#FF21 The Guilty is a surprisingly tense, single-location film.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a police dispatcher who gets involved in helping an abductee, while trying to fight some of his own demons.

Very tense, well-paced, with neat lighting choices. Genuinely gripping.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 2, 2021

#FF21 No Time To Die is an okay Bond film.

It's expositional, flabby, and ridiculous (less so than Spectre), and there aren't that many great action sequences. Malik seems to be having a good time.

Go in expecting that and you'll have an okay time, but it's entirely skippable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 2, 2021

#FF21 Sweet Girl managed to miss my very low expectations.

The script is barely there, with a cheesy, cliched plot and dialog that misses the mark.

Despite some okay moments, the action is muddled, and the twist is absolutely awful.

Avoid.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 23, 2021

#FF21 The Last Duel is an interesting piece of storytelling.

While the titular duel isn't that great, seeing the motivations from three perspectives (written by three writers) works well, if it makes things a little long.

Solid performance from Jodie Comer.

Decent.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 23, 2021

#FF21 Cop Shop is a surprisingly fun action film.

As stylised as any of Carnahan's work, but it hits a lot better. His use of space is clear and deliberate, the characters work well as big caricatures, and the pacing works well.

Very enjoyable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 23, 2021

#FF21 The French Dispatch is Wes Anderson at his best/worst.

Each of the three stories is a solid tale, indulging his stylistic choices to the full, but together it starts to feel a bit too long.

I laughed and smiled throughout, but there's flab to be cut.

Good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 23, 2021

#FF21 Old is silly, and not in a good way.

The acting and tone is melodramatic, the script expositional and nonsensical, the characters thinly written, and the whole thing badly paced.

It earns some _very_ creepy moments, but it's not worth watching to get there.

Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 23, 2021

#FF21 Dune is a slow-paced epic that owes as much to fantasy as sci-fi.

The epic scale is impressive and alien but uninteresting. Sandy exteriors and teal-orange interiors.

It crams a lot in but forgets to show why the main character is worth caring about. So I didn’t.

Dull.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 31, 2021

#FF21 No Sudden Move has a decent noir thriller plot and excellent cast, that keeps twisting.

While there are some excellent moments, shooting everything on anamorphic lenses was a distracting and ugly choice. Some movements were sickening.

Fine.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 31, 2021

#FF21 Last Night In Soho is equally unsettling and beautiful.

The editing, pacing, and performances pull you through the glamour and underbelly of Sixties London; with McKenzie and Taylor-Joy’s performances being standouts.

Hypnotic, and must-see.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 31, 2021

#FF21 Army Of Thieves takes an interesting premise and gets it wrong in almost every way.

The film is both far too long given the quality, and way too short given the idea. The action is muddy, the comedy silly, and the character development doesn't really turn up.

Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) November 7, 2021

#FF21 Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings is a good entry to the MCU, doing something fresh.

The fight scenes in the first half are amongst the best in the MCU, with the very first being an exception.

Some janky CG here and there don't overwhelm an otherwise solid film.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) September 12, 2021

#FF21 Worth tells the true story of the lawyers who had to value human lives in the wake of 9/11.

It's well-paced, with solid performances from Keaton, Tucci, and Ryan. Difficult and human, the film builds empathy with the characters without becoming schmaltzy.

Worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) September 12, 2021

#FF21 Kate is Mary Elizabeth-Winstead's turn to be John Wick... and it works very well.

Most of the action is cleanly shot and edited, the visuals are dripping in the neon of Tokyo, and the plot is... perfunctory.

A very solid action film.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) September 12, 2021

#FF21 Sweat is an interesting look at the life of a would-be influencer.

Beautifully shot in bright colours, we see that the forced perspective of what she puts online isn't quite mirrored in her life, and goes a little off the rails.

Well done.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 2, 2021

#FF21 Apples follows an amnesiac plague, gently sweeping the world. It's about people forgetting who they are and building a new life through relearned experience.

Really, it's a look at relationships, and who we are after them.

An excellent addition to the Greek weird wave.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 2, 2021

#FF21 Malignant is the kind of knowingly cheesy, over-the top, horror film that doesn't do much for me.

A weird, schlocky premise, that gets weirder as it goes on.

There are definitely fun moments, and I laughed, but I can't really recommend it. Not my thing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) October 2, 2021

#FF21 Walk Away Joe is about a kid who wants to follow in his dad's footsteps as a pool hustler.

It's pretty forgettable. The story is full of beats we've seen before, none of it quite fitting together; with a fairly slow pace.

Fine visually, just not interesting.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 The Best Of Enemies is the fascinating story of bringing together a Black community with white supremacists to figure out a way forward.

Rockwell and Henson are both great, always bringing humanity to their roles.

Good subject, well told.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 Black Bear sees Aubrey Plaza at her very best.

A stunning, dizzying film of two halves, full of bubbling arguments, dark humour, and an interesting conceit. Absolutely masterful camera work too.

I don't want to say too much but this is a must see film.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 Money Plane is as terrible as the concept: a bet-on-anything casino plane being robbed.

The plot is stupid, the dialogue is bad, the execution poor, and the action as flat as it gets.

Nothing here works. Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 The Courier is an intriguing spy thriller, with Benedict Cumberbatch as a business pulled into the cold war.

A solid cast take us through a world of slow tradecraft, that ends with the Bay of Pigs.

The ending drags a little, but worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 New Order is a stark warning against increasing class/wealth inequality and abuses of authoritarian violence.

Every shot is beautiful or gripping, layering unease and trauma onto a turbulent situation. The film forces us to keep watching as the horror unfolds.

Excellent

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 Free Guy is as tiresome as it is poorly written. A bunch of handwavey tech words to motivate the plot and cover holes doesn't make for a satisfying story.

The action feels empty, the story is boring, it's a bit too long, and it's not particularly funny.

Disappointing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 I Used To Go Here is a fine light comedy about a writer going back to college for a reading, inevitably getting caught up in some hijinks.

It's never laugh-out-loud funny, but there's enough here to keep watching.

Decent.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 16, 2021

#FF21 Beckett is a slow-burn thriller. John David Washington is good as the lead, stumbling into a mystery/conspiracy far bigger than he can imagine.

Well-paced and shot, it pulls us through his understanding of events well.

Solid.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 29, 2021

#FF21 The Green Knight is an Arthurian tale, told in a dream-like way.

Dev Patel is excellent as the lead, a would-be Knight whose brashness costs him everything. Mythic imagery and storytelling combine for a stunning set of encounters on his quest.

Excellent.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 29, 2021

#FF21 Another Round is about losing confidence and trying to regain who you were in youth, through the story of teachers maintaining a low-level of blood alcohol.

Joyful and sad, tragic and triumphant, an interesting take on the story of middle-age.

Very good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 29, 2021

#FF21 The Vault is a silly action/heist film that draws comparisons with the better (and trashier) Money Heist.

It's competent enough, but there's nothing here that isn't predictable, from the sudden moments of inspiration to the inevitable betrayals.

Fine but forgettable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 29, 2021

#FF21 The Nest is a claustrophobic drama, shot as horror.

Law is excellent as the self-aggrandising narcissist, but it's Carrie Coon who steals the show with a mixture of big and very small performances, as the uprooted family fall apart.

Worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 29, 2021

#FF21 Freaky is an okay body-switch horror/comedy.

Vince Vaughn absolutely nails his performance, as a teenage girl stuck in a serial killer body.

Everything else feels a bit by-numbers, and looks a little cheap.

Easy watching, but not great.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 Minari is an excellent film, about struggling to better your life, and failing to communicate with your partner.

Stuffed with so many good performances, Yuen stepping out is even more of an achievement.

Beautiful, thoughtful, sad, desperate, and joyful.

A masterpiece.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 The Tomorrow War is terrible.

Poor effects, generic art direction, tealy-orange grading, bad acting (except Strahovski and Simmons), muddled action sequences, no narrative coherence, cliched motivations. I could go on.

There is little redeemable here. Avoid.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 Body Brokers is a decent story about the business of addiction treatment in the US; and how its not always set-up to help.

Overbearing narration aside, the film works well: good performances, clear plot, maybe a little obvious.

Worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 11, 2021

#FF21 Honest Thief is yet another entirely forgettable bit of Liam Neeson fodder.

Clearly made on a budget, with bland action, a nonsense plot, and the constant reminder that character quirks are not characterisation.

Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 11, 2021

#FF21 Black Widow is pretty uneven.

For every decent action sequence there’s one with janky editing or CG, for every good performance there’s a bad accent, funny moments meet tonal mismatches.

Plot is a mess. A mid-lower tier Marvel, for sure.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 11, 2021

#FF21 Clemency is a powerful look at the death penalty and the toll it takes on the humanity of all involved parties.

The lead performances from Woodard and Hodge are stunning. Direction and pacing pull you through a difficult situation.

Affecting, powerful, tragic. Must see.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 1, 2021

#FF21 First Cow is a fairly unique film.

Slow, and gentle; initially about friendship in a fairly uncaring frontier. It shifts slowly into something else, where risks are taken because it's the only way out.

Restrained, quiet, and intriguing. Worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 1, 2021

#FF21 Gunpowder Milkshake does better than most knock-offs at capturing the essence of John Wick.

The action is decent and clearly shot, though not as polished. It's in the world building it does best, with clear stakes; all shot through with saturated neon colours.

Good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 1, 2021

#FF21 The Suicide Squad is certainly an improvement on Suicide Squad.

Less dour, with some of DCs weirder characters left to be unashamedly different. Fairly funny for the most part. Some of the action works, some doesn't, and the pacing struggles towards the end.

Fine.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) August 1, 2021

#FF21 The Father is an excellent film.

The performances are all great, but Hopkins going between charming, and confused, and angry in a moment is something to behold.

The narrative arc holds together, the set design is fantastic, and the cinematogrpahy is beautiful.

Must see.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) June 20, 2021

#FF21 Shiva Baby is a dark, personal comedy, focussing on an uncomfortable situation at a shiva.

What could descend into farce is carefully managed, drawing humour from the awkward rather than the ridiculous.

Well shot and performed, a solid directorial debut.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) June 20, 2021

#FF21 Awake is about a collapsing society due to people not being able to sleep.

It rushes the start of the strange behaviour, but long takes in clearly controlled spaces make for well done action sequences.w

Predictable but fun. Solid late-night fodder.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) June 20, 2021

#FF21 Mogul Mowgli sees Riz Ahmed as a rapper, who becomes increasingly ill on the verge of his break.

The tone and visuals shift from grounded to surreal to poetic; through an exploration of identity, memory, and family.

Strong lead performance, and direction.

Must see.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 Little Joe is the quiet, calm, horror of slowly losing your identity and reality to something else.

Striking use of colour and framing play against very understated performances, and cold characters.

A little slow but worth seeing.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 A Quiet Place Part 2 is... fine.

It doesn't add anything new to the world of the first film. It's a bunch of set pieces tied together in a reasonable enough way; and some of those work better than others.

An okay, brief, popcorn movie.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021

#FF21 Parallel is pretty standard time-travel/multiverse fare. The characters set out to exploit their new ability, learning that their actions have serious consequences.

While some of the effects are janky, the film is competent but not exceptional.

Worth a late night view.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 4, 2021