Critical Week: Look at yourself

Things should be quieting down this month, but the screening schedule has continued to be fairly busy with an eclectic collection of movies to watch. Making a very strong debut, writer-director Christian Swegal gives the fact-based drama Sovereign an unusually sensitive spin, centred around smart, thoughtful performances by Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay as a father and son with radical views that lead to tragedy. At the other end of the spectrum is James Gunn's witty, colourful new take on Superman, starring a likably human David Corenswet alongside Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult. It's big and entertaining, but never surprising.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Other Way Around
Sovereign • Baby
Hidden Master
ALL REVIEWS >

The Dardenne brothers are back with Young Mothers, another riveting doc-like Belgian drama that pulls us deeply into a real-life situation, this time with teen girls who have babies. Jonas Trueba's Spanish comedy-drama The Other Way Around is the engagingly clever story of a couple planning to celebrate their separation, with added witty meta-filmmaking touches. From Brazil, Baby is a sensually shot and played drama about a teen just out of detention as he discovers connections in the tough streets of Sao Paulo. I also had an advance screening of the British drama I Swear, based on the involving true story of Tourette's campaigner John Davidson. It stars the always superb Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan, with remarkable performances from Scott Ellis Watson and Robert Aramayo in the lead role at two ages (it'll be out in October). 

This coming week is also full. I'll be watching the new Smurfs movie, with Rhianna as Smurfette, Celine Song's new drama Materialists, Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan in Four Letters of Love, Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson in Friendship, the German black comedy Dying and the first chapter in the Oslo Stories Trilogy, Dreams. 
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On the Road: Use your head

I'm in Southern California for a couple of weeks, mainly to celebrate my mother's birthday, but also to visit with family and friends and hopefully get some nice weather this time of year. Although the rainy storminess hasn't started off very promisingly. I'm also going to completely miss this weekend's Baftas - the British Academy Awards - and will just have to read about the winners online. Meanwhile, on the flight over here I caught up with three films from last year that I'd missed...

Dumb Money
dir Craig Gillespie; with Paul Dano, Pete Davidson 23/US ***.
The story of the GameStop stock market mayhem is made thoroughly entertaining by lively direction from Craig Gillespie that concentrates on character quirks rather than the dull financial details. That said, some of these details begin to make sense as a group of amateur traders take on the big hedge funds. The terrific over-packed ensemble includes Paul Dano, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, America Ferrera, Pete Davidson, Sebastian Stan and Shailene Woodley. Some plot threads get lost along the way. But it's consistently entertaining and occasionally engaging too.

She Came to Me
dir-scr Rebecca Miller; with Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway 23/US ***
Writer-director Rebecca Miller creates an intricate, intelligent multistrand narrative using light and nicely offhanded performances and jagged interaction. But the plot never quite grabs hold, as it centres around a blocked opera composer (Peter Dinklage) and a scrappy tugboat pilot (Marisa Tomei) who becomes his muse, while his obsessive wife (Anne Hathaway) spirals. Subplots involve their teen son, his girlfriend, her parents and lots of tangled feelings, bad decisions and messy behaviour. It's all a bit corny, and aside from the general economic realities it's difficult to connect with a central theme. So even with the wonderfully nuanced acting, it ends up feeling cute and a bit simplistic.

Strays
dir Josh Greenbaum; voices Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx ***
The central joke here is that a sweet movie about cute dogs is bursting with profane dialog and outrageously adult jokes. That concept feels stale within minutes, but thankfully the script is loaded with genuinely hilarious humour aimed squarely at grown-up dog lovers. The plot is very simple, as an abandoned pup realises that his owner mistreated him, so vows revenge with a group of fellow strays. Wacky adventures ensue, often involving humping things. So if the general tone is belaboured as it tries desperately to push things rudely over the top, the furry characters win us over, ably voiced by a first-rate cast.

While I'm out here I'm planning to catch up with a few films that are in cinemas here but not yet out in the UK, like Drive-Away Dolls and Lisa Frankenstein, and I'm on the lookout for press screenings of Dune: Part Two and Kung Fu Panda 4. Otherwise, I'm enjoying time with family and friends and not thinking about movies.

Critical Week: Here comes the judge

It's been a busy week, even if press screenings have been a little thin. The World Cup semifinal featuring England on Wednesday night erased all planned screenings that night. And Thursday was the summer party for the Critics' Circle - that was good fun. I'm the vice chair of the film section, so as one of the event hosts had to skip that evening's screening of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (I'll catch up on that in a week or so).

But I did see a few films. The Children Act stars Emma Thompson (above), who is simply devastating as a high court justice who gets caught up in a thorny case. Based on an Ian McEwan novel, it refreshingly refuses to simplify characters, plots or themes, and leaves us with a lot to think about. Conversely, Skyscraper is best watched with the brain disengaged: it's a preposterously stupid action thriller that's far too serious for its own good. Dwayne Johnson is, as usual, the best thing about it, but was clearly told to rein in his charm and wit.

Hearts Beat Loud is a moving, gorgeous drama starring Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons and Toni Collette. The story is interwoven with engaging, earthy songs, so it's involving even if it's a little over-crafted. And A Swingers Weekend is a loosely awkward comedy-drama about three couples trying to spark up their relationships at a lake house. The darker scenes are far more interesting than the rather tepid sexy silliness.

This coming week will be busy, with the all-star musical sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Jodie Foster in Hotel Artemis, Glenn Close in The Wife, Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2, Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan 2, Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Damascus Cover, Oona Chaplin in Anchor and Hope, and the costume designer doc Love, Cecil.

Critical Week: Another day of sun

I'm in Los Angeles this week visiting my parents for Thanksgiving and enjoying the warm late-November sunshine. There were no movies on the flight's entertainment system that even remotely tempted me, so I just watched TV comedies and documentaries.

I've caught up with one film in the cinema - because I missed the press screening in London. Justice League is the latest DC movie, and it has a refreshing comic book tone that some of the more recent films have lacked. It also centres on characters rather than moody violent spectacle, although there is still too much of that. But at least the actors had more to work with this time, and it bodes well for already in-the-works movies to come. I also watched an awards screener (more of these to come)...

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The Hero
dir Brett Haley; with Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon 17/US ***
This gently loping drama never says anything terribly original, but it gives Sam Elliott a terrific role as an ageing actor facing up to both his life and his mortality. It's written and directed in a relaxed style that never challenges the audience, other than the usual cringe at an unlikely romance. But it's nicely shot, beautifully acted, the themes are never overstated, and it ends on a warmly ambiguous note.

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There are a few films I'm hoping to catch in cinemas and at screenings over the next week while I'm here, including Wonder, Coco, The Disaster Artist and Lady Bird. But we'll see if I can tear myself away from the sunshine...

Critical Week: It was all yellow

We had an early press screening this week of the Alan Bennett engaging comedy-drama The Lady in the Van, based on the true story of a homeless woman (Maggie Smith) who asked Bennett (Alex Jennings) if she could live in her van in his Camden driveway for a few months, and stayed for 15 years. Then there was Ed Skrein in The Transporter Refuelled, a reboot of the Jason Statham franchise that's oddly drier and cornier, and still a guilty pleasure. And the Sundance-winning Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a strikingly honest teen comedy-drama with a terrific cast and a snappy, slightly overwritten script.

A little further afield, we had the low-budget British thriller Containment, which is fiendishly clever in the way it traps a group of neighbours in a council block sealed by people in hazmat suits. Leading Lady is an awkward blend of comedy and drama from South Africa about a British actress (Katie McGrath) researching a role in the Transvaal, where she of course has a life-changing experience. And the fascinating doc How to Change the World uses extensive home movies and present-day interviews to trace the early years of Greenpeace, from a gang of Canadian hippies to a global movement.

There was also the launch event for the upcoming 58th BFI London Film Festival, with its flurry of big-name premieres and lots of smaller festival-winning movies. Press screenings for that kick off on September 21st, with the festival itself starting on October 9th. My most anticipated films include opening night's Suffragette, closing night's Steve Jobs, Todd Haynes' Carol, Jay Roach's Trumbo, Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash, Ben Wheatley's High-rise, Terence Davies' Sunset Song, and Cannes prize winners Son of Saul and Dheepan. I've already seen eight or nine of the 250 films.

I'm taking three days off around this coming weekend, so I have fewer screenings in the diary. Annoyingly, I'm missing the first two screenings of Everest, but I'll catch up with it in a week or so. What I am seeing are Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette in Miss You Already, Woody Allen's Irrational Man, the youth-dystopia sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the true Romanian drama Closer to the Moon and the British comedy Superbob.

Sundance London: Day 1

The 2nd Sundance London Film and Music Festival kicked off at the O2 today with another ambitious collection of films from the January event in Park City, plus a number of live performances, workshops, panel discussions and musical events. Press screenings have been underway all week, and now the fun really starts, since all of the filmmakers are in town for the festival.

Yesterday we had a big launch press conference with Robert Redford, who noted that Sundance's first venture outside its home base in Utah was a big success last year, and he was happy to be invited back again. "It's a cultural exchange," he said, "We bring foreign films to Utah and now we're exporting American films to London audiences. And the filmmakers are excited to see their films travel outside America's borders." Here are a few early highlights...

The Kings of Summer
dir Jordan Vogt-Roberts; with Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso 13/US ****
Witty direction and an exceptionally sharp script give this coming-of-age film a blast of originality that completely wins us over. There may be a few too many wacky touches, but overall the film is grounded in solid characters and hilariously squirm-inducing observations. It centres on three teens (Robinson,  Moises Arias and Basso, pictured) who run away from home and build a cabin in the woods to escape their humiliating parents. And we can see why, with brilliant supporting turns by the likes of Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally. So even if the film sometimes drifts toward Napoleon Dynamite, it remains grounded by the excellent performances and sharply observant filmmaking.

The Look of Love
dir Michael Winterbottom; with Steve Coogan, Imogen Poots 13/UK ***.
This fascinating story is told with vivid style, a terrific use of actual settings and a strong cast. But the characters never quite get under our skin, so our interest in the history of one of London's more colourful districts is never deepened by personal resonance or larger meaning... REVIEW >

Mud
dir Jeff Nichols; with Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland 12/US ***.
Nichols is a gifted writer-director who knows how to get into the heads of his characters. And this film has superior actors who create people who are intriguing and hugely involving. But the overlong running time makes the story drag badly, straining our patience to the point where we don't really mind how things end... REVIEW >

God Loves Uganda
dir Roger Ross Williams; with Christopher Senyonjo, Lou Engle 13/US *****
This deeply disturbing documentary shines the light on a side of American culture that seems wholly positive to everyone involved. But from the outside it looks sinister and hateful. Credit must go to the filmmakers for presenting this in a fair and balanced way, covering the whole story with remarkable restraint. The topic is the missionary work run by the Kansas City-based International House of Prayer in Uganda, where in the name of Christian outreach they export ultra-conservative views that would never take root in America. This has led to several violent murders as "Christians" rise up to kill anyone perceived to be a homosexual, and indeed a law is before Uganda's parliament to make being gay a capital offense. Watching these clean-cut, under-educated American young people is shocking: their hearts may be in the right place, but they simply don't realise that they are actually killing people instead of helping them. A remarkably honest but truly shocking film that deserves to spark a lot of discussion. Especially in Uganda.