The Beach Bum (2019)
Written & directed by Harmony Korine this film stars Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg and Isla Fisher. A stoner is forced to write a book to inherit his dead wife's money.
Much like its protagonist the plot of this film never really goes anywhere, instead drifting around. No doubt the film is funny and entertaining, it just never threatens any depth. A little bit of a disappointment given how much I loved Spring Breakers (2012).
3/5
Don't Breathe 2 (2021)
Directed by Rodo Sayagues this film stars Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace and Brendan Sexton III. A blind man and his adoptive daughter are harassed by a gang.
Essentially this film tries to Terminator 2 the franchise. I can not really remember much from the first film and that does not appear to be necessary to watch this one. The plot is pretty thin and at times feels like a chore to get through.
2/5
Barbarians (2021)
Written & directed by Charles Dorfman this film stars Tom Cullen. Ines Spiridonov, Iwan Rheon and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Two couples have a diner party and get held hostage.
It takes far too long for this film to get going and when it does it was not really worth the wait anyway. The climactic sequence is too dark in places to tell what is going on. Never adds up to the sum of its parts.
2/5
Amundsen (2019)
Directed by Espen Sandberg this film based on real events stars Pal Sverre Hagen, Katherine Waterston and Christian Rubeck. We follow the career of explorer Roald Amunsen.
This is certainly a warts and all depiction of the famous explorer, showing the negative traits that help drive a person to do such things. I really enjoyed some of the shots of the polar landscapes, they really show how alien that part of the world is. Over all this is a decent if not ground breaking biopic.
4/5
Ear for Eye (2021)
Written & directed by debbie tucker green this film has a large ensemble cast. Various perspectives on being black in the US and UK are voiced by the characters.
It is impossible not to love the fantastic use of language in debbie tucker green's writing, it really is amazing. The script covers the issue of race in a really hard hitting and entertaining way. The only criticism I would have are that it is pretty obvious this was conceived as a play rather than a film, that is a common issue with play adaptations though.
4/5
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Directed by Alan Taylor this film stars Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Vera Farminga and Jon Bernthal. We follow Tony Soprano's uncle during the late 1960s.
As someone that has never watched The Sopranos I found this film to be a bit hard to follow and connect with. To me this was a slightly below average mob film and nothing more. It felt like a lot of the film went over my head as someone that has not seen the show.
2/5
People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan (2021)
Directed by Jack Clough this film stars Allan Mustafa, Hugo Chegwin, Asim Chaudhry and Steve Stamp. A defunct UK garage act that never had any success finds that one of their two songs has become popular on a game show in Japan.
I have never seen the sitcom this film is a follow up to but it was easy enough to follow. The plot is very familiar, if you have seen any film about sudden “success” you can predict what happens here. There are a few funny moments although again a lot of the humour is predictable.
3/5
