Well, I'm back in London after a couple of weeks visiting friends and family in Southern California. Of course, I also caught a few films out there. There were press screenings for two movies that open this week:
Stop! That! Train! is a silly disaster movie satire with RuPaul Charles and a bevy of drag queens (including Ginger Minj and Jujubee, above) on a runaway train through a stormagaza. It's profoundly ridiculous, and fairly hilarious. Steven Spielberg is back in the alien business with
Disclosure Day, a riveting thriller starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo. It's expertly assembled in a way that's hugely entertaining, and also thought-provoking.
There was also a screening of
The Invite, a pungent, play-like drama featuring just four characters superbly well-played by Olivia Wilde (who also directs), Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. And
Boorman and the Devil is a fascinating multi-layered documentary exploring John Boorman's biggest bomb,
Exorcist II The Heretic (1977). Back in London, there was the fiercely original Mexican stop-motion animated fantasy
I Am Frankelda, the slickly made Norwegian underwater monster movie
Kraken, and the uneven but provocative indie dramatic horror thriller
Red Lights.
While in California, I took my parents to see Project Hail Mary on the big screen, as I wanted to see it again, and loved it just as much as the first time. We also caught up with Rob Reiner's And So It Goes (2014). a scrappy and warmly likeable romcom starring Diane Keaton and Michael Douglas, and The Union (2024), a dopey but likeable action comedy with Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg. It was a special treat to attend a retro British concert at the Hollywood Bowl featuring 1980s icons The Human League, Soft Cell and Alison Moyet (see below). On the flight back to London, I finally watched last year's amusingly nutty reboot of Anaconda, starring Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandiwe Newton and some big cameos, as well as the expansive two-part doc Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, which I enjoyed a lot.
Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Pixar's
Toy Story 5, Joan Collins in
A Murder Between Friends, British comedy
Virginia Woolf's Night and Day, British drama
Ish, US drama
Blue Film and global doc
Super Nature. And the 34th Raindance Film Fest kicks off on Wednesday.
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