Venezia83: Breaking news

The 83rd Venice Film Festival kicked off on Tuesday with the world premiere of Danny Boyle's new film Ink, with an extraordinarily glittering red carpet of celebrities in attendance. Of course, I watched the movie at another screening entirely, as the press is mainly kept at a distance from the stars these days. The weather is sunny and hot this year, so I'm enjoying my commutes across the lagoon from Venice proper (where I'm sytaying) to the Lido (where the festival is held). But the hunt for a reliable phone signal and/or wifi isn't quite as much fun. Still, there's always gelato to keep me smiling. Here are notes on five films...

Ink
dir Danny Boyle; with Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce 26/UK ****
James Graham adapts his stage play for the screen, which is then turned into an explosion of imagery and sound by director Danny Boyle. It's the story of how tabloid reporting expanded in 1969 Britain, recounted with close-up camerawork, energetic cutaways and journalistic angst. At times, style drowns out substance, but there's also a sense of urgency as we see how news reporting got to where it is today. 

Bucking Fastard

dir-scr Werner Herzog; with Kate Mara, Rooney Mara 26/Ire ****
A genuine oddity, this fable-like film feels more like it came from Yorgos Lanthimos than Werner Herzog. But it's based on a true story, and the iconic German filmmaker brings his distinct quirkiness to an odyssey about two sisters who defiantly march to their own beat. And as the film crackles with charm and wit, their tenacious quest is for a world full of love, so the emotions continually catch us by surprise. 

Everest: The Other Side

dir Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; with Jim Morrison, Hilaree Nelson 26/US ****.
Jaw-dropping cinematography puts us right on the slopes with intrepid climbers as they spend five years trying to do something unprecedented: after scaling the rarely climbed northern face of Everest, Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson intend to ski back down. Filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi get fully involved, tracing huge emotional currents throughout this unpredictable story.

Agata the Writer

dir-scr Kuba Dorabialski; with Mia Wasikowska, Vedrana Bozinovic 26/Bos ***.
Defiantly resisting a standard movie narrative structure, Polish filmmaker Kuba Dorabialski wrote, directed, edited, photographed and composed the music for this ambitious meta-drama. The story is a fascinating exploration of the place where art and history converge, knowingly blurring lines between books, movies and journalism as an author confronts her motivations. While it's darkly intriguing, Dorabialski's approach is also indulgent and stylised, which leaves it feeling somewhat academic.

Salón de Belleza

dir Nathalia Acevedo; with Sam Louwyck, Erwan Kepoa Fale 26/Mex ***.

From Mexico, this experimental drama is shot in a richly immersive style that creates a hypnotically enigmatic ambience. Filmmaker Nathalia Acevedo is gifted at capturing details that reveal characters and settings in an unusually visceral way, telling an evocative story without the need for dialog. The lead character is simply called “the individual”, making him an everyman in a surreal but profoundly human odyssey. 

Full reviews will be linked to Shadows' VENICE FILM FEST PAGE >

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~

C R I T I C A L  W E E K 

There was only one movie that I watched in the last week that wasn't part of either the Venice Film Festival or FrightFest London: namely Netflix's filmed version of Zach Zucker's singular Stamptown. I had just seen it performed live in Edinburgh, so it was fun to see another variation of this show, which changes with each performance. It's a must-see high-energy, full-on celebration of clowning, best experienced in a theatre. The Netflix special is a bit more gleefully naked than the stage show usually is, and wonderfully so. And it carries an important emotional wallop. I won't be watching any non-Venice films in the next week.

Critical Week: She's behind you!

This past week has been a flurry of awards voting deadlines, watching both contender and holiday releases. Then after several critics' groups started announcing their year-end winners, the Golden Globe nominations came out on Monday, and awards season is now in high gear until Oscar night in March. Among the eclectic group of movies I watched this week, perhaps the most fun was had with The Housemaid, Paul Feig's latest female-led blackly comical thriller, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. It's twisty, nasty and entertaining.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Goodbye June • Lurker
The President's Cake
Baby • Scarlet
ALL REVIEWS >

And then there was Nia DaCosta's sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, picking up the story from Danny Boyle's movie last summer, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell. It's brutally nasty, with intriguingly thoughtful moments along the way. Rose Byrne gives a tour fe force performance in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a staggeringly immersive drama abotu a woman grappling with motherhood. H Is for Hawk stars the excellent Claire Foy as a woman dealing with grief by raising a feisty goshawk. It's warm, earthy and very moving. From Japan, Kokuho is a lavish, powerfully involving epic about a boy determined to become a great kabuki artist. The scale is both enormous and vividly intimate. Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play frazzled parents in Hallow Road, almost entirely set inside their car. The plot doesn't quite work, but it's riveting. I also finally caught up the wonderfully warm and funny comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island, a ridiculously likeable music-infused British movie starring Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan. And there were two live performances, The Fit Prince at King's Head Theatre and Boys in the Buff (ooh err!) at Golden Goose Theatre, all before flying out to see my family in California for the holidays. 

Coming up this next week, I don't really know what I'll be watching, as I'm spending time with my parents and family members. I'll no doubt see something on the flight! And at some point I do still need to watch The Plague with Joel Edgerton, Rebuilding with Josh O'Connor and, now that it has a Golden Globe nomination, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

Critical Week: Fractured fairy tale

It's the first of two short weeks in the UK, separated by the four-day Easter weekend, so of course they've been screening horror movies for critics. From Norway, The Ugly Stepsister is an inventive body-horror version of Cinderella that's witty and enjoyably ghastly. And then there's Sinners, Ryan Coogler's wonderfully bonkers new thriller with Michael B Jordan as twin gangsters in Jim Crow Mississippi facing racism and vampires. It's an astonishing must-see for fans of nuanced, layered, full-on nastiness.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Wedding Banquet • Warfare
Sinners • Freaky Tales
The Penguin Lessons
Dreamin' Wild • Grand Tour
ALL REVIEWS >

Switching gears, the British drama Treading Water is beautifully made, following an obsessive-compulsive guy (the superb Joe Gill) trying to get his life back on track. It's involving and moving. Lavender Men is adapted from a queer stage play, and retains the theatre setting and dense dialog. It's also provocative and meaningful as it explores our connection to history. From Mexico, Dying Briefly is a low-key and sexy dark romance set in a dance company. And the lovely British documentary Wind, Tide & Oar uses gloriously grainy 16mm film to profile impassioned people who sail without engines. I also saw the live performance Skatepark at Sadler's Wells East.

This coming week, I'll be watching Ben Affleck in The Accountant 2, Sandra Huller in Two to One, the childhood-home doc Where Dragons Live, a big-screen preview of the doc series The Wild Ones, and the stage shows Snow White: The Sacrifice and How to Fight Loneliness.

Critical Week: Watch out

There were a range of more offbeat movies to watch this week, which always makes this job a bit more fun. Not a blockbuster in sight! Furthest afield was the Belgian-Congolese odyssey Omen, a powerful exploration of identity with terrific characters and colourful settings. From Ireland, All You Need Is Death is a delightfully unnerving folk horror about a cursed song. And from Japan, Spy x Family Code: White is frankly bonkers animation (a feature expanded from the Netflix series) about a assembled family made up of a spy, an assassin, a telepath and a dog who can see the future. Jaw-droppingly hilarious.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Close Your Eyes • Opponent
The Teachers' Lounge • Omen
Since the Last Time We Met
ALL REVIEWS >

Back to more mainstream fare, we had the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, a strongly well-made if incomplete film anchored by a tremendous performance by Marisa Abela. I loved The Book of Clarence, an uneven biblical comedy-drama that's both silly and earnest, but works thanks to LaKeith Stanfield. And then there was Liuben is an awkwardly dubbed Spanish-Bulgarian drama with a strong story about a repressive society. And the delightful Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces engagingly traces the comedian's life from stand-up to movie stardom and beyond.

I also watched three films from Argentina: Close Your Eyes is an epic-length mystery that makes the most of its extended running time with an attention to character and detail; Since the Last Time We Met is a remarkably sensitive look at a rekindled relationship; and Carnal Sins is a clever, beautifully made folk horror about a monster in the woods. 

This coming week I'll be watching Zendaya in Challengers, Johnny Depp in Jeanne du Barry, Matthew Modine in Hard Miles, the Canadian romcom The Nature of Love, Mexican drama All the Fires, the mock-doc Swede Caroline and the final compilation in the series Boys on Film 24: Happy Endings.

Critical Week: Stay classy

Over halfway through our month-long Lockdown 2.0, it's clear that everyone is seriously bored with all of this now, longing for a reopening of cinemas, restaurants, pubs, theatres and everything really in time for Christmas. Meanwhile I've had three days and counting without internet, thanks to Virgin Media's astonishing inability to solve whatever the problem is in my neighbourhood. This means that I've had to use my phone's 4G to watch movies this week. And the films were a mixed bag. Ron Howard's new movie Hillbilly Elegy, which stars Glenn Close and Amy Adams. It's watchable but too simplistic to have any kind of kick. David Fincher's biopic Mank, starring Gary Oldman as the screenwriter of Citizen Kane, has equally great performances (especially from Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies), and much more visual panache, although Fincher's perfectionism drains the story of passion.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK: 

Lovers Rock • Another Round

Mosul • Happiest Season

Possessor

PERHAPS AVOID:

Hillbilly Elegy • Buddy Games

The Ringmaster

FULL REVIEWS >

And then there's the messy romantic comedy Love, Weddings & Other Disasters, a frothy, corny multi-strand affair starring Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons. Jungleland stars the superb Charlie Hunnam and Jack O'Connell as brothers on a road trip with the always excellent Jessica Barden, but the film is too hushed to come to life. Lost at Christmas is an awkward little holiday rom-com from Scotland, with just about enough charm to win us over. Host is a refreshingly original British horror movie set entirely on a Zoom screen, and it's skilfully terrifying. And The Ringmaster is a sickeningly derivative Danish horror movie that's uber-grisly but not very scary.

There were also two docs: Zappa uses extensive archival material to trace the iconic musician's career, while Markie in Milwaukee is about a 7-foot deeply religious trans woman who decides to live as a man again, then has to face her true nature. I also caught Kevin Hart's new stand-up show, Zero F**ks Given, which has a nicely intimate feel in his house, including some very personal jokes. And then there was The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, a giddy bit of Christmas fluff that felt like just what I needed.

This coming week I'll catch up with Red, White and Blue, the third film in Steve McQueen's Small Axe series, as well as the all-star musical The Prom, Viggo Mortensen's Falling, Diane Lane in Let Him Go, Drew Barrymore in The Stand-In, Margot Robbie in Dreamland, the psychological thriller Muscle and the shorts collection The American Boys.

Critical Week: Never surrender

It was a disparate collection of movies this past week. The most obviously prestigious one was Darkest Hour, which chronicles the first month of Winston Churchill's first term as UK prime minister. It's a lavishly made film, anchored by a bullish performance from Gary Oldman. At the other end of the spectrum, Daddy's Home Two reunites Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell (plus Mel Gibson and John Lithgow as their dads) for a holiday comedy that's amusing without doing anything very new. More ambitious, The Dinner features strong performances from Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, Laura Linney and Rebecca Hall, although the film might be too tricky for its own good.

There were also three more true stories. Josh Brolin and Miles Teller lead the firefighting drama Only the Brave, which gets a little too caught up in its heroic machismo. Colin Firth stars in the sailing adventure The Mercy, a riveting tale with an enigmatic core. And The Man With the Iron Heart is a great story of the Nazi resistance, thrown out of balance with its duelling plot-strands starring Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O' Connell and Jack Reynor.

I'm travelling over the next week or so, and not sure what I'll be able to catch up with along the way. Targeted films include Justice League, Wonder, Thank You for Your Service, The Disaster Artist and The Current War. I'll be posting comments whenever I can...

Critical Week: The tipping point

A trio of star-powered movies screened to UK critics this week, starting with George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell in Money Monster, a ripping thriller that's also a knowing satire of both the media and the banking world. X-Men: Apocalypse rounds off the First Class trilogy with a big, crowded, effects-heavy action movie made entertaining by the presence of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and a solid supporting cast. And Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe go comical for The Nice Guys, an enjoyable noir romp set in a groovy 1977 Los Angeles. Speaking of which, I caught a documentary about the period...

Elstree 1976
dir Jon Spira; with David Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch, Paul Blake, Angus MacInnes 15/UK ***.
Star Wars fans won't want to miss this rather low-key but fascinating documentary about a group of extras, bit players and performers hidden in costumes working at London's Elstree Studios in the summer of 1976 on the movie that changed cinema forever. It's fun to hear how they had inklings that this might be a bit better than the B-movie they were hired to work on, and their reminiscences about being on-set and having the saga take over their lives afterwards are fascinating. Iconic characters include Darth Vader (Prowse), Boba Fett (Bulloch) and Greedo (Blake), and the doc includes plenty of backstage film and snapshots, plus spot-the-extra clips of other background artists. It's a bit too gentle to really thrill audiences, but it's a terrific document of the lesser-known aspects of such a game-changing movie.

There were also three smaller independent films this week: Rosif Sutherland is terrific in the gripping but slightly contrived River, about a volunteer doctor in Laos who finds himself running for his life. A TV presenter is haunted by his past in the Canadian drama Steel, finding healing in a young man who seems perhaps a bit too perfect to be true. And Godless is a relentlessly low-key drama about two brothers coping with grief while also coming to terms with a deep secret they've held between them for years.

Screenings in London are slow this week, with everyone decamped to Cannes. But we will be watching a couple of effects-based action epics - Warcraft: The Beginning, and Gods of Egypt - plus last year's Cannes-winning performance by Vincent Lindon in Measure of a Man. I've also got a few more theatre trips lined up.

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: Let the race begin

Awards season officially kicked off this week with a flurry of accolades including the New York Film Critics and the British Independent Film Awards. I've been voting already, and have more to do in the coming weeks. In my last few days in California, I caught up with a few more contenders, including Angelina Jolie's biopic Unbroken, starring Jack O'Connell as Olympic runner Louie Zamperini, who later survived 47 days adrift at sea before being captured by the Japanese during WWII. It's a staggering story of resilience, made with unexpected subtlety. Tim Burton's Big Eyes is another gorgeously made biopic. It stars Amy Adams as Margaret Keane, who painted all of those sad-eyed children in the 60s and 70s while her husband (Christoph Waltz) took the credit. It may look sunnier than most of Burton's films, but it's just as gleefully deranged, and it carries a big emotional kick.

But of course the biggest film screened to the press this past week was Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, another enormous epic of a film, packed with lively characters, first-rate effects and huge, expertly staged action sequences. Frankly, until some engaging personal drama emerges in the second half, it's a bit exhausting. Somewhat smaller films included The Face of Love, a gimmicky, melodramatic romance starring Annette Bening and Ed Harris. And The Great Museum is a riveting fly-on-the-wall doc about the backstage workings of Vienna's national gallery.

Coming this week: Julianne Moore in Still Alice, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Quevenzhane Wallis in a remake of the musical Annie, Christian Bale in Exodus: Gods and Kings, Aardman Animation's Shaun the Sheep Movie, the acclaimed Spanish anthology Wild Tales and the British drama Wasp. I'll also finally catch up with the sequel Dumb and Dumber To, although frankly I'd rather not.

LFF 1: The game's afoot

The 58th London Film Festival got off to a fine British start with The Imitation Game on Wednesday night, a rain-soaked premiere attended by Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley and most of the cast and crew. As a biopic about one of the greatest Brits who ever lived, it's an appropriate enough opening movie, and is likely to land Cumberbatch with an Oscar nomination in January.

For me, the first couple of days have passed in a blur of film screenings, interviews and scrabbling around for time to write up reviews, features and this blog. Here are some film highlights:

The Imitation Game
dir Morten Tyldum; with Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley 14/UK 1h53 ****
Ripping performances add layers of depth to a script that isn't quite as complex as its secrets-within-secrets structure would suggest. Based on declassified documents, the film is a hugely involving account of how British mathematicians cracked the Nazis' Enigma code and turned the tide of the war. Just as importantly, this is the first proper biopic about the world-changing genius Alan Turing. FULL REVIEW >

Men, Women & Children
dir Jason Reitman; with Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner14/US **.
This cautionary tale about social media could only have been made by someone who grew up before it took over the world. Based on the novel by Chad Kultgen (age 38), the film was written by Wilson (50) and director Reitman (36) as a cautionary tale highlighting the dangers of small-screen interaction. But viewers under 30 may find it condescending and simplistic. FULL REVIEW >

Mr. Turner
dir Mike Leigh; with Timothy Spall, Marion Bailey 14/UK ****
At age 71, Mike Leigh continues to prove that he's one of the nimblest filmmakers working today. By avoiding the pitfalls of a formulaic plot, he reinvents both the costume drama and the celebrity-artist biopic as something earthy and real. Packed with humour and sardonic honesty, this exploration of the life of iconic painter JMW Turner is simply gorgeous.

'71
dir Yann Demange; with Jack O'Connell, Paul Anderson 14/UK ****
Set out as one young man's experience in the early days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this gritty, urgent film has much broader things to say about the impact violent conflict has on individuals and communities. It's a bit relentless in its approach, but it takes the audience on a provocative odyssey that sparks thought rather than trying to explain it all. FULL REVIEW >

Hockney
dir Randall Wright; with David Hockney, John Kasmin 14/UK ****
One of Britain's greatest living painters is the subject of this artful documentary, which swirls together firsthand memories from David Hockney, his friends, family and colleagues. Put together, this is a fascinating exploration of Hockney's art, digging in to see how his work was created and why he has such an obsession with pushing technical boundaries. The film is slightly long and indulgent, but fans will love every moment.

Critical Week: Groovy baby

One of the more anticipated films of the year is Jimi: All Is By My Side, a biopic about Jimi Hendrix written and directed by 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley. The film actually premiered in Toronto last year (alongside 12 Years a Slave), but it was only shown to the UK press this past week. It's bold approach is bound to get an intriguing response when it opens, and not just because the then-25 Hendrix is played by 40-year-old Andre Benjamin.

The other big-name film screened this week was A Walk Among the Tombstones, a gritty mystery thriller starring Liam Neeson an Dan Stevens (comments are embargoed for now). We also caught up with two more festival films: Mr Turner is Mike Leigh's astonishingly fresh and inventive painter biopic starring the Cannes-winner Timothy Spall, and '71 is an episodic but riveting Northern Ireland thriller that's also the latest in Jack O'Connell's full-on assault on cinema, following Starred Up and preceding Angelina Jolie's Unbroken.

With London's FrightFest coming this weekend, there have also been a few horror movies to watch. Life After Beth is a superb comical twist on the zombie genre starring Aubrey Plaza as a teen who doesn't know that she's come back from the dead. Allelulia is a chillingly involving take on the Lonely Hearts Killers from Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz starring Lola Duenas and Laurent Lucas. And Found is an unnerving and oddly moving hybrid between the coming-of-age and slasher horror genres. Finally, as part of the terrific Dennis Hopper photographic exhibition at the Royal Academy, we had a chance to catch one of his films on the big screen. So I of course chose his lesser-known The Last Movie (1971), a crazed collage set among a film crew shooting a Western in Peru. It's challenging and seriously worth a look for cinephiles.

This coming week we have a very late screening of Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Marion Cotillard in the Dardenne brothers' Two Days One Night, Helen Mirren in The Hundred-Foot Journey, the British football movie United We Fall and more horror in The Mirror, among other things.

Critical Week: All rise

Yes, the big movie this week for critics was the sequel 300: Rise of an Empire, which isn't much of an improvement on the simplistic original film, but fans who like these kinds of effects-based romps (and screens full of almost naked men) will love it. A little further from the mainstream, Hair Brained is a young-genius-at-university comedy that has surprising depth, while Stephen Sommers' Odd Thomas is a quirky comedy-thriller that gets under the skin. There were also two animated features: Hayao Miyazaki's astounding Oscar-nominated animated biopic The Wind Rises, a proper movie with real characters and situations that makes Hollywood studios' formulaic animation and plotting look rather pathetic. And the Spanish animated feature Wrinkles is equally grown-up with its engaging story of pensioners bored with life in a nursing home.

It was also a week for documentaries, including the Oscar-winning Twenty Feet From Stardom, the fiercely uplifting story of iconic background singers that also takes an intriguing look at civil rights. Also Oscar-nominated, Dirty Wars takes a much gloomier look at America, revealing the dark truth about the president's black-ops programme. It's honest and razor sharp, never rabble-rousing and yet deeply depressing. Errol Morris' haunting The Unknown Known also delves into the halls of power as it interviews Donald Rumsfeld about his two controversial stints as defence secretary. And Bridegroom tells a staggeringly involving personal story that touches on America's current inequalities. Equally empowering but without being grim, Next Goal Wins follows the loveable but perpetually losing ragtag American Samoa football team to a historic first victory.

Sunday night's Oscars delivered no surprises (I only missed one prediction), even if most categories could have gone multiple ways. The ceremony itself was good fun, with Ellen's hilarious audience participation antics (serving pizza and taking this twitter-busting selfie) and some marvellously rambling thank yous (Jared Leto gave the best speech). But the "Heroes" theme didn't resonate at all, Will Smith was a strange let-down to present Best Picture (where was George Clooney when we needed him?), and aside from Pharrell's deliriously Happy opening number, the music was eerily downbeat, scraping the bottom of the barrel by dragging lovely Bette Midler out to sing her exhausted Wind Beneath My Wings. Otherwise, it was a great night, capped by Steve McQueen's jubilant, deserving triumph.

This coming week's screenings include Michael Fassbender in Frank, Viggo Mortensen in The Two Faces of January, Todd Sklar's black comedy Awful Nice, the festival favourite Cheap Thrills, the animated Zebra romp Khumba and the bio-doc The Punk Singer. Among other things...

LFF 3: London goes starry

The red carpet parade continues this weekend at the 57th London Film Festival. Running the gauntlet tonight at the festival are Julia Jouis-Dreyfus and Nicole Holofcener with their film Enough Said; Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Richard Ayoade with The Double; and Charlie Cox, Jodie Whittaker and Christian Cooke with Hello Carter; plus Japanese maestro Hirokazu Kore-eda, French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch and Norwegian actor Pal Sverre-Hagen (of Oscar-nominee Kon-Tiki, below). Here are some of today's film highlights...

Starred Up
dir David Mackenzie; with Jack O'Connell (pictured), Ben Mendelsohn 13/UK ***.
Even though this film deploys just about every cliche in the prison-thriller genre, it continually twists its story in more personal directions, which allows the fine cast to create vividly intense characters. So although the plot has some nagging holes in it, we are gripped to the action unfolding on-screen... [review coming soon]

Nebraska
dir Alexander Payne; with Bruce Dern, Will Forte 13/US ****
Harking back to his own About Schmidt as well as David Lynch's The Straight Story, Payne gently explores Middle America with equal doses of spiky observational wit and soft-hearted sentiment. With bristlingly detailed performances, the film worms its way under our skin as it reveals some awkward truths about family connections... [review coming soon]

Camille Claudel: 1915
dir Bruno Dumont; with Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent 13/Fr ****
Bruno Dumont continues his provocative exploration of religion in society with this true story, which plays out like a sequel to the 1988 biopic. Like the film itself, Binoche plays the title role in a stripped down, unadorned way that forces us to listen to her words and look beneath the surface... [review coming soon]

Hello Carter
dir Anthony Wilcox; with Charlie Cox, Jodie Whittaker 13/UK **
With its charming tone and a likeable cast, this warm British comedy draws us into a gentle story about a young guy trying to get his life back in track. But about halfway in the script pivots suddenly into into implausibility, leaving the characters looking so idiotic that we cease to care what happens to them... [review coming soon]

Kon-Tiki
dir Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg; with Pal Sverre-Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen 12/Nor ***.
The astonishing story of a man who risked his life to prove a scientific theory, this biopic has a strong sense of passion and tenacity that makes it utterly riveting. It's also a staggeringly well-made film, grounded both in the vivid characters and a skilful attention to detail... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: London's burning

London was the centre of the Star Trek universe last week with the first press screenings of JJ Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness, an epic press junket at City Hall looking over the river at the skyline (not burning in real life but glistening in the spring sunshine) and a mammoth world premiere in Leicester Square. I attended two press screenings and hugely enjoyed the film both times. It's definitely one for the fans, as those who don't know the back-story will struggle to understand the significance of the plot and characters, but the cast is terrific. Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban and Alice Eve were all on great form at the press event.

Also last week, we had Paul Walker in the rather implausible but involving Johannesburg road thriller Vehicle 19, Tim Roth and Jack O'Connell in the darkly comical British crime thriller The Liability, Alexey Balabanov's violent and pointed black comedy The Stoker, and the Belgian-Turkish culture clash drama-romance Mixed Kebab. I also planned a Madeline Kahn marathon over the long weekend with friends who had never seen her best work. We thoroughly enjoyed the genius of What's Up Doc and Young Frankenstein, but the warm sunshine tempted us to put off Blazing Saddles for another day. Frankly, those are three films I could happily watch on a loop.

This coming week, we have Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, the uber-reunion sequel Fast & Furious 6, Michael Shannon in The Iceman, the animated adventure Epic, the German fable The Wall, the acclaimed doc Blackfish, and a second attempt to see the Brazilian doc Tropicalia after a projector issue cancelled last week's screening. I also still have to see those reissues: Theorem, The King of Marvin Gardens and Billy Liar - let's hope for bad weather this weekend!