Critical Week: Reach out

After the pageantry of last Saturday's coronation event and a national holiday on Monday, it was back to normal for most of us. For me, this week's films included Jennifer Lopez taking on some serious action in The Mother, which thankfully undermines its genre cliches with character detail. Set in 1970s London, Dead Shot is a thoughtful thriller starring Aml Ameen and Colin Morgan. It has a nicely gritty period feel, and while it never quite kicks into gear, it's worth a look.

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Still: A Michael J Fox Movie
The Eight Mountains • L'Immensita
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Even more satisfying on the action front, Sisu is a bonkers Finnish thriller about a lone prospector taking on a range of Nazis who are trying to steal his gold as they flee at the end of WWII. In another genre entirely, A Place of Our Own is a lovely drama from India that subtly explores the everyday life yearnings of marginalised trans women. And Anton Corbijn's strikingly visual doc Squaring the Circle traces the work of Hipgnosis, the British design group that created many of the most iconic album covers in the 1970s and 1980s.

This next week I'll be watching Vin Diesel's supposedly penultimate action romp Fast X, the drama Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Kelsey Grammer in Jesus Revolution and the doc Being Mary Tyler Moore. I'll also attend the press night for Skid/Saaba at Sadler's Wells (review here soon).

Critical Week: Winter is coming

Yes, the weather has taken a turn in London, still sunny but much colder, perfect weather for going to the cinema. And holiday movies are starting to turn up as well. But I also saw a few big movies this past week, including House of Gucci, which stars Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in a soapy story of conniving and murder, and it's all true. It's also hugely entertaining. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Lucy and Ricky in Being the Ricardos, Aaron Sorkin's smart and pointedly topical drama set around the landmark 1950s sitcom. It's rivetingly well-made, and a lot of nostalgic fun too. 

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Encanto • House of Gucci
Annette • Rebel Dykes
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There were also two big animated features: Disney's Encanto is a charming, beautifully crafted bit of magic set in Colombia, while Sing 2 carries on the hilarious music-based antics of a group of animals as they take their show to the big time. I saw two British holiday-themed films: Aml Ameen's Boxing Day is a clever blend of traditional London romcom with a sharp depiction of the city's vibrant Caribbean subculture, while Silent Night is a black comedy starring Keira Knightley with a remarkably dark end-of-the-world edge to it. Less enjoyable was the sentimental drama Not to Forget, although its cast features ace Oscar-winning veterans Louis Gossett Jr, Cloris Leachman, Tatum O'Neal and Olympia Dukakis.

This coming week I'll be watching Javier Bardem in The Good Boss, Colin Firth in Operation Mincemeat, Noomi Rapace in Lamb, Stellan Skarsgard in Hope, the coming-of-age drama I Am Syd Stone and the Turkish drama Beyto.

Critical week: Jump the shark

Yes, the big event this week was the release of The Last Sharknado: It's About Time. I suspect the title is a joke, but in the Sharknado pantheon this certainly isn't the worst episode. Of course it's terrible, but it's also a lot of fun. Idris Elba's directing debut Yardie has a lovely look and vibe, with a terrific cast led by Aml Ameen, which helps make up for a rather familiar East London crime plot. Kelly Macdonald is terrific in Puzzle, a low-key drama about a woman who begins to realise that she has never lived her own life. It's beautifully observed.

Out of the mainstream, I Am Vengeance is a muscly British action movie starring beefy he-man Stu Bennett as a guy on a mission. The plot is ludicrous, but it's still entertaining. From Italy, Matteo Garrone's Dogman has been gathering prizes at film festivals, and deservedly so. It's a clever updating of those 1950s Italian neorealist dramas with a wonderfully compelling central character.

And there were two docs: Gun No 6 traces the 11 shootings that have been linked to England's most notorious illegal handgun. It's a fascinating look at police investigations, and also inventively sees things through the eyes of the criminals and victims with interviews and re-enactments. And Hot to Trot follows two couples as they compete in a same-sex ballroom dance competition, leading to the Gay Games in Cleveland. The central narrative is fascinating, but the real power is in the moving personal stories of the dancers.

Coming up this next week we have the hit comedy Crazy Rich Asians, Melissa McCarthy in The Happytime Murders, Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in A Simple Favour, the British heist adventure King of Thieves, Johnny Knoxville in Action Point, and Gaspar Noe's Climax, plus at least two FrightFest films: Boar from Australia and The Cleaning Lady from America.