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Braven (2018)

Jason Mamoa, Garret Dillahunt, Jill Wagner & Stephen Lang

Directed by: Lin Oeding

Platform: NowTV

IMDB: 6.1/10, RT: 76% Fresh

Synopsis: Mamoa plays Canadian logger Joe Braven, married with a daughter and trying to deal with his fathers (Lang) dementia. After an episode that puts him n hospital Joe decides to take his father up to his cabin in a remote area to give him a break and get away from it all, little do they know it’s being used as a drop for drug runners who have come to collect their haul of Cocaine.

Verdict: Typical Mamoa performance but he does have good chemistry with Lang, Dillahunt plays his typical nut job role (think Deadwood), the first half hour drags until we get into the meat of this action thriller and it’s not bad when it gets going, some new ways of disposing of bad guys.

Brain on Fire (2016) - a Netflix original movie

Based upon: Susannah Cahalan’s memoir “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness”

Chloe Grace Moretz, Thomas Mann, Richard Armitage, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jenny Slate & Tyler Perry

Directed by: Gerard Barrett

Platform: Netflix

IMDB: 6.6/10, RT: 11% Rotten

Synopsis: Moretz plays Susannah Cahalan a young budding reporter for the New York post, she has been given a big interview to do in a make or break moment but she starts to feel unwell, unpredictable symptoms present themselves and her personal and professional life begins to unravel as Doctor after Doctor fail to properly diagnose her condition.

Verdict: Cahalan finally gets diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis which was only named in 2007, it presents as many different things which is why Cahalan was diagnosed ranging from manic depressive to schizophrenic to Bipolar. Moretz does a great job in showing the different characteristics this condition presents as, the supporting cast are good as parents who are at their wits end in trying to help their daughter. 

Many believe that people accused of demonic possession in years past may have had this exact condition.

I thought it was a good movie for its subject matter and better than the 11% rating on RT!

Brad’s Status (2017)

Ben Stiller, Jenna Fischer, Austin Abrams, Michael Sheen & Luke Wilson

Directed by: Mike White 

Platform: Netflix

IMDB: 6.5/10, RT: 80% Fresh

Synopsis: Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) runs his own non-profit organization, and lives a comfortable life with his loving wife and son, but cannot help contemplating how his old friends Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen), Billy Wearslter (Jemaine Clement), Jason Hatfield (Luke Wilson), and Nick Pascale (Mike White) are rich and accomplished. Craig works in the White House and published a best-selling book; Jason owns a hedge fund firm; Billy sold a company he founded, moved to Maui, and retired; and Nick is a Hollywood director. Brad's wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), tries to comfort Brad, telling him that they do not need to compare themselves with the wealthiest 1%..

Verdict: I think most people get to a point in their lives where they look back and think about the choices they’ve made, I could definitely relate to Stiller's character. The film is ok, it plods a little bit but Stiller does a good job in a non-comedic role, the voice over sharing his characters thoughts is a nice touch. Abrams who plays his son is dull as dishwater and sleep walks his way through it, the other big names only have bit parts.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett & Tyra Ferrell

Directed by: John Singleton (directorial debut, Poetic Justice, Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers)

Platform: Netflix

IMDB: 7.8/10, RT: 96% Fresh

Synopsis: The film depicts life in a ghetto of Los Angeles for 4 friends from childhood through to college, dealing with their environment and trying to live a life better than that environment dictates.

Verdict: Great directorial debut from Singleton with a surprising performance from a young Ice Cube, I also can't believe how young Morris Chestnut looks! The movies three acts have somewhat been imitated meaning you can see what's coming from a mile off but for it still has an impact today regardless. The background music is dated really badly but thankfully original soundtrack isn't used so much throughout. Good movie.

Boyhood (2014)

Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Lorelei Linklater

Directed by: Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, School of Rock, A Scanner Darkly)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDb: 7.9/10, RT: 97% Fresh

Synopsis: An ambitious project undertaken by Linklater to film the same actors over 12 years to show the journey of Coltranes character from boy to college and life’s twists and turns inbetween. 

Verdict: At 2hrs 45mins I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch this but it’s Linklater and I love Before Sunrise & Before Sunset, it’s not as good as those two in my opinion but I did find myself invested and it really didn’t feel like a movie running close to 3hrs. Fans of Linklater will enjoy this.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) - based on the 2006 novel of the same name by John Boyne

Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend and Vera Farmiga

Directed by: Mark Herman (Brassed Off, Little Voice)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 7.8/10, RT: 63% Fresh

Synopsis: Bruno (Butterfield) is a young German boy from an affluent family during World War 2, his father (Thewlis) is an Officer in the Nazi party, they move to the country and being utterly bored he explores the surrounding area and comes across a fenced off area with barbed wire and a small boy in striped pyjamas sat on the other side. He thinks the number on his shirt is some sort of game, as he returns and befriends the boy he begins to understand the circumstances both of them are in with devastating results.

Verdict: Ive seen some reviews level a complaint at this movie that it’s to much of a melodrama, yes it is to a certain extent but not everything covering the holocaust can be Schindlers List, the film does infer a lot of the atrocity that happens but you feel it through the actors eyes, their reactions, it doesn’t make it any less profound. This is a film seen through the eyes of a young boy who doesn’t fully understand the world he is living in or the lies he is being told until he meets this young Jewish boy. I thought it was really good and the ending was such a gut punch. Both young actors were great as was Vera Farmiga.

Boulevard (2014)

Robin Williams, Roberto Aguire, Kathy Baker and Bob Odenkirk

Directed by: Dito Montiel (Empire State)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 5.8/10, RT: 52% Rotten

Synopsis: One of Williams final roles, he plays a mild mannered advisor working in a bank leading an unassuming life, he befriends a male prostitute who he pays for his company just to talk, as time goes on he begins to face the truth about himself.

Verdict: Williams is very good in the role, very understated but the film plods along and doesn’t really go anywhere which is a shame.

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendon Sexton III and Alicia Goranson

Directed by: Kimberly Peirce (Carrie)

Platform: NowTV

IMDB: 7.6/10, RT: 88% Fresh

Synopsis: Based on the true story of Brandon Teena, who identified as male in the early 90s in Nebraska, the film documents the events that led up to his brutal rape and murder at the hands of John Lotter and Marvin Nissen, they also murdered two others. The film also highlights that legal and medical discrimination attributed to Teena’s murder, this led to greater lobbying for hate crime laws in the U.S.

Verdict: Its a tough film to watch as you can imagine with what happens to Brandon but it is powerfully acted by Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny, it earned an Oscar and Golden Globe for Swank. 

The Book of Henry (2017)

Naomi Watts, Jaeden Martell, Jacob Trembley, Sarah Silverman and Dean Norris

Directed by: Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 6.6/10, RT: 22% Rotten

Synopsis: With instructions from her genius son's carefully crafted notebook, a single mother sets out to rescue a young girl from the hands of her abusive stepfather.

Verdict: The cast are really good but the film is all over the place tonally, it starts off as a cutesy movie with a single mother and her genius level son who takes care of everything before it switches up to child abuse. It’s a film of two halves and it doesn’t work.

Bowfinger (1999)

Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski

Directed by: Frank Oz

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 6.4/10, RT: 81% Fresh

Synopsis: When a desperate movie producer fails to get a major star for his bargain basement film, he decides to shoot the film secretly around him.

Verdict: I thought this was great fun, both Martin and Murphy on form!

Body of Lies (2008)

Leonardo Dicaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshiftah Farahani, Oscar Isaac

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 7.1/10, RT: 55% Rotten

Synopsis: A CIA agent (Dicaprio) on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors (Crowe) and Jordan Intelligence.

Verdict: Typical espionage fare that’s elevated by the actors and direction.

Blue Streak (1999)

Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, Dave Chapelle

Directed by: Les Mayfield (California Man, Flubber)

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 6.3/10, RT: 36% Rotten

Synopsis: Lawrence plays a jewel thief who stashes his haul at a construction site before getting caught, after being released from his stint in prison he goes back to recover the jewels to discover that construction site is now a Police station.

Verdict: Urgh, even Lawrence’s comedy isn’t enough to keep me watching.

Blow Out (1981)

John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow

Directed by: Brian De Palma

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 7.4/10, RT: 87% Fresh

Synopsis: Travolta plays a foley artist (sound effects) who is out one night recording when he witnesses a car have a blow out and go over a bridge into a river below, he rescues Allen from the wreckage and ends up with her at hospital. He’s told by an advisor that the man in the car is of political importance and it would serve no purpose for the public to find out he was with a woman who is not his wife. He begins to investigate his recording of that night and begins suspect it was no accident.

Verdict: Pretty good conspiracy thriller, Lithgow is especially good and Travolta puts in a good shift, the original musical score however is atrociously dated.

Blood Money (2017)

John Cusack, Ellar Coltrane, Willa Fitzgerald, Jacob Artist

Directed by: Lucky McKee (May, The Woman)

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 4.5/10, RT: 50% Rotten 

Synopsis: Three friends on a wilderness excursion cross paths with Cusack who is acting a little strange, later on they find bags of cash which just so happens to be the same bags that Cusack is looking for. While being hunted by him their own loyalties to one another are tested as greed rears it’s head.

Verdict: It’s sort of watchable, the characters pretty much start infighting within 20 seconds of finding the money, my reaction was like, really this quickly? I stayed with it but with Cusack phoning it in and not really connecting with the other characters I turned it off.

Blockers (2018)

Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon

Directed by: Kay Cannon

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 6.2/10, RT: 84% Fresh

Synopsis: It’s prom time and three girls have made a pact to lose their virginity unfortunately for them their parents have found out and they go on a mission to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Verdict: Quite a good comedy with John Cena being the highlight.

Blackout (2013)

Jemima Abey, Maisie Abraham, Faraz Ayub 

Directed by: Ben Chanan (episodes of The Last Kingdom and The Missing)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 6.4/10, RT: N/A

Synopsis: Britain suffers a country wide power cut, this is a docu-drama covering those 7 days.

verdict: Using a mixture of actual news footage and other public domain recordings to fit the narrative along with actual actors using mobile phones, the film uses the tired “found footage” method to tie all of this together to produce a docu-drama showing what would happen over 7 days if a country lost all power. I remember reading somewhere that you’re only 3 days away from anarchy in these situations.

Cant find a trailer. It’s ok and the run time is only 1hr 11mins.

Black Water (2016)

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Al Sapienza, Courtney B Turk

Directed by: Pasha Patriki (directorial debut)

Platform: Netflix 

IMDB: 4.7/10, RT: N/A

Synopsis: JCVD plays a deep cover operative who wakes up in a CIA black site which happens to be a submarine, Lundgren is in the cell next door. We flashback to his last mission where he sleeps with his partner Turk (27 years his junior), she dies in a firefight with unknowns and he attempts to finish the mission but gets double crossed, caught by the CIA and we return to the present where he and Lundgren try to escape.

Verdict: Meh, not the worse recent Van Damme movie I’ve seen but that’s not saying a whole lot.

Black Swan (2010)

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler)

Platform: NowTV 

IMDB: 8/10, RT: 85% Fresh

Natalie Portman won an Oscar for Best Actress for this role.

Synopsis: Portman plays a ballerina who has won the lead role in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Directed by Cassel, she begins to struggle under the pressure of the role and her sanity begins to fracture.

Verdict: I thought the movie was an excellent psychological horror, I can see why Portman won the Oscar, she is excellent in the role.

Black Snake Moan (2006)

Christina Ricci, Samuel L Jackson, Justin Timberlake

Directed by: Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow)

Platform: Netflix

IMDB: 7/10, RT: 66% Fresh

Synopsis: A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.

Verdict: Good performances and a great blues soundtrack make up for the absurd plot.