Critical Week: A family portrait

Three big sequels were screened this week for the press. The big one was the world premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, attended by most of the cast and crew. The film is a worthy farewell to this franchise, and there are no surprises. Which makes it even more cosy and comforting. A lot more fun was Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, continuing the hilarious mock-doc comedy antics of the world's favourite fake British heavy metal band. And then there were Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga back for one more time as the ghostbusting Warrens in The Conjuring: Last Rites, which works best when it centres on the characters rather than the rather silly ghostly creep-out.

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Night of the Juggler
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We also had Benedict Cumberbatch in The Thing With Feathers, an artful exploration of grief that really gets under the skin. Cooper Hoffman leads The Long Walk, based on a Stephen King novel set in a 1970s American dystopia. It's very dark, but also compelling and thought-provoking. The horror thriller Good Boy skilfully unfolds through a dog's-eye-view, which makes it unusual enough to catch us off guard. And the British drama Brides addresses a very thorny issue with engaging characters and a sharp sense of youthful hope.

There are fewer screenings this coming week, largely due to the week-long Tube strikes, but among films I'll be watching are Emma Thompson in Dead of Winter, Michael Chiklis in The Senior, Adam Bessa in Ghost Trail and Justin Kurzel's Warren Ellis doc Ellis Park.

Critical Week: You're winding me up

After the Bafta Film Awards on Monday, the final stretch of this year's awards race is as unpredictable as ever. Apart from Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin, most categories are still up in the air. A flurry of awards this weekend will further muddy the water before it all climaxes at Oscar on March 2nd. Meanwhile, movies are still arriving in cinemas, and this week's biggest was The Monkey, another enjoyably creepy film from Osgood Perkins, this time with Theo James as twin protagonists. It's funnier than it is scary. 

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From the Netherlands, Invasion is a slickly made thriller set in sunny Caribbean locations as beefy marines take on an unexpected attack from a (fictional) rogue South American nation. It's fun but anticlimactic. The Brooklyn drama Barrio Boy is an involving depiction of Latino subculture with a story that explores homophobia in somewhat elusive ways. From China, the animated epic Chang'An is a spectacular mix of gorgeous imagery, visceral battles and moving poetry. And the entertaining, finely made documentary I Am Martin Parr explores the British photographer's inimitable career. I also attended the programme launch for the 39th BFI Flare film festival (coming 19-30 March), plus the monumental Vollmond at Sadler's Wells and the rhythmic Trash! at the Peacock.

This coming week I'll be watching Woody Harrelson in the underwater thriller Last Breath, Ralph Fiennes in The Return, Toby Jones in Mr Burton, Bruno Dumont's The Empire, Georgian drama April and the documentary Ernest Cole: Lost & Found.