seeing our favourite actors buy it violently time and again? In recent years we've been encouraged to watch with glee as Tom Cruise died over and over in Edge of Tomorrow. For Happy Death Day, newcomer Jessica Rothe went through … Continue reading Review: The Old Guard
Director: David Dobkin Stars: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens It's been a long, shitty year and we're only halfway through this mutha. But enough good news; there's a new Will Ferrell comedy movie on Netflix. That's a little too snarky for my taste these days. Ferrell's comic stylings are well-established. Indeed, he's the Old … Continue reading Review: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Director: Olivier Assayas Stars: Edgar Ramírez, Ana de Armas, Penélope Cruz Olivier Assayas - a director with an extremely high-class filmography stretching back over the last 30 years - here makes a slight wobble as he returns to matters political. Wasp Network - available on Netflix following its Berlin premiere last year - sees Assayas … Continue reading Review: Wasp Network
Director: Spike Lee Stars: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Chadwick Boseman First, a little bit of business Before I get to my thoughts on the film, here are links to reviews written by Black film critics that I've found elsewhere with a quick search. Leila Latif for Little White Lies Odie Henderson for RogerEbert.com Kambole Campbell … Continue reading Review: Da 5 Bloods
Director: Alice Wu Stars: Leah Lewis, Alexxis Lemire, Daniel Diemer Alice Wu understands the rules of both the romantic comedy and the youth movie. Combining both in The Half Of It, she has researched and employed the most enduring trope and source of dramatic tension that these genres lean on; The Lie. Ellie Chu (Leah … Continue reading Review: The Half of It
