LFF 9: At the movies

I decided to take a day off from the 56th BFI London Film Festival today - it was supposed to be a catch-up day seeing a few films I'd missed, but honestly I can't see everything! Instead I've been home writing. Not sure that was a wise choice - probably should have gone out for a bit of exercise. Anyway,  the red carpet last night featured Gemma Arterton and Terence Stamp at the Song for Marion premiere (below). And today Omar Sharif will attend the special screening of Lawrence of Arabia. There's only one day left in the festival, and the buzzy questions are (1) who will win at tonight's awards ceremony and (2) what will be tonight's surprise film? In the meantime, a few more highlights...

Seven Psychopaths
dir Martin McDonagh; with Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell 12/US ****
Both a freewheeling crime comedy and an astute exploration of the creative process, this clever film teeters on the brink of absurdity. But it's so much fun, and so brilliantly well-played, that it wins us over... REVIEW >

Song for Marion
dir Paul Andrew Williams; with Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave 12/UK ***
After London to Brighton and Cherry Tree Lane, you'd never expect this kind of heartwarming drama from Williams. Maybe he's just cleansing his palate, but at least he injects some dark shadows into a predictable story, even if it feels like a geriatric episode of Glee... REVIEW >

Sightseers
dir Ben Wheatley; with Alice Lowe, Steve Oram 12/UK ****.
As with both Down Terrace and Kill List, director Wheatley playfully bends genres in this romantic-comedy road movie so we never know what might happen next. because this is also a serial killer movie, which adds a jolt of adrenaline that's both entertaining and unexpectedly engaging... REVIEW >

Lawrence of Arabia
dir David Lean; with Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness 62/UK *****
Digitally restored for its 50th anniversary, this film looks jaw-dropping on the big screen with a bright 4K digital image. Yes, this is the epic of epics, a staggeringly big movie that tells a remarkably intimate true story... REVIEW >

Olympics Day 4: Go ahead, jump

London turned grey and cool this morning, with threatening skies and weather forecasts that have begun to sound far too familiar this summer: temperatures well below the seasonal average and more rain than normal. So apparently last week's gloriously hot summer days were an anomaly. Sigh.

I stayed out of the Olympics' way today, only catching up on a few things on TV and reading results online since I've been reporting all day on the events. I also made one trip across town to a film screening - an uneventful journey with fewer tourists than normal for a London summer. Clearly all the visitors are in the venues!

The big Games news today was Michael Phelps' unprecedented 19th Olympic medal - his first gold here in London - making him the most decorated Olympian in history. And he still has a few swimming events left here. Also, Britain won equestrian silver, but has yet to earn gold in these Games. Thankfully, several more hometown favourites are coming up in competition.

CRITICAL WEEK: Film-wise this week, I've caught screenings in between Olympic responsibilities. Two notable Cannes films were finally shown to UK critics, and I loved both of them: Ben Wheatley's Sightseers is yet another genius blending of genres (this is a road movie romance with a serial killer twist), and Leos Carax's Holy Motors is an indescribably strange and wonderfully wacky odyssey about fate and humanity. I also saw Step Up: Miami Heat (aka Step Up Revolution), the fourth entry in the throwaway dance mash-up series with cut-and-paste scripts and sexy cast members; Brit Marling in the moody but unsatisfying semi-sci-fi drama Sound of My Voice; and Ron Fricke's super high-def non-narrative globe-hopping exploration of humanity Samsara.

Coming up, there's every action hero you can name in The Expendables 2, Ben Stiller in the alien-invasion comedy The Watch, Tahar Rahim in the French romantic drama Our Children, and the restored and re-scored version of Alfred Hitchcock's silent classic The Lodger.