Critical Week: On the nose

In a relatively slow week for press screenings, the biggest film shown to the press was Mortdecai, a zany romp starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany. Opinions are embargoed until Thursday (the movie opens on Friday). I also caught up with Michael Winterbottom's latest Italy-set film The Face of an Angel, a fictional exploration of the Meredith Kercher murder starring Daniel Bruhl, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne. It's an odd mix of moody drama, creepy mystery and dark emotions - interesting but not hugely satisfying.

Further off the beaten path, we had Alain Resnais' latest Alan Ayckbourn adaptation Life of Riley, a French-language Yorkshire-set comedy-drama shot on stage-like sets. All a bit mannered, but a fascinating exploration of barbed interaction. And there were two documentaries: Dior and I is an entertaining doc about Raf Simons' first show as Dior's creative director - both invoving and surprisingly moving because of the strong characters and powerful narrative. Maidan is rather more difficult, merely putting us right in the middle of the Ukrainian revolution in Kiev's central square - an outrageously sensual onslaught.

This coming week's films include a couple of movies I've been trying to catch up with for weeks: Stephen Daldry's Trash, Gregg Araki's White Bird in a Blizzard and Simon Helberg's We'll Never Have Paris. There's also Kevin Hart in The Wedding Ringer and the British indie Hinterland.