Critical Week: So in love

It's been another busy week at the movies, as Cannes announced its programme of films, instantly launching next year's awards season with a bang. Almodovar! Refn! Pawlikowski! Farhadi! Zvyagintsev! Kore-eda! Sachs! Hamaguchi! Dhont! The Javis! Meanwhile, I bought a ticket to see Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in The Drama, because I wasn't invited to the one and only press screening. I really enjoyed it, an unhinged black comedy that pushes the audience to take a side.

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Otherwise, there was the family comedy whodunit The Sheep Detectives, an enjoyably silly Babe-style romp starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson, with the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston. Keanu Reeves leads Jonah Hill's quirk-filled Outcome, a smart comedy-drama about Hollywood packed with fantastic characters. The cast includes Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer, Martin Scorsese and Susan Lucci. Gaten Matarazzo, Lulu Wilson and Sean Giambrone star in the riotous stoner comedy Pizza Movie, which is far smarter than it looks thanks to filmmakers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. The Japanese anime romcom ChaO looks like nothing you've ever seen, and tells an oddly engaging story about a man who marries a fish. And I also attended a special cast and crew screening of the pointed and involving short film Geronto, plus a live performance of Palatable Gay Robot at Udderbelly Boulevard.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching the British romcom Finding Emily, Jude Law in The Wizard of the Kremlin, Charli XCX in Erupcja, Bob Odenkirk in Normal, John Magaro in Koln 75, the romantic comedy Almost Us and the French comedy-drama Colours of Time.

Screen: April TV roundup

The seemingly never-ending lockdown continues to provide more time to watch television than usual, and I've squeezed in entire series between films over the past few months. It's been a largely mixed bag, with only a few triumphs: It's a Sin, Call My Agent (final season) and Young Rock (so far). There seems to be a bit of a lull at the moment, so I'm catching up with a couple of things before new stuff begins dropping in May. Here's what's kept me distracted since January...

Wandavision 
Just when you've think that Marvel has played all its cards, this show breaks new ground with its opening episodes, dead-on pastiches of sitcoms from the 1950s to the 90s. Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen have fun with the lead roles, playing to the laugh-track silliness while adding an undercurrent of dread. There are terrific side roles for Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris and Randall Park. And the production values are extraordinarily cinematic for a half-hour TV series. Then reality flips and it becomes rather a lot more Marvelly, especially as it approaches another overblown, formulaic, effects-heavy finale. It's a shame that the story ultimately feeds the Marvel Universe beast, because this would have been iconic as a stand-alone show. (Disney)

It's a Sin 
Russell T Davies mines his personal history for this lively, telling series set in 1980s London. It's a strikingly fresh approach to the period, capturing a realistic mix of energy and life as a community of gay men faces the horror of the Aids outbreak. Olly Alexander shines in the central role, while newcomer Callum Scott Howells deserves to become a star for his terrific turn as the observant Colin. Davies has a gift for creating ensembles of recognisable people then sending them through literally earth-shattering events, while never losing either the humour or emotion. This approach makes the show a landmark exploration of the Aids pandemic, and with only five episodes it left us wanting more. (BBC)

Lupin
Fiendishly entertaining, these first episodes are labelled as "Part 1", and (warning!) they end on a cliffhanger that leaves us impatient for the next chapter. Omar Sy brings his outsized charisma to his gentleman-thief character Assanne, who was raised on, and seeks to emulate, the classic Maurice Leblanc stories about Arsene Lupin. The show's cat-and-mouse structure is a lot of fun, as are the elaborate heists and cons that fill each episode. And it'd also deepened with some complex interpersonal issues. There are a few rather obvious plot elements, but it's all so skilfully written and played that we're happy to go along with it. And now we're waiting impatiently for Part 2 in the summer. (Netflix)

The Irregulars
There's a lot to enjoy about this scrappy adventure-thriller about a group of offbeat teens in 1870s London. The writing is fairly simplistic, relying on corny horror, the usual relational carnage and a lot of magical mumbo jumbo, and the show seems oddly unsure how to handle the presence of Sherlock Holmes (a fascinating Henry Lloyd-Hughes). But Dr Watson (Royce Pierreson) adds intrigue to the shenanigans, and the young cast members manage to be likeable even though their characters are all a bit too reactionary, impulsive and downright angry about everything. Darci Shaw is particularly strong in a difficult role, delivering on the promise she showed as the young Judy Garland in Judy. (Netflix)

The Stand 
Stephen King's epic 1978 novel gets the sprawling series treatment, with a sometimes jarring structure that unevenly flickers around in time. The eerily resonant premise is set around a pandemic that kills 99.9 percent of humans, leaving the remnant to take a stand with good in Boulder (James Marsden and Whoopi Goldberg) or evil in Las Vegas (Alexander Skarsgard and Nat Wolff). The editing is unnecessarily choppy, and the direction makes the whole show look rather cheesy, but the excellent actors help the series build some momentum as things heat up. So it's frustrating that the writers and directors botch the climax then finish on a jarringly lacklustre epilog. (CBS)

Your Honor
This show's hyper-manipulative style makes it both gripping and annoying at the same time, particularly in the wildly intense, downright panicky first episode. And things remain at peak-pressure moving forward. Bryan Cranston is excellent as a determined judge compromised by his son's involvement in a hit and run that's linked to a mob boss and his fearsome wife (the terrific Michael Stuhlbarg and Hope Davis). The script throws everything imaginable at the characters, and then some. So even with the continuous glaring plot implausibilities and very few characters who remain likeable, it's compulsively watchable rubbish. (Sky)

The One
There's a terrific idea at the centre of this series: that DNA can be used to find your perfect match. Although there are serious problems with the writing, from a string of massive holes in the premise to an over-reliance on the tired procedural murder case that holds the series together. It would have been far more engaging to explore the central idea with more complexity. Side-plots are promising, but they're never developed into anything interesting, merely feeding into a dull mystery. The casting seems oddly dull, but the actors are strong enough to hold the interest. And of course there's always the hope that the show might go somewhere interesting. Alas, it doesn't. (Netflix)

ONGOING & ENDING

Young Rock
Dwayne Johnson has so much charisma that he's easy to watch in just about anything, and here he's playing a ridiculously starry version of himself, narrating his life story. Three terrific young actors play him at 10, 15 and 20, and after the choppy first episode it just gets better and better, inventively diving in for a nuanced and often hilarious exploration of each period in Johnson's entertaining young life, surrounded by riotous family members and colourful wrestlers. With its 2032 framing scenes (featuring the superb Randall Park interviewing Johnson about his presidential campaign), this series could run and run. And Johnson could no doubt run 11 years from now. (NBC)

Kim's Convenience: series 5
In its final season, this series continues with its collection of snappy and amusingly insecure people causing all kinds of awkwardness as they meddle in each others' lives. Simu Liu missed the first few episodes (as he was off being a Marvel star), but makes a welcome return. And each of the ensemble cast members continues to add wrinkles to his or her character, riffing off each other with silly enthusiasm. It's all very broad, and most of these people are infuriating; perhaps a bit more progression in the overall story arc would make it a classic. But it's hugely likeable, the humour is warm and often topically resonant, and in its own nutty way the show frequently touches a nerve. (CBC)

Call My Agent: series 4 
With another collection of perfect episodes, this awesome French comedy comes to an end after four seasons. Sigourney Weaver, Jean Reno and Charlotte Gainsbourg are among the actors playing themselves as they drive their agents around the bend.  And once again the ensemble led by Camille Cottin, Thibault de Montalembert and Gregory Montel are endearing, intrepid and hilariously inventive as they try to both save their firm and maintain relationships with their riotously passive aggressive clientele. There are only 24 episodes in total, and they are hugely binge-worthy. It's a shame they're not making more of them, but this is the kind of classic show that will be worth revisiting from time to time. (Netflix)

SECOND SERVINGS

Snowpiercer: series 2 
Things have become much more heated, as it were, in this second season, as Snowpiercer has merged with supply train Big Alice, bringing a new collection of troublemaking characters, including Sean Bean as the imperious Wilford. Emotional issues are bubbling up everywhere, and they bring far more interest than the action thrills. There are also intriguing things going on outside on the frozen-over earth, although sending Jennifer Connolly out there feels like a mistake dramatically, because the warring factions on the train aren't nearly as interesting as the slow-churning power struggle between her, Daveed Diggs and now Bean. Still, the season built to an exciting climax. (Netflix)

Dickinson: series 2 
There's an ongoing problem with this show, as it indulges in so many flights of fancy that it's difficult to determine what's actually happening in the plot and what's in the imagination of iconic poet Emily Dickinson, who is sharply well-played by Hailee Steinfeld. Plus of course the unmissable Jane Krakowski as her mum. The modern-day touches are witty and very clever, making this feel like a more accurate rendition of history than the usual po-faced approach. This also allows for some perhaps too-knowing references to present-day issues. And while there are real biographical elements scattered throughout each episode, the writers are mainly creating stories out of implications between the lines of poems and letters. (Apple)

Staged: series 2 
After making a splash with their offhanded, larky lockdown sitcom, Michael Sheen and David Tennant are back for more six months later. And the premise is hilariously inspired, as they try to sabotage Hollywood's efforts to make an American version of season 1 without them. Big stars again make witty cameos, including Whoopi Goldberg and Ben Schwartz as slippery agents, plus Cate Blanchett, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ewan McGregor, Michael Palin, Jim Parsons and many more playing ridiculous versions of themselves. All of this is a knowing look at the insecurities of being an actor, played to perfection using video conferencing screens, then sharply edited to keep us chuckling. (BBC)

I GIVE UP

Raised by Wolves: The idea for this show was intriguing, and it came recommended, but I struggled to get through three episodes of ponderous moralising before giving up. I just couldn't find a reason to care about anyone on-screen. (HBO)

NOW WATCHING: Young Rock, The Queen's Gambit, The Conners (3), This Is Us (5), Kim's Convenience (5), Mom (8), Shameless (11).
LOOKING FORWARD: The Mosquito Coast, Pose (3), The Handmaid's Tale (4), Special (2), Younger (7).

Critical Week: An odd couple

Returning from a film festival, it always takes awhile to catch up, not only writing up a backlog of reviews but also tracing down screenings that were missed. This week I've caught up with The Upside, the remake of the French drama Intouchables, starring Kevin Hart and Bryn Cranston. It's lively and entertaining, and of course overly slick. Carrying on the effects-heavy wizarding world, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald throws Eddie Redmayne in between Jude Law and Johnny Depp in a film that's an entertaining series of set-ups that leave us waiting for the next movie in the series.

Keanu Reeves does his usual slow-burn performance in Siberia, a stylish romantic thriller that's neither romantic nor thrilling. The British horror film Await Further Instructions has a clever premise and solid cast, but an unfocussed script. The documentary Three Identical Strangers traces the amazing story of triplets separated at birth, although the filmmakers indulge in some manipulative editing. And then there's this film, marking a century since the end of the First World War...

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They Shall Not Grow Old
dir Peter Jackson; prd Peter Jackson, Clare Olssen
release UK 9.Nov.18, US 17.Dec.18 • 18/UK 1h39 ****
Deploying the remarkable archive of film and audio recordings held by the Imperial War Museum and the BBC, Peter Jackson uses digital technology to tell the story of the Great War in a way we've never seen it. Most impressive is his transformation of vintage battlefield footage by adding colour and normalising the frame-rate, making it feel startlingly present. This is then edited together into a chronological narrative that pulls us right into the experience, starting with untouched news footage of the outbreak of war, enlisting, training, shifting to colour for the battlefield scenes and then returning to black and white for a pointed post-war sequence. This is adeptly accompanied by the moving first-hand reminiscences of soldiers on the soundtrack. The sense of detail, including vivid descriptions of sights, sounds and smells, puts us right in the trenches with these very young men, vividly experiencing events from a century ago. And their comments about how Britain reacted to them when they came home after the war gives the film a provocative kick. This is a notable achievement both for its technical and artistic skill and for how it honours more than a million British and Commonwealth men who died in this conflict. And with the voices of men who were there, it expresses a powerful view of pointless nature of such barbaric warfare.

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This coming week we have, among other things, Taron Egerton as a new take on Robin Hood, Michael B Jordan in Creed II, Steve McQueen's heist thriller Widows, Robert Redford in The Old Man & the Gun, Hirokazu Koreeda's Cannes winner Shoplifters and the performance art documentary Being Frank.

Critical Week: Fireside chat

London critics watched a few higher profile films this year, including the incoming young adult romantic disease drama Midnight Sun, which like most films in this genre is aimed at 12-year-old girls. Patrick Schwarzenegger and Bella Thorne are the picturesque leads. A more grown up approach sets the new Tomb Raider reboot apart from the last adaptation, including a fierce performance by Alicia Vikander. But fans may bristle at the film's deliberately grounded approach. Wes Anderson's new stop-motion animated adventure comedy Isle of Dogs is a pure, utterly bonkers delight. And Madame is a French farce with a high-profile cast (Toni Collette, Harvey Keitel, Tom Hughes) and a surprisingly meaningful plot.

A little off the grid, My Friend Dahmer stars Disney hero Ross Lynch as the notorious murder before he started killing people. It's a high school movie with a black sense of humour and unusually strong performances. Gook is Justin Chon's lively, artful comedy-drama set around the 1992 Los Angeles riots. They Remain is a very clever low-budget horror movie with sci-fi overtones. From France, My Golden Days is an ambitious look at a man's life and loves, a big exhausting but packed with lovely moments. And from Finland, Screwed is a micro-budget movie about attraction and sexuality, set in lovely locations with a very strong cast.

This coming week there are a few more big ones: Steven Spielberg's complex adventure Ready Player One, Ava DuVernay's take on the classic A Wrinkle in Time, the robot action blockbuster sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising, Claire Foy in Steven Soderberg's Unsane, Rupert Everett's The Happy Prince and the French drama I Got Life! BFI Flare kicks off this week too, opening with Ellen Page and Kate Mara in My Days of Mercy. Look for daily updates during the festival's run 21st March to 1st April.

LFF: Visit the seaside on Day 5

It's been another busy day at the 61st BFI London Film Festival, with a range of unexpected movies. I'm thoroughly enjoying the chance to catch up with both some big titles as well as some smaller films from around the world. Although there are so many mainstream movies in this particular festival that it's sometimes difficult to find time to visit out-of-the-way ones. Anyway, here are some more highlights, including a double dose of the great Isabelle Huppert...

On Chesil Beach
dir Dominic Cooke; with Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle 17/UK ***.
Author Ian McEwan adapts his own award-winning novel for the big screen, turning it into another beautifully produced story about those things that the English prefer not to talk about. Namely, class and sex. The film is both provocative and moving as it traces a relationship to a pivotal moment, and the two central characters are performed with raw honesty by Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle.

Last Flag Flying
dir Richard Linklater; with Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston 17/US ****
Richard Linklater pays his respects to The Last Detail in a funny and sensitive road movie that hits the emotions without forcing them. It's neither a sequel nor remake to Hal Ashby's 1973 classic, but there are loud echoes. As the central trio, Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne create vivid characters, middle-aged war veterans who have something important to say about patriotism and what it means to be a hero.

Pickups
dir Jamie Thraves; with Aidan Gillen, Antonia Campbell-Hughes 17/UK ***
A third improvisational collaboration between Jamie Thraves and Aidan Gillen, this is a playful comedy about a television star who dives into a dark role in an effort to get over his divorce. It's a meandering, relaxed story assembled from a series of lively, witty scenes, some of which tap into some surprisingly disturbing emotions. Parts of the film feel random or indulgently stretched out, but it gets under the skin... FULL REVIEW >

Happy End
dir-scr Michael Haneke; with Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant 17/Fr ****
This may be as close as we'll ever get to Michael Haneke lightening up. Although even if it's packed with offbeat wit and characters who verge on farce, there's no escaping that this is essentially a comedy about suicidal and murderous urges. Families don't get much more dysfunctional than the one depicted on-screen, and the film also taps into the current economic divide, being a story of the very wealthy in a place known for its population of desperate refugees.

Reinventing Marvin
dir Anne Fontaine; with Finnegan Oldfield, Catherine Salee 17/Fr ***.
The thoughtful story of a young artist's journey to self-expression, this film is sometimes brutally honest about the tension between so-called provincial attitudes and enlightened liberal sensibilities. The film may be in need of some judicial editing, but the material here is resonant and important. And it's also beautifully played by an intriguingly eclectic cast that includes Isabelle Huppert in a witty role as herself... FULL REVIEW >

Blade of the Immortal
dir Takashi Miike; with Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki 17/Jpn ***.
With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Japanese master Takashi Miike brings Hiroaki Samura's manga to life, using a heavy dose of sharp humour to undercut the nonstop grisliness. It's also a remarkably involving story that blurs the lines between good and evil by adding layers of complexity to the characters. It may essentially be a story of revenge with a hint of redemption thrown in, but it's also a classic tale very well told.

Critical Week: A boy's best friend

Big movies screened to the press this week include the action romp Monster Trucks, which is a proper guilty pleasure with a solid cast including Luke Till (above), Jane Levy, Rob Lowe, Amy Ryan and Thomas Lennon. The dream team of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt makes Passengers thoroughly engaging as a high-concept sci-fi drama-romance-thriller hybrid. And Assassin's Creed reunites Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard but falls into the usual trap of neglecting to find a coherent plot in a videogame.

James Franco and Bryan Cranston square off in the comedy Why Him?, yet another Meet the Parents-style romp from John Hamburg. It's stupid, but funny. Gold stars Matthew McConaughey in the fascinating true story of a rather dodgy mining operation, but the film isn't easy to engage with. Will Smith is bogged down in syruppy sentiment in Collateral Beauty, which is livened up a bit by Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Michael Pena and Kate Winslet. And the indie drama Retake is an enigmatic and surprisingly moving road trip starring Tuc Watkins.

My last actual screening of the year is Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, but I have several screener discs I need to watch over the next week or so before voting in various awards (I've already voted in the London Critics' Circle Film Awards - we announced our nominations this afternoon). Discs in the pile include Hello My Name Is Doris, Touched With Fire, A Man Called Ove, Aferim!, Zero Days, Before the Flood, Kate Plays Christine and My Scientology Movie. How many will I find time to watch?

Critical Week: Join the jet set

Diane Kruger and Bryan Cranston are terrific in The Infiltrator, based on the true story of federal agents infiltrating the Colombian drug trade in the mid-80s. And then there's Jonah Hill and Miles Teller getting involved in the illicit arms trade in War Dogs, a lively and too-violent comedy from the director of The Hangover. The week's other heavy hitter was also a true story, although it's from the 1860s. Free State of Jones is a long, important and perhaps too-earnest drama starring Matthew McConaughey as a southerner who rebelled against the Confederacy.

And then there was the British post-apocalyptic thriller The Girl With All the Gifts, a terrific premise with an excellent cast that includes Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine and talented newcomer Sennia Nanua. The third film in the series, The Purge: Election Year continues the rather anachronistic anti-violence preachiness alongside gratuitous grisly horror. 400 Days is an uneven low-fi thriller starring Brandon Routh and Caity Lotz as astronauts preparing to go to Mars but ending up somewhere entirely different. And Liebmann is an involving, offbeat German drama set in France, as a guy moves to a rural town to escape his past, but it of course catches up with him.

This coming week I have screenings of Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper, the animated adventure Kubo and the Two Strings, the action mayhem of Kickboxer: Vengeance, the arthouse thriller Under the Shadow, the acclaimed festival film The Clan and the horror romp We Are the Flesh.

Critical Week: The right stuff

I caught up this week with HBO's movie All the Way, recounting how, in the wake of Kennedy's assassination, President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr (Bryan Cranston and Anthony Mackie, above) begrudgingly cooperated to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, standing up to opposition because it was the right thing to do. Reteaming Cranston with Trumbo director Jay Roach, the film has a bristling sense of humour that brings the situation to life. And the performances are full of punchy emotional undercurrents, from Cranston and Mackie to ace supporting players like Bradley Whitford, Melissa Leo, Frank Langella, Stephen Root, Ray Wise and Joe Morton. While the plot and themes are important and strongly relevant, the film feels oddly muted in tone, contained within rooms rather than encompassing the bigger picture. This is perhaps due to the script's stage origins, so thankfully it doesn't water down the story's powerful kick.

My only proper screening this past week was The Conjuring 2, the London-set sequel featuring real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). Like the 2013 original, the film is genuinely terrifying, even though director James Wan can't resist using every cliche available. I also caught three films in the upcoming East End Film Festival: Desire Will Set You Free is a freeform drama with documentary elements set in Berlin's sexually ambiguous club scene; Uncle Howard is a moving documentary about filmmaker Howard Brookner (Burroughs) by his nephew Aaron; and Transit Havana is a beautifully shot doc following transgendered men and women as they navigate Cuba's health care system. I'll have more on these and others when the festival kicks off on 23rd June.

Screenings this coming week include Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in Central Intelligence, the animated adventure The Secret Life of Pets, the cat-kidnapping comedy Keanu and the acclaimed doc Notes on Blindness. I've also got several more EEFF movies to watch.

LFF 2: Tell the truth

The opening night red carpet at the 59th London Film Festival was interrupted last night by a group of activists protesting government cuts in programmes to help abused women. A rather appropriate action for the premiere of Suffragette, as cast members in attendance noted. The festival gets up to speed today with the first full day of programming - and it's my busiest yet, with four press screenings. Here are some more highlights...

Trumbo
dir Jay Roach; with Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren 15/US ****
It's a good thing this film has a sharp screenplay, since it's about one of Hollywood's most notorious screenwriters. Sharp, funny and cleverly resonant, this true drama explores a grim period in American history with intelligence and emotion. And it's packed with superb performances from a skilled cast.

He Named Me Malala
dir Davis Guggenheim; with Malala Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai 15/US ****
Filmmaker Guggenheim manipulates the audience with a rather jarring story structure in this documentary, choosing to place events in order to build the maximum emotional punch. But when the subject is this strong, the audience doesn't mind too much. And Malala Yousafzai is inspirational even without all of these cinematic flourishes... MORE >

The Club
dir Pablo Larrain; with Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers 15/Chl ****
Exploring a topical issue with invention and insight, Chilean filmmaker Larrain tells a haunting but magnetic story about disgraced Catholic priests caught in a kind of pergutory of self-deception. It's a stunningly clever film, packed with quietly pointed commentary and darkly involving drama.

Truman
dir Cesc Gay; with Ricardo Darin, Javier Camara 15/Sp ****
With vivid characters and a superb blend of comedy and drama, this story about two lifelong friends continually catches the audience off-guard, revealing layers of resonant detail that can't help but draw out a strong emotional response. It's a thoroughly likeable film featuring spiky characters who speak their minds. But it's what isn't spoken that carries the real punch.

Blood of My Blood
dir-scr Marco Bellocchio; with Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Lidiya Liberman 15/It ***.
Ambitious and assured, this Italian drama shifts between time periods to explore issues of morality and mortality through the filter of religion and, ahem, vampires. Using the same setting several hundred years apart, the film has an eerie, mesmerising quality that holds the attention, even if the plot isn't very easy to unpick.

Brand: A Second Coming
dir Ondi Timoner; with Russell Brand, Noel Gallagher 15/UK ****
Fast-paced and abrasively entertaining, like Russell Brand himself, this is a documentary about a man who throws himself into everything with wild enthusiasm. It demonstrates vividly how he wins over everyone he meets, against all odds. And it explores why the things everyone wants - fame, money, power - mean nothing and bring no happiness. So he has set out to disrupt the prevailing ideology.

Critical Week: Woody goes west

London-based critics had our first screening of Woody Allen's new comedy-drama Blue Jasmine, which sees him return to America after working in Europe for most of the past decade. But he's not back in New York: it's San Francisco this time, and it's one of his best scripts in years. It also features a knock-out performance from Cate Blanchett. We also caught up with Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch in David Gordon Green's tender, endearingly offbeat comedy-drama Prince Avalanche, plus Keri Russell in the rather silly comedy Austenland, which is likely to appeal mainly to 40ish single women.

In the arthouse department, we had Cold Comes the Night, a tense, quiet and ultimately lightweight thriller with Alice Eve and Bryan Cranston. Kristin Scott Thomas once again steals the show in the French comedy-drama Looking for Hortense, but her role is secondary to Jean-Pierre Bacri in a less interesting role as a man in a muddle. Rikki Beadle-Blair's new British drama Bashment is a searing, fiercely important look at racism and homophobia in the music scene. Kuma is a fascinating, eerily urgent drama about a Turkish family in Vienna, caught in a tangled web of culture and class. And Lucy Walker's The Crash Reel is an astonishing documentary about traumatic brain injury, made much more personal as it's also the story of snowboarder Kevin Pearce.

This coming week we finally get to see Kick-Ass 2, just before it opens. And we have screenings of the next franchise-starter The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan in Le Week-end, the Patrick Wilson/Rose Byrne reunion Insidious 2, Clio Barnard's acclaimed The Selfish Giant, the award-winning Chilean comedy-drama Gloria, and the Swedish prostitution epic Call Girl. I'll also get to revisit Gregg Araki's Nowhere and Rene Clement's Plein Soleil.