Critical Week: Eavesdropping

During our second short work week in a row, there were once again fewer press screenings than usual. But I still kept busy, and caught several things. Most notable perhaps is last year's acclaimed Belgian drama Julie Keeps Quiet, a powerfully well-observed film about a teen girl (Tessa Van den Broeck, above) navigating a very tricky situation. On a much larger scale, Ben Affleck is back with the action sequel The Accountant 2, which features more sparky sibling banter between the autistic finance/battle savant and his live-wire brother (Jon Bernthal). It's a lot of fun, even more engaging this time around, and still preposterous.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Treading Water • Julie Keeps Quiet
Wind, Tide & Oar
ALL REVIEWS >

Lily Collias is excellent in Good One, a relaxed drama about a teen girl on a hiking trip with her dad (James Le Gros). It's a stunner of a film from first-time feature writer-director India Donaldson. David Mamet is back with the talky but intriguing drama, Henry Johnson, starring Evan Jonigkeit as a young lawyer who has a series of very pointed conversations with various men as his life goes off the rails. Christopher Abbott has lots of internal angst in the moody, mopey drama Swimming Home, beautifully filmed in Greek locations. Sandra Huller has fun in the engaging but overlong German caper comedy-drama Two to One, based on a true story set in newly post-communist East Berlin. I also attended a big-screen preview of Apple's new adventure/conservationist series The Wild Ones, and am now looking forward to further episodes in the summer. And I saw the stage shows Snow White: The Sacrifice at Sadler's Wells and Neil LaBute's How to Fight Loneliness at the Park.

This coming week, I'll be watching Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts, Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in Another Simple Favour, Nicolas Cage in The Surfer, Jack Lowden in Tornado, Charlie Tahan in Things Like This, Karim Ainouz's Motel Destino and Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope.

Critical Week: The boy is back

There weren't many movies for me this week, as the television show I'm working on had very long days. But I managed to catch three of this week's releases. For the fourth live-action film, Hellboy: The Crooked Man returns to its snarky roots. Skilfully made, this is a snappy, edgy and genuinely horrific film, with a strongly witty central performance from Jack Kesy.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
My Old Ass • Sleep
The Outrun • Megalopolis
ALL REVIEWS >

In the cinema, I saw Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious passion project Megalopolis, which is a real stunner. It's a bit messy and over-reaching, but the scale and artistry are simply glorious, as are the meaty performances from an eclectic cast that includes Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito and Shia LaBeouf, plus key roles for Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne and Talia Shire. And the drama Rez Ball, set in the Navajo nation, is a rousing basketball movie that plays closely by the genre rules. The setting provides strong topicality.

This coming week will be another very busy one working on-set, but I'm also planning to see Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie a Deux, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in La Maquina, Quentin Dupieux's comedy biopic Daaaaaali, the romcom All Kinds of Love, the drama Beauty Grace Malice and the surfing doc Maya and the Wave, plus a couple of live performances if possible. 

 

Venezia79: New horizons

After 24 hours in Italy, I'm finding my rhythms here. This year I'm commuting across the lagoon each day, which is a lovely way to start and end the day. And I'm remembering the fun of lurking in the crowd at the red carpet to see the super glammed-up stars (yesterday was Julianne Moore, Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith and more). Yes, its Day 2 and the 79th Venice Film Festival is fully underway, with plenty of public glitz while journalists quietly scurry around out of sight. Some more highlights...

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

dir Alejandro G Inarritu; with Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani 22/Mex ***

If anything, this film makes it clear that nobody says "no" to Alejandro G Inarritu. It would be hard to imagine a more indulgent, rambling, throw-everything-at-the-screen kind of movie if you tried. But this also isn't a filmmaker you can easily dismiss, as each sequence is skilfully laced with moments of visual brilliance, thematic provocations and darkly emotional honesty. Channelling Fellini at his most flamboyant, Inarritu pours a lot of personal and artistic energy into this epic, although a leaner, earthier approach would have been more effective.

Tár
dir-scr Todd Field; with Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss 22/US ****
Overstuffed as it is, this epic drama spends pretty much its entire extended running time poking the audience with various sticks. So watching the film is frequently exhilarating. There is so much to think about swirling through the dense dialog and drama that we begin to wonder what writer-director Todd Field is saying here, apart from the obvious commentary about how personal actions and public reactions can combine in a toxic brew in this social media age. And there’s no denying that Cate Blanchett delivers a jaw-dropping performance.

Padre Pio
dir Abel Ferrara; with Shia LaBeouf, Cristina Chiriac 22/It ***
Shot in striking locations under the glaring sun, while also delving into the tortured visions of a pious man, this certainly isn't your usual biopic about a saint. But then it's directed and cowritten by Abel Ferrara, who always refuses to play by the rules. It looks amazing, and overflows with big themes and fascinating people, but the story gets a bit lost. Strongly textured naturalistic performances add some weight, but the subdued pace and anecdotal structure are tricky to engage with. And it's more intriguing for its depiction of a historical event.

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

dir-scr Nancy Buirski; with Jon Voight, Brenda Vaccaro 22/US  ****
This fascinating documentary places the 1969 classic Midnight Cowboy into its social context, offering unexpected insight though a wide range of connections. Filmmaker Nancy Buirski weaves together a wonderful variety of film clips to paint a picture of a movie that managed to strike a nerve at just the right time, both in the Hollywood industry and the culture at large. It's also great to revisit the making of such an iconic film as told firsthand in the words of people who were in the cast and crew.

The Fabulous Ones [Le Favolose]
dir Roberta Torre; with Porpora Marcasciano, Nicole De Leo 22/It ***.
With a wonderfully cheeky tone, this meandering Italian documentary-drama is a joyful exploration of connections between a group of middle-aged Italian trans women. It's a warm, honest film that reflects a varied range of feelings and experiences. Beautifully shot and edited, the movie is assembled artistically by director-cowriter Roberta Torre, revealing a wonderfully matter-of-fact affection for these colourful people who refuse to be normal, so instead they are fabulous. 

Full reviews will be linked at Shadows VENICE FILM FESTIVAL page, eventually! 

Critical Week: Dancing in the aisles

Being awards season, there are quite a few screenings that include a Q&A with the cast and crew - all held virtually this year. I had three of these this past week: Promising Young Woman is a vicious, blackly comical thriller with a terrific Carey Mulligan (pictured above with Bo Burnham). It's sharply pointed and darkly entertaining. The Prom is a glittery musical concoction from Ryan Murphy starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells and Kerry Washington, among others. It's over-the-top in many ways, but has nicely serious undercurrents. And Pieces of a Woman is a very dark drama starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf. It's involving and beautifully put together, but rather grim.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Red, White and Blue
Nomadland • Ammonite
Falling • Black Bear • Host 
PERHAPS AVOID:
Buddy Games
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters 
FULL REVIEWS>

Otherwise it was the usual eclectic bunch. Drew Barrymore has both lead roles in The Stand In, a comedy that's not as silly as it looks, knowingly skewering show business myths. This week's Small Axe movie by Steve McQueen is the breathtaking Red, White and Blue, starring John Boyega as a young cop with a conscience. Viggo Mortensen writes, directs, stars in and composes the score for Falling, a pungent drama about a man dealing with his senile, increasingly bigoted father (a terrific Lance Henricksen). Parallel is a crowd-pleasing sci-fi concoction with a twisty plot and a hint of thematic depth, while Muscle is a gritty British drama that takes an unsettling dive into toxic masculinity. There was also Jack and the Beanstalk, a deliciously hilarious traditional British panto shot in back gardens during the pandemic. And The American Boys is a collection of six sensitive coming-of-age shorts, all very well made.

I have a lot to watch over the coming week, including the final two Small Axe films Alex Wheatle and Education, Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal, Tessa Thompson in Sylvie's Love, Sienna Miller in Wander Darkly, Laura Dern in Trial by Fire, and acclaimed foreign titles Funny Boy, The Weasel's Tale and Cocoon. I also have an actual physical catch-up screening of the British horror Saint Maud. Yes, cinemas are open again, again.

Critical Week: A pie in the face

I caught up with a bunch of films opening this week in the US and UK, including some high-profile ones. Written by Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy is an autobiographical drama about the actor's relationship with his father (whom he plays on-screen). It's seriously gorgeous filmmaking. Last Christmas is a holiday comedy-romance from Paul Feig and Emma Thompson, starring (cool casting alert!) Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. It's charming, funny and ultimately thoughtful. The Good Liar is a guilty pleasure about two old folks (Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren) caught up in a con. The wobbly plot is fun, riding on the actors' charisma. Roland Emmerich directs Midway, an entertaining special-effects action adventure about the pivotal WWII battle, with a strong cast manfully grappling with wooden dialog. And the animated feature Klaus looks a little too digital, but its derivative Christmas origin story is told with spiky humour and some enjoyable twists.

In the arthouse department, Terrence Malick's latest wonder is A Hidden Life, based on a true story, so it has a more forceful narrative than his films usually do, even with minimal dialog. It's the powerful story of a man who quietly stood by his principles in Austria under Nazi rule. From Senegal, Atlantics is a haunting drama about a young woman in love with the wrong guy. And it has a supernatural wrinkle that deepens its themes. From Ecuador, The Longest Night (La Mala Noche) could have been a cliched tale of a hooker with a heart of gold, but it becomes much more than that with its gritty plot and complex characters. And there's a restored rerelease for the 1985 drama Buddies, a beautifully made story of friendship that was one of the first films to address the Aids epidemic.

This coming week is another collection of contenders and other releases, including Greta Gerwig's new take on Little Women, Cynthia Erivo in Harriet, the Hamlet riff Ophelia, the British black comedy Kill Ben Lyk, the dance-musical Romeo & Juliet: Beyond Words, and the acclaimed doc For Sama. I also have a few stage shows to watch, just for some fresh air!

London Film Fest: Hat's off!

The 63rd London Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday with a gala premiere for Armando Iannucci's take on Dickens with The Personal History of David Copperfield. This is the kind of festival where you know there are parties, but you're not invited to any. And I'm not the kind of person who chases invitations. So there are stars around the festival, but they rarely cross paths with either press or audience members. That said, Iannucci did come in person to chat to the press after the screening on Wednesday morning, so that makes a start! And I do have appointments to interview various actors and filmmakers over the next 10 days. The trick is finding time to write and sleep in between watching movies. It's Day 1 and I'm already exhausted. Here are some highlights...

The Personal History of David Copperfield
dir Armando Iannucci; with Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton 19/UK ***. 
After taking on Russian history with The Death of Stalin, Armando Iannucci turns to Charles Dickens with this elaborately funny and relatively faithful adaptation. Of course, the film is laced with the filmmaker's usual quick-fire wit and engagingly ridiculous characters, but it also maintains an undercurrent of deep sadness in its timely tale of income inequality and social injustice. With a mostly happy ending, naturally.

Clemency
dir-scr Chinonye Chukwu; with Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff 19/US ***
A somewhat overwrought sensibility kind of undermines this hushed, intense death row drama. Where it needs to be coolly aloof, the film indulges in gyrating emotional fireworks. This give the actors plenty of scenery to chomp on, but it waters down the power of the writer-director Chinonye Chukwu's story. Still, the film makes important comments about the issue of capital punishment, without ever preaching... FULL REVIEW >

The Peanut Butter Falcon
dir-scr Tyler Nilson, Mike Schwartz; with Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson 19/US ***.
A warmly offbeat road movie, this drama takes a fable-like approach that becomes increasingly engaging as the story progresses. It's beautifully shot in American coastal wetlands, with an evocative song score and superbly unfussy performances from the cast. First-time feature filmmakers Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz refreshingly ground everything in a matter-of-fact tone that draws out the themes without ever pushing them... FULL REVIEW >

Monos
dir Alejandro Landes; with Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias 19/Col ****
Dramatically filmed in an epic landscape with a Lord of the Flies sensibility, this wildly inventive Colombian thriller has an earthy, honest tone and a plot that's unpredictable and often unnerving. With its almost allegorical style, the film is a bracing depiction of both animalistic humanity and lost youth, echoing war-zones around the world. This adds a proper kick of both intrigue and resonance... FULL REVIEW >

You Don’t Nomi
dir Jeffrey McHale
with Adam Nayman, David Schmader, Haley Mlotek, Jeffrey Conway, Paul Verhoeven, Elizabeth Berkley, Gina Gershon, Joe Eszterhas
release US Apr.19 tff, UK Oct.19 lff • 19/US 1h32 ****

A fascinating exploration of the notorious 1996 drama Showgirls, this documentary asks whether it's a masterpiece or a turkey. Or maybe it's both at the same time. Certainly, Paul Verhoeven's film has become a cult classic in the two decades since it was declared the worst film of the year (it swept the Razzies). With comments by journalists, academics and commentators, plus archival interviews with the actors and filmmakers, this is a deep dive into why such an obviously trashy movie has had such an indelible impact. It gets a little sidelined into the film's cultural impact (which is rather dubious), but it's all great fun.

Showgirls was dismissed on its release, this doc suggests, because Verhoeven was far too comfortable with using nudity and sexuality at the centre of a Hollywood movie, especially one with strong female leads. In Europe this isn't such a problem, and director McHale includes extensive clips from Verhoeven's Dutch films before and after his American sojourn (there are also plenty of scenes from RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct). It's fascinating to hear experts talk about the over-the-top acting, Eszterhas' blatantly in-your-face script and Verhoeven's trashy eye. On the other hand, the film also contains serious themes that echo elements of society most viewers (and pretentious critics) don't want to face.

In other words, it's not a fluke that Showgirls has become a beloved classic. And that's not just because it's so bad it's good. It's actually a technically adept film with astute directorial touches everywhere. So there's more to the story. And in exploring the shattered career of the film's star Berkeley, this doc begins to touch on a much bigger topic about the underlying sexism of both Hollywood and all of America.

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CRITICAL WEEK

Of course, I also had to watch a few non-festival films this past week, including Joaquin Phoenix storming the cinema in Joker, Will Smith doubled in the rather standard action movie Gemini Man, Eddie Murphy's terrific turn in the groovy Dolemite Is My Name, Chris Morris' gut punch of a political comedy satire The Day Shall Come and the haunting Polish post-war thriller Werewolf.

Critical Week: Monkey business

The onslaught of family-friendly movies continued at press screening this week, and I think we might have seen everything now in this particular wave. The biggest movie is Dora and the Lost City of Gold, starring Isabela Moner, Eva Longoria and a scene-stealing Michael Pena as the explorer family on the hunt for a legendary Inca city. It's very, very silly, but also a lot of fun. The Art of Racing in the Rain, by contrast, takes the heartwarming approach to a story about a dog and his race-driver master (Milo Ventimiglia). It's even sillier. As for animation, there was UglyDolls, a lively and engaging if relentlessly corny fable about misfit toys. And Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion is finely animated and quite sophisticated in its humour, even it if it's also thoroughly ridiculous.

More serious fare included the offbeat drama The Peanut Butter Falcon, an involving and gorgeously shot and performed road movie starring Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson. Halle Berry and Daniel Craig star in Kings, an uneven but audacious experiential take on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The British drama The Last Tree is a strikingly beautiful coming-of-age drama that's emotionally resonant but never feels terribly deep. Also from Britain, Wicked Witches is a very cheaply made but thoroughly nasty horror about female vampires (not actually witches). And the American indie Ecco is an ambitious thriller that struggles on various fronts.

This coming week's screenings include Julianne Moore in After the Wedding, Naomi Watts in Luce, Lupita Nyong'o in Little Monsters, the pre-teen drama Good Boys, the rom-com One Last Night and the Iranian drama Permission. I'm also watching films that will feature at this year's FrightFest, later this month in London.

Critical Week: Smile for the camera

This week was supposed to be a quiet pause to regain my breath after the Venice Film Festival and to get ready for the London Film Festival - press screenings start on Monday in advance of the festival itself (4-15 Oct). But it hasn't worked out like that. This was a busy week too! Screenings included the new Armando Ianucci film The Death of Stalin, a hilariously pointed political comedy set in 1953 Moscow with an ace cast of scene-stealers including Jason Isaacs, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin and Jeffrey Tambor (pictured above with others).

Annette Bening and Jamie Bell are excellent in the skilfully made British comedy-drama Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, based on a memoir about the final years of Oscar-winning screen siren Gloria Grahame. Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts shine in the gripping and sometimes a bit murky The Glass Castle, based on a memoir about growing up with anti-establishment parents.

Sverrir Gudnason and Shia LaBeouf take on the title roles in Borg vs McEnroe, a lively, beautifully observed biopic about the iconic tennis rivalry, set during the 1980 Wimbledon final. Robert Pattinson plays a low-life criminal loser in Good Time, a luridly stylish all-night odyssey that stretches credibility but holds the interest. And an ensemble of solid British actors features in Brakes, a multi-strand improvised movie about break-ups that's scruffy and funny.

In the diary for this next week is a mix of festival and mainstream films: Reese Witherspoon in Home Again,Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name, Lola Kirke and Zoe Kravitz in Gemini, the horror thriller The Ritual, Russian marital drama Loveless, Japanese action movie Blade of the Immortal, Zambian drama I Am Not a Witch,arthouse thriller Let the Corpses Tan and Afghan filmmaker doc The Prince of Nothingwood.

LFF 2: Looking for trouble

The 60th London Film Festival demonstrated its size today with a blinding array of screenings all over the city. And in the press zone, our screenings were all overcrowded, vividly showing that (1) the festival has too many movies, (2) the wildly popular films are being screened too few times, and (3) there are too many journalists and industry professionals who need to see them. But then, this is a massive festival that's covered all over the world. It may not feature many proper world premieres, but it's bringing the best of the premiere festivals to an audience that's clamouring for more of this kind of programming. Some highlights from Thursday...

American Honey
dir-scr Andrea Arnold; with Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf 16/UK **. 
Filmmaker Andrea Arnold astutely slices through American youth culture with this meandering road trip, which is gorgeously photographed by Robbie Ryan and played with bracing honesty by its fresh-faced cast (pictured above). But with so little structure to the plot, the extended running time feels at least an hour too long. Especially since the events stop making logical sense and the characters stubbornly refuse to take their own internal journeys.

La La Land
dir-scr Damien Chazelle; with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone 16/US ****.
This colourful musical about Los Angeles is both a celebration and a cautionary tale about the city of dreams. Its buoyant tone and fizzy performances make it a delight from start to finish, even when things turn rather dark along the way. Writer-director Damien Chazelle proves that Whiplash was no fluke: this is a bravura display of pure cinematic joy. FULL REVIEW >

King Cobra
dir-scr Justin Kelly; with Garrett Clayton, Christian Slater 16/US ***
Based on an outrageous true story, this film grips the audience with its colourful characters and unpredictable situations. But the script struggles to find a point of view, which means that it's not easy to identify with anyone on-screen, so it's difficult to find the emotional core to what happens. A more focussed dramatic approach might have made a better film, but this is still a riveting story.

Moonlight
dir-scr Barry Jenkins; with Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland 16/US ****
With its intimate approach and deeply resonant themes, this film gets under the skin right from the start, putting us in the shoes of the lead character at three points in his life. His journey to self-discovery is difficult, partly because he is painfully withdrawn due to his tough life experiences. And what this movie has to say is so important that it deserves all the the attention and awards it gets.

Mirzya
dir Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; with Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami Kher 16/Ind ***
Infused with music and history, this bold Bollywood epic parallels a modern story of forbidden love against a mythological romance. The settings and design work are stunning, with frequent cutaways to elaborately choreographed songs. So even if it all feels somewhat corny for Western audiences, the grand scale keeps it entertaining. FULL REVIEW >

And along with La La Land, there were two films I saw in Venice screening today in London: Francois Ozon's terrific post-war drama Frantz and Stephane Brize's deconstructed 19th century drama A Woman's Life.

LFF 10: At the end of the war

Brad Pitt invaded London to wrap up the 58th London Film Festival tonight with his World War II batttle epic Fury. He was accompanied by his entire tank team (around Pitt above: Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña and Jon Bernthal) as well as filmmaker David Ayer, and their press conference following the morning screening was a combination of reverence for veterans and brotherly camaraderie developed over the shooting process.

Meanwhile, journalists feel like we've been through a war since press screenings started in mid-September - averaging three or four movies a day since - but it's all over now, and hopefully we can get back to full nights of sleep. Although on Wednesday, I'm heading to Abu Dhabi to serve on the jury of their film festival 23-31 October. But that will feel like a holiday compared to London! Until then, here are some final highlights....

Fury
dir David Ayer; with Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf 14/UK ***
Writer-director Ayer makes no attempt to update the rah-rah bombast of the WWII genre, indulging in big action, the usual plot points, faux heroism and "war is hell" rhetoric. The film is sharply assembled and very nicely acted by a terrific cast, but it ultimately feels oddly pointless.

3 Hearts
dir Benoit Jacquot; with Benoit Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg 14/Fr 1h46 ***.
A twisty love story shot and edited as if it's a dark thriller, this odd film is utterly riveting mainly because it's impossible to predict what the characters are going to do next. At its core, this is a love triangle. But the film is assembled with attention to the most insinuating, creepy detail, confident enough to allow the characters to slip in and out of sympathy along the way.

Second Coming
dir Debbie Tucker Green; with Nadine Marshall, Idris Elba 14/UK **
Beautifully shot with an attention to internal intensity, this low-budget British drama should carry an emotional wallop. But filmmaker Tucker Green infuriatingly refuses to fill in any details, leaving dialog incomplete, the plot blurry and the characters' feelings as mere hints of something bigger. The acting feels raw and very personal, but without having a clue what's happening the film remains maddeningly elusive.

President

dir Mohsen Makhmalbaf; with Misha Gomiashvili, Dachi Orvelashvili 14/Geo 1h45 ****

Now based in London, exiled Iranian filmmaker Makhmalbaf pulls no punches in this blackly comical political adventure. Set in an "unnamed country" (it was filmed in Georgia), it's a story of political oppression told from perspectives that are rarely represented on screen with this much honesty and warm humour, forcing the audience to consider the themes from unthinkable angles.

Critical Week: Sheer ambition

Last week was one for screenings of seriously ambitious movies. Stalingrad is one of the biggest budget Russian epics ever made, documenting the historical pivotal WWII battle as a massive 3D show of heroism. Not exactly the most delicately nuanced movie of the year, but utterly riveting. And then there was Lars Von Trier's two-part Nymphomaniac, a four-hour exploration of the complexities of human sexuality, specifically the feminine variety, through the eyes of a woman who thinks she's an extreme example.

Smaller films were no less inventive. From Belgium, The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears is a mind-bending odyssey that folds David Lynch into Italian giallo in ways that are disorienting and rather awesome. And from the USA, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty is an involving, kaleidoscopic look at a relationship that never quite was, mainly due to expectations.

As a counterpoint, we had the blunt simplicity of the car racing romp Need for Speed, starring Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper and Imogen Poots, and the British melodrama The Fold, starring Catherine McCormack as an Anglican priest grappling with grief over the death of her teen daughter. Eerily, both of these costar actresses named Dakota - Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) and Blue Richards (The Golden Compass), respectively.

This coming week we have Liam Neeson's airborne thriller Non-Stop, Aaron Eckhart in I Frankenstein, the animated adventure Mr Peabody & Sherman, the remake We Are What We Are, the festival favourite The Rocket and the doc Beyond the Edge. I'll also have a report on the 34th London Critics' Circle Film Awards, which are being held on Sunday night.

Critical Week: Moonshine boys

John Hillcoat's neo-Western led the charge for London-based critics with press screening of his Cannes hit Lawless, a 1930s bootlegging drama featuring screen-shredding performances from Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman, plus a decent turn from Shia LaBeouf and another meaty role for Jessica Chastain. We also finally caught up with Disney-Pixar's terrific new adventure Brave, featuring an unusually strong female protagonist and gorgeous Scottish landcapes. And we also saw Dax Shepard's energetic action rom-com Hit & Run, with he wrote and co-directed as well as starring alongside Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold.

Less mainstream screenings included two genre-bending low-budget films: the emotionally potent British drama My Brother the Devil, and the intriguingly offbeat American rom-com Shut Up and Kiss Me. There were three docs: the astonishingly animated "untrue" story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman in A Liar's Autobiography, a more standard bio-doc from obviously family-approved sources in I Am Bruce Lee, and Chris Paine's intriguingly people-centric sequel Revenge of the Electric Car. Finally, I finally caught up with Luis Buñuel's surreal 1972 classic The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which is not only pure genius, but looks great after a digital restoration for its 40th birthday.

This coming week we have Meryl Streep in Hope Springs, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Hysteria, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Premium Rush, Dakota Fanning in Now Is Good, the British music-scene ensemble rom-com Turbulence and the year's most anticipated film, Chris Nolan's final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.


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S H A D O W S   O N   T H E   T U B E
I'm only watching three television shows at the moment... 

• Episodes finished its second series with a bit of a wimper. This season wasn't nearly as sharp as the first, although it had its moments, and is still watchable thanks to engaging performances, mainly from Tamsin Grieg, Matt LeBlanc and a sometimes slightly too-clownish Stephen Mangan. If they return for a third series, let's hope the writing gets much edgier. And that they replace that awful opening title sequence.
• True Blood is charging ahead in its fifth year, throwing as much madness at the screen as possible. The whole premise is a bit stale now, but it's still hugely entertaining thanks to the beautiful, often naked cast members. It's also becoming fun to try to guess which new supernatural being will be introduced next - this week's "fire demon" was pretty hilarious, in a grisly sort of way. And while we always knew they'd being back Russell, his reappearance draws a genuine chill of dread, which is rare for TV.
• The Newsroom is typical Aaron Sorkin: smart dialog that's deeply overwritten but thoroughly enthralling. The show kind of cheats by being set a couple of years in the past, where it can merrily revise news-reporting history with the same kind of wish-fulfilment that The West Wing provided about the White House. While the backstage melodrama is kind of corny, the newscast scenes are genuinely thrilling. And this week's appearance from Jane Fonda was simply fantastic.