Critical Week: Community action

Wes Anderson's new all-star quirk-fest Moonrise Kingdom was screened to London critics at the same time as its Cannes premiere. It opened the festival on May 16th, and is another surprisingly warm exploration of relationships through Anderson's distinctly yellow-hued eye. While many critics are in the South of France, London press screenings continue full-speed, including several that are still being screened very late in the schedule.

For example, Sony only showed us Men in Black 3 four days before it opens. Was that because it's not as funny as the first two films? It isn't, but still gives fans plenty to smile about. And Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator wasn't screened to us at all - we had to buy tickets, and were pleasantly surprised that it's actually a sharp, often gut-wrenchingly funny social comedy. The other biggie this week was Snow White and the Huntsman, starring the achingly on-trend Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, along with Charlize Theron as the beautiful-but-evil queen. Our comments on this one are embargoed until three days before it opens.

Another Cannes entry screened in London was Ken Loach's enjoyable Scottish caper comedy The Angels' Share, which of course makes some strong social commentary in between the wacky (and somewhat contrived) antics and the serious drama. And from further off the beaten path, we had Bobcat Goldthwait's blisteringly hilarious God Bless America (a great double bill with The Dictator), Kristin Scott Thomas' latest involving-enigmatic French drama In Your Hands and the intriguing but slightly simplistic Christian-Muslim parable Where Do We Go Now? 

Coming up this week, we have Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in Take This Waltz, Jason Segel and Emily Blunt in The Five-year Engagement, Simon Pegg in A Fantastic Fear of Everything, the all-star French comedy The Women on the 6th Floor, the Mormon drama Electrick Children, the British indie drama Strawberry Fields.