Titane

 Another film of extremes from the director of Raw, whereas that built to compulsion and insanity this starts there and finds other ways to develop. Striking, intense, emotional and goddamn weird, this is compelling and astounding.

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

 A film reminiscent of sbs' entire late night line up of the 90s - it combines graphic sexual images with a political comedy that is very much specifically Romanian- there's a weird mix of provocative imagery and dead screen time as our lead wanders around Bucharest, and there's too many ideas to write this off completely, but I'm not recommending this to anyone either as fap material or entertainment

Venom: Let there be Carnage

 I enjoyed this one - yes, it's Tom Hardy being self-indulgent as hell but in a way that doesn't appear to involve actively abusing the director or his fellow cast members, and it's structured weird in that you feel like you're into the grand finale before you've really had a chance to have a movie yet, but it's the kinda film it'd be fun to make fun of on the couch during it. Yes, there is no sensible reason for Michelle Williams to be in this beyond money (same goes for Stephen Graham except that Stephen Graham probably put the money for this into "Boiling point"), and Woody Harrelson is making a doomed attempt to go bigger than Tom Hardy in a film that Tom Hardy co-wrote, and the plot is barely more than "here's one, here's another, let's bash them together a lot", the action scenes are pretty much just random pixels flying at one another, but it's pretty fleet of foot, it winds down Eddie Brock's douchebag side a lot (he just still rides a motorcycle annoyingly, popping wheelies every three seconds), and it is the somewhat disreputable sleazy cousin to the MCU's goody-goody-two-shoes.

The Rescue

 A really good solid storytelling documentary combining talking heads, file footage, re-enactments and computer simulations to tell the story of the rescue of the soccer team caught in a cave in Thailand- covers both the spiritual beliefs of the Thai people and the requirements of a largely amateur set of cave divers (because cave diving is not a professional body), dealing with extraordinary situations with skill and humility. Really gripping even when you've just watched a talking head of someone who is now telling you how they're going into a dangerous situation where they've obviously come back out of again.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

 A biopic that somewhat peaks early - while there are delights later in the film, it somewhat gets overwhelmed by following the biography in ways that feel repetitive and spiraling downwards. Enjoyed some of the more eccentric casting choices with Richard Ayoade, Nick Cave, Julian Barrat and Taika Waititi

Boiling Point

 A tense one-shot film as a restaurant undergoes a busy Friday night with staff brought to breaking point with one another. The final image is a choice I don't love but it's a tight film with plenty of interest though I'm sure people with more kitchen knowledge than my "read kitchen confidential five years ago" knowledge would be able to pick holes

No Time to Die

 A big modern style Bond epic, which is to say there's big emotions, gorgeous shooting from Fukanaga, a little bit of continuity overdose, and some messy stuff around the edges. The thing that holds this back is centering a lot of ploy on Lea Seydoux's Madeline Swan without ever giving her a personality that matches the massive amount of plot functions she's asked to bear. As a wrap up of the Craig era it has a lot of the benefits and flaws of his era (the tying everything together just feels like obsessive compulsive cleaning at the expense of feeling like we're doing anything new, the leaving Bonds employment status so casual it seems that over the course of five movies and over a decade and a half he's spent more time out of MI6 than in it), but I'll miss Craig himself and the way his films have their own distinct vibe

Tick, Tick... Boom!

 The fate of the Broadway-musical struck is that sometimes you suspend all critical faculties for something that hits all the right buttons, with complete sincerity. There are undoubtedly issues with the story told here, of a somewhat self-indulgent composer who messes up his relationships with both his best friend and his girlfriend while working on a development workshop for a somewhat befuddling musical about a future based on narcissism. But the sheer sincerity of the storytelling, the Broadway-catnip cameos, the performance of Bradley Whitford as Sondheim playing wise old mentor, all bypass any critical facilities and go straight to the heart.

The Last Duel

 A solidly scripted drama that never feels feels as long as it's running time. Damon writes himself as the Absolute Worst, Driver is opportunist and sleazy, Comer is amazing and Affleck auditions for all of Jeremy Irons old roles, having more fun than he has in ages. Ok, so it's a bit sloppy in giving a sense of the rationale for the various battles Damon goes off to fight, but the focus is right where it should be

Eternals

 Suffers from an overstuffed cast with not enough for them all to do for the running time, and an over focus on the dullest elements, in particular Gemma Chan in a love triangle with two boring Game of Thrones guys. There are some nice elements but I wish they'd given Selma Hayek more to do than be captain Exposition and we'd had a more focussed and characterised film - few of the actors really get a lot interesting to do

Summer of Soul (or when the Revolution could not be televised)

 A great piece of social, political and musical history captured with context, rich performances and deep emotional support -doesn't feel like it ever gets stuck in overly narratising history or relying overly on talking heads because all the talk is good talk and it knows to always bring things back to the music which holds the whole thing together.

Lamb

 A weird and wonderful (if a little slow) story of family through a sorta-fantasy-lens, this goes several strange places and Rapace plays it perfectly throughout just on the edge of totally nuts

Best Sellers

 A nice small scale film with comedy and heart playing with legacies and relationships, using Caine and Plaza's skills well

Last Night in Soho

 Post-Pegg-and-Frost Edgar Wright films need a certain amount of skill in their lead performers to stop from looking like empty technical exercises - something "Baby Driver" suffered from a fair bit. This doesn't suffer as much, largely due to Thomasin McKenzie and Anna Taylor-Joy being much more intriguing to watch than Ansel Elgort and Lily James. It's true that this does suffer a little from some shortcuts in the storytelling (a particular montage of Taylor-Joy only really works because she's able to sell the emotional transition which is getting fairly shallow service in the scripting), but it's stylish and classy and a strong entertainment.

 Insane but delightful, both from the basic conception to the way sequences play out (particularly the monster's weird movement style). James Wan is a guy who rarely goes half measures and in this case it's a feast of retro-enjoyment (down to the vast amount of exposition which is done on VCR tape, which proves easily playable in several locations!)