Critical Week: Living your best life

I don't really need to do my annual roundup of the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, since you can watch the virtual ceremony HERE. It was a lot of work to pull this together, and it was great to see all but one of our winners send a video thank you. Reactions have been really positive - I think people like having it all packed into a neat 30-minute package, even if they miss having a proper party. The best thing about holding the ceremony this way is that people around the world can watch it.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Minari • Madame
Judas and the Black Messiah
A Skeleton in the Closet
PERHAPS AVOID:
Modern Persuasion
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
ALL REVIEWS >

Back to screenings this week, I saw two high-profile films that are under embargo, so I'm not yet allowed to write about Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo's comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (out tomorrow) or Lee Daniels' biopic The United States vs Billie Holiday starring Andra Day (out on 26th Feb). But reviews will be published soon.

Films a bit off the beaten path included the British indie comedy-drama Running Naked, which is essentially a gentle bromance with a misleading title. The bonkers masked-ball thriller X has some great ideas but is a bit too choppy to pull things together. And the involving, off-handed Argentine comedy-drama A Skeleton in the Closet has a lot to say about the pressures and power of family connections. I also caught up with two awards-season films that I'll cover in the next FYC blog entry: Radha Blank's rightfully acclaimed pointed comedy The Forty-Year-Old Version and the devastating trans identity doc Disclosure.

Coming up this week, I've got the Gary Oldman thriller Crisis, Anne Hathaway in Locked Down, the comedy Freshman Year and Beautiful Secret, the 21st edition of the Boys on Film shorts franchise.

Critical Week: This year's Help

UK critics finally got their first look at Lee Daniels' all-star epic drama The Butler this week. While it plays out essentially a Civil Rights-themed variation on Forrest Gump, it's actually a true story. And an unusually slushy film for Daniels. We had a lot more fun watching the sequel Thor: The Dark World, an oversized blockbuster that's so ridiculous that you can't help but smile. But the best movie this past week was Ryan Coogler's Sundance-winning Fruitvale Station, a shocking true drama skilfully filmed without pushing any sort of message other than this kind of thing must never happen again.

Off the beaten path, there was the surreal adventure thriller Escape From Tomorrow, a fiendishly clever film shot guerrilla-style at Disney theme parks; the British gypsy drama Traveller, which isn't well enough made to overcome its cliches; and the dark gay thriller Triple Crossed, which makes up for its low budget with a twisty plot and intriguing characters. And we also had three documentaries: the rousing Milius exploring filmmaker John Milius' astounding life and work; the harrowing Pandora's Promise looking into the truth about nuclear power an how it's probably the answer to climate change; and the witty but dry Rough Cut remaking scenes from a fake 1980s slasher horror.

This coming week we have Jude Law in Dom Hemingway, the animated adventure Free Birds, the British comedy Breakfast With Jonny Wilkinson, the political thriller Exposed, and the Israeli drama Fill the Void.