Critical Week: On an adventure

It's been another very warm week in London, which has taken its toll on movie box office numbers as we spend rather a lot more time outdoors than usual. I haven't had any theatre to cover, but the movies keep rolling in, with yet another huge blockbuster arriving like clockwork over the next few months. Coming next week, Harrison Ford is back for a sixth adventure in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which was screened for London press earlier this week. It's a hugely crowd-pleasing action romp, nonstop fun and unapologetic about its silly plot. Jennifer Lawrence gets to flex her comical skills in No Hard Feelings, an enjoyably rude comedy with a sweet centre.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Stroll • Sublime
Desperate Souls, Dark City
No Hard Feelings
ALL REVIEWS >

From France, Quentin Dupieux returns with yet another absurdly brilliant comedy: Smoking Causes Coughing is a cleverly bonkers take on superhero movies. The British indie drama To Nowhere is beautifully shot, mixing moving character layers into a simple premise. From Japan, The Tunnel of Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a thoughtful and beautifully animated drama about two teens who have a fantastical journey,. And I also saw two documentaries: Name Me Lawand is the moving story of a deaf teen from Iraq who only learns to communicate as a refugee in Britain, and The Last Rider allows cycling champion Greg Lemond to narrate his life story, most notably his incredible comeback after a shooting accident.

I have a few more films to watch before I fly to Seoul next week to begin service on the jury at the 27th Bifan: Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. Look for regular updates here.

LFF: Soak it in

The 66th London Film Festival moves into its second week with more nightly galas and special events. I'm largely watching from outside this year, but I attended the starry screening of Allelujah last night in the Royal Festival Hall, introduced by cast and crew including Jennifer Saunders, Judi Dench, Richard Eyre, Bally Gill, David Bradley and pretty much everyone else who worked on the movie. But I'm seeing most of these films thanks to distributors who have invited me to other screenings or sent online links for me to watch them. It sure beats sanding in queues for two hours before press screenings. Here are more highlights...

Causeway
dir Lila Neugebauer; with Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry 22/US ****.
Theatre director Lila Neigebauer makes a remarkable feature film debut with this delicately crafted drama, which explores a topical issue through an especially internalised perspective. This requires sensitive performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, who are extraordinary as two people struggling to get their lives back on track after serious injuries. Never obvious about anything, the film gets deep under the skin.

Allelujah
dir Richard Eyre; with Jennifer Saunders, Bally Gill 22/UK ****
Based on the Alan Bennett play, this gently edgy comedy is a celebration of the tenacity of Britain's National Health Service in the face of relentless government interference, from sell-offs to cut-backs. It's is a remarkably complex, engagingly freeform romp. And coming on the heels of a pandemic, it could hardly be more timely. But the filmmakers hold back their biggest statement until a seriously powerful wallop the final moments.

Emily the Criminal
dir-scr John Patton Ford; with Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi 22/US ***.
There's a serious theme running through this engaging drama set in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Writer-director John Patton Ford cleverly pulls the audience in along with a hugely engaging central character adeptly played by Aubrey Plaza. It's a remarkable look at a society that makes it almost impossible for someone to escape their past. So even if it dips into several thriller cliches, it remains gripping.

Godland [Vanskabte Land, Volaða Land]
dir-scr Hlynur Palmason; with Elliott Crosset Hove, Ingvar Sigurdsson 22/Ice ****
Under gloomy skies in unforgiving landscapes, this visually striking epic follows a Danish priest to rural Iceland in the 19th century, where he confronts both a strange new land and also his own beliefs. It's a dark and brooding drama, but continual moments of wit and artistry make it remarkably compelling. And writer-director Hlynur Palmason digs deeply into the souls of the characters to challenge the audience to think about big issues in new ways

1976
dir Manuela Martelli; with Aline Kuppenheim, Nicolas Sepulveda 22/Chl ****
This strikingly thoughtful dramatic thriller tells a story set in the wake of Chile's 1973 coup, as a dictator cracked down on the country. Filmmaker Manuela Martelli takes an observational approach, letting the narrative take shape in bits and pieces with characters who are afraid to say too much to each other. It's beautifully shot and edited, and performed with steely understatement by a gifted cast.

And four more LFF films that I saw in Venice...

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
dir Laura Poitras; with Nan Goldin, Megan Kapler 22/US ****.
With this extraordinary film, documentarian Laura Poitras takes a multifaceted look at a fascinating artist. As a biography of photographer Nan Goldin, this is a clear-eyed look at her life, work and survival. And it seamlessly connects her efforts to raise awareness of the Sackler family's direct responsibility in more than half a million deaths from opioid addiction. All of this is skilfully woven together with a remarkably gentle hand... FULL REVIEW >

No Bears
dir-scr Jafar Panahi; with Jafar Panahi, Vahid Mobasheri 22/Irn ****.
Despite being banned from making movies, master filmmaker Jafar Panahi continues to tell powerful cinematic stories from Iran. This hugely involving film uses wry humour to capture cultural absurdities that have an impact on two love stories, while further complicating the process of making movies. More importantly, this is a personal depiction of people who are struggling to survive when traditions and borders turn them into desperate refugees... FULL REVIEW >

The Son
dir Florian Zeller; with Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern 22/UK ***
After The Father, writer-director Florian Zeller adapts another of his thorny plays for the big screen, this time about parents trying to help a troubled teen son. It's a dark story, with rare moments of lightness as characters struggle with elusive ideas that defeat almost everybody. Clinical depression is an important topic to dramatise, although it also means that the plot needs to retain a nagging level of uncertainty... FULL REVIEW >

Saint Omer
dir Alice Diop; with Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanga 22/Fr **.
There's a terrific story at the centre of this French drama, bursting with powerful themes and clever juxtapositions. But filmmaker Alice Diop remains in her head while she puts this onto the screen, as chilly, inexpressive scenes remain stubbornly out of reach. It's very sharply shot, as a genuinely riveting courtroom case steals focus from the loosely undeveloped plot thread that is clearly meant to be the film's main thrust... FULL REVIEW >

All London Film Festival reviews, once they're uploaded, will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

Critical Week: Suit up

Awards season is cranking up with various bodies chiming in on the best films of 2021. Indeed, the London Critics' Circle announces its nominations tomorrow! As chair, I've had quite a bit of work to do this week to make that happen, so it will be nice to enter the holiday season while the members are considering the nominees for the final round of voting in January. I have a couple of nominees to catch up with myself. In the mean time, there were two big movies screened to critics this past week. The King's Man is Matthew Vaughn's 100-years-earlier prequel to his Kingsman films. A great cast helps make it watchable, but the tone varies wildly between hyperviolent action and serious war thriller. Spider-Man: No Way Home is even more audacious, but manages to stir its chaos into a coherent, entertaining romp through the multiverse with Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya and others. Spoilers abound, so writing that review was tricky.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Swan Song • Cyrano
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Lola and the Sea
ALL REVIEWS >

Even more starry, Don't Look Up is a smart, funny social satire about two astronomers (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to warn a wilfully disbelieving world that the planet is about to be obliterated. Mahershala Ali is terrific in the lightly futuristic Swan Song, an elegant exploration of memory and identity. Comedians come together for A Clusterfunke Christmas, a silly and occasionally hilarious pastiche of TV holiday movies. Berlin Film Festival winner Happening is a very serious French drama about a teen in the 1960s, when abortion is illegal. From Belgium, Lola and the Sea is a thoughtful, observational film about a young trans woman and her deeply bigoted dad. And from Turkey, Not Knowing is a bracing look at the dangers of self-involvement, tapping into a range of big topics.

This coming week, I'll be watching Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza, Romola Garai's Amulet, and awards contenders including The Worst Person in the World, Minyan, Great Freedom and Mass.

Critical Week: Out of the shadows

Amid an unprecedented onslaught of snow and freezing temperatures, London critics caught up with a few big titles this week. Jennifer Lawrence is the main reason to see Red Sparrow, an overlong, rather muddily plotted Russian spy thriller. And Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams make the most of a surprisingly smart, funny script in the action-comedy Game Night. Then there were two new sci-fi films by hotshot British filmmakers, released directly to Netflix in the UK: Annihilation is Alex Garland's followup to Ex Machina, and it's a swirling, gripping, smartly obtuse odyssey starring Natalie Portman. Duncan Jones' Mute stars Alexander Skarsgard against type as a shy Amish barman in a Blade Runner-esque Berlin, but the plot gets lost amid its murky gyrations.

Further afield, The Lullaby is a gleefully grisly South African horror film that plays with some deeper, darker themes but never quite digs in to them. From Russian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, A Gentle Creature is a gorgeously shot and cleverly acted Kafkaesque parable about a nation that has lost its own soul. And I tracked down the final two Oscar nominated features I hadn't seen: The Breadwinner is a powerfully moving, flat-out gorgeous Irish-Canadian animated drama set in Taliban-era Kabul, while there was also this best actor nominee...

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Roman J. Israel, Esq.
dir-scr Dan Gilroy; with Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell 17/US ***
Denzel Washington gives one of his most enjoyably textured performances yet in this offbeat legal drama, which tells an intriguing story while grappling with some very big issues. Washington is the title character, a veteran lawyer whose life changes drastically when his more-public partner dies. He ends up going to work for slick hotshot George (Colin Farrell) while trying to help some vulnerable clients and taking some dodgy actions that benefit him personally but also put him in danger. The film is gripping as it follows Roman as he begins to emerge from his shell, breaking rules, ruffling feathers, flirting with an unfeasibly gorgeous charity lawyer (Carmen Ejogo) and, when he discovers that George has both a mind and a conscience, begins mentoring him without him even realising it. As it gets increasingly knotted, writer-director Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) loses control of the overlong narrative, with some over-detailed tangents and undercooked themes. And the side characters never seem to have a life of their own. But the smart script allows Washington to continually add wit and subtext to each scene. And he makes the film worth watching.

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It's Oscar night on Sunday, which here in London means staying up all night to watch the ceremony live from Los Angeles. Naps will be required. And this coming week, I'll catch up with Rooney Mara in Mary Magdalene, Domhnall Gleeson in Peter Rabbit and the documentary Mansfield 66/67, among other things.

Venezia74: Stand by your man on Day 7

It was a double dose of Javier Bardem today at the 74th Venice Film Festival. I spotted him out on the red carpet this evening with Jennifer Lawrence for Mother!, and he is also in town with his wife and fellow Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz for their Escobar biopic Loving Pablo. It was another sunny, warm day on the Lido, and journalists are starting to look downright bleary after spending so much time in the cinemas. But there are only four days to go. Here's what I watched today...

Loving Pablo
dir-scr Fernando Leon de Aranoa; with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz 17/Sp ***
This film is based on the memoir by Virginia Vallejo, and if it had stuck to her perspective it might have been a striking new approach to the well-worn story of Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar. But Spanish filmmaker Fernando Leon de Aranoa tries to include extensive detail about the rise and fall of Escobar's empire, which leaves Vallejo as a side character. It also fails to make the most of either Javier Bardem or Penelope Cruz, even though both are on fire.

Mother!
dir-scr Darren Aronofsky; with Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem 17/US ***.
Darren Aronofsky uses the tropes of a haunted house thriller to explore the act of creation, both artistically and domestically. Yes, this is a freak-out parable about both directing a movie and establishing a family. since everything is so overpoweringly symbolic, the story and characters get somewhat lost in the chaos. It's bold and unsettling, but never remotely resonant. And it leaves us wondering why we so willingly put ourselves through this kind of agony.

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
dir Chris Smith; with Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman 17/US ***.
While shooting Milos Forman's 1999 film Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey commissioned a backstage documentary, but the footage was never shown. Using a rather twinkly present-day interview, Carrey presents it now, revealing how he felt inhabited by Andy Kaufman both on and off set while the biopic was being shot. It's an entertaining look at a collision of offbeat comedy talents, exploring both actors' backgrounds and working styles in a way that's eye-opening and perhaps disturbing.

The Wild Boys [Les Garçons Sauvages]
dir-scr Bertrand Mandico; with Anael Snoek, Vimala Pons 17/Fr ***.
Heavily stylised on a low budget, this offbeat French adventure sends a group of five rebellious teen boys into a messy confrontation with gender identity. It's energetic and very witty, but far too pretentious to register very deeply with audiences. Still, strong performances emerge though the gimmicky, Guy Maddin-style visual approach, and the central idea is amusingly pointed: that a world of only women would probably be a more peaceful place to live.

Tomorrow looks extremely eclectic: the Aussie thriller Sweet Country with Sam Neill and Bryan Brown, the Italian musical-comedy Ammore e Malavita, Vivian Qu's dark Chinese drama Angels Wear White, and the Polish documentary The Prince and the Dybbuk about chameleon-like filmmaker Michal Waszynski.

Critical Week: A boy's best friend

Big movies screened to the press this week include the action romp Monster Trucks, which is a proper guilty pleasure with a solid cast including Luke Till (above), Jane Levy, Rob Lowe, Amy Ryan and Thomas Lennon. The dream team of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt makes Passengers thoroughly engaging as a high-concept sci-fi drama-romance-thriller hybrid. And Assassin's Creed reunites Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard but falls into the usual trap of neglecting to find a coherent plot in a videogame.

James Franco and Bryan Cranston square off in the comedy Why Him?, yet another Meet the Parents-style romp from John Hamburg. It's stupid, but funny. Gold stars Matthew McConaughey in the fascinating true story of a rather dodgy mining operation, but the film isn't easy to engage with. Will Smith is bogged down in syruppy sentiment in Collateral Beauty, which is livened up a bit by Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Michael Pena and Kate Winslet. And the indie drama Retake is an enigmatic and surprisingly moving road trip starring Tuc Watkins.

My last actual screening of the year is Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, but I have several screener discs I need to watch over the next week or so before voting in various awards (I've already voted in the London Critics' Circle Film Awards - we announced our nominations this afternoon). Discs in the pile include Hello My Name Is Doris, Touched With Fire, A Man Called Ove, Aferim!, Zero Days, Before the Flood, Kate Plays Christine and My Scientology Movie. How many will I find time to watch?

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: 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.

Critical Week: One last shot

Yes, UK critics saw another of the year's most anticipated films this week, the final instalment in the franchise: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. The A-list cast and Suzanne Collins' terrific source material continue to make this a superior series, with a epic-sized conclusion that's packed with strongly emotional moments in between the action mayhem. Jennifer Lawrence's usual costar Bradley Cooper leads the cast of the super-chef drama Burnt, which never quite sells either the story or the too-fancy food, but it's watchable enough.

Also this past week, we had a look at two prestige films going for awards-season attention: Tom McCarthy's Spotlight is a superb investigative drama about a news team (led byMark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton) looking into Boston's abusive priest scandal; Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies is a stately period thriller starring Tom Hanks as a negotiator navigating the tricky waters of Cold War Berlin.

At the other end of the spectrum, the nonsensical South African action movie Momentum stars a plucky Olga Kurylenko being chased by a scene-chomping James Purefoy. Somewhere in the middle, The Queen of Ireland is a fabulous, inspiring doc about Rory O'Neill and his iconic drag alter ego Panti Bliss; and the earthy, honest Mexican drama Velociraptor centres on two teens exploring their sexuality as the world is about to end.

I'll be in America over the next two weeks, so hope to catch up with several things that are out there but haven't screened here, including The Peanuts Movie, The 33, By the Sea, Love the Coopers and Secret in Their Eyes. We'll see how that goes! Watch this space...

Critical Week: Bump in the dark

London critics caught up this week with the freak-out sequel The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, set 40 years after the first film, so it has an all-new cast (including Jeremy Irvine and Helen McCrory) facing that eerie ghost at Eel Marsh House. Honestly, why would anyone ever go in there?

The biggest screening this week was for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, the thrilling third film in the series starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks and so on. It captures the book's intensely grim tone almost too well and is also a terrific exploration of the birth of a leader, setting things up for the more battle-intensive final part, a year from now. The only other starry movie this week was Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman, a gruelling Wild West road movie in which he stars in alongside Hilary Swank and a number of superb A-list cameo players (Meryl Streep!). It's extremely straight-faced and rather bleak, but always involving.

Further afield there were four foreign films: essentially a filmed stage play, the drama Diplomacy chronicles the touchy negotiations between German and French officers at the end of WWII, hinging on terrific performances by Andre Dussolier and Niels Arestrup; also from France, Eastern Boys is an uneven but intriguing drama about the strange relationship between a businessman and a Ukrainian working the streets for money; from Switzerland, The Circle uses documentary and drama to reconstruct the relationship between two men in a rapidly closing free society; and Snails in the Rain is a darkly thoughtful but ultimately simple Israeli drama about a young man whose girlfriend notices that something is up.

This coming week, we have the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, the Jim Carrey-Jeff Daniels sequel Dumb and Dumber To, the black comedy The Mule, the holiday comedy Home for Christmas, the Mexican drama Four Moons, the Roger Ebert doc Life Itself, and the French foreign-student doc School of Babel

LFF 6: She knows how to pick 'em

Jennifer Lawrence made a witty red carpet appearance at the 58th London Film Festival to promote her new film Serena, costarring Bradley Cooper, which was only showed to selected press (I'll see it next week). At least the rain stayed away today! Also on the red carpet tonight were the cast and crew of Testament of Youth, based on the Vera Brittain memoir. It was the film's world premiere, attended by actors Kit Harington, Emily Watson, Dominic West and more, plus director James Kent and writer Juliette Towhidi. That one I did see, and it's covered below, along with some more highlights...

Testament of Youth

dir James Kent; with Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington 14/UK ***

Vera Brittain's iconic memoir gets the full British period drama treatment, although it's so lovingly crafted that it struggles to spring to life. It's beautifully shot and acted but, especially in the final third, the film is almost painfully worthy, wallowing in its emotions rather than finding something resonant in the story.

Return to Ithaca
dir Laurent Cantet; with Alberto Pujols, Isabel Santos 14/Cub ****
A lively reunion of old friends, this organic drama swirls from comedy to dark drama and back again, refusing to wallow in nostalgia even as this gang of "old farts" can't help but reminisce about the old days. But since it's set in Havana, the film has a lot to say beyond the issues facing five 50-ish pals whose lives haven't gone the way they expected them to.

The Cut
dir Fatih Akin; with Tahar Rahim, Simon Abkarian 14/Ger ***
Shot in Germany, Jordan, Malta, Cuba and Canada, this international production takes on a major historical atrocity that most countries refuse to admit ever happened: Turkey's genocide against the Armenians during World War I. The film goes on to be an epic global odyssey that has a powerful emotional kick, even if the filmmaking feels somewhat contrived.

1001 Grams
dir Bent Hamer; with Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker 4/Nor ****
Cheeky Norwegian filmmaker Hamer is back with another film that combines black comedy and dark drama. And this time there's also a layer of startlingly warm emotion running just underneath everything. Ostensibly a story about the most immovable technical details about everyday life, the film's ultimate point is that some things can't be measured.

Metamorphoses
dir Christophe Honore; with Amira Akili, Sebastien Hirel 14/Fr 1h42 ****
Based on Ovid's epic 1st century poem, this film is a strikingly involving exploration of how ancient mythology both creates and exposes elements of humanity and culture. Set in modern-day France in which average people take on the roles of gods and mythical characters, the film isn't easy, but its earthy approach makes it unnervingly resonant.

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CRITICAL WEEK: Life goes on
Yes, during all the festival chaos, I still have to keep writing my usual reviews and reports on what's happening in cinemas. All of this is on the website. Non-festival films seen this week include The Maze Runner, This Is Where I Leave You, The Judge and The Secret Path.

Critical week: More than movies

I've only seen one film since Sunday's report from L.A., but it was a doozy: David O Russell's American Hustle not only features an enticing ensemble cast in full-on 1970s regalia, but it's also based on the real events surrounding Abscam, when the FBI used low-life con-men to entrap big-time mobsters and politicians. Everything is unmissable - cast, script, direction, music, costumes and especially hair. It's hardly surprising that it won the New York film critics' best of the year award.

Now back in London, I have a few screenings beginning to pop up, filling in the final candidates before I vote in both the online and London film critics' awards. These include The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, Spike Jonze's Her and Will Ferrell's triumphant return for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

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SHADOWS OFF THE WALL

And here are some comments on film tie-ins that have crossed my desk this month, just in time for Christmas...

Now That's What I Call Movies is a three-disc set of 58 film songs with an emphasis on 1980s power ballads like I Will Always Love You, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Take My Breath Away, Up Where We Belong, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and, of course, My Heart Will Go On. Newer songs come from Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Lana Del Rey (The Great Gatsby) and Maroon 5 (Love Actually). And there are also classics like Nat King Cole's Stardust and Tony Bennett's The Way You Look Tonight, plus Brown-eyed Girl, Unchained Melody, Stuck in the Middle With You, You Sexy Thing and even White Wedding. Alas, there are no Bond themes, but all the big title songs of the 1980s are present: Fame, Flashdance, Ghostbusters, Footloose, 9 to 5, Against All Odds, even The Never Ending Story. It's a strong hit-to-dud ratio, and most of these songs are pretty essential.

Series aficionados may also want to take a look at the all new 2013 Now That's What I Call Christmas compilation, another three-disc set containing 62 holiday classics. All the expected songs are present, from Dean Martin to Coldplay, White Christmas to Blue Christmas, and both the original and 20-years-later versions of Do They Know It's Christmas. And there are lots of surprises too.

To tie in with the release of Saving Mr Banks, those savvy Disney folk have released a 50th Anniversary edition of the Mary Poppins soundtrack. This includes the 26 tracks from the film, as well as a second disc with four never-heard demos and early recordings performed by composers Richard and Robert Sherman, plus 21 snippets from the story meetings depicted in Saving Mr Banks - yes, conversations between the real PL Travers, the Sherman brothers and screenwriter Don DaGradi. Finally, there's a 16-minute track in which the Shermans reminisce about their work on the movie. All pretty indispensable for any Mary Poppins fan.

We also occasionally receive books! Cher: Strong Enough is a biography by Josiah Howard, tracing the Oscar/Grammy/Emmy-winner's career through five decades with a special emphasis on her 1975 TV variety series. It's packed with telling anecdotes and accounts of her various career reinventions over the years. There are even a few photos, but not nearly enough. By contrast, Joanna Benecke's 100 Reasons to Love Ryan Gosling is completely centred around photos of the outrageously photogenic actor. Most of these reasons relate to his way with the ladies - and the men. Many of them are dreamy hero-worship: he's a dog whisperer (58), he likes knitting (72), he makes deaf kids happy (79). Others are hilariously breathless: public displays of torso (10), he has tiny cute little ears (39), even super-cool actresses get star-struck when kissing Ryan (83). And you don't have to agree with reason number 9 (The Notebook) to find this book entertaining.

Critical Week: The Quarter Quell

The big screening this past week for UK critics was, of course, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second chapter in the saga, which ramps up the stakes considerably with its beefier story, potent cast and bigger effects budget. We were all pretty stunned afterwards - in a good way. Jude Law stars in Dom Hemingway, an offbeat British crime comedy-drama that starts extremely well but takes a mopey turn about halfway in. And I also caught up with Dallas Buyers Club, starring a gaunt Matthew McConaughey in the true story of a man subverting government and pharmaceutical inaction during the 1980s Aids epidemic - an involving, important story.

Further afield, the Italian comedy Tell No One is a warm and engaging coming-out story, while the Aussie drama Monster Pies is a much darker teen drama that also grapples with sexuality issues. And there were two docs: the colourful, fascinating Exposed features full-on burlesque artists, while the clever This Ain't California fictionalises the real story of skaters rebelling against East German control.

Shadows is on holiday over the next two weeks, but I plan to see some films while I'm in America. On my to-see list are Oldboy, Frozen, The Book Thief and Charlie Countryman, and I am also working on possible awards-consideration screenings of things like American Hustle, August: Osage County and others. Watch this space for updates!

In the mean time, below are the Shadows covers for the next two weeks...

Critical Day: Hunger Games bootcamp

When you're invited to a special press day in the Capitol for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, you might be put off by a bootcamp programme that includes fashion, beauty and fitness. But there's also breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea in the schedule. And face it, you're in dire need of a day away from the computer screen. And today the Capitol is located in a swanky suite at the Soho Hotel in central London.

First thing you see when you walk in is a tiered tray of branded cupcakes surrounded by pastries - it's all very promising already. Cup of coffee in hand, you wander around looking for another male in the room (there are a precious few so you're not alone), then discover the Lionsgate press team Jess and Lorna dolled up like Effie with glammed-up faces, gigantic wigs and vertiginous heels. The pastries taste great until you start listening to the almost pathologically fit workout-wear designer to the stars talking about the high-tech outfits she made for the film (and for superfit clients like Madonna and Gwyneth). The brand is Lucas Hugh, and you know you could never afford any of it. But you want it anyway.

Continuing in fashion mode, you try on a range of bling and admire a range of wacky shoes and gowns in the style of Capitol City fashionistas. Nothing would ever fit you, because you're a full-sized man. And far from Effie or (wishful thinking) Finnick, you know that the Hunger Games character you most resemble is actually President Snow. The beauty section also includes a chance to have your face layered with glitter, but you pass on that because trays of lunch delicacies have arrived, and someone has replaced the looping Catching Fire trailer with the original Hunger Games movie, which we all become glued to like zombies. Because it's actually rather good.

After lunch it's fitness time, and we meet strength coach James, who explains that he will be putting 12 of us through our paces in a 12-week training programme leading up to a mock Hunger Games event right before the 11th November world premiere of Catching Fire in London. You are tempted to throw your hat in the ring. Even though James (below with Lorna) is obscenely healthy, he seems like a nice guy who wouldn't hurt you too much. 

When I ask whether anyone will actually die in these mock games, everyone laughs. But I sense a sinister tone in the air, as if there's a secret plan afoot to purge the ranks of London's film critic population. Well, The Independent on Sunday has just axed its entire arts critic line-up. Doom is in the air. I'd better get training....

Critical week: Oscar spreads the love

Oscar voters scattered awards around among the year's top films last night, leaving smiles on the winners' faces and confounding those who tried to predict how it would all go. I only guessed 15 of 24 awards, which wasn't too bad on a night like this. As expected Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway took Actor, Actress and Supporting Actress, with the night's trickiest major category, Supporting Actor, going to Christoph Waltz. When the dust settled, Ang Lee walked off with Director, while Ben Affleck and George Clooney also added Oscars to their mantlepiece as producers of Best Picture Argo. The film's entire team took to the stage to celebrate.

Seth MacFarlane hosted the event and had some good lines, although his opening sequence was more than a little chaotic, with the spectral appearance of Captain Kirk William Shatner and a couple of song and dance numbers (he's centre top-right with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe), including a rather amusing misogynistic ditty called We Saw Your Boobs. Looking nervous, he peppered the show with a wide variety of gags, which continued through the night, sometimes funny, sometimes eliciting shocked gasps (a John Wilkes Booth joke) and sometimes taking a little too long to get to the punchline (a hilariously absurd Sound of Music gag).

Music dominated the ceremony, which was a nice change from recent all-business years. Three Oscared musicals from the past 10 years - Chicago, Dreamgirls and Les Miserables - recreated big moments on-stage, but the most memorable numbers were performed by Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger in the Bond tribute), Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were in the In Memoriam sequence) and Adele (middle-right) belting her soon-to-win Bond theme Skyfall.

Best and worst dressed were Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts, respectively (bottom-right). Daniel Day Lewis' delivered by far the best acceptance speech - let him host next year! And memorable moments included Jennifer Lawrence stumbling up the steps in her massive dress, the insane pairing of Charlize Theron and Dustin Hoffman to hand out the screenwriting awards, a shambolic appearance by most of The Avengers, and Michelle Obama joining Jack Nicholson by video link to present Best Picture.

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CRITICAL WEEK: 
It's been a busy week here in London, as we caught up with a few big-name titles, including Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects, which pleasantly surprised us by shifting from a pharmaceutical drama into a trashy thriller as it went along. Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez brought their distinctly enjoyable personas to the blunt action thriller Parker, Richard Gere had a chance to shine as a beleaguered banker in Arbitrage, and Dominic Cooper and Dan Stevens fought over Emily Browning in the true period drama Summer in February. And I also caught up with the fifth Oscar-nominated doc How to Survive a Plague just before the ceremony on Sunday. It's a serious stunner - essential viewing.

We also had the launch event for the British Film Institute's 27th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which was a terrific party as always. I've been catching up with some of the films in advance of the festival 14-24 March, including the hugely entertaining opening night documentary I Am Divine, the engaging closing night Canadian comedy-drama Margarita, the American romance I Do, the Korean odyssey White Night and Joy! Portrait of a Nun, a freeform doc about one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Coming this week: Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in The Place Beyond the Pines, James Franco and Mila Kunis in Oz the Great and Powerful, Josh Duhamel and Rosario Dawson in Fire With Fire, the Icelandic shipwreck thriller The Deep and the French biopic Renoir. Plus several more LLGFF titles.