Some Bank Holiday Streaming

A few films I have watched over the past week, all perfect to while away the Bank Holiday with your Easter eggs and alcohol of choice.

Brian and Charles 

Such a sweet film telling the tragicomic story of the relationship between a man and his robot Charles Petrescu. An odd couple buddy movie, with emphasis on the odd, this story explores loneliness and the joys of friendship.  Along the way we get to see Brian experience some of the pains of parenthood  whilst also dealing with bullies and falling in love.  Charles, an innocent with some entertaining dance moves, gets to find out about the world including the bad bits, but his optimism pulls him through.  This superficially silly story has real heart and looks great with the jumbled dark interiors and light wide open spaces. And hang around for the rap in the credits.  Loved it.  (Streaming on Prime) 

Tetris 

Taron Egerton plays the real life character Henk Rogers with a 1980’s moustache and an endearing manic energy which keeps us hanging on through the twists and turns of the negotiations to get the rights to Tetris on Gameboy.  On Egerton’s Instagram page he describes it as ‘batshit’ and that’s as an accurate description as any I can come up with!  I didn’t know the real life story and it is fascinating, with Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) at his most seedy and corrupt  and Kevin Maxwell (Anthony Boyle) tagging along as the inept son.  A dodgy deal gave them rights to distribute the game but they then exploited the incompetent Russian contract management to try to take far more than they were due. I was certainly cheering on Henk as he fights the Maxwells and the corrupt dog end of the communist Russian state.  I got lost a bit in the actual machinations of the deal but the frantic rushing about and 80’s game graphics that were used cleverly throughout kept me broadly on track and entertained. Definitely worth a watch.  (Streaming on AppleTV+)

The Lost City

This romcom adventure movie has strong Romancing the Stone vibes and was a silly but fun way to spend a couple of hours.  A classic Sandra Bullock comedy,  I enjoyed Daniel Radcliffe’s slightly camp baddie, Brad Pit’s beefed up comic turns and especially Channing Tatum’s amiable performance as Alan/Dash.   A fun bank holiday entertainment. (Streaming on NowCinema)

Other stuff

I’ve also been watching a few tv series but as they are all being dropped the old fashioned way with one episode a week I will wait till the end before reviewing.  In the meantime I’m recommending a few to give a try.  

• Extrapolations:  Linked but standalone stories about the effects of climate change in the future.  Some episodes are better than others, but I am hooked 
• The Power:  Young women get a power that mean men can’t push them around any more.  I read the book that this is based on and loved it
• Succession:  Final series but still as gripping and funny as ever