Don’t Breathe 2

When the villain becomes the protagonist. Don’t Breathe (2016) was an excellent entry to the home invasion genre with an amazing twist. Then The Quiet Place (2018) came out which followed some of the same patterns and everyone seemed to forget about Don’t Breathe. The sequel also has a crazy twist and is almost equally as brilliant. I’m devastated there won’t be another one.

7/10

CODA

I understand the pressure of being the kid who has to translate for their parents who don’t speak the language. Your family’s livelihood depends on you. It angered me when Ruby kept staring at her phone instead of interpreting for her dad. I know this is supposed to be a coming of age, teen movie, but the love plot was unnecessary. I was waiting for them to turn the sound off, and when they finally did, it was very much effective. Also, we all love Joni Mitchell, but Both Sides Now is not an audition song.

8/10

Stillwater

We’ve all seen that Amanda Knox documentary on Netflix and just by watching the trailer for Stillwater we can agree this is a rip off of her story. As shocking as Amanda’s story is, the film is even more unbelievable. They wanted to make it seem like a different story, by changing the location from Italy to France to start with and ended up going too far.

5/10

Jungle cruise

How is this not… a new instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? If you’re in the UK, go see it at Odeon and don’t forget to pick up your A3 poster. It’s the nicest one they’ve had in a while.

6/10

Amelie

I could watch 10 hours of 6 year old Amelie’s adventures. Also, I’ve never noticed the ASMR in the opening credits before. Maybe Youtube isn’t as useless as I thought? The cinematography is beautiful, but the subject matter is too light for me to find the film to be of essence. Watch Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique instead.

7/10

Mary and Max

Two lonely people from the opposite sides of the world become best friends. I haven’t had a pen pal since I was twelve and now I really want one. The ending is soul crashing.

‘You are my best friend. You are my only friend. Your American pen pal, Max.’

9/10

A Silent Voice

I don’t believe the bully could ever become friends with the bullied, but all the talk about suicide is what makes this animation wonderful.

9/10

O Brother Where Art Thou

This reminded me of The Defiant Ones (1958) with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis and it was funny at times, but why was Holly Hunter in only 2 scenes?

7/10

Captivated The Trials of Pamela Smart

An HBO documentary about the first televised trial. This girl clearly didn’t understand she could go to prison for hiring someone to murder her husband. I’ve always loved Gus Vant Sant’s To Die For starring Nicole Kidman and never knew it was loosely based on Pamela Smart’s story.

6/10