Critical Week: Stay sharp

I'm back in London after six days at the Edinburgh Fringe, where I watched and reviewed 15 shows. Back in London, film screenings are coming in thick and fast. I finally caught up with Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer in the sharply well-made drama The Death of Robin Hood, which is very violent and rather relentlessly downbeat. By huge contrast, there's the nearly shelved Coyote vs Acme, starring Jon Cena and Will Forte opposite animated characters from Looney Tunes cartoons. It's a riot of energy, references and inventive imagery. And it's very, very funny.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Magic Faraway Tree
Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma
ALL REVIEWS >

Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser lead the charge in the D-Day drama Pressure, a riveting true story about men on a knife-edge decision. It's seriously well-written, directed and played. Zoey Deutch has the title role in the comedy pastiche Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, but it's Jon Hamm and John Slattery spoofing themselves that makes this smart and very silly movie worth a look. Lea Seydoux stars in the Austrian drama Gentle Monster, as a woman whose life is upended by a police visit. It's powerful, complex and costars Catherine Deneuve. In addition, advanced screenings of films from next month's Venice Film Festival included the Bosnian drama Agata the Writer starring Mia Wasikowska. 

Coming up this next week, I'll be very busy watching Jacob Elordi in Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars, Olivia Wilde in I Want Your Sex, Maggie Grace in The Girl in the River, Cannes award-winner La Bola Negra, German satire Babystar, French crime drama Case 137 and Chabrol's restored 1969 classic La Femme Infidele. There will also be many more films from both FrightFest (which starts next Thursday in London) and the Venice Film Festival (I head to Italy the following week).