Director Ridley Scott and writer David Scarpa bring to the screen the story of French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. The story follows, roughly, the last 30 years of Napoleon’s (Joaquin Phoenix) life, from ambitious General and his victory over the English at Toulon, through his political rise in post revolutionary France. It looks at his diplomatic struggles with the Royal Houses of Europe and the campaigns that were his undoing, his failure in Russia and his ill fated battle with The Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett) at Waterloo. Constant throughout this is his love for Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) and their often complicated and volatile relationship.

There are two ways to tell these kind of stories, focus on small parts of a life or try to cover a large portion of it. Scott goes for the latter and ultimately that’s were the film falls a little flat. In trying to cover his battles, his political machinations and loves, it doesn’t really tell any of those stories well enough. Skimming over them and, for me, making it a little unengaging.

There are things to enjoy, especially in Phoenix’s and Vanessa Kirby’s performances. Both are excellent. Phoenix portrays Napoleon’s complexities, strategies, eccentricity, arrogance and insecurity. Kirby balances him well with a feisty and determined Josephine. It also looks great, with its impressive buildings and vistas and visceral battle scenes.

But there is also confusion as the story jumps through major parts of his life and often tonally it’s not clear whether it’s painting Napoleon as a complex leader or foolish clown, although this does lead to the film being surprisingly funny at times.

Ultimately it was all a bit underwhelming as it plodded through its 2 1/2hr plus run time.

While it looks great and has two excellent central performances, it left me feeling underwhelmed. It tries to cover a lot and subsequently doesn’t really cover anything in enough detail to draw you in. Napoleon is a fascinating character, but this film doesn’t fully capture that, which is a pity.

Emerald Fennell writes and directs the darkly satirical, Saltburn. Oliver (Barry Keoghan) is an Oxford university student, he feels and finds himself out of place. However that changes when he has a chance encounter with the wealthy and popular Felix (Jacob Elordi), suddenly he’s in with the popular crowd. At the end of term Felix invites him to summer at his family home, Saltburn. It’s a sprawling country estate, where his eccentric upper class family live a life divorced from reality with realtionships that are cold and fractured. But as Ollie and Felix realtionship change, so life at Saltburn takes a dark turn and life will never be the same again.

Emerald Fennel has already shown she is a filmmaker who will take a chance and does so here with this tale that is crazy, dark and twisted in all of the best ways. It is beautifully layered, leaving you never sure where it is going. It looks at class, Felix’s parents played brilliantly by Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike, full of “stiff upper lip”, repressed emotions and tradition and a family full of entitlement. Then there’s Oliver’s naked ambition to be part of a world he finds himself outside of. All this mixed in with a dark thriller and even darker comedy.

The performances are excellent, Keoghan at the heart of it, from nervous nobody to powerful and inbcontrol and all that’s in between. Elordi as the complex Felix, and of course Grant and Rosamund Pike excel alongside him.

It’s wonderfully shot with Fennell showing yet again she knows to to make a film. It’s 4:3 ratio used to show the grandeur of its world but also the perfect way to pull in close when it’s demanded. And there is a final scene that uses “Murder on the dance floor” in a way you will long remember.

Saltburn is bonkers and gloriously dark and twisted. It is also fabulously enthralling, full of excellent performances with Barry Keoghan wonderful in the lead role. It looks great and is full of big ideas and risks in its story telling. Fennell again shows she is not afraid to gamble and here it pays off brilliantly.

Written and directed by Nia DaCosta is the latest Marvel outing in the form of The Marvels. When Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) discovers a strange energy surge, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) contacts Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) who spends most of her time, except for her “cat” Goose for company, alone, to investigate. When she discovers the potential source of the problem she suddenly finds herself transported into the bedroom of Jersey’s latest superhero Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) aka Ms. Marvel. Our three heroines realise that they are now inextricably linked with the ability to swap positions with each other. As they look to discover what’s causing this it brings them into battle with Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) and of course a race to save the universe.

I had a good time with this at that was entirely down to the camaraderie between the three central characters delivering an enjoyable, light hearted buddy comedy. There’s a super chemistry between them but star of the show is Iman Vellani, portraying with a real joy the kid who finds herself a superhero. It’s a performance full of heart and her fan girl reaction to meeting Captain Marvel is wonderfully done.

The script when the three of them are together zings along and while this is where it’s at its strongest, it does have other highlights. Kamala’s family are a refreshing joy with Mohan Kapur, Zenobia Shroff and Saagar Shaikh all bringing a lovely light touch. I never stopped enjoying Goose’s eating habits! And the trip to the water planet was worth admission alone!

What fairs less well is the story itself which is paper thin. But with its short run time it manages to not outstay its welcome.

The Marvels is a light hearted introduction to an enjoyable group of characters. The story is paper thin, but that doesn’t matter as the relationship between the three main characters was great fun. If the aim of this was to set me up seeing them together again, then job done. Although other outings will need more substance.

Kitty Green directs and writes (with Oscar Redding) this film inspired by the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie. Liv (Jessica Henwick) and Hanna (Julia Garner) are two backpackers in Australia. When they run out of money they find work in a very remote mining community and its one pub, The Royal Hotel, run by Billy (Hugo Weaving) and Carol (Usula Yovich). What they find is a male dominated, isolated community whose highlight is the regular turnover of young women working at the bar. It’s an environment that, for Hanna at least, quickly turns from intimidating rowdy bar to threatening environment with unwanted attention. Isolated, scared and worried about Liv, Hanna decides enough is enough.

The Royal Hotel is an intriguing original piece of story telling. It’s a psychological thriller that leaves its main question, is the threat that Hanna feels is real or built from her own anxiety and fear, ambiguous throughout. It’s never clear the intentions of the bars patrons, from the potentially innocent Teeth (James Frecheville), the age appropriate Matty (Toby Wallace) or the menacing Dolly (Daniel Henshall). The dysfunctional bar owners don’t help! Alongside Hannah’s fear is Liv’s more accepting view. She enjoys the bar, starts to party with the locals and looks to calm Hannah, encourage her to accept the locals as harmless and enjoy the experience. This all adds to the ambiguous nature of the story.

It wastes none of its 91 minutes building the anxiety of a young woman in an isolated male dominated environment. And this uncertainty is played throughout and even in its final act, with its enjoyable turn, remains ambiguous an unanswered.

Perhaps its only failing is it’s not quite as crazy as the real story from which it takes its inspiration.

The Royal Hotel is a smart bit of storytelling. It plays cleverly with its central theme, leaving it ambiguous and unanswered. Julia Garner is excellent in her central role and takes you along for the ride. At just 91 minutes it’s a clever and tense psychological thriller.

Available on Apple TV+.

Christos Nikou writes and directs this dark “love story”. Anne (Jesse Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are a couple who live in a world where love is scientifically tested. A positive test removes uncertainty in realtionships, or at least that’s the idea. Anne, an out of work teacher, gets the opportunity to work at a Love training centre, which helps people learn to love before they test. Here Anne is paired with Amir (Riz Ahmed), who is to be her mentor as she learns the job. But the longer they work together Anne’s feelings towards him begin to change and raise questions about the accuracy of the love test.

Fingernails is 2/3rds a good film, a Black Mirror episode that builds an intriguingly dark romcom, if that’s a thing, but runs out of steam by its final act.

Set in an unspecified time in the near past, it looks at “love”, with a bizarre fingernail extraction based test, and peoples desperation to have scientific proof of their compatibility. And for most of the film it uses its premise well to tell a story that is unsettling and kept me intrigued with a feeling that something was amiss.

Jesse Buckley and Riz Ahmed’s excellent performances are key to that, both outwardly happy, but an undercurrent of something not being quite right in their own lives. They are also well supported by Allen White, as the “complacent” partner and Luke Wilson as the head of the Love institute, who adds to that feeling of unease.

But ultimately it fails to fully execute on the good work of the first two acts. That feeling of unease, that there is something going on that we can’t see, disapates and we end up with characters making decisions that made me stop caring or been interested in them. Which is a pity as the setup had been intriguing.

Fingernails is a dark romcom with two strong central performance. It builds an intriguing premise, which has you ill at ease. But it runs out of steam by the final act and delivers a weak ending. Worth a watch for the first bit, can take or leave the end.

Martin Scorsese (co-written with Eric Roth) tells the true story of the 1920’s killings of the oil rich Osage Nation People in Oklahoma. Ernest Buckhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from war to his uncle’s (Robert De Nero), William Hale, ranch to find opportunity. He starts as a driver where he meets Molly (Lily Gladstone), one of the Osage Nations wealthy. Their realtionship grows and they marry, but they marry against an increasing amount of un-investigated and unexplained deaths of the Osage. The Osage realise that their wealth has brought with it external greed, and an already wealthy class who want more and will kill to get it.

This is a long film at 3h26m. But, if a story is worth telling, and is done well it can justify a lengthy run time. Killers of the Flower Moon does that in spades and is a great bit of compelling storytelling. It engages from the start and never drags.

It’s a story that Scorsese knows how to tell. Power, corruption, greed and the willingness to do what it takes to gain and keep it. De Nero is magnificent as Hale. It’s a performance full of menace, under a thin veneer of respectably. DiCaprio matches him as his nephew, never quite as smart as he thinks, but portrays some semblance of conscience as he does his uncle’s bidding. Both revolve around Lily Gladstone’s portrayal of Molly, who offers a stoic charm in the face of what is been done to her people, and you feel every bit of her pain and desperation.

There isn’t a false step from the cast especially its native cast who always portray calm dignity. But Scorsese also shows the issues and traps the money brought.

If there is a criticism the final 30 minutes didn’t quite work fully for me including a final scene that took me a little out of the story.

Killers of the Flower Moon is an ambitious piece of storytelling. But is totally absorbing for its entire runtime. Built on three fabulous performances from De Nero, DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. It’s a dark and horrifying story brought to life brilliantly. So settle down because it’s worth every one of its 206 minutes.

Written and directed by John Carney is this good hearted comedy drama. Flora (Eve Hewson) is a single mum of her 14 year old son Max (Orén Kinlan). Both Mum and Son are a little lost, neither really sure where there life is heading. Flora occasionally resenting giving up so much at a young age. Son resenting his Mum like 14 year olds can. Flora then presents Max with a guitar and hopes it will rekindle his love of music. But it doesn’t work out as she hopes, but rather than throw it away she starts online guitar lessons with Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). A decision that opens up new relationships for Flora with Jeff, Max, and Max’s father Ian (Jack Reynor). As with all new relationships things don’t go smoothly. But thanks to music it may just work out.

Flora and Son, while predictable, is a good hearted story about relationships and hope. And although not perfect it is funny and engaging, with characters who you invest in during its relatively short 97 minutes runtime.

Where it is at its very best is when it focusses on Flora and Max’s realtionship. A wholly believable young mother, teenage son realtionship.bA son growing up and a mother who has lost her way. But it’s this story that lifts it above an average romcom.

This is less true for the romcom realtionship between Flora and Jeff her online guitar teacher. It’s a realtionship that never feels believable. The connection never really convinces and the film would have worked just as well without it.

The script zips along nicely with plenty of humour and the original songs fit in well. And it builds well to its satisfying and touching end.

Flora and Son is a predictable but enjoyable and warm hearted story. It’s at its best when it focuses on its engaging mother and son relationship, rather than the disposable romcom story. While it has its problems, overall it’s an engaging touching and very enjoyable story about realtionship and hope.

Available on Apple TV+.

Matt Johnson directs and stars in this story based on the rise and fall of Blackberry, the company that revolutionised business communication in the 1990’s. Johnson and Jay Baruchel play RIM founders Douglas Fregin, Mike Lazaridis and their enthusiastic team of engineers, who had the skills but lacked the business acumen to make RIM grow. This changed when investor Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) forced his way onboard. He brought experience, money and drive, but also a single mindedness for aggressive growth of the company, in what was a new frontier in the technology industry, with all the excesses, characters and questionable practices a frontier brings. All which leads to the companies ultimate demise.

Shot in a documentary style (like The Office) Johnson does a great job at capturing the time and the excesses of behaviour that came with tech innovation of the 90’s. Loud and bullying behaviour, huge wealth, shady business practices, all built on the backs of smart and innovative engineers, who just wanted to build “cool tech”.

The film does a great job of building a real sense of the chaos, peril and pressure of a build fast, innovate fast and make money fast culture, that the business looked to thrive in. And how they used this to challenge the status quo and build a product that became the symbol of modern businesses and a status symbol for executives.

While it looses a bit of energy towards the end, it’s overall a compelling and engaging telling of the creation of a technology that would culminate in the smartphone that changed the world.

Blackberry is a compelling and entertaining telling of a modern tech industry story and the rapid rise of an innovative company whose hubris was its undoing. It brilliantly captures the tension and chaos of the time and is anchored in three solid central performances. While it does loose a bit of energy at the end, it’s overall an entertaining modern rise and fall story.

Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz team up for their latest Sci-fi adventure. Humanity is at war with the AI it once developed and embraced. That all changed when a sentient AI turned on it and exploded a nuclear weapon on Los Angeles. The west outlawed AI, however, in New Asia it is still developed with robots and synthetics part of society as equals. When the west hears of a new AI super weapon, they step up their aggression. Key to this is Joshua (John David Washington) a former special ops soldier who had once been undercover in Asia where he married and fathered a child with Maya (Gemma Chan). He is to be part Colonel Howall’s (Alison Janney) strike force to recover the weapon. However, when Joshua discovers the weapon is a child (Madeline Yuna Voyles) it puts him in conflict with his country and opens his eyes to a different reality.

Occasionally you see a film that is relatively well received by critics and audiences alike, that makes you wonder if you’ve watched a different film. The Creator for me is one of those.

Let’s start with the positives. Shot for a relatively modest budget ($80m), the world building and effects are incredible. While CGI heavy, there is a wonderful practical feel which is absorbing. John David Washington and Allison Janney are always watchable.

But that said, what a mess of a film. It has a narrative that makes one unconnected leap after another. This leads to character relationships that make no sense. The realtionships it wants us to believe between Joshua, his wife, the child or former soldiers are unearned. Yet we’re to believe that they would make sacrifices for each other. This left me uninvested in any of the them and unengaged in the supposed emotional final act

The Creator, on a relatively small budget, looks incredible. But it’s where the positives stop. The storyline is a mess, leaping from one unconnected moment to another. This leaves characters under developed and realtionships that make no sense. Sadly as great as it looks, it was all rather dull and unengaging for me.

Ken Loach’s latest film, written by Paul Laverty, is a story of a small Northumbrian town that finds itself home to a group of refugees. TJ (Dave Turner) owns the local pub, The Old Oak, run down, struggling to survive like the community it serves. TJ also volunteers alongside Laura (Claire Rodgerson) to help house Syrian refugees in the local community. One of these is the family of Yara (Ebla Mari). She’s smart and a talented photographer and strikes up a friendship with TJ. He learns of her family, she learns of a community ravaged by the miners strike and in decline ever since. As they try to bring the community together, they face hostility but the communities slowly realise they have a lot in common.

The Old Oak shows Loach doing what he does best, shining a light on some of the hardest hit parts of society. It would have been easy to turn into a story of the uneducated, full of casual (and not so casual) racism, embittered by “foreigners” treated better than they are. But Loach is smarter than that. Instead he spends his time exploring why, why these put upon and forgotten communities react as they do. These are communities that have had industry, self respect and hope taken from them and in return find themselves as a “dumping ground” for those less fortunate. While the story can feel relentlessly grim, it is interspersed with hope, moments of sweetness and in the end it at least leaves us with a positive message.

The cast is broadly non-professional and while committed, performances are uneven, with the exception of Ebla Mari, who looks anything but a first time performer. That said the performances do add a realism to the storytelling which helps.

The Old Oak is a thoughtful and tough look at communities that have been abandoned. An often grim story, but one that ultimately delivers hope. This is the kind of story Loach brilliantly tells and while some will hate it, it should give the rest of us plenty to think about.