Friday, 3 May 2024

Critical Week: Head over heels

The weather warmed up considerably in London during the week, but has reverted back to near-wintry just in time for the long weekend, which perhaps will drive up cinema attendance. There was a big romcom this week, with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine in The Idea of You, an unusually well-written movie that's smart and very sexy. But we're now officially in blockbuster season, with a major release each week for the next few months. This week's big movie was The Fall Guy, a meta-action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. It's hugely entertaining, even if it's not quite as funny as it should be.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Love Lies Bleeding • The Idea of You
The Lost Boys • Evil Does Not Exist
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Blue Giant • Jeanne du Barry • Drifter
ALL REVIEWS >
I also caught this week's big online release Unfrosted, Jerry Seinfeld's outrageously silly retelling of the birth of the Pop Tart, which is riotously packed with enjoyable cameos. Josh O'Connor stars in the offbeat Italian drama La Chimera, which is magical in the way it plays with the past and present. Lea Seydoux and George MacKay are terrific in The Beast, a freak-out with several fiendishly clever futuristic twists. There was also the photogenic German romp Lassie: A New Adventure, which is enjoyably predictable. From Argentina, the tango-infused Adios Buenos Aires tells an involving story about personal connections. And from England, the observant, charming doc Much Ado About Dying traces the final four years in the life of an eccentric actor.

I've got several films to watch over the coming week, including an Imax screening of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Rebel Wilson in The Almond and the Seahorse, Ashley Judd in Lazareth, Mira Sorvino in The Image of You, the Hong Kong action thriller Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, the action-comedy Hazard and the Guatemalan drama Our Mothers.


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