Critical Week: What's cooking

It's been another busy week at the movies, even as the cinemas take another breath between blockbusters. There's still plenty to see. I thoroughly enjoyed Tony, which stars the excellent Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain, and features strong roles for Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones and Leo Woodall. By contrast, Broken Lizard's Super Troopers 3 carries on the random silliness as a knucklehead group of Vermont cops play pranks on each other in the run-up to a Bollywood style wedding. A perfect distraction from real life.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Tony • Late Fame
Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma
ALL REVIEWS >

There were also a few star-driven movies. Glenn Close is radiant as a Finnish grandma in The Summer Book, an enjoyable but rather glowy memoir-style drama. Vicky Krieps is terrific in the French drama Love Me Tender, a far too long but powerfully involving story that centres around queerness and child custody. And the superb George MacKay gives an astonishingly full-bodied turn in the collage-style Scottish drama Mission (premieres next weekend at Edinburgh International Film Festival).

There was also the low-budget indie romcom Do Us Part, featuring a messy love triangle that emerges amusingly at a wedding. And from India, Our Share of Sand is a gorgeously observed drama about a young girl discovering truths about her family and culture (premieres at Venice Film Festival next month). I also attended a live performance of Matthew Bourne's thrillingly sexy The Car Man, a dance loosely based on Bizet's Carmen.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor in The End of Oak Street, Juliette Binoche in Queen at Sea, Claire Foy in The Magic Faraway Tree, the horror romance Leviticus and the award-winning Indian drama Songs of Forgotten Trees. I'll also be heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe for a few days.

Critical Week: Movie night

I've started off the new year catching up on things I had hoped to see last year, including three acclaimed foreign-language titles that have been in this year's awards conversation. From Spain, Alcarras is a lively, remarkably authentic drama about a family facing a big change. From Pakistan, Joyland is a proper stunner about a young couple straining against a society full of expectations and restrictions. From Brazil, Mars One is a lovely, loose drama about four family members who have their own distinct dreams.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Till • Piggy • Alcarras
Mars One • Women Talking
ALL REVIEWS >

Two films coming out this week are The Enforcer, a skilfully made thriller with an under-developed plot, anchored by a terrific Antonio Banderas as a growly mob heavy. And the mystery thriller Exploited is enjoyably lurid even if it's awkwardly assembled.

I also caught up with Disney's latest animated adventure Strange World, an enjoyably colourful romp that feels a bit simplistic in its themes. A sequel to the guilty-pleasure hit Enchanted, Disenchanted has lots of great songs but a story that feels rushed and, well, all wrong. The British period whodunit See How They Run creates an enjoyably witty vibe but strains to engage the audience. The animated romance Entergalactic looks fantastic, and has some nice underlying themes, but ultimately sticks too close to the genre rules. And then there was The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a throwback to those vintage TV specials. It's nutty and entertaining, and offers some terrific scenes with favourite characters, but it's never quite as bonkers as we hope it will be.

Movies I'll be watching this coming week include the horror thriller M3gan, Jim Parsons in Spoiler Alert, Nicolas Cage in The Old Way, Gillian Jacobs in The Seven Faces of Jane, and catch-up screenings of Cha Cha Real Smooth, Broker, The Swimmers and others.

Critical Week: All for one and one for all

I'm back in London today after a few weeks in Los Angeles visiting friends and family, celebrating Thanksgiving with them, and catching up with a few films there as well. Jet lag will make the next few days a challenge, as will Britain's icy cold snap, but I have too much going on during awards season to give in to that feeling that I should be sleeping. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Matilda the Musical
The Silent Twins
The Alleys • Hidden Letters
PERHAPS AVOID: The Leech
ALL REVIEWS >

The forthcoming sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish continues the lively antics of the swashbuckling cat voiced by Antonio Banderas, alongside Salma Hayek's Kitty Softpaws. It's hilariously entertaining, as expected. Less satisfying is Devotion, based on an inspiring true story about Korean War pilots that's told with far too much earnest reverence. There's enough to hold the interest and stir the emotions, but the film feels like it plays out in slow motion. And then there's the doc All That Breathes, which sneaks up on us with its bracing insights and vividly involving people who rescue traumatised birds in Delhi.

I also managed to catch up with two movies on the flight home. Infinite Storm, directed by Malgorzata Szumowska, stars Naomi Watts, Billy Howle, Denis O'Hare and Parker Sawyers in a contained, often silent story of survival on a snowy mountain. A jaw-dropping true story, it's spectacularly shot to put the audience in the situation with Watts' tenacious rescue worker. Ad The Outfit, directed by Graham Moore, stars Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Dylan O'Brien and the fabulous Nikki Amuka-Bird in a 1950s Chicago-set tale of a suit maker who becomes entangled with feuding mob bosses. The twisty plot is great fun, even if the film is rather uneven.

Movies this coming week include the blockbuster sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker, Ulrich Seidl's Rimini, Pakistani drama Joyland, the Iranian drama Winners, Italian comedy Marscapone, Spanish musical The Phantom of the Sauna and last year's surprise Oscar nominee Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

Critical Week: You little devil

It's been a busy week in London, as temperatures have become warmer by the day, culminating Friday in what might be the hottest June day on record. Meanwhile, I've seen a few films, including Scott Derrickson's horror thriller The Black Phone, which is hugely violent and unsettling but perhaps not that scary, and the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, which is a rollicking and very entertaining space adventure.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Everything Went Fine
Brian and Charles • Lightyear
ALL REVIEWS >

Outside the mainstream, I saw the fiendishly clever Spanish satire Official Competition, starring Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas as obsessive filmmakers trying to create a lasting cinematic masterpiece. Also from Spain, Timothy Spall and Sarita Choudhury play offbeat, continually surprising characters in the gentle drama It Snows in Benidorm. Two young women get trapped atop a dizzyingly tall antenna tower in the nerve-jangling thriller Fall. Jemaine Clement is the host of a body-positive retreat in Nude Tuesday, a witty film from New Zealand with dialog in gibberish and even crazier subtitles. Teens try to stage a New Year's heist in Turbo Cola, a comedy that turns into a darker drama along the way. And Satyajit Ray's 1963 female empowerment masterpiece The Big City has been restored and put on the big screen.

There were also a few more unusual things this past week. David Austin gave an interview at a special press screening of the documentary George Michael: Freedom Uncut, which he directed with the iconic musician before his death in 2016. It's finally gets a cinema release next week. On the stage, I got a chance to see Starcrossed, a witty spin on Romeo & Juliet at Wilton's Music Hall. It's smart, playful, moving and wonderfully queer. And I also attended the Critics' Circle's National Dance Awards at the Barbican, and it was great to chat with winners and nominees at the party.

Things are mercifully quieter this coming week, with no press screenings in the diary largely due to the rail strikes that will cripple of the UK transport system all week. I do have some online screenings, including Chris Hemsworth in Spiderhead, Ben Foster in The Survivor, the Sundance winner Cha Cha Real Smooth, the gymnast drama Olga and the Brazilian odyssey Uyra.

Critical Week: Put that thing down

As Britain enjoyed a sunny heatwave, we were clobbered with the news that pandemic restrictions won't be further lifted on 21st June as planned: we have another month to go before things will get back to a semblance of normality. Most things are open now with distancing regulations, which means that press screenings are few and far between (literally!). I only had one this week, a special celebrity packed screening of the sequel Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, introduced by the always lively Salma Hayek in person. The film is messier than the first one, too busy and distracted to really hold together, but it has quite a few hilarious moments along the way. Meanwhile, Disney is bypassing cinemas with Pixar's latest minor masterpiece Luca, a gorgeous story about friendship and the importance of diversity set on the sunny Italian coast (and under the seas around it). 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Luca • The Reason I Jump
It Must Be Heaven
Summer of 85
Truman & Tennessee
ALL REVIEWS >

The rest of the films I watched this week were an eclectic mix: Untitled Horror Movie is a computer-screen based comedy-thriller that's very well put together, with a terrific cast, but isn't very scary; from Brazil, Half Brother is a naturalistic, moving drama about two people finding themselves; and premiering at Tribeca Film Festival, Pray Away is a straightforward, expertly shot and edited doc about gay conversion therapy, as seen through the eyes of the people who ran those programmes and are now trying to make amends.

Finally, I revisited Stephen Frears' 1985 classic My Beautiful Laundrette, starring breakout young actor Daniel Day-Lewis. I'm hosting a conversion with the film's writer Hanif Kureishi on-stage before a screening of the film on Friday night at BFI Southbank as part of the London Indian Film Festival. It's a remarkably timely story about connections between communities, adeptly touching on ethnicity, culture, class and sexuality. And it's depictions of right-wing bigotry are eerily current.

Coming up this next week are the latest entry into the Fast & Furious franchise, F9: The Fast Saga, as well as Isabelle Huppert in Mama Weed, 1980s-set horror comedy Vicious Fun, the action thriller Unchained, the Argentine comedy thriller Rock Paper & Scissors and the Roma drama Carmen and Lola.

BFI Flare: Making connections

The 34th edition of the British Film Institute's Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival was supposed to kick off last Wednesday (the photo above is from the opening film Cicada), but of course it was cancelled, like everything else at the moment. I've covered this festival for 22 years, and it's my favourite - not just for the terrific mix of movies but also because it's one of the best chances all year to hang out with filmmakers and encourage new voices. The BFI is hosting a virtual festival over the next week, a selection of the films on its BFIPlayer, including live filmmaker Q&As. It won't be the same, but it's something!

I will cover as much as I can remotely from isolation at home, including the now-iconic annual collection Five Films for Freedom. To get started, here are some films that have been seen already in London - either at London Film Festival last October or on general release in the UK. Most are already streaming somewhere...

And Then We Danced 
dir-scr Levan Akin; with Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili 19/Geo ****
There's a lovely mix of personal emotion and societal outrage in this sensitive Georgian coming-of-age drama. Swedish writer-director Levan Akin keeps the camera close to the protagonist, seeing events tightly through his eyes as the world comes into brighter focus for him. What it says about empty, fearful machismo is very harsh, and this is also an engaging celebration of artistic freedom. And a bold statement of support for Georgia's LGBTQ community... FULL REVIEW >

Matthias & Maxime 
dir-scr Xavier Dolan, with Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas, Xavier Dolan 19/Can ***.
There's a bold, bracingly fresh idea at the centre of this film, and actor-filmmaker Xavier Dolan spends much of the running time avoiding it, just as his characters do. The film is sharply written to catch the rhythms of 30-somethings still working out where to go with their lives. And the central story of two lifelong friends has a strong kick, even if it comes a bit late... FULL REVIEW >

You Don't Nomi 
dir Jeffrey McHale; with Adam Nayman, David Schmader 19/US ****
A fascinating exploration of the notorious 1996 drama Showgirls, this documentary asks whether it's a masterpiece or a turkey. Or maybe it's both at the same time. Certainly, Paul Verhoeven's film has become a cult classic in the two decades since it was declared the worst film of the year (it swept the Razzies). With comments by journalists, academics and commentators, plus archival interviews with the actors and filmmakers, this is a deep dive into why such an obviously trashy movie has had such an indelible impact... FULL REVIEW >

Pain and Glory [Dolor y Gloria]
dir-scr Pedro Almodovar; with Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia 19/Sp *****
At age 69, Pedro Almodovar delivers on of his most intimate, powerfully inventive films, a striking rumination on the nature of artistic creation in the story of a filmmaker looking back on his life and work, neither of which are quite finished yet. The movie is of course visually sumptuous, but there's also a confident maturity in the storytelling that makes several moments drop-dead gorgeous. It's, quite simply, a stunner... FULL REVIEW >

Booksmart 
dir Olivia Wilde; with Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever 19/US ****
Like a blast of fresh air, this raucous teen comedy approaches high school from an unapologetically female perspective. The film doesn't merely flip the gender, it inventively finds a new path through the usual tropes to create fantastically vivid and complex characters while indulging in the kind of silly outrageousness that has always been reserved for boys. It deserves to be a massive hit... FULL REVIEW >

Contenders: Four dramas

I've been catching up with movies released earlier in the year that are eligible in the upcoming awards season. Whether they're worthy of consideration is another thing...

The Laundromat
dir Steven Soderbergh
scr Scott Z Burns
with Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Melissa Rauch, Nonso Anozie, Matthias Schoenaerts, Rosalind Chao, David Schwimmer, Robert Patrick, James Cromwell, Sharon Stone
release US/UK 18.Oct.19 • 19/US Netflix 1h35 **

Weaving together a series of true stories, this financial comedy-drama seeks to explore the secret life of money. It's ambitious, silly and deliberately absurd, narrated by two dandy lawyers (Banderas and Oldman) in Panama. But the script follows so many threads and delivers so much information that it never comes to meaningful life. The themes are vitally important, the film makes some very strong points, and the performances are excellent, but the wildly flailing barrage of detail is numbing.

After a personal tragedy, Ellen (Streep) begins looking into the fraudulent insurance company in Nevis that has shortchanged her. She discovers it's linked to a Panama law firm helping the world's wealthiest people hide their money in shell companies. Their globe-spanning clients include murderous drug kingpins, an African billionaire (Anozie) who knows he can buy anything, and a British businessman (Schoenaerts) who arrogantly challenges his contact (Chao) in China. And the story is about to break, implicating everyone from movie stars to governments.

The film is essentially about the astonishingly thin line between illegal tax evasion and legal tax avoidance. But it's very difficult to care, or even to pay attention, amid endless conversations about finance, insurance, lawsuits, and so on, especially when the tone is so glib. The cast tries to spice things up with personality, screenwriter Burns keeps the words sparky, and director Soderbergh keeps things visually whizzy. But it still feels dull and unfocussed. There's too much effort to create witty cause-and-effect metaphors and colourful explanations, when a coherent, involving central story would have done this much more efficiently.

29.Oct.19

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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
dir Terry Gilliam
with Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce 18/Sp ***. 
Terry Gilliam spent more than 25 years working on this project (a previous attempt to film it was documented in Lost in La Mancha), and getting the film released wasn't easy either. The plot is wacky and meandering, but Gilliam infuses it with a gleefully freewheeling tone, taking flights of fancy at every turn. So even if its defiantly original style can be challenging, it's both raucous good fun and sharply pointed... FULL REVIEW >

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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
dir-scr Chiwetel Ejiofor
with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Aissa Maiga, Lily Banda, Lemogang Tsipa, Philbert Falakeza, Noma Dumezweni, Rophium Banda, Raymond Ofula, Joseph Marcell
release UK/US 1.Mar.19 • 18/UK BBC 1h53 ***.

For his writing-directing debut, Chiwetel Ejiofor ambitiously takes on a true story from rural Malawi. Beautifully shot in the actual locations, the narrative unfolds in a relatively straightforward way, which doesn't allow for a lot of subtext. But it's a thoroughly involving tale, populated by lively characters. And it's also seriously inspirational as it follows a young teen whose curiosity changed his world.

In a small farming village plagued by cycles of drought and flooding, it's getting more and more difficult to manage the grain harvest. Farming a small plot of land, Trywell (Ejiofor) finds his crops either over-soaked or parched. His wife Agnes (Maiga) is an educated woman who wants the best for their teen children Annie (Banda) and William (Simba). Annie hopes to go to university and is secretly seeing a schoolteacher (Tsipa), while William is a voracious student worried because his parents can no longer afford his school fees. So keeping access to the school library becomes a problem as he begins to figure out a way to solve their irrigation problems using wind-power.

The dramatic conflicts in this story feel a little contrived, as they pit the observant, inventive William against his pointlessly stubborn father. Surely Trywell would understand by now that his son might have ideas beyond his age. But he digs his feet in, flails against nature and prays for rain, while ignoring the solution right in front of him. On the other hand, this provides some meaty conversations, and terrific scenes between Ejiofor, Simba and Maiga, who flesh out their characters beautifully. So in the end, it's a skilful retelling of an important story, and aspects of the film are impressive, such as how Ejiofor learned the local language. It also looks gorgeous, and its emotional kick is very strong, as is the way it encourages us to seek outside-the-box solutions to things like political corruption and natural disasters.

23.Oct.19

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Ma
dir Tate Taylor
scr Scotty Landes
with Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, McKaley Miller,  Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, Dante Brown, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Missi Pyle
release US/UK 31.May.19 • 19/US Universal 1h39 **.

Starting as a rather typical slickly made smalltown comedy-drama, director Tate Taylor begins from the start to undermine the usual forced Hollywood-style levity with elements from horror movies. But while Octavia Spencer keeps it watchable, the script and production are far too smoothed out to actually generate any suspense, including the way the screenplay uses important topics to offer simple explanations for the nastiness that erupts later on.

Erica (Lewis) and her teen daughter Maggie (Silvers) are settling into life in a new town. Trying to fit in at high school, Maggie hangs out with a group of cool kids including popular girl Haley (Miller), nice guy Andy (Fogelmanis) and jocks Chaz and Darrell (Brown and Waivers). After friendly Sue Ann (Spencer) buys booze for them, she stalks them online and befriends them ("Call me Ma!"), turning her basement into party central. But is she only pretending to be a cool adult?

There are interesting layers to the story, such as Ma's insecurities, which date back to her school days, when her classmates included Maggie, Andy's dad Ben (Evans) and his mean-girl girlfriend Mercedes (Pyle). Taylor overstates these themes loudly, making each wrinkle in the story so painfully obvious that the actual surprises seem anticlimactic. And many sequences feel badly compromised (surely Ma did something else to Ben in the first draft, and her own teen humiliation is botched in a pitch-black gloom). Thankfully, Spencer is skilled at believably navigating Ma's whiplash tonal changes from sweet to party girl to psychopath. But even she can't sell the hyper-grisly climax.

31.Oct.19

Critical Week: On the warpath

Since I've seen most of movies that were screening to the press this past week, I've been catching up on awards season films like Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat, a bizarrely comical farce circling around the Panama Papers scandal. The material is strong, but even an A-list cast (led by Meryl Streep, above) can't ground this kind of overambitious approach. Also somewhat uneven, Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote boasts great performances from Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce and fabulously freewheeling production design, with deep themes running under a meandering narrative.

The low-budget Spell was a nice surprise, a scruffy horror romp about a quirky American in Iceland. From Netherlands, Bloody Marie is an internalised drama that takes place during a freaky crime thriller. From Brazil, the bracingly naturalistic Copa 181 explores people who live on the fringe of decency, and are quite happy there. There were also three docs: packed with awesome archival material, Sid & Judy is a lovely look at Judy Garland's life through the eyes of third husband Sid Luft; American Factory is a striking exploration of the cultural collision between China and the US in Ohiol and Anton Corbijn's Depeche Mode: Spirits in the Forest is a superbly engaging blend of concert film and fan doc.

Coming up next week are screenings of Paul Feig's holiday rom-com Last Christmas, Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in The Good Liar, Shia LaBeouf in Honey Boy, the all-star war action Midway, Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, the British drama Into the Mirror, the rather self-explanatory The Amazing Johnathan Documentary and a reissue of the landmark 1985 Aids drama Buddies.

Critical Week: Me and my shadow

It's been a busy week at the movies, with three much-anticipated press screenings. The best of the lot was Pain and Glory, which reteams writer-director Pedro Almodovar with actor Antonio Banderas (above) for a remarkably intimate, lushly produced exploration of cinema and creativity. I also really enjoyed Quentin Tarantino's ode to the heyday of 1960s cinema with Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood. The cast is excellent (anchored ably by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt), and Tarantino feels effortlessly in control of the story through each astonishing sequence. And then there was Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, the franchise spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. It's just as noisy and packed with action as you'd expect, and a lot funnier too.

Being the summer, there were three animated movies as well. The biggest is The Angry Birds Movie 2, which carries on in the same goofy style as the original, mixing chaotic slapstick with deranged adult-aimed humour. Charming is a decently animated low-budget Canadian production with a great premise that starts out undermining the fairy tale genre before giving in lazily to every cliche. Leo Da Vinci: Mission Mona Lisa is an Italian-Polish production that looks rather cheap, but has a certain charm as it sends the teen inventor on a ridiculous treasure hunt adventure.

Foreign films included The Operative, a quietly tense German-Israeli production starring Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman. From Spain, The Candidate is a fast-paced labyrinthine political thriller with a clear-eyed perspective on endemic corruption. The French-German drama Transit sets a WWII story in modern-day Marseilles. It's finely produced and acted, but strains to connect the eras. And from Argentina, End of the Century is a twisty personal drama set in Barcelona, where two men remember meeting before. What follows skilfully plays on both memory and expectations.

There will be more family-friendly summer movies this next week, with the adventure Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the Kevin Costner comedy The Art of Racing in the Rain, and more animation with both UglyDolls and Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion. Other films include Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson in The Peanut Butter Falcon, the spy thriller Ecco and the horror movie Wicked Witches.

Critical Week: She's behind you!

With my time largely consumed by the London critics awards, it was a slower week for screenings, with just one big title: the ghost story Winchester, which is very loosely based on a true story. Helen Mirren adds some star power, as Jason Clarke is solid, but the film is little more than a collection of the usual cheesy scary movie cliches. At least it's good fun.

In fact, all of the films this week were fact-based: The Music of Silence is an Italian drama (acted in English) based on the fictionalised autobiography of singer Andrea Bocelli, starring Toby Sebastian and Antonio Banderas. It's a bit dry, but a strong story well played. Birth of the Dragon fictionally traces the mythical clash between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man in early 60s San Francisco. It's out of balance due to a subplot that takes over, but the fights are great. And Thirsty actually stars Scott Townsend as himself in a dramatised telling of his life, as he grows up to become drag star Thirsty Burlington. It's colourful and entertaining.

Screenings this coming week include Black Panther, The trilogy finale Fifty Shades Freed, Clint Eastwood's thriller The 15:17 to Paris, the family romp Peter Rabbit, the French thriller Revenge, the Canadian drama Sebastian and a restoration of Bergman's 1971 drama The Touch.

On the Road: Going underground

The 33

dir Patricia Riggen; with Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche 15/Chl ***.Based on the true story of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster that captured the world's attention, this film starts out like a rather standard B-movie, with lots of corny melodrama and characters that have clearly been ramped up for dramatic effect. Then the astonishing events kick into gear and the film becomes startlingly gripping. Which is unexpected since the outcome is so well-known. But director Riggen, while never indulging in anything very flashy or inventive, quietly keeps the film grounded in reality, deepening the characters and situations by showing the side of the story the news media never reported. She also cleverly indulges in lots of religious imagery, while letting her starry cast do their thing to create engaging characters we can't help but root for. Banderas, Binoche and Santoro all get a chance to shine, as does a rather underused Lou Diamond Phillips. So even if it feels rather like a by-the-books TV disaster movie, the film works its way under the skin. And the final scenes (plus a black and white coda) carry a solid emotional kick.

Requisite Blog Photo: Spongemania

Critical Week: 88 miles per hour

The big event this past week was the opening night of Secret Cinema presents Back to the Future, a fabulously immersive event being held in London until 31st August. Audience gets to experience life in 1955 Hill Valley including the events of the classic 1985 film as it's projected in a vast outdoor cinema. My review is HERE.

As for regular releases, our biggest screening was for The Expendables 3, the latest in Sylvester Stallone's meathead action franchise. Sly was also in town with costars Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Kellan Lutz and Wesley Snipes to chat with the press before the film's premiere. We also caught up with Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson in the gritty but sometimes too-slow burning Aussie thriller The Rover, Chris Evans and Jamie Bell in Bong Joon-ho's ambitious and inventively bonkers post-apocalyptic action thriller Snowpiercer (still without a UK release date), and the not-too-long awaited spoof disaster sequel Sharknado 2: The Second One, which is livened up by a string of cameos as the freak weather system arrives in New York (hopefully the next stop will be London).

We also had the strained, not-so-rude comedy Behaving Badly starring Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez; the involving and nicely acted inspirational drama 4 Minute Mile starring Richard Jenkins and gifted newcomer Kelly Blatz; the astonishingly bold French drama My Name is Hmmm...; and the fascinating epic architectural documentary Cathedrals of Culture.

This coming week there are screenings of the Brit-com sequel The Inbetweeners 2 (the day it opens), Scarlett Johansson in the action romp Lucy, Simon Pegg in Hector and the Search for Happiness, Clive Owen in Blood Ties, horror movie Found, dance doc Ballet Boys and British miners' strike documentary Still the Enemy Within.

Critical Week: Dancing on air

I essentially took the week off, because I had family visiting. But still managed to attend a few screenings in between the London Eye, the National Gallery, Madame Tussaud's, We Will Rock You (not bad!) and even a day trip to Paris. Filmwise, Pedro Almodovar's latest film I'm So Excited is a broad 80s-style farce about a group of people on what they think is a doomed airliner. It's unusually camp and ridiculous even for Almodovar, and will probably divide audiences. Some will be disappointed that Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz only have cameos in the film, but gay audiences will at least get all the hilarious jokes.

London critics also got to see Mud, Jeff Nichols' new drama with Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. It's skilfully written, directed and played, as expected - a fascinating Huck Finn-style drama - but it feels very long. Also overlong, the Swedish thriller Easy Money with Joel Kinnaman is finally getting a UK release (it was made in 2009) - it's slick and enjoyable, but not hugely original. And Disney's Chimpanzee is also getting a long-delayed UK release. It's a cuddly doc that shamelessly humanises a baby chimp.

This coming week we have a very late screening of Tom Cruise in the apocalyptic thriller Oblivion, Paddy Considine in Honour, Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha, the rock band adventure Bula Quo, and two collections of short films: this year's Bafta nominees and Boys on Film 9: Youth in Trouble.