Damon Smith reviews the latest download, streaming and premium video on-demand releases including Hoppers, Relay, How To Make A Killing, Scream 7 and Office Romance.
NEW FILMS TO STREAM, RENT ON-DEMAND OR BUY
FILM OF THE WEEK
Hoppers (UK U/ROI PG, 104 mins, streaming from June 3 exclusively on Disney+, available from June 8 on digital platforms, also available from June 8 on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
Featuring the voices of: Piper Curda, Karen Huie, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Aparna Nancherla, Sam Richardson, Vanessa Bayer.
Nineteen-year-old eco-activist Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda) nurtured a passion for wildlife from her late grandmother (Karen Huie) during blissful afternoons spent together in a glade near the old woman’s home in Beaverton.
After grandma dies, animals abandon the glade and self-serving mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm) confirms plans for his vanity project – the Beaverton Beltway – which will pass through the formerly teeming preserve.
“You can’t save that place. Only a beaver can,” biology professor Dr Samantha Fairfax (Kathy Najimy) explains to Mabel, confirming that if a new beaver settles in the glade, Jerry cannot legally send in the bulldozers.
Mabel subsequently learns that Dr Sam, colleague Nisha (Aparna Nancherla) and grad student Conner (Sam Richardson), have secretly developed Hopping technology, which allows humans to port their minds inside life-like robotic critters.
Mabel hijacks the system to meld with a mechanised beaver and the teenager embarks on an outlandish odyssey to save the glade.
Hoppers is a wildly imaginative, computer-animated comedy from the heartstring-pluckers at Pixar that conceals a tub-thumping lesson about protecting natural habitats inside a hilarious coming-of-age story.
Stylised visuals ramp up cuteness over photorealism but remain impeccably detailed down to the way animal fur interacts with flowing water.
Zany set pieces are breathlessly staged, especially the centrepiece of the Animal Council’s most deadly enforcer, shark assassin Diane (Vanessa Bayer), carrying out a contract to “squish” Jerry.
I laughed uproariously at visual and verbal gags and drifted into dewy-eyed delirium before director Daniel Chong’s picture delivered the repeated emotional gut punches that have become Pixar’s trademark.
Rating: ****
RELEASED
Relay (UK 15/ROI 15, 111 mins, Black Bear, available from June 8 on digital platforms, Thriller/Romance/Action)
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Jared Abrahamson, Pun Bandhu, Eisa Davis, Matthew Maher.
Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a silent fixer, who supports and protects whistleblowers who have stolen evidence of corporate malfeasance.
Using a messaging relay service, which facilitates lively discourse between deaf and hearing communities, Ash acts as an invisible go-between to negotiate terms that ensure his client escapes punishment in return for keeping evidence under lock and key.
Bioengineering company employee Sarah Grant (Lily James) has damning proof that her corporate behemoth intends to sell genetically engineered grain.
She reaches out to Ash through an intermediary and he cautiously takes up her case.
Covert surveillance confirms that Sarah is being watched by Dawson (Sam Worthington) and his associates.
Using a series of disguises and technical fail-safes, Ash sends Dawson and co down a rabbit hole of bogus leads to distract the high-tech pursuers.
Relay is an ingenious thriller directed by David Mackenzie, which engineers a high-stakes game of cats and mice on the streets of New York.
Screenwriter Justin Piasecki ruthlessly exploits the simple mechanics of a real-life service to conceal the identity of the film’s crusading hero until exposure becomes an inevitability.
The big twist relies on misdirection that feels like a blatant cheat in hindsight.
Ahmed barely utters a word on screen for the opening hour and his performance is magnetic.
Through facial expressions and gestures, he conveys every emotion churning under a calm facade.
He kindles palpable chemistry with James from a tantalising distance.
The script cannot quite nail the landing and relies on outrageous good fortune rather than cunning and logic to facilitate Ash’s hastily conceived masterplan.
Rating: ****
How To Make A Killing (UK 15/ROI 15, 108 mins, StudioCanal, available from June 8 on digital platforms, also available from June 8 on DVD/Blu-ray, Thriller/Comedy/Romance)
Starring: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Ed Harris, Nell Williams, Raff Law, Topher Grace, Grady Wilson.
Becket Redfellow (Grady Wilson) is disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, spearheaded by grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris).
On her deathbed, Becket’s mother, Mary (Nell Williams), whispers: “Promise me you won’t quit until you have the right kind of life… the kind of life I raised you to have.”
As an orphan, the grieving boy reaches out to his biological family and is rejected again, sowing seeds of rage that just need a little watering.
An unexpected reunion with former childhood crush, Julia Steinway (Margaret Qualley), convinces Becket (now played by Glen Powell) to kill his selfish kin.
Initially, he targets obnoxious stockbroker cousin, Taylor (Raff Law), before he starts pruning other branches of the family tree.
How To Make A Killing lacks is an exceedingly loose remake of Kind Hearts And Coronets, which jettisons the gimmick that made the 1949 film such a whoop-inducing blast: namely, Sir Alec Guinness playing all eight members of an aristocratic family marked for death.
Writer-director John Patton Ford’s contemporary revamp could do with that kind of unabashed, show-stopping theatrics to enliven a plodding script that gives the aggrieved lead character everything he needs to be happy but still compels him to slide a noose tightly around his own neck.
Qualley’s materialistic vamp forcefully inserts herself into the plot.
Screen chemistry with Powell’s serial killer is lukewarm and their lack of heat is felt acutely in the film’s belaboured final stretch when bullets start flying.
Harris, Law and co-stars, who embody the doomed Redfellow bloodline, have limited screen time to make an impact.
Rating: ***
Scream 7 (UK 18/ROI 16, 113 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, available from June 8 on digital platforms, also available from June 8 on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Horror/Thriller/Romance)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Joel McHale, Sam Rechner, Celeste O’Connor, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Timothy Simons, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown.
Sidney Prescott-Evans (Neve Campbell), one of the survivors of the original Ghostface killer(s), has relocated to the picture postcard town of Pine Grove to run a neighbourhood coffee shop.
She raises her sassy 17-year-old daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), with her police officer husband, Mark (Joel McHale).
A new Ghostface killer brazenly arrives in Pine Grove with a diabolical plan to target everyone that Sidney loves.
To protect her family and old acquaintances, including Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), with whom Sidney has a “complicated but enduring” friendship, the stoic survivor confronts ghosts of her grim past.
The most obvious suspects for scrutiny include Tatum’s classmates, Chloe (Celeste O’Connor), Hannah (Mckenna Grace) and Lucas (Asa Germann), and the school’s mean-spirited drama teacher (Timothy Simons).
For long stretches, Scream 7 is a slickly executed blast with some satisfyingly squelchy kills.
Campbell makes a welcome return as the prime target of Ghostface’s machinations.
Her absence from the sixth film, set in New York City, is addressed head-on in dialogue between Sidney and Gale (“You’re lucky that you sat that one out – it was brutal.”)
Unfortunately, one key sequence derails the entire picture and Kevin Williamson’s first stint in the franchise director’s chair never recovers.
It is a bewildering and infuriating misstep, all the more glaring when everything else in a script co-written by the director and Guy Busick is polished and punctuated by delectable peekaboo moments with the masked menace.
Rating: ***
also released
The Land Of Sometimes (UK U/ROI G, 93 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Animation/Fantasy/Adventure – see below)
NEW TO DOWNLOAD, STREAM OR BUY
Cape Fear (10 episodes, starts streaming from June 5 exclusively on Apple TV+, Thriller/Romance)
Steven Spielberg executive produces a 10-part psychological thriller based on John D MacDonald’s suspense novel The Executioners and the 1962 and 1991 film versions of Cape Fear.
The first two episodes premiere this week and the storm intensifies in further instalments on Fridays.
Happily married lawyers Tom (Patrick Wilson) and Anna Bowden (Amy Adams) are responsible for putting notorious killer Max Cady (Javier Bardem) behind bars.
The couple’s perfect life with children Natalie (Lily Collias) and Zack (Joe Anders) is threatened when Max is let out of prison and vows to exact revenge on the Bowdens.
Tom and Anna’s Achilles heels are their children and Max cleverly targets Natalie to drive a wedge between the daughter and her terrified parents.
Office Romance (UK 12/ROI 12 TBC, 94 mins, streaming from June 5 exclusively on Netflix, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
Award-winning Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein co-writes and acts in a romantic comedy of errors directed by Ol Parker, pairing him with Jennifer Lopez.
Jackie Cruz (Lopez) is the workaholic chief executive of Air Cruz, who has devoted her life to building up her business.
She is a tough taskmaster and frowns upon romances between employees.
New legal counsel Daniel Branchflower (Goldstein) is immediately smitten with Jackie but cannot act upon his attraction as he prepares the chief executive for a deposition in the Dominican Republic.
As desire between the couple builds, they succumb to temptation and vow to conceal their feelings in the office so it does not undermine Jackie’s position as chief exec.
Betty Gilpin, Edward James Olmos, Amy Sedaris and Bradley Whitford also star.
Alice And Steve (6 episodes, starts streaming from June 8 exclusively on Disney+, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
Love puts an intolerable strain on a lifelong friendship in this six-part comedy created by Sophie Goodhart and directed by Tom Kingsley.
Alice (Nicola Walker) and Steve (Jemaine Clement) have weathered life’s greatest challenges side by side but storm clouds are gathering.
Steve starts dating Alice’s 26-year-old daughter, Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith), and the mother secretly plots to sabotage the relationship to protect her bonds with two of the people she loves the most.
Alice’s husband, Daniel (Joel Fry), and son, Dom (Tyrese Eaton-Dyce), witness the emotional fallout when Steve launches retaliatory measures, sparking a feud that threatens to escalate out of control
Every Year After (8 episodes, streaming from June 10 exclusively on Prime Video, Romance/Drama)
Persephone “Percy” Fraser (Sadie Soverall) returns to the source of her greatest pleasure and pain in an eight-part romance based on Carley Fortune’s bestselling novel.
Percy has a seemingly idyllic life in the city in her stylish apartment, surrounded by friends, but she keeps people at arm’s length.
A shocking telephone call propels her back to Barry’s Bay and to Sam Florek (Matt Cornett), the man she once believed she could never live without.
Over the course of six years and one week, Percy revisits the choices she made about Sam and the deep psychological wounds she inflicted on herself.
All episodes debut this week.
Best Medicine (13 episodes, streaming from June 9 exclusively on Now, Comedy/Drama /Romance)
Josh Charles plays a cranky heart surgeon, who leaves the big city for small town life, in an American remake of the long-running British comedy drama Doc Martin.
Dr Martin Best (Charles) relinquishes his position at a hospital in Boston to take up private practice in a small fishing village where he holidayed as a child.
In the absence of a friendly bedside manner, Martin creates friction with many residents of Port Wenn in Maine including schoolteacher Louisa Gavin (Abigail Spencer) and her one-time fiance, sheriff Mark Mylow (Josh Segarra).
Martin begrudgingly forges emotional bonds with his patients and unravels their perplexing medical histories while getting to know his mobster aunt, Sarah (Annie Potts), who operates on the wrong side of the law.
Best Of The World With Antoni Porowski (4 episodes, starts streaming from June 8 exclusively on Disney+, Documentary)
Montreal-born cook and author Antoni Porowski, best known as the food and drink expert on Netflix reality makeover series Queer Eye, hosts a four-part travelogue which celebrates some of the world’s most vibrant destinations.
In each location, he immerses himself in the culture, history and, of course, the cuisine, searching for authentic experiences that are exclusive to each city.
Travelling first to London, Antoni samples the tastes of Brick Lane, discovers what makes Big Ben’s Great Clock tick, explores Kew Gardens and dives headfirst into the local drag scene.
In Mexico City, he enters the cathedral of the lucha libre and glides through Xochimilco’s ancient waterways, while Paris invites him to cycle to the top of Montmartre and venture behind the scenes of the Moulin Rouge.
Heading back home to New York City, he is excited to share fusion cuisine, mind-bending cocktails and a unique twist on pizza.
Sweet Magnolias – Season 5 (10 episodes, streaming from June 11 exclusively on Netflix, Romance/Drama)
Best friends Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), Helen (Heather Headley) and Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) face new challenges in the heartwarming drama based on the bestselling novels by Sherryl Woods.
Maddie is excited by her publishing job in New York City and she befriends prominent writer Nell Winters (Jamie-Lynn Sigler).
Dana Sue and Helen provide unstinting support as Maddie navigates personal and professional crises.
Back in Serenity, South Carolina, Dana Sue’s husband, Ronnie (Brandon Quinn), has a new business partner, Courtney Sinclair (Courtney Grace), and sparks fly with business rival Clark Bellson (John Gabriel Rodriquez).
Mexico 86 (UK 15/ROI 15 TBC, 95mins, streaming from June 5 exclusively on Netflix, Drama/Comedy/Sport)
Diego Luna headlines a satirical drama directed by Gabriel Ripstein about Mexico’s audacious bid to host the 1986 World Cup.
Colombia is chosen to host the tournament but incoming president Belisario Betancur announces his country can no longer afford to honour the commitment.
Mexican bureaucrat Martin de la Torre (Luna) vows to do whatever it takes so his beloved homeland takes over as host for a second time.
Bending and breaking rules along the way, de la Torre faces an uphill battle to defeat bid rivals, the United States and Canada.
However, in business and on a football pitch, anything is possible.
James Dean: The Emotional Man (UK 12/ROI 12 TBC, 75 mins, streaming from June 11 exclusively on Now, Documentary)
When he died at the age of 24 in a car accident, James Dean had made three films in quick succession: East Of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause and Giant.
Openly vulnerable on screen, he challenged conventional portrayals of masculinity and became a sex symbol for a generation.
Dean was posthumously honoured with Oscar nominations for two of his roles and in this feature-length documentary, commentators and experts consider his lasting impact on Hollywood and popular culture.
Devil In The Dust (UK 15/ROI 15 TBC, 108 mins, streaming from June 5 exclusively on Paramount+, Western/Fantasy/Thriller)
Widowed doctor Bender (Guy Pearce) agrees to escort freed slave, Sarah (DeWanda Wise), and her daughter (Emily Katherine Ford) across the wilderness.
Mother and child seek an audience with Preacher Ross (Bill Pullman) in the hope he can exorcise the demon that resides in the girl.
The tyke can kill with a touch of her bare hands and she wears gloves to prevent a rapidly escalating body count in a supernatural western directed by Ned Crowley.
The Land Of Sometimes (UK U/ROI G, 93 mins, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, available from June 8 on digital platforms, Animation/Fantasy/Adventure)
Twin siblings discover the power of a united family in an animated escapade based on Francesca Longrigg’s audiobook, which features new original songs by Sir Tim Rice and Pete Hobbs.
Alfie (voiced by Andrei Shen) and sister Elise (Alisha Weir) receive a magical watch from their missing soldier father (Calum Callaghan).
The children summon the mysterious Wish Collector (Ewan McGregor), who spirits the tykes away to The Land of Sometimes, where all four seasons pass in one day.
The siblings are granted six wishes, which sounds a lot, but Alfie and Elise quickly learn they need to be careful what they wish for.
As the pair seek enlightenment, they cross paths with a menagerie of wild and fantastical creatures.
The voice cast of Leon Joosen’s film also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Mel Brooks, Asa Butterfield and the late Terry Jones.
