Pairic

The Amateur: Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is a CIA cryptographer, his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) is killed in a terrorist attack in London, but these are no ordinary terrorists, they are middlemen between Bad Actor States and terrorist groups. The killing occurred when they took hostages after an arms deal went wrong. Using his skolls Heller identifies the killers but realises that his boss Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) already knows who they are but doesn't want to act until he can roll up the entire network. Heller wants to go on a personal revenge mission but Moore laughs at the idea. With the help of online source Inquiline (Catriona Balfe) he obtains kompromat on Moore, detailing black Ops in which civilians and allied military were killed. Moore sends Heller to be trained by Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), who concludes that Heller is a good bombmaker but would never be capable of killing. Heller sets out on his mission though at this stage Henderson is his nemesis, in pursuit of him. Some really good choreographed fight scenes after Heller meets the real life Inquiline as they are pursued on land and attacked from the air and a river. This is a real hall of mirrors where competing intelligence agencies unite to deal with a maverick. But in this land of fog and mist there is also division within the CIA. Some savage scenes of killings and torture. Heller gets around his inability to kill close up with some ingenious methods. He is no John Wick, just a clever man who uses his skill set well. The levels of surveillance involved at all levels makes this film a good fit foe the SpyFi genre as the action ranges from London to Paris and Istanbul. Convincing performances all round from an ensemble cast. Directed by James Hawes and written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, based on the novel by Robert Littell. 7.5/10.

Death of a Unicorn: Another horror comedy which might have worked better as straight horror (but with a capillary of dark humour/satire). There are lots of laughs as Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teen daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) are spending a weekend at the estate of Elliot's boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant) - (he has terminal cancer but he makes that ghoulishly funny) and his family-his wife Belinda (Tea Leoni), socialite and inveterate do-gooder and their Elon Musk style son Shepard (Will Poulter), always happy to steal other people's ideas but blame them of things go wrong. While driving to their destination, Elliot, not paying attention and quibbling with Ridley, runs over a unicorn foal with his car. Ridley touches its horn, she experiences strange visions, which Elliot brings to a halt when he beats the unicorn to death with a tire iron. He wants to make a good impression on Odell, a promotion is at stake, so pretends nothing happened. But the unicorn comes back to life and is killed by a security guard. Elliot and Ridley were splashed by unicorn blood and realise their eyesight and acne problems are cured. Even better, the blood also sends Odell's cancer into remission. Odell being a pharmaceutical magnate wants to take advantage of this. The satire goes into overdrive: "Get the Davos attendees list!" When the horror arrives it is all too bloody in a Grendel sort of way. Bodies torn apart, impaled on horns, these are some of the milder deaths inflicted. A tale of greed, revenge, horror, with large dollops of fantasy and medieval tapestries playing a role. Some pretty good performances especially from Grant and Ortega. She's 23 this year though so her time to play teens is running out, be interesting to see if she can make the transition to fully adult roles. Good as this is, I want more unadulterated horror! Written and Directed by Alex Scharfman in his directorial debut. 7.5/10.

Restless: Noisy neighbours, they might just be an irritant or they might turn your life into a Hell on Earth. It's the second variety which steers this psychological thriller into the slipstream of Horror. From the opening scenes it becomes clear that care worker Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) has been driven to violence. But then things roll back to a week earlier. Nicky is already stressed, her care home is understaffed and she has to fight to get her days off, she lives alone next door to the house where her parents lived, both are now dead. She's lonely relying on phone calls and her cat along with her beloved classical music for company. The adjoining house has just been sold and new neighbours arrive, very noisy neighbours. Trying to reason with them is fruitless, they party into the small hours every night. The police and local council are of no help. Nicky's lack of sleep results in a deterioration in her health and she strikes back at the chavs, things escalate. Most of the horror here is of the quotidian type but their accumulated effect is literally life changing, resulting in extreme actions by someone who won't just be a victim. There are moments of black humour, Nicky gives the main thug, Deano (Aston McAuley) a tainted cake as a supposed gesture of reconciliation. Her relationship with Kev (Barr Ward), is distinctly odd, as is he. He works as a traffic warden, he makes his interest in her clear but then gives her a parking ticket, later buying her a violin because she likes classical music. Some other funny scenes cannot be referenced here without spoiling the movie for you. Convincing performances from McAuley, Ward, Marshal and Denzel Baidoo as Clarkey, another thug. Directed and Written by Jed Hart, in his feature directorial debut. 8/10.