Critical Week: Ready, aim, fire

Things are definitely cranking up in London as awards season takes over screening rooms across the city. Many of the big hitters from recent festivals are being screened for those of us who vote in various awards. There's not a free evening in my diary for a few weeks. After a clash prevented me from attending the only press screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, they made public showings available, so I was able to watch it in glorious VistaVision this week. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti (above) and is a thrillingly entertaining rollercoaster ride.  

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Urchin • The Smashing Machine
The Lost Bus • The Shadow's Edge
Scared Sh*tless
PERHAPS AVOID:
Him • The Ice Tower
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I also caught up with Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, in which Ethan Hawke gives a superb one-man-show kind of turn as legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart. Riz Ahmed and Lily James are excellent in David Mackenzie's nerve-jangling and smartly twisty thriller Relay. Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers give it their all in the horror thriller Him, but it never amounts to much. And Malcolm McDowell turns up in The Partisan, the intriguing but dryly told true story of a female Polish spy (played by Morgane Polanski) working for Britain during WWII. I also attended live performances of the disco-tastic KC and the Sunshine Band musical Get Down Tonight at Charing Cross Theatre and Andrea Peña's rather elusive Bogotá at Sadler's Wells East.

Films this coming week include George Clooney in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly, Idris Elba in Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite and Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman. The 69th London Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday with Rian Johnson's Knives Out whodunit Wake Up Dead Man. And there's a live performance of Ghost Stories at the Peacock Theatre.

Critical Week: Signature move

Awards season is in full swing now that the actors strike has ended, and I've had a couple of nice Q&A screenings this week (see Insta for pics). Big year-end movies are beginning to appear too. Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, Lily James and writer-director Sean Durkin came along to present The Iron Claw, their astonishingly involving, powerfully moving true drama about a family of wrestlers. And Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby and Ridley Scott were on the red carpet for the Leicester Square premiere of Napoleon, a first-rate epic biopic about the French leader that looks properly amazing on the biggest screen possible. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Rustin • Saltburn
May December
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Meanwhile, Colman Domingo is excellent in the biopic Rustin, about the unsung Civil Rights organiser. Alexander Payne's The Holdovers is a 1970s-style wintry delight starring Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick are fierce in the harrowing Aussie Outback thriller The Royal Hotel. Taika Waititi's true-life comedy Next Goal Wins is a gently witty story about the world's worst football team, starring Michael Fassbender. Jesse Eisenberg turns into a meathead for Manodrome, a very dark drama that doesn't always work but gets us thinking. From New Zealand, the drama Punch is thoughtful and moving. Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron is even more spectacular than expected. Godzilla Minus One is a beefy prequel set in post-war Japan. The doc American Symphony finds surprising emotion while following Jon Batiste as he composes an orchestral piece. And the Powell and Pressburger classic The Red Shoes is even more dazzling in a new restoration. I also caught up with this one...

Dance First
dir James Marsh; with Gabriel Byrne, Fionn O'Shea 23/UK ***
While director James Marsh adds considerable visual flourish to this imaginative biopic about Samuel Beckett, there's a nagging feeling that the story is incomplete, as if it is skipping across the surface of a darkly complex figure. So while the script and performances add nuance in the characters and relationships, everything feels eerily out of reach. Thankfully, superb performances as Beckett from Gabriel Byrne and especially Fionn O'Shea give the film layers of insight and context. 

Films this coming week include Disney's new animated feature Wish, Michael Mann's Ferrari, Tilda Swinton in The Eternal Daughter (a full 15 months after I missed the screening in Venice!), Mexican thriller Lost in the Night, Australian drama A Stitch in Time, deep-fake doc Another Body and arthouse cinema doc Scala!!!, plus LoveTrain at Sadler's Wells and Connor Burns: Vertigo at Soho Theatre.

Critical Week: Cool kids

It's that odd period in the year when cinemas are full of amazing movies that are taking home Baftas and various guild prizes while awaiting Oscar night (coming on 12th March), but the box office champions at the moment are decidedly mediocre fare released by distributors now to cash in on the audience desire for mindless entertainment. Everyone asks me where the good movies are, and I reply that you need to look past the blockbusters that are dominating multiplexes and headlines: good movies are everywhere at the moment. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Close • Wandering Heart
ALL REVIEWS >

Speaking of blockbusters, I saw two this week: Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guere is Guy Ritchie's latest snarky action romp, with a terrific cast and gorgeous locations, lively twists and a barely serviceable script. It's thin but fun (largely thanks to a scene-stealing Hugh Grant, opposite Aubrey Plaza, Jason Statham and Bugzy Malone, above). Also suffering from script problems, Creed III is sharply well acted by a superb cast, and Michael B Jordan shows real talent as a director. It's rousing and worth a look, but simplistic the way it deploys toxic masculinity.

I also caught up with the British romantic comedy What's Love Got to Do With It, which adds some South Asian spice into the comfy mix with a snappy story that circles around arranged marriage in Pakistani immigrant families. Colourful cultural touches and strong turns from Lily James, Emma Thompson and Shazad Latif make it engaging. Michael Shannon is a bit too subdued in A Little White Lie, as a handyman posing as a reclusive author. Despite lacking energy, the film does generate some charm, and has a solid supporting cast. And from France, Love According to Dalva centres around a remarkable performance from Zelda Samson as a 12-year-old who believes she's a grown woman. It's a provocative, important take on the realities of child abuse.

Films this coming week include the sequel Scream VI, Woody Harrelson in Champions, horror comedy Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, rural comedy-drama The Middle Man, Australian drama Lonesome, offbeat sci-fi drama Lola, Italian horror Sound of Silence and filmmaking doc Brainwashed.

Raindance: Get distracted

The 28th Raindance Film Festival kicked off last night with a very small gala screening of the David Bowie biopic Stardust, starring Johnny Flynn (it's not showing to the press until the end of the festival). This year's event will include some live screenings plus a lot of virtual ones. Like the recent London Film Fest, I'll be watching everything at home and writing regular updates here. Here are the first two, plus my usual report on the past week...

A Dim Valley

dir-scr Brandon Colvin; with Zach Weintraub, Whitmer Thomas 20/US 1h32 ***.

There's a loose stoner vibe to this wilderness-set comedy, a gently loping film that generates lots of smiles and a few solid laughs. While nothing much seems to be happening, the way the characters so aimlessly interact is often amusing, as they simply neglect to express what they want, either personally or professionally. It's deliberately quirky, like a joke that's funnier when you're inebriated. But it runs deep.

This Is Cristina [Ella Es Cristina]

dir-scr Gonzalo Maza; with Mariana Derderiaan, Paloma Salas 19/Chile 1h22 ****

With a series of seemingly random scenes shot in a striking monochrome, this clever Chilean comedy-drama traces the rollercoaster trajectory of a friendship between two women who seem unwilling to grow up and take responsibility for their lives. With his directing debut, gifted writer-producer Gonzalo Meza (A Fantastic Woman) cleverly weaves together a coming-of-age story that hinges on this connection. It feels crisp and light, but carries a strong kick.

NB. My anchor page for Raindance is HERE and full reviews will appear in between these daily blog entries. Much more to come...

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C R I T I C A L   W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK: 

Song Without a Name 

Wolfwalkers • African Apocalypse

The Painter and the Thief

FULL REVIEWS >

I finally caught up with Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks this week, one of my favourite films of the year, a deceptively simple comedy with the perfect double act of Bill Murray and Rashida Jones. I was less excited to catch Ben Wheatley's remake of Rebecca with Armie Hammer, Lily James and Kristin Scott Thomas. It's beautifully made, but adds little to Hitchcock's iconic classic. The Secret Garden is a better remake, with a great cast and artful touches. And there were two guilty pleasures: Dylan O'Brian in the surprisingly fresh zombie romp Love and Monsters and Omari Hardwick in the horror freak-out Spell. This past week I also saw: Claes Bang in the intriguing The Burnt Orange Heresy; Jaeden Martell in the cleverly involving The True Adventures of Wolfboy; the artful British drama Philophobia; the action-packed Train to Busan sequel Peninsula; the absolutely stunning Peruvian drama Song Without a Name; the provocative Argentine drama Young Hunter; and the superbly observed doc Boys State.

Aside from Raindance films, This coming week I'll be watching the London street-cat sequel A Christmas Gift From Bob, Eva Green in Proxima, Andrea Riseborough in Luxor, the rom-com Call Me Brother, Jack Lowden in Kindred, Iranian refugee drama Love Child and the Filipino drama 2 Cool 2 Be 4 Gotten.

Critical Week: I need a place to hide away

I landed back in London last weekend and dove back into the thick of it, having missed several press screenings while I was travelling over the past few weeks. One of this summer's higher profile films, Danny Boyle's rom-com Yesterday has a simple premise (what if everyone forgot about the Beatles except for one guy - played by Himesh Patel, above with James Corden) and plays out as a loving ode to the greatest pop music of all time. It's also funny and romantic. On the plane, I caught up with Sebastian Lelio's Gloria Bell, his own sparky English-language remake starring the fabulous Julianne Moore as a rather too-glamorous middle-aged woman grappling with life, love and independence.

Off the beaten track, Being Frank is a quirky comedy starring Jim Gaffigan as a man whose teen son discovers he has two families. Surprisingly, he remains likeable through it all. Deep Murder is a pastiche whodunit set within a porn movie. It's very funny, nasty and not remotely sexy. The British independent film Bait is an earthy drama about fisherman clashing with tourists, shot gorgeously on grainy 16mm black and white film. A Season in France is a dark and involving French drama about asylum seekers that maintains a hopeful tone even when things get rather hopeless. And Bulbul Can Sing is a strikingly naturalistic drama from India about three young teens trying to be themselves in a constrictive rural setting.

Coming up, I have a very late catch-up with Men in Black: International, which opens tomorrow. It'll be a busy week, as I'm also seeing Toy Story 4, Aubrey Plaza in the reboot Child's Play, the Aussie comedy Swinging Safari with Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue, Joanna Hogg's acclaimed The Souvenir, dystopian British drama Division 19, the South African musical Kanarie, the refugee drama Amin, Asaf Kapadia's documentary Diego Maradona and the Pride-themed doc Are You Proud?

Critical Week: Sleep tight

It's been a relatively quiet week, screening-wise, partly because the bigger studios have decided to stop showing their larger releases to the press. For example, this week's remake of Hellboy had no press screenings at all. And we're beginning to wonder what will happen with some rather important upcoming blockbusters. Thankfully, the smaller films and mid-sized ones are still available for us write about. This week I caught up with Neil Jordan's bonkers horror thriller Greta, starring Isabelle Huppert and Chloe Grace Moretz (above). It's nutty and entertaining. I also watched Tessa Thompson and Lily James in the gritty, powerful rural drama Little Woods.

My favourite film this week was the concert doc Amazing Grace, filmed in 1972 and only just released, revealing the awesome Aretha Franklin in all her gospel-infused glory. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is a riotously grisly 80s-style slasher movie about an army of killer Nazi puppets. It's both hilarious and seriously nasty. No Chocolate, No Rice is a micro-budget comedy from Washington DC, a bit clunky but full of great ideas and likeable characters. And the sparky, beautifully assembled German documentary Beauty & Decay, catches up with three punk-art stars from the early 1980s in Berlin today.

This coming week we have Zac Efron in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Julianne Moore in Bel Canto, Robert Pattinson in High Life and the offbeat animation Doozy. I've also got a couple of events, and possibly another stage performance to cover.

Requisite Blog Photo: There's a fire within my soul

Critical Weeks: Stop playing games

There were a couple of big releases screened for the London press this week. The latest Blumhouse horror movie Truth or Dare (above) is a contrived collection of cliches with a preposterous plot. It's slickly made, but only watchable because of its bright, young cast. Dwayne Johnson kicks into action in Rampage, a videogame adaptation that's a proper guilty pleasure: stupid but funny, and full of mindless mayhem.

The longest title of the year award goes to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, based on the novel about a WWII book club. It's lovely and very British, easy to just go along with even if it feels rather over-sweet. The skilfully made documentary McQueen traces the designer's career with plenty of style as well as a strong emotional kick. And from Belgium, Cas is a 50-minute mini-feature that's getting a release due to its finely produced, complex story of a couple who brings a stranger into their relationship.

Coming up this week, we have Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty, the canine comedy Show Dogs, the drama Every Day, the French comedy Jeune Femme, the 1970s doc Studio 54 and the Tour de France doc Time Trial.

Critical Week: Trust no one

There were two very different action movies screened to the press this past week. Edgar Wright's Baby Driver is a whizzy thriller packed with gimmicky filmmaking touches and snappy performances from the likes of Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, Eliza Gonzalez and Jon Hamm (above), plus Kevin Spacey, Lily James and others. Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth in the series, is a cacophonous adventure that looks pretty awesome on Imax 3D but is a painful two and a half hours without a coherent story or characters.

Outside the mainstream, we also had a screening of Phyllida Lloyd's bracingly inventive Julius Caesar, a filmed version of her female-prison set version of Shakespeare's eerily resonant play. Scribe is a Hitchcockian thriller from Belgium starring Francois Cluzet as a man pulled into a political nightmare that seems to be actually taking place right now in the world around us. Tom of Finland is a gripping if somewhat mannered biopic about the unassuming man who completely changed the world's image of masculinity with his hyper-macho illustrations. Risk is Laura Poitras' long-in-the-works doc about Julian Assange, whose enigmatic nature infects this film. And City of Ghosts is the stunning, essential documentary about a group of brave journalists covering Daesh's destruction of their hometown Raqqa, Syria.

As the East End Film Festival continues in London, the Edinburgh Film Festival gets underway in Scotland. And this week's press screenings include the animated sequel Despicable Me 3, Ryan Reynolds in The Hitman's Bodyguard, Armie Hammer in Final Portrait, the French period drama The Death of Louis XIV, the Indian drama Hotel Salvation, and the Baltic road movie You Can't Escape Lithuania.

Critical Week: If the shoe fits

Some big movies were screened to UK critics this week, including Disney's new live-action Cinderella, starring Lily James and Richard Madden, plus the likes of Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger and Downton Abbey's Sophie McShera. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, this takes a more sumptuous, old-fashioned approach than Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or last year's Maleficent, and it's rather charming. This screening included the first London showing of the hilariously entertaining short Frozen Fever, which will definitely further the franchise.

The other gorgeously well-made big-budget film was Suite Francaise, based on Irene Nemirovsky's acclaimed novel and starring an especially superb Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts and Kristin Scott Thomas. We also had very late screenings of two films opening this week around the world, and both have had their reviews embargoed until later in the week: Neil Blomkamp's Chappie and the Vince Vaughn comedy Unfinished Business. 

A bit further afield, there was Salma Hayek energetically fighting off a steady stream of goons in Everly, Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman facing creepy child ghosts in Colombia in Out of the Dark, Jean Dujardin chasing an elusive drug dealer in The Connection, a group of kids trying to be themselves in the astute comedy-drama Geography Club, some comically inept East End London criminals in the rather tired Hackney's Finest, and a subtle exploration of unexpected young love in Berlin in Silent Youth.

Coming up this week: Sean Penn in The Gunman, Charlotte Gainsbourg in Samba, Virginia Madsen in Walter, the hit American teen comedy The Duff, another meta-comical American rom-com Playing It Cool, the British indie drama The Goob, and the Colombian drama Gente de Bien.