Critical Week: Duelling divas

Two of the biggest movies this week were released online, so I watched them in my heatwave-warmed home rather than a nicely air conditioned cinema. Charlize Theron takes on a villainous Uma Thurman in The Old Guard 2, a sleek sequel that carries on the saga of a team of immortal mercenaries. But it bogs down in the mythology before a cliffhanger ending. Much stupider, and therefore a lot more fun, is Heads of State, starring John Cena and Idris Elba as bickering leaders of the US and UK forced to work together to save Nato. The starry supporting cast includes a scene-stealing Jack Quaid and hilariously sparky Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Heads of State
Jurassic World: Rebirth
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David Cronenberg's dark mystery The Shrouds is packed with intriguing ideas and striking imagery, plus churning performances by Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger. It's also gets more enigmatic as it goes along. And Sam Riley is terrific as a scruffy surfer-like tennis pro in Islands, a provocative drama that inventively subverts its thriller-like plot and characters who never speak the whole truth. All in gorgeous Canary Islands locations. I also caught a couple of live shows: my favourite-ever Edinburgh Fringe act triumphantly hit London for one night only with Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour at Jackson's Lane, and another iconic duo returned to London after 17 long years with Kiki & Herb Are Trying at Soho Theatre Walthamstow.

This coming week we have James Gunn's new take on Superman, Nick Offerman in Sovereign, Maxine Peake in I Swear, the Dardenne brothers' Young Mothers, Spanish comedy-drama The Other Way Around and a live performance of R.O.S.E. at Sadler's Wells.

Critical Week: Survival of the fittest

Awards season continues with nightly Q&As designed to focus voter attention on various films. I've been able to host a couple of these, which has been a lot of fun, chatting with actors and filmmakers around the world. Another group I vote in, the Online Film Critics, released its nominations this week. Beyond awards contenders, films I watched this week included Outside the Wire, a standard action-packed military thriller elevated by lead actors Anthony Mackie (as a robot!) and Damson Idris. From India, The White Tiger is a must-see blackly comical drama about a guy who leaves his low caste behind through sheer determination.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Are We Lost Forever
The White Tiger • Breaking Fast
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Exception • Imperial Blue
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It was an eclectic week of movies for me. From the US, Brothers by Blood is a growly, grim Philadelphia crime drama starring the always excellent Matthias Schoenaerts and Joel Kinnaman. From Sweden, David Fardmar's Are We Lost Forever is a gorgeously observed drama about a painful breakup. From Belarus, Persian Lessons is a fascinating true story of one man's survival during WWII, starring the terrific Nahuel Perez Biscayart. And from Denmark, The Exception is an intriguing thriller with big themes, although the filmmakers take a rather contrived approach to it.

I still need to catch up with a couple of this week's releases, including the acclaimed Mexican drama Identifying Features and the shorts collection The Male Gaze: Hide and Seek, plus the biographical documentary The Capote Tapes. And there are also some awards contenders: Radha Blank's prize-winning The Forty-Year-Old Version, the animated drama The Wolf House and the five shorts nominated in the London Film Critics' awards.