Critical Week: When a plan comes together

It's another big blockbuster weekend at the movies, so I had to look around for other movies coming out this week that I could review. One of these was the rather lightweight heist thriller The Gentleman Thief, starring John Travolta and Rebecca De Mornay. It's an easy watch, twisty and not terribly tricky. But the big movie this week features three stars of current box-office champ The Odyssey: yes, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal lead the charge in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which might be the best Marvel movie yet. It's a thoroughly engaging mix of humour, thrills and resonant emotion.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Ish • Mustache
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Wham! 10 Days in China
ALL REVIEWS >

I also caught up with the animated adventure Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, which is aimed at very young children but keeps a smile on grown-up faces too. The megahit French comedy Just an Illusion, is a very lively coming-of-age story starring Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin as bickering, messy parents. Mustache is a superbly written and directed coming-of-age story set in Northern California, with an excellent cast. The Canadian romantic comedy Middle Life is charming and a bit awkward. The dazzlingly original animated memoir Bouchra is a true original, with a lot to say about culture and identity. And I also managed to catch up with the latest big-screen version of Masters of the Universe, which is far more fun than it should be.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Dominic Sessa in Tony, Glenn Close in The Summer Book, Vicky Krieps in Love Me Tender, George MacKay in Mission, the comedy Super Troopers 3 and the romcom Do Us Part. I also have a live performance of Matthew Bourne's The Car Man.

Raindance: Take your shot

The 33rd Raindance Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday with the world premiere of the British drama Heavyweight and a properly epic afterparty at with special honours were presented to screen icons Celia Imrie and Jason Isaacs. The festival runs over the next 10 days with a flurry of independent films. I'm trying to limit how many I watch, aiming for one per day. So here are the first two...

Heavyweight
dir-scr Christopher M Anthony; with Jordan Bolger, Nicholas Pinnock 25/UK ****
Unfolding in real time and largely in a single room, like a stage play, this British boxing drama has a propulsive pace as it traces the run-up to a championship bout. Writer-director Christopher Anthony keeps the tension high with edgy dialog, beefy performances, prowling camerawork and a churning underscore. The sheer machismo on display is perhaps a bit exhausting, but it's balanced by a terrific sense of underlying emotion.

A Cell Phone Movie
dir-scr Will Sterling; with Will Sterling, Tessa Glanville 25/US ****
As the title indicates, this meta-comedy was shot on a mobile phone. It looks great, skilfully filmed in wide-screen and sharply well-edited too. Actor-filmmaker Will Sterling is a charming lead, and the comedy is warm and off-the-cuff, with a continual stream of witty gags about trying to make a no-budget movie. Even more engaging are the thoughtfully serious sequences that dig deeper into the characters and situations.

Full reviews of festival films will be linked here in due course: SHADOWS @ RAINDANCE >

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~
C R I T I C A L  W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Red Path • 28 Years Later
Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf
ALL REVIEWS >

This week I got to attend the glamorous world premiere of Jurassic World: Rebirth, with the full cast and crew in attendance, including Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali. And the film is great fun. The new Pixar animation Elio is an enjoyable if familiar space romp, but it's packed with dazzling touches. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are back with 28 Years Later, a superbly ripping addition to the franchise. John Travolta stars in the wobbly but watchable caper comedy High Rollers. Harry Melling and Caleb Landry Jones lead the cast of Scottish period weirdness Harvest, which struggles to make its point. Writer-director Eva Victor stars with Naomi Ackie in the beautifully written and directed Sorry, Baby, putting a truthful spin on a big event. Leonie Benesch is excellent as an overworked nurse in the expertly shot Swiss drama Late Shift. And the properly stunning Tunisian drama Red Path tells a riveting true story with power and emotion. I also attended the opening night cabaret for this year's London Clown Festival

This coming week there are many more films at Raindance, plus Brad Pitt in F1, Dylan O'Brien in Ponyboi, the indie comedy Rent Free, the French comedy Colours of Time and the Colombian drama Salt Water, plus the premiere for Lena Dunham's TV series Too Much and three live performances: Quadrophenia at Sadler's Wells, Jonah Non Grata at Soho Theatre and Botis Seva's Until We Sleep at Sadler's Wells East.

Critical Week: Take a bow

Back to the movies in London after a week in the theatre in Edinburgh, and things are rather busy. Festival season is impending, with both Venice and Toronto kicking off very soon. But before that, FrightFest will hit London over this coming long weekend, so I'll be hoping some movies can scare me. And I'll be venting about them here. As for regular releases, this week I finally caught up with the hilarious mock-doc Theater Camp, starring Ben Platt, Molly Gordon and Noah Galvin. It's smart and silly, and theatre nerds will adore it. I had to see Blue Beetle in a regular cinema, as I missed the press screening, and I really enjoyed its more character and family-based approach to superhero nonsense. Ira Sachs turned up for a terrific Q&A following a screening of his latest film Passages, which is unapologetic, provocative and hugely powerful.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Fremont • Afire
Scrapper • Theater Camp
REVIEWS >

Another Sundance favourite, Scrapper stars Harris Dickinson opposite force-of-nature newcomer Lola Campbell in a scruffy, fresh British drama. John Travolta and a gritty cast lend some weight to the otherwise familiar crime thriller Mob Land. Even more familiar, the Aussie drama The Red Shoes: Next Step doesn't contain a single original moment, but it's comfy and watchable, and there are some lovely dance scenes. Warrior King is a strikingly visual Chinese animated epic that kind of rushes through a complex Tibetan legend. And Max Ophul's 1950 classic La Ronde has been restored gorgeously as part of the campaign to save the Curzon Mayfair Cinema. I'd never seen it, and it's wonderful.

In addition to all of the FrightFest titles, this coming week I'll be watching Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 3, the festival favourite Past Lives, acclaimed anime The First Slam Dunk, Jennifer Reeder's horror Perpetrator and a restoration of Powell & Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going.

Critical Week: Adele and Glom forever

As always, the Oscar ceremony on Sunday night (early Monday morning live in London) was packed with classic moments, not least the awkward reunion of Idina Menzel and John Travolta, aka Adele Dazeem and Glom Gazingo. The other inspired presenter pairing was non-nominees Jennifer Aniston and David Oyelowo. Neil Patrick Harris peppered the ceremony with zingy off-handed one-liners, and lots of stiff scripted ones that made the show drag badly in the middle. Thankfully, the winners accepted their awards with a rare boldness, championing worthy big issues and refusing to accept the play-off music. Frankly, the movies should be more about this kind of thing: provoking thought by rocking the boat.

On the other hand, some of the winners were definitely not up to par - Birdman was far too heavily awarded. But it's about show business, so the voters couldn't resist, even though there were better films nominated. Big Hero 6 was the least of the animated nominees. And The Imitation Game's script is its weakest link. But never mind, history is likely to remember Boyhood as the film of the year no matter who won. And let's hear it for the Savage Grace reunion of winners Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne!

As for screenings last week, I took it a bit quietly. The biggest movie was The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, a surreal romp that never tries to be anything but bonkers. The best film was Celine Sciamma's Girlhood, an astonishing, artful exploration of how it feels to be an outsider. And there was also Jennifer Lopez in the overwrought slushy thriller The Boy Next Door, Kodi Smit-McPhee in the mopey and introspective All the Wilderness, and the darkly inventive, provocatively moving Brazilian drama Futuro Beach. We also had the launch of this year's BFI Flare line-up, which looks unusually strong (the festival runs 19-29 March).

Coming up this week, Michelle Williams in Suite Francaise, Hugh Jackman in Chappie, Salma Hayek in Everly, Jean Dujardin in The Connection, British crime thriller Hackney's Finest, and horse-racing doc Dark Horse, plus catching up on things I skipped last week...