Critical Week: Party season

Well, we're coming up to the end of the year, and awards are pouring in at a rapid pace, with top 10 lists and critics groups announcing their honours. I've been busy with Golden Globes ballots and organising the London Critics' Circle nominations announcement this week (we announce our winners on 4th February). We also announced that we're giving special awards to Jeffrey Wright and Colman Domingo at our 44th ceremony. There have also been a couple of Christmas parties, of course, as we prepare for the holidays this weekend. So I've only seen three films...

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
All of Us Strangers
Society of the Snow
Memory • The Iron Claw
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The British drama How to Have Sex earned several nominations, and I understood why as I finally caught up with it. Starting as a raucous drunken holiday comedy, it quickly shifts into something much more provocative and important. Debut writer-director Molly Manning Walker is certainly one to watch. And then there was the lavish French swashbuckling adventure The Three Musketeers: Milady, the second part in this all-star adaptation, putting Eva Green's shadowy character at the centre of the mayhem. It looks great, and the cast is terrific, keeping it enjoyable even when the plot bogs down in detail. I also saw the Mexican drama The Trace of Your Lips, a beautifully made and rather intensely erotic drama about isolation and connection.

I won't see many movies this coming week, but I will need to watch the Aaron Eckhart thriller The Bricklayer, the biopic Tchaikovsky's Wife and the immigrant drama Norwegian Dream. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Critical Week: Take the wheel

It's been another week of movies here, and I'm enjoying how things are back to a relatively normal schedule after months of intensity. The biggest movie this week was an online feature: Ghosted is an engaging action romcom that reteams Ana de Armas and Chris Evans. Rather a lot mopier, To Catch a Killer stars Shailene Woodley as a troubled cop pulled into an FBI investigation into a mass-shooter. It's dark and timely, but feels somewhat undercooked.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
A Thousand and One
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
PERHAPS AVOID:
Padre Pio
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The best surprise this week is The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, a familiar story sharply well told with a first-rate French cast and properly thrilling action. The latest in the franchise, Evil Dead Rise is never very scary but will please fans with its outrageously excessive gore. And then there's the inventive and hugely engaging Filipino comedy I Love You Beksman, which kicked off the Queer East Fest in London on Tuesday. 

Outside the cinema, I loved the Nederlands Dans Theater programme at Sadler's Wells. And this was my first year attending the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards as a voting member (I am a member of the Critics' Circle Theatre Section, in addition to being chair of the Film Section). These awards are great fun, held at @sohoplace, the first new theatre built in the West End in 50 years. And most winners were in attendance, so it was great to celebrate them.

This next week I'll be watching the biopic Big George Foreman, Jay Baruchel in the story of BlackBerry, Kate Bosworth in Last Sentinel, the Greek drama Broadway, the Swedish comedy RSVP and the dance art film Transparent.

Critical Week: Larger than life

It's been a fairly relaxed week at the movies for me, as I've just tried to get caught up on things, posting reviews from autumn festivals and catching up on some films. There are a lot of awards-buzzy movies I haven't seen yet, so there's still a ways to go. One I'd been looking forward to certainly didn't disappoint: Vicky Krieps delivers a wonderfully nuanced performances as Austria's Empress Elisabeth in the inventive and rightfully award-winning biopic Corsage. And a terrific cast brings a more introspective tone to the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a blockbuster that I liked better than the first film, mainly because it dodges the usual Marvel pitfalls. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Bears • Wakanda Forever
Homebody • Being Thunder
PERHAPS AVOID:
A Couple • Dear Zoe
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Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult star in the blackly comical The Menu, which tilts intriguingly from parody into horror. Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek team up with their children Jake Hoffman and Schuyler Fisk in the warmly dramatic romcom Sam & Kate. Romain Duris and Berenice Bejo join director Michel Hazanavicious for the witty and perhaps too-meta zombie movie pastiche Final Cut. Ryan Kwanten goes Blade Runner for the enigmatic futuristic Hong Kong noir Expired. The comedy Homebody creates an unusually knowing body-swap scenario. And the Latin American horror Blood-Red Ox is confusing but packed with clever details.

The Critics' Circle Film Section also held its annual lunch with the British Board of Film Classification, an event that has been virtual for the past two years. It was great to be back in-person again, learning about the BBFC's new endeavours and going through some of the borderline cases over the past year. And it was also nice to be in a room full of critics as well - for the second time in a week after last Thursday's special Critics' Circle all-sections award lunch for Emma Thompson.

Movies to this coming week include Lili Taylor and Jason Schwartzman in the romcom There There, Lukas Dhont's teen drama Close, Costa Rica's drama Clara Sola, the French animated comedy Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and the Indian action epic RRR. I'm also flying out to Southern California to visit my family and friends for a couple of weeks, and of course to watch more movies too.

Critical Week: Monumental

Screenings have been a bit slow in London during the Cannes Film Festival, so it's perhaps appropriate that I saw two French films this week. Romain Duris plays the eponymous tower-building character in the biopic Eiffel, which injects Hollywood-style melodramatic romance into a fascinating story. And Juliette Binoche is wonderful as always in Between Two Worlds, an earthy doc-style drama about a journalist who joins a community of very low-paid workers.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Luzzu • Cop Secret
The Perfect David • 18½
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There was also the offbeat Watergate thriller 18½, about two people who discover a copy of that "accidentally erased" tape. It's witty and very clever. And from China, Boonie Bears: Back to Earth is the eighth movie in a 10-year franchise, but only the first to get a UK release. It's a strikingly well-animated romp involving bears and aliens, with some terrific action set pieces and a surprisingly big story too. I also caught up with these two recent streaming releases...

Senior Year
dir Alex Hardcastle; scr Andrew Knauer, Arthur Pielli, Brandon Scott Jones 
with Rebel Wilson, Sam Richardson, Angourie Rice, Mary Holland, Zoe Chao, Justin Hartley, Chris Parnell, Jade Bender
22/US Paramount 1h51 ***
Refreshingly, this comedy never aspires to be anything more than a goofy romp that keeps us smiling and occasionally laughing. Slick and bouncy, the film's chirpy attitude makes up for a string of cheap jokes and a lack of anything substantial under the surface. The story centres on Stephanie (Wilson), who has just woken up after 20 years in a coma following a cheerleading accident. Now at 37, she wants to finish high school, again as head cheerleader and this time as prom queen. There are the obvious gags about about how the world has changed since Stephanie's heyday, including of course mobile phones, social media and Lady Gaga. Her best friend (Holland) is now the principal, the boy (Hartley) she loved is married to her nemesis (Chao), and the friend (Richardson) who had a secret crush on her is for some reason the school librarian. It's annoying that the writers never dig any deeper, because there's scope for a more layered comedy here. Instead they fall back on simplistic plotting, buckets of sentimentality and oddly vague nostalgia. But because the movie is so happily superficial, it just about does the trick as mindless entertainment.

Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers
dir Akiva Schaffer; scr Dan Gregor, Doug Mand
with Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, Will Arnett, KiKi Layne, JK Simmons, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael Key, Eric Bana, Dennis Haysbert, Tress MacNeille
22/US Disney 1h37 ***.
Intriguing reviews made me want to check out this new take on the iconic Disney chipmunks, set in a world where cartoon characters live alongside live-action people. Filled to the brim with cameos, it's a meta-comedy about the movie business. Years after their act broke up, Chip and Dale (voiced by Mulaney and Samberg) have gone their separate ways. Chip is selling insurance, while Dale has had "CGI surgery" and wants to reteam with Chip for a reboot of their 30-year-old hit TV show. Along with wildly inventive effects, witty sight gags and a surprisingly strong mystery plot involving bootleg cartoon characters, the film is a steady stream of hilarious pop culture references. There's even a trip to Uncanny Alley, where everyone has those creepy "Polar Express eyes". A deeply irreverent attitude infuses this film, which makes the barrage of gags unusually sharp and surprising, and the action sometimes feels thrilling too. But it's the character details that make this riotous romp unusually involving. 

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Things remain a bit quieter than usual next week as far as screenings go, but I have one rather big film, Baz Luhrmann's epic biopic Elvis, plus a few to watch at home, including the award-winning Italian drama Il Buco, the burlesque doc Baloney, the comical doc A Sexplanation and the shorts collection The Male Gaze: Fleeting Glances.

Flare 3: Sleep like a baby

The British Film Institute's 29th Flare: London LGBT Film Festival continues at the Southbank with a terrific range of screenings and events every day - and lots of filmmakers in attendance to both offer Q&As at screenings and mix with the audiences at parties and events around the venue. Here are some more highlights...

Tiger Orange
dir Wade Gasque; with Mark Strano, Frankie Valenti (pictured above) 14/US ****
An unusually strong script confronts some darkly resonant issues in a simple story about two brothers working out who they are both together and as individuals. The low budget may make it look simplistic, but the characters have an unusual complexity, and the themes are provocative and important... FULL REVIEW >

The New Girlfriend
dir Francois Ozon; with Romain Duris, Anais Demoustier 14/Fr ****.
Based on the Ruth Rendell novel, this slick, sexy film plays cleverly with genders to tell a remarkably entertaining story. A terrific cast makes the characters not only surprising but also thoroughly resonant. And writer-director Ozon juggles the plot and themes so effortlessly that it can't help but worm its way under the skin.

Dear White People
dir Justin Simien; with Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson 14/US ****
Almost too clever for its own good, this knowing comedy-drama plays with cliches using by placing parody within pastiche. Set in an American university, this sharply played film is populated by people trying to both fit into and rebel against racial, economic and sexuality stereotypes. It may be somewhat overpacked, but it's fiendishly clever and very funny.

Dressed as a Girl
dir-scr Colin Rothbart; with Jonny Woo, Scottee, Holestar 15/UK ***.
Focussing on a few shining stars from the London drag scene, this documentary is packed with telling observations as performers reveal the real person under the wigs and sequins. It's entertaining and enlightening, but the film is also rather fragmented, never quite building up a sense of momentum to bring new fans into the scene. (World premiere)

Do I Sound Gay?
dir David Thorpe; with David Thorpe, Susan Sankin 14/US ****
In the style of Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker Thorpe puts himself at the centre of a documentary about an intriguing issue everyone's aware of but nobody talks about: why gay men have distinct vocal patterns. Or do they? It's a fascinating topic, especially as Thorpe delves deeper into bigger issues about identity and equality. So in the end the film is both witty and surprisingly empowering. (Centrepiece film)

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CRITICAL WEEK

I had a few days out of circulation this week, but still managed to catch a few press screenings, including the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, which is funnier than it looks; the Anthony Hopkins thriller Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, which is oddly low-key and hard to engage with; the French drama Samba with Omar Sy and Charlotte Gainsbourg, which is long but sharply pointed and beautifully played; the scruffy French black The King of Escape, which is odd enough to be engaging; the Swedish coming-of-age drama Something Must Break, which is honest and original; and the documentary Altman, a wonderful film-by-film love letter to the iconic director.

Next week's films, in addition to those I'll catch at Flare, include Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in Fast & Furious 7, Keanu Reeves in John Wick, the Kiwi drama The Dark Horse, the German horror The Treatment and the Cannon studios doc Electric Boogaloo.

Critical Week: American pride

Even though it was made for the small screen, HBO's The Normal Heart is one of the biggest movies of the year - a fiercely intimate exploration of the 1980s Aids epidemic that not only grips on an emotional level but shows clearly which community of Americans should be proud of the way they approached the situation (hint, it's not the politicians). Thunderous performances by a first-rate cast (Taylor Kitsch and Mark Ruffalo are pictured above), Larry Kramer's sharp script (based on his 1985 play) and clever direction by Ryan Murphy make this a film that really should have been released on the big screen. [Full review on the website]

Films screened to the London press this week include Maleficent, Disney's revisionist take on Sleeping Beauty starring an imperiously fabulous Angelina Jolie as the eponymous no-longer-evil fairy. The tough drama Joe features a nicely against-type performance from Nicolas Cage and another star-making turn from young Tye Sheridan (see also Mud). Last week's costars Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou are back for Chinese Puzzle, a New York-set ensemble piece costarring Cecile De France and Kelly Reilly. It's the third in Cedric Klapisch's decade-long trilogy of silly-sweet rom-coms. And Omar received a deserved Oscar nomination for its complex story about a young Palestinian freedom fighter trying to find love as his world collapses around him.

Coming up this week: Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt live a day of warfare over and over again in Edge of Tomorrow, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill go back undercover for 22 Jump Street, Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron go for laughs in A Million Ways to Die in the West, Rosamund Pike and David Tennant have some fun in What We Did on Our Holiday, Karen Gillan faces the horror of Oculus, and a young boy comes of age in 1967 Palestine in When I Saw You.