Author: Joel Fisher

Ray Chinda (O.C. Ukeje) is a famous actor who seems to have the perfect life. He’s married to Nikki (Julia Holden), they have two beautiful children and despite a small blip in their marriage, things are looking fine once again.

Then one day Ray gets an e-mail saying that somebody knows a lot about his private life and will release details unless he gives them money. That includes a video of him watching porn and enjoying himself. Thinking at first that it must be a scam, he contacts his friend, Reuben (Alessandro Babalola) who is savvier with technology than him. However, things only get worse when whoever’s behind the scam starts demanding more.

Black Mail is a British crime thriller written and directed by Obi Emelonye. However, with the limited budget and the big ideas, the two don’t seem to gel all that well and neither do the two competing plots.

That’s because behind the computer screen is a failed footballer called Vitali (Ivan Papovec) who is part of a sex trafficking ring and he uses his knowledge of computers to scam people online. It seems that what with this being the subplot and Ray’s problems being the focus, then perhaps the plots should be switched around as Ray’s are very much first world problems.

Black Mail really tries to put across Ray’s troubles as well, but that only makes the movie feel like a consumer awareness show written like an episode of Line of Duty. This is especially prevalent because although Emelonye’s virus software knowhow is well researched, it does slow down the movie and makes it feel like the audience is being lectured.

There’s also a lot that doesn’t make sense considering that Ray Chinda is supposed to be so famous either, because he surely would have been able to afford proper security or at least hire somebody to do it for him. Then there’s the fact that he lives in a modest home and him and his wife treat their jobs like a daily nine to five.

In the end the two main plots do converge with each other. However, by this point the audience has had to deal with minor details including Ray’s sex addiction and they may have started wondering why they should care a long time ago.

Rob Smart (Ian Niles) is in love with Katie Reynolds (Melanie Chandra) and life couldn’t be better, except for the fact that he’s about to meet Katie’s parents and he’s really nervous. Things go as well as could be expected though apart from the odd inappropriate joke, but Rob is relieved that they seemed to like him – that is until Katie’s father (Patrick Kilpatrick) takes him to one side and tells him to end it with his daughter.

Mr. Reynolds doesn’t believe that Rob has what it takes to look after his daughter and that his life is going nowhere, but Rob is determined to prove him wrong. So, Rob puts in the hard work at the office, gets a promotion and buys a mansion for him and Katie to live in together. Although that’s what he’s told her, as in reality he’s borrowed a lot of money from local gangsters and soon they want to collect.

Lie Hard is a high concept comedy directed by and starring Ian Niles and co-written by Harrison Feur. However, like the movie’s protagonist, it seems that Lie Hard has bitten off more than it can chew.

Usually, these kinds of comedies are filled with big stars who can do these kinds of roles in their sleep and the audience laps it up because they know who they all are. Unfortunately, Lie hard doesn’t have the luxury of an all star cast and so it’s down to the performances to sell the movie and they don’t really have what it takes.

It also doesn’t help that Rob is a bit of an empty shell of a character and as the audience knows very little about him, they may not care when he gets deeper into trouble. In fact, as the movie goes along then it becomes very clear that Rob is more or less irredeemable and so the concept is left to carry the movie in hopes that nobody notices.

There are some interesting twists along the way, but they only seem to dig the main character deeper into a hole that he already created and when his inevitable redemption happens it feels very unearned.

Lie Hard is a mixture of high concept comedy ideas and its quirks and turns in the story may remind audiences of other things they’ve enjoyed. However, this kind of movie being done on this level of budget and casting comes across as a cynical way to make an audience think they’re watching something better.

America has a two-party political race and you’re either on one side or the other. Recent years have seen the political landscape change and with the election of Donald Trump, it became a country which a lot of people never thought they’d ever see.

However, a week is a long time in politics and Donald Trump had four years to leave an impression on the American people and whether they like it or not, that divide grew even wider.

This Land is a documentary directed by Matthew Palmer which aims to look into how America was at the time of the 2020 election and whether there could ever be harmony again. The two sides have always been a bone of contention and probably divides more there than anywhere else in the world, but Palmer’s documentary hopes to find a common ground.

Starting out in a scenario that most people perhaps couldn’t understand, they are introduced to two friends, one white and one black, and on either side of the political divide, but maybe not in the way you’d expect. Being taken into the white man’s home, his friend is treated as part of the family despite his right leaning politics.

Then we see various people from different walks of life such as a mother with a son who has Down’s Syndrome and cowboys living on a ranch. There’s even a Native American man who is wildly opposed to either side. It shows a wide range of different people with different points of view and it manages to never settle on either side which is impressive considering the division of its subjects.

However, whilst not taking a side it also doesn’t go too deeply into what either Biden or Trump were offering on their political sides, or what connects its subjects.

This Land has a more laid back and fly on the wall approach to its documentary style and with its relaxing feeling, it tells its audience that everything is going to be ok, just as it should. Although sometimes it does feel like the visuals take over the conversations with the people which could not only show their views more deeply, but also show what makes them still want to get along.

Janet (Bonnie Root) is an actress whose career has seen better days. She lives alone and still has some connections in the industry, but she knows that things could be better. Then one day she gets a delivery and the person delivering her package called Walter (Jarrod Pistilli) is being rather pushy about Janet taking the package and even more so that he comes inside.

Then once he’s inside then Janet realises her mistake and Walter reveals his plan. He wants Janet to star in a movie that he’s written and he wants to film it right there and then. So, Janet finds herself hostage in her own home at the mercy of the ruthless Walter.

The Movie is the feature debut of writer/director Michael Mandell. It’s certainly a bold move to make your first movie partly about how hard it is to make movies, but there may be a little more to it than that. Unfortunately, it’s not very clear what intentions Mandell had behind making The Movie because it almost seems like the audience is supposed to be siding with Walter.

This doesn’t help as Pistelli gives a wildly exaggerated performance which is a cross between Jason Mantzoukas and Jack Black, but he doesn’t have the charm of either actor. This makes him more irritating than anything else.

If it feels like The Movie is meant to be an assault on the sense then it probably is but it’s hard to tell, it could be a social commentary on being a woman in the film industry, but that would be generous. After all, Janet is an actress forced to do things against her will in the film industry and if that’s what Mandell was going for when he created his movie then he succeeded. The problem is that this doesn’t come across unless you really are desperately trying to find a redeeming feature.

The Movie could have been a story about a woman struggling in the film industry only to be abused and thrown away. It could have been a home invasion movie about a man with mental health issues who gets the help he needs. However, despite the comedic tone at the starts it eventually gets much darker which makes time with Walter even less appealing.

The first movie from Michael Mandell comes across as something close to torture porn and completely misses the mark if it was meant to have some subtext. Although, if there was no subtext to be had then people should run for the hills.

Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) met a couple on holiday and enjoyed their company so much that they decide to spend the weekend with them. Bjorn and Louise are a Danish couple and Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) are Dutch, so clearly there are some cultural differences, but they seem themselves as all the same because they share so much.

However, as the weekend goes on, Louise starts to find little things that irritate her about her new friends, slowly building up over time. Bjørn doesn’t things the same way and makes the most of what they have, although even he has a breaking point. They soon find that the polite awkwardness of getting to know new people will be more eye opening than they could ever imagine.

Speak No Evil is a Danish horror movie about two couples with very different outlooks on how to live their lives. The audience clearly sides with Bjørn and Louise, because Patrick and Karin behave so unusually, but they wouldn’t be quite prepared for what happens when things go bad.

Unfortunately, this is the problem with Speak No Evil because for the most part it’s a drama about two couples getting to know each other and that seems to be all. So, despite some well observed behaviour, when the movie takes a sharp turn into horror it feels totally unearned.

Directed by Christian Tafdrup and co-written by Mads Tafdrup who are both Danish themselves, perhaps there is some kind of subtext about relations with the Dutch, but if there is then it may be lost on broader audiences.

However, the relationships between the Danish and Dutch couples feel authentic and it does capture that awkward feeling of getting to know somebody better and finding there are things you don’t like.

The tonal shift may be jarring for some also as besides its horror credentials and being attached to Shudder it feels like this direction was unnecessary. A perfectly good story could have been told throughout if the swerve into horror didn’t make the finished product feel totally disjointed.