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James Cameron-Wilson reports box office down 50% because of the fine weather. But he delighted in #4 Ocean with David Attenborough in which the 99-year-old reports on mankind's final frontier. Demanding to be seen on the big screen, this amazing film is an existential experience which cannot be bettered. #14 The Wedding Banquet is an updated version of Ang Lee's movie and is an exquisite comedy drama which is very funny and real, with warm, eccentric characters. James also recommends Amazon Prime's Assessment, a psychological sci-fi thriller with Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 Thunderbolts* is keeping the UK box office ticking over. A mildly entertaining Marvel movie starring Florence Pugh and David Harbour, it is very noisy and features dreadful badinage. He was hoping for more from Netflix's Havoc, the biggest feature film ever to be shot wholly in Wales. Starring Tom Hardy, nothing about this John Wick knock-off rings true and, with no character development, it feels endless. After enjoying A Simple Favour, he was disappointed by Another Simple Favour on Amazon Prime. With Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively again, it starts promisingly with some good one-liners but descends into unbelievable farce.
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James Cameron-Wilson boosts #2 Sinners again but also enjoyed #4 The Accountant 2, again starring Ben Affleck 8 years on. With a plot like a chess game it is smart, entertaining and often very funny. #22 is The Friend with Naomi Watts & Bill Murray. A handsomely acted look at death, it feels like the adaptation it is and lacks drama. Much better is #28 Julie Keeps Quiet. This rivetting and topical Belgian film about a young tennis player in crisis has an electric central performance. James enjoyed Viola Davis as the US President in G20 on Amazon Prime. A topical thriller it is entertaining but silly, falling about halfway between Segal and Cruise.
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James Cameron-Wilson says UK box office is up 83% YoY. He recommends three films in the chart. Ryan Coogler's Sinners at #2 is an outstanding piece of filmmaking which defies caegorisation but brings to mind Tarantino. It's a powerful, sensual and immersive experience that stays with you. #3 The Penguin Lessons isn't the feelgood family film you might expect but a wise, charming and funny political thriller starring Steve Coogan set in 1970s Argentina. At #5 Alex Gardland's Warfare aims to be the most realistic war film ever and succeeds. It's a terrific film but harrowing. On Amazon Prime Holland, with Nicole Kidman, tries to be a comedic black thriller like Fargo but doesn't quite work.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that box iffice is down 52% although A Minecraft Movie has powered ahead to a £31m take. #2 The Amateur has Rami Malek as a desk-bound CIA guy who wants to get trained up for revenge. But it's ludicrous and underlit and very disappointing. #6 the unheralded Drop is a thriller with Meghann Fahy on a date that goes badly wrong. Think of Speed in a restaurant. James was completely gripped by the ingenious plot. He also admires #16 Mr. Burton with Toby Jones the teacher who inspired Richard Burton to at. It's the sort of little film that Britain does so well and deserves an audience. Simon recommends the new Eureka double-disc silent Laurel & Hardy restoration.
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This week James Cameron-Wilson is joined by Chad Kennerk, our occasional American correspondent fresh from his trip to CinemaCon in Vegas. James is thrilled to see that the UK box-office has leaped a phenomenal 168.7% from the previous weekend, thanks to the video game adaptation 'A Minecraft Movie' with Jason Momoa and Jack Black. At #4 is 'Death of a Unicorn', a farcical horror comic that is inept on almost every level, save for the presence of Jenna Ortega. However, at #7 is the Oscar-winning animated feature 'Flow', which James claims is the best film of the year so far, being an enthralling, mystical, frequently quite funny, wondrous, haunting and even a pulse-accelerating experience. He was less happy with 'The Electric State' on Netflix, a $320 retro-futuristic mess with Chris Pratt and Mollie Bobby Brown which he describes as being overblown, heavy-handed and visually cluttered.
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James Cameron-Wilson reports that the box office is down 14%. #2 is A Working Man, a violent, noisy and hugely unrealistic shoot-em-up with Jason Statham scything through Russian baddies as he tries to rescue his boss's daughter. It's like a poor knockoff of Taken. James hugely recommended Novocaine at #5 with Jack Quaid a man incapable of feeling pain. Although occasionally violent there are a lot of laughs and some superb twists (and more plausible fights) in a beautifully-plotted film. He also recommends – for those with strong stomachs – the 5-time Oscar-nominated Demi Moore horror movie The Substance. It's now out on disc and is a must for horror fans.
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With box office + 63%, James Cameron-Wilson says #1 Snow White is neither as bad nor good as some would have it. Rachel Zegler lights up the screen but the CGI dwarves make it feel like an animated remake. It's not a new classic. #7 The Alto Knights has Robert de Niro playing 2 rival gangsters at once, a truly bad idea. It's misjudged and incredibly boring. James recommends documentary A Thinking Game if you can find it. O'Dessa, on Disney+, is a dotty, cheap and nasty, post-apocalyptic rock opera, with Sadie Sink considerably better than the movie which is a real rag bag of influences.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that box office is down another 24% this week. Steven Soderbeg's spy thriller Black Bag is #3. With the likes of Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett it looks good but is dry, unbelieveable and contrived. He was far keener on #7 Last Breath, a true-life feature based on an earlier documentary about a deep sea rescue. Starring Woody Harrelson it feels totally authentic and is very tense but, if anything, rather too short. James recommends the restoration of 1969's A Touch of Love with Sandy Dennis and Ian McKeellan. It's a searing slice of social commentary which swept James away. A real time capsule, it was hugely influential on the NHS at the time.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 Mickey 17, from Parasite's Bong Joon Ho, is a sci-fi film about replicated human beings in the vein of Terry Gilliam which seems terribly familiar. He found the lead irritating and thought it entirely humourless. #3 Marching Powder proved to James's surprise that he IS shockable after all. Another Nick Love-Danny Dyer collaboration about a coke addict who loves violence, it's a state-of-the-nation black comedy which is massively politically incorrect and offensive. Yet there's no denying it's well made and often witty. On Amazon Prime Sing Sing, thrice-Oscar-nominated, is about the power of theatre to heal. It is funny and deeply moving and James recommends it highly.
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James Cameron-Wilson laments box office falling 42%, saying it is unlikely to pick up until May when the new Mission Impossible film is released. #5 is The Last Showgirl in which Pamela Anderson plays an exotic dancer feeling her age after 30 years stripping in Las Vegas. Despite good performances from her and Jamie Lee-Curtis, James found the appalling camerwork made it hard to engage. He thought the Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late was eminently watchable but felt there were big gaps in the narrative. James finishes by rounding up this year's Oscars and highlighting where he thought the Academy voters got it wrong.
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James Cameron-Wilson says box office, though down 39%, is still up 78% year-on-year thanks to Bridget Jones. #4 is The Monkey, a spectacularly grisly horror film which, neither funny nor scary, is just depressing and illogical. I Am Still Here is #6, Walter Salles's much-garlanded docudrama about Brazil's dictatorship in the 1970s. James loved the Blu-Ray box set "Douglas Sirk 1934-5" with the director's three lost German films available for the first time. And James ends with his predictions for the forthcoming Oscars.
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James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a 162% box office jump with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy the new #1. Its £12.3m take was the biggest ever for a romcom. James, although recognising he's not the target audience, was a little less enthusiastic, as was Simon Rose, though James found it the best of the four films. #2 is Captain America: Brave New World, the 35th Marvel film. A thriller that gets increasingly far-fetched, James enjoyed it to an extent. He loved watching the BAFTAs and discusses the ceremony and the results.
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James Cameron-Wilson reports on box office +13%. Avoiding animated #1 Dog Man, he found #5, September 5, a true-life drama about TV's coverage of the Munich Olympics kidnapping of Israeli athletes totally engrossing, if uncomfortably timely. At #6 is The Brutalist. Despite admiring its many exceptional attributes, including the acting, he found the characters in this 215-minute labour of love tiring. He admired the film but has no wish to see it again. He enjoyed The Gorge on Apple TV+ which begins as a Tom Clancy thriller but ends up being more like a Richard Curtis movie. He found it barmy, surprising and ludicrous.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that UK box office is down for the fifth week in a row. #3 is Companion which James says is best enjoyed knowing little about it. It has laughs, thrills and plenty of surprises but is essentially a black comedy. Steven Soderbergh's horror Presence has slipped to #20 but James found it a one-trick pony with little flesh on its bones, short though it is. He suggests everyone avoids at all costs Amazon Prime's matrimonial romcom You're Cordially Invited. With Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, it is depressing, irritating and mean-spirited and beggars belief in its awfulness.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that box office is down 21%, although A Complete Unknown remains #1. The Mel Gibson thriller Flight Risk is #4 with Michelle Dockery and Mark Wahlberg excellent in a well-produced, tight piece of hokum which actually drew a round of applause in the cinema. On Netflix, James found Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger with Rory Kinnear, about the iniquity of payday lenders, superior to the first film. It's more believable and he was perfectly engaged. He also discusses the Oscar nominations, including the snubs, the disappointments and the surprises.
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James Cameron-Wilson reports on box office -13% but still up on 2024, with Wicked becoming last year's most successful film with £59.6m. The musical biopic of Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, with Timothy Chalomet and Edward Norton is the new #1. Despite great performances, with little narrative momentum, it might be mainly for fans. The tedious and unbelievable Wolf Man limps in at #7. James found Netflix's spy thriller Back in Action, the return from retirement of Cameron Diaz, all very silly and over the top, despite some good stunts. The Oscar nominations were coming out during recording so James gives his first thoughts on who's in and who's out.
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James Cameron-Wilson says that yet again 6 films took £1m at the box office, with Mufasa replacing Nosferatu as #1. Racy drama Babygirl is #5, with Nicole Kidman amazing as a businesswoman whose perfect life is threatened by an affair. James found it almost too much, so real and voyeuristic did it feel. Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain at #6 has him and Kieran Culkin mismatched cousins tracing their European heritage. It's original, deftly realised, witty and well acted. Although perhaps aimed at younger viewers, Amazon's White Bird has Helen Mirren explaining her experiences under the Nazis to her grandson. Made by the great Marc Forster, it is poignant and touching and had James on the edge of tears at times.
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James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a healthy box office, up 42% YoY. New #1 Nosferatu is Robert Eggers' take on the 1922 Murnau classic with Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. The design and photography is brilliant but the ripe dialogue caused giggles in the audience. At #3 is We Live In Time from the director of the brilliant Brooklyn. A non-linear telling of a relationship, James found it an amazing and rewarding emotional investment. On Netflix, he admired the Six Triple Eight, a surprisingly true WW2 tale of African American servicewomen in Europe. Although it's not subtle, it is very emotive and well-acted.
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James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office soaring 113%, though he can't be dragged to #1 Sonic the Hedgehog 3. He finds the animation in the photo-realistic #2 Mufasa: The Lion King astonishing. A prequel and sequel modelled on Butch Cassidy it is wonderful, being both moving and very powerful. Better Man is a musical memoir of Robbie Williams with him narrating, though on screen he is represented as a chimpanzee. It's very original and inventive and is surprisingly engaging and moving. On Netflix James recommended Carry-On, a thriller with Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman which sucks you into the terrifying action.
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