Critical Week: Men in skirts

It's the hottest week in Britain since record keeping began (a couple of hundred years ago), so sitting in a cool cinema is a nice alternative to my sweltering home! We had a press screening of what is likely to be this week's biggest new movie: Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans, which transfers the popular book and stage series to the big screen with an all-star cast of British comics (Lee Mack is leading the charge in the pic above). The film is resolutely silly, like a family-friendly variation on the classic Carry On romps. It's also very funny, and actually recounts some real history.

There were a couple of highbrow indies: Sienna Miller and Christina Hendricks are terrific in American Woman, a grim slice of working-class life that's beautifully shot and played. Tye Sheridan and Jeff Goldblum make an offbeat duo in The Mountain, a surreal and very dark drama about mental illness and social failings. From Mexico, The Chambermaid is a riveting drama about a hotel cleaner in which very little actually happens. Arthouse audiences will love it. And from the Netherlands, Dust is a sensitive, gritty teen drama that takes a hard look at an awkward coming-of-age. There was also this doc...

Illuminated
The True Story of the Illuminati
dir-scr Johnny Royal • narr Johnny Royal
with Josef Wages, Adam Kendall, Reinhard Markner, Olaf Simons, Clyde Lewis, Teresita Arechiga, Eric Bertolli, Brian Butler
release US 30.Jul.19 • 19/US 1h16 ***

Unveiling the most notorious secret society, this documentary is so over-serious that it's both dry and borderline comical. But it's packed with resonant detail. Featuring to-camera interviews with a variety of historians and experts, the film is an eye-opening journey into this unseen world, including re-enactments of its initiation rituals and secret handshakes.

The Illuminati was founded in May 1776 in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt to improve humanity by accelerating the Enlightenment, deeply Christian but opposing superstition, church influence in government and abuse of state power. Weishaupt is an intriguing figure, and the film dives into his background, as he read forbidden books that explored the dangers of giving too much power to the Catholic Church, which suppressed ideas that threatened its authority. Weishaupt was the first non-Jesuit allowed to teach law at Ingolstadt University, so he made a lot of enemies. His goal was to develop intellect, striving for perfection on earth (he originally called the group the Perfectibilists). By combining elements of Freemasonry the movement spread, and the film covers key turning points until the group was dissolved in 1785 due to internal divisions and official opposition. Oddly, the film never mentions how the Illuminati excluded Jews and women, leaning toward wealthy, young, pliable men. But they also promoted equality among classes and forbade slavery.

Filmmaker Johnny Royal narrates in a flat voice, while filling the screen with lushly produced slow-motion dramatisations of a variety of creepy rituals in candle-lit rooms. Combined with the articulate interviewees, this helps the film feel like more than merely a reading of the Wikipedia page. Details about rival secret societies are hugely intriguing, including the way the Freemasons (not the Illuminati) established the United States. Indeed, conspiracies today ignore the real history, conflating various secret orders. Instead, it's the big philosophical ideas and the historical narrative that make this film gripping.

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Coming up this next week, we have screenings of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, Pedro Almodovar's acclaimed Pain & Glory, the Spanish political thriller The Candidate, the French-German thriller Transit, and two animated movies: the sequel The Angry Birds Movie 2 and the fairy tale Charming.

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: Show some style

There were a couple of big animated movies screened for London critics this past week. First up was Sing, Garth Jennings' lively musical-animals romp, which comes complete with a witty satirical swipe at TV talent competitions. There was also Disney's Moana, a gorgeously animated South Pacific adventure with a rather fluffy plot but engaging characters.

Other mainstream movies included Robert Zemeckis' World War II romantic drama Allied, which is overproduced but has a great story and solid leads in Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Mark Wahlberg reteams with director Peter Berg for another true story in Patriots Day, sharply recounting the Boston Marathon bombing with raw emotion and nerve-jangling suspense. And Billy Bob Thornton returns for Bad Santa 2, which has its moments but is undermined by a cheap, rather mean script.

A little further afield, Briana Evigan stars in the high-concept drama Love Is All You Need, with inverts social ideas about sexuality to make a pungent statement, although the film is melodramatic and rather corny. And the engaging, sweet and ultimately shattering Italian teen drama One Kiss has a powerful message about diversity and subtle bigotry.

Screenings coming up this week include Nicole Kidman in Lion, Annette Bening in 20th Century Women, the noir thriller Kiss Me Kill Me and the documentary Cameraperson. And I also have a few for-your-consideration titles to watch before voting starts in various awards groups over the next few weeks.

Critical Week: Take it to the Supreme Court

I finally caught a late press screening this week for Woman in Gold, the true drama that opened in US cinemas last week and hits the UK this Friday. It's the superb story of a woman fighting for restitution after Nazis stole her family's possessions, and it has a terrific central performance from Helen Mirren, plus strong support from Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Bruhl. Another late screening was for Ryan Gosling's directing debut Lost River, a surreal recession-era drama about a struggling family. Meandering and essentially plotless, it struggles to engage despite notable performances from Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker and Ben Mendelsohn.

Also this past week we had screenings of The Last Five Years, an engaging but fragmented and downbeat romantic musical starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan; the award-winning Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas' clever but elusive exploration of celebrity beautifully played by Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart; the dark Irish drama Glassland, which features a turn by Jack Reynor that won the Sundance acting award for his excellent work opposite Toni Collette and Will Poulter; the mesmerising German freak-out thriller The Samurai, about a young cop confronting a cross-dressing, sword-wielding psycho; and Undocumented Executive, a witty, scruffy comedy playing with immigration and class issues in America.

And there were two documentaries that are a must for fans: Lambert & Stamp explores the two guys responsible for The Who, tracing both the band's history and the music, film and art scenes along the way; and A Fuller Life is a remarkable look at the life of iconic filmmaker Sam Fuller in his own words and as reflected in his films.

This coming week we have Tom Hardy's thriller Child 44, Nia Vardalos' comedy Helicopter Mom, the Iranian festival favourite A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the Chinese drama Exit, Mia Hansen Love's rave scene drama Eden, and the acclaimed USSR hockey doc Red Army.

Shadows on the Screen: Summer TV roundup

As a film critic, I love movies even though watching them feels like work as I have to analyse every detail and remember everyone's names! To escape - and to recapture my enjoyment of less demanding entertainment - I watch guilty pleasure television. Sometimes this is quality stuff like Mad Men or Top of the Lake, but I like silly TV like Franklin & Bash or Downton Abbey just as much. And I love smart-funny sitcoms (Veep, Modern Family and Parks and Recreation are favourites). Here's what I've been watching this summer, in chronological order...

Mad Men: series 6
created by Matthew Weiner; with Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks; AMC/US *****
The quality of this show never flags, as the scripts continually provoke characters to their breaking points. So much happened in this season that it's impossible to outline briefly: each character went through an odyssey that left them profoundly changed. Many of them were heading in all-new directions as the final episode wrapped up. What's fascinating is watching each person try to do the right thing but fail at every turn because of weakness, lust, ambition or even ignorance. These are amazing people, staggeringly well-played by a first-rate cast, including strong new roles this season for Linda Cardellini, Harry Hamlin and James Wolk. They even pushed young Sally (Kiernan Shipka) in some pretty intense directions, in the process thankfully bringing back her nice-creepy friend Glen (Marten Holden Weiner). (May-Jun.13)

Franklin & Bash: series 3

created by Bill Chais, Kevin Falls; with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Breckin Meyer, Reed Diamond, Malcolm McDowell, Heather Locklear; TBS/US ***.
This is a rare beast: a mindless guilty pleasure that's silly and inconsequential, but never stupid. Gosselaar (all grown up since Saved by the Bell) and Meyer have terrific chemistry as womanising, rule-defying surfer lawyers who join an elite Los Angeles legal firm run by McDowell's eccentric renaissance man. This season, the firm is managed by a whip-cracking Locklear, who adds even more energy to the show, not that it needed it. This is a free-wheeling comedy that has a lot of fun with its weekly oddball court cases, including celebrity judge guest stars. And all of the characters are hilarious, including the guys' assistants, who live with them in their Malibu beach house, where their neighbourly feud with Rob Lowe gets a nice pay-off. Yes, it's utterly ridiculous, but it constantly surprises us with smart comedy and even some character depth when we least expect it. (Jul.13)

Top of the Lake
created by Jane Campion, Gerard Lee; with Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham, Peter Mullan, Thomas M Wright, Holly Hunter; BBC/NZ ****.
Embracing mystery and ambiguity in ways that we haven't seen on TV since Twin Peaks, this series plays with our curiosity, dropping all kinds of clues in every scene. We're never sure if these are important keys to understanding the bigger picture or off-handed details to reel us in. But it's absolutely mesmerising, set in a spectacular New Zealand mountain community. And Moss' riveting performance anchors the show impeccably, drawing us in with a mix of steely tenacity, earthy emotion and painful baggage. Her interaction with shifty cop Wenham, nice-guy childhood boyfriend Wright and bullish gangster Mullan is simply magical. Each of these men is a riot of conflicting personality traits that feeds into the central mystery about a missing pregnant teen. But where she is and who her baby's father is are secondary to Moss' own journey. And Hunter's seriously odd guru adds some absurd humour along the way. (Jul-Aug.13)

True Blood: series 6

created by Alan Ball; with Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Rob Kazinsky; HBO/US ***.
After a couple of rather soapy seasons, this series rocketed through a tense story that had everyone at each others' throats: government thugs are up to something awful, the now godlike Bill (Moyer) is trying to change the world, lovelorn Eric (Skarsgard) is out for revenge, Sam (Trammell) is caught between werewolves and shifters, and Sookie (Paquin) has met a super fairy-vamp (Kazinsky) who has pined after her for 5,000 years. Every episode is packed with jolts that catch us off guard, including a number of high-profile deaths. And even though it's completely over-the-top, it's packed with wonderfully entertaining side characters who make it unmissable, notably Anna Camp's insane vampire-hunter, Kristin Bauer van Straten's always-angry diva and Deborah Ann Woll's tormented young blood-sucker. But everyone surprises us in this series. (Jul-Aug.13)

House of Cards
created by Beau Willimon; with Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Michael Kelly, Corey Stoll; Netflix/US ****
Spacey brilliantly channels the ghost of Ian Richardson's character in this remake of the iconic 1990 British series about an ambitious politician ruthlessly pulling the strings of government for his own benefit. It's dark and twisted, and Spacey lets us see not only the character's manipulative cruelty but also his inner insecurities. Even more vivid is Wright's portrayal of his equally ambitious wife. This is one of the strongest women in film or TV at the moment, and you can't take your eyes off her. Mara is plucky but a bit soft as the reporter caught up in the nastiness. But Stoll shines as a Congressman forced into all kinds of dark corners. His plot strand may feel preachy and somewhat forced, but it's the most emotionally engaging element in the whole show. Unlike the original version, which was a stand-alone mini-series (continued in two further stand-alone series), this remake ends on a cliffhanger that clearly leads to a second season. (Aug.13)

Banshee
created by David Schickler, Jonathan Tropper; with Antony Starr, Ulrich Thomsen, Ivana Milicevic, Frankie Faison, Ben Cross; Cinemax/US ***
This small-town thriller is a decent guilty pleasure with its twisty plot and colourful characters - a Western set in present-day America. It centres on an ex-con (Starr) who passes himself off as the new sheriff in an unusually violent rural Pennsylvania town (shootouts every day!), where he's trying to win back his old girlfriend (Milicevic), daughter of the New York mob boss (Cross) who wants him dead. Meanwhile, he continually locks horns with a local gangster (Thomsen) who grew up in the local Amish community. Starr's central performance is eerily reminiscent of Arrow's Steven Amell (they could play twins): beefy but expressionless. But the show is also misogynistic and racist, while the writing and directing (and especially the fight choreography) are frequently quite lazy, all of which is surprising with Alan Ball's name attached as a producer. Amid continual violence, the sex is the stuff of male fantasy: women are often naked, helpless and thankless, but never the men. The only interesting character is Hoon Lee's cross-dressing fix-it expert, but he gets tamed as the series progresses. (Aug.13)

> Autumn highlights include the finale of Dexter, the returns of Homeland and Downton Abbey, and the new season of sitcoms.