Critical Week: Just walk away

Lockdown continues in London, as I try to keep my eye on new films that are available on streaming platforms. It's been a very mixed bag this week, with the bigger titles more disappointing than some smaller gems. The main frustration at the moment is that there's nothing else to do but watch a movie, which for me is work. So sometimes I dip into a TV series, and I try to take a walk outside every day or two just to keep my legs from locking up. The weather has improved dramatically this week, so it's not very easy to stay in, especially when movies aren't terribly inspiring.

The Netflix action comedy Coffee & Kareem looked promising, but just never comes together at all, despite valiant efforts from Ed Helms and Terrence Little Gardenhigh (above), plus Taraji P Henson. Universal made the bold decision to release the sequel Trolls World Tour straight to streaming, while all other big releases are being delayed. But the film is perfect for watching at home - less inventive than the first one. And Disney debuted its live-action remake The Lady and the Tramp on its streaming service, again unsurprising since it's not terribly ambitious, although it is good fun.

BEST NEW FILMS THIS WEEK:
Same Boat
Who You Think I Am • Danger Close
PERHAPS AVOID:
Coffee & Kareem • Gold Dust 

Much better is the Curzon release Who You Think I Am, a slinky French thriller with romantic comedy overtones starring Juliette Binoche. Tigertail is a dull but moving drama about a Taiwanese-American man (the great Tzi Ma) reminiscing about choices he made. The Lost Husband is a very gentle downhome romance-novel style story starring Leslie Bibb and Josh Duhamel. Danger Close is a grippingly well-made battlefield movie dramatising a little known battle involving Anzac forces. And The Iron Mask is a bonkers Russian-Chinese coproduction featuring Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, an elaborately staged action fantasy odyssey.

Even further afield, Sea Fever is a claustrophobic horror movie from Ireland set on board a fishing boat. Also at sea, Same Boat is a genuinely hilarious comedy thriller shot guerrilla style on a cruise ship - it's a proper gem of a film. There's more horror in Behind You, a nasty bit of demon ghost grisliness that's creepy if not actually scary. The micro-budget Gold Dust is a not terribly funny comedy romp about treasure hunters in the desert. And Seeing Is Believing is a short film collection featuring high-quality segments from six countries exploring issues of identity and sexuality.

Coming up this week, more lockdown! Films I need to watch include the Sam Claflin romcom Love Wedding Repeat, the pitch-black comedy Why Don't You Just Die, the Baghdad-set terrorism drama Sergio, the sexu thriller Getaway, the monster movie Abominable and more horror 1BR.

Critical Week: No longer silent

Having survived the film festival, I'm looking out for awards-season screenings before voting deadlines. This week there were three of these: Bombshell stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie (with Kate McKinnon, above) in a true drama about the scandal surrounding Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) at Fox News. Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins are brilliantly cast in The Two Popes, based on the true story of the transition from Benedict to Francis. And I caught up with Chiwetel Ejiofor's writing-directing debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, an inspirational true story from Malawi.

Back to films out soon (or now), I had to buy a ticket to see Terminator: Dark Fate, because there were no press screenings. It's not bad, and has a nice trio of strong women at its centre. Ewan McGregor stars in Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining faithfully adapted from Stephen King's novel with lots of added Stanley Kubrick. The new animated comedy romp based on the iconic The Addams Family is silly and a bit frantic. Cousins is a lovely, loose-limbed romance from Brazil. And These Peculiar Days is a witty, sexy ensemble piece from Mexico.

There aren't many screenings in the diary for this coming week for some reason, but I've got these films lined up: the Dutch action-thriller Bloody Marie, the steamy Brazilian drama Copa 181, Ecuador's Oscar hopeful La Mala Noche, plus finally catching up with Octavia Spencer in Ma and Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Critical Week: Fly away

It's been another eclectic collection of screenings this week for London-based critics. My Life as a Courgette is the wonderful, resonant Oscar-nominated French animated drama. Going in Style is a fluffy comical remake starring Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret. The Sense of an Ending is a thoughtful, enjoyable British drama with Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Harriet Walter and Michelle Dockery.

And then there was the far too sunshiny and simplistic Christian parable The Shack with Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer; the far too gloomy but provocative post-tragedy drama Aftermath with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Scoot McNairy; the nihilistic and point-free murder-fest of The Belko Experiment; the gripping, nasty kidnapped-tourist thriller Berlin Syndrome with Teresa Palmer; and the awkward, goofy British Muslim rom-com Finding Fatimah.

This coming week we have The Fate of the Furious, A Dog's Purpose, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, Slack Bay, Suntan and the doc Whitney: Can I Be Me.

Critical Week: Back to black

Asaf Kapadia's documentary Amy provided an emotional experience for London critics this week, a beautifully made film recounting the wrenchingly sad story of local girl Amy Winehouse. It stood in stark contrast to the two other big releases of the week: the surprisingly loose and thoughtful sequel Magic Mike XXL, which combines silly striptease antics with an exploration of male friendship; and the formulaic Terminator Genisys, which attempts to reboot the sequel without any inventive writing or directing and only one solid performance (from Emilia Clarke). Although Arnie's deadpan humour livens things up.

I also caught up with last week's release Minions, the Despicable Me prequel that's surprisingly low-key and charming rather than the usual sharp-edged digitally slick action mayhem. And I watched the 10 shorts that Peccadillo has collected for Boys on Film 13: Trick & Treat - another terrific collection of mini-epics dealing with various aspects of sexuality.

Coming up this week: Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson in Brooklyn, the doc-style horror film The Nightmare, the doc Misery Loves Comedy and a few more. Thankfully, with a heatwave in London, it's refreshing to take a break in an air-conditioned screening room!

Critical Week: Take the desert by storm

Films don't get much bigger than Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller's return to the franchise 30 years after Thunderdome. Starring Tom Hardy in the title role (that's him as the grille ornament in the photo above), it's a roaringly entertaining action thriller with startling emotional and thematic depth. Speaking of which, Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers an unusually deep performance in Maggie, an involving father-daughter drama with zombie overtones. And Rupert Everett and Emily Watson play the king and queen in the comedy romp A Royal Night Out, an engaging film that's loosely based on real events in London 70 years ago this week.

Further afield, British critics are finally catching up with Song of the Sea, the stunningly beautiful Oscar-nominated Irish adventure based on local mythology. Second Coming is a low-key British drama starring Idris Elba that feels like it only has enough of a plot for a short, but is very nicely made. From Spain, Marshland is a sharply well-shot serial killer drama that's involving but a little dry. And I also caught up with The Last of Robin Hood, an involving drama directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice), which stars Kevin Kline in a story about the final months of of Errol Flynn's life.

Special screenings this week included Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles, Chuck Workman's superb doc, screened to the press on Welles' actual 100th birthday to launch the BFI's summer season featuring his films and lots of rare material. And one evening I headed to the Soho Revue Gallery for a screening of the short film Eleanor, an ambitious project starring Ruth Wilson that shows on three screens and carries quite an internalised kick (MY SHORT REVIEW).

This coming week we have George Clooney in the Disney epic Tomorrowland, Al Pacino in Danny Collins, Dustin Hoffman in The Choir, Peter Bogdanovich's comedy She's Funny That Way, the acclaimed horror Unhallowed Ground, the indie sci-fi thriller Infini and the Oscar-nominated doc The Salt of the Earth.

Critical Week: There's gonna be a floody-floody

This past week's big screening for London press was for Darren Aronofsky's biblical flood thriller Noah, which pretty evenly divided critics. While I admired Aronofsky's stunning time-lapse version of creation, I was a bit put off by the fact that these militant vegans wear leather accessories. The other big movies were Arnold Schwarzenegger's gritty cop drama Sabotage and the Emma Thompson-Pierce Brosnan rom-com heist romp The Love Punch, both of which I'm embargoed from discussing quite yet. I also had a chance to interview Arnie and Emma for those films - Arnie was surreally accompanied by British anti-comic Keith Lemon; Emma came with costar Celia Imrie. Both were charming.

Smaller films included Juliette Binoche's storming performance as a photojournalist in the complex Irish drama A Thousand Times Good Night, Kristin Scott Thomas' steely turn opposite Daniel Auteuil in the repressed French drama Before the Winter Chill, and a trio of terrific Guatemalan teens as youngsters trying to travel to California in the astonishingly well-made and rather bleak The Golden Dream. There were also two British comedies: Almost Married is a somewhat under-cooked stag night farce, while Downhill is a superbly telling and very funny doc-style road movie about four middle-aged men walking coast-to coast-across England.

This coming week's movies include Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff in The Motel Life, Gina Carano and Cam Gigandet in the action movie In the Blood, the offbeat drama Concussion, a new 3D animated version of Tarzan, the Lisbon gang thriller After the Night, and the superbly titled Swedish hit The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

Critical Week: An actor's second skin

For me, the biggest event of the week was a visit to the V&A's Hollywood Costume exhibition, showcasing hundreds of iconic movie costumes - from the silent era up to this past year. It's a mind-boggling collection, and difficult to pick favourites. Obvious ones include gowns worn on screen by goddesses like Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. But I really enjoyed the two Harrison Ford items - an expanded exploration of each item of Indiana Jones' costume, and the actual Han Solo outfit. There's also a superb section featuring Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, and several round-table discussions between actors, costume designers and directors (for example: Tippi Hedren, Edith Head and Alfred Hitchcock "discussing" The Birds). Unmissable.

As for screenings, there were two big action movies - Arnold Schwarzenegger and Forest Whitaker in The Last Stand and Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe in Broken City - and a big weepy - Josh Duhamel in Safe Haven. Sorry, but I can't say anything about these films just yet - embargoes apply. I can, however, confirm that the two revival films I saw this week were wonderful: the 3D conversion of my favourite Pixar movie Monsters Inc and a big screen revival of A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor at their most achingly gorgeous. And I quite enjoyed the subtle, low-budget comedy The Men Next Door.

This coming week is pretty dominated by the 33rd London Critics' Circle Film Awards on Sunday night - I am the chair of the awards committee, so am thoroughly involved in organising the ceremony. It should be great fun as always - and I'll offer a full report. Screening-wise, we have James McAvoy in Welcome to the Punch, Pierce Brosnan in Love Is All You Need, and Alex Gibney's documentary Mea Maxima Culpa, among others.