I won’t lie to you, dear reader, this month’s film choices were, on average, rather bland. There are one or two (maybe three) gems within this month’s Tiny Tapes, but on the whole, don’t expect anything quite like we’ve had in the past couple of months surrounding awards season.

This month’s TTRs consists of: Asian Persuasion, Azrael, Babygirl, Companion, The Electric State, The Gorge, Here, Infested, Juror #2, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Megalopolis, Picture This, The Rule of Jenny Pen, Smile 2 and Starve Acre.

Director: Jhett Tolentino
Writer: Mike Ang
Cast: Dante Basco, KC Concepcion, Kevin Kreider, Paolo Montalban

Divorce is rarely a straightforward end to a relationship, but there are more insane ways to navigate such a thing, apparently. Newly divorced father-of-one and prolific underachiever Mickey (Basco) begins to meddle in his ex’s love life in an attempt to avoid paying alimony. It’s a bizarre thing to do, but it does make for a good rom-com premise. The writing, particularly the dialogue, has its moments of out-and-out comedy, and the performances are strong enough to keep the drama afloat amongst the hilarity, though the premise is rather far-fetched, causing some bland or slightly cringe moments. It’s super refreshing to see a more diverse cast that allows room for bits of various cultures to come through in a similar way to reality, such as pieces of non-English dialogue here and there, and overall its a fun film for anyone but particularly those who could perhaps relate to some of the situations.

Director: E.L.Katz
Writer: Simon Barrett
Cast: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Katariina Unt

If you’re the religious type, maybe you believe in the possibility of a comping “Rapture”. If you’re not, well, the idea often makes for decent horror movie fodder. In a post-Rapture world, the remains of humanity have become somewhat ferrel. Azrael (Weaving) is cast out from her muted community (they’ve had their vocal cords removed) along with her boyfriend Kenan (Stewart-Jarrett), and they are constantly having to avoid the Burned Ones. When they are forced apart, Azrael finds herself in more danger, and frankly, she’s had just about enough. Unless you read a brief synopsis (such as the above) before watching, you wouldn’t really know this film is set after an armageddon of some kind, nor that Weaving’s character is the titular Azrael (known in reality as the angel of death in Islam). Not that either of that really matters; the film takes its own path of a dystopian future, whether through supernatural or less so reasons, where the human race has been set back a few millennia, and although it may not be the most original of concepts, it’s the mutism and Weaving’s performance that really give Azrael its legs, not to mention its intriguing ending.

Director: Halina Reijn
Writer: Halina Reijn
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde

There’s something in the water in Hollywood recently that seems to be causing more filmmakers to push out these older woman/younger man age-gap romances (The Idea of You, Lonely Planet, with May December being particularly harrowing). Babygirl sees Kidman’s married CEO Romy fall into a sexual relationship with an intern, Samuel (Dickinson), at her company, a relationship that is ignited by Romy’s unsatisfactory sex life with her husband Jacob (Banderas), and of course the affair does not remain secret for long. The film tries to address the power imbalance by overtly expressing that Samuel is the one holding the power, knowing he could bring Romy down were he to go public with the affair, and yet she is the one that continues to return in spite of her moral dilemma. The way in which the relationship is presented is applaudable, making it about more than an age-gap affair or improper use of a lofty position to get what one wants, however the affair is less interesting than what is actually going on between Romy and Jacob; that’s where the real soul of the film lies.

Director: Drew Hancock
Writer: Drew Hancock
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend

On a weekend getaway with her boyfriend Josh (Quaid) and their friends, Iris (Thatcher) finds herself in a precarious situation that is further exacerbated after she learns a few truths from Josh, who may not be the doting boyfriend she believes him to be. The thing about this movie is that is takes more than one twist or turn, and it’s a little whiplashing and doesn’t leave all that much time to get your head on straight before the next revelation. It guns more for the gory side of horror, essentially making it a slasher at some point, rather than exploring more of what makes Iris, without spoilers, Iris. It’s not really anything new, particularly in its isolated setting and psychological themes, but if you’re looking for something that’s just a little bit more than your average murder caper, you may take some enjoyment from it.

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, based on the graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Woody Norman, Ke Huy Quan, Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, Holly Hunter, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito

If you have read Stålenhag’s graphic novel, you’ll know how bleak yet gorgeously written and illustrated it is. Unfortunately, the Russo brothers left much of that behind in favour of comedy and a lighter adventure for their straight-to-Netflix version. Set in an alternate ’90s after a war between robots and humans, people have somewhat devolved into vegetative states, uploading their minds to a virtual world, a world that teenager Michelle (Brown) is struggling to navigate without her younger brother. When a robot comes to her claiming to be her brother (or controlled by her brother, rather), she sets out on a cross-country journey to find him, meeting all kinds of characters, both robot and human, who help and/or hinder her on her journey. Considering how much of this story is supposed to be about humanity and what it means to be human, or alive, the film is lacklustre and seems to rely on Chris Pratt’s “comic” abilities (not great in this film) rather than further exploring that deeper relationship between man and machine/AI. Brown is fairly good in her role, and some of the situations she and the robot find themselves in are somewhat entertaining, but on the whole it struggles to get anywhere near the level of its source material.

Director: Scott Derickson
Writer: Zach Dean
Cast: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver

Doesn’t the title sound like a metaphor for having a massive problem within a relationship? Maybe that’s not far off. American Levi (Miles Teller) and Lithuanian Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) are both snipers tasked with guarding either side of a gorge for one year, Levi for America, Drasa for Russia. Despite contact between them being forbidden, they form a relationship and soon find themselves in danger from what lies within, and without, the gorge. Part action, part horror, part sci-fi, part love story, The Gorge hits many genres to keep tensions and emotions running high throughout, though the chemistry is low between its two lead actors. The premise is interesting and Derrickson does a good job of pulling the audience in, but due to the closeness of Levi and Drasa’s relationship and the investment we’re expected to make in it, it becomes somewhat predictable and less likely to hold attention up until the end.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis, Richard McGuire
Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Gwilym Lee, David Finn, Ophelia Lovibond, Nicholas Pinnock, Nikki Amuka-Bird

As film premises go, this one is not bad, but unfortunately it wasn’t executed too well. Through non-chronological flashbacks that zip here and there between the present and, well, the very beginning of time as we know (or assume) it, Zemeckis invites us to be the ultimate voyeurs via a camera angle that never so much as shifts, offering us a look at how one small area somewhere in America changed since the Earth began, from dinosaurs to Native Americans, through the Civil War and up until the twenty-first century. The idea sounds big, quite epic in scale, but the framework doesn’t really, well, work for it. We’re presented with multiple families to follow, each dealing with their own trials, tribulations and triumphs, so much so that it’s hard to really feel too much for any one family or character. It has its moments – there’s one family, fronted mostly by Bettany (with, I’m sorry to say, the most heinous American accent) and Reilly and later on by Hanks and Wright, that does its best to draw you in, but we’re often pulled away before we can really empathise or celebrate with them. Much like Coppola’s Megalopolis (see below), Here was a valiant effort, but leaves a lot to be desired.

Director: Sébastien Vaniček
Writers: Sébastien Vaniček, Florent Bernard
Cast: Théo Christine, Sofia Lesaffre, Jérôme Niel, Lisa Nyarko, Finnegan Oldfield

Arachnophobes, beware! This might be one tough film to take. All other folks, get ready for something that might just cause you to think again about these eight-legged crawlers. When a particularly poisonous spider finds its way from the deserts of the Middle East to an illegal seller in Paris, France, it is purchased by Kaleb (Christine), a collector of exotic creatures and dealer of sneakers. It’s not long before the spider escapes, multiplies, and causes panic and pandomonium in Kaleb’s apartment building. This film had been on my watchlist for a while, and as I don’t personally find spiders and bugs in general to actually be creepy, it took some time to sit down and watch it (mostly based on the rave reviews). Certainly I had been missing out on something actually good, and not just because of the way the spiders were done. The whole thing has deeper messaging around the suburban communities and the way they’re treated, is shot spectacularly and has fantastic performances. The ending is a little soft compared to the tension of the rest of the film, but like them or not, spiders can be terrifying.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Jonathan A. Abrams
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb

What if you made a mistake, didn’t think much of it, but then ended up on a jury tasked with deciding if someone is guilty or not based on that mistake you didn’t think was too big of a deal? That is what happens to recovering alcoholic Justin (Hoult) in a nutshell in Clint Eastwood’s moralistic tale. Just when you think this film is going to go a certain way, it will subvert your expectations and go somewhere more interesting and yet far more realistic. We all like to think we would do the right thing in a tough situation, should push come to shove, but more often than not there are multiple factors that could push us one way or the other, including our own instinct for survival and self-preservation, and often that of those closest to us. It’s circumstancial and highly hypothetical as to how each individual would proceed, and it’s those crossroads and the paths we choose that make for an engaging and thought-provoking film, with a great performance from Hoult and wonderful supporting performances from Collette, Simmons and Deutch.

Director: André Øvredal
Writer: Bragi F. Schut, Zak Olkewicz, based on a chapter of ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker
Cast: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian

Dracula has been done to death (pun intended) at this point, thus taking on just one chapter of the book and fleshing it out was an interesting way to go. Aboard the ship ‘Demeter’, sailing from Bulgaria to England, is the infamous Count Dracula, unknown to the ship’s captain and crew. During the sailing, the Count arises and begins to stalk the ship’s animals and crew by night until there is nary a living thing left. Of course some dramatic license was taken to flesh out the single chapter (“The Captain’s Log”), and some of it works well to build the tension and provide some exposition for any unfamiliar with Dracula or any of its many film/television adaptations, but it doesn’t always work for the pacing of the film, which, much like the water the ship sails on, is up and down and might leave one feeling a little drowsy. Presenting Dracula as more of an actual monster and less human-like was also an interesting away to go, but it’s not something that will be to everyone’s taste. It’s tough to do a film where much of the action happens at night, as the lighting is not great, but they do what they can to create a shadowy stalker and build fright to keep the audience somewhat invested.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter

When we think of cinematic epics with massive sets yet intricate details, we think of classics like The Ten Commandments, Spartacus or Gone with the Wind and some modern films such as Lord of the Rings or Gladiator, when things were done more physically with VFX and not so much CGI (such as Avatar). It seems this is what Coppola was perhaps going for with Megalopolis, a grand scale epic to go down in film history. It tells a modern story based on Roman empires rising and falling, and even seems to try to go Shakespearean at times. The U.S is called New Rome and, much like reality, is essentially run by the oligarchy, and its famous architect, Cesar Catilina (Driver) has the ability to stop time when he pleases. His life is tumultuous, further exacerbated when he falls in love with the daughter of his biggest rival. There’s a lot going on in this film, and it comes across like Coppola had planned for a three-hour multi-act story that was eventually pushed down and juggled around 140 minutes of messy infighting and strange supernatural occurrences. Emmanuel knocks her performance out of the park and everyone else struggles to keep up, whether that be because of the level of writing or the characters just being not all that interesting. It has its moments, but its a bit of a struggle to get from A to B and right down to Z much of the time.

Director: Prarthana Mohan
Writer: Prarthana Mohan
Cast: Simone Ashley, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Sindhu Vee, Luke Fetherston, Anoushka Chadha, Nikesh Patel, Asim Chaudhry

As we get older, the more we women often have it put upon us to settle down, marry, and birth the next generation, but it’s becoming less and less the norm to take the traditional path. It’s quite a freeing concept, to be able to live the life you want, but we still get films that come along and push society’s agenda even more. Pia (Ashley) has her life interuppted when, in the run up to her younger sister’s wedding, a guru tells her that she will meet her soul mate some time during her next five dates. It’s a completely moot point, because the film practically gives away the ending from the off. Some of Pia’s “dates” are fairly amusing and are what give the film its “comedic” legs, but it’s not so fun when you know it’s all pointless and a waste of Pia’s (and our) time. She also could have done just fine continuing on with her business and having fun with her GBF, but no, it had to be about finding the “love of her life”. Not to bash the concept – that’s what some people are after, and that’s great, but it felt like a disservice to Pia’s character, and women at large who want to make their own choices and not feel they are pre-made, whether that be through a fortune teller or the reappearance of a he-who-got-away ex.

Director: James Ashcroft
Writers: Eli Kent, James Ashcroft, Owen Marshall
Cast: Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow

Don’t be fooled that this film is about a malicious doll (Anabelle might come for you). Rather, it goes into much scarier territory: the elderly!!! I’m just kidding, but really, truth can be stranger, and far more frightening, than fiction. After he suffers a stroke, judge Stefan (Rush) becomes partially immobile and sent to live in a care home. This particular care home has staff that appear lovely but in fact ignore Stefan’s pleas for help when he discovers many of the home’s terrified residents are being abused by fellow resident Dave (Lithgow) and his weirdass puppet named Jenny Pen. Lithgow is terrifying as Dave, a completely mad and sadistic man who portrays himself outwardly as mentally ill but harmless. Rush’s Stefan, being a judge, seeks justice and consequences for Dave, but it all falls on deaf ears, with not even the abused residents wishing to come forward. His attempts cause Dave to up the ante in his actions and violence. It all culminates in horrible events, and the way the tension builds and the abuse is portrayed is enough to put anyone off being left in a care home (which are, in some parts of the world, horrendous enough).

Director: Parker Finn
Writer: Parker Finn
Cast: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula

Six days after the events of the first film, the demonic presence that kills continues to pass itself on until it enters the life of recovering addict, car-crash survivor and international pop star Skye Riley (Scott), causing her to spiral out of control. The first film was ok as horror films go, interesting in its premise if not entirely entertaining in its execution, but this one kind of flip-reverses that: the premise is much the same as the first, but the execution is at least a little more interesting. Scott really goes for it in her performance, pushing her physical and emotional limits, leaving everyone else struggling to even come close to her level. It does get a little tiresome at times; due to Skye’s pre-existing issues, everything is already dialled up to 100, so it can get a little exhausting watching her go through more and more shit again and again, and the ending, while inkeeping with the film’s premise of continuation (a threequel on the way perhaps?), made Skye’s journey feel a little redundant.

Director: Daniel Kokotajlo
Writer: Daniel Kokotajlo, based on the book by Andrew Michael Hurley
Cast: Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark, Arthur Shaw, Erin Richards, Robert Emms, Sean Gilder, Melanie Kilburn

When a folk horror is done right, it can really get under your skin. Archaeologist Richard (Smith) and his wife Jules (Clark) live a quiet life on a farm left to Richard after the passing of his abusive father. Soon, Richard and Jules suffer the unimaginable in the loss of their son, and events from Richard’s childhood begin to come up again as they navigate their grief and things turn a little more supernatural. It’s not exactly unheard of to use grief as the basis of a horror film (it’s as common as themes come, in fact), but it’s not always done right. Fortunately, Starve Acre goes beyond the physical to the mental strain on Richard and Jules and the effect it has on their relationship to create something harrowing and, frankly, tragic in more ways than one. It’s at once familiar and bizarre, throwing in odd situations amidst a situation that is sadly familiar to many.