New to Netflix, Sam Esmail brings his adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s novel. Having had enough of the day to day of her life Amanda (Julia Roberts) decides to book a luxury home for a short getaway with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and her children. The house and the sleepy town it’s part of are perfect. But then a trip to the beach starts a series of events that change everything first an oil tanker runs aground on the beach, then Internet and TV fail. Finally two visitors arrive George (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) claiming to be the owners of the house, forced to return to their home after a blackout in the City. There’s distrust on both sides and increasing frustration and desperation as it becomes clear that this is more than just a blackout.

This is an enjoyable tense psychological thriller. Which plays on the impact of been disconnected from society, the lack of information and of conspiracy. It also smartly uses the biggest of contemporary threats that of cyber attacks to critical infrastructure. And how a breakdown in infrastructure can lead to societal breakdown.

It’s also a film about people, prejudice, trust and the balance of helping others versus protecting your nearest and dearest.

The performances are what you’d expect from a stellar cast. Julia Roberts is great as are Ali and Hawke. Alongside them is an excellent performance from Myha’la as the suspicious, snarky, daughter who goes up against Robert’s world weary mother.

It’s well written, performed and shot, all of which is used to engage you in the unease and disorientation of those on screen, keeping you on edge.

If there is a criticism, it is this it is overly long (138m) which means it does drag occasionally. The ending may also be a little divisive.

Leave the World Behind is a smart psychological thriller. It is well performed and shot, keeping you on edge and engaged throughout. Its stellar cast deliver as you’d expect. While it is a little long and drags a touch at times it is a well done look at people at their best and worst.

Paul King and Simon Farnaby, the team behind the excellent Paddington films, created an origin story for Roald Dahl’s chocolate making genius Willy Wonka. We find Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) returning from 7 years of voyaging around the world and heading for the home of the world’s finest chocolatiers to introduce his chocolates and make his fortune. When the public love his incredible sweets he finds himself in the sights of the chocolate cartel of Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose and imprisoned in the laundry of Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) and Bleacher (Tom Davis). But with the help of a young girl Noodle (Calah Lane), the other laundry prisoners and his orange Oompa Lumpa nemesis (Hugh Grant), Wonka develops a plan to end the cartel and bring his fantastic chocolate to the world.

Wonka has things to enjoy. It’s colorful, fun, has a dark Dickensian feel with snappy song and dance numbers. But, I wanted to love it much more than I did.

It’s by no means terrible, Colman and Davis are excellent as the Dickensian laundry owners as is Grant’s Oompa Lumpa. Paterson Joseph. Matt Lucas and Matthew Baynton are great as the suitably Dahlesque chocolate cartel and Keegan-Micheal Key’s police chief is equally classic Dahl. Chalamet and Calah Lane are the heart of the film and it is often at its best when they are together. There are lovely links to Gene Wilder’s 1972 classic, with nods to his future factory, his cane that stands on its own and a beautiful use of the classic Pure Imagination. All of this in a story that feels like Dahl and does not feel out of place in the world of Wonka.

All of that said, it doesn’t all quite work. It doesn’t quite engage as you’d hope and lacks the charm of the 1972 version. It also lacks the heart of the makers Paddington films.

Wonka feels like Dahl, the story, the characters and the world it exists in. The Songs are fun and performances are solid with lovely nods to the 1972 Gene Wilder film. But it didn’t engage me as much as I’d hoped and lacked a little bit of heart. Wonka is enjoyable enough, but I wish I’d liked it more.

Directed by William Oldroyd and written by Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh whose novel the film is also based on. Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young woman working on the local prison and daughter to an alcoholic father, unappreciated at work and disrespected at home. However her life changes when a new psychiatrist is appointed at the prison. Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) is Harvard trained, confident, smart and go Eileen mysterious and alluring. However, when Rebecca takes interest in the case of Lee Polk it takes Eileen and Rebecca on an unexpected journey that changes everything for Eileen.

Eileen is a dark and intriguing piece of storytelling, that while it didn’t completely work for me, it did plenty that kept me absorbed throughout, possibly helped by its 97 minutes run time.

It’s built on two strong lead performances. Anne Hathaway’s strong, confident Rebecca and especially Thomasin McKenzie in the title role, who appears vulnerable and unsure on the surface, but beneath that is a determined women who wants more. It is the alluring Rebecca who attracts Eileen and gives her the confidence to change, although not in the way Rebecca expects.

They are well supported especially by Shea Whigham as Eileen’s drunk and oppressive father and Marin Ireland, who plays Lee Polk’s mother.and delivers an incredibly powerful telling of the story of her son and husbands murder.

The story is dark in tone and it’s subject matter and while it is a touch predictable, the journey takes a few surprising turns. However, it does get a little lost in its own complexity, sometimes feeling muddled and confusing.

Eileen is a dark and intriguing story that, while not perfect, kept me interested throughout, even if it got lost in its own complexity at times. What makes it work is two excellent central performances from Anne Hathaway and particularly Thomasin McKenzie whose layered performance keeps you gripped. While not perfect it is original and interesting and worth a watch.

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+.