With so many critics away in Cannes this week, you'd think it would have been a quiet one back here in London. But screenings have continued as usual, and will get even busier after the holiday weekend. For the next few months, there will be the blockbuster of the week to track down, plus whatever movies intrepid distributors decide to put up against them, either as counter-programming or to give audiences something else to feed their hunger for big-screen spectacle. For a critic, this can feel rather exhausting, as the smaller, more intriguing movies get lost in the shuffle.
But there are some guilty pleasures lurking in the studio output, such as Robert Rodriguez's twisty thriller
Hypnotic, starring Ben Affleck and Alice Braga. It's brainy enough to feel smart, even if it isn't. But it's thoroughly entertaining. Disney's remake of
The Little Mermaid is still largely animated, now with the heads of ace human stars like Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy grafted to the digital fish-bodies. Halle Bailey is likeable as Ariel, the story and songs are engaging, but the visuals are murky and the tone feels rather grim.
Off the beaten path, Breaking Infinity is a small-budget British thriller that plays around with time travel. It's choppy but involving, and Neil Bishop is a terrific leading man. From China, the animated adventure Boonie Bears: Guardian Code is funny and silly, and also rather chaotic. And Mark Cousins' documentary My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock has some fun with the filmmaking master, to the delight of fans. There were also two stage shows: the prickly romantic drama The Misandrist the Arcola and the dazzlingly acrobatic dance piece Corps Extrêmes at Sadler's Wells.
This next week I'll be watching two highly anticipated comic book blockbusters:
The Flash and
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, plus Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera in
Carmen, Chris Messina in
The Boogeyman, French drama
The Innocent, Italian drama
The Neighbour and International Male documentary
All Man. I'll also attend live performances of
The Ruggeds: State Shift at Sadler's Wells (review here soon), and the immersive revival of
Guys and Dolls at the Bridge.
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