Critical Week: Pleased to meet you

It's been another eclectic week at the cinema, with a very, very wide range of movies to watch. Sophisticated audience will love the nuances in Materialists, Celine Song's second film, which plays on the romcom formula. It stars Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. Rather a lot more low-brow, Smurfs features voice work from Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman and John Goodman. It's very silly, and also occasionally funny.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Unicorns • Friendship
ALL REVIEWS >

The sweeping Irish romance Four Letters of Love stars powerhouse actors Helena Bonham Carter, Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne, but its strongest roles go to the terrific Fionn O'Shea and Anne Skelly. A prickly bromance is at the centre of the provocative black comedy Friendship, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. Despite its three-hour running time and rather grim title, the German drama Dying is mesmerising, witty and wonderfully thoughtful. The first film in the Oslo Stories Trilogy, Dreams is an astute and involving look at teen longing. And because I'm seeing the sequel this weekend, I finally caught up with the animated action comedy The Bad Guys, which is cool, funny escapism.

This coming week we have Pedro Pascal in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun,  Sam Rockwell in the animated sequel The Bad Guys 2, Fiona Shaw in Park Avenue, the mystery thriller Gazer, Slovenian drama Little Trouble Girls, and the second chapter in the Oslo Stories Trilogy, Love. I'm also looking forward to the 100-year restoration of Eisenstein's iconic Battleship Potemkin, which I've never seen projected. And there's a special 3D premiere of the new trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Critical Week: Are you not entertained?

As we get stuck into November, the year's big titles are beginning to turn up at press screenings, and none is bigger than Ridley Scott's sequel Gladiator II, a mammoth epic set in Ancient Rome starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal. The script is flawed (Connie Nielsen's role is criminally underwritten), but the film is hugely entertaining. Another sequel might even be more anticipated: while not as magical as No 2, Paddington in Peru is a charming, funny movie that sees our heroic little bear on an Amazon adventure accompanied by Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Other Land
Piece by Piece
ALL REVIEWS >

Another big one, Wicked: Part I stars Cynthia Erivo Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey (with added spark from Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum). It's gloriously assembled on a lavish scale, and we have to wait a year for Part II. Bill Skarsgard is imperious in Robert Eggers' profoundly horrific Nosferatu, costarring Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Willem Dafoe. Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton find lovely textures in Almodovar's The Room Next Door, while Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson shine in the complex and powerfully provocative drama A Different Man. Meanwhile outside of awards contention, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans provide some sparky banter in the otherwise over-familiar Christmas action comedy Red One. And the quirky British comedy Time Travel Is Dangerous is packed with hilarious performances and local North London gags.

This coming week I'll be watching the long-awaited Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the acclaimed animated adventure Flow, Isabelle Huppert in A Traveler's Needs, the biopic Bonhoeffer and more awards contenders. I'm also travelling to Southern California to visit family for a couple of weeks, and I'm sure to see a few things out there before it's time to submit my ballots.

Critical Week: Take the wheel

It's been another week of movies here, and I'm enjoying how things are back to a relatively normal schedule after months of intensity. The biggest movie this week was an online feature: Ghosted is an engaging action romcom that reteams Ana de Armas and Chris Evans. Rather a lot mopier, To Catch a Killer stars Shailene Woodley as a troubled cop pulled into an FBI investigation into a mass-shooter. It's dark and timely, but feels somewhat undercooked.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
A Thousand and One
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
PERHAPS AVOID:
Padre Pio
ALL REVIEWS >

The best surprise this week is The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, a familiar story sharply well told with a first-rate French cast and properly thrilling action. The latest in the franchise, Evil Dead Rise is never very scary but will please fans with its outrageously excessive gore. And then there's the inventive and hugely engaging Filipino comedy I Love You Beksman, which kicked off the Queer East Fest in London on Tuesday. 

Outside the cinema, I loved the Nederlands Dans Theater programme at Sadler's Wells. And this was my first year attending the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards as a voting member (I am a member of the Critics' Circle Theatre Section, in addition to being chair of the Film Section). These awards are great fun, held at @sohoplace, the first new theatre built in the West End in 50 years. And most winners were in attendance, so it was great to celebrate them.

This next week I'll be watching the biopic Big George Foreman, Jay Baruchel in the story of BlackBerry, Kate Bosworth in Last Sentinel, the Greek drama Broadway, the Swedish comedy RSVP and the dance art film Transparent.

Critical Week: On a night like this

As Britain experiences a heatwave during the final week of Wimbledon and the start of the Euro-2022 women's football championship, it's perhaps a bit unlikely that people will be abandoning the sunshine for cinemas. Although Thor is likely to have some pull, smaller films will suffer. And the weather looks like it will continue like this for a couple of weeks (yay!). I saw two very big movies on the big screen this week. The riotously action-packed The Gray Man pairs the fabulous Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans as duelling, scene-stealing hitmen, while Ana de Armas (above) almost walks off with the whole film. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson and Taika Waititi are back for Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel's first slapstick action comedy. It's a lot of fun, even if the formula is as stale as ever.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Brian and Charles • Cop Secret
The Railway Children (1970)
ALL REVIEWS >

Adrien Brody is terrific in the redemption thriller Clean, although the script (which he cowrote) never has something original to say. The offbeat British drama All Is Vanity is very odd indeed, a great idea that struggles to have some impact. Alan Cumming leads the doc-drama hybrid My Old School, a fascinating and remarkably involving account of an epic deception. And two collections of short films explore issues of identity and sexuality in inventive, sometimes superbly provocative ways. Both Boys on Film 22: Love to Love You and Girls Feels: Into the Blue are well worth a look.

Coming up this week, I'll be watching Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing, Juliette Binoche in Both Sides of the Blade, the Jordanian drama The Alleys, the trans activist doc Donna and the shorts collection Girls Feels: Force of Nature.

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: Creation in isolation

With all film releases being online at the moment, studios are taking a few chances. Made in 2017, the JD Salinger biopic Rebel in the Rye has finally come out in the UK. The delay is surprising considering that it stars Nicholas Hoult (above), even if feels a bit lacklustre. Even more surprising, Bong Joon Ho's 2013 sci-fi action thriller Snowpiercer has never been released in Britain but is finally arriving this month, no doubt due to Bong's Oscar triumph (the delay was a Weinstein debacle). It was fun to revisit this bonkers classic. And Warner Bros released its animated blockbuster Scoob! straight to streaming, which is a shame for audiences who like to see high-quality animation on a big screen. It's a rather contrived corporate product, but fun too.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Boys on Film 20 • The County
Cassandro the Exotico!
ONLY OK:
Scoob! • Frankie
Rebel in the Rye

Lower profile films include the cheesy horror anthology Evil Little Things, which centres on three very creepy dolls; the apocalyptic epic Edge of Extinction is gripping, even if it reveals both the ambition and inexperience of its filmmakers; the Spanish romcom I Love You, Stupid is predictable but pointed and engaging; the hugely involving Mexican drama I'm No Longer Here has a strikingly well-observed sense of style and music; the beautifully made Icelandic drama The County expertly stirs up some righteous rage at corruption; and Peccadillo's 20th short film collection is released to celebrate the distributor's 20th anniversary. Boys on Film 20: Heaven Can Wait is an essential set of LGBT-themed shorts, even if the 11 clips are a mixed bag.

The next movies on my to-watch list are: Issa Rae in The Lovebirds, John Hawkes in End of Sentence, Denis Menochet in Only the Animals, the Argentine thriller Intuition, the Korean thriller The Man Standing Next, and the Thai documentary Krabi 2562.

A Year in Shadows: 2019

TRIVIA ALERT!

Only one star had two covers to herself: Keira Knightley. Two had one solo cover and a shared one: Brie Larson and Margot Robbie. And these appeared on two shared covers: Christian Bale, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Nicole Kidman, Florence Pugh, Charlize Theron and Bradley Cooper (once as an animated character).

These appeared by themselves on a cover: Antonio Banderas, Jessie Buckley, Judi Dench, Taron Egerton, Idris Elba, Adele Haenel, Linda Hamilton, Nicholas Hoult, Zachary Levi, Ewan McGregor, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Will Smith, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sophie Turner, Renee Zellweger and Letitia Wright (the only person who appeared on a cover as herself).

Twice on one cover: Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis and James McAvoy. And McAvoy is on another shared cover as well, the only actor appearing three times.

On one shared cover: Evan Alex, Mahershala Ali, Yalitza Aparicio, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Steve Carell, Jessica Chastain, Emilia Clarke, Toni Collette, Olivia Colman, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert De Niro, Danny DeVito, Michelle Dockery, Robert Downey Jr, Colin Farrell, Lady Gaga, Henry Golding, Richard E Grant, Eva Green, Danai Gurira, Bill Hader, Laura Harrier, Finley Hobbins, Anthony Hopkins, Lily James, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Scarlett Johansson, Don Johnson, Dwayne Johnson, Viveik Kalra, Michael Keaton, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Rami Malek, Leslie Mann, Melissa McCarthy, Viggo Mortensen, Jeanelle Monae, Isaiah Mustafa, Kumail Nanjiani, Lupita Nyong'o, Al Pacino, Nico Parker, Himesh Patel, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, James Ransone, Jeremy Renner, Daisy Ridley, Seth Rogen, Saoirse Ronan, Jay Ryan, Eliza Scanlen, Michael Shannon, Justice Smith, Maggie Smith, Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, John David Washington, Emma Watson, Rachel Weisz, Nell Williams.

On one shared cover, but unrecognisably (wearing a mask or voicing an animated character): Tim Allen, Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Chadwick Boseman, Blake Clark, Joan Cusack, Adam Driver, Justin Fletcher, Karen Gillen, Tony Hale, Tom Hanks, Tom Holland, James Earl Jones, Ally Maki, JD McCrary, Idina Menzel, Jeff Pidgeon, Annie Potts, Chris Pratt, John Ratzenberger, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn, John Sparkes.

Voiced animated or masked characters include lions, Legos, princesses, toys, superheroes, sheep, a farmer, a dog, a Sith lord and a Pokemon. Unvoiced characters: an Oscar, a Bafta, a dog, some plasticine sheep and a flying elephant.

Most crowded cover: Oscar (12), with a three-way tie for second place: Endgame, Toy Story 4 and Knives Out (11 each).

London Film Fest: Strike a pose

Definitely feeling like a zombie today, needing more sleep and more time to write! But there are only four more days, so I'll try to hold on. The 63rd BFI London Film Festival is such a mind-boggling collection of films that it's impossible to see even half of them. In the queues today, we were chatting about the movies we are missing, even though we're desperate to catch them. But the scheduling makes it impossible (not enough press screenings, overlapping showtimes, etc). It's also fun to compare best and worst films we've seen so far. The bad ones are pretty common between us all, but everyone has a different favourite. My favourite so far is the first film listed here. And down at the bottom is this week's Critical Week...

Portrait of a Lady on Fire [Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu]
dir-scr Celine Sciamma; with Noemie Merlant, Adele Haenel 19/Fr *****
With a staggeringly astute screenplay and sharply observant direction, French filmmaker Celine Sciamma breathes inventive life into this period drama. She fills scenes to the brim with subtext, and not only mines her richly layered story for resonant themes but also creates complex characters the audience can fall in love with. So the film's otherworldly beauty becomes a provocative depiction of both art and romance.... FULL REVIEW >

Knives Out
dir-scr Rian Johnson; with Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas 19/US ****
A bit of silly good fun, this play on the whodunit genre has a fiendishly constructed script packed with clever twists and turns, plus an superb ensemble of nutty characters. Some elements are a bit too broad for their own good, but writer-director Rian Johnson makes a film that's consistently amusing as it keeps the audience on its toes and piles on one surprise after another. It also gently brushes on some topical themes just to keep it relevant... FULL REVIEW >

Greed
dir-scr Michael Winterbottom; with Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher19/UK ***
Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom team up for another comedy, although this one is a bit more deliberately pointed then their usual collaborations. Yes, there are still moments of inspired silliness dotted throughout the ambitiously fragmented narrative, and it's expertly played by a strong ensemble cast. Many actors bring their considerable improvisational skills to the screen, although with so many big issues as satirical targets, the film feels heavy handed.

Moffie
dir Oliver Hermanus; with Kai Luke Brummer, Ryan de Villiers 19/SA ****
Strikingly well-made, and carrying a devastating emotional kick, this South African drama tells a deeply personal story that has much wider implications. Writer-director Oliver Hermanus creates gorgeous-looking films, and this one is augmented by beautiful cinematography and clever editing. It gets deep under the skin of a nation still grappling with its past, and offers a remarkably resonant look at issues of racism and homophobia.

Links:
Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 
Official LONDON FILM FEST site 

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~
C R I T I C A L   W E E K

I haven't seen any regular press screenings this past week - only 22 London Film Festival movies! This coming week, after the festival ends, it'll be time for Angelina Jolie back in horns for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Ken Loach's Sorry to Bother You, the political thriller Sons of Denmark and the doc Mystify: Michael Hutchence,

Critical Week: Father knows best

It's been another odd mix of screenings in London this week, with the added distraction of sensational weather over the four-day Easter weekend. Among the films we saw the current No 1 box office hit in the US, The Curse of La Llorona. Made to a very high quality, with a better than necessary performance from Linda Cardellini, it's a rather standard entry in the Conjuring universe: freaky and jumpy but never actually scary. And then there's the film that will be No 1 at the global box office for the near future, Avengers: Endgame. Thrilling, funny and even emotional, it's a massively satisfying climax to the last decade or so of Marvel movies.

Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder reteam for the enjoyably offbeat romantic comedy Destination Wedding, adeptly playing two relentlessly grouchy cynics, the only speaking roles in the film. The involving Just Friends is a Dutch romantic drama gently dealing with a range of social issues, from race to homophobia. And I also saw a range of short films screening this week at Tribeca Film Festival. The best of a strong bunch were by Nick Borenstein: the mother-son zinger 99 and the exuberant lovelorn comedy Sweater.

Finally, I had a chance to catch up with Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 11/9, which is set out as a carefully researched look at Donald Trump, linked to the horrific water crisis in Flint, Michigan. No politicians get off lightly. And after watching the first few episodes of the new series Fosse/Verdon, and seeking tickets to the new London stage production, I watched Bob Fosse's stunning 1969 musical Sweet Charity, featuring a magnificent Shirley MacLaine. I also attended the opening of the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at London's Design Museum - a seriously awesome collection of the filmmaker's notes, tools, props and sets that runs until September...

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A few teaser images from the Kubrick exhibition opening this morning. Serious treasure trove for movie fans #discoverkubrick

A post shared by Rich Jack Cline (@ukcline) on Apr 25, 2019 at 6:32am PDT

Films screening this coming week include Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Ethan Hawke in The Captor (aka Stockholm), Josh O'Connor in Only You and the new documentary about Halston.

Critical Week: On the horizon

Among the eclectic collection of press screenings in London this week, we caught up with John Hurt's final lead performance in That Good Night. Based on a play, this thoughtful film is rather stagebound, but Hurt is as magical as ever. We also had a seriously enormous screening of Avengers: Infinity War, the seriously enormous climax of this phase of the Marvel movie franchise. It's a big, busy film that has very little in the way of actual plot or characters but will hugely entertain fans.

And then there was Tully, which reteams Charlize Theron with writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman. I liked its bold approach and deep themes, but this is the kind of film that stirs debate and divides opinion. In yet another genre, Sherlock Gnomes is a profoundly ridiculous animated comedy adventure, solidly well made and packed with witty gags, even if it isn't a classic. As for horror, we had The Strangers: Prey at Night, a sort-of sequel about a group of vaguely undefined murders tormenting a family for no real reason. And then there was the quirky British indie drama Pin Cushion, a warm but very dark mother-daughter drama with fairy tale touches.

This coming week, screenings include Rosanna Arquette in Born Guilty, Doug Jones in Gehenna: Where Death Lives, the Mexican drama A Place to Be, the Daesh doc Path of Blood, the Grey Gardens doc That Summer, the Essex doc New Town Utopia, and an adventure movie titled The New Legends of Monkey.

Critical Week: What's the point

London critics caught up with the next tentpole this week, namely Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (aka Salazar's Revenge), the fifth in the swashbuckling franchise starring Johnny Depp. While I enjoyed the previous four romps, this one felt overstuffed in every way (too many people, too many rambling plotlines, too many digital effects). I was happy when it finally ended.

Everything else was a bit smaller. Chris Evans is excellent in the sharply well-made drama Gifted, which manages to remain emotionally resonant without tipping into sentimentality. Tommy's Honour is a terrific story of the Scottish father and son who created the modern game of golf, nicely played by Peter Mullan and rising star Jack Lowden. Although the film is a bit uneven. The soapy Spanish comedy Wild Awakenings wins us over with its ridiculous tale of lust on a horse ranch. And the documentary Dying Laughing is a fascinating look at the life of a stand-up comic, as told by rather a lot of people who became very successful at it.

And finally, I revisited the early 1990s cult series Twin Peaks and rewatched the 1992 movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me before diving into the two-hour pilot episode for this 25-years-later sequel series. It's all rather bonkers, but sublimely so. And I look forward to the next 16 episodes.

Coming up this week is a very late press screening of Wonder Woman (buzz has been good but for some reason they are holding this one close to their chest), plus a number of films that will be screened at the forthcoming Sundance Film Festival London - watch this space. Meanwhile in France, the Cannes Film Festival winds up with its awards over the weekend. Expect controversy as usual.

Critical Week: The pitch is back

For critics, one of the most anticipated films of the year was Pitch Perfect 2, the sequel to the surprisingly amazing 2012 comedy. So of course the highlight of the week was the press screening of the follow-up, which surpassed expectations (again), reuniting the Bellas for another hilarious adventure. The other big movie this week was of course Avengers: Age of Ultron, which has provoked a bit of a mixed response. But I'm looking forward to meeting them all at the press junket today!

We also caught up with Thomas Vinterberg's sumptuous version of Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge and Michael Sheen (I interviewed Carey and Matthias last week for this film). Lower profile films included Nia Vardalos as a seriously annoying mother in the otherwise decent comedy Helicopter Mom; the clever and occasionally scary computer-screen teen slasher horror Unfriended; the scruffy indie British caper comedy Taking Stock starring Kelly Brook; the corny and very childish Euro-animation Two by Two; the nicely moody gay mystery-horror Drink Me; and the superbly blood-boiling political doc The Emperor's New Clothes, by Russell Brand and Michael Winterbottom.

Screenings this coming week are a bit thin, but include Michael Fassbender in Slow West, Simon Pegg in Kill Me Three Times, the German drama West, the Hungarian drama Land of Storms, and the controversial world premiere doc A Sinner in Mecca, and the public action doc We Are Many.

Critical Week: Up on the roof

Press screenings this past week included Spooks: The Greater Good, the first big-screen adventure for the long-running BBC TV spy series (titled MI-5 in the USA). Comments on the film are embargoed until closer to the May 8th release, but the cast includes Kit Harington (above), Jennifer Ehle, David Harewood and series actors Peter Firth, Tim McInnerny and Lara Pulver. And there were two other action movies this week: Sean Penn is The Gunman, an oddly dull and brutal Euro-thriller with the spark of a topical theme, while Jason Statham leads Wild Card, an oddly dull and brutal Vegas thriller with a jazzy undertone.

There were also four comedies: Noah Baumbach's engaging but contrived While We're Young features Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts facing the early flares of middle age; Mae Whitman is terrific in The Duff, a smartly written and played teen comedy that keeps the audience laughing; from the same producers, the perhaps too-snappy meta-comedy Playing It Cool stars Chris Evans as a screenwriter trying to write a rom-com while resisting romance; and Andrew J West leads a starry cast as Walter, a likeable young guy who thinks he's God's messenger and takes a surprisingly engaging journey back to reality.

And two superbly well-made but essentially plotless art films were a tonic to critics worn out by too-literal commercial movies: the rural British coming-of-age drama The Goob and the Colombian class-clash drama Gente de Bien are both beautifully observed studies of people grappling with life in their specific cultures.

Coming up in the next week, we have screenings of the Divergent sequel Insurgent, Liam Neeson in Run All Night, Russell Crowe in The Water Diviner, Elizabeth Moss in Listen Up Philip, James Franco in I Am Michael, sirs Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine in Stonehearst Asylum, the animated adventure Home, the Swedish drama Something Must Break and the finally uncensored 54: The Director's Cut.

Critical Week: Bafta celebrates Boyhood

It was the biggest night in the UK film calendar, as the British Academy Film Awards were handed out at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Richard Linklater's Boyhood emerged as the big winner, taking Film, Director and Supporting Actress. Pictured above is the movie's attending cast and crew, plus Tom Cruise, who presented Best Film. Alas, Linklater was absent due to the Directors Guild Awards the previous night in Los Angeles.

The other big winner was Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, which took home five Baftas: Original Screenplay, Score, Production Design, Costumes and Make-up & Hair. Other triple winners were The Theory of Everything (British Film, Actor, Adapted Screenplay) and Whiplash (Supporting Actor, Editing and Sound). Pictured at the right is Best Actress winner Julianne Moore with presenters Henry Cavill and Chris Evans, and Best Actor winner Eddie Redmayne with the person he played in the film, Stephen Hawking.

Bafta is always a strange one, because the BBC refuses to broadcast it live, waiting a few hours and chopping it down to two hours to show later at night - meaning there are several "awards presented earlier" bits in the closing credits. This butchers the ceremony's flow and momentum, leaving it feeling oddly dry and dull. It doesn't help that Stephen Fry has been hosting just a bit too long - he's still timely and pithy, but offers nothing remotely new from year to year.

As for other awards, Bafta usually gets to present at least one worthy winner that Oscar ignored, and Sunday night's was The Lego Movie, which won Animated Feature. It was also great to see Ida win Foreign-Language Film and Pride's writer and producer win the Outstanding Debut award. Finally, it was no surprise that Jack O'Connell won the Rising Star Award - he's had an awesome year with Starred Up, '71, Unbroken and even 300: Rise of an Empire.

Meanwhile, Screenings this past week were all rather low-key titles, including the strikingly involving transgender comedy-drama Boy Meets Girl, the enjoyable British indie alien invasion adventure Robot Overlords, the astonishing Ukrainian deaf-gang drama The Tribe and the eye-opening narrative documentary The Man Who Saved the World. I also got a chance to see Blade Runner: The Final Cut on a big screen for the first time in advance of its re-release in a couple of months.

This coming week's collection will include the event movie Fifty Shades of Grey, Will Smith in Focus, Chris Hemsworth in Blackhat, Francois Ozon's The New Girlfriend, the Kiwi drama The Dark Horse and the acclaimed doc Dreamcatcher.

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: Rogues gallery

One of the more anticipated press screenings this past week was for The Raid 2, Gareth Evans' sequel to his surprise hit. Although this time he ditches the gritty, linear narrative for a Hong Kong-style corruption epic. There are spectacular moments, although at two and a half hours it's somewhat exhausting. Even bigger (but barely half as long), Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the next episode in Marvel's big-screen serial, with grittier action but less suspense.

Fan-funded mystery Veronica Mars will either give closure to the truncated TV series' cult following or spark a new franchise - it's a lot of fun. An all-star cast makes the Nick Hornby-based comedy-drama A Long Way Down watchable even though it's tonally all over the place. Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return is a weakly animated adventure with an A-list voice cast (Liam Neeson, Lea Michele, Patrick Stewart) and a surprisingly strong plot.

There were also two films from Ireland: John Michael McDonagh's Calvary has the same laconic wit as The Guard, but with even deeper themes, while The Stag is a surprisingly involving bachelor-party comedy with serious edges. The independent American black comedy How to Be a Man has its moments but tries to hard to be rude and wacky, while the German drama Lose Your Head has engaging characters, but never makes much of its intriguing plot.

This coming week, screenings include the franchise wannabe Divergent, the sequels Muppets Most Wanted and Rio 2, Ben Whishaw in the British drama Lilting, the Scandinavian thriller Pioneer and the notorious Canadian black comedy The Dirties. Thursday also sees the opening night of the 28th BFI Flare, one of London's biggest and most important festivals, which runs 20-30 March. Updates on the way...