Critical Week: Teacher's pet

This week's line-up of press screenings was refreshingly female-oriented, offering a respite from the usual masculine bravado that's trumpeted on the big screen. Maggie Gyllenhaal is terrific in the understated drama The Kindergarten Teacher, which is remarkably sympathetic for how creepy the story turns. Brie Larson storms the superhero genre in Captain Marvel, an unusually engaging character-based action thriller with a cool 1990s vibe. Keira Knightley is at the centre of The Aftermath, a post-war romantic melodrama that's finely shot and acted but let down by a drippy script. And the bracingly original Icelandic comedy-thriller Woman at War focusses on a mother-to-be trying to protect the planet from abuse.

The rest of the week's movies were just as eclectic. The futuristic comedy-drama 2050 is witty and stylish as it explores falling in love with sexbots. Set in a foreboding forest, Devil's Path is a creepy thriller following two men who seem to be hiding secrets. An inventively intense drama from Portugal, Sunburn features four friends on holiday struggling to deal with repressed 10-year-old emotions. Peccadillo's short film collection No Ordinary Boy: Boys on Film 19 is another set of skilfully made mini-dramas exploring, this time, a darker angle on sexuality. And on my flight back to London I revisited the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. It's a far more female-oriented version of this story than last year's hit remake, which makes it even more strongly involving and ultimately much more moving. I'm not sure I'd seen it since watching it as a young teen on its original release (I loved it back then too).

Screenings this coming week include Julia Roberts in Ben Is Back, Jessie Buckley in Wild Rose, Paolo Sorrentino's Loro, the black comedy Bruce!!!, the caveman thriller Iceman, and two documentaries: Last Breath, about a stranded deep-sea diver, and Silvana, about the Swedish hip-hop artist.

Requisite Blog Photos: Here to save the day

And with Goose...

Stage: Four chairs and a keyboard

Title of Show
dir Robert McWhir
music/lyrics Jeff Bowen • book Hunter Bell
Above the Stag, Vauxhall • 13.Feb-10.Mar.19

The intimate space at Above the Stag is a perfect venue for this meta-musical, which is engaging and funny for a general audience and jam-packed with references for theatre fans. Cheeky and just a bit naughty, it's a brisk and likeable show that has a clever rough-around-the-edges feel to it.

At the centre are the composer Jeff (Jordan Fox) and his writer pal Hunter (Michael Vinsen), young guys in New York dreaming of seeing their work on Broadway. With a theatre festival coming up, they decide to create the perfect musical together, struggling against the usual distractions - basically anything is easier than writing. As they settle on developing a musical about two guys trying to develop a musical, they bring in friends Heidi and Susan (Kirby Hughes and Natalie Williams) to play their friends and collaborate on creating the characters and songs. And they have so much fun working on this that they hate to think of it ending.

As it nods to everything from Rent to Carrie, the clever script also takes the time to dig into some deeper themes. Jeff and Hunter understand that they'd have a better chance at success with some stunt casting ("Paris Hilton as Mame!"), and they also face the dilemma between holding fast to their artistic integrity or compromising to bring their work to a larger audience. The sense of their yearning for success is vivid, as is the work they have to do to maintain their friendships. All four cast members explore these edgier elements while at the same time adding constant comical touches. As staged in this space, these are demanding physical performances that make fine use of the knowingly witty songs, scrappy choreography and lively interaction with each other as well as their sardonic keyboardist Larry (played by musical director Aaron Clingham).

Everything unfolds as a knowing pastiche, constantly referring to itself as a musical about a musical, playfully circling around the dialog and dropping punchlines everywhere. It's often very funny, although perhaps not as consistently hilarious as it should be (most notably Williams' Susan, a Megan Mullally type who is amusing but never steals the show). Thankfully each of the characters is strongly sympathetic, easy to identify with and willing to dive into both the big gags and the more subtle wordplay. And the interpersonal drama manages to be touching too. Theatre fans definitely won't want to miss this.

Critical Week: The big night

Well, the 91st Academy Awards threw a few surprises at us on Sunday, handing out Oscars to popular movies like Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther while only offering the occasional nod at more ambitious, artistic films. I'm not disparaging the winners, although I would argue that all three are badly compromised projects, but as usual there was far better work in other nominated (and non-nominated) films last year. The show clipped along without a host, offering a few great moments for the award presenters and winners. Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph did a superb pastiche of an opening monolog. Spike Lee was triumphant and outspoken in a way few winners dare to be. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga recreated their intimate chemistry on-stage in a show-stoppingly cool single-take performance. The askance presenters (A-list outsider fans like Serena Williams and Trevor Noah) were a nice touch. And Olivia Colman stole the show with her heartfelt and very funny thank you speech - one of the best in Oscar history.

I've attended one press screening while I've been in Los Angeles, for Michael Winterbottom's dramatic thriller The Wedding Guest. It's a slow-burn starring Dev Patel and Radhika Apte, with a script that gives very little in the way of character or plot detail. But it's involving, and it's nice to see Patel in a shifty role for a change - he's terrific even if his role is underdefined. I also caught up with last summer's action comedy Tag, starring Ed Helms, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner, which isn't fine art but is funny and enjoyable for what it is.

Heading back to London, I have a few screenings in the diary, including Brie Larson's entry into the Marvel universe as Captain Marvel, Dean Cain in the fantasy satire 2050, the Icelandic comedy Woman at War, the indie thriller Devil's Path, and the short film compilation Boys on Film 19: No Ordinary Boy.

Oscar picks & predictions: Out on a limb

It's that time of year when I try to imagine what the Academy will do on Sunday, while holding on to my personal hopes. This year's awards season has been the least predictable in memory, with the top prizes leading up to Oscar night scattered all over the place: there's no clear consensus winner in any category. And my track record for predictions is rather spotty. Still, there are inklings about who Ampas voters are likely to choose. And as always, I will be cheering any upsets and surprises, while hoping the producers take some risks in the ceremony itself to make it more fun to watch...

PICTURE

Will win: Roma
Should win: BlacKkKlansman
Dark horses: The Favourite or Green Book

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Will win: RBG
Should win: Free Solo

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Will win: Roma
Should win: Cold War
Dark horse: Capernaum

ANIMATED FEATURE

Will win: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Should win: Isle Of Dogs

DIRECTOR

Will win: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma
Should win: Pawel Pawlikowski - Cold War
Dark horse: Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will / should win: The Favourite - Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
Dark horse: First Reformed - Paul Schrader

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: BlacKkKlansman - Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
Should win: If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins

ACTRESS

Will / should win: Olivia Colman - The Favourite
Possible life-achievement award: Glenn Close - The Wife

ACTOR

Will win: Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody
Should win: Willem Dafoe - At Eternity's Gate
Dark horse: Christian Bale - Vice

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will / should win: Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk
Dark horses: Rachel Weisz or Amy Adams

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Mahershala Ali - Green Book
Should win: Richard E Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Will / should win: The Favourite - Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton

COSTUME DESIGN

Will / should win: The Favourite - Sandy Powell

ORIGINAL SCORE

Will win: BlacKkKlansman - Terence Blanchard
Should win: If Beale Street Could Talk - Nicholas Britell

ORIGINAL SONG

Will win: Shallow - A Star Is Born
Should win: When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Will win: Roma - Alfonso Cuaron
Should win: Cold War - Lukasz Zal

FILM EDITING

Will win: Bohemian Rhapsody - John Ottman
Should win: The Favourite - Yorgos Mavropsaridis

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Will win: Vice
Should win: Border

VISUAL EFFECTS

Will / should win: First Man

SOUND EDITING

Will / should win: A Quiet Place

SOUND MIXING

Will win: First Man
Should win: Roma

On the Road: Far from home

Heading from London to Los Angeles for two weeks in February, you'd rightly expect to have warmer weather. Surprise! It's colder and wetter here in California than it is in England at the moment. But at least it's sunny. I've been busy spending time with family, but managed to catch one movie here: the survival drama Arctic, starring Mads Mikkelsen as a man stranded in an endless snowscape after a plane crash. It's a bare-bones thriller, with no backstory and only one other character (who barely speaks). But it's strikingly well directed by Joe Penna, shot with skill to bring the audience right into the character's odyssey. It's hard not to shiver in the cold during the film, wince at the pain and even panic a little over the hopelessness. Even if you know it can't end as bleakly it looks like it will.

The only other film I've watched in the past week is Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), which I revisited on the plane. It's a personal favourite, and its scrappy charm and pungent emotion hold up, as do the iconic songs. John Cameron Mitchell's writing, direction and acting are masterful. And it's great to see the young Michael Pitt in his breakout role, as well as a very young Miriam Shor (most recently seen in Younger).

I'm now bracing myself for Oscar on Sunday, hoping the winners are a list of surprises and that the ceremony takes some risks to shake things up a bit. It's well worth watching that jaw-dropping opening number from the 1989 ceremony, the last time there wasn't a host - which is so increasingly insane that it almost seems sad something like that could never happen again (google: rob lowe snow white oscars - then settle in for 11 minutes of pure "what were they thinking" joy). I'll post my picks on Saturday...

Critical Week: Fly away

I'm getting ready to get on a plane today and head off to Los Angeles. With this timing, it probably sounds like a glamorous Oscar trip, but actually I'll be there to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday! And as a side benefit I get to watch the Oscars during the day time, instead of staying up all night in London.

This week's screenings included Willem Dafoe's Venice Best Actor winning role as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate, Julian Schnabel's beautifully artful biopic. The awesome Florence Pugh holds her own opposite Dwayne Johnson (grandstanding as himself) in the quirky British comedy-drama Fighting With My Family, based on the true story of a young woman from Norwich who became a WWE champion. Rebel Wilson has a lot of fun in the romcom pastiche Isn't It Romantic, although the lazy script almost scuppers her chances. Still, it's mindless good fun.

What They Had is a dark drama with a powerhouse cast including Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forster and Blythe Danner. It's a bit heavy, but also moving as it explores a family dealing with ageing parents and Alzheimer's. Under the Silver Lake stars Andrew Garfield as a slacker in Los Angeles who gets caught up in an absolutely bonkers mystery. And the Carlos Acosta biopic Yuli is a sweepingly artful exploration of Cuba an dance, with Acosta playing himself in the framing scenes.

Sunday night's Bafta ceremony (or to give it its proper title: The British Academy Film Awards) continues to ripple, with people wondering how it might impact Oscar in just over a week's time. The wild cards now are Rami Malek and Mahershala Ali, clearly loved by their peers as they upset the favourites in their categories (Christian Bale and Richard E Grant). The other question is whether Roma can walk off with the big title, or if they'll go for something more mainstream. No one seems to have a clue, which makes this year's show more interesting than usual.

I have no idea if I'll see any films while I'm away. I have a few streaming links I need to watch, but if past trips are anything to go by, those are doubtful (if I could stream on the plane it would be perfect!). There's nothing in American cinemas I particularly want to catch up with - perhaps Miss Bala or What Men Want.