Critical Week: Dance the night away

It's been another relatively quiet week for me at the cinema, as I have spent most of my time organising the London Critics' Circle Film Awards – we're holding our 45th ceremony on Sunday night, and there's rather a lot to do to prepare for the starry evening. It's always an unusually intimate, relaxed awards show, with A-listers mixing with rising stars and of course the critics themselves. Highlights will be giving special awards to Daniel Craig and Zoe Saldaña. The afterparty will be great fun.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Other Land
Saturday Night • Hard Truths
ALL REVIEWS >

So I only had time to watch a couple of movies. There was the goofy romcom You're Cordially Invited with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, funny enough to be entertaining, but nothing special. And the blackly comical thriller Companion is smart and inventive, with terrific central performances from an ensemble cast that includes Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid. I attended a rather fabulous big-screen preview of the Disney+ TV series Paradise, attended by James Marsden, Sterling K Brown and Julianne Nicholson. And there was also a theatre press night, with the dark comedy The Gift at the Park Theatre.

This coming week, I'll be catching up with Renee Zellweger, who's back for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Ryan Destiny in The Fire Inside and Francois Ozon's dark drama When Autumn Falls. There's also the press night for Antigone (On Strike) at the Park Theatre.

Critical Week: Ignite the light

My work schedule on a TV crew was a bit lighter this week, so I was able to see a few screenings. These included the documentary Will & Harper, attended by Will Ferrell, Harper Steele and director Josh Greenbaum. It's a gorgeously involving film focussed on a long-term friendship, and its topicality makes it important as well. Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Keegan-Michael Key and director Josh Cooley came along to a screening of Transformers One, the hugely entertaining animated origin story that's packed with comedy and action.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Substance • Will & Harper
Transformers One
Girls Will Be Girls
ALL REVIEWS >

Filmmaker RaMell Ross creates a stunning visual style for Nickel Boys, a powerful drama about a teen reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. It's also beautifully played, unusually vivid and involving. From Britain, Portraits of Dangerous Women is a light-hearted multi-strand drama about a group of people whose lives intersect unexpectedly, while Inherit the Witch is a bonkers horror thriller that enjoyably evokes freaky classics. And Notice to Quit is a likeable but rather too-busy comedy starring Michael Zegen as a single dad at the end of his rope. 

This coming week, I'm planning to see Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, Joseph Gordon Levitt in Killer Heat, Alice Lowe's Timestalker, Hellboy: The Crooked Man and the documentary Rez Ball, plus anything else I can find time to see while working long days. 

Critical Week: Everybody wants to rule the world

While the television is covered with major sporting events at the moment, the gloomy weather is driving people into the cinemas. And there are plenty of things worth seeing. As usual, I'm a bit ahead of the pack on many of the films I saw this week. But I never heard about a press screening for Despicable Me 4, so I bought a ticket and was happy to find it the best in the franchise so far. It's still fast and blissfully nutty, but there's a smart edge to it this time. I also caught the British animated adventure Kensuke's Kingdom, based on the beloved Michael Morpugo novel about a young boy stranded on an almost deserted island. It's beautifully designed and well-written.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sisi & I • Problemista
Despicable Me 4
Fly Me to the Moon
ALL REVIEWS >

In live-action, there was Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum subtly falling for each other in the Apollo 11 comedy-drama Fly Me to the Moon, which is colourful and very charming. Jacques Audiard's new film Emilia Perez won multiple prizes at Cannes, notably for the staggering central performances in a bold, moving story about violence and transformation. Sandra Huller is as terrific as always in Sisi & I, as the handmaiden to the Austrian empress; the film is witty, inventive and involving. The Korean horror Sleep begins as a sharply well-made light drama about sleep-walking before turning genuinely freaky. And from Iran, My Favourite Cake is a warm and hugely involving late-in-life romance with a big emotional kick. On stage, I attended the opening cabaret of this month's London Clown Festival at Soho Theatre and Dorian: The Musical at Southwark Playhouse.

This coming week I'll be watching Glen Powell in Twisters, Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun, June Squibb in Thelma and the British drama Chuck Chuck Baby, plus two stage shows: National Youth Dance Company at Sadler's Wells and more of Jack Tucker at Soho Theatre.

Critical Week: In at the deep end

Passing the 100-day mark in the London lockdown, this week also included my birthday, so I took it a little easier as far as screenings were concerned. There was also continually shifting ground relating to the reopening of UK cinemas. Most are now waiting another month, and won't open until August, because both the cinemas and the distributors need as much capacity for seating as possible in order to pay the bills. Press screenings are much less likely, because these are usually tiny rooms with very few seats, so it's looking like online viewing links will be the only option for us for awhile. I miss going to the movies for a communal experience. But even film festivals are bypassing press screenings, moving everything to streaming. So this may become a permanent change, but I hope not.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
A White, White Day
Four Kids and It • Cut Off
PERHAPS AVOID:
The F**k-It List
FULL REVIEWS >

As for the films I watched this past week: The F**k-It List is a well-acted teen comedy-drama (Eli Brown, above, is particularly good), but it's full of badly contradictory messages that sound great but are actually very dodgy. Will Ferrell's passion project Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga really should be more sharp-edged than this. But as an homage to the annual competition, it has some iconic moments of its own, and a great soundtrack. And Four Kids and It is a lively family adventure with some quirky comedy that nicely subverts any sentimentality. It's not terribly complex, but is enjoyable while it lasts.

Further afield, Cut Off is a strikingly well made thriller from Germany with a superbly complicated plot and the always terrific Moritz Bleibtreu. Midnight Kiss is a strongly written slasher comedy about a group of friends on holiday in Palm Springs over New Year when a killer strikes. Black Magic for White Boys is a close-to-the-knuckle freeform comedy with some provocative racial overtones. And for my birthday I revisited a favourite from 1987, that gloriously snarky fairy tale for adults The Princess Bride. Bliss.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Charlize Theron in The Old Guard, Garrett Hedlund in Burden, Tobias Menzies in Carmilla, the romcom Desperados, the thriller Parallax, the comedy Saint Frances, the Japanese musical We Are Little Zombies and the doc Mucho Mucho Amor.

Critical Week: Never surrender

It was a disparate collection of movies this past week. The most obviously prestigious one was Darkest Hour, which chronicles the first month of Winston Churchill's first term as UK prime minister. It's a lavishly made film, anchored by a bullish performance from Gary Oldman. At the other end of the spectrum, Daddy's Home Two reunites Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell (plus Mel Gibson and John Lithgow as their dads) for a holiday comedy that's amusing without doing anything very new. More ambitious, The Dinner features strong performances from Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, Laura Linney and Rebecca Hall, although the film might be too tricky for its own good.

There were also three more true stories. Josh Brolin and Miles Teller lead the firefighting drama Only the Brave, which gets a little too caught up in its heroic machismo. Colin Firth stars in the sailing adventure The Mercy, a riveting tale with an enigmatic core. And The Man With the Iron Heart is a great story of the Nazi resistance, thrown out of balance with its duelling plot-strands starring Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O' Connell and Jack Reynor.

I'm travelling over the next week or so, and not sure what I'll be able to catch up with along the way. Targeted films include Justice League, Wonder, Thank You for Your Service, The Disaster Artist and The Current War. I'll be posting comments whenever I can...

Critical Week: Nuns on the run

There were a few big blockbusters screened to the London press this past week. The Hitman's Bodyguard is a riotous action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson; Spider-Man: Homecoming is the hugely entertaining and surprisingly hilarious Marvel movie that finally puts the gifted Tom Holland front and centre; War for the Planet of the Apes concludes the prequel trilogy starring the awesome Andy Serkis with a remarkably thoughtful and involving thriller; and Despicable Me 3 is the manic continuation of the entertaining animated action-comedy series featuring Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig.

Less tentpole-ish: The House is a feeble comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler that only has a few amusing touches. Final Portrait is a riveting but over-stylised true story anchored by a career-best performance from Geoffrey Rush; and Hotel Salvation is a remarkably sensitive Indian comedy-drama that knowingly tackles issues of religion and mortality.

Coming up this next week, we've got screenings of the Pixar sequel Cars 3, Tilda Swinton in Okja, Joel Edgerton in It Comes at Night and Luke Hemsworth in Hickok, plus a few catch-up films to watch at home. Meanwhile, both the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the East End Film Festival in London come to a close this weekend.

Shadows on the Screen: Autumn TV roundup

Summer is a great time to binge-watch television series, offering a nice escape from film critic work: I don't have to pay close attention to plot gyrations or characters names, or assign a star rating. And I can watch what I want, so I tend to avoid violence-based series for more character-centred ones. Best of all is the ability to squeeze in a half-hour comedy between writing reviews and watching a movie for work. Here's how I cleared my head over the summer...

NEW DRAMA

Sense8

Beautifully shot and edited, with a powerful emotional kick, the Wachowskis' ambitious 12-part drama weaves together eight plots involving people around the world who have a sentient connection with each other. It was all rather elusive, only barely explaining what was going on as the eight storylines plus an overall Heroes-like supervillain plot inched along at an infuriatingly slow pace. More interaction between the characters might have made it even more engaging, as each central figure was strikingly well played by actors we'd like to see a lot more of on either the big or small screen. Particularly, Miguel Angel Silvestre shines in the most complex, interesting role; Max Riemelt reveals a remarkably magnetic screen presence; and Tuppence Middleton was terrific in a devastating role. But it would be nice if the plot increases its pace in the second series.

Wayward Pines

This 10-episode series starts out like Twin Peaks, then veers sharply into Lost territory before becoming a more schlocky sci-fi thriller. It's a lot of fun, thanks to first-rate production design and committed performances by Matt Dillon, Melissa Leo, Carla Gugino, Shannyn Sossaman, Hope Davis and especially Toby Jones, seriously unnerving as an obsessive visionary. It's shot and edited very cleverly, maintaining some serious tension even when the story goes completely off the rails. Frankly, as the gunplay increases the show gets less and less enjoyable, so by the end the violence begins to eclipse the more intriguing drama that went before. But the cast makes it gripping.

The Flash

Since Arrow is one of my guilty pleasures, I thought I should catch up with the spin-off series over the summer. It's certainly a lot of breezy fun, lighter and faster-paced than Arrow, but with the same combination of over-complicated characters, contrived plotting and simplified action sequences. Grant Gustin makes a likeable lead, especially in his scenes with the wonderful Jesse L Martin. And the surrounding cast members really grow on us, something we notice when their lives are threatened. Yes, as with Arrow, the series regulars aren't remotely safe. Clearly these producers have a tendency to turn things very dark indeed, but they also work at keeping this show enjoyably buoyant between the big emotional bits.

Stitchers

Yet another TV series with a nutty fantastical gimmick, this show demonstrates the usual screenwriting that pretends to be smart but is actually simplistic and rather silly. It's also a lot of fun to watch, as it throws a handful of likeable characters into a series of mysteries, all centring on the idea that someone can be "stitched" into the fading memories of someone who has recently died. The crime-solving aspects of the show are fun, while the overarching story begins to bog down in coincidences and complications that are clearly designed to drag things on from season to season. The cast is sharp and young and energetic, all ludicrously thin and fit for top scientist nerds. But their relationships are worth rooting for, and these 10 episodes end on a huge cliffhanger guaranteed to bring viewers back for series 2.

NEW COMEDY

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

This riotously gimmicky comedy reassembles the starry cast of the 2001 cult hit movie, including Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, Janeane Garofalo, Ken Marino, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, et al. Plus Jon Hamm, Lake Bell, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman and more. The joke here is that they're all playing the same characters - teen summer camp counsellors - on the first day of camp (as opposed to the film, which is set on the last day). And the casting turns out to be an inspired touch, since the pre-teen campers see these 17-year-old leaders as grown-ups, even though they're anything but. Like the movie, the series is packed with random plot threads, throwing jokes and references at the screen constantly in the hopes that some of them stick. And yes, it's hilarious.

The Brink

A terrific cast and some very sharp writing give this political black comedy an entertaining edge, as it focusses on Jack Black's idiotic diplomat causing chaos in Pakistan, exacerbated by two downed pilots (Pablo Schreiber and Eric Ladin) who are captured by a pair of freaky black market antiques dealers (the hilarious Rob Brydon and Michelle Gomez). Meanwhile, Tim Robbins' Secretary of State freewheels through his job, barely managing to just diffuse World War III but never bothering to keep his libido in check. Aasif Mandvi is also superb as the only character who seems to see that all of this is utterly nuts. The events unfold from episode to episode with a random sense of momentum, flickering around to a variety of characters and set-pieces that don't all seem to fit together, but there's always a sense that the writers have a bigger picture in mind. And where it goes is both funny and jaggedly pointed.

Ballers

There's just a hint of underlying honesty to this pro-sports comedy, because otherwise all of the macho posturing would be unbearable. Dwayne Johnson is well-cast as an ex-footballer trying to make a go of things as a sports manager, and his misfit clients (including John David Washington, Omar Benson Miller and Donovan W Carter) are both amusing and endearingly pathetic. As is his accountant partner, the always brilliant Rob Corddry. Oddly, the show seems to not realise that it's main commentary is about uneducated athletes who suddenly earn a fortune and don't have the smarts to deal with it. Instead, the show focusses on their silly decisions as they continually get themselves in trouble, relying on Johnson and Corddry to rescue them. Even though they often need rescuing themselves. But the relentless misogynistic masculinity is ultimately exhausting. Which shouldn't be surprising for a series from the producers of Entourage.

The Spoils Before Dying

In the style of the iconic 1982 series Police Squad, this deadpan genre spoof is hosted by Will Ferrell in an Orson Welles-like role as a disgraced filmmaker presenting his lost 1959 masterpiece, the eponymous noir mystery starring Michael Kenneth Williams as a jazz musician who has three days to clear his name. The all-star cast includes Kristen Wiig, Michael Sheen, Maya Rudolph, Haley Joel Osment and Berenice Marlohe, with cameos galore. It's utterly absurd, and far too mannered to work on any real level. But for every broad gag that isn't remotely funny, there's a throwaway line that's deeply inspired. Frankly, it's amazing that they got the money together to make something this ridiculous.

BACK FOR MORE

Inside Amy Schumer: series 3

As she took on her first big-screen writing and starring project with Judd Apatow's Trainwreck, I finally had a chance to binge watch all three series of her TV show, which mixes Chelsea Handler's comical sensibilities with some surprising acting chops. It's a clever combination of sketch humour, chat show and stand-up, with Schumer essentially playing herself (she's always named "Amy", as indeed she is in Trainwreck) in a variety of scenarios, many of which are set in her actual life as a TV comic. And there are big laughs laced through each half-hour episode, bolstered by Schumer's willingness to push the boundaries of what's always been considered acceptable on television. Her frankness about sex is especially refreshing, as is her celebration of things most people would consider deeply wrong. The 12 Angry Men pastiche this season was especially inspired. And delightfully profane.

Vicious: series 2

Produced like a British 1970s sitcom, the retro style of this comedy is extremely jarring, as excellent actors Ian McKellan, Derek Jacobi, Iwan Rheon and Frances de la Tour ham it up mercilessly for an audience that seems willing to laugh at absolutely anything. It's so cheaply made that it's impossible to engage with properly (the dance competition episode was especially inane in this sense, as there were no contestants aside from the series regulars). And yet the script manages to surprise us with moments of honesty that seem to come out of nowhere, especially as Freddie and Stuart legally formalised their tetchy relationship after more than 50 years together. It's written as a stupid, simple-minded farce, but the occasional glimmer of depth makes it watchable.

Masters of Sex: series 3

This show departs from its biopic origins, now heavily fictionalising the lives of William Masters and Virginia Johnson (Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan). This has the effect of sidelining their scientific achievements in lieu of more standard television melodrama, which requires the viewer to take a rather enormous leap. Without the underpinnings of real life or science, the show feels oddly uninteresting, as the excellent actors struggle to maintain the intriguing layers of their characters in these more simplistic, formulaic scripts. And the strangest thing is that the show is no longer sexy at all. It's still produced to a very high standard, but without the zing of real-life, it feels rather pointless. We have plenty of dramas about marital infidelity, but not many that are fiercely honest about sex.

True Detective: series 2

With a new cast, story and L.A. setting, this follow-up season has very little resemblance to the first. And that's a problem, because the case it traces is messy but not very interesting, only watchable because it brings three disparate cops (Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch) together to solve a murder. Each of them has personal issues that basically stem from self-hatred, which makes them difficult to sympathise with. And the shadowy businessman played by Vince Vaughn is equally unlikeable. So what's left? There are some stunningly staged set-pieces along the way, like the astonishingly awful gunfight in episode 4. And the mystery feels knotted and messy, although it's actually about as complex as a Murder She Wrote episode stretched to 10 hours.

Now it's autumn and we have a slew of new and returning series to distract us. I'm most looking forward to seeing if Empire can maintain its spark, if Fargo can strike gold again, and if Downton Abbey can go out with a bang. Plus more of comedy favourites like Transparent, You're the Worst and Please Like Me.

Critical Week: Mommy issues

It was a busy week for UK critics, with another head-spinning collection of screenings. Robert Carlyle stars in and makes his directing debut with The Legend of Barney Thompson, an uneven black comedy costarring a scene-stealing Emma Thompson (as his mum, above) and Ray Winstone. It never quite gets the tone right. Also struggling with its tone, True Story recounts a fascinating real-life mystery starring Jonah Hill, James Franco and an almost-not-there Felicity Jones. Fascinating but too mopey to come to life properly. And Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman are terrific in Ruth & Alex (aka 5 Flights Up) as a long-married couple planning a move from their beloved Brooklyn apartment. It's engaging but slight.

I took a break from the cinema to catch A Deadly Adoption on Channel 5. Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig star in this hilariously overwrought thriller that is either a raucous spoof or just another ridiculous Lifetime movie. You be the judge. Either way, it's very funny as it follows a damaged couple hoping to save their marriage by adopting a baby from an apparently sweet young pregnant woman. But of course it all turns nasty. Full credit to Ferrell and Wiig for never winking at the camera.

Further afield, we had the Aussie animation Maya the Bee, a charming and energetic little adventure; the found-footage horror The Gallows, which should really put an end to the genre with its utter lack of originality; and the riotous 1980s slasher movie spoof Dude Bro Party Massacre III, which manages to maintain the joke perfectly right to the very end. And there were also two docs that both rely far too heavily on talking heads: Misery Loves Comedy is an intriguing all-star exploration of the life of a stand-up, while Looking for Love explores romance in London's Afro-Caribbean community with insight and lots of personality.

Coming up this week: the new Disney-Pixar hit Inside Out, Ryan Reynolds in Self/Less, Jessica Alba in Barely Lethal, Michael Douglas in Beyond the Reach, Jena Malone in 10 Cent Pistol, the American indie drama Buttercup Bill, and two docs: exploring the Russian ballet company in Bolshoi Babylon and an acclaimed profile of six teen brothers in The Wolfpack.

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: Mountain-top experience

Year-end screenings continue as distributors try to show us their films before voting deadlines (London Critics' Circle votes for nominees on Friday; Online Film Critics Society votes in the final round on Saturday). This week's big hitters included Ben Stiller's remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, an earnest movie about life choices; Out of the Furnace, a gritty Rust Belt drama starring Christian Bale and Casey Affleck; and Spike Jonze's lovely romantic drama Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with his computer operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), and we believe it.

The other big one was Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, the silly 10-years-later sequel to WIll Ferrell's cult classic. We also had the late-scheduled press screening for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the livelier and more involving sequel to last year's An Unexpected Journey, which ends in a cliffhanger until next year's There and Back Again. I also caught up with Paolo Sorrentino's gorgeous Fellini anthem The Great Beauty, as well as the German drama Two Mothers, an engaging, personal story of two women grappling with inequality in fertility treatment.

Next week things start to slow down for the holidays, although I still need to catch Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, and there's also Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie, the acclaimed doc Tim's Vermeer, and Mark Cousins' Albanian road movie Here Be Dragons. I'm also on the jury panel for a Shorts on Tap event on Tuesday evening in Shoreditch!

Critical Week: For the boys

One of the most enjoyable films screened to London critics this past week was the Aussie crowd-pleaser The Sapphires, anchored by a terrific performance from Chris O'Dowd. It's the true story of a quartet of aboriginal singers who sing for the troops in Vietnam in 1968, and it's shot and played with a lot of infectious energy. We also had a musical drama from America, the less enjoyable but still watchable Sparkle, featuring the last film role for Whitney Houston. And a lively audience of critics on Friday night laughed all the way through Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis' The Campaign, even though it loses its satirical edge along the way.

With press screenings underway for the London Film Festival (10-21 Oct) and the Raindance Festival (26 Sep-7 Oct) in full flow, the screening schedule is busier than normal. Other mainstream titles included Mike Newell's new version of Dickens' Great Expectations, Liam Neeson's return to the action-revenge genre in the preposterous Taken 2, the energetic and engaging animated monster romp Hotel Transylvania, and Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg in the nicely observed relationship comedy-drama Celeste & Jesse Forever.

Further off the beaten path were the British independent dramas Shell, an atmospheric film set in the Highlands, and Love Tomorrow, a downbeat London romance. There was also the cheesily low-budget American thriller Into the Lion's Den, the provocative and controversial Cannes-winning Danish drama The Hunt, and Poland's gritty and rather insular true rap-group drama You Are God.

This coming week we have the Irish musical drama Good Vibrations, the British wedding comedy The Knot, Stephen Dorff in Zaytoun, the acclaimed Swiss drama Sister, the horror film Excision, the indie drama Laurentie, clown horror in Stitches, the French animation Ernest & Celestine, and the documentaries Everything or Nothing (about James Bond) and West of Memphis (about a miscarriage of justice). Among other things...