Critical Week: You're a superstar

It's still been relatively quiet in London, a short week following the Cannes Film Festival. But things kick off next week with Sundance Film Festival: London; I'm looking forward to this four-day burst of cinematic life at Picturehouse Central. It's a fluke of the releasing schedule that I've seen 17 films that are being released this week in the US and/or UK. These are films I've seen over the course of bout a year and a half (many screened at festivals), but they are for some reason converging now in cinemas or streaming! All of the reviews are on the website. 

BEST OUT THIS BUSY WEEK:
Robot Dreams • The Beast
The Dead Don't Hurt
Big Boys • What You Wish For
A House In Jerusalem
Pandemonium • Hidden Master
The Pilgrimage of Gilbert & George
ALL REVIEWS >

Double Oscar-winners featured in two films I saw this past week. Jessica Lange is radiant in The Great Lillian Hall, a lovely drama about a fading theatre icon costarring Kathy Bates and Jesse Williams (above). And Anthony Hopkins shines in Freud's Last Session, a fictionalised meeting between the iconic psychoanalyst and author CS Lewis (Matthew Goode) that's beautifully written and packed with provocative ideas.

Offbeat films this week include Isabelle Huppert once again delightfully stealing the show in Francois Ozon's skilfully arch mystery comedy The Crime Is Mine; the warm and witty assembled family drama The Mattachine Family, starring the hugely likeable Nico Tortorella and Emily Hampshire; Richard Armitage in the often harrowing true-life WWII survival adventure The Boy in the Woods; the dark, moving British-Palestinian drama A House in Jerusalem; and the eye-opening London artists doc The Pilgrimage of Gilbert & George.

This coming week I'll be watching Will Smith in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Jennifer Connelly in Bad Behaviour, David Duchovny in Reverse the Curse, Ciaran Hinds in Cottontail, British sci-fi drama Sky Peals, Wyoming-set fantasy Riddle of Fire, Belgian drama Here and road trip drama Summer Solstice, plus lots of movies at the Sundance Film Festival: London. 

Critical Week: Say your prayers

After having virtually no spring at all, the weather in London has finally warmed up, just in time for the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France. I'm avoiding that crowded, chaotic festival as usual, and hoping for a couple of quieter weeks at home, and nicer weather will be a bonus. But the movies keep coming, and there were two films this week that take on religion: the drama Are You There God? It's Me Margaret adapts the classic 1970 novel into a nuanced coming-of-age drama starring Abby Ryder Fortson (above). Less textured is Jesus Revolution, which stars Kelsey Grammer as real-life pastor Chuck Smith, who brought hippies into his Southern California church in the late-1960s. It's preachy but watchable.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Butterfly Vision
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
ALL REVIEWS >

And then there's the blockbuster of the week: Fast X is the latest romp for Vin Diesel's car-crashing crew, which fans will love even though it's both ridiculous and predictable. The doc Being Mary Tyler Moore recounts the inspiring story of the iconic actress who had a major impact on culture. I also attended two theatre shows: Skid / Saaba at Sadler's Wells are two superbly physical pieces by a gifted Swedish company, and Once on This Island at Regent's Park Open-Air Theatre is an involving musical set in the Caribbean.

This next week I'll be watching Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, Ben Affleck in Hypnotic, the animated adventure Boonie Bears: Guardian Code, the British whodunit Medusa Deluxe and the documentary My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock. I'll also attend the press nights for The Misandrist at the Arcola and Corps Extremes at Sadler's Wells (reviews here soon).

Critical week: Life of the party

Even as this year's condensed awards calendar rockets ahead (how about those dull Oscar nominations?), screenings are slow to kick off this year. I've only seen four films this week. (Full disclosure: I did not chase an invite to the one press screening of Bad Boys for Life, as I'm still scarred from Bad Boys II ... 17 years ago). There are plenty of releases in the cinemas, but these are films I saw during the autumn film festival and awards-qualifying seasons. New movies are coming up, so hopefully screenings will materialise soon.

In the meantime, I caught up with Xavier Dolan's The Death & Life of John F Donovan, which premiered to harsh criticism at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival and has since been re-edited. There are issues with the structure, but Dolan is such a fine writer-director that the characters come alive gorgeously. And what a cast: Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandie Newton, Michael Gambon! Another Brit, James Norton, stars in the true historical drama Mr Jones, which recounts a fascinating story just before the Second World War as a brainy journalist tries to get the British government to wake up to the threat of Hitler and the lies of Stalin. The British fact-based drama No Fathers in Kashmir is a moving and important story about two teens uncovering the truth in the nasty political situation in northern India. And then there was this one, already a contender for the worst film of 2020...

Jexi
dir-scr Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
with Adam Devine, Alexandra Shipp, Rose Byrne, Michael Pena, Justin Hartley, Ron Funches, Charlyne Yi, Wanda Sykes, Kid Cudi
release US 11.Oct.19 • 19/US 1h24 *. 

Opening as a playful satire of smartphone culture, it becomes quickly apparent that filmmakers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The Hangover/Bad Moms) have nothing clever in mind, merely shouting the most obvious jokes rather than digging into the lively premise or characters. There was a chance to actually make a comedy that was cute and astutely pointed. But amid a flurry of strained in-your-face jokes that are actually embarrassing to watch, the plot is painfully predictable.

Working for a listicle website, Phil (Devine) is a loner whose phone is his only friend. One day he meets local bicycle shop owner Cate (Shipp), and in his excitement accidentally smashes his iPhone. The new one comes with an AI assistant called Jexi (voiced by Byrne) who takes over his life and issues instructions, ignoring anything he says. She bullies him into changing his diet, musical preferences and pretty much everything else. Then when his hugely unlikely romance with Cate begins to take off, Jexi gets jealous.

The idea is that Jexi is programmed to make Phil's life better in any way possible, but she does this primarily through foul-mouthed insults. Meanwhile, the filmmakers fill the brief running time with idiotic slapstick, wacky smut and unwarranted sentimentality. All of which makes it almost impossible to care what happens to Phil, even if Devine and Shipp have some genuine charm in between the lines. It's especially galling that after so much relentlessly inane stupidity, the filmmakers have the nerve to awkwardly try and create some sweet moments. And the simplistic finale is insulting.

13.Jan.20

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In the diary for this coming week, I have George MacKay in True History of the Kelly Gang, Kristin Scott Thomas in Military Wives, the Filipino political drama Quezon's Game and the acclaimed Sudanese documentary Talking About Trees.