Netflix And Chill: Voicemails For Isabelle (2026)

Jill (Zoey Deutch) is a young woman who spends her days wishing that she could realise her dreams of becoming a chef in her own establishment and spends numerous evenings navigating her way through many disastrous dates. She copes with her many disappointments by leaving voicemails for Isabelle, her deceased younger sister. Unbeknownst to Jill, Isabelle's number has been repurposed, which means that Wes (Nick Robinson) is receiving all of her calls to his new work phone. Romance, in a very complicated way, inevitably ensues.

Written and directed by Leah McKendrick, who also gives herself a solid supporting role, Voicemails For Isabelle is manipulative, predictable, and built on a central premise that makes the actions of our wannabe-male suitor even creepier than usual. It's also absolutely top-drawer rom-com stuff, with a great balance of laughs and sweetness, helped by a couple of recurring elements that show the bonds that will never be broken between Jill and Isabelle. It also does such a good job of showcasing a certain Robyn song that I am sure that will be returning to charts soon, thanks to the way streaming plays are counted when these things are calculated nowadays.

Both leads are very easy to like, which is another big plus. Deutch is better here than she has been in anything else I've seen her in (although that may just be due to me not seeing her best work) and Robinson does well enough to stay cute and well-behaved while dealing with the problematic nature of how he has fallen in love with a woman who doesn't know how much of her life he has been able to hear. McKendrick and Harry Shum Jr. are very enjoyable as friends and about-to-be-newlyweds who are also best friends with our male lead, and very quick to point out how wrong and creepy his behaviour is when he confesses to what is going on, and there are fun supporting roles for Toby Sandeman, Lukas Gage, and Nick Offerman, all playing decidedly awful men who make Jill's life much harder than it needs to be. Megan Danso seems to be playing someone determined to remain silently suffering and stoic throughout, but she benefits from the fact that her character has a believable enough transformation just in time for the final act.

While using tech at the heart of the premise, McKendrick is very smart in how she presents that as just one small way in which people can stay connected. There are so many others presented throughout the film, from that aforementioned pop song to food, from nicknames to similar past experiences that shaped who you are today, and they're all bundled together to show how people hold on to what they treasure above all else, but also how people can know when to let something go now that it has done the job of helping to define them as they continue to move forward through life.

It's hard to think of anyone not getting some joy from this, although the kind of people who point-blank refuse to acknowledge any of their own feelings will want to stay away. It's both sweet and spicy, but not too spicy, there are a lot of very funny gags littered throughout the screenplay, and McKendrick puts in a lot of very hard work to ensure that there's a good enough sense of redemption and penitence before the standard "running against the clock to hopefully reunite" finale. I was going to say that I enjoyed this despite knowing how every moment was going to play out, but there were also one or two surprises that allow it to pretend to be less formulaic and predictable than it ultimately is. 

I really wasn't looking forward to this, the title and the marketing imagery didn't instil me with great confidence, but I would happily rewatch it right now. 

7/10

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The Life Of Chuck (2025)

Based on a short story by Stephen King, The Life Of Chuck is adapted into screenplay form and directed by Mike Flanagan. For those expecting horror, however, you should be warned. As made clear by the marketing, this is actually one of the non-horror treats from King, and Flanagan has taken the opportunity to revel in an onscreen world full of optimism and, well, love.

Things work backwards, chronologically, but the main thing to know is that, as the title suggests, this is all about Charles 'Chuck' Franz (played at various points in his life by Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, and Tom Hiddleston). Chuck grew up with his grandparents (played by Mia Sara and Mark Hamill), likes dancing, and eventually gets used to the comforting idea that we each contain multitudes. We are the sum of everyone and everything we've ever experienced, even if it can seem as if we haven't done very much with our lives.

It's hard to hate The Life Of Chuck, and it could be argued that this is the kind of fantastical escapism that people need right now (considering the state of things here in 2025 . . . note to any time travellers reading this, SEND HELP). I was surprised to not really love it though. The first act leads up to an obvious enough reveal, even for those who haven't read the source material, and it was a mistake to try to play things off like a big mystery.

Narration from Nick Offerman helps a lot, and his voice is as wonderful as ever, but the rest of the cast is quite a mixed bag, aside from everyone playing Chuck (standouts being Pajak and Hiddleston). Chiwetel Ejiofor is wonderful as a teacher, Marty Anderson, but Karen Gillan isn't so good as his ex-wife, a nurse named Felicia Gordon. Mia Sara is lovely as the grandmother, Hamill overdoes things slightly as grandpa. Then you have many others who are just sorely underused, including Rahul Kohli, Matthew Lillard, and Annalise Basso. There's time for some superb drumming from The Pocket Queen AKA Taylor Gordon though, and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss is a winning presence to convincingly motivate our lead to keep enjoying his talent for dance.

One big set-piece at the halfway point is what you're ultimately left with here. The messaging of the movie is very good, but it's a fortune cookie homily that is somehow paradoxically given too much of the screentime and yet not enough of it. That one set-piece ties everything together so beautifully that it still works though, and thinking of that moment should make most viewers smile and appreciate the beauty and connections of life. It's just not quite enough. Reminding us that we contain multitudes should be done with much more of an emphasis on the multitudes. The Life Of Chuck tries to tell be grandiose and intimate at the same time, which leads to it feeling caught in between the two, and not being as successful in either approach as it could have been if Flanagan had figured out another way to present the material.

I enjoyed this while it was on. I would probably rewatch it. I didn't love it though, although it seems to have worked much better for a lot of other film fans. Maybe it will grow on me whenever I do end up giving it a rewatch.

6/10

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Civil War (2024)

When I first heard that Alex Garland was delivering a movie titled "Civil War" I had to prepare myself for the inevitable disappointment that it probably wouldn't be a cinematic homage to the great Guns 'n' Roses track from the Use Your Illusion II album. Strangely, I didn't expect to sit through the end credits while wishing that Garland HAD done that. Because that would have been better than this, as far as I'm concerned.

What you have here, unsurprisingly enough, is a tale of a civil war. This particular civil war is happening across the USA though, and it may well end with the capture of the President (Nick Offerman). A number of war correspondents and photo-journalists are travelling across the country as they document the unfolding events, with Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) ultimately shielding and mentoring young Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), and the film shows how these characters try to remain observers only in a war that will be decided by those actively participating.

I like Garland, having been a fan of his since becoming aware of him through his collaboraions with Danny Boyle, but his directorial career seems to show the output of a man who consistently has one great idea or image that he then tries, and fails, to build a movie around. Civil War is most effective in THAT scene, you know it from the trailer, but nothing else comes close to that, despite the fact that the central premise should be ripe with the potential for commentary on where sowing seeds of division and discontent can lead. 

I have more to say about this, but let me mention the cast first. Dunst and Moura feel wasted, they don't have to respond to events around them with anything other than an interest in how it can serve their own purpose, and it's up to Spaeny to make up for their disappointingly flat performances. Thankfully, Spaeny has already proven to me that she can shine in lacklustre material (e.g. see her be fantastic in the not-so-fantastic Priscilla), and she would be the best thing here if it wasn't for one scene being completely stolen by a terrifying Jesse Plemons. Stephen McKinley Henderson also does well with his screentime, but those are very small crumbs on the side of a main dish that is sadly undercooked and unseasoned.

I don’t fault the cast though. This is Garland’s film, and he is responsible for hanging his actors out to dry. Sadly unable to depict any of the politics and behaviours that would lead to such a situation, Garland just decides to make the film about the idea of people allowing bad things to happen by simply doing nothing, or not doing enough, to stop them. He assembles people around him who would have been more than up to the task of delivering something more thought-provoking and challenging, but all we end up getting are a couple of well-shot moments and some very good music from Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury.

Maybe Garland has one more truly great movie in him, but it is becoming more doubtful with every new feature he directs. Maybe he should return to writing, and leave the directing to those who are more capable of taking risks and piecing together individual moments into an end result that is more than the sum of its parts.

3/10

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Prime Time: Candy Cane Lane (2023)

You know you're in trouble during the festive season when you start to focus on decorations and competition against what others deem to be the true value of Christmas. Well, maybe you don't know it, but you will soon enough. Especially if you're a character in a Christmas movie.

Eddie Murphy is Chris Carver, a man who decides to put all of his time and energy into winning a neighbourhood Christmas decorating contest in order to win a prize that will make him feel much more secure after recently being laid off from his work. Chris has a loving and supportive wife, Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross), an athletic daughter (Joy, played by Genneya Walton) who wants to keeps butting heads with her folks when it comes to deciding on the next venue for her further education, a musical son (Nick, played by Thaddeus J. Mixson) who isn't doing so well in his maths class, and young Holly (Madison Thomas), a little girl who just seems to want everyone to have the cheer and happiness that she has in her life. The whole family has to work together when Chris inadvertently signs himself up for a Christmas-themed challenge set by a mischievous elf named Pepper (Jillian Bell) that would see him turned into a small Christmas ornament if he loses.

Written by a relative newcomer, Kelly Younger (who, before this, only has a couple of muppet projects in his screenplay portfolio), this is a high-concept film that looks to have a bigger budget than your average Christmas movie, judging by the CGI used throughout. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t work better, with the highlights jostling alongside mediocrity in a narrative that never seems to flow or build any real sense of momentum.

Director Reginald Hudlin may have spent most of the last few decades working on various TV shows, but he’s a very capable pair of hands, and he shows good instincts in the main sequences that show the various members of the Carver family playing to their individual strengths.

Murphy does okay in a lead role that fails to let him shine, he has to be the dad/husband learning important lessons and he does well enough with that. Ross has less to do, but steps up to the mark when it is her turn to give everyone a supportive shake. As for the younger family members, each one is kept in their respective character trait pigeonhole. Thomas has to be sweet, and she is. Walton has to show her character is a fast runner, and determined to start becoming more independent, and she does. And Mixson gets to show off the musical talent that his parents don’t consider a serious endeavour worth focusing on. As for Bell, she is fun in a role that allows her to once again mix slight menace with her kookiness (there may be better words to use here, I don’t have the coffee or time to find them). Nick Offerman does a decent impression of a typically Dickensian character. And you get a cameo from Pentatonix, the a cappella group who seem to have made Christmas a firm fixture at the heart of their output.

While it has a polish and level of care trying to ensure that it supersedes the many films you get at this time of year from the likes of Hallmark and other companies who deliver annual servings of cosy comfort, Candy Cane Lane is actually on a par with a lot of them. It’s very tame stuff, very predictable, and very disposable. There are some other highlights, including a fun turn from Ken Marino, a couple of TV hosts who have very different styles, and an excellent cameo when we finally see a Santa, but they are not enough to make it worth rewatching. Like a lot of films you can find on almost every channel this month, this is an amusing distraction. Nothing more, nothing less.

6/10

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Prime Time: My Life As A Courgette (2016)

Let me start this review with a couple of clarifying statements. One, I am reviewing the version of the movie that I saw with an English-speaking cast. Two, I am reviewing this film by not really reviewing it. I do intend to review it, but I think I will get sidetracked very soon.

My Life As A Courgette is a film that has been on my radar for the past couple of years. I'd heard it was good. I had no idea it would run so closely to some of my own experiences.

It sometimes amazes me that we survive our teenage years. All those changes happening, every emotion being the best and the worst ever (it's a few years of extremes that those who suffer from manic depression/bipolar disorder end up dealing with for their entire lives), and being surrounded by adults who act as if they never went through the same thing. Teenage years are the times when you should make mistakes, be angry and rebellious, and be able to rely on your elders to keep/get you back on the right path.

Sadly, that doesn't always happen. This film is about a young boy (a pre-teen but that's neither here nor there, as we all know what lies ahead for him) who is placed in a foster home after the loss of his alcoholic mother. He has to make friends, get used to the new environment that will be his home, and then, to make things worse, he falls for a young girl who is also brought to the home.

My mother is still alive, but she helped to make my life a living hell for my teen years, all thanks to the alcohol problem that she was never able to overcome. Oh, it was okay when I was hungry and knew that I could take some money from her purse because she couldn't have possibly managed to keep track of her spending the last time she went to the shops to buy the essentials (cider and cigarettes). Or I could stay out a bit later, or have days off school, because the person supposed to look after me had no sense of the time, or even what day it was.  It wasn't okay when I was not allowed to sleep because I was the only company she had, the ear to bend, the person to take out her anger on. It wasn't okay when I went through the usual rebellious teenage phase and was made to feel like a devil for it. Oh, I'm only mildly exaggerating there. I was kicked and punched while on my gran's sofa, while my gran was off to make us a cuppa, and told I WAS a devil. It wasn't okay when I had a glass bottle smashed over my head. And it wasn't okay when I was eventually put in full-time care, at the age of 15.

And that's where this path converges back with the relevance of this movie. Going into care as a kid, no matter what the reason for it is, feels just like going in to some kind of prison. You have no idea what the other residents there have done. You take a while to make your space into YOUR space. And the social stigma makes you feel like you're to blame, somehow. My Life As A Courgette gets that feeling spot on. It's all done in a way that makes it appropriate to the target audience (I will always feel grateful that I didn't go through some of the horrors that I heard about from other kids in the social care system) but the emotional journey of the main character is one that will be immediately recognisable to anyone who has been in that position.

Based on the novel by Gilles Paris, the script by Céline Sciamma, as well as a number of other contributors, balances the fear and uncertainty of the main character with the positivity of those who all have his best interests at heart. Director Claude Barras, edging into feature territory (this runs at JUST over an hour) after a number of shorts, does an excellent job. The animation style suits the subject matter, and the way in which the children view the world and strive to keep their own safe spaces within it, and I cannot think of any major criticisms. Of course, that is tied in with my lack of objectivity, given the subject matter, but I hope others can empathise with many of the moments depicted onscreen, even if they've not been in the same exact situations.

Cast-wise, Erick Abbate and Ness Krell are Courgette and Camille, the girl he takes a shine to, respectively, and you have a lovely supporting turn from Nick Offerman, playing the police officer who takes Courgette to the home and maintains contact with him. Everyone else does work that manages to maintain the same high standard, from Romy Beckman as the kid who tries to act like the top dog in the home, to Will Forte and Ellen Page as a couple of the adult staff members.

This is very good indeed. In fact, if you have been through ANY traumatic time as a child, or even as an adult, then I would say it's essential viewing. And pass it on to anyone else, young or old, you think may benefit from seeing it.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Netflix And Chill: Hearts Beat Loud (2018)

Here's a simple test for you before you consider watching Hearts Beat Loud. How do you feel about seeing Nick Offerman when he briefly breaks into an expression of pure joy? There are few things that cheer me up more, he becomes a child (sometimes the expression is accompanied by giggling, sometimes it isn't). There are at least two occasions in this movie which show Offerman as happy as he can be, and those two moments alone make the film worth your time. Thankfully, there's also a lot more to enjoy here.

Offerman plays Frank Fisher, the fairly grumpy owner of a record store that is due to close soon. He's been running it for 17 years so he views it as a good run. Frank has a few people he enjoys spending time with, including his landlady (Leslie, played by Toni Collette), a friend who runs a local bar (Dave, played by Ted Danson), and his daughter (Sam, played by Kiersey Clemons). In fact, he and his daughter have a tradition of a weekly jam session that he knows he is going to miss when she heads off to university. And that makes it all the harder to let go when she comes up with a song that they tweak together. Frank uploads it to Spotify and is pleasantly surprised when it is noticed by indie music fans. He wants to use their recognition to do something more, while Sam wants to keep her head in the game, as it were, and just get used to the hard studying she has ahead of her.

Directed by Brett Haley, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Marc Basch, Hearts Beat Loud is such a sweet and beautiful little film that I keep being tempted to raise my rating for it even further. It does everything in a deceptively simple manner, crafting the characters and plot points with a light touch that leaves you sightly surprised by how happy and emotional you are by the time it all ends. Okay, on the one hand, you can criticise it for the lack of realism and the constant sense of optimism but that's not the point. It's an optimistic film. It's a film that uses something that seems unrealistic to display a wonderful and idealistic parent-child relationship at the centre of everything, and then surrounds that central relationship with other great depictions (Offerman and Collette, Offerman and Danson, Clemons and her girlfriend, played by Sasha Lane, etc). People go through ups and downs with one another and it's all done in a really satisfying way without ever trying hard to make it overly cinematic or inauthentic. That's the reality the movie aims for, which counterbalances any and all of the plot contrivances, in my opinion anyway.

The cast are all perfect. I will watch Offerman in anything, ever since I discovered the greatness of him in Parks & Rec, but he's on top form here, and Clemons is every bit his equal, arguably working with the trickier role (as she struggles to adjust to her upcoming life, it would have been all too easy for the performance to be a bit too moody and in line with many sullen teens we have seen in cinema before). Collette continues to be as great as ever, always being a good friend to Offerman despite the moments in which he mistakenly aims his frustration and anger at her, and Danson is wryly amusing in his role. Lane has a lot less screentime to make an impression, but she does well in her role, and the only major mis-step is the plot thread revolving around Blythe Danner (who puts in a good performance but feels like an unnecessary addition, just there for added emotional moments, in the role of the elderly mother of Offerman, and someone not always as mentally acute as she used to be).

I would be remiss if I didn't include Keegan DeWitt somewhere in this review, the person responsible for writing the main songs that are played by Clemons and Offerman in the film. I would happily listen to this soundtrack, which is a major plus when the story is based around a father and daughter who work well together to create some wonderful songs.

There's not much more to say. This is sweet without being saccharin, predictable without being dull, and magical without feeling ridiculous and fake. I would recommend it to most people, but especially if you enjoyed the likes of Sing Street (which was probably the last film I saw to make me grin like this one).

8/10

You can buy it here.
Americans can buy it here.

22 Jump Street (2014)

21 Jump Street was one of the best comedies of the last few years so I was very happy when I heard that all of the main players were returning for a sequel, imaginatively titled 22 Jump Street. Once the trailer landed I was even happier. It looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. Well, having just seen the movie, I can assure fans of the first film that they will have almost as much fun with this brilliant follow-up.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return to play Schmidt and Jenko, two undercover cops who have managed to get some good results, despite moments of staggering ineptitude. After going undercover at a high school for their first big job they end up now going to college. As Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) goes to great lengths to point out that everyone wants them to do exactly what they did the first time around. More money has been ploughed into the project, the setting is slightly different, but the journey taken by our two leads should be a very familiar one. Nobody wants it to be different. Schmidt and Jenko may beg to differ, but they soon end up reprising a number of familiar comedy beats.

The plot isn't all that important to 22 Jump Street. What matters here is the meta brilliance of it all and the sheer exuberance in almost every scene. Sure, there may be some people who dislike seeing scenes that feel like pop video moments interrupting a standard narrative, but it's hard not to be swayed by the fun that Tatum and Hill are obviously having. The other main cast members - Ice Cube, Wyatt Russell, Amber Stevens, Peter Stormare, Jillian Bell, Jimmy Tatro - also get to have a good time, with almost everyone onscreen getting involved with at least one big laugh. Ice Cube and Offerman both steal a few scenes, and there are a good number of laughs packed into the one sequence that allows Rob Riggle and Dave Franco to show up again.

The script, written by Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, and Rodney Rothman, isn't exactly a gold-plated classic, with a lot of the dialogue sounding completely unfunny out of context, but the execution of the material by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who are now 4 for 4), and the chemistry between the two leads, more than makes up for the shortcomings. There's also that meta coating that gives a lot of the lines more than one meaning, often quite audaciously.

As a comedy, it works. As a comedy sequel, it works. As an action comedy, it . . . . . . just manages to get by, but only thanks to one or two set-pieces at the start and end of the film. As a brilliantly sly sequel that gleefully plays with expectations and spends plenty of time ridiculing itself, however, I put it on a par with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It's a cheeky way to recycle elements from the first movie, but it works.

I don't think you'll find a better film this year that includes such a strong bromance, a pair of twins uncannily in sync with one another (played by The Lucas Brothers), Patton Oswalt, Ice Cube in an office that LOOKS like an ice cube, a nod to Benny Hill, and some slam poetry that may feel very familiar to fans of So I Married An Axe Murderer. But let me know if you do.

8/10

Pick up the first movie here if you haven't got it already - http://www.amazon.com/Jump-Street-UltraViolet-Digital-Blu-ray/dp/B003Y5H5BA/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1402291071&sr=1-4&keywords=22+jump+street