Written and directed by Mathew Vaughn is this prequel to Vaughn’s own Kingsman movies. Ralph Fiennes is The Earl of Oxford, who we meet in Boer War South Africa, representing the Red Cross and looking to put right the wrongs of the British army under Lord Kitchener (Charles Dance). However, it is here that Oxford and his son Conrad’s lives are changed forever. When we meet them 12 years later, Europe is on the edge of the first world war and, now grown, Conrad (Harris Dickinson) is desperate to serve his country much to his father’s displeasure. When Oxford is asked to go and chaperone Arch Duke Ferdinand, Conrad discovers his father and his faithful staff Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou) may have another way to serve King and Country. It is here they discover that a number of world events are being manipulated by influential people under the control of a shadowy leader “The Shepherd”. The task for Oxford is to find him and bring an end to the war.

Sound preposterous? You’re not wrong, it is complete nonsense from start to finish, problematic nonsense at that. It spends its time clumsily trivialising historical events to move forward a plot so ludicrous that by the end I didn’t care what happened, who it happened to or why.

Not everything fails miserably however, Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou bring some fun and likeability to the cast. Rhys Ifans probably steals the scenes he’s in as Rasputin. There is also some subtlety to the 1st World War scenes in the trenches. And the final showdown manages a little humour. But its positives were certainly outweighed by the negatives.

The King’s Man with its ridiculous and uninteresting plot really didn’t work for me. A series that never needed a prequel and this proves that right, the only positive is maybe we won’t get the sequels it threatens. A film with very few redeeming qualities, I’ve done my best to warn you.

Steven Spielberg directs the latest screen adaptation of West Side Story. Set in 1950’s New York and based on Romeo and Juliet we find our star crossed lovers Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) who live on different sides of a gang war between The Jets, a group of New Yorkers who feel displaced by the incoming Puerto Rican community and their gang The Sharks. And it’s Tony and Maria’s relationship that threatens to escalate the tensions into a full-scale violent turf war that will end in bloodshed.

Unlike many, I didn’t come to this with experience of its previous cinema outings or stage show. The story still feels very relevant with its focus on displacement, gentrification, the problems of disaffected groups and the sad futility of gang violence. But alongside this is optimism, dreams to chase and attempts to escape the past, particularly for Maria’s friend Anita (Ariana DeBose).

However, for me, there is a problem with the story, its final act, which creates a story arc for one character which left me feeling cold about them and ultimately the films emotional climax.

Reservations aside, there are plenty of positives. There is no surprise that Spielberg can put together a musical, which is wonderfully shot and moves at a rapid pace, even for its 156 minutes running time. And of course the music, even for someone not familiar with the show, Maria, America, Tonight are all classics, America is a particularly joyous performance. Alongside the music, I also enjoyed the use of dance in the way it portrayed tension, optimism and energy.

Performances are enjoyable and also retain a level of their stage show roots, that works well. Elgort, and DeBose particularly carry the stories emotional heart.

While I didn’t love it, I did enjoy it, the plot issues aside there is an interesting story at the film’s heart. It is full of classic show tunes all brought to life on screen and the use of dance to display emotion worked really well. While it didn’t completely work as a story, it did as a musical and for those who love the musical I think they’ll enjoy this.

New on Netflix.

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, Sandra Bullock stars in this gritty drama about the inability to forgive. Bullock plays Ruth Slater, just released from prison after serving 20 years for the murder of a policeman. Which happened while protecting herself and her young sister, whom she had raised, from eviction from the family home. Housed in a halfway house under the guidance of her parole officer Vincent (Rob Morgan), she tries to rebuild her life. This includes trying to understand what happened to her younger sister, Kate. However, her history haunts her, literally in the case of the two sons of the murdered cop, Steve (Will Pullen) and Keith (Tom Guiry), who are not ready to forget or forgive.

There was a lot for me to enjoy here, even with some rather less than subtle plot contrivances to deliver some redemption. That aside, the story paints an interesting image of the struggle for forgiveness, be it by those wronged or the perpetrators’ inability to forgive themselves.

Bullock is excellent in the lead; she is engaging and believable as she portrays the downtrodden Ruth, who has no interest in seeking forgiveness from those around her and accepts that second chances are not a right.

There is also some good support, Jon Bernthal, as Blake who tries to befriend her. Vincent D’Onofrio and Viola Davies as John and Liz, a lawyer and his wife, who purchase Slaters’ childhood home and offer her support in her darker moments.

The film does have issues, though. The plot contravence discussed earlier jars with the heart of the story, almost introducing a new film for the last 30 minutes. There are also a few too many swift character reappraisals of Ruth, which stretch credibility.

While The Unforgivable isn’t life-changing and its bleak look and feel and overly convenient moments won’t be for some. But in Sandra Bullock, there is an engaging screen presence who gets the fine balance between sympathy and comeuppance just right. Even with its flaws in Bullock’s performance, there was enough that made it work for me.

Tom Holland is back as the worlds most famous web-slinger. We pick up the story at the end of “Far From Home” where J.K. Simmons’s, J. Jonah Jameson has unmasked Spider-man. Not surprisingly, this has turned Peter’s world and that of his nearest and dearest MJ (Zendeya) Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May and Ned (Jacob Batalon), upside down. Peter wants to try and fix things, and his best chance is Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who can use his skills to make just enough of the world forget who Spider-man is. However, when things go wrong, his world is thrown into a chaos of Spider-mans own history, vendettas, enemies, and memories, not only of his world but across the “multi-verse.”

The challenge these films come up against often is the weight of their own storytelling. Add into this a “multi-verse” and “fan-service” there is every chance you sink any attempts at a coherent, entertaining experience.

Thankfully not here. Instead, we have a joy of a superhero adventure full of action, emotion and humour. The humour particularly works with a lightness and sense of fun. As many know, it leans heavily on “spideys” recent history bringing back characters from different “reboots”. While that is risky, here it is done with a deft touch.

A big part of the success is the core characters chemistry. Holland’s balance of the boy with the gifts and the weight of the world, Zendeya, who continues to shine in everything that she does and Batalon’s Ned is just right as the trusty sidekick. All of them bounce off each other brilliantly.

What also worked was its accessibility. Getting the balance between something for the casual observer and the fan is tricky. However, No Way Home seems to nail it. While there will be things I missed, those I saw were a treat. The balance between the likeable characters and the series history never felt forced or overly complex. Even its ending is clean and fitting. Setting up what’s next while neatly tying up its plot threads.

No Way Home is a triumph of a superhero adventure. Fast, slick, fun, and emotional where it needs to be. An excellent cast and good balance between modern story and Spidey history all while thankfully accessible. If you’ve never seen Spidey before, you’ll miss some of the fun, but it won’t matter; you will still have a blast. Spiderman bringing entertainment wherever a spider can.

Writer director and star Adl Ameen is Melvin a British author, now living in the US whose latest book is going to be a big hit. When his manager suggest he heads to London for Christmas to promote it he’s reticent to do it as it means he’ll have to face his family. A family who he left a couple of years earlier when his parents divorced. Not only that but he’ll have to face their boxing day party and for good measure he’ll be introducing them to his soon to be fiancé for the first time. When he arrives in England he not only has that to deal with but also his ex girlfriend, who is still very much in the picture!

Overall Boxing Day just falls on the right side of enjoyable, mainly due to a solid final act, but it’s a close run thing. It didn’t all work for me as it felt like two films fighting each other for attention.

Firstly there is an interesting look at families, the complexity of relationships, the impact of infidelity. This includes interesting subtle looks at raising a black family in Britain and a lovely father and son scene about regret and fear. In all honesty this was the film I wanted to watch.

Alongside this is a clunky, predictable Christmas rom-com that mechanically ticks all of the boxes, happy relationship, relationship under pressure from an ex etc. you get the picture. And these two stories don’t sit comfortably together.

That said, what Boxing Day has going for it is a likeable cast and likeable characters. Ameen straddles the two stories nicely and Sheyi Cole as his younger brother Josh offers a nice light touch in his tricky relationship story. Leigh-Anne Pinnock has a solid debut as Georgia but the Star of the show is King’s Lisa who despite spending parts of the film hiding her real life “baby bump”, is charming and engaging throughout, full of humour, fiesty and strong.

Boxing day is by no means perfect it’s probably not funny enough and the rom-com bits are too predictable. But there is a really interesting look at the family dynamic, a likeable cast of characters and some lovely scenes showing family at its best and worst. And it’s those things that it brings together to just about pull off the enjoyable “Christmas movie” trick.

Now showing on Netflix.

Jane Campion writes and directs an adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel. Set at the turn of the 20th century Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemmons are ranch owning brothers Phil and George Burbank. From the start we see the brothers are not close, with a relationship that is strained and distant. That is exacerbated when George meets Rose (Kirsten Dunst) a widowed restaurant owner. When they marry this drives the brothers apart, as does Phil’s animosity to Rose and her son Pete (Kodi Smit-Mcphee). When they finally all end up at the ranch, the relationships strain and change in unexpected ways.

This is a hard film to put in a box and that’s a deliberate choice by Campion as the story moves and changes, leaving you wondering just what type of story this is before it turns once more with a rather unexpected ending.

The story telling is patient and deliberate and it does take a while to draw you in, as you’re never quite sure what your watching and where it’s heading. But it is compelling as the oppressive nature of the relationships feel as suffocating for the viewer as it does for those in the story.

The story is wonderfully layered and complex as the central cast drift in and out of the film, evolving continually over the films vague timeline.

Peformances are excellent but the film centres around Benedict Cumberbatch’s Peter, an intelligent but gruff unfriendly cowboy, distant and lonely, sinister and cruel. Cumberbatch portrays all of that beautifully. Plemmons as the seemingly more cultured brother, also presents that feeling of living in Phils shadow. Dunst carries a sadness and a worry as Plemmons wife as she battles her own demons and Kodi Smit-Mcphee as Peter, smart, sensitive, dealing with the loss of his father and the difficulty of fitting in to the “man’s world” he finds himself in.

Each of the characters we see is battling with their pasts and their secrets and that makes each of them fascinating, as does the ambiguity around them. None of their secrets truly revealed, the film keeps you wondering as it roles into the final credits.

It’s a very different film and for that it should be applauded, never settling into the film you think it is and ending in a way that is unexpected. Yes it does move slowly and some may find that difficult, but for those who persist the story intrigues and pulls you in, ultimately providing a rewarding watch. The more I think back to it, the better a film I relise it is.

Ridley Scott’s second film of 2021 dramatises the true story of Maurizio Gucci, his marriage to Patrizia Reggiani and move to head of the Gucci empire. Adam Driver plays Gucci, heir to the business but it’s a role he doesn’t covet and would rather pursue a career as a lawyer. At a party he meets Reggiani (Lady Gaga), attracted to both Gucci the person and Gucci the name. She is driven and sees the opportunity for them both to takeover thr business. Against his father’s (Jeremy Irons) wishes they marry and Reggiani begins to encourage Maurizio to take his place at the company and seeks the help of his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) to encourage him and engineer his place at the top of the company. Once achieved however, things begin to unravel setting the family against each other with tragic consequences.

House of Gucci is certainly an experience, good and bad! Your enjoyment may depend on your enjoyment of the central characters, luckily they worked for me. Adam Driver is as good as ever as Gucci, fitting right into his Italian suit. Lady Gaga In her first role since A Star is Born is excellent again as the driven and fiery Reggiani. Alongside them Al Pacino feels very much at home as Aldo. While all of the main characters apply a level of “Italian” accent, restrained enough to not slip into parody. But then we have Jared Leto’s over the top Mario Bros.’esque performance as Paolo, which reduces this real life tragic character to no more than a clown.

It is Is Leto’s performance that encapsulates the films issues. Firstly the film is tonally all over the place. It flips between crime drama, love story, melodrama and comedy. And at almost 160 minutes it’s long and baggy and this is partly due to the lack of clarity in the type of film it wants to be. It tries to tell a lot of stories but never fully tells any of them.

But for its faults, its saving grace is its two central performances. Drivers measured presence is as watchable as ever and Lady Gaga, bristles and brings a fiery energy, even if it becomes a little melodramatic toward the end. But both extremely watchable and hold the film together.

The Gucci story is a fascinating one and not sure Ridley Scott’s film explores it well enough. But it is a wild ride, all over the place in reality, but enjoyable none the less mainly for its two central performances and partly for its madness. Making it always watchable and engaging.

In 1976 Sylvester Stallone brought to the screen, in my opinion, one of the cinemas greatest and most enduring characters, Rocky Balboa. 9 years later, in 1985, Rocky comes face to face with Soviet super-athlete Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky IV. Drago is a Soviet propaganda weapon designed to show the west how their expertise has created the ultimate boxer. After an exhibition bout, that sets Drago against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), goes tragically wrong, Rocky heads to the Soviet Union to face, not only a seemingly indestructible opponent but also the might of the Soviet political machine and a hostile crowd.

However, while Rocky IV was the most financially successful of the franchise, it was one of the least critically successful ones, been thin on story and very big on training sequence montage. It was certainly a film of its time, playing up to west v east suspicions with plenty of big hair and big ballads. But Stallone felt there was a different story to tell so 36 years later Stallone has revisited and reworked it to bring us his director’s cut.

To be honest, not all of it works, which is not a surprise as he is ultimately limited by Rocky IV itself with its clunky dialogue and politics. But it does succeed in making some real changes to the storytelling, especially in the first half. Fleshing out some of the central characters Apollo (Carl Weathers), Adrian (Talia Shire) who we see as much stronger and opinionated, Paulie (Burt Young) and Apollo’s coach Duke( Tony Burton), where we better understand his relationship with Apollo and Rocky. While Drago is perhaps not given the depth it was hoped for, there are subtle changes to show more humanity to his character. Perhaps, humorously, while many characters found more depth, Brigitte Nielson’s Ludmilla was pretty much sidelined.

The Russian training montage remains and the fight scenes maintain their Rocky qualities and there is an interesting change right at the end, perhaps a reflection on Today’s political landscape than that on 1985.

All of this does add up to a different telling of the story, even if not all of it works.

I’m a big fan of Rocky and he is and will remain a great film character. It was a joy to see his 80’s incarnation on the big screen again. But this cut, while interesting, is still restricted by the original story so isn’t wholly successful. But if you love a bit of Rocky then you won’t be disappointed, get down to the cinema and cheer on Phillies finest one more time.

Directed by Jason Reitman, Ghostbusters Afterlife is a sequel to the original films of 1984 & 1989, directed by his father Ivan. We pick up the story of Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) a single mum to Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and daughter of Egon, one of the original Ghostbusters. Struggling to make her rent, she finds out her father has died and left her a farm in Summerville a small US town. Deciding to pack up and leave their New York troubles behind, they head to the farm and discover it’s in less than good condition. Condition aside they find the farm, the town and the later life of Egon are not what everyone assumed. Trevor, Phoebe and local kids Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) find themselves thrust into an adventure with the fate of the world In their hands.

For me Afterlife feels like and to a great extent is, a loving warm hearted tribute to the original films. It is far from perfect, but is fun and pushes some nice, if predictable, nods to the original buttons. But while those links are there it feels that it borrows far more from something like The Goonies.

It’s at its best in the first half as it does a good job of building the tension as the kids discover the secrets of the town. It’s less successful in the second half as the story doesn’t really hold together, with plot holes so big you could easily drive Ecto-1 through the middle.

The young central cast are enjoyable, McKenna Grace and Logan Kim particularly who have a nice on screen chemistry, with wit and adventure well balanced. Around them Wolfhard and O’Connor are solid and the adult cast, while peripheral, are fine.

Where it’s not as successful is its story, in all honesty after its promising start its a little dull and plodding and makes some huge plot jumps, which stretches credibility even for Ghostbusters. The ending is very predictable and while it’s more Ghost less busters, I thought it was a nice touch.

Ghostbusters Afterlife is not perfect, but is a nice tribute to the originals. There is enjoyment to be had, especially in the performances of McKenna Grace and Logan Kim. But a promising first half is let down by a lacklustre second. It’s touted as giving “fans” what they wanted but not sure if it’s good enough to fully please.

Available on Netflix.

Directed by Lin Manuel Mirnada, with Steven Levenson’s screenplay based on Jonathan Larson’s musical, is the screen version of tick, tick..Boom!. Based on Larson’s (Andrew Garfield) attempts to write and then get on Broadway his life’s work musical, Superpbia. Mostly set In 1990 ahead of Larson’s 30th birthday we follow his life as he attempts to complete the musical, his struggles, the behaviour that isolates him from those close and its impacts. All this told through a performance of his musical tick, tick…Boom! interspersed with flashes to the scenes that inspired it.

This film is a good example of judging a story in its whole. Because for the first two acts I struggled to engage with it. Yes there’s some fine songs and musical set pieces as you’d expect from Lin Manuel Miranda. Performances are good. Andrew Garfield is really watchable as Larson, delivering a musical performance that wasn’t something I realised he had in him. Alexandra Schipp as girl friend Susan and Robin de Jesus as best friend Michael both provide strong support amongst a good cast. But it all felt a little empty.

But it’s the final act that brings this all together. Built around the undercurrent of intolerance and particularly the attitudes to AIDS that pervades throughout the story. It is these threads that bring real heart to the story and engaged me fully in Larson’s story and more importantly the relationships with those close to him and the importance of them, even if he had occasionally lost sight of them.

While at times I found tick tick..Boom! Difficult to engage with, as it felt a little predictable. The emotional core of the film shines through in its final act and brings it all together, delivering an enjoyable telling of Larson’s story. That I rather enjoyed.