Treasure (2024)**.5
Whilst I am full of praise for the effort, I don't think they pulled this off. Written and Directed by Julia von Heinz, from the novel Too Many Men by Lily Brett, it tells the story of journalist Ruth (Lena Dunham) and her trip to Poland with her Father Edek (Stephen Fry), with the explicit intention of seeing his childhood. Edek, a holocaust survivor, has his own ideas about their itinerary, however. It is sometimes sentimental and occasionally poignant and tries to deal with heavy subjects in a light-hearted fashion. Dunham's character is straight-laced and fractious as opposed to Edek's older and wiser openness and candour. Well performed, but this never really gets going.
The Instigators (2024)**
Safe to say this is not the greatest year of Doug Liman's career. With this and Roadhouse, he's not really setting the world on fire, even if he is evidently quite adept at blowing stuff up. Crammed full of wasted talent, not least Damon and Affleck, this crime heist atttempt at comedy never really lands. They are some degree from instigating anything but quite reactionary instead, which makes us question the title, and subsequently the content. Occasionally entertaining, but this is mostly tiresome even at just over an hour and a half.
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace (2024)*
I have a feeling that somebody high up somewhere watched Constantine and thought this might be a good idea. Casting Cuba Gooding Jnr and Denise Richards will be main draws for the limited amount of pull this will have with audiences. Nonetheless, there is a reason this has bombed so inelegantly already, simply due to the fact that it really isn't any good. The best days of the aformentioned stars are quite some way behind them and this is reflected in their appearances here, a dubious, poorly scripted project which looks like its still trying to find its audience, subsequently struggling with tone and believable characterisation.
Arcadian (2024)***
Fathers of teenage daughters everywhere, rejoice. A real reason for stopping her going out at night. So, not a perceived threat, more of an actual one. Nicholas Cage's eclectic career just keeps going, like it or not. You can question his choices, just never call him lazy. Here he plays father to two twin boys after the decline of real civilisation, where its only safe to go out during the day because of deadly nocturnal monsters that try to break into their fortified homestead. Sage fatherly advice aplenty then, with additional mechanical engineering lessons. Decent performances makes up for somewhat lacklustre plotting, but this is slightly better than average and worth a watch.
Fly Me To The Moon (2024)**
Not really sure why this exists if I'm honest. An unfunny, unromantic romantic comedy is not out of the ordinary for the makers in question, but I'm almost certain money has something to do with it. Notorious sales executive Kelly (Johannson) gets hired by NASA to give the company, and in particular the Apollo space missions, an exciting marketing boost, much to the annoyance (initially) of the Apollo flight director, played by Channing Tatum. A fractious relationship inevitably warms, but not before we have all seen through the very large cracks.
Watchable but nearly clinically vapid.
Cult Killer (2024)**
More cinematically sophisticated than complex, the draw here should come as no surprise - Alice Eve, of course. Given that the alternative title is 'The Last Girl', this starts to make a bit of sense. Quite a simple story is delivered just fine, but the whole affair seems a little muted. Performances are its saving grace, from both Eve and Banderas, even if we don't really see him in much more than flashback mentoring. This will be missed by most and forgotten quickly by everyone else, if we're being brutal.
Kinds of Kindness (2024)***.5
If Poor Things was just the right side of creative genius, then this is the flipside. It is commonly believed that there is only a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous and just such a position is evidenced here by taking a short, yet clearly still considered, step too far. As usual Yorgos has collected quite the enviable cast who all perform very well. By 'well', they take direction admirably, by all accounts. Yorgos' propensity for uncomfortable character introversion, much like The Lobster, is uppermost. Either you'll like this or be repelled by it, even if you can't go so far as to say you hate the thing. Feels like it has too many right angles and not enough curves.