streaming movies

Director : Camille Griffin – Cast Includes : Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis, Annabelle Wallis, Lily-Rose Depp, Sope Dirisu, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Lucy Punch and Rufus Jones

SOMETIMES you have to get into the festive spirit and dip your toes into a movie treat sprinkled with dark humor, christmas decor, children & friends and then slowly watch as it all implodes with impending helplessness and agonising dispair : Camille Griffin’s SILENT NIGHT is a real gem, it’s not your normal Christmas affair more of an examination of us humans and how some would react to the crazy scenario that this group of family and friends finds themselves in… with swirls of Melancholia mixed with The Mist I really found it facinating and rather upsetting in what transpires in the country home of Nell and Simon played delightfully by Knightley and Goode, who both appear to be good parents trying to do what’s right… Silent Night has a magnificent cast all of which turn in good performances, such as Annabelle Wallis who always makes me smile with her boundless energy taking on the role of Sandra, mum to the rather eccentric Kitty, the fastly growing talent of Lily-Rose Depp who’s character Sophie has other things on her mind and the impressive JoJo Rabbit star Roman Griffin Davis who delivers yet another unnerving turn as Art the son of Nell and Simon who keeps questioning as the night goes on… I would certainly class Silent Night as a horror film as it tackles fear brilliantly, especially when you throw into the mix the children and as the film progresses you can’t help but get caught up in it’s nervous & frightening drive : I LOVED the chaotic last 10 minutes of the film, admiring how Simon stays calm as the twins want the same amount of coke and then that final shot was just WOW and how about that scene when Art runs away and comes across an abandoned car and I so enjoyed watching Sandra purr over James throughout… SILENT NIGHT is a movie executed with a passion and thought provoking precision by a director making her feature debut from a story she had written… it’s one that I just connected with right from the off and has now been added it to my rather long list of annual December rewatches ★★★★½

A filmmaker seeks solace from her down spiraling career in a remote New York lake house, hoping to find some good old fashioned inspiration : It’s only fitting in the strangest of years that we should have one of the strangest of movies : BLACK BEAR is certainly that, mixed with it’s weird and mind bending plot Lawrence Michael Levine’s film is incredibly frustrating, thought provoking and full of the most unlikeable characters in a movie this year, but somehow Levine pulls it off Albeit with the help of it’s stunning location and engaging cast including Christopher Abbott’s Gabe, Sarah Gadon’s Blair both of whom are annoyingly bodacious in that first segment, to say their relationship is stormy is putting it mildly and last but not least Aubrey Plaza who plays the lead role of Allison, along with Ingrid Goes West and Safety Not Guaranteed this is Aubrey Plaza at her captivating, irresistible best, especially in the movies second half where she finds herself as the lead actress, a bit of a diva in a feature film being directed by Gabe : Black Bear is one of those rare movies that I don’t quite understand what went on, although I’m guessing it went something along the lines of a washed up artist who is struggling to find work decides to take a break in remote Long Lake New York to reinvent herself and hopefully find some inspiration so in the movie Levine shows us what’s actually manifesting in Allison’s mind and how certain things may have played out…. it’s only my interpretation of the goings on in Black Bear but nevertheless the movie certainly scores extra points for the performance level and it’s intriguing narrative, as days later I still find myself thinking of what went on in that lake house and what happened to Allison and that big Black Bear ★★★★

A bunch of friends hire a medium to hold a séance via Zoom during lock down but get much more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong when an evil spirit starts invading their homes : HOST is directed by Rob Savage and filmed during this years coronavirus pandemic : As a rule I’m not social media friendly and have never used the likes of Zoom so I had low expectations going in but HOST really rattled my cage : The movie has a short runtime (just under the hour) but it’s very atmospheric and at times I was chewing on my finger nails (the attic scene and Haley being dragged across the room really freaked me the frack out), you keep hearing noises, looking for things in the shadows and the silence at times is deafening : but for me the movies real haunt is those crazy good ladies above who really do capture the essence of being played with by some supernatural entity, their facial expressions keep the whole shit real and create moments of complete and utter dread especially throughout the second half of the movie when all goes pete tong : So if you scare easy & suffer from any pre-existing heart conditions then please avoid HOST BUT if you love being scared and fancy watching something that may keep you up at night then this horror gem is worth the watch – PS… don’t forget to take a shot everytime someone mentions the word astral-plane ★★★★