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Point Blank

Stars: Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Marcia Gay Harden, Stuart F. Wilson, Buster Reeves, Christian Cooke, Teyonah Parris, Boris McGiver, Reggie Willis, Shanessa Sweeney, Nik Pajic, Markice Moore | Written by Adam G. Simon | Directed by Joe Lynch

Point Blank, directed by Joe Lynch, is a remake of Fred Cavayé’s À bout portant, which was originally released in 2010. The film stars two actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Frank Grillo and Anthony Mackie as Abe and Paul, respectively. Paul has to break Abe out of custody in a hospital as his brother has taken Paul’s pregnant wife hostage. What commences is an unorthodox buddy-action comedy, in what is sadly yet another dull and tedious action-adventure.

It is hard to watch Point Blank and not debate why this was made, or even distributed by Netflix. Everything from its plot, actors and actress, or even filmmaking evokes a sense of direct-to-dvd nature.

After the death of their beloved Gran (Stephanie Fayerman), two half-brothers, Omar (Antonio Aakeel) and Pete (Jack Carroll) set off for Blackpool in order to find Omar’s long-missing father. Omar was, as Gran points out, the result of a “youthful dalliance” between his mother and a desi man she met on a night out, and whom she never saw again. And although Gran previously said she knew little more than that, she leaves Omar a letter that tells him more of what she really knew about his father. Armed with his birth certificate, his mother’s diary, and a photograph taken on the fateful evening, and with his grandmother’s urn and his disabled brother in tow, Omar decides it’s time to finally find out who his father really is.

Director and co-writer (along with David Isaac) Jason Wingard first explored this theme in his 2014 short film Going to Mecca.

British live action and animated shorts to screen in cinemas from 28 February.

BAFTA has revealed that a feature-length package of films nominated in the British Short Film and British Short Animation categories at this year’s Ee British Academy Film Awards will screen in UK cinemas from Feb 28 and will tour internationally.

Selected screenings will be followed by a Q&A with nominated filmmakers who will discuss their working process and creative inspirations. The activity is part of BAFTA’s ongoing work to spotlight British-based filmmaking talent.

Following the first-ever theatrical release of nominated shorts in 2013, BAFTA is partnering for a second year with specialist distributor the Independent Cinema Office (Ico), which will handle all UK theatrical bookings, and the British Council, which will tour the nominated films internationally through their network of offices in 110 countries.

The UK-wide rollout of BAFTA Shorts 2014 begins with a special screening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica) in London on Feb...