Short, hopefully sharp, reviews of 5 new films I’ve seen recently, including Straight Outta Compton (pictured below), ranked from best to worst. SPOILER WARNING: My review of The New Girlfriend reveals a major plot point not given away in the trailer.
The New
Girlfriend
(director: François Ozon)
Sizzling
French comedy-drama about a woman who discovers the husband of her
recently-deceased best friend is a transvestite. Not preachy or angst-ridden, Ozon’s film is instead funny, provocative,
human and a joy from beginning to end. Both leads - Romain Duris (Mood Indigo) and Anaïs Demoustier (Elles) - are terrific.
Rating: WWWW
45 Years
(director: Andrew Haigh)
Charlotte
Rampling and Tom Courtenay are the married couple about to celebrate their 45th
wedding anniversary when a ghost from the past threatens to destroy everything
they hold dear. It’s an astonishing, heartbreaking drama replete with two
superb central performances.
Rating: WWWW
Straight Outta
Compton
(director: F Gary Gray)
Biopic of ’80s
rap legends NWA that not only sanitises their controversial
history but ultimately gets a bit bogged down in the group’s disintegration over contract
disputes. The first half’s cracking though as is the music.
Rating: WWW
Buttercup Bill
(directors: Remy Bennett, Émilie Richard-Froozan)
Off-kilter
melodrama about two childhood ‘soul mates’ that meet up again years later
following the death of an old friend. Suffused with sexual tension and an
undercurrent of menace, it takes a while to get going but builds into something disturbing and intriguing. Great soundtrack too.
Rating: WWW
Me And Earl
And The Dying Girl
(director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Cancer
comedy-drama that, whilst refreshingly un-mawkish, is instead dragged down by
irritating characters (especially Thomas Mann's Greg) and a surfeit of US indie movie quirk. Nick Offerman and Connie Britton - as Greg's parents - are wasted. I found it all a bit
of a chore, to be honest.
Rating: WW
Ratings
WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful
WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful
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