With a new month underway, both Netflix and Amazon Prime have some fantastic films newly available, with plenty of big hitters arriving I’ll recommend some smaller scale films you may be unfamiliar with.

How would you feel if you wrote, directed and starred in a film you poured your heart and soul into? How would you feel if your serious psychological drama was treated as a comedy?

That conundrum is at the heart of US comedy drama, The Disaster Artist, streaming on Netflix. This 2017 gem about the making of the infamously bad cult film, The Room, focuses on the maverick character behind it. In the original, bizarre and pointless scenes abound, here the scenes are painstakingly recreated with well known comic actors playing the parts. Even if you’re unfamiliar with The Room, you can still enjoy this as a very funny comedy with great affection for its subject.

Another recent overlooked comedy, Game Night, is now on Amazon Prime. The simple premise sees a murder mystery night spiral out of control as real criminals get involved. Game Night’s main attraction is the sparkling ensemble cast playing off each other as the twists and turns mount up. It’s a modern screwball comedy for the whole family, and best of all it is very very funny. We screened this at the film society last year and our art house audience loved it.

Finally, we hark back to a titan of 1970s light entertainment, Michael Douglas shines as Liberace in a touchingly funny biopic, Behind The Candleabra (Prime). Readers of a certain age will be familiar with Liberace, his image and stageshow, those who aren’t may be initially mystified but still mightily entertained. It goes behind the excesses to find someone never truly comfortable in their own skin, only finding refuge onstage. It’s like watching the twinkling of a distant and long dead star, which in a way, it is.