Critical Week: All for one

I've spent the past three weeks in California with my parents, and moviegoing wasn't at the top of the list for things to do. Now back in London, I need to do rather a lot of catching up. This is especially true for TV series, as ballots are due in about 10 days for the Dorian TV Awards. And time is complicated by the arrival of a new film festival in London next week, as SXSW takes over the slot was previously occupied by Sundance London for the past 11 years. As for this past week, I basically got off the plane, took a power nap and then headed to a press screening of Karate Kid: Legends, an enjoyable bit of formulaic entertainment that teams up Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio with newcomer Ben Wang (above).

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Tornado • The Salt Path
The Phoenician Scheme
The Astronaut Lovers
ALL REVIEWS >

The only film I watched in the US was the big one, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, in which Tom Cruise once again impresses us with his stunt skills (plus some acting too) in a story that's a bit heavy on exposition. But it's still a must-see on a large screen. Disney's live-action remake of the animated classic Lilo & Stitch is enjoyably energetic but less anarchic than before. 

Wes Anderson is back with another stylised comedy, the star-packed The Phoenician Scheme, which is a lot of fun even if the plot begins to feel a bit dense. Jesse Armstrong's pointed comedy Mountainhead stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy Youssef as tech billionaires. It's talky and rather uneven, but also entertaining and astute. And from Australia, Dangerous Animals is an enjoyably nasty twist on the shark-attack thriller, with Jai Courtney as a deranged killer who uses his victims as bait. Genre fans will love it.

This coming week I'll be watching Ana de Armas in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina and Andrew Rannells in I Don't Understand You, catching up with Natalie Portman and John Krasinski in Fountain of Youth, and attending the first SXSW London film festival.

Critical Week: The horse and his boy

I'm definitely enjoying the calm following the storm of awards and festival season, deliberately taking on less. Perhaps this is a way forward permanently! But we'll see how that goes, as I have a couple of events and trips planned over the coming months. Films I saw this week included Jackie Chan's Chinese action comedy Ride On, in which he plays a has-been stuntman whose friendship with his horse leads to a comeback that forces him to confront his age. Yes, there's a lot going on, and it's very engaging, even if the sentimentality gets rather corny. One of the year's best surprises so far, Jon S Baird's new film Tetris chronicles the birth of the iconic video game with another terrific lead role for Taron Egerton.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Joyland • Air • Tetris
Lola • Godland
ALL REVIEWS >

The anime epic Suzume is visually spectacular, and its mind-bending story about an unexpected relationship, childhood memory and parallel worlds is remarkably involving. The Dutch drama El Houb recounts a story about a Moroccan family confronting the eldest son's homosexuality. It's tough and unflinching, and very moving. The British doc Blue Bag Life artfully explores issues of addiction and motherhood from a sometimes startlingly intimate perspective. And the biographical doc Little Richard: I Am Everything is a skilfully assembled portrait of the artist who essentially created rock 'n' roll, then influenced everyone who came after him, from Elvis to Lil Nas X. Does racism and homophobia explain why it took so long for him to get the recognition he deserves?

I also attended the press view at the Design Museum for Ai Weiwei's new exhibition Making Sense, which is another superb provocation about human history, taking a sharp new perspective on everyday objects (review up soon). And I was at the press night for Akram Khan's Jungle Book Reimagined, a visceral take on Kipling's stories about the connection between humans and nature. It's dazzlingly staged with inventive dance, music and projected animation, although the message is a bit overstated (review is already up).

This coming week includes the four-day Easter weekend, and I'll be watching Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult in Renfield, Henry Golding in Assassin Club, Shailene Woodley in To Catch a Killer, Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Teyana Taylor in A Thousand and One and the action thriller Once Upon a Time in Ukraine.

Critical Week: Happy place

We're halfway through Lockdown 2.0 in London, beginning to worry that if this doesn't work Christmas might be cancelled. But we'll try to stay positive. Movies I watched this week were a real mixed bag. One of the most challenging was the arthouse horror Black Bear, starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon. It's a smart, freaky exploration of creativity and control. Plaza also pops up in Happiest Season, an unusually intelligent Christmas rom-com starring Kristen Stewart and Dan Levy.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Collective • Mangrove
Supernova • Roobha • Born to Be
FULL REVIEWS >

The week's guilty pleasure was the utterly bonkers Chinese action romp Vanguard, starring Jackie Chan as the head of a global spy agency. The most disappointing film was the all-star Come Away, a mash-up origin story for both Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. It's a good idea that never quite comes together. Even worse is Buddy Games, a painfully unfunny lads comedy starring Josh Duhamel, who also directed, produced and cowrote the script. More watchable was the uneven Finding Steve McQueen, which chops around to recount the largest bank heist in US history. 

Off the beaten path, Mosul is an American-made film set in Iraq during the battle against Daesh, and it's a riveting, powerfully involving thriller that has an emotional kick. There were two very sexy films from Brazil: Divine Love is a provocative drama set in a near-future Christian community, while Dry Wind is a stylised collision of gay machismo. And from Romania, the documentary Collective is one of the most urgent films of the year, exploring a political corruption scandal in the style of a heart-stopping journalistic thriller.

I have the usual random collection of movies to watch this coming week, including Steve McQueen's Red White and Blue, Charlie Hunnam and Jack O'Connell in Jungleland, Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn in Pieces of a Woman, the Scottish holiday movie Lost at Christmas, the psychological thriller Muscle, the Zoom thriller Host, the Danish horror The Ringmaster and the documentaries Zappa and Markie in Milwaukee.

Critical Week: Just walk away

Lockdown continues in London, as I try to keep my eye on new films that are available on streaming platforms. It's been a very mixed bag this week, with the bigger titles more disappointing than some smaller gems. The main frustration at the moment is that there's nothing else to do but watch a movie, which for me is work. So sometimes I dip into a TV series, and I try to take a walk outside every day or two just to keep my legs from locking up. The weather has improved dramatically this week, so it's not very easy to stay in, especially when movies aren't terribly inspiring.

The Netflix action comedy Coffee & Kareem looked promising, but just never comes together at all, despite valiant efforts from Ed Helms and Terrence Little Gardenhigh (above), plus Taraji P Henson. Universal made the bold decision to release the sequel Trolls World Tour straight to streaming, while all other big releases are being delayed. But the film is perfect for watching at home - less inventive than the first one. And Disney debuted its live-action remake The Lady and the Tramp on its streaming service, again unsurprising since it's not terribly ambitious, although it is good fun.

BEST NEW FILMS THIS WEEK:
Same Boat
Who You Think I Am • Danger Close
PERHAPS AVOID:
Coffee & Kareem • Gold Dust 

Much better is the Curzon release Who You Think I Am, a slinky French thriller with romantic comedy overtones starring Juliette Binoche. Tigertail is a dull but moving drama about a Taiwanese-American man (the great Tzi Ma) reminiscing about choices he made. The Lost Husband is a very gentle downhome romance-novel style story starring Leslie Bibb and Josh Duhamel. Danger Close is a grippingly well-made battlefield movie dramatising a little known battle involving Anzac forces. And The Iron Mask is a bonkers Russian-Chinese coproduction featuring Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, an elaborately staged action fantasy odyssey.

Even further afield, Sea Fever is a claustrophobic horror movie from Ireland set on board a fishing boat. Also at sea, Same Boat is a genuinely hilarious comedy thriller shot guerrilla style on a cruise ship - it's a proper gem of a film. There's more horror in Behind You, a nasty bit of demon ghost grisliness that's creepy if not actually scary. The micro-budget Gold Dust is a not terribly funny comedy romp about treasure hunters in the desert. And Seeing Is Believing is a short film collection featuring high-quality segments from six countries exploring issues of identity and sexuality.

Coming up this week, more lockdown! Films I need to watch include the Sam Claflin romcom Love Wedding Repeat, the pitch-black comedy Why Don't You Just Die, the Baghdad-set terrorism drama Sergio, the sexu thriller Getaway, the monster movie Abominable and more horror 1BR.

Critical Week: A time for reflection

Press screenings always go slightly bonkers at this time of year as critics try desperately to catch up with everything before casting votes in year-end awards. I vote in three awards - the Online Film Critics Society released its nominees this week (the nominations deadline was last Saturday), the London Critics' Circle Film Awards (of which I'm the chair again) has its nominations deadline this Friday, and Galeca's Dorian Awards nominations are due next month. Anyway, in this flurry of screenings, I've seen what just might end up as my favourite film of the year, Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa, an inventively animated and staggeringly personal exploration of self-image and human interaction.

Other awards screenings included The Revenant, Alejandro Inarritu's bravura and thoroughly harrowing survival tale starring Leonardo Di Caprio; Joy, the nutty and rather wonderful biopic reuniting Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and writer-director David O Russell; and The Danish Girl, a rather too-pretty biopic but strongly pointed starring the excellent Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander.

Regular releases screened this week included Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's goofy comedy Sisters, Brad and Angelina Jolie Pitt's handsome but stilted drama By the Sea, Jackie Chan and John Cusack's splintered Chinese action epic Dragon Blade, the charming British holiday romance Sparks and Embers, the rightly acclaimed Everest doc Sherpa,  the introspective American indie drama The Surface, and the offbeat Italian micro-budget drama Water Boys. I also took the time to delight in the starry joys of Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray's holiday extravaganza A Very Murray Christmas.

This coming week, the only movie anyone is talking about is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which I'll get to see on Tuesday the 15th, a couple of days before it opens. Also screening: Ron Howard's seafaring epic In the Heart of the Sea, the British Winter Olympics biopic Eddie the Eagle, Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell squaring off in Daddy's Home, and Stephen Dorff in American Hero.