As we get stuck into November, the year's big titles are beginning to turn up at press screenings, and none is bigger than Ridley Scott's sequel
Gladiator II, a mammoth epic set in Ancient Rome starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal. The script is flawed (Connie Nielsen's role is criminally underwritten), but the film is hugely entertaining. Another sequel might even be more anticipated: while not as magical as No 2,
Paddington in Peru is a charming, funny movie that sees our heroic little bear on an Amazon adventure accompanied by Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas
Another big one,
Wicked: Part I stars Cynthia Erivo Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey (with added spark from Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum). It's gloriously assembled on a lavish scale, and we have to wait a year for Part II. Bill Skarsgard is imperious in Robert Eggers' profoundly horrific
Nosferatu, costarring Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Willem Dafoe. Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton find lovely textures in Almodovar's
The Room Next Door, while Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson shine in the complex and powerfully provocative drama
A Different Man. Meanwhile outside of awards contention, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans provide some sparky banter in the otherwise over-familiar Christmas action comedy
Red One. And the quirky British comedy
Time Travel Is Dangerous is packed with hilarious performances and local North London gags.
This coming week I'll be watching the long-awaited
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the acclaimed animated adventure
Flow, Isabelle Huppert in
A Traveler's Needs, the biopic
Bonhoeffer and more awards contenders. I'm also travelling to Southern California to visit family for a couple of weeks, and I'm sure to see a few things out there before it's time to submit my ballots.
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