Shadows on the Wall

Critical Week: Lost in Alaska

2012-01-24T15:38:00.040Z

London critics sat through two films about survival in Alaska this past week: the first was Joe Carnahan's grim, icy, existential thriller The Grey, starring Liam Neeson, about plane crash survivors facing both the elements and a pack of angry wolves. The second was Big Miracle, starring Drew Barrymore, which was rather more inspirational, telling the true story of the global effort to rescue a family of whales trapped under the Arctic ice.

Of course, the Oscar nominations on Tuesday were the big news this week - my brief comments and all the nominees are HERE. Elsewhere, critics were confronted with a rather non-scary boogeyman in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's Intruders, starring Clive Owen; murderous Nazis in the powerfully involving Polish true story In Darkness, which was Oscar-nominated on Tuesday; a family crisis in actress Melanie Laurent's beautiful directing debut The Adopted; a pair of vintage 1980s con men in the rather chaotic black-comedy romp Polish Roulette; and an astonishingly successful man who has somehow avoided both fame and money in the endearing documentary Bill Cunningham New York.

This coming week we're faced with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in the thriller Safe House, Ewan McGregor in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Rock in the 3D adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Noomi Rapace in the thriller Babycall, the found-footage thriller Chronicle, and two British thrillers: Best Laid Plans and A Thousand Kisses Deep.

London film critics speak...

2012-01-20T18:15:00.001Z

The 32nd London Critics' Circle Film Awards were held Thursday night at BFI Southbank with a flurry of starry glamour. As secretary of the Critics' Circle Film Section, I've been heavily involved in planning this event, running the voting procedure for our members and organising a sometimes bewildering array of details for the big night - from liaising with stars and agents to making sure the trophies were engraved and delivered on time.

It all kicked off with a lively red carpet lined with fans and press - some of our nominees took nearly an hour to make their way through the gauntlet, but then that's why they were here! A few pics: Michael Fassbender signs autographs, above. And below are a few stylish nominees: Fassbender again, posing with his Shame costar Carey Mulligan; Submarine's Yasmin Paige and Craig Roberts; War Horse's Jeremy Irvine; Dreams of a Life's Zawe Ashton and director Carol Morley; and Attack the Block's John Boyega.

Aside from overseeing our @londoncritics Twitter feed volunteer and any urgent troubleshooting, my main role on the night was to welcome the nominees, celebrities, critics, sponsors and guests into the party - a great job as it meant that I got to chat to everyone as they came in. The pre-ceremony reception lasted just over an hour, and we were ushered into the theatre for the awards, which were again hosted by the critics' charming chairman Jason Solomons.

First up was Supporting Actor, which went to Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn), who gave a terrific thank you before racing off to tape this week's Graham Norton Show in the TV studio just down the road. Supporting Actress went to Sareh Bayat (A Separation), and her award was accepted by the film's producer Negar Eskandarfar.

British Breakthrough Film-maker, sponsored by our main sponsor Virgin Atlantic, went to Andrew Haigh (Weekend). who was genuinely thrilled to win such a hotly contested prize.

Next was a new award, Documentary of the Year, which went to Senna and was accepted by director Asif Kapadia and Manish Pandey, below left.

Young British Performer went to Craig Roberts (Submarine), another winner who was overwhelmed to take home the trophy. Screenwriter went to Asghar Farhadi (A Separation), who texted his acceptance speech from Iran, where he's already working on his next film. He had just returned home from his win at Sunday's Golden Globes!

British Actor of the Year went to Michael Fassbender (Shame and A Dangerous Method), who bounded onto the stage and gave a lively thank you.

British Actress of the Year, sponsortd by our champagne sponsor Moet & Chandon, was Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur and The Iron Lady), who wowed everyone with her gravity-defying Vivienne Westwood gown and gave perhaps the funniest and most generous speech of the night. Foreign-language Film added a third award to the tally for A Separation, and was again accepted by the good-natured Eskandarfar, whose husband Ali translated for her. Next up was a presentation of the BFI's Rescue the Hitchcock 9 appeal, which the event is held in aid of, and they had a real treat for us: a lively sequence from one of Hitchcock's restored silent films, The Lodger, accompanied live by pianist Stephen Horne.

Then it was my turn to take the stage to present the Technical Achievement Award, sponsored by Sky 3D, to Maria Djurkovic (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) for production design.

The Attenborough Award for British Film of the Year went to We Need to Talk About Kevin, and was accepted by director Lynne Ramsay (right) and producer Luc Roeg, whose father was in the house for a special award later on. Director of the Year went to Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), who ended up with two awards - see below.

Actress of the Year was a tie, which has only happened once before with our awards, and the winners were Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) and Anna Paquin (Margaret). Both delivered fantastic video acceptance speeches, mentioning each other and offering some terrific comments about the honour of the award.

Actor of the Year was Jean Dujardin (The Artist) who charmed everyone with a warm and witty thank you.

Then it was time for the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema, and the surprise of the evening was the appearance of Donald Sutherland on stage to talk about his good friend Nicolas Roeg - a gorgeous introduction that was followed by a clip reel and then Roeg himself, looking a bit bemused that the critics were saying something nice about him for a change.

Finally, Film of the Year went to The Artist, again collected by a now extremely happy Hazanavicius and Dujardin. And then it was time to head into the after party.

And here are a couple of photos of me at the event, first in my tux in the empty theatre before the event, and then snapped on a friend's phone with chairman/host Jason Solomons and Olivia Colman at the after party.

Now the awards committee will have a debrief and launch straight into planning next year's bigger and better event, which will be held in the 100th anniversary year of the Critics' Circle.

Critical Week: Near, far, wherever you are

2012-01-17T11:22:00.000Z

This past week, Fox showed UK critics about half an hour of footage from the 3D conversion of Titanic, and it must be said that it looked spectacular: crisp and bright and remarkably inviting. And that scene on the bow of the ship now has a frighteningly vertiginous quality! Producer Jon Landau was on hand to talk about the great lengths James Cameron and his team are going to with this conversion, which has taken some five years (for comparison, they only spent six weeks converting Clash of the Titans). It opens on the 100th anniversary of Titanic's maiden voyage.

Then this morning we had the Bafta nominations announcement. The British Academy Film Awards always seem just a little offbeat, taking what we generally expect from Oscar nods (which come a couple of weeks later) and throwing in several wild cards. Once again, Bafta voters have snubbed some highly acclaimed films (The Tree of Life, Melancholia, Margaret) and performances (Olivia Colman, Vanessa Redgrave, Albert Brooks). More surprising is the way they ignored superior British films like Kill List, Weekend and Dreams of a Life, and there isn't even an technical nod to Wuthering Heights. Why in a year that was so rich for docs are there only three rather tepid nominees? Equally unexpected is the exuberant support for The Help. But it's not surprising to see the big love for The Artist and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which are likely to sweep the boards on awards night. FULL LIST OF NOMINEES >

As for press screenings this week, it was all a bit low key - aside from the family-friendly Sunday morning press show for the deliriously entertaining The Muppets. We also had the quietly horrific Austrian drama Michael, the offbeat British black comedy Acts of Godfrey, the overwrought Australian exploitation thriller X: Night of Vengeance, and the awkward American gay comedy The Love Patient.

Coming up on Thursday is the 32nd London Critics' Circle Film Awards, the organisation of which has occupied much of my time over the past few months. As secretary of the critics, I am welcoming our guests at the door and presenting the Technical Achievement Award. And of course I'll have the news and photos here on Friday.

Meanwhile, this coming week's screenings include Liam Neeson in The Grey, Clive Owen in Intruders, Drew Barrymore in Big Miracle, Melanie Laurent's directing debut The Adopted, the heist comedy Polish Roulette and the documentary Bill Cunningham New York.

Critical Week: Heaving bosoms

2012-01-10T10:26:00.000Z

These three women (Kristin Scott Thomas, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci) are the object of Robert Pattinson's affections in Bel Ami, which was screened to the press this past week ahead of its release in March. Lucky guy (or girls, depending on your perspective). Although we're not allowed to say what we thought of the film before its world premiere. The only other big movie this week was The Darkest Hour, a visually inventive alien invasion thriller from the minds of Chris Gorak and Timur Bekmambetov, although the script is a bit of a muddle, as is the 3D.

More interesting were the offbeat Largo Winch movies The Heir Apparent and The Burma Conspiracy, which I caught up with ahead of the second film's UK DVD release. Both are snappy globe-hopping adventure thrillers packed with terrific plot twists, a sexy hero (Tomer Sisley) and A-list female costars (including Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Stone). On the other hand, the British adventure thriller Mercenaries never overcomes its small budget, while the biggest star it can muster is Billy Zane. But the best of them all is the Austrian drama Breathing, a subtle and moving film about a young guy trying to come to terms with his own past actions.

This coming week we have a preview of Titanic in 3D, another acclaimed Austrian drama Michael, and another micro-budget thriller X: Night of Vengeance. I'm also revisiting The Muppets on Sunday morning - yay!

Happy "new" year!

2012-01-03T10:21:00.000Z

Looking ahead at the cinematic landscape of 2012, it's not easy to find something original to look forward to. Every year is awash with sequels, remakes and spin-offs, but the economic crunch is clearly making studios even more timid than usual. So here are a few things worth looking forward to - or not. And note that this is by no means an exhaustive listing...

SEQUELS. The one everyone is most anticipating is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (Jul), starring Christian Bale and Tom Hardy's pumped-up back (above). James Bond is back, finally, in Skyfall (Nov), while most of the Marvel universe converges in The Avengers (Apr). For the rest, we should probably go month by month...

Jan: Underworld Awakening.
Feb: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
March: Wrath of the Titans, Streetdance 2.
April: American Pie: Reunion.
May: Men in Black 3.
June: G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
July: Ice Age: Continental Drift.
August: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Step Up 4.
September: Taken 2, Resident Evil 5.
October: Paranormal Activity 4, Madagascar: Europe's Most Wanted.
November: Breaking Dawn: Part 2.
December: Nativity 2: The Second Coming.

PREQUELS. The most anticipated is the first instalment in the two-part prologue to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Dec). And Ridley Scott's Alien prequel Prometheus (Jun) has everyone wondering what he's up to.

REBOOTS. Perhaps the most baffling of them all is The Amazing Spider-man (Jul), retelling the origin story barely 10 years after Tobey Maguire's version. More intriguing is Jeremy Renner's takeover in The Bourne Legacy (Aug).

REMAKES. Studios are raiding TV shows - Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (May), 21 Jump Street (Mar), The Sweeney (Sep) - as well as theatre - The Woman in Black (Feb), Rock of Ages (Jun) - for material. And then there are the film remakes, from the Farrellys' The Three Stooges (May), Colin Farrell's Total Recall (Aug) and even a new take on the B-movie classic Jack the Giant Killer (Jun).

REVAMPS. Mainly this involves converting old movies into 3D so the studio can squeeze some more cash out of their archive, while of course letting a new generation of fans catch up with the films on a big screen. At the moment, two are in the release schedule - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Feb) and Titanic (Apr) - but expect more to come.

ADAPTATIONS. Clearly hopes are high for new franchises based on The Hunger Games (Mar) and John Carter (Mar). Other literary adaptations include Joe Wright's Anna Karenina (Sep); Michael Winterbottom's Trishna (Mar), which sets Tess in India; Robert Pattinson's Bel Ami (Mar), John Cusack's The Raven (Mar) and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (Dec). The next game-to-screen adaptation is Battleship (Apr). While fairy tales continue to provide free story sources with two Snow White films - the comical Mirror Mirror (Mar) and the more gothic Snow White and the Huntsman (Jun) - and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Mar).

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Even though they're based on books, The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists! (Mar) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Aug) are sure to be unlike anything we've seen before. Sacha Baron Cohen is back in the already controversial political romp The Dictator (May). And Tarantino is bound to set jaws dropping with his spaghetti-style American Western Django Unchained (Dec).

Finally, press screenings kick off this week for the new year with Robert Pattinson's period romp Bel Ami, and I also have the Russian alien thriller The Darkest Hour, the black-ops thriller Mercenaries, an animated biopic of adult manga author Tatsumi, and the arthouse cinema fable A Useful Life.

31st Shadows Awards

2011-12-27T12:58:00.000Z

Yes, it's that time of year when I publish my rather ludicrous Shadows Awards - listing all of my best and worst of cinema for the past 12 months (or so). I've seen 507 films in 2011, and the year isn't quite finished yet. Here are my main winners - plus my worst of the year. The full lists, which do go on a bit, are HERE.

B E S T F I L M

A SEPARATION (Asghar Farhadi)
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (Lynne Ramsay)
THE ARTIST (Michel Hazanavicius)
POETRY (Lee Chang-dong)
WEEKEND (Andrew Haigh)
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Werner Herzog)
DRIVE (Nicolas Winding Refn)
THIS IS NOT A FILM (Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick)
JANE EYRE (Cary Joji Fukunaga)

D I R E C T O R
Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)

W R I T E R
Asghar Farhadi (A SEPARATION)

A C T R E S S
Anna Paquin (MARGARET)

A C T O R
Dominic Cooper (THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE)

S U P P O R T I N G A C T R E S S
Sareh Bayat (A SEPARATION)

S U P P O R T I N G A C T O R
Andy Serkis (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES)

W O R S T F I L M
NEW YEAR'S EVE (Garry Marshall)

Meanwhile, you can also check out the nominees for two sets of awards I vote in - spot the differences!

32nd London Critics' Circle Film Awards - winners will be presented at a ceremony on 19th January at BFI Southbank. Best film nominees are: The Artist, Drive, A Separation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Tree of Life.
15th Online Film Critics Society Awards - winners will be announced on Monday. Best film nominees are: The Artist, The Descendants, Drive, Hugo and The Tree of Life.

Being the holidays, there aren't any press screenings this week, but I do have plenty of DVDs to watch! Screenings start up next Wednesday with Robert Pattinson's Bel Ami.

Critical Week: The crowd goes wild

2011-12-20T13:55:00.000Z

Awards season is in full swing, with everyone announcing nominees, winners and top 10s of 2011. Indeed, just this morning the London Critics' Circle announced its 32nd film awards nominations. As secretary of the London film critics, my job was to count ballots and tabulate the nominees over the weekend, so it's great to get feedback today. Our best film nominees are: The Artist, Drive, A Separation,
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Tree of Life - and the other categories are just as strong (See the full list of nominees HERE). Casting final votes will be tricky. I'm voting this week for the Online Film Critics Society awards - those nominations are out next week.

Meanwhile, I've had a few final films to catch up with this past week, including David Fincher's astonishing remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is possibly a better film than the original. it's certainly sleeker and more eye-catching. There were two January releases: the thoroughly enjoyable Canadian hockey comedy Goon, starring Seann William Scott, and the Chemical Brothers' energetic concert movie Don't Think (that's their crowd pictured above). Finally, I caught up with three thoroughly awards-worthy films: Mexico's striking drama Miss Bala, the emotionally wrenching American soldier doc Hell and Back Again and the gorgeously made horse-whisperer doc Buck.

There are no press screenings now until the new year, so I'll spend the next two weeks re-watching some favourites on screener disc and catching up on old movies and other things I want to see. It'll of course be rather fabulous to watch movies for pure enjoyment for a change.

Critical week: Rainbow connection

2011-12-13T16:58:00.000Z

The Muppets was one of my most-anticipated movies of the year, and then Disney pushed its UK release back to February. But they kindly screened it for London critics last week, and I was most impressed by the way it pulls us back into nostalgic hilarity. Of course, there were bigger films this past week, with much bigger titles: Tom Cruise in the outrageously exhilarating Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Robert Downey Jr in the wild and silly Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and the hugely emotional 9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.

Smaller films included the delightful French period romance The Well-digger's Daughter, starring Daniel Auteuil (it's also his directing debut); the strikingly well filmed and edited documentary Bombay Beach, about a community seemingly living at the end of the world (even thought it's Southern California); and I also caught a rare screening of the 1991 TV drama Absolute Hell, a raucous look at post-War Soho life starring Judi Dench and Bill Nighy.

This coming week votes are due in both the London Critics' Circle Film Awards and the Online Film Critics Society awards. But I only have one more big movie to see: David Fincher's remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I'm seeing in just a couple of hours. I've also got a few trailing screenings, including the Canadian drama Goon, the Chemical Brothers' movie Don't Think and catch-up awards-consideration dates with Mexico's Miss Bala and the documentaries Hell and Back Again and Buck.

Critical Week: A boy and his horse

2011-12-06T10:19:00.000Z

Several big films screened to UK critics this past week, including Steven Spielberg's ambitious and hugely emotive adaptation of beloved novel and play War Horse, the deeply annoying a-list ensemble rom-com New Year's Eve and Daniel Radcliffe in the eerie freak-out The Woman in Black. The nicest surprise was Kenneth Lonergan's sprawling and involving complex drama Margaret, featuring a terrific, awards-worthy performance from Anna Paquin.

A bit off the beaten path, we also had Luc Besson's The Lady, a moving biopic about Aung San Suu Kyi starring Michelle Yeoh; Pawel Pawlikowski's moody and insinuating The Woman in the Fifth, starring Ethan Hawke andKristin Scott Thomas; the goofy, rude and surprisingly warm-hearted third romp A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas; another third comedy in the disarmingly silly Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked; and the oddly unstructured French period brothel drama House of Tolerance.

This coming week we'll see a couple of blockbusters (Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as well as a major awards contender (Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close). And there are also a couple of acclaimed documentaries to catch up with (Khordorkovsky and Bombay Beach).

It's also awards season, which means that DVD screeners are falling through my letter box every day. So far I've already seen all of the films (except for four American independent films I'd never even heard of before), but I'm sure there will be a few over the next couple of weeks that will help me catch up before voting deadlines.

Requisite Blog Photo: Chipfaced

2011-12-03T13:18:00.000Z

At a Saturday morning press screening, no one can hear you squeak...

Critical Week: The front-runner

2011-11-28T22:58:00.000Z

Meryl Streep surged to the top of the Oscar prediction charts the moment critics started seeing The Iron Lady. It's an oddly sympathetic biopic about the deeply unsympathetic Margaret Thatcher, and yet Streep manages to let us look into her soul. Remarkable. And there were other contenders screened to the British critics: Martin Scorsese's Hugo, a beautiful ode to early cinema wrapped in a youthful adventure, and Charlize Theron's brilliantly offbeat performance in Young Adult, which reunites Juno's writer and director.

We also saw the rather theatrical Margin Call, packed with terrific themes and performances; the odd mix of comedy and drama in The Big Year, combining the distinct styles of Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson; an unsettling exploration of religious obsession in Camp Hell; Raul Ruiz's 4.5-hour epic exploration of 19th century identity in Mysteries of Lisbon; and the silly-cute gay Texan rom-com Longhorns.

This coming week we have Steven Spielberg's WWI epic War Horse, the all-star ensemble rom-com New Year's Eve, Kenneth Lonergan's contentions Margaret, the kiddie three-quel Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked; Michelle Yeoh in the Burmese biopic The Lady; Kristin Scott Thomas in The Woman in the Fifth; and the French brothel drama House of Tolerance.

I've also started receiving awards-consideration dvd screeners at home, almost daily, including most of the biggest films of the season. There haven't been any biggies yet that I haven't seen, but here's hoping...

Critical Week: Shiver me timbers!

2011-11-21T23:19:00.002Z

London critics were treated to a special preview of next spring's Aardman romp The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists! (or dumbed-down for American audiences as: The Pirates! Band of Misfits). Director Peter Lord walked us through the cast, a series of clips, one extended sequence from the film and two hysterical 3D trailers. He also brought along a range of puppets and sets from the film. Frankly, it looks wonderful. But we have to wait until March to see it.

Press screenings this busy past week included Steven Soderbergh's superb all-star revisionist action thriller Haywire, the rather enjoyably arch fourth Twilight movie Breaking Dawn: Part 1, Sam Worthington in the gimmicky heist thriller Man on a Ledge, the entertaining but slightly strained Happy Feet Two, John Madden's engaging all-star ageing Brits-in-India drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Glenn Close in the off-balance but well-performed Irish drama Albert Nobbs, Colm Meaney in the involving Irish drama Parked, Tom Tykwer's arty German three-way romance 3, and the corny-but-cute British comedy Buffering.

Coming up this week: Martin Scorsese's change-up 3D epic Hugo, Meryl Streep's Oscar-buzzed The Iron Lady, Charlize Theron in Young Adult, Margin Call, Jesse Eisenberg in Camp Hell, the Jamaican boxing drama Gett'a Life and the indie comedy Longhorns.

Requisite Blog Photo: Penguin power

2011-11-20T14:45:00.000Z

Trying to look villainous with my Movember tache ... but it looks like I want to give them a hug. And who wouldn't?

Critical Week: Grumpy old man

2011-11-15T09:07:00.004Z

Clint Eastwood's epic biopic J Edgar may already be out in America, but here in Britain there have been very few press screenings. It's a gorgeously made film with big performances from DiCaprio, Hammer and Watts spanning some 40 years in their characters' lives. But it also feels eerily cold and sad. Much more fun was the animated spin-off Puss in Boots, which playfully mashes up fairy tales, Zorro movies and Sergio Leone imagery. We also had the oddly overlooked drama Welcome to the Rileys, featuring solidly against-type performances from James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo and Kristen Stewart, as well as Sing Your Song, a slightly too-worthy doc primarily about Harry Belafonte's political activism.

Annoyingly, there is only one extremely small press screening today for Breaking Dawn Part 1, limited to newspaper critics. So I won't see the film until it opens on Friday. Sure, some movies are critic-proof, but this kind of media strategy can also backfire when the film's opening isn't covered properly in the press. Not to mention the affect this has on those of us who earn our living on this side of the film industry. UK distributors are also refusing to screen some other upcoming biggies, from Scorsese's Hugo to Spielberg's War Horse. If you're not in their favoured inner-circle, forget about it. Thankfully, other studios are more friendly, and this week we'll see the penguin sequel Happy Feet Two, Sam Worthington as the Man on a Ledge, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs, Colm Meaney's drama Parked and the doc An African Election.

Requisite Blog Photo: Cat people

2011-11-14T09:06:00.002Z

Critical Week: I want to be loved by you

2011-11-07T22:55:00.001Z

The big screening for London critics this past week was the hotly anticipated My Week With Marilyn, which recounts the shooting of The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Terrific performances - and an amazing cast - make the film thoroughly enjoyable, even if it's never as magical we hope it will be. An equally stellar British cast provides the voices for this year's first holiday movie, Aardman's Arthur Christmas, a lively 3D romp that feels rather compromised to please American audiences. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp flies in the face of the establishment with the sunny comedy The Rum Diary, which plays the Hunter S Thompson cards a bit too forcefully but still keeps us smiling.

Less starry were the rather corny British ensemble comedy How to Stop Being a Loser and the almost pathologically charming (and chocolate-craving inducing) French rom-com Romantics Anonymous. And I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting three Francis Coppola classics: The Outsiders (1983), One From the Heart (1982) and especially The Conversation (1974) are bold, skilful films that no serious film fan should miss. And they're packed with early performances from actors who would go on to become huge stars. The Outsiders even has a cameo from a pre-teen Sofia Coppola!

Embargo news: the media has been bombarded with ads and interviews for the upcoming film Immortals. But even though they showed us the film a few weeks ago, the US distributor Relativity keeps extending the review embargo, which seems to hint that they don't have much faith in it. We are now not allowed to publish our comments until Thursday, the day before the worldwide release.

This coming week's London press screenings include: Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood's J Edgar, the animated spin-off Piss in Boots, the Harry Belafonte doc Sing Your Song and two not-so-anticipated films with Nicolas Cage: Trespass and Justice.

Critical Week: Give us a minute

2011-11-01T23:43:00.000Z

This week's big, very late press screening was for the alternate-reality thriller In Time, in which Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried are on the run from the Timekeepers (cops), the Minute Men (mobsters, above) and Amanda's angry dad. Unfortunately that was about as complex as the promising plot got. We also saw the reboot/prequel/reimagining/whatever it is of The Thing, which is essentially the exact same story as John Carpenter's 80s remake, with a good cast but no subtlety.

And then there was the notorious sequel The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence), which was momentarily banned in the UK when the British Board of Film Classification didn't even want to let people over 18 see the film. Now they have butchered nearly five minutes from the film, but I doubt it would have hung together any better. I also caught the American independent fantasy Judas Kiss, an enjoyably odd little story about a filmmaker who gets the chance to fix his own past mistakes. And then there was the extremely odd British documentary This Our Still Life, in which Andrew Kotting returns to his family home in the Pyrenees for another perplexing, kaleidoscopic exploration of something or other (I'm not completely sure).

This coming week I'll be catching up with press-screened films I missed during the festival, including Johnny Depp's The Rum Diary, Aardman animation's Arthur Christmas, James Gandolfini's Welcome to the Rileys, the British ensemble comedy How to Stop Being a Loser and the love story Romantics Anonymous. Plus I plan to revisit remastered versions of Francis Coppola's The Outsiders, One From the Heart and The Conversation, none of which I've seen since the early 80s. Looking forward to that!

LFF 2011: That's a wrap

2011-10-28T14:02:00.000+01:00

And so the London Film Festival comes to an end for another year, leaving my October (and much of September as well) a blur of film screenings. I saw 65 films at this year's festival, which is about normal for me. Sadly, this is the last of nine LFFs organised by artistic director Sandra Hebron (pictured above with Jude Law on opening night). Over her tenure, she has hugely expanded the scope and profile of the festival, and she'll be missed. Here are a few more films, plus my favourites and the award winners...

Play
dir Ruben Ostlund; with Sebastian Hegmar, John Ortiz 11/Swe ****
This bold, ambitious Swedish drama explores some potent issues in any melting-pot society without ever overstating them. And with its striking visual style, it leaves us deeply haunted by the issues it explores in a very personal way. It centres on a clash between two groups of young teens, as five black boys target three white boys to steal their mobile phones. But it's much more complex than that, as they talk and interact, travelling out of the city for a strange series of confrontations. Filmmaker Ostlund is exploring the whole culture of bullying, while making an intriguing comment on the nature of a melting-pot society. Cleverly shot in long takes from askance angles, it's not an easy film to watch, but it really gets under the skin.

Without
dir Mark Jackson; with Joslyn Jensen, Ron Carrier 11/US ***
For a low-budget, meandering American indie movie, this film actually has a lot more going on than most of them. Sure, the plot feels aimless and rather uninvolving, but the filmmaking is especially sharp, and there's a lot going on beneath the surface. It also features a terrific central performance from Jensen, as a young woman housesitting a disabled man (Carrier) in an isolated island home. But it's her internal journey that becomes the focus, even though most of it happens in subtext. She's recovering from a relationship that we later learn took an unexpected turn. Her experience is haunting and creepy and also blackly funny. And in the end we're surprised at how much we care about her.

King Curling
dir Ole Endresen; with Atle Antonsen, Linn Skaber 11/Nor ****
With garish production design and bone-dry wit, this raucously entertaining film finds comedy in a story about mental illness, terminal disease and the sport of curling. Only in Norway. It centres on the obsessive-compulsive curling star Truls (Antonsen), who is released from a mental facility after 10 years and brashly decides to reform the old team. But this puts him back on a collision course both with the judges and his arch-rival (Kae Conradi). The film is designed with bright colours and hilarious costumes, and the character interaction sometimes feels very cartoonish. But it's very funny and surprisingly involving as the big final competition approaches.

My top 10 films of the fest...

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (Ramsay, UK)
THE ARTIST (Hazanavicius, Fr)
WEEKEND (Haigh, UK)
SHAME (McQueen, UK)
THIS IS NOT A FILM (Panahi/Mirtahmasb, Irn)
WILD BILL (Fletcher, UK)
ALPS (Lanthimos, Gr)
BEAUTY (Hermanus, SA)
DREAMS OF A LIFE (Morley, UK)
SHE MONKEYS (Aschan, Swe)

Honourable mention: INTO THE ABYSS (Herzog, US), THE DESCENDANTS (Payne, US), THE KID WITH A BIKE (Dardenne/Dardenne, Bel), CARNAGE (Polanski, Fr) and SNOWTOWN (Kurzel, Aus).

And the festival awards go to...

Best Film: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Best Doc (Grierson Award): INTO THE ABYSS
Best First Feature (Sutherland Award): LAS ACACIAS
British Newcomer: Candese Reid (JUNKHEARTS)
BFI Fellowship: Ralph Fiennes (CORIOLANUS) and David Cronenberg (A DANGEROUS METHOD)

LFF Day 16: Men in skirts

2011-10-27T22:31:00.039+01:00

Tom Hiddleston and Terence Davies led the charge on closing night at the London Film Festival with the red carpet premiere of their film The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz, who of course also starred in the opening night film. I'll have a wrap-up tomorrow, but here are some more highlights...

The Deep Blue Sea
dir Terence Davies; with Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston 11/UK ****
Based on the 1952 Terence Rattigan play, this exquisitely made British drama moves at its own slow pace, pitting repressed emotions against reckless passion. It's also rather gloomy and downbeat, almost reluctant to let us see glimmers of hope in the story... FULL REVIEW >

This Must Be the Place
dir Paolo Sorrentino; with Sean Penn, Frances McDormand 11/Ire ***
Italian filmmaker Sorrentino creates a Jim Jarmusch-style odyssey from Ireland to America and back. Witty filmmaking and Penn's quirky performance keep it watchable, even though the story and themes are vague and elusive... FULL REVIEW >

We Have a Pope
dir Nanni Moretti; with Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Stuhr 11/It ***
Cleverly filmed to look like the real thing, this papal drama is infused with such a lively sense of humour that we often start it think it's a comedy. So when something serious happens, it feels a bit jarring. And in the end, unsatisfying. When the Pope dies, the cardinals meet to select his successor, but when the decision is made, the new Pope (Piccoli) has a crisis of conscience. Until he sorts this out, the cardinals must remain sequestered in the Vatican. And so must a shrink (played by director Moretti) brought in to help the new Holy Father, who meanwhile takes a secret pilgrimage into the streets of Rome. The film is a rather odd mix of slapstick (as if anything the priests do is funny) and religious exploration. And the two don't blend very easily, leaving the film feeling a bit fragmented and ultimately unconvincing. While the film is often very entertaining and engaging, it's ultimately a bit frustrating.

Footnote
dir-scr Joseph Cedar; with Lior Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar-Aba 11/Isr ****
Essentially a father-son drama, this extremely clever Israeli film expands to explore huge issues from religion to politics with a strikingly ethical slant. It also maintains a comical tone even when things get very serious indeed. It centres on a Talmud expert (Ashkenazu) who can't quite cope with the fact that his father (Bar-Aba) has never been acknowledged for his contributions to the field. So when Dad wins the prestigious Israel Prize, the son couldn't be prouder. Until he finds out that there was an error and actually he won it, not his father. Personal vendettas, long histories and some ongoing feuds feed into the events that follow. And filmmaker Cedar injects the film with more humour than theological pondering. The result is a smart, involving film that keeps us on our toes.

LFF Day 15: Starry night

2011-10-26T22:57:00.035+01:00

Tuesday night was one of the starriest of the London Film Festival, with the casts of films like Anonymous and Hunky Dory parading through Leicester Square for crowds of adoring fans. Meanwhile, most critics were on the other side of the square, avoiding the red carpet insanity for the UK press screening of the 3D Greek god romp Immortals. Here are

Anonymous
dir Roland Emmerich; with Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave 11/UK **
Based on the long-mooted Oxfordian theory about the true authorship of Shakespeare's plays and poems, this film undermines its own point by over-egging the story. An over-complicated script and arch performances don't help the case... FULL REVIEW >

Hunky Dory
dir Marc Evans; with Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard 11/UK ***
With a lively recreation of the 1970s in South Wales, this relatively standard nostalgic teen drama holds our interest through its colourful settings and characters. Although without a clear central character, the film feels rather diffuse. It's set at a Swansea school, where unorthodox drama teacher Viv (Driver) is mounting a rock-infused version of The Tempest. But of course, this causes problems with the school board and the community. Meanwhile, various students are having coming-of-age issues involving romance, sexuality and hanging with the wrong crowd. But all of them are hugely talented singers, which kind of makes the film feel like a groovy, soulful version of Glee. It's also very colourful, catching the period with style and energy. And the characters are all engaging. But the film doesn't have a central point of view, jumping from plot to plot and leaving each strand somewhat undercooked.

The Dish and the Spoon

dir Alison Bagnall; with Greta Gerwig, Olly Alexander 11/US **
With its deliberately quirky characters and meandering, seemingly random series of events, this mumblecore movie is enjoyably ramshackle, constantly catching us off guard with moments of spiky humour or warm emotion. But it's also infuriatingly vague about everything, from the plot to the characters' names... FULL REVIEW >

Target
dir Alexander Zeldovich; with Maksim Sukhanov, Justine Waddell 11/Rus ****
This astonishing 2.5-hour long Russian epic takes us into the near future with glassy-eyed production values that are reminiscent of vintage TV shows like UFO and The Avengers. In fact, Waddell often looks rather a lot like Diana Rigg as she prowls through this story. She plays the wife of a government official (Sukhanov) who joins a group that travels to an isolated valley, where a disused scientific station has been shown to permanently stop ageing. But the five characters who have this experience all find their lives drastically changed by the experience, mainly because of their own reactions to their newfound immortality. The film is both gorgeous to look at and so packed with unsettling themes that it's deeply haunting in all the right ways. It's also vague enough to please arthouse film fans and probably alienating everyone else.

In non-festival screenings, I've caught up with the muscled Greek god romp Immortals, Daniel Craig's muddled Dream House, Annette Bening's moving Mother and Child, Marcia Gay Harden's intriguing If I Were You and Wayne Wang's girly Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Still to come: Justin Timberlake's In Time, Johnny Depp's The Rum Diary, the remake/prequel The Thing and the sequel The Human Centipede 2. Not to mention lots and lots of writing to catch up after the festival. And some sleep too.

LFF Day 14: Danger!

2011-10-25T22:53:00.050+01:00

Michael Fassbender was back at the London Film Festival yesterday to promote his second film here, A Dangerous Method, costarring Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley and directed by David Cronenberg. This made for a lively press conference, as well as a paparazzi-friendly red carpet later in Leicester Square. Amid the general exhaustion on the faces of film journalists here, there's finally a sense that the festival is coming to an end in a couple of days and we'll be able to sleep - Freudian dream alert! - again. Here are some more notes on festival films...

A Dangerous Method
dir David Cronenberg; with Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley 11/Ger ****
Cronenberg's brainy approach makes this film fascinating but demanding as it traces the birth of psychoanalysis through the relationship and rivalry between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The film radiates intelligence through clever direction and strong performances... FULL REVIEW >

Bernie
dir Richard Linklater; with Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine 11/US ****
Jack Black delivers one of his strongest performances in this rather outrageous true story from East Texas, which Linklater tells with a witty blend of comedy, drama and documentary. It's played dead straight, but it's consistently hilarious... FULL REVIEW >

The Monk
dir Dominik Moll; with Vincent Cassel, Deborah Francois 11/Sp ***
This 16th century freak-out is ravishingly beautiful to look at. but it's also turgid and relentlessly grim. So what's essentially a dark supernatural thriller will only really appeal to arthouse audiences. Based on the 18th century novel by Matthew Lewis, it's the gothic saga of a priest (Cassel) who was raised from infancy by monks. Now a celebrated preacher, he begins to have increasingly dark encounters with the supernatural through dreams, visions and a stranger who offers him demonic powers. This is a seriously bleak story that's clearly not heading for a happy ending, but it's so gorgeously designed and shot by Moll that we can't look away. And Cassel's performance is deeply haunting.

Dreams of a Life
dir Carol Morley; with Zawe Ashton, Alix Luka-Cain 11/UK ****
This beautifully assembled exploration of the life of a Londoner is hauntingly, desperately sad as it reveals a person living in such isolation that she could simply fall through the cracks. And while the filmmaking is skilful and powerfully moving, it does feel a bit more lit a TV doc than a feature film. That said, the story is astonishingly gripping: it's the 2006 case of Joyce Vincent, who was found dead in her North London flat with her TV on, after being undiscovered for three years. There was no foul play, and the film is a potent mix of re-enactions and interview with her friends, who talk about her as the life of the party. But she also had a dark side, and drifted out of their lives to the point where no one ever asked where she had gone. The film may feel a bit padded out, but it's utterly riveting, and hugely moving.

Dreileben
1. Beats Being Dead: dir Christian Petzold; with Jacob Matschenz, Luna Zimic Mijovic 11/Ger ***
2. Don't Follow Me: dir Dominik Graf; with Jeanette Hain, Susanne Wolff 11/Ger ****
3. One Minute of Darkness: dir Christoph Hochhausler; with Stefan Kurt, Eberhard Kirchberg 11/Ger ****
This trilogy tells three distinct stories that take place in the same time and place and overlap at various points. And in the final film, we also a more over-arching drama emerges from the shadows of the first two films. All three are extremely well shot and edited, packed with insinuation and clever touches in the styles of their respective directors. The three films stand alone as a twisty romance, friendship drama and dark thriller, respectively. And they also have some strongly echoing themes about human fragility and the way our private obsessions have a potent impact on the people around us. You also get the feeling that these aren't the only three stories you could tell from this setting.

LFF Day 13: The dark side

2011-10-24T23:25:00.000+01:00

One of the overwhelming feelings from this year's London Film Festival is that the world isn't a very nice place. Sure, there have been a few moments of joyous relief (The Artist has been the bright point), but most films are grappling with very dark themes or genres. Here are notes on just five of them....

The Awakening
dir Nick Murphy; with Rebecca Hall, Dominic West 11/UK ***
A nifty twist on the standard ghost story, this British period drama starts extremely well and then slips into overwrought melodrama. And while the plot feels a little too gimmicky, at least it's complex enough to hold our interest... FULL REVIEW >

Martha Marcy May Marlene
dir Sean Durkin; with Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson 11/US ****
With a disturbing tone and skilful filmmaking, this insinuating drama completely unsettles us as it delves into the mental life of its central character. And it has a lot to say about how relationships affect us... FULL REVIEW >

Hors Satan
dir Bruno Dumont; with David Dewaele, Alexandra Lematre 11/Fr ****
Ever the provocateur, Dumont fills this story with religious iconography, blurring the lines between Jesus and the devil. It's about the thin line between good and evil, suggesting that positive actions must sometimes involve violence. And the filmmaking is both bold and elusive as it follows a drifter (Dewaele) along the French coastline as he has a supernatural impact on the villagers. Virtually dialog-free, the film is packed with eerie scenes that echo Biblical stories, from healing the sick to walking on water to exorcising a demon, so watching it is thoroughly unsettling. And while Dumont's central point is a little hard to find, it's rare that any filmmaker deals with religious themes. Especially one who knows how to push our buttons.

Beauty
dir Oliver Hermanus; with Deon Lotz, Charlie Keegan 11/SA ****
An intensely personal filmmaking style takes us deep into this darkly involving drama about a man who simply doesn't have the skills to deal with his inner desires. Watching it is a remarkably challenging, involving experience. It centres on a middle-aged man (Lotz) who is married with two grown daughters and a very dark secret: he's actually gay but can never come out in his rural society. This repression has left him unable to cope with his own urges, which makes his growing obsession with a young family friend (Keegan) increasingly worrying. But what makes the film so riveting is the way writer-director Hermanus tells this story in such an intimate way: we are right inside this man's mind all the way through, understanding his thoughts and actions. And the subtle skill in the way it's shot, edited and acted is simply astounding.

Into the Abyss
dir Werner Herzog; with with Michael Perry, Jason Burkett 11/Ger ****
Herzog departs sharply from the quirky tone of his recent documentaries to offer a startlingly astute and sensitive exploration of a horrific murder case. And more generally, he's also looking at the issue of America's death penalty. The case is genuinely disturbing, especially as Herzog talks to policemen, townsfolk, the victims' families and the killers themselves (Perry and Burkett), one of whom is awaiting his execution. What emerges are details that thoroughly disarm our expectations, quietly observing facts and emotions that challenge ideas of an-eye-for-an-eye justice. It's one of those films that gets deeply under your skin, and without ever preaching makes you examine your prejudices an probably change the way you think.

LFF Day 12: Royal performance

2011-10-23T23:26:00.000+01:00

At the UK premiere of her film W.E. at the London Film Festival, Madonna is flanked by actors Richard Coyle, James D'Arcy, Andrea Riseborough, Laurence Fox and Katie McGrath. It was quite possibly the starriest night of the festival, and Madonna received a warm welcome from the audience as she introduced her film and then gave a long, candid Q&A after with the festival's artistic director Sandra Hebron. It was great to be there - probably my only gala event this year. Here are some comments on the film, as well as a few other highlights...

W.E.
dir Madonna; with Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough 11/UK ***

Madonna takes an ambitious approach to the story of Wallis Simpson (Riseborough) and King Edward VIII (James D'Arcy), merging their history-making romance with the story of another Wallis (Cornish) in modern-day New York. Frankly, it's all a bit overwrought as it parallels the two stories and even merges them surreally several times along the way. The swings in mood are vast, from cheeky comedy to wrenching violence to political intrigue to sweet romance. And while the performances are good, only Cornish really connects with the audience. That said, the film's sheer ambition makes it worth seeing, as it is packed with terrific scenes that stand on their own. And it's also rather nice to see a big historical story like this seen from a woman's viewpoint, which brings out some issues most filmmakers are happy to pretend don't exist. So even if it's a bit of a mess, it still has relevance and resonance.

Take Shelter
dir Jeff Nichols; with Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain 11/US ****
Shannon reteams with Shotgun Stories writer-director Nichols for another exploration of one man's wobbling mental state. But this time the story is much more introspective, and watching it is thoroughly unnerving... FULL REVIEW >

Wild Bill
dir Dexter Fletcher; with Charlie Creed-Miles, Will Poulter 11/UK *****
British actor Fletcher makes a terrific directing debut with this sharply told story of a family struggling to survive in a bleak environment. But this film is so full of hope that it thoroughly engages our emotions even when things get scary... FULL REVIEW >

The Future
dir Miranda July; with Miranda July, Hamish Linklater 11/US ***
While this film is a bit too precious and offbeat, it also makes some striking observations on the nature of relationships and the fears we have about moving ahead into the unknown. And the engaging cast keeps us involved... FULL REVIEW >

LFF Day 11: Tess goes east

2011-10-22T23:33:00.001+01:00

Freida Pinto and Michael Winterbottom turned up at the London Film Festival today with Trishna, their India-set version of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Meanwhile, Andrea Arnold was also on hand with most of the cast for her new film version of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Also in town today: Bruno Dumont (Hors Satan), Robbie Pickering (Natural Selection), Nirpal Bhogal (Sket) and Ole Endresen (King Curling). Here are comments on five of today's highlights...

Trishna
dir Michael Winterbottom; with Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed 11/Ind ***
With this darkly edgy romance, Winterbottom adapts his third Thomas Hardy novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and sets the action in India. It's colourful and dramatic, but lacks the passion the story requires to grab our emotions... FULL REVIEW >

Wuthering Heights
dir Andrea Arnold; with Kaya Scodelario, James Howson 11/UK ****
Emily Bronte's novel is one of the most unsettling books you'll ever read, so it's about time a filmmaker made a darkly disturbing movie out of it. And Arnold's movie is like no other period adaptation we've ever seen: gritty, messy and thoroughly involving... FULL REVIEW >

The Ides of March
dir George Clooney; with Ryan Gosling, George Clooney 11/US ****
As a writer-director, Clooney delivers another complex exploration of American politics in this lively drama about the pressures of the campaign trail. The plot is somewhat theatrical, but the stellar cast brings it to life... FULL REVIEW >

Natural Selection
dir Robbie Pickering; with Rachael Harris, Matt O'Leary 11/US ****
A skilful mixture of comedy and drama makes this the kind of film that keeps us off balance from start to finish. Like the central character, we are challenged by every twist and turn of the plot. Which also means that it's hugely involving... FULL REVIEW >

Headhunters
dir Morten Tyldum; with Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau 11/Nor ****
Based on Jo Nesbo's bestselling novel, this freewheeling action-thriller is hugely entertaining because, besides being unpredictable and suspenseful, it's also relentlessly hilarious. But in fine Scandinavian style, it's played dead straight. It centres on the fast-talking job recruiter Roger (Hennie) who has a secret business in art theft to support his leggy blonde wife (Synnove Macody Lund), whom he knows is way out of his league. But one particularly tempting job results in him being hunted by a high-tech killer and the cops who now think that he's a vicious killer. The story propels Roger at full-speed through a series of outrageous situations that are amusingly deadpan while being genuinely scary at the same time. There's not much to the film, but it's so much fun, and the hero is so easy to identify with, that we can't help but be hugely entertained.

LFF Day 10: The charmer

2011-10-21T22:34:00.001+01:00

One of the best surprises of the London Film Festival has been Michel Hazanavicius' almost ludicrously charming black and white silent movie The Artist, which has been gathering buzz since its premiere at Cannes last May. Now the film and its leading man Jean Dujardin are being talked about as possible Oscar contenders (of course, it helps that Weinstein is distributing the film). Apparently Dujardin has been here in London for the festival, but I haven't tracked him down yet. Here are some comments on the film, and some other festival highlights...

The Artist
dir Michel Hazanavicius; with Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo 11/Fr *****
Made as a 1920s-style silent movie, this feels like an instant classic It's packed with more wit, passion and invention than all of the films in any given multiplex combined. The story centres on a silent movie star (Dujardin) who discovers a young ingenue (Bejo) and then watches as their careers take extremely different trajectories - mainly because she embraces talkies while he prefers to keep making silent movies. The strong supporting cast includes John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller and James Cromwell, and the film is so sharply well written and directed that every moment is packed with humour, emotion and witty nods to film history. It's also one of those movies that makes you laugh and cry without seeming to try at all. In a word: sublime.

The Kid With a Bike
dir Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; with Thomas Doret, Cecile De France 11/Bel ****
The Dardennes once again achieve a remarkable sense of reality with this understated drama about an angry tornado of a boy (the remarkable Doret) whose troubled, sad life seems heading for a nasty end when he's adopted by a caring stranger (De France). But nothing is easy, and the film heads into some very dark places that continually catch us off guard. It's such an intimate film that it's sometimes difficult to watch, but we continue to root for this kid. Everything feels so natural on screen that it's almost shocking when we start to feel the grinding gears of a plot. And while this feels a bit pushy, it still keeps us involved, and even provides a moment of gasp-inducing drama.

Junkhearts
dir Tinge Krishnan; with Eddie Marsan, Candese Reid 11/UK ***
Riveting performances hold our attention even when this dark drama starts wallowing in the messy lives of its central characters. But there are glimmers of hope along the way, and a terrifyingly realistic depiction of addiction... FULL REVIEW >

LFF Day 9: George in the house

2011-10-20T23:17:00.000+01:00

Every year at the London Film Festival, there are at least two big new George Clooney movies, and this year's Clooney Mini-fest kicked off yesterday with The Ides of March, and a the charming actor held court at a mammoth press conference along with costars Evan Rachel Wood and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Today was Part 2 with The Descendants, along with director Alexander Payne and costar Shailene Woodley. This meant that the evening premieres involved hundred screaming fans camped out in Leicester Square to get a glimpse of their hero. And the films weren't bad either. Here are some more festival highlights...

The Descendants
dir Alexander Payne; with George Clooney, Judy Greer 11/US ****
Clooney has never done a role that was quite as emotionally resonant as this one. He plays a man whose wife is in a coma, leaving him to care for his free-spirited daughters, aged 17 and 10. Meanwhile, he and his cousins are considering selling off their ancestral land in Kauai. And then he finds out that his wife had been having an affair, and amid his anger and grief he makes a startling decision about the other man. The film plays out gently, with a profoundly humane script that blends strong emotions with earthy comedy. And the performances are terrific, delicately balancing the joy and pain of a variety of relationships. A seriously involving and entertaining film.

This Is Not a Film
dir/with Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb 11/Iran *****
There's something eerie about watching this playful documentary just a few days after filmmaker Panahi had his draconian prison sentence (six years) and 20-year ban from filmmaking upheld by an appeals panel. Because this, of course, is not a film. Essentially, the camera is just watching Panahi while he's under house arrest awaiting the appeal ruling. His friend Mirtahmasb is operating the camera, although sometimes Panahi provides reverse angles with his iPhone. And it's a hilariously surreal exploration of filmmaking, as Panahi tries to stay within the boundaries of his sentence but clearly can't resist the urge to tell stories. He even acts out scenes from one of his banned productions (after all, he's been banned from writing and directing, not acting or reading). But it's the film's serious subtext that makes it a hugely important document.

How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire
dir Daniel Edelstyn; with

Daniel Edelstyn,

Hilary Powell 11/UK ***

Edelstyn narrates the story of how he discovered a Ukrainian vodka distillery that was once owned by his great-grandfather and his efforts to launch an international vodka label out of it. Meanwhile, we see the story of his grandmother's departure from Ukraine amid the chaos of Russia's 1917 revolution. re-enacted by his partner Powell with the help of his friends and some eye-catching hand-made animation. It's a lively, enjoyable film that cleverly parallels the two stories to draw out some bigger issues, including personal ambition, government bureaucracy, international business and even impending parenthood. And what makes it so endearing is Edelstyn's personal approach: his grandparents' story is a lovely example of European migration through the 20th century, while his own journey is like a less-gimmicky, more-goofy Morgan Spurlock.

LFF Day 8: Dear John

2011-10-19T22:58:00.000+01:00

Along with We Need to Talk About Kevin, John C Reilly has two more films in this year's London Film Festival - and they come from three very different genres. Several actors pop up more than once in this year's line-up, including George Clooney, Jessica Chastain, Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon and Michael Fassbender. But Reilly wins the prize for the most varied roles. Here are notes on his two other films, plus one more...

Carnage
dir Roman Polanski; with Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster 11/Fr ****
Based on Yasmina Reza's play God of Carnage, this claustrophobic film takes place almost entirely between four characters in a single New York apartment. But it's absolutely riveting, because of the filmmaking and directing as well as the bracingly smart script. It also helps to have Winslet, Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C Reilly playing two couples who come together after their 11-year-old sons are involved in a playground fight. Yes, the script is extremely theatrical, spiralling around as each character gets the upper hand, lashes out and so on. But Polanski keeps it crisp and pacey with an inventive use of the space, letting the actors grab hold of the characters and run with them.

Terri
dir Azalee Jacobs; with Jacob Wysocki, John C Reilly 11/US ****
This offbeat drama is kind of a coming-of-age story, as it focusses on the overweight teen Terri (Wysocki), who lives with his unstable uncle and feels likt an outcast at school. It probably doesn't help that he wears pyjamas because they're more comfortable. But he's taken under the wing of the principal (Reilly), who clearly has a thing for misfits, being one himself. What follows is a surprisingly involving series of events as Terri quietly begins to accept who he is and make some friends along the way. It's a low-key film, with a constant undercurrent of deranged humour and a series of genuinely touching moments too.

Magic Trip

dir Alex Gibney, Alison Ellwood; with Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs 11/US ***
Gibney and Ellwood got their hands on the film Kesey shot as he and his Merry Pranksters drove their psychedelic bus across country in 1964. Originally intended to be a feature film, but never coming together at the time, it's now assembled as a freewheeling documentary. Colourfully edited together with wit and insight, it's thoroughly entertaining to watch, as we've never seen such intimate footage of these people before. On the other hand, the voice-over present-day interviews sound like fond nostalgia rather than any attempt to make sense of what happened. Sure, most of the time everyone was lost on LSD, but this film starts to feel almost like a yearning reminiscence of happier, higher days. Still, the context is strong, as we see both how the Pranksters responded to and affected the times they lived in.

LFF Day 7: Cast and crew

2011-10-18T23:22:00.000+01:00

Tonight saw another parade of actors and filmmakers on the London Film Festival red carpet, including Justin Kurzel and Lucas Pittaway (Snowtown), Lynne Ramsay and Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Pablo Giorgelli (Las Acacias). All of these are noted below, plus Return, whose star Linda Cardellini is also in town for the festival...

We Need to Talk About Kevin

dir Lynne Ramsay; with Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly 11/UK *****
Scottish filmmaker Ramsay takes an astonishingly visceral approach to Lionel Shriver's notorious novel. And combined with Swinton's internalised performance, the experience of watching this dark, disturbing film is almost unbearably moving... FULL REVIEW >

Snowtown
dir Justin Kurzel; with Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall 11/Aus ****
Based on a nightmarish true story, this Australian drama starts in a squalid home and descends into pure horror. The film takes the perplexed perspective of 16-year-old Jamie (the astonishing Pittaway), who is abused by a neighbour before being taken under wing by his mother's new boyfriend John (Henshall). But John's hot temper, vengeful urges and violent tone hint at something much nastier under the surface. This is one of Australia's most notorious serial killer cases, but the film approaches it internally, never quite giving us all of the details, so we feel like we're living through the events along with Jamie. And by eerily underplaying everything while keeping us off-balance, the filmmakers make one of the most terrifyingly original movies of the year.

Return
dir Liza Johnson; with Linda Cardellini, Michael Shannon 11/US ***
An edgy sense of realism makes this back-from-war drama surprisingly engaging, even though it's never as original as we hope it will be. But solid, naturalistic performances and an urgent, intimate approach make it worth a look... FULL REVIEW >

Las Acacias
dir Pablo Giorgelli; with German de Silva, Hebe Duarte 11/Arg ****
Artful and engaging, but also extremely slow, this Argentine road movie centres on an intriguing relationship between two strangers: a truck driver and a woman who hitches a long ride with him, bringing her infant baby along. Most of the time they drive along in silence, but over the many hours they can't help but start to take an interest in each other. This gentle thawing is witty and involving, partly because the catalyst is the adorably curious baby who begins to crack the driver's hardened, cynical shell. It's finely shot and edited, and extremely well-observed, but is so low-key that it will probably only appeal to adventurous filmgoers.

LFF Day 6: The warzone

2011-10-17T23:04:00.000+01:00

Recent red carpet stars at the London Film Festival have included the cast of Coriolanus (Vanessa Redgrave, Jon Snow, Brian Cox and Ralph Fiennes, left) and Rampart (Ben Foster, Oren Moverman and Woody Harrelson, right). Although for members of the press, this festival can be more of a scrum, trying to get tickets to public screenings of films that weren't shown to the press. Forget about the parties, we have four or five movies to watch every day. It's a bit exhausting, but there are only 10 days to go. Here are some highlights today...

Coriolanus
dir Ralph Fiennes; with Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler 11/UK ***
Actor-director Fiennes sets Shakespeare's military tragedy in a modern-day war setting, which gives it a meaty kick of recognition. But it's such a bombastic film that it's difficult to find much emotional resonance in it... FULL REVIEW >

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
dir Takashi Miike; with Ebizo Ichikawa, Eita 11/Jpn ****
Miike takes a remarkably restrained approach to this remake of the 1962 samurai classic about a man who asks for permission to commit ritual suicide in the courtyard of a great house, then unravels a twisty story that sharply explores the issue of honour in Japanese society. This version is strikingly still, gorgeously shot in muted colours to concentrate on the dark emotions that fill the story. It's also shot in 3D, which gives the sets an intriguing depth. As the drama progresses mainly through conversations and flashbacks, there's very little action until the final scenes, which are a shocking collision of tragedy and violence. And as an aching story of love and revenge, it's deeply moving.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
dir Nuri Bilge Ceylan; with Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan 11/Tur ****
Patiently following a police procedure over about 18 hours, this Turkish drama is startlingly involving, mainly because it quietly deepens our interest through character detail. It's also stunningly well shot and edited... FULL REVIEW >

Meanwhile, I have still been watching non-festival films and reviewing them for their normal release dates. Over the past week, London critics have seen the Brad Pitt baseball drama Moneyball, the Chinese drama Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and the girly ensemble movie Monte Carlo. Coming up we have the Greek gods extravaganza Immortals, the remake-prequel The Thing Marca Gay Harden in If I Were You, the now unbanned sequel The Human Centipede 2 and Jan Svankmejer's Surviving Life.

LFF Day 5: Feeling a bit unsettled

2011-10-16T23:23:00.000+01:00

The London Film Festival continues apace, with a busy weekend of screenings and events all over the city. I saw three films today, two of which were introduced by their directors and followed by Q&As - Giorgos Lanthimos (above right, with actress Ariane Labed and producer Athina Rachel Tsangari, photographed with my phone this evening) with Alps and Julie Loktev with The Loneliest Planet. Woody Harrelson and Oren Movermen were apparently in town for Rampart, but were too busy to attend the matinee, apparently. Comments about all three below...

Alps

dir Giorgos Lanthimos; with Aris Servetalis, Johnny Vekris 11/Gr *****
After Dogtooth, it's impressive that Lanthimos has actually upped his game with this remarkably involving drama. Once again, it's opens mysteriously, and takes a while to show us exactly what this group of people are up to: they call themselves Alps and pose as the recently deceased to help friends and family members ease into their grief. Where the film gets interesting is in its examination of how we all play roles in our lives, both at work and at home, and how telling the difference between who we want people to see and who we really are gets increasingly blurry as time goes by. Of course, in this case all of these issues are magnified, and what happens has a surprising emotional kick as the film takes several provocative twists and turns. Don't miss it.

Rampart

dir Oren Moverman; with Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright 11/US ***
Harrelson reunites with The Messenger writer-director Moverman (as well as costars Ben Foster and Steve Buscemi) for this grim drama cowritten by James Ellroy about police corruption in late-1990s Los Angeles. It feels a bit too similar to Training Day for comfort, as Harrelson's character struggles to hold his fractured family together while covering up his dodgy activities as a cop. Addiction to prescription drugs and a tentative relationship with a lawyer (Wright) add to the mix, but as he spirals down into a hole it's difficult to care much about this cocky racist/sexist dinosaur. Are we supposed to feel sad that the olden days are gone in which cops could do whatever they want? As in Training Day, we lose all sympathy as the central character goes under. And the only saving grace is that Moverman resists the apocalyptic ending, going for something much more interesting.

The Loneliest Planet

dir Julia Loktev; with Gael Garcia Bernal, Hani Furstenberg 11/US ****
Set in the republic of Georgia, this offbeat film sends two intrepid foreign travellers (Garcia Bernal and Furstenberg) on a hiking trip through the spectacular Caucuses. The first half of the film feels completely improvised, as we relax into the easy relationship this couple has and the banter they share with their guide (Bidzina Gujabidze). Then something happens. In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty minor, but the underlying tension is nearly unbearable. It also makes us examine our deep-seated ideas of gender in a startlingly inescapable way. It's such a simple idea that it's amazing no one has ever addressed it with this level of complexity. And the film is so impeccably shot, edited and acted that it's gets hugely uncomfortable to watch - we know how we feel, and yet we also know that we shouldn't be thinking this way. And as events continue to unfurl, Loktev continues to challenge us while never letting the film boil over into melodrama. A skillful, subtle gem.

LFF Day 4: It's the weekend

2011-10-15T23:09:00.000+01:00

Red carpet glamour continues at the 55th BFI London Film Festival as stars come out in support of their films. Out tonight in Leicester Square and on the Southbank: Woody Harrelson, Oren Moverman, Dee Rees and Julie Loktev. And from the rightly acclaimed British independent drama Weekend, Andrew Haigh, Tom Cullen and Chris New were all on hand for the screening and a very cool party afterwards - perhaps the only one to which I will be invited this year, thanks to distributors Peccadillo, who also have She Monkeys (see below) and Beauty (next weekend) in this year's festival. Here are some highlights...

Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
dir Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill; with Nick Broomfield, Sarah Palin 11/UK ***
With his usual disarming, faux-bumbling style, Broomfield sets out to get the real story of the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate. But she won't talk to him, and her supporters are told not to, so it's kind of difficult togged a balanced view. On the other hand, this tells us rather a lot about Palin, but nothing we haven't heard before. This lack of a revelatory bombshell keeps the film from ever being important, although it's thoroughly entertaining to watch Broomfield's comical attempts to interview Palin and her secretive friends. On the other hand, her "enemies" are happy to talk. But the filmmakers never indulge in a hatchet job, the approach is fair and honest. And what we see of Palin is pretty scary, really.

Terraferma
dir Emanuele Crialese; with Filippo Pucillo, Donatella Finocchiaro 11/It ****
Filmmaker Crialese once again captures the atmosphere of rural Italian life in this darkly involving drama, which loses some of its warmth when a more politically oriented plot takes over. But it holds our interest with lively, realistic characters and settings. It centres on a young man caught between harsh ant-immigration laws and the traditions of his fishing community on the isolated island of Linosa. It's both gorgeously filmed to capture the raw beauty of the island and insightfully observed. We really understand the tensions in this place, where the old ways are disappearing and people are increasingly making a living off tourism. But the plot, involving the arrival of a pregnant illegal immigrant, catches the intensely personal side of the situation.

She Monkeys
dir Lisa Aschen; with Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin 11/Swe ****
This Swedish drama explores issues of women in society in ways we rarely see on screen. With a bracing filmmaking style, this unflinching exploration of power and desire continually surprises us with its quietly revealing approach. The writing, direction and acting are all extraordinary as it centres on the power struggle between two teen girls on a vaulting team - both rivalry and attraction are factors here. The main idea is that a lack of role models makes it difficult to find your place in society, but it's the way filmmaker Aschen approaches this, with a naturalism and artistry that continually catches us off guard with an honesty that's sometimes uncomfortable to watch.

LFF Day 3: Full steam ahead

2011-10-14T23:11:00.000+01:00

Michael Fassbender and Steve McQueen ran the gauntlet of press and fans today at the London Film Festival as they presented Shame to the UK for the first time. And the reaction after the press screening was stunned silence - mostly of the positive kind - due to the film's bold honesty. And the press conference afterwards was remarkably lively, with a sharp sense of humour. Yes, the festival is fully underway, which means that most public screenings are introduced by cast members and/or filmmakers, which is great fun. Here are a few highlights...

Shame
dir Steve McQueen; with Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan 11/UK ****
After Hunger, McQueen continues his inventive approach to cinema with this New York drama about sex addiction. He refuses to play by Hollywood rules, facing up to the issue head-on, which includes using unusual directing choices to show the characters in remarkable detail. Fassbender and Mulligan are transparent and raw as brother and sister, both fragile, damaged people presenting an unexpected face to the world. And while the film's plot feels a little over-constructed, it's also powerfully involving and ultimately moving. But the most intriguing thing is that way it manages to get us into the skin of the central character, forcing us to think about our own addictions, whatever they may be.

Weekend
dir Andrew Haigh; with Tom Cullen, Chris New 11/UK *****
It's clear to see why this gentle gay romantic drama has been compared to Before Sunrise and Once, as it follows two men over the course of two days. But it's also an extremely well-made film packed with its own sharp observations... FULL REVIEW >

Restless
dir Gus Van Sant; with Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska 11/US ****
Van Sant returns to his earthy-airy style for this story of a young man coming to terms with the concept of mortality. It's effortlessly honest, with edgy humour balancing the dark themes. Although it's also diluted by commercial sensibilities. FULL REVIEW >

LFF DAY 2: Around the world

2011-10-13T22:58:00.000+01:00

On opening night, Fernando Meirelles and his cast traversed the red carpet in Leicester Square for the film 360, which travels across North America and Europe. Meanwhile, the festival is travelling all over the globe over the next 15 days. Here are a few highlights from day 2...

Dark Horse

dir Todd Solondz; with Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair 11/US ****
Todd Solondz takes another hilariously pitch-black exploration of human behaviour with a film populated by excellent actors playing seriously messed up characters. And it can't help but force us to look at how we interact with people around us. It centres on slacker Abe (Gelber) who has been pampered all his life by his parents (Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow) and hasn't a clue that he's actually a loser. So he pursues a depressed girl (Blair) with unnatural relentlessness. The comical disconnect between Abe's vision of himself and how everyone else sees him provides plenty of scope for dark humour, and Solondz never passes judgment on any of his characters. Which means we see a bit of ourselves in there too.

Pariah

dir Dee Rees; with Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans 11/US ***
Expanded from her Iris-winning short, Rees' feature debut is a bracingly original variation on the usual coming-out and coming-of-age movie, getting under the skin of its vivid characters in ways that are hugely involving. Set in inner-city New York, it follows boyish 17-year-old Alike (Oduye), a straight-A student everyone is worried about since she's hanging out with the "wrong" crowd: namely a group of lesbians. And when Alike's mother virtually forces her to hang out with one of her friends' daughters, things take a twist no one can predict - especially a naive 17-year-old. Alike's journey is thoroughly engaging, and Oduye's performance is stunning. So it's a bit frustrating that other characters are rather overplayed. Still, it's a powerful film that really gets us thinking.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

dir-scr Goran Olsson; with Angela Davis, Stokeley Carmichael 11/Swe ****

By taking a journalistic approach from outside the USA, this film helps us see the turbulent events surrounding the Black Power movement in a new light. And it's powerfully relevant today... FULL REVIEW >

LFF Day 1: Back on the red carpet

2011-10-12T23:29:00.000+01:00

The 55th BFI London Film Festival kicked off tonight with a red-carpet premiere of Fernando Meirelles' ensemble drama 360, and will continue over the next 16 days with some 300 movies plus special events and more. There really isn't much more to my life between now and 27th October - although I do still need to see the usual weekly releases and review them along with the 60 or so LFF movies I'll be watching.

This past week I also attended the 5th Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff, which was as festive as last year (when I was on the jury), as the filmmakers, actors, journalists and festival patrons and organisers all hung out together. In just three days, I saw 35 features and shorts. And the prize winner - the short I Don't Want to Go Back Alone from Brazil - was one of my favourites. As was the winner of best feature and best actor - Eldar Rapaport's August - and best actress - Casper Andreas' Going Down in La-La Land.

Regular releases screened to London critics this past week were good (Roman Polanski's Carnage, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, the frantic Korean thriller The Yellow Sea) and decent (the mopey war movie Resistance, the mopey romance Like Crazy) and almost watchable (the comedy Tower Heist). And then there were the London Film Festival titles. Here are some highlights from tonight and Thursday...

360
dir Fernando Meirelles; with Rachel Weisz, Jude Law 11/UK ***
Written by Peter Morgan, this ambitions multi-national, multi-strand drama centres on transgressive romances while urging us to take whatever fork in the road life throws at us. It continually urges us to remember that each decision has its consequences, but the film itself never gets deep enough to explore them. Its multiplicity of characters include a hooker from Bratislava, a businessman from Berlin, a strained marriage in London, a Russian mobster in Paris, a lovelorn Muslim dentist, a pair of lost souls on a plane to Denver and a recovering sex offender. The cast is superb, and Meirelles fills the film with glassy, reflective camerawork and tricky editing that carries us as the film moves from Europe to America and back. Yet while this engaging, involving film is full of gorgeous moments, carrying us along effortlessly, it never seems quite as sharp as it should be.

50/50
dir Jonathan Levine; with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen 11/US ****
Films about cancer aren't generally this funny. And while this movie isn't a comedy, beyond its generous dose of realistic humour, it has a smart, personal script that dares to face a difficult situation head on. And the light tone makes it hugely involving... FULL REVIEW >

Like Crazy
dir Drake Doremus; with Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones 11/US **
With a deliberately wistful style, this romantic drama never quite convinces us that its central couple is actually in love. there are several wonderfully telling moments along the way, but the over-constructed plot and too-cute cuddle-fest just gets increasingly annoying. It follows a young couple (the terrific Yelchin and Jones) who are torn apart when she overstays her student visa and is unable to return to Los Angeles from London. They both have other relationships over the ensuing months, but can't get each other out of their minds. Basically, this film will appeal to anyone who was won over by the similarly toned One Day, another gimmicky and extremely mopey romance that seemed oddly artificial from the start.

Gandu [A**hole]

dir-prd Kaushik Mukherjee; with Anubrata Basu, Joyraj Bhattacharya 10/India ***
Filmmaker Mukherjee (credited only as Q) violates every taboo about Indian cinema to tell a lively story about an angry young man who just wants to make it big as a rapper. It's worth seeing for its brio even if there isn't that much more to it. The story follows an angry rapper nicknamed Gandu who channels his rage through his music. Eventually, he embarks on a road trip with a Bruce Lee-fanatic pal, and their adventures encompass both drugs and porn. The film is energetic and colourful - albeit shot in black and white, except for one lurid sex scene. So it kind of resembles Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It crossed with Coppola's Rumblefish, plus a surreal, drug-fuelled Indian sensibility. It's pretty outrageous, although not as shocking in the West as it would be back home.

Critical Week: The eyes have it

2011-10-04T10:32:00.000+01:00

Most of the films screened this week to UK critics are in the programme for the 55th London Film Festival, which starts next week. So it's been a rather higher quality week than normal for us, including: George Clooney's astute and entertaining political drama The Idea of March, starring the seemingly ubiquitous Ryan Gosling; Ralph Fiennes' inventive adaptation of Shakespeare's macho-soldier drama Coiriolanus, costarring the even more ubiquitous Jessica Chastain; Sean Penn as a goth rocker in Paolo Sorrentino's artful and intriguing This Must Be the Place; Todd Solondz's latest quirky and almost terrifyingly insightful black comedy Dark Horse; and Rebecca Hall and Dominic West in the period ghost thriller The Awakening.

Two films surprised us by being much better than we expected: Rod Lurie's skilful remake of Pekinpah's notorious 1970s thriller Straw Dogs and Rowan Atkinson's return as the spoof spy in Johnny English Reborn. Less starry but equally impressive independent films included the festival hit Martha Marcy May Marlene, about a young woman breaking away from a brainwashing commune; the superb British drama Wild Bill, with Will Poulter and Charlie Creed-Miles; the clever and involving German drama Harvest; and the Indian taboo-busting comedy-drama Gandu.

And this coming week will be just as busy, with the collision of three festivals: Raindance in London, Iris in Cardiff and continuing press screenings for the London Film Festival. Biggies include Roman Polanski's Carnage, starring Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster, the youthful romance Like Crazy, the Norwegian comedy-thriller Headhunters, the Israeli drama Footnote, and the Latino drama Las Acacias. Among other things to be revealed next week...

Critical Week: All for one

2011-09-27T09:38:00.002+01:00

The big press screening in London this week was for Paul WS Anderson's 3D remake of The Three Musketeers, a goofy but violent action-comedy variation on the story. Yes, it's bloated and stupid, but also has some guilty-pleasure fun in it. And there were two other hyperviolent big American movies: Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro thundering through the blunt spy thriller Killer Elite, and Taylor Lautner posing his way through the identity/chase thriller Abduction. At least high-powered casts held our attention through all three movies, it's just a shame there wasn't a subtle moment between them.

Much more involving was Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea, a quietly gruelling post-war romance starring the amazing Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. Miranda July's The Future is deliberately quirky but also full of telling observations about relationships and life. Sion Sono's Guilty of Romance is bold and difficult and exhilarating. The Texan indie Red White & Blue is disturbing and unpredictable. And The British Guide to Showing Off is a colourful and lurid doc about the hilarious Alternative Miss World competition. Even the relentlessly inspirational disabled-dolphin movie, cleverly titled Dolphin Tale, was surprisingly involving even if it used the possibilities for 3D even less than The Three Musketeers did.

This coming week, we'll be seeing George Clooney's political comedy-drama The Ides of March, Ralph Fiennes' modern-day version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Rowan Atkinson in the spy-spoof sequel Johnny English Reborn, the American remake of the violent thriller Straw Dogs, and the British comedy Threesome. In addition, the 19th Raindance Film Festival starts on Wednesday, and screenings are now underway for the 55th London Film Festival, which takes place later in October. Busy busy!

Requisite Blog Photo: A Sunday-morning swim

2011-09-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

Critical Week: Let's hear it for the boy

2011-09-19T23:16:00.000+01:00

There were a few big press screenings this past week here in London, but none were so surprisingly enjoyable as Craig Brewer's remake of the 1984 dance hit Footloose, which won us over with sheer skill and energy. We also enjoyed Steven Soderbergh's brainy all-star epidemic blockbuster Contagion, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the cancer comedy-drama 50/50, and Andrea Arnold's astonishingly visceral (and award-winning) adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

A bit less enjoyable was the Sarah Jessica Parker comedy I Don't Know How She Does It, which was watchable but also forgettable. We also had Hugh Jackman in the redemptive robot-boxing romp Real Steel. I loved the deeply disturbing documentary The Green Wave, about the crushed 2009 street demonstrations in Iran. And I also enjoyed the six films I saw in press screenings for the Raindance Film Festival, which starts next week - most were small independent British films.

This coming week, screenings include Killer Elite, the rather intriguing collision of Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro; Taylor Lautner in the thriller Abduction; The Three Musketeers, yet another 3D remake; Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea with Rachel Weisz; Morgan Freeman in Dolphin Tale; and the festival favourite Miss Bala. And just as Raindance begins, so too do press screenings for the 55th London Film Festival. When it rains it pours...

Critical Week: I'm still alive

2011-09-13T14:26:00.000+01:00

The rock-and-roll documentary Pearl Jam Twenty was a highlight for film critics this past week, tracing two decades (and then some) in the history of the band and the whole grunge movement. Even if it was a bit one-sided, it's packed with great interviews and terrific concert footage. But the biggest movie of the week for me was a late screening of John LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the all-star British espionage thriller directed by the insanely gifted Thomas Alfredson (Let the Right one In). The week's biggest event was the launch of the 55th London Film Festival, which takes place in October and features a strong programme of starry movies collected from recent festivals. Most of the world premieres this year will be for smaller independent films.

Slightly less stellar were the true drama Soul Surfer, which wasn't as mawkish as it could have been thanks to a solid cast; the British comedy-drama Reuniting the Rubins, which stars Timothy Spall but struggles to make anything about its contrived plot work; the indie American drama August, which is a lot more successful at evoking the lingering feelings after a break-up; and the French drama Mademoiselle Chambon, a gorgeously shot and played marital drama that never quite convinces us. I also caught up with 10 short films exploring the dark side of love on the Peccadillo compilation disc Boys on Film: Bad Romance.

This coming week we have press screenings for the 19th Raindance Film Festival, which starts 28 September. And as for theatrical releases, we'll see Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon Levitt in the cancer comedy-drama 50/50, Sarah Jessica Parker in the rom-com I Don't Know How She Does It, Hugh Jackman in the robot-boxing romp Real Steel, Craig Brewer's remake of the 80s dance hit Footloose, Andrea Arnold's reimagining of Wuthering Heights, and the documentary When Africa Met China.

Critical Week: Emmerich does Shakespeare

2011-09-05T20:56:00.000+01:00

The big movie screened to UK critics this week was Roland Emmerich's ambitious drama Anonymous, which explores the Oxfordian theory of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. As expected, it's a big starry movie - the hefty cast includes Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Rylance, Joely Richardson and David Thewlis and a bunch of rising star hotties. Much more intense action was to be had in Machine Gun Preacher, starring Gerard Butler as an ex-con who finds God and sets out to help orphans in Sudan; Warrior, with Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as Ultimate Fighter brothers on a collision course for a big match-up; and the riotously silly but enjoyable Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana as a fierce Latina with a score to settle. Aside from the last one, I'm not yet allowed to tell you what I thought about these films, as reviews are under embargo.

And then there was Kevin Smith's notorious Red State, a furious and skilful thriller that actually has something to say; the fascinating and oddly superficial doc Ultrasuede, about the iconic designer Halston; the goofy, so bad it's funny gay bandwagon-jumping "thriller" Vampire Boys; and digital restorations of two terrific classics: Terrence Malick's stunning 1978 Richard Gere drama Days of Heaven and Peter Jackson's astounding 1994 thriller Heavenly Creatures, which introduced the world to a young Kate Winslet (she hasn't changed at all).

This week I will finally catch up with the imminent new adaptation of John LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - I've missed a couple of earlier screenings. I've also got the girlie dramas Monte Carlo and Soul Surfer, the French film Mademoiselle Chambon, and the rock doc Pearl Jam Twenty.

Critical Week: Take the wheel

2011-08-30T15:48:00.000+01:00

Nicolas Winding Refn's Cannes-winning thriller Drive was the big movie for London critics this past week, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Stylish filmmaking and a terrific central performance from Ryan Gosling He's definitely on a roll this year with this, Crazy, Stupid, Love and George Clooney's forthcoming The Ides of March.

Other screenings took us on a world tour, starting with two Australian films - the scruffy-endearing Red Dog with Josh Lucas and the bizarre and beautiful art-film Sleeping Beauty with Emily Browning - then it was off to Greece for the quirky and very clever Attenberg, to West Africa for the inventive zombie romp The Dead, to Spain for the ghostly freak-out Atrocious, and finally to America for the realistic and engaging indie romance The One, the skilfully unsettling misogyny of The Woman and the hilariously entertaining backwoods horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs Evil. If it seems like there were an inordinate number of scary movies there, this is mainly due to the fact that London's notorious FrightFest took place over the long weekend.

This coming week we have another eclectic bunch of movies, including the ultimate fighting drama Warrior, starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, Zoe Saldana fighting her way through Colombiana, the French rom-com Romantics Anonymous, the 3D horror doc (yes really) Cane Toads: The Conquest, the doc Ultrasuede about iconic designer Halston, and a digital restoration of Terrence Malick's 1978 classic Days of Heaven.

Critical Week: A date with death

2011-08-23T12:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's time for yet another duel between a group of sexy, young, anonymous actors and the Grim Reaper, as London film critics donned 3D specs for Final Destination 5. It's pretty much exactly what we expect by now - evil fun and a few random twists here and there. We did laugh. Our other 3D movie wasn't quite so much fun: Robert Rodriguez was back with a rather desperate-seeming fourth film in his series, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, with the added marketing device of a 4D scratch-and-sniff card on which all the spots smelled like sugar. And the other big Hollywood offering was the goofy, enjoyably thin heist caper 30:Minutes or Less.

There was more 3D off the beaten path with the nutty Chinese spoof 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, which is so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh. Then things start to get better. The Australian horror movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, with Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce, was simply terrific. The Danish prison drama R: Hit First, Hit Hardest is extremely well-made and thoroughly harrowing, even if it feels like we've seen it all before. And the Swedish documentary The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 addresses a pivotal, turbulent period in American history from a fresh perspective that clearly informs us that what we think we know about those years probably isn't true. Finally, I got to attend a private screening of an untitled film Ken Loach made in 1969 for Save the Children that hasn't been shown to anyone since. Loach was at the screening and chatted with us afterwards; the film is being premiered at the British Film Institute to launch a major retrospective of his work next month.

This coming week, we finally get to see Nicolas Winding Refn's Cannes-winning thriller Drive, the Aussie adventure Red Dog, the offbeat Aussie festival art-film Sleeping Beauty, the quirky Greek drama Attenberg and the horror romp The Dead. Yep, Death is hanging around for another week...

Critical Week: Be yourself tonight

2011-08-17T14:10:00.000+01:00

Yes, it was rather hilarious to see London's esteemed critics donning 3D specs for a (gulp!) 9.30am Monday morning screening of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie this week. While it was lively enough to keep us awake, it felt like a badly missed opportunity to delve behind the scenes on a show that has turned into a pop phenomenon in just two years.

Other big screenings included the remake of Conan the Barbarian, another missed opportunity, this time to breathe life into an old franchise, and the rather mopey, tame adaptation of this summer's mega-seller One Day. We also got to see two genuinely unnerving movies: the superb festival winner Take Shelter, starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, and Guillermo Del Toro's creepy-house thriller Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes. The doc this week was Page One: Inside the New York Times, which frankly is catnip to journalists as it explores how this venerable institution has dealt with the huge changes in the media world. As previously mentioned, I also caught up with The Change-up and The Help at Empire's Big Screen event over the weekend.

Coming up this next week, we have Robert Rodriguez's attempt to reboot his children's franchise with Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D, the heist comedy 30 Minutes or Less, the latest in the death-comedy series Final Destination 5, the acclaimed 1970s doc The Black Power Mixtape, and, erm, the erotic Chinese mega-hit Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy in 3D. Wish me luck.

Big Screen Day 3: On an adventure

2011-08-15T09:01:00.003+01:00

Another full day at the O2 for Empire's Big Screen event, which had so much going on that it was impossible to keep up with everything. I started, actually, in Soho with a 10-minute interview with Jason Momoa, the new Conan, who later caused havoc at the O2 for the red carpet premiere. He's a very big guy, extremely friendly, but not hugely chatty - well, at least not at 10am, presumably jet-lagged.

Anyway, I then headed to the O2 and got there in time to see the extended presentation of 3D footage from Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, which still looks a little unfinished. But the action is impressive, and I won't give a verdict until I see the completed effects. This was followed by Paramount's trailer reel, a blinding array of what looked like dozens of movies coming out over the next year, from Star Trek 2 to Madagascar 3. After this, Lionsgate was on stage, presenting a trailer for David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, which looks seriously unhinged. In a good way, then three extended scenes from Ralph Fiennes Coriolanus, a modern-day all-star Shakespeare adaptation that looks eerily prescient. Then they showed four trailers: the smart cancer comedy 50/50, the rather silly-looking Taylor Lautner thriller Abduction, the meaty fight drama Warrior (which already screened here as one of the secret films), and Jason Momoa's growling-posing Conan the Barbarian. And then Sky TV snuck in to offer a preview of the new series of Strike Back, featuring two muscle hunks in various states of undress as they indulge in black ops, racy sex, bare knuckle boxing and naked fights. All very macho! And then the two actors came onto the stage to talk about it - Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester - including much joking about the naked fight scene.

After lunch it was Disney's turn, and they kicked off with a thunderous montage of 2012 releases that shook the seats. Not quite the same Disney from our childhood. The first main event was Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, and the director Shaun Levy bounded on screen with a bit too much energy to talk us through a pair of trailers and two exclusive scenes. It's not looking hugely promising, but you never know. Then there was an extended video introduction from Andrew Stanton to two extended scenes from John Carter, plus a 3D trailer. And Steven Spielberg also had a special Big Screen video message to introduce world exclusive scenes from War Horse, after which the film's lively young star Jeremy Irvine took the stage to talk about working on the film. This concluded with a series of trailers: a longer, detailed glimpse of The Muppets, then The Help, the most well-received trailer of the weekend with a very cool montage for The Avengers and finally Pixar's Brave.

Then I watched a screening of The Help, which was thoroughly involving. I thought about attending the day's secret screening, but rumour had it that it was a film I'd seen before. Indeed, it was The Debt, with Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen the secret films from Friday (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton in Warrior) or Saturday (Ryan Gosling's Drive), but I have press screenings of both in my diary, so I think I'll survive. And that was it for this edition of Big Screen, aka Movie-con IV.

Big Screen Day 2: Coming attractions

2011-08-14T09:30:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, London's vast O2 dome was again packed with movie fans indulging in their obsession with cinema. There are at least 10 things going on at any given time, so it's no surprise that I was only able to scratch the surface once again. Previews I saw included two British animated features from Aardman: Arthur Christmas, which looks like fun but was perhaps aimed at a different audience than the geeks here, and The Pirates!, which looks seriously unhinged. Aardman's Peter Lord was on hand to present trailers and unseen footage and chat about the films.

Then it was Sony's turn, and we had a taped message from Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, followed by the trailer for Friends With Benefits, followed by three more trailers: Straw Dogs looks grisly and nasty, Moneyball looks smart and a bit smug, and David Fincher's remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo looks better every time we see the trailer. Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari (edited together from red carpet interview bites) introduced the trailer and a hilariously frantic five-minute bank robbery sequence from 30 Minutes or Less, and then a videotaped Colin Farrell and Len Wiseman introduced an action-packed five-minute clip from their Total Recall remake. And now on stage, Roland Emmerich talked passionately about his new Shakespeare-scandal film Anonymous, showing us 15 minutes of scenes that look much darker and even more interesting than the lively trailer. He's certainly ready for the backlash, and the film looks pretty unmissable. And just before lunch, it was time for The Amazing Spider-man, introduced on tape by Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Marc Webb. In addition to a 3D trailer, we saw extended footage of Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. And finally it's clear that Webb's approach will be distinctly different from Sam Raimi's - darker, more intensely personal.

After the break, Icon was on hand with Drive, namely an exclusive clip that was pretty intensely brutal, followed by the just-as-brutal trailer. And the Cannes-winning director Nocholas Winding Refn showed up on stage to chat about the film, telling the hilarious story behind how he met Ryan Gosling and agreed to make the movie (it involves too-powerful flu medicine, breaking down in tears and REO Speedwagon's Keep on Loving You). Mext up we had Momentum, walking us through a number of their upcoming releases. The Troll Hunter trailer was followed with a slightly awkward on-stage Q&A with director Andre Ovredal and star Glenn Tosterud. British 1990 rave drama Weekender was presented with stills and a trailer; the intense-looking Scandinavian thriller Headhunters has a trailer that eerily evokes a certain dragon tattoo; Steven Soderbergh's Bourne-esque Haywire looks seriously action-packed, with a terrific all-star cast, and it's trailer was followed by an extended, astonishing fight scene. Jason Statham's new film Safe was presented with exclusive stills, while Mark Strong, director Eran Creevy and a couple of producers (pictured above) talked about their now-in-production London crime thriller Welcome to the Punch. We also saw exclusive stills of Tom Hardy in Wettest County and Michael Fassbender in Steve McQueen's Shame. And finally it was time for Daniel Radcliffe's creepy-looking new ghost thriller The Woman in Black, with a trailer and exclusive clip presented by director James Watkins and editor Jon Harris.

A bit later I caught a screening of The Change-up with Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. Enjoyable if not amazing. And here are a few more photos - two of me and two that capture the mood of the place, as cowboys and storm troopers chase trolls with the rest of us. Frankly that was enough for the day...

Big Screen Day 1: A little dizzying

2011-08-13T10:55:00.001+01:00

After three years of Movie-Con, Empire magazine decided to up the ante and create something even more like San Diego's Comic-Con, taking over London's vast O2 with a blinding array of previews, screenings, workshops, panel discussions and movie experiences. Frankly it's a little dizzying, with so much going on that it's difficult to figure out where to go. But there's great stuff around every corner.

On Day 1, I attended Universal's preview session, which started with a trailer and some extended clips from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, introduced on tape by Gary Oldman from the set of The Dark Knight Rises and followed by a rather dull Q&A with writer Peter Straughan and producer Robyn Slovo. The clips made little sense out of context, but the film looks pretty fantastic. There was then another video intro, from a seemingly surgically enhanced Seann William Scott for American Pie Reunion, but no footage. And this was followed by a series of extended trailers: John Cusack in The Raven (looks like an intriguing Jack the Ripper-style thriller), Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in The Change-Up (looks weak), Mark Wahlberg in Contraband (a slightly above-standard thriller), Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English Reborn (pretty stupid), The Debt (good film, weak trailer), Tower Heist (too comical), Battleship (overserious) and the Tarsem-meets-300 Greek gods romp Immortals (which looks pretty amazing actually).

I also attended a discussion on censorship with Empire's Kim Newman and Tom Six, director of The Human Centipede and its sequel, which has been banned in the UK by the BBFC despite being passed uncut in both America and Australia, both of which are usually more jittery about these things than Britain. The conversation was lively and engaging, mainly because Six is so relaxed and funny - he's genuinely bemused that his film has been censored, and yet he's annoyed that the BBFC is encouraging people to illegally download the film here. He also still plans to make part 3 of the trilogy. And Newman summed it up by noting that banning a movie simply never works as the film doesn't go away; it actually becomes more desirable.

Finally, I roamed around the "Live Quarter", an exhibition space packed with mammoth booths advertising Hollywood movies, plus displays of some impressive movie props. Here are some photos putting me in Tintin, Pirates, Cars 2 and Real Steel. More tomorrow ...

Requisite Blog Photo: Looking for Anne

2011-08-12T10:11:00.000+01:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-08-08T00:22:00.001+01:00

While rebooting this franchise seemed like an extremely iffy idea, the news that they were using Weta performance capture technology (complete with master performer Andy Serkis) made it worth a look. And indeed, it's a thoroughly involving summer movie that actually layers in some thoughtful substance with the lively action-thriller plot. Not only does it create an intriguing back-story for the franchise, but it bodes well for future episodes.

A superior cast helps too, with the almost too engaging James Franco in the central role, facing off against the gorgeous (and rather gratuitous) Freida Pinto, an over-emotive John Lithgow and three talented Brits in the bad-guy roles: Brian Cox and Tom Felton as father-son slimeballs and the superb David Oyelowo in the thankless greedy jerk role. Put all together, it's a sometimes thrilling romp packed with chilling moments and some gentle commentary on the dangers of tinkering with nature.

****

Back in London, my screening diary is already filling up, starting with the remake of Conan the Barbarian and the adaptation of the mega-bestseller One Day and moving on to festival favourite Take Shelter and New York Times doc Page One. But the biggest event is Empire magazine's Big Screen, a Comic-Con style indulgence in upcoming movies, stars and cinematic experiences that takes place Fri-Sun at the 02. I'll have full coverage here over the weekend.

On the road: Crazy, Stupid, Love.

2011-08-02T23:21:00.001+01:00

Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore, with the help of a witty and astute script, lend this comedy a surprising weight. Even as the story's farcical elements escalate (including two huge coincidences and a few corny characters), there's a serious, moving undercurrent that makes the film genuinely soulful. So amid some snappy humour, there are moments that are riotously funny, cute, sweet and even heartbreaking.

Carell and Moore beautifully underplay their characters, which makes them extremely believable and sympathetic, even when they do something awful. And the actors around them are terrific as well, including Ryan Gosling against type as a hilariously slick womaniser who finally meets his match in Emma Stone. The film is packed with clever moments, smartly directed in a way that lets the film slide effortlessly between silliness and emotion while never abandoning the realistic characters. In fact, it might be a bit too good for mainstream audiences to embrace. Although stranger things have happened.

****

On the Road: Friends & Aliens

2011-07-31T11:19:00.012+01:00

A couple more trips to the cinema here in Los Angeles this week, catching up with films that are screening to the press in London this week. First up is the romantic-comedy Friends With Benefits, starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake as professional colleagues who decide to have a non-emotional sexual friendship. No prizes for guessing where this story is heading, and it's a little disappointing that such a smart, witty script can't break away from the cliches it's otherwise setting out to undermine.

But the characters are thoroughly enjoyable - apart from a few goofy elements such as Timberlake's inability to add two numbers together. The chemistry between the two is terrific, and the supporting cast is packed with hilarious cameos and lively performances from favourite actors like Patricia Clarkson and Richard Jenkins, who unsurprisingly breathe life into people who would be yawn-worthy stereotypes in a lesser film. It's also sharply well shot and edited, and even with the obvious plot manages to win us over in the end.

****

The strange thing about this week's action blockbuster release Cowboys & Aliens is that it's not actually an action blockbuster. It's essentially a traditional Western adventure, with a few aliens thrown in to spice up the plot. Fortunately, it has Daniel Craig in the central role, muscling his way through the drama with brooding emotion and hard physicality, plus Harrison Ford in snarky Han Solo mode, being gruff and grumpy or dismissive and sarcastic as needed.

Like a standard Western, the film involves a group of men (plus the improbably hot Olivia Wilde) searching for kidnapped family members and encountering bandits and marauding native Americans along the road. The one twist is that the kidnappers are from another planet, bent on stealing Earth's resources and so on. It's great fun to watch these fairly standard Wild West characters face up to this kind of threat, even if the climactic action scenes are a little too forced to be truly exhilarating. But it's nicely directed by Jon Favreau with plenty of understated charm thrown in along the way.

****

On the Road: Midnight in Paris

2011-07-28T11:05:00.001+01:00

Caught up with Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. After a run of rather loose, uneven films this is a remarkably sharp, funny and astute comedy. And even the fantasy elements are handled with skill and wit. I particularly enjoyed a long-take scene at Versailles (above) in which four characters have a lively, often ridiculous discussion that tells us far more about the characters than we realise at the time.

Owen Wilson makes a terrific stand-in as the standard Allen character, a writer struggling with the pull of art and commerce, complicated by his personal life. As the story progresses, he's not only given a chance to indulge in his fantasy of living in 1920s Paris (complete with an almost farcical parade of iconic artists), but he is also confronted with a gentle moral conundrum in 2010 Paris. Meanwhile, the film is packed with lively characters, a terrific supporting cast and quite a few random comical asides that don't really need to be here but keep us laughing. It's the kind of movie I wouldn't mind seeing again. That doesn't happen often....

****

Requisite Blog Photo: Pesky kids

2011-07-23T12:51:00.001+01:00

A bit of acting at an early-morning Saturday screening overrun by hysterical children (and penguins)...

Critical Week: Hostile workplace

2011-07-19T09:27:00.015+01:00

Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell get the chance to shamelessly chomp on the scenery as the eponymous Horrible Bosses, this week's big movie screened to UK critics. It's a lot of fun to watch, even if it reflects that calculated Hollywood filmmaking style in which the script is more an exercise in assembly-line marketing (hapless heroes, periodic gross-out gags, big-name cameos, Aniston as a sexual predator) than an actual story. The same can also be said for the Americanisation of The Smurfs, a 3D romp made from a by-the-numbers script. But at least there are some flashes of real wit in both films.

Much more interesting were two grisly thrillers: Ben Wheatley's genre-busting dramatic horror film Kill List and, to a lesser extent, the Butcher Brothers' grotesque horror sci-fi romp The Violent Kind both have the ability to continually catch us off guard, which doesn't happen nearly enough to a jaded film critic. And three other smaller films show considerable talent on a micro-budget: Sundance parallel-world winner Another Earth, the London relationship/crime drama Turnout and the extremely low-key 1970s-set Chilean thriller Post Mortem. All three have style and skill to burn, including excellent casts and offbeat approaches to narrative, even if each of them feels a little pretentious.

This coming week we have the football doc The Referees, the experimental Alaskan film The Nine Muses and two indie gay rom-coms: Weekend and Finding Me: Truth. There are also a couple of biggies, with Chris Evans as Captain America: The First Avenger and Jim Carrey starring in the kiddie romp Mr Popper's Penguins. I can't quite decide whether I'm looking forward to either of those, but I think I'm beginning to feel harassed at the office.

Requisite Blog Photo: Feeling blue

2011-07-17T15:30:00.000+01:00

Just about managing a smile while wearing a smurf hat at a Sunday morning screening packed with energetic children hopped up on sugar...

Critical Week: Vampires vs wizards

2011-07-12T13:15:00.001+01:00

Frankly it's no contest, but UK critics were this past week subjected both the remake of the 1980s schlock horror Fright Night, starring Colin Farrell (above), and the final ever Harry Potter movie, namely Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Clearly, Harry's last chapter, packed with action mayhem that ties up every plot thread in rather unnecessary 3D, is going to triumph hugely at the box office. Although the Fright Night remake will offer some good fun to scary movie fans (if not many actual scares). Whatever, pretty much everyone on earth is aware of the mind-boggling world premiere Potter-mania that engulfed Trafalgar Square last Thursday. I suspect next year's Olympics will pale by comparison.

Also this past week we had the frankly astonishing umpteenth adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, one of my very favourite books, and perhaps the best ever movie of it, starring the terrific Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell and Judy Dench. I mean, honestly. There were also these: the cute but a bit dull teen coming-of-age drama The Art of Getting By, Paddy Considine's rightfully award-winning British drama Tyrannosaur, the ripping Nazi-occult horror The Devil's Rock from New Zealand, and Morgan Spurlock's outrageously entertaining product.placement doc The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

This coming week we get to see Jennifer Aniston's nasty turn in Horrible Bosses, the 3D animated excitement of The Smurfs, the parallel-world drama Another Earth, the acclaimed horror film Kill List, and the festival favourite Post Mortem.

Critical Week: Can we talk?

2011-07-05T12:15:00.000+01:00

In my seemingly never-ending efforts to catch up with movies from the Cannes Film Festival, there was a UK press screening this week for Lynn Ramsay's astonishing We Need to Talk About Kevin. Tilda Swinton is of course amazing in what's essentially a horror film about a mother-son relationship that isn't remotely right. I also caught up with two high-profile American releases: JJ Abrams' enjoyable ode to all things Spielberg in the 1970s sci-fi adventure Super 8 (which has a strangely delayed release date here in Britain), and Robert Redford's dry but gripping exploration of some little-known Lincoln Assassination history in The Conspirator, starring the terrific James McAvoy and Robin Wright.

Other films included the divine Kristin Scott Thomas' latest French film, the wrenching dual-strand drama Sarah's Key; the lurid mayhem of the 3D British kids' romp Horrid Henry; the fascinating Japanese comedy-drama Sawako Decides; the gruelling inner-city Chicago doc The Interrupters; and the gorgeously photographed wildlife doc One Life - finally a bit of escape from what was a surprisingly heavy week. I also managed to get to the theatre to see the internet-based murder thriller Two Boys at the English National Opera - yes, really. It's fiercely original, with astonishing staging and a clever use of music and surtitles, even if it does portray all web chatrooms as the deepest layers of hell.

Coming up this week is the last film in the series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, as well as the latest incarnation of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel Jane Eyre, a starry remake of the 1970s horror movie Fright Night, the youthful rom-com The Art of Getting By, and Morgan Spurlock's product-placement doc The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. And I'm also escaping from London for the weekend - which will be nice for a change - heading across the North Sea to visit friends in Oslo.

Critical Week: Feel the love

2011-06-28T09:24:00.001+01:00

We saw three big Hollywod movies this week. Larry Crowne attempts to capture the star wattage of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, but is too squishy to really come alive. Transformers: Dark of the Moon tries to return to the more relaxed narrative of the first film in the series, but is still overwhelmed by metal-on-metal carnage. And Cars 2 follows up Pixar's strangest film with a spy-adventure sequel.

More anticipated were two big Cannes movies: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or, and you can see why - it's a bold, intensely personal exploration of existence itself with gorgeous production values and terrific performances. Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In is a ripping Hitchcock-style thriller starring Antonio Banderas as a morally compromised plastic surgeon.

Smaller, but also acclaimed, films included David Mackenzie's enjoyable Scottish music festival rom-com You Instead, the superbly unsettling Scottish horror-thriller A Lonely Place to Die, the wonderfully complex Japanese epic drama Villain and the Mediterranean island horror-thriller Siren.

Coming up this week are catch-up screenings of JJ Abrams' Spielbergesque thriller Super 8, Robert Redford's The Conspirator, Tilda Swinton in the Cannes favourite We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Kristen Scott Thomas in the French drama Sarah's Key. We also have the animated romp Horrid Henry, the urban violence doc The Interrupters and the natural realm doc One Life.

EIFF Day 10: A royal send-off

2011-06-25T16:04:00.078+01:00

Well, the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival wraps up this weekend with the UK premiere of The Lion King in 3D - an odd finale to a rather odd festival. The emphasis this year was on events, with a range of talks, panel discussions and thematic sessions exploring a variety of films and filmmaking issues. After a very low key first week, there seem to have been more parties and drinks receptions during the second week (clearly I picked the wrong week to be there!); after all, it's the mingling with filmmakers that makes a festival feel festive. The long-standing awards were scrapped this year (except for a short film competition), but at least they have continued the traditional Best of the Fest screenings on Sunday. My personal favourites are: Calvet, Arrietty, Shut Up Little Man, Tomboy, The Guard, Project Nim and TrollHunter. Full reviews of all the films I saw should be on the site over the next week or so. And here are are some final highlights from this weekend...

A Better Life

dir Chris Weitz; with Demian Bichir, Jose Julian 11/US ***

This low-key but extremely emotional drama is packed with important themes. And it knows it. While the story and characters are hugely involving, the script falters by trying to touch on every aspect of the situation... FULL REVIEW >>

King of Devil's Island

dir Marius Holst; with Benjamin Helstad, Trond Nilssen 10/Nor ****
Based on a true story, this finely made film recounts the events with raw honesty and an attention to character detail that continually draws us in. It's set in 1915 at Bastoy boy's prison on an island in Norway, where young men are kept in line by the strict rules of the governor (a cliche-busting Stellan Skarsgard). At the centre is new boy Erling (Helstad), whose determination to escape and natural leadership skills threaten the power structure and encourage the other boys to rebel along with him. Clearly an uprising is on the cards, and as the tension grows, the filmmakers cleverly put us right in the middle of the situation, using tightly wound dialog and skilful cinematography, production design and music. It meanders a bit in the second half, and could have done with a bit of story-shaping, but it comes together for a powerfully gripping finale.

The Lion King

dir Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff; voices Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones 94/US ****

This is indeed a timeless classic, full of excitement, humour, witty asides and memorable characters. Yet there is a strangely awkward relationship between the exceptionally inventive animation and the compelling, involving story. The problem is that the animals are just far too humanized--transposing Western values and society onto the African animal kingdom while pretending to respect nature... FULL REVIEW >> (of the 2002 Imax re-release)

EIFF Day 9: Strippers and trolls

2011-06-24T13:20:00.001+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival heads into its final days this weekend, and the debates will start about whether this total revamping was a success and what should be done for next year. Meanwhile, I'm following everything here in London. And yesterday I got the chance to meet Kim Cattrall, who gives a superb image-shattering performance as a has-been stripper in EIFF film Meet Monica Velour (below). I'll have that interview up at the website in the next week or so. Meanwhile, here are a couple of highlights from the festival today...

Meet Monica Velour
dir Keith Bearden; with Dustin Ingram, Kim Cattrall 10/US ***
There's a scruffy, honest charm to this film that keeps us involved, even though the rough edges are ultimately worn down by what seems like an over-developed script. But a strong central performance wins us over... FULL REVIEW >>

TrollHunter
dir Andre Ovredal; with Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud 10/Nor ****
With its found-footage premise, this film feels like a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, but it's actually far more original than either as it playfully delves into Norwegian mythology for a riotous romp into troll territory. The superb camerawork is presented as a team of students chasing down a notorious poacher (Jespersen), who turns out to be part of a top secret government agency that's maintaining the country's troll population and covering up their existence. Extremely inventive special effects and a combination of humour and exhilarating terror combine to keep us thoroughly entertained. And the way it reinterprets everyday events and settings in terms of the troll population is hilariously clever. The only complaint is the set-up: surely it would have been much more effective to present this as an underground student film about a government conspiracy rather than use a tired "this anonymous video footage was discovered" disclaimer.

EIFF Day 8: On your bike!

2011-06-23T13:12:00.001+01:00

Today's big event at the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival is a bike-powered cinema night, at which audience members will get the chance to ride a bicycle that powers the projection of the classic animation Belleville Rendez-vous, which of course features a plot about a cyclist kidnapped to power a film. It's a genius idea for a cash-strapped, environmentally conscious film festival, especially one that has an ongoing relationship with this film's director Sylvain Chomet. Here are some other highlights today...

Shut Up Little Man!

dir Matthew Bate; with Mitch Deprey, Eddie Guerriero 11/Aus ****
Documenting both an outrageously funny-tragic story and a surprising pop-culture phenomenon, this film not only contains a hugely involving narrative, but it also astutely explores issues of voyeurism and exploitation. It starts in 1987 when Deprey and Guerriero move from Wisconsin to a small flat in San Francisco, and soon their days and nights are flooded with profane rants coming from next door. They decide to record the arguments in cast the police need them, but over the next year the madness becomes compelling. And by sharing the cassettes with their friends, they quickly spread all over the world, becoming a cult hit and sparking comic books, song, stage plays and film deals. But the question remains as to who actually owns the material, so they set out trying to find the notorious Pete, Ray and Tony whose voices fill the painfully hilarious bile-filled recordings. Not only is the subject matter fascinating, but the characters on-screen are terrifically entertaining, and director Bate assembles it all with a gleeful sense of how the absurd arguments are grounded in an even more outrageous reality.

By Day and By Night
dir Alejandro Molina; with Sandra Echeverria, Manuel Balbi 10/Mex ****
This bizarre Mexican drama-thriller will probably polarise opinions, since it takes such a low-key approach to a big, apocalyptic story. Set in the distant future, when the population of Mexico City has become unmanageable, a scientist has come up with an enzyme that he implants into the entire population, putting them on 12-hour life cycles, either day or night. The story centres on a day-living woman (Echeverria) desperately seeking her lost daughter, who we learn has been taken in by a young doctor (Balbi) on the night cycle. So when they finally get together, she is awake when her daughter and the doctor are asleep, and vice versa. This makes falling in love and escaping the domed city rather a lot more complicated. The clever story, eerily subdued performances and beautifully designed sets make this film hypnotically entertaining to watch. Although since the whole movie looks like it's in slow motion, it will test the patience of some viewers.

EIFF Day 7: Get the picture

2011-06-22T13:30:00.033+01:00

As the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival enters its final few days, journalists are picking through lessons that need to be learned by the organisers, who have made some fundamental mistakes with this year's drastic revamping of Europe's oldest film festival. Perhaps the move away from August's much larger Edinburgh Festival (which includes theatre, comedy, books and more) has turned out to be a mistake, as has this year's emphasis on lower-quality films from new filmmakers and star-free panel discussion events, which feel badly unattended without big movies or celebrities to attract an audience. Clearly they need to hire an artistic director, which they failed to do after the departure of Hannah McGill last year. Sight and Sound editor Nick James summed it up nicely to The Guardian: "To divorce the film festival from the rest of the Edinburgh festivals is to miss the point. It should then be underpinned by a love of world cinema – not just promoting young British talent. What it needs to do is get back in touch with cinephilia."

Whatever happens, there are still five more days of this year's festival. Here are some of today's highlights...

The Bang Bang Club
dir Steven Silver; with Ryan Phillippe, Taylor Kitsch 10/SA ***
The true story of four combat photographers covering the violence in early-90s South Africa, this film is packed with moments that take the breath away. Not only are the action scenes heart-racingly tense, but it's fascinating to watch the cast and crew recreate the conditions in which several unforgettable images were shot (including two Pulitzer-winning photos). It's also great fun to watch these four guys (played by the excellent Phillippe, Kitsch, Frank Rautenbach and Neels Van Jaarsveld) develop a sense of trust between them as they deal with the volatile political situation leading up to South Africa's first free elections. On the other hand, the filmmakers also feel the need to add some softer material, perhaps in an attempt to lighten the mood with romance, humour and melodrama, but this only undermines the power of the true story. And it also weakens the otherwise sharp and observant filmmaking.

The Caller

dir Matthew Parkhill; with Rachelle Lefevre, Stephen Moyer 11/US ***

An intriguing idea fuels this inventive horror film, making it enjoyable watchable all the way through. Although the moment you start thinking about the internal logic, it all falls to pieces. At least the actors all deliver committed performances, and the direction is stylish and very creepy. It centres on Mary (Lefevre), a young woman fleeing a bad marriage and settling into a rather grubby flat. Soon the phone starts ringing, and the cackling woman (Drag Me to Hell villain Lorna Raver) on the other end begins to get extremely threatening. She also claims to be phoning from 1979, which means that she has the ability to cause a bit of chaos in the present day. Moyer is the university professor who tries to calm Mary's increasing paranoia, and of course they end up being more than friends. Director Parkhill shoots the film with prowling camera work that constantly emphasises the characters' isolation and vulnerability, while the set design is a riot of outrageously deep shadows and creepy hallways. But nagging inconsistencies eventually derail the plot.

The Divide
dir Xavier Gens; with Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia 11/Can **
High-energy production values and kinetic physicality keep us involved in the scrappy end-of-the-world thriller. But it isn't long before the plot and characters have nowhere left to go but down to the depths of human depravity. And by the end it's impossible to figure out what the point is. The premise is fairly simple: as New York is bombarded by missiles, nine people hole up in their building's basement - soon reduced to eight when contamination-suited goons enter and take one away then weld the door closed. In their underground prison, these survivors of course start turning on each other. The early leader is the building's maintenance man (Biehn), who has a panic room with a stash of food. But he is usurped by the increasingly power-mad Josh (Ventimiglia), and things unravel rapidly from here. The cast members really go for broke in performances that are more overwrought choreography than actual acting. Although several roles are so thankless than they become corny, in a hideously grisly sort of way. And if the ultimate message is that everyone has the potential for evil within them, we didn't really need this movie to tell us that.

EIFF Day 6: In the deep end

2011-06-21T14:00:00.002+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival continues in Scotland through the week, although I returned to London yesterday. I will however be keeping an eye on things from here, and of course commenting on festival films as they are shown. Here are two films highlights on Tuesday, and then some notes on screenings in London this week...

Jack Goes Boating

dir Philip Seymour Hoffman; with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan 10/US ***

Populated with a bunch of fragile characters, this sweet drama is assembled with skill and sensitivity. It's a clever look at how we struggle to do our best in life and relationships. Although sometimes the drama feels rather too wilfully "normal"... FULL REVIEW >

Tomboy

dir Celine Sciamma; with Zoe Heran, Jeanne Disson 10/Fr ****
With a remarkably naturalistic approach, Sciamma tells this involving and moving story of a 10-year-old girl (Heran) who decides to live as a boy in her new neighbourhood, playing with the boys and even getting a girlfriend. No one suspects the truth, and her loving parents are oblivious to what's going on with their boyish daughter, but her little sister works it out. The film completely avoids melodrama by telling the story from the girl's perspective: this seems like the most natural thing in the world to her, even as she knows her parents won't get it. And when the deception threatens to unravel, we feel her growing fear at what might happen as a result. It's a beautifully made film that's really worth a look.

Meanwhile, back in London I'll be returning to my usual press screening schedule, with a few big titles, including Terence Malick's Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life, Pedro Almodovar's Cannes entry The Skin I Live In, Tom Hanks' Larry Crowne and the summer's next loud blockbuster, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Smaller films include the doc One Life, the award-winning Japanese drama Villains and Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme.

EIFF Day 5: Man and beast

2011-06-20T14:00:00.001+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival will carry on without me this week, as I am returning to London today. With the festival so low-key this year, I felt that staying for the full two weeks was a bit extravagant, but I've seen films showing all through the week, so the blog will march on. And I'll rely on my colleagues to let me know if there's any news to report, as the festival press office hasn't been reporting very much. My main curiosity is about the box office: has their drastically altered programme affected attendance? Hopefully we'll find out. Meanwhile, here are some highlights for Monday...

Project Nim

dir James Marsh; with Stephanie LaForge, Herbert Terrace 11/UK ****
This thoroughly entertaining doc twists and turns as it tells the remarkable story of Nim, a chimpanzee born in a research centre in Oklahoma but raised from just a few days old as a human in New York. It was the 70s, and Nim was the subject of an experiment into whether it was possible to teach a chimp to communicate with humans using sign language. But of course, maintaining the project was tricky, and Nim was moved around through his life - to a rural study centre, back to Oklahoma, to an animal testing lab and to a home for abused horses. The people in his life are fascinating, and they tell their part of Nim's story with humour and honesty that's absolutely riveting. It's also very funny and sometimes quite sad. And filmmaker Marsh (Man on Wire) assembles it with real skill.

Ghosted
dir Craig Viveiros; with John Lynch, Martin Compston 11/UK ***
This dark British prison drama is a bit too overwrought to keep us engaged right to the end. Without much subtlety, it tells an inflammatory, somewhat contrived story of guilt and redemption. But the actors make it worth seeing... FULL REVIEW >>

The Last Circus
dir Alex de la Iglesia; with Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre 10/Sp ***
This almost outrageously lurid Spanish drama-thriller takes its characters to the brink of insanity and then pushes them off. It's about a sad clown Javier (Areces) whose life has been a series of tragedies and insults. But he has a good job with a travelling circus, working for the boss, the happy clown (de la Torre), while trying not to lust after his sexy aerialist wife. But things go badly, so Javier's innate sense of revenge kicks in. Spanning several decades of Franco's rule (and including one hilariously outrageous scene in which he appears), the film has such a richly textured look to it that we are unable to look away even when things get very grisly. Not everything about the story works, and it spirals out of control in the final act, but it's so audacious that we can't help but be gripped.

EIFF Day 4: Past, present, future

2011-06-19T16:15:00.000+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival hosted the premiere of David Mackenzie's Perfect Sense last night, with a starry list of guests including the filmmaker and the reunited Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner. Then continued on into the night at the festival's annual ceilidh. Meanwhile, the stripped-down festival continues to feel a little underwhelming. Despite some very strong films, the lack of a dynamic festival atmosphere makes it more like film school than a party. Here are some highlights today...

Page Eight
dir David Hare; with Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz 11/UK ***
For his debut as a film director, writer Hare chooses a low-key political thriller based on recent headlines about secret prisons and torture - although the point here is who knew about them. Nighy is terrific as usual as an intelligence agent who spots a face on page 8 of a report that has the potential to topple the government, and what follows is a tense series of situations in which he tries to come out of this alive. The superb cast includes Weisz, Michael Gambon, Judy Davis and Ralph Fiennes, and the plot is intriguing enough to hold our interest as events twist and turn. It's a little preachy at times, and also never really gathers a full head of steam. But the story is enjoyable and very pointed, the characters engaging and the actors a joy to watch.

Albatross
dir Niall MacCormick; with Jessica Brown Findlay, Felicity Jones 10/UK ****
This British coming-of-age comedy-drama is thoroughly enjoyable even though it never quite figures out whose story it's telling. Essentially, it's about a 17-year-old (Jones) whose life as a promising, serious student is shaken by her constantly rowing parents (Sebastian Koch and Julia Ormond) and the wild-child antics of her new best friend Emilia (Findlay). Although by the end, the film is actually more about Emilia's affect on Beth's family. This lack of focus doesn't undermine the film's entertaining dialog and performances, although it keeps us from getting emotionally involved. But the central theme, about not letting our past interfere with our future, gets us thinking.

Jitters
dir Baldvin Z; with Atli Oskar Fjalarson, Hreindis Ylva Gardarsdottir Holm 10/Ice
It's obvious why this has been called the Icelandic Skins: it's about a group of 16-year-old friends exploring their independence. As they grapple with alcohol and sexuality, they are also discovering that they have a responsibility for each other. Meanwhile, the adults in their lives are panicking, invasive, nagging and useless. Or worse. Yes, it's all a bit overstated, trying too hard to be young and cool. But there are several wonderful scenes along the way, and a real sense of the relationships between the characters. The strongest strand runs right through the whole film, as Gabriel (Fjalarson) grapples with his own sexuality in a remarkably honest way while also getting involved in what his friends are going through. Events sometimes boil over into melodrama, but it's always engaging and sometimes quite emotionally resonant.

EIFF Day 3: Around the world

2011-06-18T15:11:00.000+01:00

Rain arrived at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival today. We've had a gorgeously sunny week, and this is more typical weather for the festival, frankly. Much better for sitting in a warm cinema with a huge cup of coffee (bigger by the day to make up for decreasing hours of sleep) while travelling the globe on film. Here are some highlights from the festival today...

Perfect Sense
dir David Mackenzie; with Ewan McGregor, Eva Green 10/UK **
This high-concept thriller starts very well, as a mysterious illness sweeps the world causing people to experience horrible grief before losing their sense of smell. Gorgeously sensual cinematography combines with terrific acting (McGregor plays a Glasgow chef, which adds a superb wrinkle). And then we realise that Danish screenwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson has written himself into a corner: the story and characters have nowhere to go beyond bleak acceptance of the inevitable. While the internal logic of the premise and the structure of the central romance simply don't work, no matter how excellent the cast is and how clever Mackenzie is at wringing out tension and emotion. It just sits there on screen looking pretty, heaving nowhere we want to go.

Arrietty
dir Hiromasa Yonebayashi; voices Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki 10/Jpn ****
With its usual mixture of breathtaking artistry and involving storytelling, Studio Ghibli adapts the classic children's novel The Borrowers, creating a beautiful film with something to say to all audiences. The story of two young people, a sickly boy and a tiny girl who lives in the walls of his house, is hugely involving, capturing a lovely sense of the relationship between them as well as each one's personal struggles. In addition, each scene is packed with witty touches that keep us laughing, from the crazed housekeeper to the fat cat, plus moments of raw emotion and pulse-racing tension. And visually, it's simply stunning, with a marvellous sense of light and texture, plus a vivid 3D effect without needing to actually use 3D or those silly specs.

Calvet
dir Dominic Allan; with Jean Marc Calvet 11/UK *****
One of the most involving documentaries you'll ever see, this film follows the painter Calvet as he narrates his life story, retracing his steps from France to Miami to Costa Rica and eventually Nicaragua, with a sideroad to New York and a return to France to answer some big questions from his past. Along the way, we relive the events of his life through his offhanded humour, raw emotion and startling willingness to openly share even the most horrific details as he abandoned his family to work for a gangster and ended up as a drug-addicted nightclub owner whose near-death sparked a previously unseen gift for painting. It's an all-consuming film that's impossible to forget, and Calvet emerges as one of the most likeable, inspiring movie characters we've ever met.

EIFF Day 2: Boys will be boys

2011-06-17T17:08:00.000+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival continues in mostly sunny Scotland, with its rather off-beat programme enticing curious filmgoers. Critics are a bit more mixed - there aren't many of us here, and all of us have found some real gems (my best so far is the documentary Calvet) and duds (the disappointing Mackenzie-McGregor reunion Perfect Sense) - both will be reviewed over the next few days, The last of an actual festival atmosphere is also a problem, as the press facilities are pretty basic and there haven't been any starry parties to speak of. So we buckle down to work and watch the films themselves instead. Here are a few of today's highlights...

Bobby Fischer Against the World
dir Liz Garbus; with Bobby Fischer, Henry Kissinger 11/US ****
Strikingly well-assembled, this straightforward doc chronicles the chess champ's life using first-hand reminiscences and a wealth of historical footage. It's surprising, involving and ultimately very moving... FULL REVIEW >>

Our Day Will Come
dir Romain Gavras; with Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartelmy 10/Fr ***
This outrageous and bizarrely comical thriller asks us to accept one simple fact: life in France is so bad for bullied redheads that they want to escape. And in the case of Patrick and Remy (Cassel and Barthelmy), they'll do a bit of damage before they go. The film is thoroughly gripping, audaciously funny and grotesquely violent as we follow this odd couple - a jaded therapist and a frazzled teen - on a more-than-slightly crazed road trip. It's also very entertaining, mainly because we haven't a clue what kind of mayhem they'll throw themselves into next. Yes, it feels rather made up as it goes along, but it also has a whiff of gonzo genius about it.

Truth About Men
dir Nicolas Arcel; with Thure Lindhardt, Tuva Novotny 10/Den ****
A witty exploration of the creative process, wrapped in a twisty voyage of self-discovery, this film might be a bit gimmicky for some viewers, but it's a terrific festival movie. It centres on Mads (Lindhardt), a screenwriter who is struggling to live up to his early promise. He has also just given up on his long-term relationship, and as he drifts through the following months seeking inspiration and romance, he discovers some important things about himself and the world around him. All of this is filtered through Mads' sharply observant narration, which includes his visions of how he hopes things will go as well as how he wishes he had handled things. It also becomes completely entwined in the movies he has written, which gives this film an added kick through its hilariously knowing look at story structure.

NB. My web host has somehow managed to lock me out of its server and I am now unable to fix or update the Shadows website, perhaps until I get back to London. Meanwhile, this blog will be updated daily.

EIFF Day 1: All that heaven allows

2011-06-16T19:46:00.000+01:00

The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival kicked off last night with the Irish action comedy The Guard, followed by a somewhat subdued opening night party. The festival is drastically stripped down this year - fewer films and a lot less available for industry and media delegates. Even the film selection is a bit sober, relying on undiscovered gems to build momentum over the next 10 days. There isn't a single high-profile premiere here, but there are some solid mid-range offerings and lots of potential in the smaller and foreign selections. I've seen a couple of excellent films during press screenings over the last three days. Here are comments on a few films from today's programme...

The Guard
dir John Michael McDonagh; with Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle 11/Ire ****
Writer-director McDonagh brings to this film the same blend of black comedy, dark emotion and grisly violence as his brother Martin's gem In Bruges. And it's also another terrific character for Gleeson ... FULL REVIEW >>

Oliver Sherman
dir Ryan Redford; with Garret Dillahunt, Donal Logue 11/Can ****
Quiet and thoughtful, like an emotional and intelligent stage play, this film confines its story to three characters for a darkly involving look at responsibility and the limits of human kindness. Seven years after their tour of duty on the front line, Sherman (Dillahunt) turns up unannounced on the doorstep of his former comrade Franklin (Logue), who generously offers to help. Although his wife (Molly Parker) starts to have doubts. The actors keep the film taut from the start, while the story's warmth and intensity keep us on our toes.

Phase 7
dir Nicolas Goldbart; with Daniel Hendler, Jazmin Stuart 10/Arg ***
Pitch black comedy sets this Argentine thriller apart from the crowd - it's like Rec meets Shaun of the Dead as a small block of flats is quarantined from a global epidemic. But in their isolation, the residents start to turn on each other. What makes it engaging is that the story is told through the eyes of a funny, scruffy young guy with a heavily pregnant, extremely hormonal wife. He doesn't want to get involved in the internal war, but finds it impossible to avoid. The comedy is so dry that it doesn't really make us laugh, although it nicely balances the increasing grisliness right up to the cleverly ironic ending.

Fast Romance
dir Carter Ferguson; with Jo Freer, William Ruane 11/UK *
This Glasgow-set Love Actually wannabe is a multi-strand rom-com made on a shoestring budget by people who clearly don't have much film experience. The direction and editing are jarringly awkward, the acting is far over-the-top and the score is deeply annoying. There is some cute plotting, and a couple of the actors manage to create believable characters amid all the over-directed goofiness. But the central premise (a collection of mini-romances that start at a speed dating night) never actually carries through, And while there are some talented people on-screen and behind the cameras, the real question is how this got into an international film festival. Locals will enjoy seeing their city (and their friends) on film, and that's about it.

Critical week: Doppleganger

2011-06-13T17:00:00.002+01:00

In London screening rooms this week, the most memorable image was of Dominic Cooper demonstrating his serious acting chops in The Devil's Double, the violent true story of Latif Yahia's life as a stand-in for the notoriously violent Uday Hussein. Other festival movies on show were: Lars von Trier's evocative Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst, Jodie Foster's offbeat comedy-drama The Beaver with Mel Gibson, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer in the moving drama Beginners, and Lee Chang-dong's astonishingly beautiful drama Poetry.

We also had Aidan Gillen's reunion with Jamie Thraves for the quirky South London drama Treacle Jr, James Gunn's enjoyably genre-busting superhero drama Super, Dougray Scott in the scruffy British rom-com Love's Kitchen, and the darkly moving Italian period romance Sea Purple.

This week I'm heading to Scotland for the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival, which kicks off Wednesday night with the Irish action-comedy The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. Of the 17 films already in my EIFF diary, I have David Mackenzie's Perfect Sense, David Hare's Page Eight, James Marsh's Project Nim, and the thriller Trollhunter. Watch for daily festival blogs starting on Thursday, including observations on this year's revamped and stripped-back EIFF.

Critical Week: At world's end

2011-06-07T10:36:00.000+01:00

Notorious filmmaker Lars von Trier's latest opus Melancholia screened to London critics this past week in the wake of its controversial but award-winning premiere at Cannes. It's another ambitious, provocative, achingly gorgeous movie that leaves us shaken and unsure whether we love or hate it. Just my kind of film, in other words.

More populist entertainment was had in the relentlessly hilarious Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig, although the relentlessly unfunny Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz wasn't nearly as much fun. The indie film this week was Jamie Thraves' Treacle Jr, a South London comedy-drama that's slightly uneven but will probably be praised like Thraves' The Low Down. The foreign film was David's Birthday, a moving but rather operatic drama from Italy. And the documentary was Born to Be Wild 3D, telling the superb stories of two women who rescue baby animals in breathtaking, razor-sharp Imax.

This coming week sees some more festival films on the screening schedule: Ewan McGregor in Beginners, Mel Gibson in Jodie Foster's The Beaver, a much-acclaimed dual performance from Dominic Cooper in The Devil's Double, James Gunn's comedy Super, and maybe I'll finally find time to catch up on a few screener discs I still need to watch. Next Monday, though, I'm off to Scotland for the drastically revamped 65th Edinburgh Film Festival: watch here for daily blogs and all the dirt. If there is any.

Requisite Blog Photo: Pretty in pink

2011-06-02T09:30:00.002+01:00

Cheers!

Critical Week: Film of the year (so far)

2011-05-30T20:32:00.001+01:00

We're not quite halfway through the year, but this week I finally saw a movie that could become my film of 2011: Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, the only film that's ever won three Bears at the Berlin Film Festival (pictured L to R with the awards for best film, actor and actress: Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi, Peyman Moadi, Asghar Farhadi, Alki Asghar Shahbazi and Babak Karimi). It's a staggeringly well-made film with a story that, while set in Iran, is powerfully relevant to anyone in the audience.

And there was another pleasant surprise in X-men: First Class, a franchise blockbuster that's actually a great movie on its own. It's also a rare adventure that has genuinely thrilling action and challenging, complex characters. From the grab bag, we had Chris Weitz's involving immigration drama A Better Life, the relentlessly charming Audrey Tatou, Sami Bouajila and Nathalie Baye in the French rom-com Beautiful Lies; and David Sington's fascinating (and terrifying) economic-collapse doc The Flaw.

This coming week we have a couple of big Hollywood titles, including Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher and Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, as well as a number of smaller films including, finally, Lee Chang-dong's acclaimed Poetry, the British thriller Siren, and two Italian dramas: David's Birthday and Sea Purple.

Critical Week: Go East

2011-05-23T23:40:00.000+01:00

This week's Sunday morning treat was the 3D sequel Kung Fu Panda 2, reuniting Jack Back with his starry vocal cast of heroes for another epic Chinese adventure involving another British villain (Gary Oldman's evil peacock). The other big screening was another sequel, also set in Asia and not quite up to the standard of the original: The Hangover Part II sends our hapless gang staggering around Bangkok after another messy, not particularly funny night out.

Other films screened this past week were lower profile, but each was entertaining in its own way: there was Brendan Gleeson in the riotously clever In Bruges-style crime comedy The Guard; Jesse Eisenberg in the intriguing Hasidic drug dealer drama Holy Rollers; Kim Cattrall as a washed-up pornstar in the geeky but engaging coming-of-age comedy Meet Monica Velour; Gerard Depardieu as a shambling long-haired biker dude in the arty comedy Mammuth; Bertrand Tavernier's fascinatingly well-made period romance The Princess of Montpensier; and the quietly riveting Kyrgyz drama The Light Thief.

This coming week, summer cranks up a notch with a screening of the next big action blockbuster X-men: First Class, plus Chris Weitz's East L.A. drama A Better Life, Audrey Tatou in the French rom-com Beautiful Lies, the award-winning Iranian drama A Separation, the British prison drama Screwed, and the global economy doc The Flaw. Hopefully this sunny weather will hold out for the long weekend ... and that Icelandic volcano will stop disrupting flights.

Requisite Blog Photo: Pandamonium

2011-05-22T12:43:00.001+01:00

A groggy film critic at another slightly too-lively Sunday morning screening, but still ready for action...

Critical Week: Cannes do

2011-05-17T09:54:00.002+01:00

The jury members at the 64th Cannes Film Festival get their moment of glamour before deliberations start in earnest: they present their awards this weekend. It's certainly been fun to read stories of audience reactions to big-name films that arrive with huge expectations. When we will get to see them is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile here in London, we had a couple of horror movies: the excellent Spanish thriller Julia's Eyes and the not-so-good American remake Mother's Day. There was also the gripping but over-stuffed Italian true-crime drama Angels of Evil, a radiant Catherine Deneuve in Francois Ozon's bright 70s-style comedy-drama Potiche, and the undercooked but emotionally involving British prison drama Ghosted. And there were two documentaries: Lucy Walker's terrifyingly unnerving Countdown to Zero, about the danger of nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists, and the remarkably engaging Donor Unknown, about a beach bum who discovers he has dozens of children from his years as a sperm donor.

This coming week, we've got two sequels that are aimed at rather different target audiences: The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2. There's also Brendan Gleeson in the Edinburgh Film Festival opener The Guard, Jesse Eisenberg in Holy Rollers, Kim Cattrall in Meet Monica Velour, Gerard Depardieu in Mammuth, Bertrand Tavernier's The Princess of Montpensier, Lee Chang-dong's acclaimed Poetry, and the Kyrgyz drama The Light Thief. Whew!

Critical Week: Jack's back

2011-05-10T11:44:00.003+01:00

Easily the biggest press screening of the past week, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was shown to UK critics in advance of this week's European premiere as well as the big Cannes Festival screening this weekend. Johnny Depp is back for another comical romp, indicating that this franchise could possibly go on forever. The other Hollywood movies this week were both very late week-of-release screenings: Priest is a noisy, derivative futuristic vampire thriller starring Paul Bettany in yet another offbeat religious role; Take Me Home Tonight is a raucous, derivative 80s-style comedy starring Topher Grace in yet another offbeat period role.

Acclaimed foreign films included the Oscar-winning Danish drama In a Better World, exploring the human proclivity to violence through the eyes of two boys; and A Screaming Man, an intensely personal look at life in war-torn Africa. And there were some intriguing smaller dramas as well, including Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington in the stage-like relationship drama Last Night; Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington (again) and Marton Csokas in the Mossad dramatic-thriller The Debt; Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marton Csokas (again) in the Aussie family drama The Tree; the amazing Mia Wasikowska in Gus Van Sant's sensitive drama Restless; and Jason Statham in the enjoyably corny London cop thriller Blitz. Wildcard movies included Prom, another Disneyfied high school romp, and Senna, a documentary about one of the greatest Formula One drivers ever.

This coming week is calmer, if scarier, with the Spanish horror thriller Julia's Eyes, the slasher-horror remake Mother's Day, the Italian crime thriller Angels of Evil, the gritty prison drama Ghosted, plus two scary-looking docs: Countdown to Zero, about the nuclear arms race, and Donor Unknown, about a guy who discovers he has a child. And of course the 64th Cannes Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday with the latest Woody Allen movie. But I'm staying in sunny London this year.

Critical Week: Bad romance

2011-05-03T11:12:00.002+01:00

The two big movies screened for critics this past week touched on serious relational issues. Trust is David Schwimmer's latest directing effort, a chilling drama about internet grooming starring the remarkable Liana Liberato (pictured) as a 14-year-old who has no idea how much trouble she's in. And then there's Water for Elephants, the Depression-era circus drama about a dodgy marriage between ringmaster Christoph Waltz and performer Reese Witherspoon that's interrupted by the still-mopey Robert Pattinson and his more-interesting elephant.

We also were able to catch up with Rachid Bouchareb's Oscar-nominated Outside the Law, an involving but melodramatic exploration of colonialism; Rutger Hauer in the latest luridly extended Grindhouse trailer Hobo With a Shotgun; the fascinating chess-champion documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World; and the mostly animated Imax romp Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough.

Screening this week are two big blockbusters: a late screening of Paul Bettany in the vampire thriller Priest and the franchise reboot Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (new director, new supporting cast). Other high-profile offerings include Topher Grace in Take Me Home Tonight, Keira Knightley in Last Night, Helen Mirren in The Debt, the Disney kiddie romp Prom, Gus Van Sant's Restless, Jason Statham in Blitz, Charlotte Gainsbourg in The Tree and the acclaimed A Screaming Man from Chad.

Sadly, Terence Malick's The Tree of Life - my most-anticipated film of 2011 - has been caught in a UK distribution mess: it was supposed to open this Friday, but is now in limbo. Sigh!

Critical Week: Ready for battle

2011-04-26T10:56:00.000+01:00

Last week we had the summer movie season's first big remake, sequel and reboot, so of course this week it's time for the big guns: a massive comic book movie that has the enormous weight of an entire publishing house behind it and is keyed in to comic book superhero movies past (Ironman, Hulk) and future (this summer's Captain America and, most importantly, 2012's summer tentpole The Avengers). We are of course talking about Thor, which was screened to the UK press last week in all its muscly, noisy, eye-popping 3D glory. It's a big movie that's almost as dumb as it looks but is helped by having Kenneth Branagh, however improbably, in the director's chair. Of course, the photo above isn't from Thor; it's from a bit of non-competition at the box office - Takashi Miike's higher-brow samurai battle drama 13 Assassins, which is entertaining but perhaps not as smart as it looks.

Also screened for us were Philip Seymour Hoffman's feature directing debut Jack Goes Boating, a wilfully "normal" indie drama; the freaky Italian thriller Shadow, which is stylishly made but a bit random; the West Indies cricket doc Fire in Babylon, a colourfully interesting film even for non-fans; and the micro-budget B-movie Airline Disaster, yet another so-bad-it's-hilarious crisis thriller from Asylum. Better than all of those, I got the chance to see Danny Boyle's amazing production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, with Benedict Cumberbatch (as the professor) and Jonny Lee Miller (as the monster).

If last week was short (4 days) this week is even shorter, as we have holidays for both Easter Monday and Royal Wedding Friday. As a result, I only have four screenings (plus a handful of DVDs I really need to stop putting off): Trust is an online thriller with Clive Owen and Catherine Keener; A Screaming Man is a Cannes-winning drama from Chad; Bobby Fischer Against the World is an acclaimed doc about the chess player; and Flying Monsters is a dinosaur extravaganza in Imax 3D.

Critical Week: Summer ahoy!

2011-04-19T10:33:00.000+01:00

When remakes and sequels start to take over the cinema, we know that blockbuster season is upon us - that time of year when movies get increasingly disappointing as we watch filmmakers throw away hundreds of millions of dollars in a desperate attempt to fleece dim-witted filmgoers of their cash on opening weekend, before word of mouth sets in. On the other hand, some sequels and remakes actually live up to (or even exceed) expectations. Well, three of these were screened for London critics this past week, as well as a handful of smaller, more original things.

All eyes are on Arthur, Russell Brand and Helen Mirren's solid update of the goofy 1981 comedy. But American society has shifted in the three intervening decades, and billionaire drunken playboys aren't quite as loveable now. Actors from the previous four films all turn up in Fast Five, another loud, big, shamelessly entertaining blast of machismo that benefits from the addition of Dwayne Johnson to the line-up. And Wes Craven plays with the whole concept of the remake/reboot with Srea4m, wryly subverting the received wisdom that franchises need to give over to new, younger casts to carry on.

There's much more inventiveness on display in two British thrillers: Attack the Block is an uneven Shaun of the Dead-style South London alien invasion comedy-adventure, and The Veteran is a gritty action movie following fresh-from-Iraq Toby Kebbell as he's dragged into dodgy activity with the government and the mob. There were also two French dramas: The Big Picture stars Romain Duris, whose life derails, turning him into a likeable variation of the Talented Mr Ripley, while Love Like Poison is artfully and morosely explores a young teen girl exploring faith, fear and sex. And then there's Life in a Day, Kevin Macdonald's fascinating and sometimes annoying attempt to make sense of some 4,500 hours of YouTube footage chronicling one day of humanity.

The big movie for critics this week is Kenneth Branagh's comic book blockbuster Thor. And we also have Philip Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating, Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins, the Italian drama Angels of Evil, the cricket movie Fire in Babylon, the Formula One doc Senna, and the acclaimed doc Sweetgrass.

Critical Week(s): The big bad wolf

2011-04-11T15:11:00.001+01:00

This week's trend in press screenings was clearly female-centred fairy tales. Saoirse Ronan stars in Hanna as a Bourne-type teen being chased by a tooth-obsessive Cate Blanchett. Amanda Seyfried is Red Riding Hood in the werewolf twist on the old story, in which she has to pick between two male models while grandma (Julie Christie) shows off her unusually big eyes, ears and teeth. In Luc Besson's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, Louise Bourgoin is a self-assured Indiana Jones-style heroine in pterodactyl-menaced 1911 Paris. And in the British independent thriller Island, Natalie Press is an unstable young woman confronting her birth mother (Janet McTeer) on a creepy Scottish isle.

To be fair, men were at the centre of three award-winning docs: Armadillo follows a group of young Danish soldiers on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and feels more like a drama than a documentary; The Oath centres on a terrorist-by-association on trial in Guantanamo while his brother-in-law provides a potent narrative in Yemen; and Becoming Chaz tells the story of Chastity Bono's female to male transition in a remarkably personal way.

And then there were two wild cards: Point Blank is a pulse-racing French thriller about a married couple caught up in an unimaginably violent nightmare, while Rubber is a playfully knowing art-house piece about a killer tyre.

The big movies showing to us in the next week don't look hugely promising, from Russell Brand's remake of Arthur to the gonzo chaos of Fast Five. More interesting are the smaller, less predictable movies like the British crime thriller The Veteran, with Brian Cox and Toby Kebbell; the French drama The Big Picture, with Romain Duris; the French coming-of-age drama Love Like Poison; and the Italian horror movie Shadow, the name of which I seem unable to type without adding an s at the end. I wonder why?

NB. The site's frontpage this week will be the same as last week, as Rio opens in the USA on Friday. Next week we'll have some meat.

LLGFF Part 4: A festive finish

2011-04-06T12:14:00.000+01:00

The British Film Institute's blink-and-you-miss-it 25th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival wraps up on Wednesday night. It seems like it only just started (it did). But at least the programmers packed as much into six days as they could. Yesterday's screening of the new doc We Were Here ended with a live Skype Q&A with director David Weissman at his home in sunny San Francisco. It was a long, lively interview with lots of audience interaction, and it clearly marks a step forward for cash-strapped festivals to continue to allow filmmakers and viewers to talk together.

Here are some of today's highlights. I still have one screening to attend - plus the closing party, of course. The review of that film (Rent Boys) will be on the website in a couple of days...

The Four-Faced Liar (closing film)
dir Jacob Chase; with Todd Kubrak, Marja-Lewis Ryan 10/US ***
Light and undemanding, this New York romantic-comedy is engaging enough to hold our interest, even though we know from the start that it's probably not going to say anything very important. But it touches on some big issues... FULL REVIEW >

Going South
dir Sebastien Lifshitz; with Yannick Renier, Lea Seydoux 10/Fr ****

With his usual light touch, Lifshitz again concentrates on feelings rather than plot for this involving road movie. This may annoy viewers looking for something tight and tidy, but it captures the moods of its central character in a remarkably honest way... FULL REVIEW >

We Were Here
dir David Weissman; with Paul Boneberg, Guy Clark 11/US ****

Almost overwhelming in its emotional kick, this documentary about the San Francisco Aids epidemic is so intensely personal that it's sometimes difficult to watch. Which is why it's so important... FULL REVIEW >

Festival shorts

Normally I try to see as many shorts as possible at any festival I attend, but this year's LLGFF had a much smaller selection than usual, and no press screening facilities. So in the end I managed to see only five short films - but they were all very good. Four came from UK filmmakers: Hong Khaou continues his sensitive, understated seasonal explorations of sexuality with Spring; Miikka Leskinen's Small-time Revolutionary is an intriguing period piece combining personal and political issues in Thatcherite Britain; Jason Bradbury makes a mark with his introspective, haunting look at two young men dealing with some big issues in We Once Were Tide; and Andrew Steggall takes on the thorny issue of immigrant refugees in the artful, thoughtful To the Marriage of True Minds. From America, Pierre Stefanos offers a remarkably effective fairy tale about lust, attraction and expectations in Bedfellows. I've been able to hang out with three of these filmmakers (and many others) at parties during this festival, and I suspect more fun is to come at tonight's closing bash ... REVIEWS >

LLGFF Part 3: An imaginary love

2011-04-04T12:18:00.011+01:00

The British Film Institute's 25th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival heads into the week a bit bleary headed after the party-filled weekend. Since the festival is so short this year, everything has been packed into this one weekend - leaving us all feeling a little worn out as we look ahead to the next three days of screenings (and one more party). But it's been great fun to socialise with filmmakers and actors, as well as the festival staff and London-based distributors who I already know. This really is one of the friendliest, liveliest festivals we all attend, so we're making the most of it now, and we'll deal with the morning-after headaches and sleep deprivation later.

Here are some festival highlights on Monday and Tuesday...

Heartbeats
dir Xavier Dolan; with Monia Chokri, Xavier Dolan 10/Can *****
At 21, actor-filmmaker Dolan proves that I Killed My Mother was no fluke. This is even bolder filmmaking that continually takes risks with its material. It's not always successful, but it's clever, funny and sharply observant... FULL REVIEW >

Sasha
dir Dennis Todorovic; with Sasha Kekez, Tim Bergmann 10/Ger ****
This film's light, comical tone is slightly misleading, as something much more dramatic is going on under the surface. And this makes it an entertaining, sensitive exploration of a young man trying figure out a way to be himself... FULL REVIEW >

A Marine Story
dir Ned Farr; with Dreya Weber, Paris Pickard 10/US ***
While the filmmaking itself is a bit simplistic, this movie tackles a big subject with sincerity, never taking the easy route through the material and developing strongly involving characters along the way... FULL REVIEW >

Man at Bath
dir Christophe Honore; with Francois Sagat, Chiara Mastroianni 10/Fr ****
This odd experimental film has only the loosest sense of narrative, merely letting us observe the wrinkles and twists of a relationship between two men who are apart for a week. It's difficult to pin down, but still manages to engage us... FULL REVIEW >

The Advocate for Fagdom

dir Angelique Bosio; with Bruce LaBruce, Gus Van Sant 11/Fr ****
Lively and engaging, this documentary about iconic filmmaker Bruce LaBruce is a real gift to his fans. It takes a lucid, witty trip through his career, but it's definitely not for general audiences... FULL REVIEW >

LLGFF Part 2: A personal journey

2011-04-02T14:29:00.000+01:00

The British Film Institute's 25th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival continues over the weekend with a variety of screenings and events. The opening night on Thursday was great fun - with a lively screening of Kaboom attended by writer-director Gregg Araki, who held a terrific Q&A afterwards, followed by a rather raucous party at the BFI.

Pictured above is Chaz Bono with filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato - sadly, festival budget cuts meant they were able to attend the UK premiere of their film last night. But the festival parties continue all weekend. And here are some film highlights...

Becoming Chaz
dir Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; with Chaz Bono, Jennifer Elia 11/US ****
In documenting Chastity Bono's transition from female to male, filmmakers Bailey and Barbato offer a detailed, intimate narrative. And letting Chaz tell his own story is both engaging and moving... FULL REVIEW >

Break My Fall
dirKanchi Wichmann; with Kat Redstone, Sophie Anderson 11/UK ****
Scruffy and offhanded, this low-budget British feature takes a fractured, fragmented look at a relationship. Without a clear narrative, it's not an easy film, but it's honest and often painfully raw... FULL REVIEW >

Open
dir Jake Yuzna; with Daniel Luedtke, Morty Diamond 10/US ***
Artfully and beautifully directed, this film feels like a feverish dream, with characters whose gender is impossible to define. It's an impassioned, important call for respect, although it's unlikely that a bigot would watch it... FULL REVIEW >

Angel
dir Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva; with Angel Preciado, Feliza 10/Fr ***
This unusual doc follows a cross-dressing man home from Europe to visit his family in rural South America. And what we see is continually surprising, as the story and colourful people defy expectations... FULL REVIEW >

Horror of Darkness (special screening)

dir Anthony Page; with Alfred Lynch, Glenda Jackson 65/UK ****
Originally broadcast on BBC television's The Wednesday Play, this ominously titled drama gets increasingly forceful as it progresses, vividly exploring the complex inner life of three people who are connected in a disturbing way... FULL REVIEW >

LLGFF Part 1: An explosive start

2011-03-31T14:45:00.000+01:00

The British Film Institute's 25th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival kicks off tonight with a film (Gregg Araki's Kaboom with Thomas Dekker, above) and party as usual. But things are rather stripped-down from last year's 16-day series of daily star-studded screenings and parties. Due to budget cuts at the BFI, the festival is only six days long this year, and it's a much leaner affair in other ways: no delegate facilities, no travel allowances for filmmakers and, most startling, no travelling programme of festival films around the UK over the rest of the year. There's a lively Facebook campaign to save the LLGFF, which was the UK's third largest film festival after Edinburgh and London. Well, Edinburgh is also drastically truncated this year, and the BFI also runs London in October, so we'll see what happens then.

But back to the festivities at hand. Here are highlights from the first two days of the 25th LLGFF...

Kaboom (opening film)
dir Gregg Araki; with Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple 10/US ****
As this scruffy coming-of-age sex comedy turns into a horror movie, the combination is completely disarming. It's both silly and creepy, with honest subtext about youthful searching and the complexities of human sexuality... FULL REVIEW >

Mysterious Skin (special screening)
dir Gregg Araki; with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet 04/US *****
Araki takes a huge leap forward with this deeply provocative and moving drama based on Scott Heim's novel. While maintaining his jerky editing style, he avoids his usual amateurishness and plays on his strengths. This film is lushly filmed and acted with raw beauty and subtlety even when the story gets seriously disturbing... FULL REVIEW >

L.A. Zombie
dir Bruce LaBruce; with Francois Sagat, Rocco Giovanni 10/US ***
LaBruce brings his usual eerie comical moodiness to this outrageously graphic tale of a lonely zombie in Los Angeles. So clearly it's a metaphor, right? Indeed, the film is impossible to categorise. And even though it's utterly in-your-face, we still somehow feel for this guy... FULL REVIEW >

Unhappy Birthday
dir Mark Harriott, Mike Matthews; with David Paisley, Christina De Vallee 10/UK ***
You have to give credit for the cast and crew for trying to create a gothic atmosphere in this low-budget British horror movie. It doesn't quite work, but it's still rather good fun to watch, if only for campy, creep-out vibe... FULL REVIEW >

House of Boys

dir Jean-Claude Schlim; with Layke Anderson, Benn Northover 09/Lux ***
Starting with the same plot as Burlesque, this ambitious film turns into a full-on Aids drama. And while it feels somewhat dated, as well as melodramatic, the filmmaking is intimate enough to keep us engaged with the characters... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: Action porn

2011-03-28T23:53:00.001+01:00

The big press screening in London last week was for Zack Snyder's hotly anticipated Sucker Punch, which instantly becomes the most disappointing film of the year. Not because of the high expectations as for the fact that the film is chaotic, nonsensical and fetishistic in its approach to women and action. Much more enjoyable was the animated comedy Rio, a colourful 3D romp that kept us laughing nonstop.

Off the beaten path, we had two independent British dramas: Blooded is a provocative thriller about anti-hunting activists that looks terrific even if it never really grabs hold; and Break My Fall is a scruffy, postmodern romance about two girls (it also marks my first on-screen credit, since I was an extra on the film set last summer). Foreign films featured two of the week's best performances, both by young children: the gripping South African drama Life Above All centres on a young girl trying desperately to maintain her family's dignity, while the artful Turkish drama Honey follows a young boy struggling to connect with his mother, society and nature.

This coming week we have the horror movies The Roommate and Rubber, the "don't ask, don't tell" drama A Marine Story, and a trio of documentaries: Becoming Chaz, about Chaz Bono's gender transition; The Oath, about a Guantanemo prisoner; and the acclaimed Danish war doc Armadillo. We also have the kick-off of the 25th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which has been stripped-down this year from 16 to 7 days due to budget cutbacks at the British Film Institute. I'll have daily highlights here.

Requisite Blog Photo: Blame it on the samba

2011-03-27T15:48:00.000+01:00

Critical Week: Brain-bender

2011-03-22T12:39:00.001Z

Two brainy movies screened for London critics last week, and while neither is quite Inception, at least they demonstrate that blockbusters don't have to be stupid. To follow up his astonishing debut Moon, director Duncan Jones goes big-time with Source Code, a crackling terrorism thriller with a Groundhog Day premise. The likeable Jake Gyllenhaal and especially good Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monahan help. The other is Limitless, about a brain-expanding drug, and it's also exhilarating good fun, with a terrific central performance from the even more likeable Bradley Cooper.

There were a few other high-profile films last week for us as well: we had a very late screening of Matthew McConaughey's enjoyably twisty legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer; Tom McCarthy's latest engaging slice of real life in Win Win, starring Paul Giamatti; the goofy stoner fairy tale Your Highness, reuniting DannyMcBride and James Franco; and the genuinely scary horror film Insidious, with Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson. Last week's kiddie movie was the enjoyably deranged Easter Bunny adventure Hop; the foreign film was the serene, doc-like Le Quattro Volte from Italy; and the documentary was the inspirational charity film A Small Act.

The big movie this coming week is Zack Snyder's girl-power fantasy Sucker Punch, and for the kids we have the 3D animated parrot adventure-comedy Rio. Smaller indie films include the British thriller Blooded and the London romance Break My Fall. Foreign films include the South African drama Life Above All and the Berlinale-winning Turkish drama Honey (Bal).

Requisite Blog Photo: Early Easter cheer

2011-03-20T23:09:00.000Z

Critical Week: Manly men

2011-03-15T10:40:00.000Z

Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell fight and snarl and bond like mad in The Eagle, one of the more enjoyable movies we critics saw this past week. Despite the corny script, the actors make it extremely watchable. And then there were The Company Men, a sharply well-written and beautifully acted drama with Oscar-winners Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper as victims of corporate downsizing. From Korea, we had a man on a brutal cat-and-mouse revenge mission in I Saw the Devil, a strikingly well made film designed to provoke some extreme reactions. From the Isle of Man, we had the documentary Closer to the Edge, about the insane men who race in the life-threatening TT motorbike races. And from 1980s Germany we have the director's cut of the banned classic Taxi Zum Klo, about a school teacher with a lurid and not-quite-secret-enough gay life.

Meanwhile, women showed their manliness in the hit Aussie thriller Tomorrow, When the War Began, about a 17-year-old girl who leads her friends to resist foreign invaders in her home town, Red Dawn-style. Gwyneth Paltrow showed that female country stars can drink and carouse like any man (most notably Jeff Bridges) in the watchable but melodramatic Country Strong. And mothers drive the plot, and the Martian society, of the performance-capture adventure Mars Needs Moms, but they need boys to rescue them. And it might have been more fun as a live-action romp.

This coming week looks even more male-dominated, starting with Matthew McConaughey as guy who works in his car in The Lincoln Lawyer; Patrick Wilson in the haunted house/possessed child thriller Insidious; Jake Gyllenhaal in the sci-fi thriller Source Code, Duncan Jones' hotly anticipated follow-up to Moon; Bradley Cooper in in the brain-expanding drama Limitless; Paul Giamatti in Tom McCarthy's Win Win; the teen-boy Easter Bunny romp Hop; the medieval Italian shepherd drama Le Quattro Volte; and the Cannes-winning drama A Screaming Man, from Chad. Hey ladies, where are you?

Critical Week(s): A blustery day

2011-03-08T09:25:00.000Z

No, I haven't gone all retro: there's actually an all-new Winnie the Pooh movie coming to cinemas, and critics were, erm, treated to the now-requisite Sunday morning child-friendly press screening. There were an unusual number of under-5s at this one, the perfect audience for it. At the other end of the spectrum, we all rather enjoyed the raucous energy of Battle Los Angeles, a virtually script-free movie that has a lot of style.

The past two weeks were filled out with: Julie Taymor's uneven but watchable all-star gender-bending take on Shakespeare's The Tempest; Liam Neeson's return to Euro-action for the preposterous but enjoyable thriller Unknown; the Farrelly Brothers' clever and endearing gross-out comedy Hall Pass; Ed Helms as an effective fish-out-of-water in the enjoyable comedy Cedar Rapids; Felicity Jones taking on the Pretty Woman role opposite hunk-du-jour Ed Westwick in the silly but charming Chalet Girl; the rightfully acclaimed, emotionally powerful Canadian-Middle Eastern drama Incendies; Wim Wenders' gorgeously artful 3D Pina Bausch doc Pina; and the riveting, moving education doc Waiting for "Superman".

I also took the opportunity to rewatch The Social Network on the flight to New York, to see if I'd missed something the first time. But I had the same reaction: it's excellent filmmaking and acting, plus a staggeringly relevant subject, but the film never grabs hold on any other level. Anyway, this coming week features the child-friendly morning screening of the Disney romp Mars Needs Moms, Ben Affleck in The Company Men, the Korean horror I Saw the Devil, the 3D racing doc Closer to the Edge, the editor's cut of the notorious Taxi Zum Klo, and something called Tomorrow When the War Began.

Oscar night: blow by blow

2011-02-28T04:57:00.003Z

Well here we go again! At least the powers that be freshened up the formula by hiring two terrific hosts this year - the opening film clip reel was hilarious, plus a terrific self-deprecating opening double act. I loved the but where James Franco and Anne Hathaway chatted with their mother and grandmother in the audience. The set is simple and pretty cool, with arches that turn into videoscreens.

Tribute from Tom Hanks for the films that have won Art Direction, Cinematography and Best Picture, from Gone With the Wind to Titanic, followed by the Art Direction award to Alice in Wonderland. Then he gave Cinematography to Wally Pfister for Inception, a bit of an upset as Roger Deakins (True Grit) had been the favourite.

Kirk Douglas looking frighteningly ancient but still feisty, struggling a lot and really milking the moment to present Supporting Actress to Melissa Leo. A lovely 'Oh wow!' thank you, especially with the accidental F-bomb. Then it's Mila Kunis (in the night's most glamorous gown) and Justin Timberlake presenting the animation awards The Lost Thing (short) and Toy Story 3 (feature).

In a setting meant to evoke the first Oscars, dapper white-tied Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem present Adapted Screenplay to Aaron Sorkin, who gave a rather dry but generous speech. They then give Original Screenplay to David Seidler, who is heartfelt, clever and charming. Now Anne in a tux starts singing a song from Le Mis with lyrics poking fun at Hugh Jackman - hilarious. Even funnier, James appears in an outrageous pink evening gown to introduce Russell Brand and Helen Mirren (not promoting their upcoming film at all) to present Foreign-language Film to In a Better World.

Now it's Reese Witherspoon, looking absolutely gorgeous, to present Supporting Actor to Christian Bale, who is grateful and earthy and enthusiastic. Then a couple of TV network types took the stage - does anyone care that they've signed a big deal with the Academy? Much better, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman emerge grinning sheepishly. After a clunky scripted bit about the history of movie sound, and the appearance of an orchestra playing classic tunes, Original Score goes to The Social Network, with rockers giving a deeply dull but genuine thank you.

Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey make a very odd couple as they present the sound awards, saying the word 'sound' over and over again: Mixing goes to Inception, as does Editing of course. We kind of tune out while these techie geniuses give their speeches. Then Marisa Tomei appears to announce the Sci-Tech awards, presented earlier. 'Congratulations, nerds.' And Cate Blanchett, looking gorgeous, presents Make-up to The Wolfman and Costumes to Alice in Wonderland - a long, dull read speech by the great Colleen Atwood.

Now we get a montage of people talking about their favourite movie songs, with Kevin Spacey joking through his introduction ('Hello, I'm George Clooney').of the nominated songs, performed by Randy Newman, then Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. Now Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal arrive looking impossibly glamorous to present the short film awards: Documentary to Strangers No More.and Live Action to God of Love (accepted by a hilarious young guy with a massive fro). This is followed by a hilarious remix of the last Harry Potter and Twilight (and other movies) movies into musicals.

Oprah Winfrey is the next on stage to present the Documentary award to Inside Job, which of course sparks a very strong speech. And here's iconic Oscar host Billy Crystal, who gets a standing ovation, and deadpans a few jokes about hosting before a great story about Bob Hope, leading into a tribute to his 18 years as host. Somehow, Hope introduces Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law to present Special Effects to Inception. They then present Editing to The Social Network. And here's Jennifer Hudson to present the final two song performances by AR Rahman and Florence Welch, then Gwyneth Paltrow. And the award goes to Toy Story 3 and the great Randy Newman.

Now there's some sad music and Celine Dione to depress us even further while the in memorium clip reel runs.The final image is of Lena Horne, and Halle Berry gives a tribute to her, perhaps to counterbalance the all-white acting nominees this year. And here's another former winner, Hilary Swank, welcomes Kathryn Bigelow to the stage to present Directing to an overwhelmed Tom Hooper.And here's Annette Bening to talk about the previously presented Governor's Awards and the winners Kevin Brownlow, Eli Wallach and Francis Ford Coppola. Cue another standing ovation. And here's Jeff Bridges to present Actress to the lovely Natalie Portman, who gives a rambling huge-hearted thank you. And now Sandra Bullock presents Actor to, of course, the insanely gorgeous, warm and funny Colin Firth..

Finally and seemingly ahead of schedule, we arrive at Best Picture, which Steven Spielberg presents to The King's Speech, a predictable win to match all of the other major awards, which went right down the line with the guild awards. But it's a worthy year of winners, so no reason to complain. And the show felt lean and tight, even if it was a bit dull. James and Anne were terrific hosts, letting their personalities hold our interest rather than corny scripting or showy silliness, although there was a bit of both. Anne's series of outfits and hairdos were pretty amazing, although James' interest clearly waned as the evening wore on. The curtain call with the winners was a nice final touch.

And since I'm in New York tonight, it's time to go to bed (much nicer than being home in London, where the sun has just come up on Monday morning).

Out on a limb: Oscar picks

2011-02-24T23:04:00.000Z

Frankly, I know nothing, but I still do this every year, based on my own preferences and the ubiquitous buzz that's reaching a crescendo this weekend. Here's who I think will win the Oscars on Sunday, and who I want to win...

PICTURE
Will win: The King's Speech
Might win: The Social Network
Dark horse: True Grit
Should win: Inception

ACTOR
Will/should win: Colin Firth

ACTRESS
Will/should win: Annette Bening
Might win: Natalie Portman

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will/should win: Christian Bale
Might win: Geoffrey Rush

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Will/should win: Melissa Leo
Might win: Helena Bonham Carter

DIRECTING
Will win: The King's Speech
Might win: The Social Network
Should win: Inception

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will win: The King's Speech
Should win: The Kids Are All Right

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will/should win: The Social Network

ANIMATED FEATURE
Will/should win: Toy Story 3
Surprise upset: How to Train Your Dragon

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Will win: Waste Land
Might win: Inside Job
Dark horse: Restrepo
Should win: Exit Through the Gift Shop

FOREIGN FILM
Will win: In a Better World
Might win: Biutiful

ORIGINAL SCORE
Will win: The King's Speech
Might win: the Social Network
Should win: 127 Hours

ORIGINAL SONG
Will win: Toy Story 3
Might win: 127 Hours

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Will/should win: True Grit
Might win: The Social Network

EDITING
Will win: The Social Network
Should win: 127 Hours

ART DIRECTION
Will win: The King's Speech
Might/should win: Inception

COSTUMES
Will/should win: I Am Love
Might win: Alice in Wonderland

MAKE-UP
Will/should win: Barney's Version
Might win: The Wolfman

SOUND MIXING and SOUND EDITING
Will/should win: Inception

SHORTS - pure guesswork
Live Action: God of Love
Animated: Day & Night
Documentary: Killing in the Name

Critical Week: Now I'm a belieber!

2011-02-22T13:08:00.001Z

Yes, the London critics were left stunned after the late press screening of Justin Bieber's 3D doc Never Say Never - mainly because we enjoyed it a lot more than we expected. Sure, he comes across as a precocious, privileged teen, but he also has undeniable charisma and talent. And the 3D was pretty good too. And there were further surprises in store. Dwayne Johnson tries to suppress his charisma in the so-serious action movie Faster, but can't quite manage it. So the film is actually rather good fun. Then Woody Allen tries to recapture his astute take on relationships in the comical London-set farce You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, but also can't quite manage it. Still, mediocre Allen is better than most of what's out there. And Anthony Hopkins tries once again to channel Hannibal Lecter in the Rome-set demonic horror The Rite, and just about manages it. It's predictable but rather good fun.

This left the week's most challenging and interesting film as Confessions, an artful, offbeat Japanese revenge thriller. Comments on two other high-profile films were specifically embargoed by their distributors, so I can't really say anything about them yet, besides this: Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in the fantasy-thriller The Adjustment Bureau, and Johnny Depp and Isla Fisher lend their voices to the animated comedy Rango.

This coming week, we'll be seeing Julie Taymor's all-star take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, Liam Neeson in the action thriller Unknown, Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell in Roman-era action in The Eagle, the Farrelly Brothers' buddy comedy Hall Pass and Wim Wenders' 3D Pina Bausch doc, cleverly titled Pina. But of course, the most important thing this week is this year's Oscar ceremony, which is coming on Sunday night. Is it in 3D too this year?

Critical Week: King of the world

2011-02-14T11:02:00.002Z

It wasn't surprising that The King's Speech dominated last night's British Academy Film Awards, although no one really expected the film to walk away with 7 Baftas, including both Best Film and Best British Film. On the other hand, everyone knew Colin Firth would win his second consecutive Best Actor Bafta.

The ceremony at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, broadcast as always on tape-delay, had a stripped-down feel this year. The red carpet watchers could barely muster up enough people to chat to, the glamour level seemed oddly low, and host Jonathan Ross was strangely subdued. Awards presenters made clumsy gaffes - most notably Rosamund Pike tearing open the envelope before even reading the nominees, or Stephen Fry introducing David Warner when he meant Heyman. And several key recipients were no-shows, including David Fincher, Natalie Portman, Geoffrey Rush, Chris Morris and Tom Hardy.

That said, the two winning actors present were the highlights: Firth with another deeply charming thank you ("I like coming here!") and Helena Bonham Carter with a rambling speech that was actually rather funny. Here are all of the winners...

Film: The King’s Speech

Foreign Language Film: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Animated Film: Toy Story 3

British Film: The King’s Speech

Director: David Fincher – The Social Network
Actress: Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Actor: Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech – David Seidler

British Debut: Chris Morris – Four Lions

Rising Star: Tom Hardy - Inception

Bafta Fellowship: Christopher Lee

Outstanding Contribution: JK Rowling and David Heyman – Harry Potter

Cinematography: True Grit – Roger Deakins
Editing: The Social Network – Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
Music: The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
Costumes: Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood

Production Design: Inception

Make Up & Hair: Alice in Wonderland

Visual Effects: Inception

Sound: Inception
Short Film: Until the River Runs Red
Short Animation: The Eagleman Stags

Meanwhile, in London screening rooms, we suffered through the latest Adam Sandler rom-com Just Go With It, enjoyed learning about the world's most famous hairdresser in Vidal Sassoon: The Movie, and took a romantic stroll through London in the sad-sweet Forget Me Not. Not a very busy week, really, although this coming week is slightly busier, with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau, the Anthony Hopkins thriller The Rite, the backstage doc Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, the kidnapped child drama Arc, the acclaimed Japanese mystery Confessions and the romantic drama Just Say Love.

31st London Critics' Circle Film Awards

2011-02-11T16:06:00.000Z

The Critics' Circle held its annual film awards last night at BFI Southbank, and it was as glamorous as ever. The new venue made it much more of a cinema event as, rather than holding the ceremony in a hotel ballroom, we were in the BFI's National Film Theatre. As secretary of the Critics' Circle Film Section, I was stationed at the door to welcome all of the nominees and celebrity guests (there are two pics at the end). I also got to present an award in the ceremony to Olivia Williams (above right) as British Supporting Actress for The Ghost. Our top award, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film, went to Kristin Scott Thomas (left) and Actor of the Year went to Colin Firth (centre) for The King's Speech.

More winners: Aaron Sorkin (left) represented The Social Network, which picked up four awards: Sorkin won for Screenwriter, then read out a witty acceptance speech from Andrew Garfield for British Supporting Actor and also collected David Fincher's award for Director and the big prize for Film of the Year. Lesley Manville (centre) won British Actress for Another Year, while Conor McCarron took the Young Performer award for his work in NEDs.

Danny Boyle popped in to raise a glass of champagne from our sponsor Moet, whose Toast for a Cause supported our designated charity, the BFI National Archive's project to rescue nine silent Hitchcock films. He's pictured (left) with Jason Solomons, the Critics' Circle Film Section chair and our host for the ceremony. Producer Gareth Unwin (centre) of The King's Speech accepted both Tom Hooper's British Director award and the prize for British Film of the Year. And Sam Taylor-Wood brought Aaron Johnson with her; she presented the Dilys Powell Award.

Special guests included (left to right): Mike Leigh (whose film Another Year had 7 nominations); Manjinder Virk and nominee Christine Bottomley from The Arbor; and Edgar Ramirez, nominated for Carlos.

More nominees on the red carpet (left to right): Rosamund Pike, nominated for her roles in both Barney's Version and Made in Dagenham; Will Poulter (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader); Ruth Sheen (Another Year); and Thomas Turgoose (The Scouting Book for Boys).

And finally, here are a couple of photos of me with two of the night's brightest stars. Other nominees attending last night included David Bradley, Peter Wight, David Seidler, Clio Barnard, Jessica Barden, J Blakeson, Jamie D'Cruz, Georgina Lowe and Tracy O'Riordan. And special guests included Lucy Walker and Dexter Fletcher.

Unable to attend, Gareth Edwards (who won British Breakthrough Film-maker for Monsters) sent a hilarious videotaped speech saying that he would remain true to his British roots, with the Hollywood sign in the background. Etienne Comar (winning Foreign Language Film for Of Gods and Men) sent a terrific video thank you as well, while Annette Bening (Actress of the Year for The Kids Are All Right) sent a written message. The only other no-show was Christian Bale (British Actor for The Fighter), who's filming in China this week.

Critical Week: Up in the air

2011-02-07T23:47:00.000Z

The latest Kate Hudson rom-com A Little Bit of Heaven was only screened to the press a couple of days before it opened. And it still has no US release date. These two hints tell us that something might be wrong here - indeed, the film was an uneven mix of comedy and terminal illness. But at least Gael Garcia Bernal comes out of it with his dignity intact. The week's other big film was Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, which returns Martin Lawrence to his cross-dressing fat-suit role, this time along with his character's son, played by Brandon T Jackson. The studio has embargoed any comments about the film until next week.

Otherwise, the offerings were much smaller, and therefore much less predictable. Emilio Estevez's new film The Way stars his dad Martin Sheen as a man on a religious pilgrimage across northern Spain - it's sentimental, but also thoughtful and moving. Southern District, from Bolivia, has a swirling plot that's impossible to get a grip on, yet still manages to be mesmerising. From France, Antoine de Caunes' comedy-drama He's My Girl is a sequel to 1998's Man Is a Woman - a beautifully played and somewhat provocative blending of sexuality and ethnicity. And Black, also from France, is a heist thriller made in a funky Blaxploitation style that continually surprises (and entertains) us, right to the supernatural final act.

This coming week we have another very late screening: Adam Sandler's Just Go With It, costarring Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman opens on Friday. We have two British small films: the romance Forget Me Not and the Indian subculture drama Life Goes On. And then there's the doc Vidal Sassoon: The Movie. But the week's biggest event is the 31st London Critics' Circle Film Awards on Thursday, 10th February, at BFI Southbank - my one night of glamour each year. Look for a special report on Friday.

Critical Week: Road rage

2011-02-01T11:35:00.000Z

Nicolas Cage somehow managed to find yet another crazy hair-do for his latest mindless action romp, Drive Crazy, which was shown to UK critics last week. This was one of five 3D movies we saw last week - this trend is getting a little oppressive. Especially since the effect only worked on one of the movies: Werner Herzog's extraordinary doc Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which feels like time-travelling 30,000 years into human history to explore unseen cave drawings in France. The others were the underwater cave-diving thriller Sanctum, which drowns in its melodramatic plotting; the live-action/animated film version of Yogi Bear, which is more fun than it looks; and the 3D instructional film The Lovers' Guide: Igniting Desire, which has no actual instruction at all and doesn't even work as soft porn.

We were able to ditch those murky 3D specs for the rollicking and fairly simple action romp I Am Number Four, the outrageously grisly 13th century British battle movie Ironclad, the clever and harrowing terrorism thriller Essential Killing, the raucous vampire-zombie thrills of Stake Land, and Alex Gibney's startlingly insightful doc Client-9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Yes, it was a busy week.

Coming up we have the Kate Hudson rom-com A Little Bit of Heaven, Emilio Estevez directing his dad Martin Sheen in The Way and the Bolivian drama Southern District. There are bound to be more screenings coming up this week, but I think I'd enjoy having a few evenings off for a change. Just to recover from the eyestrain.

Requisite Blog Photo: No picanic

2011-01-30T17:18:00.000Z

If you're wondering why I look like a vampire in this photo, it's because it was taken at 10am on a Sunday morning, surrounded by swarms of screaming children hopped up on sugar. Delightful.