Showing on Sky Movies (UK) and available to rent.

Written by Jill Culton, Abominable was 2019’s big animation for DreamWorks. A young girl, Yi, finds a Yeti on the roof of her apartment building who has escaped capture and is on the run. She discovers he was taken from Mount Everest and promises to help him home with the uninvited help of her two friends. On route they discover that Everest, the name they give him, has mystic powers that help him to interact with nature which comes in handy as they try to evade their pursuers.

As you’d expect from a studio like DreamWorks, it is beautifully animated and the attention to detail and the world they inhabit immerses you fully. It also has a real warmth and charm to it, with a story of discovery, family and coping with loss threaded through it.

However when it comes to animation, my high watermark is still Pixar, they, at their best, use animation to tell stories that emotionally engage and pull you in like no other. Abominable is not at that level, its story is a relatively well trodden one, an A to B adventure tale with some peril, but that said it is certainly at the better end of the animation quality scale.

While it is unlikely to go down as a classic, with a likeable voice cast, beautiful animation and some warmth and heart to it. It’s certainly enjoyable and a nice way to spend just over 90 minutes of your life.

Available to stream and currently on Amazon Prime Video.

Written by Gregory and Sara Bernstein and directed by Gavin Hood, Official Secrets is based on the true story of Katherine Gun an employee of Britain’s intelligence and security agency who in 2003 leaked an inflammatory email from the US’s National Security Agency (NSA). The email made a request for information to be gathered that could be used to coerce members of the UN security council to support the US’s request for a resolution to invade Iraq.

The leaked email was published by The Observer newspaper and during the investigation into the leak, Gun admitted that she had leaked it, which lead to her being charged under the official secrets act. The film focusses on the period of just over 12 months from finding the NSA email to her court case.

Full disclosure, I’m a fan of any well done drama that focusses on the behind the scenes, underhand tactics of the machinery of government and the story of Gun certainly has that and Hood’s film tells it well.

Kiera Knightley plays Gun and gives a solid performance capturing the pressure that Gun must have felt as well as the bravery of knowingly putting herself and career at risk for something she believed was right.

This is Knightley’s film as the story focuses almost solely on her act and its impact and only touches on the impact to the British and US governments and some of the legal arguments that were core in the decision to invade Iraq. Knightly is supported well enough by Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes and Adam Bakri as her husband, but Knightley does the vast majority of the heavy lifting.

The film moves on at a good pace and doesn’t get bogged down in exposition or behind closed doors legal debate. It is much more a personal story of dealing with the cost of making a decision based on your beliefs regardless of the personal cost.

This is a story told from Gun’s perspective and I’m sure there is a counter argument to the position it takes, but for what the film wants to say it does a good job of telling a complex and intriguing story and one I found engaging from start to finish.

Showing at the cinema!

Written by Simon Rich, based on his own short story and directed by Brandon Trost, An American Pickle is Seth Rogen’s latest comedy vehicle and importantly my first trip back to the real world of cinema for 5 months.

Rogen plays Herschel Greenbaum a ditch digger in his native country who then emigrates to an early 20th century United States where, after a pickling incident, he finds himself in 21st century Brooklyn. With all he knows lost, he discovers his only living relative, Ben (also played by Rogen) who tries to guide him through this very different world.

It is far from perfect with an unoriginal premise which follows the classic “fish out of water” storyline. The storyline itself is chaotic and a bit of a structural mess, with plot holes a plenty. But what it does have going for it is something that isn’t often associated with Rogen’s films and that is a certain charm.

In Herschel particularly, Rogen presents a character whose quiet confidence in his own ability and desire to succeed make him strangely endearing. There is also an interesting exploration of loss, with both of Rogen’s character dealing with loss of loved ones and having seemingly different ways to remember and honour them.

An American Pickle is a bit of quirky piece of work, the storyline is a nonsense, although it recognises its own stupidity early on, there is some very obvious social commentary with hipsters, social media and over analysis of inflammatory speech all getting a mention. But overall its charm and warmth and quirky take on the story won me over.

It’s not going to be a classic, but was an enjoyable return to cinema action.

On Netflix.

The second of a couple of enjoyable films from last weekend is Faraday Okoro’s Nigerian Prince. Starring Antonio J Bell and Chimaza Uche it follows Eze (Bell) who, after some local trouble, finds himself sent to his parents home land, Nigeria, to learn about who he is and where he’s from. He finds himself staying with his Auntie but soon realises Nigeria isn’t for him. He then meets his cousin Pius who is a full time scam artist, including playing his own part in the infamous Nigerian email wealth scams that lend the film its name and in Pius, Eze sees his ticket home.

The film was not what I’d expected, based on the idea of the Nigerian Prince email scam I was expecting something a little light and humorous, but actually what we get is an often dark look at the criminality behind such scams, organised criminals, abuse from public office and people in all kinds of roles prepared to take money to turn a blind eye.

Not sure how this has gone down in Nigeria, as it doesn’t reflect well on their society or way of life, but as an outsider it gives a disturbing glance at an economy that is still built on just as much bribery as legitimate business.

The performances especially from the two male leads Bell and Uche are solid and even if the film feels a little ill disciplined, with numerous shifts in story focus it still made for and intriguing and enjoyable watch.

Showing on Amazon Prime Video.

Directed by Alma Har’el, Honey Boy is written by and stars Shia LaBeouf and looks at the life of a young actor, Otis, and how his background and experiences have landed him in rehab for the fourth time.

LaBeouf wrote this while in rehab in 2017 and started filming it two weeks after he finished his treatment, so what we get is a very personal reflection on LaBeouf’s own life and struggles.

It’s a hard look at generational abuse and addiction told from two points of view, the majority is spent living the experiences of 12 year old Otis, played by Noah Jupe, living in a cheap motel with his father and then his 22 year old self, Lucas Hedges, in rehab, fighting the system, struggling to understand the value of the treatment and how it’s supposed to help him process his experiences.

This is not a fun watch, but that does not stop it been a worthwhile one. Anchored on 3 strong performances, especially LaBeouf and Jupe, it is a tough look at the challenges of childhood and parenting when the only experience is abusive and addictive behaviour.

What’s smart with Honey Boy, is its subtlety. The abuse and addiction is always subtle, on the surface it often looks like everyone is doing their best. His father aware of his demons is trying to support his son the best he can but as Otis looks back you realise how damaging his relationships have been and how hard it is to break the cycle.

This is a very personal story for LaBeouf but is a really well told one, with three excellent central performances that gain your sympathy and frustration, LaBeouf in particular, in equal measure.

A difficult and touching film but well worth checking out.

Available on several streaming services.

Directed by E.E. Hegarty and starring Ella Hunt, Kat and the Band is the story of 17 year old Kat Malone, a schoolgirl with dreams of being a manager of a band and when she sees potential in struggling act Dollar Days she decides to take them on by pretending she is already an established manager and she has a plan to make them stars.

It’s certainly not the most original conceit (very similar to the recent How to build a girl) and is a very odd film to judge.

Let’s start with the negatives, there is a lot of this film that just isn’t very good, the story is unsurprising, the script very clunky and some of the performances horribly wooden although they are limited by that clunky uninspiring dialogue and there is very little depth to the character’s, from the odd bumblings of her wise gran, to the strange strained but never explored relationship between Kat and her best friend Jane.

But that said it would be wrong to claim this is a complete write off. There is an offbeat home spun charm to it and in Ella Hunt’s Kat we at least have a character to cheer on and hope to see her come good. Around her this is a couple of other enjoyable performances Idris Debrand and Sevan Stephan particularly bring some warmth and humour.

All that said, it’s certainly not a great film or to be fair even that good, but there is something there and if you are prepared to forgive its many failings then there is some pleasure to be had, but if you’re not, then there isn’t!

On Sky Cinema in the UK and available to stream on other services.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Angels and fondly remember the 70’s TV show and enjoyed Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu’s big screen antics as they captured much of the light hearted charm and fun of the original.

Roll on nearly 20 years and Elizabeth Banks picks up the franchise, there’s a lot to work with with the Angels idea, find three actors that can bring a light hearted chemistry to the screen, give them some action set pieces, a script with a bit of wit and charm and allow it to happen at a pace that keeps the story and the action zipping along.

Sounds easy and some films get the mix right and some are sadly like this and get it wrong on all levels. Set in the present, the Townsend agency has expanded to offer services around the globe the original Bosley, Patrick Stewart, now a rank rather than a person, is retiring. Elizabeth Banks picks up the senior Bosley mantle. A new Angels team is put together with Kristen Stewart’s Sabina and Ella Balinska’s Jane too help out and protect Naomi Scott who plays Elena a scientist working on an energy technology that she knows has a bug that can allow it to be weaponized. The story plays out Bondesque style moving around the world from one set piece to another before the final stand off and in this case, predictable ending.

With film’s like this the plot isn’t that important, a fun script, engaging leads, entertaining action and you’re on your way, sadly this lacks all of that. It’s slow and plodding, set pieces that are few and far between are pretty perfunctory and underwhelming and most disappointingly the main characters don’t work, even the normally reliable Bank’s can do nothing with this. The script doesn’t help but the performances aren’t great, Ella Balinska looks out of her comfort zone in this kind of film and Kristen Stewart never delivers the sassy rebel that she is cast to bring. The only high point is Scott, who is more believable as the bright girl, who finds herself cast into a crazy world of spies and intrigue, she manages to be engaging and funny throughout.

While this is a very dissapointing film I do think there is room for a good Charlie’s Angels and Banks no doubt would like to develop a franchise. But for me the whole thing needs a rethink, because not sure anyone needs to see a sequel to this version.

Showing on Netflix.

Directed by Cindy Chupack, Otherhood follows three mothers Angela Basset, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman who are coming to terms with their boys growing up and drifting away from needing their mothers advice and help, casting them into “otherhood”. However, as another mothers day rolls around without the requisite attention the three decide they’re heading to Manhattan to go and interfere in their sons lives.

Let’s be honest upfront this is very nuts and bolts comedic fare with little originality and a very predictable story arc. But it’s fine it’s inoffensive and humorous enough in places, our three central characters are engaging and the sons stories are all different enough to offer a bit of variety and at around 100 minutes it doesn’t particularly out stay its welcome.

One review I saw said “should I go to the cinema to see this? No, but that’s fine as it’s on Netflix and is perfectly Netflixable” and they were absolutely right, night in, sweets at hand and don’t want anything to challenging, then this is perfectly serviceable, no more, no less.

Showing on Sky Cinema UK and various digital platforms

Another bit of “missed at the cinema” catching up with Gene Stupnitski’s 2019 film Good Boys.

Three “uncool” 6th graders Jacob Tremblay’s Max, Keith L. Williams’s Lucas and Brady Noon as Thor find themselves invited to a cool “kissing party” which will give Max the chance to kiss the “love of his life” Brixlee. However, when the boys run into two older girls and have an incident with a drone their plans are turned upside down and they end up on a journey to the local mall to put things right.

What we get is a relatively standard story of “tween” discovery, girls, kissing, sex, drugs and the reality that your best friends from your early school days are not necessarily friends for life.

What Good Boys does though is play with that familiar story by taking our 6th graders and rather than creating an age appropriate Goonies style story of discovery and friendship we get those films meeting Superbad and “sex toys” bringing us foul mouthed tweens, a whole new set of uses for adult entertainment devices and tucked away in their occasionally is a little bit of the sweetness of a group of boys growing up and coming to terms with their changing lives.

The films not highly original beyond swearing youngster’s, but it is fun, at 89 minutes it rattles along at a pace and there is a high gags per hour quotient, not all funny, but more hit than miss and the three boys relationship does endure throughout and gives the film some heart and a nice time for reflection for us older kids watching on the things that seemed so important when we were 12.

I can imagine kids swearing and humorous misuse of sex toys may lose its appeal for some, but it made me laugh pretty consistently and remained the right side of fun throughout.

Showing on Amazon Prime Video.

Based on Caitlin Moran’s book, How to Build a Girl is set in 1993 Wolverhampton and follows the life of 16 yr. old schoolgirl Johanna Morrigan, a talented and passionate writer which leads to her making a less than glorious appearance on a TV poetry competition. Living in a music obsessed family with a music fanzine editor brother and frustrated drummer dad, Johanna finds herself in the world of music criticism when she earns herself a job as a columnist for a national music paper, leading her into a very grown up world via her alter ego Dolly Wilde and eventually a personality change that makes her infamous.

How to Build a Girl takes a lot from work like Adrian Mole, Bridget Jones, Almost Famous and comes with a heavy dose of dark comedy.

There are issues with it and it takes some suspension of disbelief to get onboard, from ropey accents to a bit of a lack of attention to period details and I personally feel there are issues with the “antics” and situations we place our 16 yr. old central character in.

But the story of discovery and growing up in a hard up 90’s family did draw me in and that’s in no small part to its cast, Beanie Feldstein (hugely unconvincing accent aside) is a joy in the central role, taking Johanna from innocent and naive though to her darkest moments and back again seamlessly, Paddy Considine is fun as her still dreaming dad and Laurie Kynaston as her brother standout but performances are good throughout.

As I mentioned earlier this borrows heavily from some well known work and it shows in a pretty predictable story, but there is plenty to like, especially in the performances and if your looking for a decent story of growing up then this may be what you’re after.