Critical Week: The boys are back

Three distinct kinds of reboots were screened to UK critics this week. First, there's the movie version of the TV show Entourage, a snappy, energetic movie that perfectly captures the series' dopey macho attitude while depicting the inner workings of Hollywood in a hilariously realistic way. Nearly 15 years after the third movie it's clearly time to reboot that dinosaur franchise. So Jurassic World roars onto the big screen with major expectations it should have no trouble living up to, especially with a swashbuckling Chris Pratt in the lead role. It turns out that Insidious: Chapter 3 is a reboot as well, going back to the beginning to relaunch a franchise around the wonderful Lin Shaye's character Elise. It's also an auspicious directing debut for writer-actor Leigh Whannell.

The only original feature was Accidental Love, a deeply chaotic comedy directed by David O Russell in 2008 but reworked later and released under a pseudonym. Alas, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, Catherine Keener and James Marsden can't remove their names because their faces are recognisable on-screen. Being documentary season on the festival circuit, there were screenings of the lively and startlingly relevant Best of Enemies, which traces the epic 1968 TV debates between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley, and the fascinating but underworked Lord Montagu, which recounts the life of a British baron who has had a rollercoaster life.

This coming week, we have screenings of the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, Al Pacino in Manglehorn, the indie movie Those People and the short film compilation Boys on Film 13: Trick or Treat. There are also three more documentaries: The First Film, The Yes Men Are Revolting and the classic Man With a Movie Camera. And I'm really looking forward to attending this summer's Secret Cinema interactive event on Friday night, because it's themed around a screening of one of my very favourite films, The Empire Strikes Back. 

Critical Week: Who wants off this crazy plane?

The big screening last week was Liam Neeson's latest action blockbuster Non-Stop, costarring Julianne Moore, Downton's Michelle Dockery and Oscar-nominee Lupita Nyong'o. I also caught a very late screening for I, Frankenstein, the rather murky action romp starring Aaron Eckhart as an unusually muscly version of the famous monster battling Bill Nighy's demon prince. And there was also a screening for the 3D animated romp Mr Peabody & Sherman, based on the 1960s cartoon, which is a very different kind of fun for adults than for the kids, thanks to the non-stop visual and verbal gags and riotous pacing.

A bit off the beaten path we had a complete re-imagining of the Mexican cannibal freak-out We Are What We Are - this American version is a horror art-film, extremely well made and very creepy, but are genre fans ready for something this subtle? The Rocket is a gorgeous crowd-pleaser that takes a fable-like turn in its lively story about a cheeky, clever boy in Laos. Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia is, like the man himself, no-holds-barred as it explores of Vidal's outspoken approach to art, politics and religion. We don't learn much about the man himself, but we can see why his views are so important. And Beyond the Edge is a strikingly well-shot 3D documentary about the first men who made it to the top of Everest.

This coming week, we have the remake RoboCop, the romance Endless Love (which is not a remake of the notorious 1980s romance), the acclaimed festival film The Motel Life, and a stack of things to catch up with on screener discs. I also have a launch for the TV series Viking. More on that next time...