Writer & Director: Ari Aster

Eddington’s Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), sees his small town changing. It’s May 2020 and the start of the COVID pandemic. The world is changing and Cross doesn’t like how it’s changing, so decides to run for Mayor, up against incumbent, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). But it’s a decision that does not go down well. His wife Louise (Emma Stone), who has her own dark past, is horrified. His attempts to become Mayor soon descends into the same madness that the world around him seems to be, from COVID uncertainty, to conspiracy theories. Eventually it leads to a dark turn of events that changes the lives of everyone involved.

Eddington is definitely not going to be for everyone. It’s long, complicated, cluttered and covers territory that some people will find too political. But it did work for me.

It’s a film of ideas, set during a time that is still both fresh in our minds, but also seemingly in a strange past. It explores the way society started to separate, as those who didn’t have faith in government policy or medical advice, conflicted with those that did. The rise of conspiracy theories plays in the background, as does darker material around child abuse, racism and the highjacking of agendas by the well meaning and those looking to take advantage of them. As the film progresses Joe’s life and society around him unravels.

Performances are strong. It is very much Phoenix’s film, but Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Micheal Ward, Luke Grimes and Deirdre O’Connell all add as part of a strong ensemble.

That said, it has problems, it’s too long and becomes increasingly ill disciplined as it descends into its own madness. But problems I could forgive.

Eddington will not be for everyone. It’s overly long and  confused at time. But even for its flaws, I found it compelling and intriguing as it shone a light in some dark areas of a time that’s still fresh in the memory, as well as asking hard questions about some new norms, it created. A film of big ideas that don’t all work. But enough of them did for me.

Writer & Director: Celine Song

Lucy Mason (Dakota Johnson) is a successful matchmaker. Who makes her decisions based on statistics and not heart with height, salary, and education her measures. While not focused on making her own match, things change when she attends the wedding of one of her clients. Here she meets the groom’s brother, Harry (Pedro Pascal), not only a potential unicorn client, but someone who shows plenty of interest in her and her ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), who while they remain friends, John is still very in love with Lucy. But when there is an incident at work, it changes everything she thinks she knows about dating and herself.

I really enjoyed Materialists. While it’s a film that ultimately ends up where you expect, it takes a very smart, sometimes uncomfortable and often unexpected route to get there.

While publicised as a romcom, Celine Song has made it much more. It raises questions about how we value and measure ourselves and others in today’s society and whether relationships are nothing more than a transaction. But it also asks some much darker questions about society and especially the dangers too many women face and how society protects and accepts certain behaviour.

It’s a film that moves seamlessly between tones, from what seems a predictable romcom into something smarter and more probing as it examines the lengths some will go to to increase what their “value”. It’s never quite the film you expect.

Its main characters all put in solid performances, Evans and Pascal are always likeable presences. Although Dakota Johnson finds it tricky to bring warmth to Lucy’s calculating character. There is an excellent supporting performance from Zoë Winters as Sophie, who is at the heart of Lucy’s life changing events.

While Materialists is a film that ends up where you imagine it always will, its route there is smart, often surprising and occasionally dark. It switches between tone seamlessly and asks probing questions about dating, objectification and what society deems acceptable. A smart look at how we value ourselves and others.

Director: Akiva Schaffer

It’s been 30 years but Police Squad is back, with the son of Frank Drebin, Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) now in the fold. When Drebin foils a bank robbery, and is asked to investigate a deadly car crash it leads him to the sister of the crash victim, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), and a link between the robbery and the crash. This sets Drebin and his partner Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) on an investigation of the link. This takes them into the world of Richard Cane (Danny Huston) and his shady group of associates and a plot to, of course, take over the world!

I’m a fan of spoof films. The original Naked Guns and later iterations such as Scary Movie and Austin Powers. All examples of a knowing, silliness that works for me. So I came into The Naked Gun reboot with a level of optimism, which was, to a degree, if not totally, misplaced.

There were certainly things that appealed, nice nods back to the original, silly word play “take a seat, no thank you I have plenty at home” and an array of sight gags.

But for all of that, it didn’t quite work. It raised a few chuckles, rather than laughs and even at under 90 minutes it also felt like it dragged. And while it was entertaining to see Neeson bring Drebin to the screen. It just never feels like a natural fit.

What does work is the show stealing performance from Pamela Anderson, who is perfect as the sister wanting to solve her brother’s death. She’s funny, with perfect timing and her chemistry with Neeson is the highlight of the film.

But that aside, I did leave this thinking more about just how good Leslie Nielsen was.

The sight gags, one liners, word play and silliness are all there. As is a show stealing performance from Pamela Anderson. But as a fan of spoof films, this Naked Gun reboot just didn’t quite do it for me. It’s sporadically humourous rather than funny and even at sub 90 minutes, it felt like it was stretching its welcome. Perhaps the big issue was Liam Neeson who never feels like the right fit and left me thinking just how good Leslie Nielsen was in these films.

Director: Matt Shakman

It’s four years since Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal ), Jonny and Susan Storm (Joseph Quinn & Vanessa Kirby ) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) returned from space, forever changed. Now as The Fantastic Four, they are the protectors of the earth and heroes. But two things change that, a pregnancy, and a visitor to Earth, in the shape of The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). She is a messenger for Galactus (Ralph Ineson) who informs the four and the rest of the world, that Earth has been selected for death. The Four must protect the earth from Galactus, as well as the new life about to join the world.

This is a film with two jobs, one to be the latest installment in the new wave of Marvel films and the latest attempt to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen. Overall, it delivered pretty well on both. While it wasn’t perfect and at times felt a little baggy, it did much more right than wrong and delivered a fun and entertaining superhero romp.

What was crucial for the film was to get its four main characters right and that they did. In Pascal, Quinn, Moss-Bachrach and Vanessa Kirby they found a group that gelled and bounced off each other well. The film crucially did enough in its opening 10 minutes to establish this new Fantastic Four and give us enough back story to care about. The script, in the main, zipped along nicely although it slowed a touch too much on occasion and it got its balance between peril and Marvel style humour pretty much spot on. Its use of its TV cartoon incarnation, especially to tease The Thing about his catch phrase, was particularly fun.

It also looked great, its commitment to a 1960’s style view of the future was a visual treat.

While not perfect this new Fantastic Four was a lot of fun. It zipped along pretty well, looked great and had a script that balanced humour and peril. Importantly the casting worked a treat with a group who were engaging and played off each other well. It had two jobs, reboot the Fantastic Four and help build a new Marvel story and did a pretty good job of both.

Director: James Gunn

We find Superman (David Corenswet), battered and bruised having lost a battle at the hands of the Hammer of Boravia, a country that Superman had put himself in the way of invading its neighbour. The Hammer seems to be in collusion with long time Superman enemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Luthor’s aim to discredit Superman and get him out of  his way. Superman’s own beliefs are turned upside down, first by “girlfriend” Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), who questions his involvement with Borovia. But finally when he finds a message from his Krypton father and mother, may not be what it seems, it leaves him unsure of who he is and at the mercy of Luthor’s plot.

I was looking forward to this new Superman but was unfortunately very disappointed by it.

There are pluses. You can see how Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan can grow into a strong Clark and Lois. Nicholas Hoult has lots of fun playing Lex Luthor. And enjoyable performances from Nathan Fillion and especially Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific.

But it was only moments that worked. Its problem is its story, a random mess of ideas and characters, none of which seem to have any kind of depth to them. From the start, you feel dropped into the middle of a story and that feeling never goes away. This leaves you been asked to invest in characters who are meant to be important, but you don’t know why, the story and relationships are never established. The problem with that is that when it comes to it, there is no real investment in anyo me and to be honest I found myself rather bored by it. 

This latest incarnation of Superman was a real disappointment. It has its moments and Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan have potential as Clark and Lois. But moments are not enough. The rest of it feels a mess, a story that you feel dropped into the middle of and characters with no depth or background which never earn your investment. All this left me with a story or characters I cared forwhich means you don’t care for or about. Leaving me bored long before the end. I wish I’d liked this. I just didn’t.

Director: Gareth Edwards

Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) is a pharmaceutical executive whose company are on the verge of a wonder drug that will save lives and make them a fortune. Two snags, they need dinosaur DNA and now all dinosaurs only inhabit an area near the equator where humans are prohibited to visit. To get what he needs, he approaches former special ops Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to lead a team and accompany Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to the forbidden area and Jurassic Park’s former research facility, abandoned to its inhabitants after a disaster. Zara, Loomis, and Krebs, supported by Duncan Kincaid’s (Mahershala Ali) extraction team, head off on a life threatening mission to a forbidden world ruled by dinosaurs.

If the plot sounds familiar, it is,  it’s all the Jurassic Park films you’ve seen and I really enjoyed it. It’s fast moving, tense, funny and occasionally dark. 

It has an 80s adventure feel. There’s a quest and set pieces to overcome along the way. Its most memorable been the first, a Jaws-inspired battle which also introduces our family of “civilians”: the Delgado family, who now find themselves fighting for survival. Their introduction sets up two separate adventures: Zora’s team attempts to gather DNA, and the Delgados’ struggle to survive. Both groups trying to reach the island’s research facility and rescue point. All while facing plenty of natural and dino-related obstacles.

The cast is fun, Johansson and Bennet delivering the moral compass, Mahershala Ali the gravitas. David Iacono, as Teresa Delgado’s boyfriend, brings the laughs. The effects overall are solid, although a little unconvincing occasionally. And the story hurtles along at a good rate.

Jurassic World Rebirth has a classic 80s feel and ticks many Jurassic Park boxes. Shady money, morally questionable science, and dinosaurs chasing humans through forests, buildings, and the sea. It’s not new and feels like all Jurassic Parks. But with an entertaining cast, it’s a fun enjoyable adventure, that zips along with plenty of thrills and spills.

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is an aging racer, who races for pleasure rather than money. When he runs into his old friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who is the owner of a struggling F1 team, he offers him the chance of a formula 1 seat. His aim, is to have Sonny help save the team and also help the team’s exciting talent Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) to fulfil his driving potential. Can Sonny bring his skill and experience to the team to galvanise it and give it a future?

For anyone who’s seen the trailer, or any underdog sports movie, will not be surprised by anything that F1 puts on screen in its 155 minute run time. It’s ridiculous, with a storyline that is a complete nonsense, with set pieces, that even with a basic knowledge of F1, leaves you shaking your head at the pure ridiculousness of it all. But, and here’s the big but, it’s a proper fun blast of a film, full of heart pumping, excellently filmed race car action.

In Pitt and Idris there is a likable pairing who bounce off each other well. Kerry Condon’s race engineer is fun. Javier Bardem, Kim Bodnia, Samson Kayo and Sarah Niles all also add good support.

There are no surprises in the story as it hits every beat. The “never been” who has one last shot. The team of losers on their last chance. The cocky youngster. They are all there and they all take exactly the journey you’d expect. If you guessed after 5 minutes how the next 150 minutes played out you’d nail it. Training montages and all!

While the story offers nothing new. The recreation of racing is impressive it feels truly authentic placing you right in the heart of cars travelling at nearly 200 mph, bumper to bumper. And it keeps you completely hooked.

F1 The Movie is nonsense, with a ridiculous plot, a storyline that stretches credibility beyond breaking point and is over 2 1/2 hours long. But it’s also a tonne of fun, with two likeable central characters and heart pumping recreation of F1 racing, that will keep you glued to the screen. not sure what F1 purists will think. But the rest of us will have a blast.

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Alex Garland

28 years after the Rage virus ripped through Britain, the country remains quarantined. The non-infected live in settlements, defending themselves from the infected. In one such settlement it’s time for 12 year old Spike (Alfie Williams) to set out, with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who also takes care of his sick wife Isla (Jodie Comer), to the mainland and witness the infected. Although the trip doesn’t go to plan, on their return, Spike finds some hope that someone on the mainland can help his sick mother. This sets Spike and Isla on a dangerous journey. A journey that will have them face danger, life and death.

28 Years Later, is a brilliant mix of tense thriller, horror and classic British folk horror, which  doesn’t miss a chance to poke at the modern world, be it Britain, with a population full of rage separated from its continental neighbours, to modern day beauty decisions.

While you get much of what you’d expect, with tense run-ins with the infected, including bigger and stronger alpha’s. But the heart of the film is the relationship between a mother and son. A young son, pushed into “manhood” and responsibility, who is prepared to risk everything to find help for his mother. And it is its heart that stops it from being just another “zombie” apocalypse film.

The performances are great, Alfie Williams is impressive as the young lead, Jodie Comer is on top form and Ralph Fiennes’s Doctor brings a thoughtful take on the world they now inhabit.

The film also introduces an interesting juxtaposition, when Spike meets Eric (Edvin Ryding) a NATO soldier stranded in Britain, who introduces Spike to the World outside of quarantine.

28 Years Later is a fantastic mix of thriller, British folk horror and touching story of a son and mother. It comes with plenty of tense battles for survival, blood and gore, but the mother and son relationship gives it its heart and it’s that which keeps you hooked and hopeful. Its also full of the quirks and humour that made its predecessor such a cult classic. Roll on its sequels.

Director: James Griffiths

Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), once half of the folk music duo McGwyer Mortimer, is now a solo artist invited to Wallis Island by Charles Heath (Tim Key) to perform an intimate gig. What he isn’t aware of, is that super fan, Heath, has also invited McGywer’s former partner Nell (Carey Mulligan) to an impromptu reforming of the duo. Nell’s arrival is a shock and soon the trip becomes about trying to come to terms with the past, loss and moving on, not only for Nell and Hugh, but also for Charles who has his own reasons for wanting to see McGywer Mortimer perform one more time.

This is a big warm hug of a film. A study in loss, love and coming to terms with a future that was different from the one you’d imagined. It’s delivered in the most bitter sweet of comedies, full of laughs, that often quickly pivots into a thoughtful and melancholic moment.

What makes work, is its four perfectly judged performances. Basden as the self centered, self important “artist”. Carey Mulligan’s Nell, perhaps the most adjusted and lingers in the past less than the others. Sian Clifford as local shop owner, Amanda, who brings a charm in her relationship with Charles. But it is Tim Key who steals the show. He is the heart and warmth of the film. While Charles spends much of the time talking and talking, with a nervousness and silliness that you’d expect from a super fan with his heroes. But all of it is a cover for a hurt and sadness, and he hopes that memories from the past can make him come to terms with his sadness.

It’s a story that draws you in with its warmth, heart and humour. It balances its humour with a deepness of people dealing with loss and a want for what once was, while perhaps missing what could be.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is a bittersweet comedy. It’s a story about love, loss and a longing for what could have been. It’s well written and brilliantly performed by its ensemble cast. With Tim Key’s Charles the beating heart of the film. It’s full of warmth and heart and while there is sadness at its core, this is a big warm hug of a film

Director: Len Wiseman

Ballerina is the first cinematic extension of the “World of John Wick”. It centres around Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) who, after a childhood trauma finds herself under the tutelage of the Ruska Roma and its director (Angelica Huston). Eve is training to be a Kikimora an angel of protection or revenge, depending on which side you are on. When an opportunity comes to avenge her childhood trauma, she takes it even though it is going to put her in conflict against, both a group who live by different rules to the Ruska Roma, and against the Roma’s themselves.

Extending the John Wick cannon has potential, a dark underworld, full of myth and legend. But Ballerina doesn’t really take advantage of any of that and instead serves up a rather average, predictable and occasionally dull revenge action flick.

It’s the story that really lets it down. It’s predictable and can’t help itself by signposting any potentially interesting twists nice and clearly. It also takes itself too seriously, what makes the Wick films work is their light touch, a sense of fun between the violence. This is much more stoney faced in its approach and feels heavy going. It also has a tendency to overdo its set pieces with many of them feeling too long, as it rolls from one gruelling fight-fest to another with little story or lightening of the tone.

On the plus side Ana de Armas is solid in the central role and delivers on the action front. We also see the late Lance Reddick, one last time. And the action sequences are the quality you’d expect from the World of Wick, with some, although not enough, creative ways of killing the bad guys.

Ballerina is a disappointing extension of the John Wick cannon. While Ana de Armas is solid enough, the film ignores all that is good about the Wick world. The plot is dull and predictable, signposting twists as clear as day. Action sequences are over cooked and the film lacks pace. It’s biggest fault is it’s oh so serious, and that lack of a lighter tone can make it feel a real slog. This may not stay long on The Continental’s movie channel!