5 Top New Films To Watch in July and August 2020

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Need ideas for a film night over the summer? Here's a round-up of new movies released on digital download or DVD during July.



From thrillers to Scandi noir, featuring a Game of Thrones hero, there's something for everyone.
LIFE WITH MUSIC

Starring Patrick Stewart and Katie Holmes, this gentle movie is an aesthetic joy featuring classical music and scenic backdrops that help you drift away to a calmer place.



Life With Music follows famed concert pianist Henry Field (Stewart) as he reemerges on to the performance scene after years away.

With his nerves still jangling at doing lengthy, difficult concertos to sell-out audiences, he finds support and inspiration for his stage fright from journalist and super fan Helen Morrison (Holmes).

Life With Music, rated 12, is a slow burner but there's a lot to like about this film. Stewart and Holmes look impeccable and have a sedate yet intimately charming relationship as they discover they are kindred spirits.

Henry's agent adds a ripple of energy to the movie and is played by the excellent Giancarlo Esposito, a well-known face from Breaking Bad as Gus Fring.

The real beauty of this movie, however, is how director Claude Lalonde combines stunning mountainous scenes from Switzerland with classical pieces by Schubert, Rachmaninov and Scriabin. The soundtrack, in particular, feels like a soothing blanket as you wile away 96 minutes on this interesting film.

Distributor: Blue Finch Film Releasing
Release Date: On digital download from July 27
Find It On: iTunes, Amazon, Google, Sky, Virgin, Rakuten and Chili

Watch the trailer below.



EXIT PLAN

In mainly Danish with some English, this is a thought-provoking Scandi noir drama with Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the lead role.

Danish hunk Coster-Waldau looks a far cry from the handsome knight of Jaime Lannister as he dons retro glasses and a moustache to play middle-aged insurance agent Max, who is diagnosed with a brain tumour.



Through flashbacks, we see how the mysterious disappearance of a woman's husband leads Max to the secretive and clandestine Aurora Hotel, where guests can check-in, but never out.

Coster-Waldau is a strong lead who holds your attention over 90 minutes in this beguiling drama, although it can be quite slow-paced.

The hotel's remote alpine setting adds to the tension that slowly builds up through the movie. More noir than thriller, the uncertainty over reality or what's in Max's mind plays well with the strange circumstances he finds himself in.

Director Jonas Alexander Arnby and writer Rasmus Birch manage to leave you asking yourself many questions including how you feel about assisted suicide.

Distributor: Blue Finch Film Releasing
Release Date: July 6
Find It On: iTunes

Watch the trailer below



DISAPPEARANCE AT CLIFTON HILL

Albert Shin's Niagara Falls thriller has a Hitchcock feel to it as Tuppence Middleton plays a young woman returning to her roots and investigating a child kidnapping she witnessed as a young girl.

Helped by local eccentric Walter, played by David Cronenberg, this Canadian movie is atmospheric with a heroine that you are never sure you can trust.



Disappearance At Clifton Hill offers some black comedy alongside suspense in off-season Niagara Falls.

There are strange characters, a menacing mood and haunting soundtrack, so what's not to like. Read the full film review of Disappearance at Clifton Hill on WeekendNotes here .

Distributor: Lightbulb Film Distribution
Release Date: Digital Download from July 20 and on DVD from August 3
Find It On: iTunes

Watch the trailer below.


UNDOCUMENT

This film tells the stories of four refugees as it winds its way from the Middle East to the UK.

Rated 15, it examines love, immigration and identity over 90 powerful minutes.



While Leila stakes everything to flee Afghanistan and join her husband in London, somewhere in Greece, an Iranian mother struggles to maintain her dignity and protect her eight-year-old son among traffickers that berate and humiliate their clients.

Elsewhere, Laura entered the UK illegally before Poland was part of the EU and now her life is turned upside down as immigration officers arrive to deport her North African partner.

Finally, there is Ramzi, a courtroom interpreter, who starts to question his complicity in the institutional processes and procedures that determine the outcome for so many complex human stories.

Distributor: Studio Soho Distribution
Release Date: July 13 on download and July 27 on DVD
Find It On: Amazon and iTunes
SPY INTERVENTION

This new comedy, rated 15, is a vehicle for Pretty Little Liars and Titans heartthrob Drew Van Acker as a spy smitten by love.



Poppy Delevingne, the acting sister of Cara, plays his love interest in this story (unfortunately told many times before) about what happens when a James Bond-style spy gives up the day job for domestic bliss.

A year after swapping spying for suburbia, Corey Gage (Van Acker) is so bored that his colleagues enact a "spy intervention," to entice him back to his old life.

Along the way, the silly, tongue-in-cheek adventure gives the couple the chance to save their marriage as well as the world.



Drew Mylrea makes his directorial feature-length film debut for this movie, which isn't as slick as many similar movies on the same theme. That said, Spy Intervention is lighthearted escapism with an attractive cast.

Distributor: The Movie Partnership
Release Date: July 27 on digital download
Find It On: iTunes, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Virgin Media, Sky Store, Sony

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