Reviews

I don't normally leave reviews for many movies but I felt I had to leave one for 'The Rhythm Section' as it turns out to be so much better than the reviews on here would suggest. It's true that if you enjoy popcorn rollercoaster movies like 'John Wick' or 'Atomic Blonde', you may find this movie too slow or lacking in action. Personally I find action movies like the ones I have just mentioned to be very boring and to me they are like watching somebody else playing a video game on an indestructible cheat mode. If on the other hand, you don't have attention deficit disorder, if you have ever read a book, if don't get bored when there's not a gunfight or car chase every ten minutes, then you may well enjoy this one. This is a slow burn atmospheric movie. It does have action including killings, car chases and explosions but they are not over the top and unbelievable. They take a while to arrive but when they come they are incredibly tense as they have an air of (relative) realism. The cinematography is great. The film is beautifully lit with lots of atmosphere and natural light. I've read reviews complaining about a 'shaky cam' style of filming (which is something that I personally don't like). But I was relieved to find that's just not true. I was only aware of handheld shaky style footage during less than one minute of a chase sequence. The acting is great from both Blake Lively who is brilliant and on screen for most of the movie, and also from Jude Law. Overall I'd call this the thinking person's revenge thriller. If you like films which have a bit of art to them such as Lynne Ramsay's 'You Were Never Really Here', then you will probably enjoy 'The Rhythm Section'. If you need dumb wall to wall action instead, well there are already so many films which cater to you.

I had high hopes for this film as I loved 'Kill List' and 'Sightseers' but unfortunately it just came across as an artier version of Eastenders filmed on wobblycam. The premise was interesting but it didn't go anywhere and soon descended into pointless bickering characters which is the mainstay of lowbrow soaps. Sure, that's what happens when families get together, but it would have been good if we were amused or surprised at some point. Perhaps Julia Davis should have written the script for it. As it is, it stands as a failed improv experiment. I hope Ben Wheatley's next effort will be better.

I missed seeing this when it was broadcast over Christmas and only discovered it yesterday on BBC iPlayer. I watched it expecting it to be reasonably amusing 'filler' TV but was happy to find that it was a lot funnier than I had expected. Both of the lead actors are great in it and had me laughing out loud (something I don't usually do to be honest). I was also surprised to find myself tearing up in a couple of places (again I don't usually do that). It was one of the best things I have seen recently and I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood makes an extended, big budget, noisy, whacky, over the top version of it. It could never have the charm of this original though. I can see myself watching this every Christmas. Kudos to the actors and writers of this little gem. Highly recommended.