Sofa Cinema: This Week On VOD

It’s a busy week for releases of note on the VOD market. A number of high profile, if not very succesful releases are vying for your hard earned cash alongside some smaller, but very well regarded features. Here are the best of the bunch released from the 21st of November.

Napoleon

The restoration of the 1926 film from director Abel Gance would make a fine film on its own. This restoration is half a century in the making with the film historian Kevin Brownlow making it his life’s work to find and restore a film that was presumed lost for many years. This version is over five and a half hours long and has been universally praised for its scale and outstanding film making in the silent era. The film is available on the BFI player.

The BFG

A passion project for Steven Spielberg, the film lovingly takes the Roald Dahl source novel and rather successfully transfers it to the big screen. Mark Rylance teams up with Spielberg for a second time to play the giant. It is a subtle and delightful film that somehow failed to find an audience on its cinematic release. I suspect this is one that will become more appreciated on home formats through repeated plays from younger viewers. The film is available on all major VOD sites.

Star Trek Beyond

After the divisive Star Trek Into Darkness, the franchise was passed over to director James Wan and writer Simon Pegg. The result is a film that once again appeals to all areas of the Star Trek fanbase. Reacting to a distress call in an uncharted area of space, the crew of the Enterprise find themselves in a battle for survival on a hostile planet. The film moves back towards the mix that the fans wanted namely action mixed with characters using their intellect to solve problems.

Ghostbusters

A film that was doomed to failure even before a frame of film was shot. The fury of some elements of the online community meant that any publicity for the film was always battling against some particularly unfair criticism. On its release the film received mixed reviews and although funny in places it was not the movie that was needed to relaunch the franchise.

The Purge: Election year

The Purge franchise rolls on. In its third outing the film takes on a more political slant, timing nicely with the events taking place in the USA over the whole of 2016. It is a bit by the numbers in its execution but has just enough to keep its audience satisfied and hungry to see where The Purge can possibly go next. Given the rate of the release of these films, I don’t think we will have to wait to long to find out. The Purge in Space anyone?

Hunt For the Wilderpeople

One of the film highlights of the year. This gentle and engaging comedy from Taika Waititi is absolutely superb. A young boy who has been shunted from one foster family to another ends up with an older couple who live in the remote New Zealand countryside. After a tragedy the boy and his carer Hec (Sam Neil) go on the run. Soon the authorities are on their trail. A sublte and really funny movie.

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John McArthur

Editor-in-Chief at Moviescramble. A Fan of all things cinematic with a love of Film Noir, Sci-Fi and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill. He hopes to grow up some day.