High Life (2019)

A young man and his infant daughter are the sole survivors of a deep space mission. We learn in flashback that the experimental mission was populated with criminals, making it doubly dangerous. The woman in charge was conducting reproductive experiments -- often against the rest of the crew's wishes -- and I was never quite sure whether her experiments were sanctioned or if she was just a weird perv.

There was so much that I didn't understand and the bouncing back and forth in time willy-nilly didn't help. It took me nearly a week to get through this joyless slog.

D+

Alone (2020)

Grieving woman is moving across the country alone and gets spooked when the same car that recklessly caused a near collision seems to be following her. Eventually her fears prove warranted when she winds up locked in a cabin basement deep in the woods. She's a fighter, though.

This is competent, but nothing here is new. There isn't a single sequence that stood out as "OK, that was pretty good."

C-

Allied (2016)

Allied spy Max pulls an undercover assignment in Casablanca playing husband to Marianne, a French resistance fighter, during World War II. They fall in love, then move back to England where they marry and start a family. But is Marianne on the up-and-up?

This should've been romantic and thrilling, but it was just basic. Marianne's character in the Casablanca scenes serves as a "how to spy" tutor, which was not only annoying but also quite weird seeing as Max shouldn't need the help. And, somehow, none of the action scenes felt in any way dangerous. It was just so very meh.

C

Harley & Katya (2022)

Harley (Australian) and Katya (Russian) each had trouble finding a skating partner good enough to keep up with them. So, despite being from across the world from each other and not sharing a language, they clicked immediately on the ice. It didn't take them long at all to start being a competition threat. But, in order to succeed, Katya -- just 16 when they met -- had to come to Australia to live and train. 

I am only a casual viewer of figure skating, so I had no idea where this story was going, but it wasn't hard to predict that it was not going to be to a happy place. Katya's without anything familiar, always struggling to decipher what's being said, and too young to have strong coping strategies in place. The money was tight, which forced her to live with her coaches, which should've been an obvious "no" to the adults making arrangements.

It's a weakens the story that we can't get deeper into Katya's side of the story here, though I realize the impossibility of that ask.

B-

The Passenger (2023)

Randy is a sheltered and shy kid, making him an easy target for a bully at his fast food job. Benson, another co-worker, is fed up with the bullying and takes care of the situation in the most over-the-top way possible. The rest of the pair's day is spent driving around town with Benson forcing Randy into exposure therapy-type situations confronting traumas from the past.

It starts off with such a bang -- I mean, there's nothing I love more than seeing an asshole get his come-uppance -- but that's where the excitement stops. It quickly becomes ridiculous and frustrating.

C-