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James Cameron-Wilson cheers UK box office up 28%, thanks to the weather. But he regrets the agony of seeing #1 Garfield which is crass, loud & witless, celebrating violence and overeating. He found Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga better than Fury Road, having more dramatic bite and a welcome humanity although, given the near-torture porn content, he was surprised at the 15 certificate. Although it hasn't set the box office alight, he caught the versatile Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding, a funny, brutal and unexpected neo-noir which he thought really special. He waxed lyrical about Powell & Pressburger's 1949 WW2 film The Small Back Room, beautifully restored for home viewing. It's a claustrophobic, music-less, hard-boiled drama about a vanished world with a peerless cast and he rates it one of his favourite of the exalted Archers' films.
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James Cameron-Wilson recommends IF, the new #1 in a UK box office +16% on the previous week. Starring Ryan Reynolds, this family film is sentimental but smart, is beautifully executed by some famous names behind the camera and is both touching and funny. James found the first part of a trilogy prequel, The Strangers: Part One, to be clichéd and far-fetched beyond belief and yet the camerawork of director Renny Harlin made him want to know what happens next. But he found Unfrosted on Netflix to be almost as awful as Garfield 2. A supposedly true story about Kellogg's invention of the pop tart, directed by Jerry Seinfeld, it has a witless script and is only minisculely redeemed by a lot of famous cameos.
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James Cameron-Wilson laments the UK box office, down 32% because of the sunny weather. It meant Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes only took £3.8m. Despite his loneliness in the cinema, James found it a miraculous piece of cinematic magic; clever, multi-layered, exciting and often funny, with amazing production design. On Netflix, he was disappointed by In the Land of Saints & Sinners, a plodding thriller with Liam Neeson. And he found Disney Plus's Prom Dates to have a few amusing bits but to be far too crude and predictable.
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James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office chart, up 27% on the week. New #1 is The Fall Guy about a stunt man. But James found Ryan Gosling smug and obtruse and Emily Blunt irritating in a noisy & cheesy film that, while possessing some impressive action scenes, makes little sense. At #6 is boring low-budget horror Tarot, which is one star all the way. James, however, did enjoy Amazon Prime's The Idea of You with Anne Hathaway romancing a much younger pop star. Often delightful and touching – in a rom com sort of way – James felt it was like a music version of Notting Hill.
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James Cameron-Wilson reports on a becalmed box office. New #1 is the tennis drama Challengers with Zendaya. Although a tennis fan, James became irritated by the cinematic pyrotechnics which got in the way of the drama. He was amazed to see the period-set black and white Italian drama There's Still Tomorrow – Italy's top film last year – released in 142 cinemas. An homage to neo-realist post-war Italian cinema about the role of women in a patriarchical society, he considers it a modern masterpiece, hard-hitting but still with heart, humour and warmth. He also loves the beautifully restored home release of 1927's silent film The Cat And The Canary, the hugely-influential precursor of all dark house comedy thrillers, which is also packed with glorious extras.
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With no big new releases, James Cameron-Wilson explains that the UK box office is down 36%, with Back to Black still #1. At #5 is horror film Abigail about a kidnapped ballerina. Extremely gory, it is also increasingly clichéd. James was impressed by Sometimes I Think About Dying at #19, a minimalist drama in which Daisy Ridley is a shy loner. Nuanced, it makes the audience work but is moving and sticks in the memory. Out for home viewing is 1951's A Lavender Hill Mob, with Alec Guinness a meek bank clerk with nefarious ambitions. The beautifully-restored disc is packed with fascinating extras. It is a must, says James.
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