Critical Week: Blunt force

Now that the festival is over, it's back to the normal life of a critic (essentially it's the same, but with fewer films and parties). Not that I ever stopped watching the regular film releases over the past three weeks! But never mind. This past week's collection of press screenings has been extremely eclectic ... from the violent vagueness of the British football yob drama Awaydays to the slick intelligence of the political thriller State of Play (a remake of a BBC series transplanted to America) ... from the quirkiness of the indie comedy-drama Gigantic to the blunt force of Channing Tatum (above) in Fighting ... from the deafening roar of the unspeakably dumb Fast & Furious to the emotional intensity of the French thriller Anything for Her.

I guess if there's anything in common among these films, it's the in-your-face nature of them all. At least Gigantic kept the noise levels low.

This week's offerings include more noise with Jason Statham in the hotly anticipated Crank: High Voltage, the Seth Rogen mall cop comedy Observe and Report, the Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson romance Last Chance Harvey, a documentary about a touchy-feely retreat in Sweden called Three Miles North of Molkom, the Bengali drama The Last Thakur, John Woo's mega-hit Red Cliff and one of the biggest movies of the year, JJ Abrams' relaunch of Star Trek. More on those next week - or get instant comments by tweet!