Les Miserables

 This is compelling while suffering from a perspective that probably didn't seem like a problem when it was originally shot - the confrontation between the residents of a Paris housing development largely populated by muslims and africans and the police is told largely from the police perspective, and in 2020 that's a problem. The "one good cop" riding along with the two more dodgy ones is a cliche that has become increasingly unbelievable in 2020 as the cops-investigating-and-clearing-cops have piled up, and it damages the realisation of this (although admittedly this isn't entirely a film playing in reality, the igniting incident of a missing lion cub is a case of "seeking exciting visuals over believability"). Still, it builds to a suitably tense finale as the cops behaviour catches up with them brutally, and it's worth following along.

A White White Day

 At this point I'm pretty convinced that no movie shot in iceland can be all bad, simply because it's goddamn beautiful to look at. This does suffer from a plot that is beyond slow burn, and when it finally emerges it's the same old "man thinks he has the right to revenge his dead wife's sexual history" story we've seen a lot before, but there's a solid undercurrent of repressed rage for most of the film before it boils over into becoming expressed rage. Still, I'd hoped for more of a payoff to the slowboil.

Tenet

An okay blockbuster mildly damaged by Nolan's dubious dialogue and overly-impressed-by-itself structure. Robert Pattinson gets most of the limelight here as the side guy, while John David Washington is stuck with the worst of the dialogue, Kenneth Branaugh is Baris Badenoving as the baddie, Elizabeth Debicki has to do a lot of suffering on the sidelines in that way that having watched a lot of blockbusters makes me wonder whether Nolan's been going through a messy divorce, and all in all this could easily lose half an hour of moping and needless foreshadowing. 

Lowdown Dirty Criminals

 A perfectly average piece of comedic crime with some of the usual issues - tonally it's all over the place with some messy storytelling as it never quite decides if the characters are charming or dangerous. Rebecca Gibney is obviously hoping for a Jackie Weaver in Animal Kingdom calling card but this is nowhere near that level. Still, a couple of decent set pieces and a good bit with gore

The Swallows of Kabul

 This is where the animation is called "painterley" - it's a beautiful non-cartoonish style that works well for this fairly brutal story of life under the Taliban in Kabul for a few residents - it has its longeurs, and the ending feels a tad obvious a few minutes before it happens, seeking out a way to get an iota of happiness out of the grim material at the expense of credibility, but it certainly scores emotionally.

Sequin in a Blue Room

 Its credited as a homosexual film, and certainly delivers. This is not the great anonymous sex thriller - that's stranger by the lake, but it certainly captures the risks and excitement of hookup culture (although there's weird dynamics with the fake app that mean it sticks out as "moviecreated"). Was weird to have a friend in a lead role hooking up with the 16 year old protagonist. Also it is art-directed to hell and back, and it doesn't quite nail the persona-separation that the use of the sequined shirt implies.

Peninsula

 Warning - I really liked this (to the point of thinking "best action film since Fury Road") but my partner was less impressed and was itemising plot holes and unlikelihoods on the drive home, saying it woulda been fine if it was a Resident Evil movie but not as good as Busan. 

This continues in the same specific Korean Zombie-verse as Busan without any of the characters - four years after the collapse of Korea, four survivors return motivated by the possibility of getting enough cash to do more than survive as a sub-refugee in Hong Kong. Complications ensue after the arrive, including two groups of resident survivors, there's action and plotting aplenty and a suitably (over?)emotional finale. It may be that it's been a while since I've seen something with this level of action creativity in a cinema, and with a bit of scale to it, but I loved the hell out of this - it's ambitious and heartfelt and wildly engrossing for me.

Black Water: Abyss

 Every so often an Australian horror director tries to make their Croc movie - it's the Australian creature that's most like jaws. This combines the threat of being underground in a cave with rising water levels with a croc (who seems curiously afraid of leaving the water, probably because the prop doesn't look that good when above the surface), plus some home-and-away level drama among the humans. There's some okay set-pieces, but most of the people are annoying, the ending kinda throws a few extra things in there for no good reason, and it's all pretty average.

Deerskin

 This is a case of "a little too much whimsy taking a little too long to get to the good stuff", as Djardin plays a guy a little too into his jacket. Particularly the climax feels very sudden

Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe Is Unhinged

This is a fairly familiar Beware Angry White Men story as a young woman in traffic attracts the attention of our Russ, who proceeds to threaten her in various ways physical, vehicular and psychological. There are hints around the edges of various modern ailments to explain why Russ went nuts but fortunately very little time is wasted in such nonsense and instead we get to see dramatic car crashes, fights where Crowe appears to be partially made of concrete given his survival from various beatings and a closing credits appearance of a song I thought had officially retired from such purposes. Caren Pistorious serves as a solid female lead and in general this keeps tension going nicely