Critical Week: King of the world

Honestly, I wasn't much looking forward to James Cameron's Avatar. The trailers and clips looked iffy, Cameron's interviews were obnoxious and 3D had never quite worked properly. But on Monday morning I enjoyed virtually every moment of the film, which has gone on to rule the world's box offices much as Titanic did 12 years ago. Not only is the fairly simplistic story thoroughly engaging, but the 3D is utterly gorgeous, concentrating on creating an immersive depth of field rather than gimmicky dizziness. And after 2 hours 42 minutes, I could have watched it all over again.

Also last week, we had Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in the rather terrific black comedy I Love You Phillip Morris, by the writers of Bad Santa, as well as Miyazaki's latest gorgeously surreal and elusive anime Ponyo and the slightly clunky Thai basketball-meets-kickboxing thriller Fireball. I also finally caught up with three British films: the astounding, unmissable Zimbabwe doc Mugabe and the White African, which plays like a riveting thriller; the excellent doc Afghan Star, about Afghanistan's improbable and rather dangerous version of The X Factor; and the superb low-budget indie Shifty.

On Monday, the London Critics' Circle releases the nominations for its 30th Film Awards, and my only screening is a restored version of the 1949 cult classic The Queen of Spades. But I'll also be watching several discs of contenders for other awards (Trucker, Big Fan, The Stoning of Soraya M) as well as other upcoming films (Still Walking, Post Grad, Spread) over the holidays.

Critical Week: Elementary, my dear

In a week of big screenings, the capper was a showing of Guy Ritchie's whizzy action version of Sherlock Holmes, which oddly feels more genuine than the more stodgy depictions of the Victorian detective that we're used to. Then on Monday morning I attended the junket at the Freemasons Hall at London's Grand Lodge - a perfect venue - with Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Kelly Reilly, Mark Strong, composer Hans Zimmer, and producers Joel Silver, Susan Downey, Lionel Wigram and Dan Lin. Yes, it was another raucous Warner Bros press conference - energetic and great fun.

Also screening this week for year-end awards consideration were Peter Jackson's big-budget The Lovely Bones (great acting but too big-budgeted), Rob Marshall's Fellini-based musical Nine (the amazing cast spices up some rather dull songs), Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela drama Invictus (gripping and astoundingly inspirational), Meryl Streep in the romantic-triangle comedy It's Complicated (enjoyably funny but nothing special) and Disney's hand-drawn The Princess and the Frog (gloriously beautiful animation and an engaging, simple story). In addition, we had the non-contending Hugh Grant in the rather clunky rom-com Did You Hear About the Morgans? and Chris Pine in the corny post-apocalyptic thriller Carriers.

This coming week sees the final puzzle pieces in the awards season as I get ready to vote for the London Critics' Circle Film Awards (deadline Friday) and the Online Film Critics Society Awards (in two weeks). Contenders ready? Here come James Cameron's Avatar, Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo and the acclaimed British docs Afghan Star and Mugabe and the White African, among several other things I'll catch up with on screener discs. I also have a screening of the Jim Carrey-Ewan McGregor rom-com (based on a true story) I Love You Phillip Morris and something called Firewall.

Critical Week: The remakes

This past week was even slower than I'd expected, as far as press screenings go (it was busier in every other way). And it was interesting that the two biggest films we saw were both remakes of European movies: Jim Sheridan's Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal, is a remake of Susanne Bier's Brødre (Denmark, 2004). And Kirk Jones' Everybody's Fine, starring Robert DeNiro, Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell, is a revamp of Guiseppe Tornatore's Stanno Tutti Bene (Italy, 1990). It goes without saying that neither remake is quite up to the original. Both are watchable and have moments of real power, with strong performances, but they both magnify the source films' problems and create some new ones.

The other two films I watched are both building awards-contention buzz at the moment. Jeff Bridges gets a gift of a role in Crazy Heart, an involving drama that in many ways feels like a revisit to the themes of producer-costar Robert Duvall's 1983 Oscar-winner Tender Mercies. And the riveting documentary Food Inc digs unflinchingly into America's food-production industry, which puts profits over health in some pretty scary ways; it's an intriguing blend of the themes in the drama-doc Fast Food Nation and Michael Moore's recent Capitalism: A Love Story.

This week is much busier in the screening room, with Clint Eastwood's South African drama Invictus (talk about a gift of a role for an actor: Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela), Peter Jackson's dark drama The Lovely Bones, Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes, Meryl Streep in It's Complicated, Hugh Grant in Did You Hear About the Morgans?, a stage-full of Oscar winners in the musical Nine, Disney's animated The Princess and the Frog, and the post-apocalyptic road movie Carriers.

Critical Week: I think I love you

Last week's big press screening in London was of Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic book Where the Wild Things Are, which proved to be an intriguing combination of the two men's imaginations. With Jonze's loose, free-spirited filmmaking and Sendak's darkly clever insights, it's the kind of film that feels a bit too strange on first viewing - but it will no doubt become a favourite in years to come.

I also saw Sandra Bullock's involving true drama The Blind Side, another great performance from Thomas Turgoose in the unsettling British drama The Scouting Book for Boys, and the offbeat but nicely original sci-fi animated 3D adventure Battle for Terra.

This slow stretch looks like it's coming to an end, as awards-consideration screenings start to get much busier over the coming weeks - along with regular press screenings for some of the big year-end blockbusters. Over the next seven days, we'll be seeing the Jeff Bridges Oscar-contending Crazy Heart, Michelle Monaghan's acclaimed performance in Trucker, the starry Hollywood remake of the Danish war drama Brothers, Robert DeNiro in Everybody's Fine, and a trio award-buzzy of British docs: Afghan Star, Only When I Dance and Mugabe and the White African.

Critical Week: No shirts required

OK, no one's hugely surprised at the massive success of the Twilight sequel New Moon - especially since they have so blatantly pandered to their pre-teen girl audience by having all of the boys continually remove their shirts and flex their abs. They finally showed it to the press a few days before its release, and while it's much soapier and mopier than the first film, it at least builds a great sense of moody atmosphere. And the third film is bound to be better simply because David Slade is directing it. But we'll have to wait until the summer to find out.

Also screened this past week were the colourful and cluttered Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Michael Moore's entertaining and blood-boiling Capitalism: A Love Story, the surprisingly involving biographical doc Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, and the surprisingly enjoyable Depeche Mode fan doc The Posters Came from the Walls.

This week I've got Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, Sandra Bullock in the true drama The Blind Side, Thomas Turgoose in the British drama The Scouting Book for Boys, and the 3D sci-fi animation Battle for Terra.

Critical Week: Push the button

It was another slow movie week for London critics - I only saw seven films. One of the biggies was Richard Kelly's new Donnie Darko-esque thriller The Box, with Cameron Diaz facing a moral dilemma about whether or not to push that button. Alas, Kelly dodges the morality fable to instead dive down another of his bizarro sci-fi rabbit holes. The result is fitfully entertaining but ultimately a little annoying.

The week's other major film was another disappointment: Mira Nair's biopic Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as aviation pioneer Amelia Earhardt, should have been a riveting story of a maverick who pushed every boundary she came up against. Instead, it's an earnest, worthy, way over-designed period piece that fails to give its strong cast material they can run with.

Last week I also saw the enjoyable animated sci-fi romp Planet 51, the riveting if a little dry Battlestar Galactica movie The Plan, the silly but ultimately charming holiday comedy Make the Yuletide Gay, the rather aloof Korean childhood drama Treeless Mountain, the entertaining philosophy doc Examined Life.

Next week looks just as light - things won't heat up until awards contenders start crowding the calendar (although I already caught a lot of them at film festivals this year). This week's films include the Twilight sequel New Moon, Michael Moore's new provocation Capitalism: A Love Story, the British rock-scene drama Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, the British rock-fan doc The Posters Came From the Walls, the acclaimed drama The Stoning of Soraya M, the Eddie Izzard doc Believe, and I'm catching up with Percy Adlon's 1991 cult classic Salmonberries, just being released for the first time in the UK.

Critical week: Bump in the night

After weeks of hype, Paranormal Activity was finally screened to UK critics this past week. (One day they'll learn to show us films before the buzz starts so we have a better chance of actually enjoying them.) It's very cleverly made but, needless to say, it doesn't live up to to expectations, possibly because the now-familiar home-video thriller genre isn't new anymore. But there's also the fact that this film doesn't really set up suspense properly.

Much better was the independent drama Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. Despite that mouthful of a title, this is a lean, powerfully involving drama that really grapples with some big issues and features a wonderful performance from newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, plus very strong against-type roles for Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz.

Also last week, we had John Malkovich in the searing South African drama Disgrace, the edgy chucklehead stag-night comedy I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and the clever 1960s French superspy spoof sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio.

After the rush of movies during the film festival season, this feels like a holiday. And this coming week even more sparse, with Hilary Swank in the aviatrix drama Amelia, Cameron Diaz in the thriller The Box, the animated sci-fi comedy Planet 51, the Korean drama Treeless Mountain and the education doc Examined Life.