Critical Week: Wine o'clock

Heading into the summer, the movies are an eclectic bunch, a surreal swirl of effects-based blockbusters, crowd-pleasing comedies, offbeat independent films and rather a lot of documentaries. At least this keeps us critics on our toes, and the main challenge is to watch all these films and still find time to enjoy the sunny weather. But it does help that so many of these films are things we're looking forward to (and bracing ourselves for disappointment). So the occasional unexpected gem is extremely welcome. This week I caught up with Catherine Hardwicke's Mafia Mamma, starring Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci in a silly comedy with a more serious drama lurking inside it. Out on digital this week in the US, it still doesn't have a UK release date. And the Bumblebee sequel Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was a very pleasant surprise: a big action movie that's actually a lot of fun, with strong characters and deeper ideas that grab the interest.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Medusa Deluxe • Blue Jean
Squaring the Circle
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
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Further afield, the web series Bridesman has been edited into a feature, and is much stronger. It's still silly and queeny, but has more bite now. From Canada, You Can Live Forever is a very nicely made low-key romantic drama about two girls who fall in love in their religious community. From Australia, Talk to Me is a particularly nasty and very effective horror movie about a demonic hand. And the engaging documentary All Man: The International Male Story traces the rise and fall of a fashion catalog that changed the way men dress themselves. I also attended the experimental film double bill Motion Picture at Sadler's Wells, which was fascinating and very beautiful. And once again, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards along with a terrific range of nominees, winners and, yes, critics.

This next week I'll be watching Pixar's new animated feature Elemental, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings and the Take That musical Greatest Days. I'm also preparing to serve on the jury at this year's Bifan in Bucheon, South Korea, at the end of the month.