Critical Week: Larger than life

It's been a fairly relaxed week at the movies for me, as I've just tried to get caught up on things, posting reviews from autumn festivals and catching up on some films. There are a lot of awards-buzzy movies I haven't seen yet, so there's still a ways to go. One I'd been looking forward to certainly didn't disappoint: Vicky Krieps delivers a wonderfully nuanced performances as Austria's Empress Elisabeth in the inventive and rightfully award-winning biopic Corsage. And a terrific cast brings a more introspective tone to the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a blockbuster that I liked better than the first film, mainly because it dodges the usual Marvel pitfalls. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Bears • Wakanda Forever
Homebody • Being Thunder
PERHAPS AVOID:
A Couple • Dear Zoe
ALL REVIEWS >

Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult star in the blackly comical The Menu, which tilts intriguingly from parody into horror. Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek team up with their children Jake Hoffman and Schuyler Fisk in the warmly dramatic romcom Sam & Kate. Romain Duris and Berenice Bejo join director Michel Hazanavicious for the witty and perhaps too-meta zombie movie pastiche Final Cut. Ryan Kwanten goes Blade Runner for the enigmatic futuristic Hong Kong noir Expired. The comedy Homebody creates an unusually knowing body-swap scenario. And the Latin American horror Blood-Red Ox is confusing but packed with clever details.

The Critics' Circle Film Section also held its annual lunch with the British Board of Film Classification, an event that has been virtual for the past two years. It was great to be back in-person again, learning about the BBFC's new endeavours and going through some of the borderline cases over the past year. And it was also nice to be in a room full of critics as well - for the second time in a week after last Thursday's special Critics' Circle all-sections award lunch for Emma Thompson.

Movies to this coming week include Lili Taylor and Jason Schwartzman in the romcom There There, Lukas Dhont's teen drama Close, Costa Rica's drama Clara Sola, the French animated comedy Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and the Indian action epic RRR. I'm also flying out to Southern California to visit my family and friends for a couple of weeks, and of course to watch more movies too.

Critical Week: A question of trust

One of the more anticipated films screened to London press this week was Francois Ozon's Cannes entry L'Amant Double (The Double Lover), a slinky Hitchcockian thriller featuring lots of mirrored identities. It's a lot of fun. Also from France, Joachim Lafosse's After Love is a strikingly unsentimental drama about a a family going through a divorce, anchored by riveting performances from Berenice Bejo and Cedric Kahn.

More mainstream fare included Charlize Theron in the rather mindless action thriller Atomic Blonde, which is skilfully made but could have used either a more coherent plot, stronger characters or just a lot more silliness. Mark Strong and Jamie Bell anchor 6 Days, a forensic recreation of the Iranian embassy siege in London that's fascinating as it builds to a ripping final act, but never quite cracks the surface. Everything, Everything is a sappy teen romance that plays out pretty much as expected, but is elevated by actors Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson. And Goon: The Last of the Enforcers is a sequel to the surprise comedy hit starring Sean William Scott as hockey player in Canada. Despite a terrific supporting cast, this follow-up completely misses the mark.

Perhaps the biggest movie this week was Al Gore's follow-up An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which traces the decade since his Oscar-winning climate change documentary. It's very well put together, and lucidly highlights the issues, but the biggest surprise is that it has a lot of positive things to say about what people and nations are doing to show respect to the planet and give hope for future generations.

Among other things, this coming week's press screenings include Idris Elba in The Dark Tower, Scarlett Johansson in Rough Night, Sally Potter's festival hit The Party, the coming-of-age British road trip Moon Dogs, and this year's episode, Sharknado 5: Global Swarming.

LFF 7: True stories

It was duelling red carpets on Leicester Square tonight at the 57th London Film Festival, as one side hosted Judi Dench and Steve Coogan (pictured) for Philomena while across the square fans and paparazzi were lined up for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his film Don Jon. Yes, another day of too many films and lots of rain. I'm glad there are only four days to go. More highlights...

Philomena
dir Stephen Frears; with Judi Dench, Steve Coogan 13/UK ****
A shameless crowd-pleaser, this warmly engaging drama is based on a remarkable true story. And it also offers Dench and Coogan the chance to create complex, involving characters we can identify with. The film sometimes feels harshly edited, zipping through serious scenes with an emphasis on sentimentality. But it still wins us over. FULL REVIEW >

The Past 
dir Asghar Farhadi; with Berenice Bejo, Tahar Rahim 13/Fr **** 
Farhadi brings his surgically precise filmmaking to Paris with an interpersonal drama that, like A Separation, fills the screen with almost frighteningly complex characters who are struggling to get on with their lives together. Or apart, for that matter. Farhadi isn't one to let old wounds heal slowly; he'd rather rip off the plaster and pick away the scab FULL REVIEW >

The Armstrong Lie 
dir Alex Gibney; with Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey 13/US ***. 
Gibney takes his usual detailed approach to this documentary about Lance Armstrong's stellar cycling career and notorious fall from grace. But it's an oddly assembled hybrid, as much of the material was shot for a very different doc about his comeback in 2009. And wile it's great footage, it throws the film somewhat off-balance. FULL REVIEW >

We Are the Best! 
dir-scr Lukas Moodysson with Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin 13/Swe **** 
After dipping into more experimental filmmaking, Moodysson returns to the lively improvisational style of Show Me Love and Together. He coaxes energetic, utterly charming performances from his three pre-teen leads, while exploring youthful rebellion from a cleverly askance angle FULL REVIEW >

Floating Skyscrapers 
dir Tomasz Wasilewski; with Mateusz Banasiuk, Marta Nieradkiewicz 13/Pol ****
Exploring a very dark side of Polish society, which echoes in many parts of the world, this drama is compelling and involving. As well as rather overwhelmingly bleak. But it's so beautifully shot and edited, with sharply naturalistic performances, that we can't help but be drawn in.
FULL REVIEW >

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~
C R I T I C A L   W E E K
Yes, I also caught some non-LFF movies this past week, including: the Arnie/Sly action thriller Escape Plan, Danny Dyer in the crime drama Vendetta, Sheridan Smith in the girly comedy Powder Room, the British mystery-spoof World of Hurt, and the arty American drama Five Dances. None of them were great (to put it mildly), but they were a nice contrast to the intensity of the festival films.

Coming this next week outside the LFF: the comedy Last Vegas, the biopic Mandela, the Dickens drama The Invisible Woman and the sequel Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. Among other things...