Critical Week: I've got a bad feeling

It's been another unusually busy week for this time of year in the screening rooms, with a steady stream, of movies to watch. I'd been hoping to get a break after awards season, but we are powering forward at full speed. So any down time will have to wait. Big releases are screening late these days, with three that are coming out this week: Ayo Edebiri leads the cast of Opus, a blackly comical horror film that isn't very scary. But Edebiri makes it very watchable, as does a scene-chewing John Malkovich. Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender sizzle in the snaky, intelligent thriller Black Bag, which refreshingly isn't about what you think it's about. And Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt lead an offbeat ensemble in The Electric State, a retro sci-fi adventure that's watchable but also forgettable.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Last Breath
Black Bag • Throuple
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Day the Earth Blew Up
ALL REVIEWS >

Other films included the perhaps too-emotional drama The Life of Chuck, with a superb ensemble led by Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan. The Parenting is an amusing meet-the-parents horror pastiche with Brian Cox, Edie Falco and Lisa Kudrow. It's funny and grisly, but never frightening. Infused with music, Throuple is an offbeat indie romance that knowingly bends the rules. And there were two Chinese films: the epic animated sequel Ne Zha 2 is visually dazzling, while the blackly comical thriller Brief History of a Family is riveting and surprising.

There were also two festival films. From South by Southwest, there was the sharply made teen comedy She's the He, and from WatchAUT, I enjoyed the offbeat drama of Peacock, starring the superb Albrecht Schuch. And I also caught two stage shows: Dear Martin at the Arcola Theatre and Drum Tao: The Dream at the Peacock Theatre.

This coming week I'll be watching two films with Pedro Pascal, the adventure Freaky Tales and the comedy-drama The Uninvited, plus Disney's live-action Snow White, Michel Hazanavicius' animated The Most Precious of Cargoes, Alain Guiraudie's Misericordia and the artificial intelligence doc The Thinking Game. In addition, the remake of The Wedding Banquet, starring Bowen Yang, opens BFI Flare film fest on Wednesday.

On the Road: Where's the party

Another week of sunshine in Southern California, spending rather too much time in the car driving up and down the 5 from Orange County (where I'm staying with family) and Hollywood (where awards-consideration screenings take place). My main purpose for this trip is to see friends and family, so it's a bonus to be able to take them to screenings with me. The biggest movie this week, screened right on the Paramount lot, was Damien Chazelle's 1920s Hollywood epic Babylon. There's so much going on that it's understandably uneven, but it's also dazzling, with a series of breathtaking set-pieces that need to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Steven Spielberg is also exploring the nature of filmmaking in The Fabelmans, his autobiographical film about growing up in a messy family while developing a love of storytelling. There's a lot to love about this film. Florence Pugh gives yet another powerfully involving performance in The Wonder, a provocative period drama set in Ireland and directed with style by Sebastian Lelio. The often outrageously over-the-top adaptation Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical is a lot of fun, with some darkly pointed themes and a scene-stealing Emma Thompson. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is a little more difficult to love, even if its stop-motion animation is wonderfully designed. As artful and passionate as it is, the dark story and dull songs are tricky to engage with. And Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi's Holy Spider is far more than a scary thriller based on the true story of a serial killer in Iran's holiest city; it's also a knowing, almost terrifyingly timely look at power dynamics in a nation where women are sidelined.

Films coming up this week include Noah Baumbach's White Noise, the spinoff-sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Disney's Strange World and the doc All That Breathes. I'm also travelling back to London next week - annoyingly missing the Avatar 2 screenings both in London (on Sunday) and Los Angeles (on Tuesday). I'll catch up with it later...

Critical Week: Take a load off

Returning home to London from Venice, I arrived in a nation in mourning, with a new monarch and prime minister. Meanwhile, I'm grappling with a backlog of festival reviews. Most are written in rough form, so I'm working to get them online bit by bit. And there are also new releases to keep up with.Confess, Fletch is the first film featuring the quick-thinking reporter since those two Chevy Chase movies in the '80s. This one is closer in tone to Gregory McDonald's Fletch novels (I've read a few of them), with Jon Hamm creating a more enjoyably deadpan and less silly take on the character. But the film is perhaps a bit underpowered to launch a new franchise.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Athena • In From the Side
Blonde • Strawberry Mansion
Funny Pages • Casablanca Beats
ALL REVIEWS >

I also caught up with Oliver Hermanus' superb Living, an inventive remake of Kurosawa's Ikiru with a terrific lead role for Bill Nighy as a 1950s London businessman who begins to see things from a new perspective.  There was another offbeat offering from Peter Strickland with the pointedly amusing Flux Gourmet, about musicians who mix sound with food. Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie lead a terrific ensemble cast. Finally, there was the gonzo horror of The Retaliators, an increasingly violent revenge thriller that gleefully preaches a seriously unhelpful message.

Lined up to watch this next week are Viola Davis in The Woman King, George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Ticket to Paradise, Lesley Manville in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, the British drama It Is In Us All, New Zealand drama The Justice of Bunny King, Korean drama In Front of Your Face, Japanese animation Inu-Oh and the movie club doc A Bunch of Amateurs.

LFF: Chin up

While it's packed to the brim with an astonishing array of high-profile movies and small gems from all over the world, the 65th BFI London Film Festival will probably be remembered just as much for all of the queuing involved. Today I got caught in a brief rainshower standing in a urine-soaked alleyway outside a cinema waiting to get into a press screening - which is something I've had to do for two to three hours each day between films. The things we do to watch movies we've read about but haven't had a chance to see yet! And in most but not all cases, it's well worth the effort...

The French Dispatch
dir-scr Wes Anderson; with Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand 21/Fr ****.
Wes Anderson creates yet another offbeat, fully realised universe in this witty homage to old-school journalism. With a fabulous cast of hundreds, including at least two dozen A-list stars, the film has a sprawling feel to it but remains engagingly intimate as it traces a series of contained stories. Mainly set in the 1970s, it's even more gorgeously designed than expected, packed with hilarious touches and audaciously inventive storytelling... FULL REVIEW >

Ron's Gone Wrong
dir Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine; voices Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer 21/US ***.
Lashings of goofy charm, wildly coloured imagery and frantic action make this resolutely silly animated romp enjoyable. And it even has a decent message buried under all the usual guff about the importance of family and friends. The filmmakers perhaps try a bit too hard to keep the jokes firing throughout the slapstick narrative. But it's ultimately impossible to resist a movie that's this warm and funny... FULL REVIEW >

Last Night in Soho
dir Edgar Wright; with Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy 21/UK ***
A luridly over-the-top sensibility makes this crazed London drama compulsively watchable. And while it looks terrific, the film becomes rather exhausting in the way it depicts a young woman's struggle with madness. Filmmaker Edgar Wright pours style into each scene, skilfully using real locations to playfully mirror the present day with the swinging '60s. And the superb ensemble is fully committed to even the most outrageous moments... FULL REVIEW >

True Things
dir Harry Wootliff; with Ruth Wilson, Tom Burke 21/UK **
Like an indulgent autobiographical first film, this British drama is so insular that that it becomes increasingly difficult to identify with the characters. Director-cowriter Harry Woodliff is actually adapting a novel, which adds an odd sense of distance to the material. It looks gorgeous with its swirly cinematography and dreamy editing, and Ruth Wilson gives a tremendous central performance. But the pushy filmmaking leaves it feeling empty.

Costa Brava, Lebanon
dir-scr Mounia Akl; with Nadine Labaki, Saleh Bakri 21/Leb ***.
With an earthy pace, this film set on the outskirts of Beirut is both a sparky family drama and a lament for a nation engulfed in corruption. It's skilfully shot in a terrific location, with a few surreal touches that reveal the characters' internal journeys. And its universal themes about justice, regret and expectation carry a nice kick, as the politics are deliberately drowned out by the personal story... FULL REVIEW >

Full reviews of festival films will be published as possible and linked at Shadows' LFF HOMEPAGE 
For full information, visit BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 

Critical Week: A proper belter

It was a long weekend in Britain, but the much-promised heatwave never materialised. It was warmish, but only sporadically sunny - basically like the entire summer has been. We haven't really had seasons this year, with a mild winter, chilly spring and a summer that has only rarely been warmer than 25C/75F. It's enough to make you want to scream. Thankfully, that's not what Jennifer Hudson was doing in the biopic Respect. Her performance is simply astonishing, never mimicry but rather inhabiting Aretha Franklin from the inside out, including her distinct way of singing. Her story is powerful too, even if the film feels a little standard (and overlong) for a biopic.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Shang-Chi • Annette
Misha and the Wolves 
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Last Job • Wildfire 
ALL REVIEWS >

Distinctly outside any boundaries, Sion Sono's Prisoners of the Ghostland stars a gruff Nicolas Cage as a man forced to rescue a damsel (Sofia Boutella) from a Japanese wasteland. It's utterly nuts, and surprisingly enjoyable. Tom Burke stars in The Show, a colourfully bonkers British horror featuring a parallel reality underworld, or something. And a Canadian horror, Bloodthirsty, takes a grisly but muted approach to the werewolf genre. All three of these were at FrightFest and have release dates coming soon. A more serious drama from Poland, The Champion of Auschwitz, recounts the involving true story of a boxer in a Nazi prison camp. It's remarkably grounded and powerful. The nicely observant drama A Wake digs into a family dynamic after a funeral, then shakes things up with a revelation. And the harrowing, edgy Danish thriller Shorta follows two cops caught up in an anti-police riot. I also caught up with one that I had missed a couple of weeks back...

Vivo
dir Kirk DeMicco; voices Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo 21/US ***.
Sony Animation's first musical was nabbed by Netflix, which made it hard to see on a big screen where its colourfully lush animation would have looked gorgeous. It's a lively tale that follows a cheeky honey bear (Miranda) from Havana who connects with a cheeky teen (Simo) in Key West, leading to a madcap adventure en route to Miami. There's a lot going on along the way, even if the plot itself is pretty simple. But it's populated by wonderfully lively characters (voices include Zoe Saldana, Brian Tyree Henry and the fabulous Gloria Estefan) and several terrific songs too. It's a little gem that adeptly keeps us smiling with a lovely Latin beat.

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Films to watch this coming week include Camila Cabello in Cinderella, Justice Smith in The Voyeurs, Jon Bernthal in Small Engine Repair, Jaboukie Young-White in Dating & New York, coming-of-age drama Iceland Is Best, queer horror comedy Death Drop Gorgeous, and the German courtroom drama The Collini Case. We also have the programme launch for October's London Film Festival.

FrightFest: Climbing the walls

Now in its 22nd year, London's FrightFest is one of the top horror film festivals globally, and features a number of world premieres among its lineup, plus filmmaker events. After last year's double virtual edition, this year's event was largely held live in Leicester Square, with a virtual element to help audiences outside London enjoy the fun. I don't usually attend the festival as a journalist, but I try to catch films where possible, and this year I saw more than usual, including a few very good ones...

Knocking
dir Frida Kempff; with Cecilia Milocco, Albin Grenholm 21/Swe ****
Cleverly shot with a focus on thoughts and feelings, this Swedish thriller has a slow-burn quality that inexorably pulls the audience into its web of unnerving fear. Director Frida Kempff, writer Emma Brostrom and actor Cecilia Milocco take us deep into the mind of an unhinged woman who feels that something around her isn't right. And she seems so convinced about it that she pulls us into the mystery... FULL REVIEW >

No Man of God
dir Amber Sealey; with Elijah Wood, Luke Kirby 21/US ***.
Based on transcripts and firsthand reports, this well-made drama explores the early days of criminal profiling in the mid-1980s. It's a brainy, talky film, largely featuring conversations between a killer and a federal agent. This makes it feel like a stage play, spiced up with visual flourishes by director Amber Sealey. It's a darkly intriguing film, expertly assembled and performed, even if the subject matter is a bit well-worn... FULL REVIEW >

Prisoners of the Ghostland
dir Sion Sono; with Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella 21/Jpn ***
Heavily stylised, this bonkers action horror is set in a colourfully dystopian version of Japan crossed with the Wild West and populated by an international cast of quirky characters. Sudden explosions of action, violence and song keep the audience on its toes. Director Sion Sono playfully indulges in outrageously overwrought imagery, sets and costumes, creating a deranged comic book-style atmosphere that feels far too haphazard to fully come together... FULL REVIEW >

John and the Hole
dir Pascual Sisto; with Charlie Shotwell, Michael C Hall 21/US **.
A coming-of-age drama with a sinister twist, this film retains an unnervingly hushed tone throughout its steadily paced narrative. The visuals are eye-catching, and performances are skilfully understated, echoing Michael Haneke in bleak outlook and Yorgos Lantimos in surreal-fable tone. Director Pascual Sisto deploys ominous horror-style elements to crank up the menace, and the script plays with some big ideas, but the minimalistic approach never offers much insight... FULL REVIEW >

The Show
dir Mitch Jenkins; with Tom Burke, Siobhan Hewlett 20/UK **.
With the look of a colourful comic-book, this offbeat British fantasy by Mitch Jenkins and Alan Moore is packed with playful stylistic flourishes. At the centre is a noir-style investigation that refreshingly defies expectations, spiralling through a series of encounters that play with some lurid connections between the real and spirit world. It's sharply well-made, and packed with terrific characters, but there's little going on under the gorgeous surface... FULL REVIEW >

When the Screaming Stops
dir Conor Boru; with Ed Hartland, Jared Rogers 21/UK ***
Dryly hilarious, this British horror comedy is packed with deadpan asides and nutty revelations in the mock-doc style of What We Do in the Shadows. Its entertainingly silly tone jars against the pitch-black premise, as whiplash shifts in tone and some obvious plotting undermine the clever premise. And without much character nuance, the mix of blood-thirsty murder with goofy jokes adds an awkwardness to the mindless fun... FULL REVIEW >

Bloodthirsty
dir Amelia Moses; with Lauren Beatty, Greg Bryk 20/Can ***
With slick visuals and a detailed set-up, this is not your typical werewolf horror. It's also far too serious for its own good, even with twisted touches that add compelling observations about the aggression and sacrifice required for artistic success. It's grisly enough to hold the attention, but some earthy energy in the writing and direction would have allowed the story and characters to resonate much more strongly... FULL REVIEW >

Sweetie, You Won't Believe It
dir Yernar Nurgaliyev; with Asel Kalieyva, Danyar Alshinov 20/Kaz ***.
Loud and abrasive, this jumpy comedy from Kazakhstan has a lot of energy as it mixes Three Stooges-style slapstick with bumbling criminal action and some outrageous grisliness. With six credited writers, the script is a mess, piling random nonsense on top of corny plot points and lots of illogical chaos. But the gleefully gruesome approach and some absurd character touches manage to turn it into an entertaining guilty pleasure... FULL REVIEW >

See Shadows' FRIGHTFEST HOMEPAGE for a full list of films and links to reviews.

For more information, visit FRIGHTFEST