Cineworld held special "Chicken Jockey Screenings" for A Minecraft Movie last Sunday, where dressing up, whooping, clapping, and shouting were all encouraged. However, they did try to stress that snacks should not be thrown at the screen, as I'm told has happened in a few places. Have you seen the price of salted popcorn these days?! There is no way I'm wasting a single kernel of it, love, Each to their own, but I really didn't enjoy this film when I watched it. Fully aware I'm not the target audience, though, so let's draw a line in the sand and never mention it again.
I loved The Amateur, and was really rooting for Rami Malek's character Charlie Heller to avenge the death of his wife. He plays a geeky CIA computer nerd, who cracks code five floors below ground level in a windowless office, and vows to find the men responsible for the terrorist attack in London that claimed his love's life. I think Malek is a remarkable actor, and I enjoyed the measured, subtle performance he gave in this movie as an unlikely assassin. Laurence Fishburne takes the role of Henderson, who is given the job of training him up, and the action takes us to Paris, Romania and Turkey, amongst other places.
Malek is always several chess moves ahead of his opponents, and the kills are inventive, yet there's virtually no gore, hence its 12A certificate. The swimming pool death hinted at in the trailer is particularly well executed, and it's definitely a spy thriller worthy of a couple of hours of your time, especially if you're a James Bond/John Wick fan.
Drop was the other new release this week, full of good twists and turns, as a first date turns perilous with the arrival of ominous messages on widow Violet's phone (played effectively by Meghann Fahy). Some of the violence made me wince, but I enjoyed the Hitchcockian nature of the story, as it became clear that a fellow diner in the swanky eatery was coordinating the plot to direct Violet to poison her date. What does he know, and who is trying to bump him off?
I didn't guess the way the story was going to go, and whilst you have to suspend a little disbelief at times, there's a good mix of humour and horror, and certainly enough to keep things interesting for the film's tight running time of 100 minutes. A big up to Jeffery Self, who plays the improv actor and super enthusiastic waiter Matt. Whilst you definitely wouldn't want him to describe the specials on your first date, he made for a brilliant character who breaks the tension in many of the nerve-shredding scenes. Definitely worth a date with your local cinema to watch this one on the big screen. It'll make your worst ever date seem like a walk in the park in comparison.
Next week, I'll have reviews of Mr Burton, Penguin Lessons and Sinners. Happy film watching!
Alex Cann's weekly film blog - 9th January
