Critical Week: Eye-popping!

In a week when I saw nine films in the cinema, it turns out that a 14-year-old animated movie was the best of the bunch. But that's hardly surprising when the film in question is Toy Story, which is about to be reissued in 3D. It's almost like it was made in 3D to begin with - it looks absolutely fantastic even after all these years (except that pesky dog), and the story is so much richer and more engaging than most of what we see now.

I also enjoyed, but not as much as I'd hoped, Ricky Gervais' low-key fantasy-comedy The Invention of Lying. Other films last week can be grouped in groups: futuristic action-horror (the cheesily entertaining Surrogates and the dire Pandorum); low-budget, high-concept horror (the decent Triangle and only ok Exam); and a trio of random documentaries (the cinephile's film history dream Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, the clunky but interesting Vanishing of the Bees, and the far-too enjoyable guitar doc It Might Get Loud).

Another nine movies this week, including four press screenings for the London Film Festival (which starts on 14th Oct), along with three more horrors: the Diablo Cody/Megan Fox terror-comedy Jennifer's Body, the Brit-sequel The Descent Part 2 and the South African romp Surviving Evil - plus a British drama called I Know You Know and Robert Guedegian's war drama Army of Crime.