Eleanor Reviews

Director:  Pete Docter  Cast:  (voices) Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Angela Bassett Where can I watch?:   Soul is streaming on Disney+ Rating:  4/5 Review: Pixar has a knack of dealing with tough subjects in a way that doesn't terrify small children and yet somehow reduces adults to weeping wrecks. The studio's latest, released on Disney+ on Christmas Day, is no different. Joe (Jamie Foxx), a middle school music teacher, suddenly finds that his time is up and that he's heading towards the Great Beyond. Fleeing, he stumbles across the Great Before, where souls must find their 'spark' if they're to be sent to Earth. It's here that he meets 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who's been stuck in the Great Before for hundreds of years. Calamity ensues when the pair find themselves back on Earth, but not in the bodies they were expecting. As you'd expect from a Pixar , Soul is beautifully observed, from Mr Mittens' love of a sunbeam, to the golden glow of...

Director:  Aaron Sorkin Cast:  Eddie Redmayne. Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt  Where can I watch?:   The Trial of the Chicago 7  is streaming on  Netflix Rating:  4/5 Review: I'll get something off my chest straight away: I'm something of an Aaron Sorkin fangirl. As a young'un, I was subjected to VHS re-runs of The West Wing,  something that I initially rolled my eyes at but soon came to rather enjoy (President Bartlett for life, am I right?). As a would-be-wish-I-could writer, Sorkin's command of dialogue and interpersonal relationships always struck me, so seeing his name attached to this true story immediately appealed to me. Taking the director's helm for a second time, Sorkin unites an all-star ensemble cast in this poignant, oft-infuriating retelling of the court case surrounding the Chicago Seven. Playing with the timeline to reveal the actual events of the night of the 1968 riot, Sorkin expertly crafts a quick-witted...

Director:  Harry Bradbeer Cast:  Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter Where can I watch?:   Enola Holmes is streaming on Netflix Rating:  3.5/5 Review: In the last ten years alone, we've had a fair few renditions of the Sherlock Holmes story: the Guy Ritchie/Downey Jr excursion; the truly horrendous Holmes & Watson (I just watched the trailer and decided it was trash); and the star-making BBC series (we NEVER talk about that last series, OK? Shudder). Into the mix, we now add this very 20th Century edition, which focuses on the Holmes' little sister, Enola - and I'm glad to report it's far better than the Moffat/Gatiss attempt (OK, I won't mention it again). Then again, it's probably wrong to compare Enola Holmes to those series, as it feels more similar in tone to the Ritchie/Downey outing, with action and adventure prevailing over any real clue-solving. Enter our heroine, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown). Addressing the camera a la...

Director:  Egor Abramenko Cast:   Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov Where can I watch?:   Sputnik  is streaming on  Amazon Prime Rating:  4/5 Review: The premise of an astronaut returning to earth with more than he might have bargained for is hardly original, and yet Sputnik , a Russian-language take on the sci-fi saga, somehow manages to feel wonderfully new and fresh, creating an alien film that's far and away better than anything Hollywood has churned out in recent years. Masterfully drawing us in with a suspenseful opening sequence, director Egor Abramenko (this is his first feature length film) then introduces us to our protagonist, Tatyana (Oksana Akinshina), who is facing disciplinary action of her unorthodox treatment of mental illness. Parallels can be drawn between Tatyana and Alien 's Ripley: both are no-nonsense, tough-talking scientists with an undying ambition to do the right thing, whatever the cost. Akinshina is a very ...

Director:  Andrew Patterson Cast:  Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz Where can I watch?:   The Vast of Night  is streaming on  Prime Video Rating:  3.5/5 Review:  As debuts go, Andrew Patterson's The Vast of Night is a pretty solid outing. Stripping away the graphics, explosions and outer-space drama that usually accompanies sci-fi films, Patterson brings it all back to basics with an eerie nighttime drama that cleverly utilises the static of retro televisions and blank screens to create a suspenseful, low budget watch. The cast is small, with just two central protagonists: arrogant radio host Everett (Jake Horowitz) and switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick). Both have dreams of getting out of their old frontier town in New Mexico and, through very natural conversation (there's no forced exposition here!), their relationship develops as they begin to unpick the mysterious noise that's passing through the radio signals. Patterson foc...

Director:  Gina Prince-Bythewood Cast:   Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts Where can I watch?:   The Old Guard  is streaming on Netflix Rating:  2/5 Review: It gives me no pleasure to say this, but The Old Guard is rubbish. This is honestly a real shame, as there's actually a lot to celebrate here: a female lead, a black female director, a gay male couple who subvert the usual queer relationship tropes usually assigned to screen, and a flourishing bond between two female protagonists that doesn't descend into backstabbing. Despite these ingredients, however, The Old Guard stumbles along rather blandly, raising more questions than it answers and failing to meet the sum of its parts. So the plot: Andy (Charlize Theron) heads up a group of immortal mercenaries who inadvertently make contact with a new 'recruit' (KiKi Layne) whilst being tracked by a big pharma company desperate to make a profit from their regenerative skills (cu...

Director:  Aaron Schneider Cast:  Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham Where can I watch?:   Greyhound  is streaming on  Apple TV+ Rating:  3/5 Review:  Based on a fictitious novel that used real events from the Battle of the Atlantic as inspiration, Greyhound , Apple's foray into World War Two big screen entertainment, is a nuts and bolts naval drama that both hits and misses in equal measure. Returning to the 1940s conflict for the third time, Tom Hanks takes on the role of inexperienced Captain Krause. Tasked with escorting cargo and troop ships across the perilous waves of the Atlantic, his job is to keep an eye out for the Nazis U-boats determined to eliminate any aid from the US. As such, there's lots of panicked sonar readings, numerous 'right rudder' or 'left rudder' commands and plenty of stressed, meaningful glances exchanged as the crew turn their binoculars to the rolling grey waves. It's pretty formulaic stuff, but Hanks' undeniable ch...

Director:  Jon Stewart Cast:  Steve Carell, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper Where can I watch?:   Irresistible  is streaming on  Apple TV+ Rating:  2/5 Review: Everyone knows that the US political system is broken. Once fit for purpose, the manner in which elections of all sizes now take place is borderline corrupt, with money being the biggest winner. This is the premise of Jon Stewart's directorial debut... Only it's not just the 'premise', it's the stick with which you're repeatedly beaten with throughout this mercifully short and yet too long political parable. Steven Carell is Gary Zimmer, a Democratic spin doctor reeling from Hilary's 2016 election loss; upon seeing a heartfelt speech from a disgruntled war veteran (Chris Cooper), he decides to up sticks to help him win a mayoral title in a conservative Midwest town. Unfortunately, Republican spin doctor Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne) arrives to upset the apple cart and full blown electoral campa...

Director: Roger Donaldson Cast:  Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier Where can I watch?: The Bounty is streaming on Netflix Rating: 2/5 Review: The true story of HMS Bounty , the mutiny and the continued bloodline of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island is, undoubtedly, a fascinating one. It's unfortunate, then, that Roger Donaldson's attempt to bring the high sea drama to the screen is so, well, dull. Opening with paradisaical images of tropical islands under nectarine skies (punctuated with an eerie score by Vangelis of Blade Runner fame), the film starts of promisingly... And quickly loses its way. After the initial 'culture-gasm' of seeing Anthony Hopkins (the doomed captain, William Bligh) and Laurence Olivier face off in a naval court, we find ourselves aboard The Bounty , with fresh-faced Mel Gibson wrestling with the underwritten role of rebellious Fletcher Christian. There are the usual naval tropes abound: lashings for the impudent sai...

Director : Anurag Kashyap Cast : Saiyami Kher, Roshan Mathew, Amruta Subhash Where can I watch? : Choked is streaming on Netflix Rating : 4/5 Review : Netflix's attempts to diversify its entertainment collection seems to have accelerated rapidly during lockdown, with a number of new international offerings becoming readily available in amongst all the nostalgic 90s releases. One such film is Choked , a Hindi-language film that centres around put-upon bank worker Sarita (the engaging Saiyami Kher) and her disintegrating marriage. Setting the scene in a tumbledown set of flats - paint-flaking ceilings and a drain that constantly leaks and gurgles are as much characters as their human counterparts - we're hurled into Sarita's tiring existence, but could salvation be at hand? Marrying Bollywood-esque musical sequences with grainy news footage capturing the fallout of Modi's monetary reforms, director Anurag Kashyap effortlessly moves from fantasy to reality,...

Director:  Michael Showalter Cast:  Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani Where can I watch?: The Lovebirds  is streaming on Netflix Rating: 3/5 Review: It's fair to say that the news is pretty grim right now, so when a film comes along that requires essentially zero brain power, it comes as something of a relief. Cue The Lovebirds , another of Netflix's lockdown viewing collection in which an arguing couple become inadvertently embroiled in some form of crime syndicate on their way to a friend's dinner party. Sound familiar? That's because The Lovebirds is far from original territory - how many times have we seen the fraught couple unite the battle the odds and save their relationship? - and yet, it's not without its charms. Firstly, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are both very watchable screen presences, and there is certainly a fizzing level of chemistry between them that makes their relationship quite believable. Similarly, some of the smaller jokes work quit...

Director:  Will Becher, Richard Phelan Cast: (voices) Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Chris Morrell, Amalia Vitale Where can I watch?: Farmageddon  is streaming on  Amazon Rating:  5/5 Review: Has there ever been an Aardman film that isn't a delight? Each and every one of this studio's wholesome creations has bought raucous, lighthearted entertainment to viewers both young and old, and this latest outing, Farmageddon , is no different. The plot, the story of a wayward alien longing to go home, is undoubtedly a simple one, but it's the way this understated premise is made into a real gem of a film that makes it so special. As with all Aardman creations, Farmageddon may have a U certificate, but there's plenty here for adults to enjoy too, with references to War of the Worlds, Doctor Who and Close Encounters peppered throughout. The attention to detail is also second to none, with inconspicuous asides being as humorous as the central jokes - you could ...

Director:  Bill Forsyth Cast:  Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson, Norman Chancer, Peter Capaldi  Where can I watch?: Local Hero is streaming on Amazon . Rating: 5/5 Review: Members of the Church of Wittertainment  will have undoubtedly heard Mark wax lyrical about Local Hero time and time again, so when it popped up during a session of mindless scrolling through Amazon's more dubious film suggestions, I had to give it a go. And what a delight it is! Wholly odd and yet undeniably charming in both its simplicity and message, this quaint tale of an oil-hungry Texas businessman falling in love with a remote Scottish coastline will get under your skin in the best way possible. If you're looking for an action-packed drama with a clear beginning, middle and end, then you'll definitely be disappointed - there isn't as story, as such, rather a series of innocent, interconnected scenes and gently humorous interactions that build into a...

Director: Steven Spielberg Cast:  Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bruce Greenwood  Where can I watch?:  You can watch The Post on Netflix . Rating:  4/5 Review:  Spielberg. Hanks. Streep. They may be part of cinema's 'old guard' now, but there's still something reassuring about seeing these 'titans of the movies' getting together to make a film - you immediately know you're in safe hands. Taking on the momentous occasion when the female-owned Washington Post took on the US government over the publication of a damning Vietnam report, this meaty topic certainly gives our auteurs something to sink their teeth into: there are secret phone calls; tense standoffs; scenes of the printing press whirring and clanking; and Tom Hanks posturing like only Tom Hanks can. Despite the outcome being well-known, such is Spielberg's deft direction, it's still nail-biting in some sections, as characters grapple with the enormity of t...

Director:  Autumn de Wilde Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Josh O'Connor Where can I watch?: You can rent Emma from Amazon Prime Rating:  4/5 Review: Another decade, another adaptation of Jane Austen's arguably most scathing novel, Emma. One could argue that if you've seen one, you've seen them all, and yet I would suggest that Autumn de Wilde's latest foray does indeed add something new to the canon. For starters, Anya Taylor-Joy's Emma isn't always likeable. In fact, she's comes across as far more sly and malevolent in this adaptation than in any of the others, making her salvation (not a spoiler!) all the more rewarding. De Wilde, familiar with photography and music videos, directs stylishly - each scene is dressed to the nines, the costumes are nothing short of sumptuous, and each shot could indeed be a standalone photo, such is the expert composition. The cast is ubiquitously excellent, with Johnny Flynn br...

Director: Dan Scanlon Cast:  (voices) Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer Where can I watch?:  You can currently stream from Amazon , but Onward will be available on Disney+ soon Rating:  4/5 Review:  Onward probably won't go down in history as one of the Pixar Greats - a release date in the middle of a global pandemic will do that for you - but that doesn't mean it's anything but a real gem of a movie. Based in a universe where magic was once prevalent but has now been cast aside in favour of cars, electricity and smartphones, this fairytale-esque parable once again proves that Pixar are masters of storytelling. When two brothers (Holland and Pratt) are given the opportunity to see their father again, they embark upon a humorous, action-packed quest involving Hell's Angels-inspired sprites, litter-eating unicorns and a driving lesson that honestly didn't look too dissimilar to my first time behind the wheel... Admitted...

Director: Guy Ritchie Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery Where can I watch?: There are a few streaming options available - find out more here . Rating: 3/5 Review: After watching The Gentlemen , two things struck me more than ever: a) all Guy Ritchie gangster films are essentially the same and, b) Guy Ritchie would rather be a gangster than a film director, such is the blatant glorification of the violence, illegal pastimes, fast cars and slick suits on show. You already know the story: a rich marijuana farmer (McConaughey) is looking to sell his business when disaster strikes - double-crossing, shoot-outs and C-word peppered confrontations ensue before Ritchie tries to wrap it all up in a clever little bow. However, despite the lack of originality, the less tasteful sections and Hugh Grant's inconsistent accent, there is some mindless fun to be had - it looks good, it pips along at a good pace and there are a couple of chu...