Critical Week: Over the borderline

Back in London after a two-week break, I've been catching up on several films, including the sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado (UK title Sicario 2: Soldado), a gritty and intensely gripping thriller following on from the more resonant first film. Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro and Isabel Moner are excellent. Tonal issues make the romcom Ideal Home surprisingly challenging - it feels like a gentle family film, but is packed with more provocative adult elements. Steve Coogan and Paul Rudd are superb at the centre. And Mary Shelley is a fascinating biopic about the author of Frankenstein, although it feels like it has smoothed out the real story. Elle Fanning is terrific in the title role.

A little further afield, My Life With James Dean is a gentle, wry French comedy about a filmmaker on a bizarre odyssey in a sleepy coastal town. It's artful, quirky and hilarious. And Postcards from the 48% is a solidly assembled doc digging into the issue of Brexit. It may be one-sided, but frankly there hasn't yet been a compelling argument in favour of leaving the EU, aside from emotional nationalism. Which makes the film seriously scary.

Coming up this week are screenings of the Dwayne Johnson action Skyscraper, Nick Offerman in Hearts Beat Loud, Emma Thompson in The Children Act, the comedy A Swingers Weekend and probably a few more as I continue to play catchup...

Critical Week: Never grow up

I took it relatively easy this week - only six films! And I neglected all of my screener discs and links to escape London for the rainy weekend. So this coming week will be a bit of a catch-up movie marathon. At screenings, there were several enjoyable surprises. Meryl Streep (above) is of course terrific as an ageing rock chick in the snappy family drama Ricki and the Flash. Tom Cruise (below) is lean and ready for action in the dark and involvingly gritty Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. And the terrific Emily Blunt is lean and tough in the riveting drug cartel thriller Sicario, ably supported by Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro on top form.

Less a horror movie than a dark drama about bullying, The Gift is a solid freak-out starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and actor turned promising writer-director Joel Edgerton. Danny Huston, Matthew Goode and Joe Cole do what they can with the waterlogged script of the underwater thriller Pressure. And Ian Ziering and Tara Reid are back for another silly romp in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No, which sees the budget increase but not the filmmakers' skills. At least they keep finding new ways to make us laugh.

Coming up this week, we have Amy Schumer in Trainwreck, Adam Sandler in Pixels, the teen romance Paper Towns, the star-packed doc Unity, the historical British drama Captain Webb and the Russian drama Stand. Plus the aforementioned catching up.