F9: The Fast Saga

 This enjoys being a late period Fast and Furious movie, meaning there's a lot of ridiculous backstory and retcons, including as many elements of the previous movies as possible (this is a series that lets nothing go - there's plot points from a largely disconnected movie 6 films ago, as well as referencing characters whose actors have died but whose character hasn't), there's self-reflective dialogue as Roman and Teej, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the series, debate whether the fact they haven't died from the previous films nonsense means they're now effectively immortal, there's an attempt to set up the Fast and Furious universe's equivalent of Latveria, there's a nonsensical Cardi B cameo, and two characters go to space. It's a little too long and this is the third nonsensical technical mcguffin in a row, but it's playing the formula at full throttle and is suitably enjoyable with all that.

Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story

 A bio-documentary of the famous shark-lady, it's assembled from a lot of file footage and interviews and a very little bit of new footage, but the file footage is spectacular stuff and the new footage has a good resolution to it, giving us 50 plus years of underwater investigations with particular focus on the sharks, both how they have been demonised and what Taylor has done to rehabilitate their reputation. Some stunning footage, well chosen interviewees, a look at a unique woman and how an activist is born.

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

 This is a reasonably okay anime that operates a little too much on the soap-opera level, as a young wannabe marine biologist starts caring for a wheelchair bound girl. There's some decent emotional payoff but some of the plot developments definitely feel contrived, and the female lead has that "yelling a lot" thing that happens a lot in anime. It's not bad but it's not the bet of the genre either.

In the Heights

 This is a charming and beautifully shot exercise, albeit one with a couple of script issues that hold it back from being as wonderful as it could be. The script doesn't really bust out of cliché very much, and often seems to rely on coincidence to allow plot developments to come along, rather than seeding things on a deeper level to pay off later. It's a pity because Chu is a great musical director, coming up with inventive ways to shape scenes all over, and the performers are all great fun to watch. This isn't Miranda's greatest score either but it has pulse and energy to it that keeps things rolling along even when the plot beats are familiar, and it's a delightful emotional experience.

Wrath of Man

 A more sedate Ritchie than usual, this remake of the French film Les Conveyeurs gives us a fairly grim story of a armoured car guard (Statham) with a few secrets on board, and the complicated nature of his relationship with the perpetrators of the attacks on the armoured cars. There's good tense build up, a number of reasonably big-name actors to be red herrings or draw the attention away, and a satisfying final battle. Okay, so Statham is a bit too limited an actor to really sell the emotional turmoil which is supposedly going on beneath him, but the film still works fairly well.

Lapsis

 A great low-budget "scifi that's not-so-secretly-about-the-flaws-of-capitalism", looking at the exploitative nature of the gig economy through a complex cabling program and a new arrival to the system finding out the complexities and challenges that arise. There's a good mix of performers, mostly unfamiliar faces, some interesting twists and turns in the narrative and a solid resolution, plus gorgeous upstate New York scenery throughout giving it a feel unlike most sci-fi. Good think-material.