Available on Apple TV+.

Written and directed by Sian Heder is an adaptation of the French film La Femille Belier. CODA is about Ruby (Emilia Jones) a hearing daughter of a deaf fishing family. Her family rely on her to communicate with the hearing and fishing communities to sell fish and run the business. Ruby’s real love is singing and when she joins the school choir her teacher (Eugenio Derbez) spots her talent and encourages to try for a music scholarship. Singing brings her close to her crush Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) as well as puts a strain on a family trying desperately to save their business.

CODA, for me, is an odd mix of films. There is a classic coming of age teen drama as Ruby tries to throw off her shyness and insecurities, while trying to balance her families demands. There is also the potential of an interesting drama about a deaf family fighting for survival in a hard industry and working with the hearing community to do it. But the problem is, I didn’t feel the two meshed together particularly well. And rather than the two interesting stories making a fascinating film, actually they come together In something a little formulaic and derivative.

That is a pity, because CODA is in no way a terrible film. There is a charm to it with fun and tender moments throughout. I’m just not sure the premise of the families deafness is explored well enough to give the film a fresh story to tell. The bits where Heder allows the film to explore that is when it is at its best.

Performances are enjoyable enough, Jones, as her character does, does most of the work and does it well. The family played by Troy Kotsur (Frank), Marlee Matlin (Jackie) and Daniel Durant (Leo) make a believable family unit and it is the family story that is most interesting. Outside of that the film and its characters are pretty flimsy.

Ultimately CODA is an enjoyable coming of age film, but doesn’t make the most of an interesting premise. Instead it feels more like two potentially really interesting films mixed together into one enjoyable but rather average one. Which is a bit of a pity.

Directed by Dominc Cooke and written by Tom O’Connor, The Courier is based on the true story of Grenville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) a British business man recruited in the 1960’s by MI6 and the CIA to go to Moscow and act as a go-between for them and Soviet spy Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). Penkovsky had become increasingly concerned by the behaviour of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev which would lead to the Cuban missile crisis. Penkovsky wants to stop him and offers to share secrets and civilian business man Wynne is identified as the perfect go-between.

I’m a fan of a true life spy thriller and this put The Courier right up my street and I wasn’t disappointed. While this is a “nuts and bolts” piece of storytelling, using classic spy thriller tropes to get from beginning to end, It doesn’t matter. The story itself is fascinating enough, to keep you engaged.

The success of the film is built around two strong central performances. Cumberbatch as watchable as ever as Wynne, while Ninidze is excellent as Penkovsky, capturing the slowly building tension as both his and Wynnes position becomes increasingly risky. But it is the relationship between them that really draws you in and makes the film works. They are also well supported by the always excellent Jessie Buckley, Rachel Broshanan and Angus Wright.

The story is fascinating and one I was unaware of and that helped allowing the film to build tension and wrap you up in the fate of the characters. It is solidly made if lacking a little flair, but that’s OK. It was more important Cooke and O’Connor did the story justice and for me they succeed in that.

If you enjoy a cold war spy story then this will work for you. At its heart is the relationship between Wynne and Penkovsky, their story of bravery and friendship engages throughout. Making The Courier intriguing and very watchable.

Directed by Shawn Levy, written by Zak Penn and Matt Lieberman. Ryan Reynolds is Guy, a man loving his life, he loves his apartment, his gold fish, his morning coffee, his job at the bank and his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). His home town is odd, run by glasses wearing heroes, who laws are merely suggestion, as they run around shooting, stealing, blowing things up. But that doesn’t bother guy, what does is the lack of a love in his life, until one day he sees his dream woman, Millie (Jodie Comer) who he follows, a decision that completely changes his world and his reality.

I really enjoyed this, the plot is nuts, a strange mix between The Matrix, The Lego Movie and The Truman Show. It’s funny and surprisingly charming, there’s fun in-jokes for gamers and film fans with cameos, references and visual gags a plenty.

Its main joy comes from its lead performers armed with a fun script. Reynolds is prime Reynolds with a toned down less sweary, less violent Deadpool. Comer brings a touch of Villanelle and plenty of charm. There’s plenty of enjoyable support from Howery, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum and Joe Keery as Keys. All enjoy delivering a script that is fast moving, with plenty of humour.

The plot itself is madness and took a little time to win me over, at the halfway point I wasn’t sure it was working for me as much as it should. But by the end I’d been drawn in by the silliness, humour and surprising amounts of charm.

Free Guy is an odd film really, not original, leaning heavily on some very well known stories and takes a little time to win you over. But with Reynolds at his enjoyable best alongside Comers charm, for all of its silliness, it was real fun and lets face it who doesn’t want that, I did and throughly enjoyed it.

Starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt is the newest addition to the Disney Ride Inspired Cinematic Universe (not a thing yet!), Jungle Cruise. Set in the early 1900’s Blunt plays Lily a female adventurer looking to find the Tree of Life in South America, a mystical cure all flower to help humanity. Travelling with her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) they find themselves in the capable sailing hands of Captain Frank Wolff (Johnson) the owner of a less than sea worthy vessel and even less sea worthy jokes!. Together they head off on an adventure that encounters peril, Jesse Plemons’s Prince Joachim and supernatural baddies as they battle to finish their quest.

Jungle Cruise takes a lead from those classic 80’s adventures with an Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone feel to it. And in Johnson and Blunt you have two likeable leads, both bringing their star charisma to the film.

But even with these two and a strong cast around them, the film does fall a little flat. It lacks any real originality and while it references some of those adventure classics, it lacks their charm and wit. It also fails to live up to more contemporary examples like Johnsons recent Jumanji films.

For me Jungle Cruise is no more than a passable attempt at a family adventure film, but with such a strong cast it feels like a missed opportunity to make something much better. If you are after a Dwayne Johnson family adventure and who doesn’t like one of those? Go check out Jumanji, but if you do end up at Jungle Cruise, you’ll enjoy some of it, but may feel a little underwhelmed.

Written and directed by James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy fame we get another attempt at bringing the Suicide Squad to the screen. From the less than loved 2016 attempt, only Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn, she is joined by Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), David Dastmachlian (Polka Dot), Daniel Malchior (Ratcatcher 2) and Slyvester Stallone (voice of King Shark). The range of bad guys are offered the opportunity to cut time from their sentences by carrying out missions for their handler Amanda Waller (Viola Davies). This squad are put together on a mission to Corto Maltese, where they are to access a former Nazi facility which is now housing Project Starfish, an alien technology, under the control of The Thinker (Peter Capaldi).

You can see Gunns influence throughout this, it’s no Guardians of the Galaxy, but what it is a crazy and wild ride. Unlike many DC films this does not suffer from pacing challenges, this film is full pace from the start. It’s big, loud and brash.

Another challenge I often have with DC films is they like a sense of humour, again not something you can level at this, there are plenty of laugh out loud funny moments, with some fun interplay between all of the characters. Robbie is a joy as ever as Quinn, Idris Elba, John Cena and John Kinnaman (Rick Flag) bounce of each other as the alpha males, well supported by the more insular outsiders Malchior and Polka-Dot.

Alongside the humour is non stop action, some of it fun, although a lot of it surprisingly violent and blood splattery!

But while there is a lot of fun, laughs and endless action, it doesn’t completely work. The story, for what it is, is all over the place, there is no real narrative to keep up with and like so many of these films it runs way too long. I wasn’t overly sure of the films big end battle with the oddest looking of foes.

That said The Suicide Squad does the job it’s meant to. It doesn’t try to be smart or deep with a dark plot. It does what it should, it’s loud, brash, humorous and colourful fun. Not a classic, but decent comic book fun.

In cinemas and on Disney+.

Directed by Questlove this documentary tells the story of the Harlem Music Festival. Staged over five weekends during July 1969 in Mount Morris Park, Harlem. In a world where Woodstock was happening 100 miles away and man would walk on the moon during it, this festival was as culturally significant to those in Harlem. However, while those events have become part of cultural history, this, while filmed for television, was locked away for 50 years until finding its way into the hands of Questlove, who finally tells its story.

A bit like a musical festival itself, this fascinating documentary has some acts and stories that appealed more than others. What it always does however, is provide a gloriously colourful snapshot of black life in 1969 Harlem and the wider United States.

There are a range of intriguing insights and powerful moments, none more so than a section where the Reverand Jesse Jackson talks about culture, black pride and the death of Martin Luther King.

Of course, it’s not a music documentary without the music and there is plenty of that, it is predominantly a music film rather than a focus on talking heads. Stevie Wonder, BB King, Gladys Knight, David Ruffin, Sly and the Family Stone among the better known names, but we also see what, to me at least, is a selection of less familiar names, with different music styles and messages.

Amongst all of this are the vibrant colours and styles of Harlem that provide the backdrop.

What is incredible is that such a story was put in a box and forgotten and that in itself raises questions of how and why as the films subtitle suggests. That said, it’s a joy to see it now.

Summer of Soul is a fascinating snapshot taken at a turning point in recent history. Filled with great music, wonderful colour and interesting insight. All brought to life by this enjoyable documentary.

Written by Jordan Waller and Directed by Jules Williamson is this rather uneven comedy. Three friends (Sally Phillips, Jenny Seagrove, Kelly Preston) are brought back together by the untimely death of their friend Anna, who leaves for them a gift, four European inter-rail tickets, so they could finish the journey they never completed when they were younger. A trip to Majorca to see a once a year natural light show in Palma cathedral. Joining them as they retrace their steps is Anna’s daughter Maddie (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips).

There is nothing original in the plot, it’s a road trip movie, there’s adventures or mis-adventures, romance, drunken incidents and of course the secrets in the three friends lives that surface throughout the film. As well as the need to deal with unresolved issues in the relationships between the three of them, all loosely accompanied by the music of Blondie, think Mamma Mia with a better soundtrack.

The film is all over the place in reality, the comedy is hugely uneven, with much of it missing the mark, but that’s not to say it’s a complete failure. There plenty of parts in the film that work really well. It has a beautifully done and emotional opening with Judi Dench stealing the scenes as Anna’s bereaved mother and there is a very predictable but still touching ending.

The film does have a good heart and the relationships between the four main characters work well as they mostly balance the comedy and emotion, although not always avoiding the slip into melodrama.

The script and at times direction are very clunky as the film lurches from scene to scene, but the likeable characters keep you onside even when the story doesn’t.

It carries the added poignancy of been the last film of the late Kelly Preston, making some of those emotional moments more touching.

It would be wrong to say this is a good film, but it also isn’t a terrible one, with just enough good things in it to keep it on the rails it often tries to fall off.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

Directed by Chris McKay, written by Zach Dean is this sci-fi action adventure. Chris Pratt is Dan Forester an army veteran now a frustrated science teacher. In December 2022 the Qatar World Cup final is interrupted when a brigade of soldiers from the future materialise in the middle of the game to share with the global audience that in 2051 humanity is under attack from an alien race and on the verge of extinction. Now they need conscripts from the past to be transported to the future and help save humanity. Dan, desperate for more meaning in his life, takes his conscription call as a chance to do his part to make sure there is a world for his daughter to inherit.

Firstly, I’d be lying to say there isn’t fun to be had here, Chris Pratt is an enjoyable screen presence doing the humorous action hero that he does so well. There’s some especially great scenes with the always fantastic JK Simmons as his estranged father. Sam Richardson (Charlie) and Yvonne Strahovski (Muri) also offer good support.

It also more than delivers on the blockbuster bangy crashy action sequences and some edge of your seat stuff as the small remaining band of humanity try to survive the relentless “white spikes”.

But, when you watch sci-fi, especially with time-travel, you need to be able to suspend your disbelief. To do that it needs the plot holes to be small enough to overlook. Sadly that is not what happened here. This is partly due to its overly long 138 minutes running time. It feels like the writers found a workable end and then decided, “what if we just did this other thing” and it’s that other thing that was just too ridiculous and banging head against wall inducing to ignore.

The Tomorrow War is a big crashy bangy sci-fi blockbuster and there is enjoyment to be had for 2/3rds of it, but the nonsense plot holes in the final act are very hard to ignore and spoilt the enjoyable work that had gone before it. You may enjoy it but beware the holes.

Written and directed by Harry Macqueen is this story of love and fear of loss. Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are a loving couple travelling around England in an old camper van, visiting family and friends and looking to find ways to deal with Tusker’s worsening dementia. Tusker a writer and sanguine about his fate, Sam a pianist trying to come to terms with it and be strong. Their trip an attempt to make the best of the time they have before Tuskers health deteriorates to far.

This is not a film to make you happy, it is dealing with a difficult subject and the impact of a horrible disease that leaves a shadow of the person the sufferer once was. It is patient and thoughtful in its exploration and doesn’t look to grandstand. As Tusker says it’s the little things he finds hard and that subtlety is captured throughout.

Supernova is about Sam and Tusker, while a host of other characters turn up and play a part they are very much secondary to its stars. And that’s OK, because Firth and Tucci are two very fine performers who deliver very fine performances. They portray a loving relationship beautifully through the bickering humour and tenderness of the opening act. But that makes the second half of the film such a tough watch as we see with increasing sadness the realisation of Tuskers fate.

If it has a downside it is its predictability you always know where they are heading but you don’t overly mind as as the characters are a pleasure to spend time with which makes watching their story unfold so much harder.

Supernova is a tender caring look at love and loss, carried by two beautiful central performances. While not the most original film, you enjoy spending time with the characters, caring about them and sharing their pain. And that’s all you ever want from a film, to care, and it gets that right.

The Water Man is David Oyelowo’s directorial debut, written by Emma Needell and also starring Oyelowo.

Gunner Boone (Lonnie Chavis) is a young boy who has just moved to a new town with his father (Oyelowo) and his sick mother Mary (Rosario Dawson). Gunner is smart and creative, his relationship with his father strained, due in no small part to worries over Mary’s health. When Gunner discovers a local legend, the Water Man, a shadowy figure who lives in rhe forest and has supposedly discovered eternal life and the ability to “reanimate” the dead. Gunner thinks if he can find him and learn his secrets he can cure his mother. To help him on his adventure he engages the services of Jo (Amiah Miller) a local girl, living in a tent and claiming to know the Water Man’s location.

The film is heavily influenced by those 1980’s teenage coming of age adventures, The Goonies particularly springs to mind, as Oyelowo uses those influences to deliver an enjoyable adventure. The film uses its forest location well, its density, darkness, mysterious sounds and movements build decent tension and also presents our young adventurers with challenges to keep the audience on edge.

Performances are solid especially the two young leads Chavis and Miller who are watchable and believable. Oyelowo and Dawson support them well as you’d expect.

This is a heartfelt story about family and the hope and belief that you can always be with those you love. But doesn’t shy from the realisation that it doesn’t work that way.

It’s not perfect, the final act feels a bit clunky and some of the dialogue a little on the nose, but that’s only a minor quibble.

The Water Man is an old school adventure, it uses its settings to great effect and has a good hearted story at its core. While it isn’t perfect it is an enjoyable 91 minutes of storytelling and a strong directorial debut.