Crtical Week(s): Selling your soul

I've been on holiday for the past week (I'm writing this from the airport on my way home, actually), and I managed to catch two new releases in the States that won't be out for a month or so in the UK. By far the best was Shrek Forever After, although it's an oddly bittersweet mid-life comedy rather than the manic fun of the first two films (at least it's an improvement on the rather dull part 3). By far the worst was MacGruber, based on Saturday Night Li ve's absurdly silly MacGyver pastiche sketches - but this film abandons the comedy in lieu of easy vulgarity. Most filmgoers should steer well clear.

Otherwise, the airline's video on demand didn't have any films I hadn't seen (besides a few I'd deliberately skipped). But before I left London I caught up with the surprisingly wonderful French comedy The Concert, which cleverly mixes nutty farce with real emotion. There were also the offbeat, scruffy, not unlikeable Catherine Zeta-Jones rom-com The Rebound, the low-key but very smart comedy-drama Please Give, and the Argentine Oscar winner The Secret in Their Eyes, a sort of dramatic whodunit that is quite simply one of the best films I've seen in the past year.

On arrival in London, I have screenings of Sylvain Chomet's new animated hit The Illusionist, Oliver Stone's latest Latin-America doc South of the Border and the hyped-up sequel Sex and the City 2, which isn't screening to the press until 9pm on Thursday so no advance rewiews appear anywhere. Kind of makes you wonder....