Critical Week: Be excellent to each other

As the American political landscape gets uglier, with flagrant lies deployed to stoke fear and division, perhaps we should all be listening to Bill and Ted, who are back on the big screen with their ridiculous but deeply engaging third adventure Bill & Ted Face the Music. It was refreshing to watch something that never pretends to be anything other than optimistic and fun.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Les Miserables • Mulan
Socrates • Unknown Origins
FULL REVIEWS >

Even better this week is Mulan, retelling the folktale from the Disney animated classic as a proper Chinese action epic. It's a powerhouse story told beautifully by director Niki Caro and star Yifei Liu, and it's such a visual feast that it really should have been released on the big screen. Hopefully Disney will see sense and put it into cinemas where it belongs.

I went to the cinema once this past week, to see a film that had no screenings or review links available: The New Mutants had its release delayed by Disney's dismantling of Fox, and it's not as awful as some critics have said. Although it's not great either, a muddled attempt at a terrific idea, combining teen angst and horror in the X-Men universe. There were also two films from Australia: I Am Woman is a likeable biopic about singer Helen Reddy that opts more for politics than depth of character, while Measure for Measure is a clever and somewhat murky adaptation of Shakespeare starring Hugo Weaving as a present-day Melbourne crime boss. Outside the mainstream, Unknown Origins is a terrific comic book movie from Spain that's smart, funny and full of action. Right Beside You is a new collection of five strong short films under the New Queer Visions label, pointed dramas about companionship. And premiering at Fantasia International Film Festival this week, Undergods is a fiendishly clever dystopian parable with a superb pan-European cast in multiple storylines.

I have one actual press screening in the diary for the coming week, the British drama Rocks. Otherwise, as the first physical film festival continues in Venice, I'll be watching online screeners of Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Andrea Riseborough in the sci-fi horror Possessor, the romantic comedy Love Guaranteed, the thriller Up on the Glass and the Thai trafficking drama Buoyancy.

Critical Week: Somebody's watching

There were three high-profile British films screened to the press in London this week. Ghost Stories is Andy Nyman's clever adaptation of a stage pay that merges three horror subplots into a twisty, nasty comedy-thriller. Early Man is the latest claymation romp from Aardman, a hilariously silly adventure set where the stone and bronze ages meet. And Finding Your Feet is a warm and easy-going romantic drama livened up by excellent performances from Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie.

From America, we had more horror comedy in the shape of Mom & Dad, a gonzo twist on several genres, featuring terrifically unhinged performances from Selma Blair and Nicolas Cage in the title roles. Dance Baby Dance is an extremely low-budget comedy about an aspiring tap dancer, charming but amateurish. And from France, the short film collection French Kisses is the usual mixed bag, and features some very strong clips.

There were also two documentaries: The Final Year is an oddly overslick look at Obama's last 12 months in office, fascinating but scrubbed clean. And 100 Men centres on a Kiwi filmmaker who takes an offbeat angle to explores gay culture over the past few decades.

Films this coming week include the trilogy finale Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the British thriller Lies We Tell, the musical biopic Thirsty and a restoration of the Bergman classic The Magic Flute.

36th London Critics' Circle Film Awards: in words and pictures

The UK's top film critics held their annual awards ceremony on Sunday night at The May Fair Hotel in London, with a superb lineup of red carpet guests. I happen to be the chair of the 36th London Critics' Circle Film Awards, which we started organising back in June, so it was great to see the evening unfold in such a joyous, celebratory way. The most memorable moment (pictured above) was when Kate Winslet led the audience into a spontaneous standing ovation for beloved actor-filmmaker Alan Rickman, who died on Thursday.

The ceremony was hosted by comic Robin Ince (left), who stepped in at the last minute due to the sudden illness of one of our planned host. He balanced the mood perfectly, with a witty look at movies that included a number of hilarious Brian Blessed anecdotes. On the right are nominated writer Emma Donoghue (Room) and the Critics' Circle Film Section Chair Anna Smith.

We had a new award this year. First, we handed out our inaugural prize for British/Irish Short Film of the Year, which went to Ben Cleary (left) and his lovely, and now Oscar-nominated, short Stutterer. And we rebranded our British/Irish Breakthrough Filmmaker prize as The Philip French Award, in honour of our esteemed colleague who passed away this year. It went to John Maclean (right) for Slow West.

Of course, Kate Winslet was one of the brightest stars on our red carpet, and she also took home the award for Supporting Actress of the Year for Steve Jobs. She also had a mini reunion with Judi Dench - they both played Iris Murdoch in Iris.

Maisie Williams won the Young British/Irish Performer of the Year award, and livened up the red carpet in her Mexican-wrestler themed dress, accompanied by fellow nominee Florence Pugh (left), her costar in The Falling. Along for the party were actor Blake Harrison and his fiancee Kerry (right).

Producer Sygne Byrge Sorensen (left) collected the Foreign-Language Film of the Year award for Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary The Look of Silence, while top producer Stephen Woolley (right) accepted the Technical Achievement Award for Ed Lachman's cinematography in Carol.

Two directors accepted awards on behalf of their actors. Rufus Norris (left) read a thank you message from Tom Hardy, who was named British/Irish Actor of the Year for his body of work in 2015, including Norris' London Road, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road and Legend. And Brooklyn director John Crowley (right) relayed a hilarious thank you from Saoirse Ronan as British/Irish Actress of the Year.

Andrew Haigh (left) sent a video thank you for British/Irish Film of the Year for 45 Years. Producer Tristan Goligher took to the stage to grab the trophy. Meanwhile, Asif Kapadia (right) was on hand to collect the Documentary of the Year award for Amy.

Mark Rylance sent a surreal video to accept Supporting Actor of the Year, performed in character (left) from the set of the play he's doing in Boston. His Wolf Hall costar Thomas Brodie-Sangster (right) accepted the award for him.

And then there was George Miller, who sent two witty videos to gratefully accept the top awards for Director of the Year and Film of the Year for Mad Max: Fury Road.

And the ceremony wrapped up with the main event of the night, as Judi Dench took to the stage to present the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film to Kenneth Branagh. Both gave smart, gracious speeches that had the audience laughing and sighing.

Of course, I also have to shamelessly include two collages of photos that I appear in. As chair, one of my many jobs is to welcome all of our guests at the top of the red carpet, so I had a chance to talk with each of them before the event started. Below is a rather ridiculous photobombing session with Dame Judi and Sir Ken.

And I also feel I should share this series of photographs taken while I was chatting to Kate Winslet about the last time I saw her (when she was about to pop with her third child) and her next movie, Triple 9 - I saw it last week but she hasn't seen it yet. Of course she's awesome in it.

And to drop one more name, as I made my way home following the after-party, I received a lovely email from Tom Hardy, who was deeply apologetic that he had been unable to turn up to accept his award and join the party. He's shooting a film in London at the moment, and production ran over. Hopefully he'll make it next year.

Shadows on the Tube: Summer TV roundup

Yes, I continue to watch TV to clear my head in my downtime, naturally preferring shows that are guilty pleasures rather than anything difficult or too gritty. Here's what I watched through the spring...

NEW DISCOVERIES

Grace and Frankie
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were simply divine in this somewhat contrived sitcom about two very different 70-year-old women stuck with each other when they're husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) marry each other. The entire cast is excellent, making the most of the occasionally goofy situational comedy to inject character depth and some properly emotional moments amid the generally hilarious comedy. Watching it is pure joy.

Dig
This archaeological thriller series clearly wants to be Indiana Jones meets Homeland, but it's more like The Da Vinci Code with its convoluted religious conspiracy and contrived action sequences. Still, it was more than worth watching for Jason Isaacs, Anne Heche and Lauren Ambrose. And the complexities of the setting in Jerusalem at least let the writers hint at some extremely murky themes along the way, even if they kind of chickened out in the end. It's unclear where this can go if it gets a second season.

How to Get Away With Murder
Another twisty thriller/soap hybrid from Shonda Rhimes, this show is enjoyable for its gimmicky scripting and flashy style, but it's also deeply annoying because every character on-screen is essentially repulsive. The worst of the lot is Viola Davis' supposedly fierce Annalise - a great actress saddled with a character who is so reactionary, two-faced and emotionally crippled that it's impossible to believe she's such a high-powered lawyer. And the one supposedly "good" student (Alfred Enoch's Wes) is predictably useless. The cast is excellent across the board, but the writing shows an astonishing lack of insight, and the structure is too choppy to let the audience in. What's left is superficially entertaining, but it's also insidiously misogynistic, racist and homophobic.

Ballot Monkeys
Timed to coincide with the British general election, this improvised series poked fun at the campaign trail of the four main parties, filming on the day of broadcast to keep everything unnervingly timely. It was sharply written and played by a cast of experts, with laugh-out-loud moments all the way through. And while much of the humour is a fairly timeless riff on the inanity of electioneering, most of the pointed gags are already out of date.

THE DRAMA

Mad Men: series 7b
Oddly, instead of just call this the 8th and final season, they called this year's brief collection of episodes the second half of the 7th. Whatever, this remained one of the best written and performed TV series ever right to the final episode. The way each of these characters wrapped up his or her individual story arc was a wonder to behold, masterfully written, directed and played to allow for shattering emotion, black comedy and lingering ambiguity. It's rare for a show to never put a foot wrong from start to finish. And this one is simply exquisite.

Game of Thrones: series 4
Things continue to come back into focus with this badly fragmented fantasy epic, after splintering into so many strands over the 2nd and 3rd seasons that it was almost impossible to keep track. But we're down to just a handful of important plots now centring on the four most engaging actors: Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and Maisie Williams. Watching two of them meet up along the way provided a thrilling jolt of energy to the show. So it's frustrated that the writers didn't go anywhere with that, leaving all of the (surviving) characters essentially where they started as the season began. Expect massive viewer drop-off next year.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: series 2
Messy and indulgent, there is little reason to watch this show beyond trying to make sense of Marvel's larger universe, and indeed there were references to Avengers: Age of Ultron folded into this season. Still, it's packed with enjoyable characters who bristle with all kinds of tension between them, and while the overarching mythology is murky and annoyingly elusive, that only adds to the show's X-Men/X-Files appeal. And this season's epic confrontation felt remarkably big and punchy for a TV series.

THE LAUGHS

Veep: series 4
Now that she's president, there isn't much left for Selena to do, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus keeps her hilariously flapping around, surrounded by a gang of idiots trying their best not to do something stupid. Thankfully they fail week in and week out. Her presidential campaign seemed oddly rushed (compared to the protracted real thing), and the final cliffhanger felt like a cheat. But it's all so marvellously played that it doesn't matter too much.

Nurse Jackie: series 7
Edi Falco has creates such a vivid antihero in Jackie that it's becoming harder and harder to root for her. Cleverly, in this series she has been forcibly rehabilitated, and yet like everyone around her we don't believe it for a second. Her relationships and feuds continue to take surprising twists and turns, although the strain is beginning to show in both the scripts and the increasingly mannered performances.

Community: series 6
Now on Yahoo, this series feels very different, with a retooled cast and a tone that feels a bit softer and less anarchic. But these episodes were also more meta than ever (which is saying something) as characters continually referenced the fact that this was the sixth season on an online channel, ending with the hashtag #andamovie. And while the absence of Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown was strongly felt, Paget Brewster and Keith David added their own energy to a show that refreshingly refuses to play by any sensible rules.

Episodes: series 4
This gently comical series continues to trundle along without much energy, but the characters get stronger as it goes, and there's a superb sense of consistency in the way it approaches the absurdities of Hollywood, especially as it contrives to keep Sean and Beverly (the superb Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Grieg) stuck in the studio treadmill. Yes, they've checked into the Hotel California and they can never leave. And Matt LeBlanc is riotously funny as the devil himself, even when they pointlessly try to make him likeable.

W1A: series 2
This BBC comedy about the inner workings of the BBC is so improvisational that it sometimes feels like it's treading water, but the characters are vividly well played by Hugh Bonneville, Monica Dolan, Jessica Hynes and company. The continual stream of knowing gags and outrageously straight-faced silliness is inspired enough to keep us chuckling even though David Tennant's subtly insane voice over is way over the top. The scary thing is that the BBC is probably even more ridiculous in real life. Or at least that's how we hope it is.

Flare 1: Start with a question

The British Film Institute's 29th Flare: London LGBT Film Festival kicked off at BFI Southbank on Thursday night with an intriguingly controversial opening film: I Am Michael, the true story of a gay activist who converted to Christianity and became an outspoken critic of homosexuality. The festival started as it means to go on, grappling with issues in an intelligent, balanced way that will force people to take sides. It should be a fun one. Here are some highlights from the first two days...

I Am Michael

dir Justin Kelly; with James Franco, Zachary Quinto 15/US ****

With remarkable restraint, director Kelly and his cowriter Miller tell a provocative true story without taking sides. Written and directed with an artistic flair that cuts beneath the surface, this is a story that raises questions without overtly answering them. It's also the kind of movie that will divide audiences and generate hopefully positive dialog.

Futuro Beach

dir Karim Ainouz; with Wagner Moura, Clemens Schick 14/Br ****

Intense and foreboding, and yet deeply human and emotional, this offbeat Brazilian drama explores the lives of three young men who are unsure about where they are headed. Shot and edited for a maximum visceral kick, the movie resists standard filmmaking structures for something much looser, forcing the audience to get involved in a story that remains intriguingly elusive... FULL REVIEW >

The Falling

dir-scr Carol Morley; with Maisie Williams, Maxine Peake 14/UK ****

There's a fiercely original sensibility to this film, which boldly explores female puberty through a series of rather outrageous events. By combining life and death with sexuality, writer-director Morley is definitely courting controversy, and some of the plot points feel like a step too far. But it's so strikingly intimate and fiercely artistic that it can't be ignored.

Fulboy

dir Martin Farina; with Tomas Farina, Facundo Talin 14/Arg ***.

This beautifully shot and edited voyeuristic documentary explores the life of professional footballers in Argentina, revealing things fans never get to see. While following his brother's team, filmmaker Farina seeks to capture the truth: work, fun and everything in between. And the film raises intriguing questions about whether that's even possible, since everyone edits themselves when a camera is around.

Dior and I

dir Frederic Tcheng; with Raf Simons, Pieter Mulier 14/Fr ****

Much more than a documentary about a fashion house, this film finds real resonance in its central characters, people who bring an open passion, artistry and depth of feeling to their everyday work. So watching them get ready for a pivotal show becomes utterly riveting. And by the time we reach the big event, the emotional catharsis is contagious.

BEST OF THE YEAR SCREENINGS

Appropriate Behaviour

dir-scr Desiree Akhavan; with Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson 14/UK ****

Actor-filmmaker Desiree Akhavan is clearly exorcising personal demons with this lively comedy, which echoes the style of Girls by presenting the central character as a likably flawed real person doing her best to get through a messy life. (Intriguingly, Akhavan appears in the next series of Girls.) It's a very funny movie, with a remarkably astute script and some surprising textures along the way... FULL REVIEW >

Pride

dir Matthew Warchus; with Ben Schnetzer, George MacKay14/UK *****

Based on a seriously rousing true story, this British feel-good comedy-drama is energetically written and directed, and it's sharply played to get under the skin of a variety of characters. Even though the events took place 30 years ago, they have a present-day resonance that makes this one of the most important films of this year... FULL REVIEW >

LFF 5: Let's hear it for the girls

Reese Witherspoon took London by storm today - and it was a properly stormy day - with the London Film Festival gala screening of her new movie Wild. She braved the rainy red carpet tonight with Cheryl Strayed, the intrepid author she plays in the film, and screenwriter Nick Hornby. Also on the red carpet today were Sally Hawkins, Rafe Spall and Asa Butterfield (for X + Y); and Sophie Okonedo, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Shaun Evans and Antony Sher (for War Book).

After gorgeously sunny, crisp weather over the weekend, today was a thorough wash-out, with spray from the heavens all day. It wasn't much fun walking around; it's the kind of day you really want to be sitting in a cinema. Here are some more festival highlights (full reviews are coming!)...

Wild
dir Jean-Marc Vallee; with Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern 14/US ***.
Based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, this film depicts her journey as launching with a badly overstuffed backpack, which is just the first metaphor in this overstuffed thematic odyssey. Fortunately, it's directed with skill and artful insight by Vallee and acted with rare transparency by Witherspoon. The trick is to not let the onslaught of aphorisms weigh you down.

My Old Lady
dir-scr Israel Horovitz; with Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith 14/UK ***.
An oddball sensibility keeps this gentle drama from ever turning maudlin or sentimental, even as the story explores some potentially melodramatic issues. Relaxed performances and a script packed with revelations (based on writer-director Horovitz's play) keep the audience entertained while being poked by some surprisingly sharp edges.

The Falling
dir Carol Morley; with Maisie Williams, Maxine Peake 14/UK ****
There's a fiercely original sensibility to this film, which boldly explores female puberty through a series of rather outrageous events. By combining life and death with sexuality, writer-director Morley is definitely courting controversy, and some of the plot points feel like a step too far. But it's so strikingly intimate and fiercely artistic that it can't be ignored.

Appropriate Behavior
dir Desiree Akhavan; with Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson 14/UK ****
Actor-filmmaker Desiree Akhavan is clearly exorcising some very personal ghosts with this lively comedy, which echoes the style of Girls by presenting the central character as a likably flawed real person doing her best to get through a messy life. (Intriguingly, Akhavan appears in the next series of Girls.) It's a very funny movie, with a remarkably astute script and some surprising textures along the way.

A Girl at My Door
dir July Jung; with Doona Bae, Kim Sae-ron 14/Korea ****
A chilling tale of social evils in small-town Korea, this drama centres on an offbeat friendship between two damaged women who draw the suspicions of everyone around them. Filmmaker Jung is playing with perceptions, letting the audience see things only slightly more clearly than the bigoted locals. It's a riveting film that never offers easy answers.