James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office chart, with takings up 53% thanks to 2 films. #1 is Paddington in Peru but the third in the series suffers from inane dialogue, an obvious plot and little basis in reality. James was no more impressed by #2 Red One with Dwayne Johnson in a movie about Father Christmas being kidnapped. It's nonsensical, silly and cynical. Simon caught Steve McQueen's Blitz, an impressive recreation of life on the home front during nightly bombings, starring...

James Cameron-Wilson says box office is up 12%, with Heretic at #3 a horror film starring Hugh Grant. While the first half is a blast in the vein of Sleuth, it then descends into full-out nasty horror. Although #6 Anora, starring Mike Madison, won the Palme D'Or, and has a great central performance, James was disappointed, perhaps because expectations were so high. He found #10 Clint Eastwood's 40th film as director, Juror #2, with Nicholas Hoult, totally gripping. It's a great story with...

James Cameron-Wilson says that box office is up a mere 3% with new #1 Venom: The Last Dance, the third in the franchise with Tom Hardy. Full of British actors, it is dark and violent. The antithesis is #2 The Wild Robot, a delightful animated feature about a robot learning from the animals on an uninhabited island. It's a genuine original and looks terrific. James was moved and entertained. On Sky/Netflix is Woman of the Hour, starring and directed by Anna Kendrick. Although based on a true...

James Cameron-Wilson reports that box office takings are up 23%. #1 is the animated The Wild Robot from the creator of How To Train Your Dragon. #3 is The Apprentice, about the property-developing years of Donald Trump. Despite two excellent central performances, it's a dreary and underwhelming affair, which isn't particularly entertaining. The Crime is Mine from the versatile and prolific film director François Ozon is a farcical trifle set in 1930s Paris which is sweet but no Muscatel. On...

James Cameron-Wilson explains that box office is down 17%, with a big dropoff for the new Joker movie. He couldn't get excited by new #1 Transformers One. Being animated, it negates the wow factor and he was bored rigid. For the first time in his career, he thinks a film should not have gone on general release. #3 Terrifier 3 is a Christmas horror movie so strong some patrons have been made ill. James says it would have been banned in the 80s. Again he recommends people to catch Beetlejuice...

James Cameron-Wilson says the box office is up 44% thanks to #1 Joker: Folie à Deux, with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Essentially a jukebox musical contemplating the human condition, it sadly lacks a narrative drive and is often downright boring. At #10, A Different Man is an accomplished and original drama which is moving, challenging and entertaining. Never sure where it's going, it's remarkable and highly recommended. Out on excellently restored home discs is the 1954 JB Priestley An...

James Cameron-Wilson reorts on box office down 9%, the third downturn in a row. He thought #3 The Outrun, a searing drama based on a memoir starring Saoirse Ronan, a terrific film. A work of arthouse cinema, it's a beautiful and emotional expedition with great acting. Francis Ford Coppola's long-cherished dream project Megalopolis reaches the screen at #7 but it is preposterous, self-indulgent and incomprehensible and had the audience leaving in droves. #10 Never Let Go with Halle Berre is a...

Box office is down 27%, says James Cameron-Wilson with new entry The Substance, a feminist body horror starring Demi Moore, entering only at #3. Although #12, Jodie Comer's Prima Facie has now taken £7.6m, the highest ever for an event movie and it is still screening. James waxed lyrical about the extras-laden Blu-Ray Michael Powell: Early Works, giving umpteen insights into the development of one of the UK's greatest directors. He was also positive about Netflix's Rebel Ridge, a thriller...

James Cameron-Wilson tells Simon Rose that box office is down 21%, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice still #1. #2 is the James McAvoy thriller of manners Speak No Evil which James praised highly while advising cinemagoers to avoid the trailer. Kate Winslet stars in passion project Lee (#3) about WW2 photojournalist Lee Miller. While she is brilliant and the film looks amazing, the story is so slow paced and conventionally told James had trouble keeping his eyes open. And while he enjoyed Ian...

Box office is up 47%, says James Cameron-Wilson, helped by the 36-years-on Tim Burton sequel to Beetlejuice called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Still with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, James found it laugh-out-loud funny and wildly imaginative with amazing production design. At #10 is the oddly-titled Firebrand, the story of Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) and Henry VIII (Jude Law), which is fascinating to history buffs, if a little uncinematic. However, Robin and the Hoods on Sky Movies, a...

James Cameron-Wilson laments box office declining 30% despite National Cinema Day. The only new film is AI horror AfrAId at #10 with a family at the mercy of a digital assistant. Although slammed by critics, James found it nuanced and horrifically believable. He also watched faith-based horror The Deliverance on Netflix which features Glenn Close. Although not a great film, it still delivers a frightfest. James thinks that spy thriller The Union, also on Netflix and starring Halle Berry and...

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a bumper week of films, despite the box office take falling 17%. Kneecap, a mashup of A Hard Day's Night and Trainspotting is #5. Psychological thriller Blink Twice is #6. Written and directed by Zoe Kravitz and starring Channing Tatum, James felt that, though unsettling, he'd seen it all before. The supposed remake of The Crow at #8 was brilliantly made and disturbing but illogical. James both admired and hated it. Simon felt that Widow Cliquot at #24 was a...

With box office buoyant, James Cameron-Wilson was blown away by Alien:Romulus, the 9th in the series and the new #1. It feels fresh and smart, has a great retro look and, above all, is how horror films should work. He was glad to have caught #22 Hollywoodgate, a documentary made with the Taliban's cooperation after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving behind £7bn of military equipment. He found it eye-opening, fascinating and frightening. He (and Simon) were full of praise for...

James Cameron-Wilson is joined by guest interrogator Chad Kennerk to discuss the UK box-office, which has dipped 3% from the previous weekend. Sadly, he was not a fan of any of the three new releases in the marketplace: he found 'It Ends With Us' implausible and ridiculous, M. Night Shyamalan’s psycho-thriller 'Trap' contrived and inexplicable and the video game adaptation 'Borderlands' (with Cate Blanchett, of all people) derivative and chaotic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office up 82%, helped by Deadpool & Wolverine at #1 for a 2nd week. He enjoyed the sweet-natured, amusing family film Harold & The Purple Crayon at #5 which is full of joi de vivre, innocence and wonder. He also loves Thelma at #20. June Squibb's first starring role at the age of 94, it's an action thriller like you've never before which is also extemely funny. On Apple+ he mostly enjoyed The Instigators with Matt Damon reunited with director Doug...

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a healthy UK box office despite the hot weather. New #1 is Deadpool & Wolverine, the first Marvel film James has enjoyed in a long time. Its 15 certificate is well-deserved as it has lots of blood, beheadings and bad language and there's too much CGI combat but Ryan Reynolds' meta-banter is undeniably funny and the film is full of "Easter Eggs" for fans. The 1959 Sylvia Syms and Herbert Lom British drama No Trees in the Street is available on 4K restoration...

While box office is down 12%, James Cameron-Wilson is excited by Twisters, taking £3.1m at #2, thinking the disaster movie is ripe for revival. A standalone sequel, he found this big slice of popcorn escapism with Daisy Edgar-Jones intense and totally engrossing. He wished he'd been able to see Kevin Costner's gargantuan Western project Horizon: An American Saga Part One on the big screen but had to settle for its streaming appearance. Although flawed and sometimes hard to understand, he...

James Cameron-Wilson revels in UK box office up 64% thanks to the bad weather and a raft of new films. #1 is Despicable Me 4 which he likes no more than the other 5 in the franchise, finding a U certificate for such a violent film surprising. At #3 is horror film Longlegs from Oz Perkins (Anthony Perkins' son) with Nic Cage, which James found well made and unnerving. He was less charitable about supposedly trueish #4 Fly Me To The Moon with Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. Failing as...

Cineworld plans to close 25% of its cinemas and James Cameron-Wilson says box office is down 26%, though Inside Out 2 is riding high with £40.1m, making it the biggest hit of 2024. Prequel A Quiet Place: Day One is #2 but, while accomplished and watchable, it doesn't have the coiled tension of the first two films. Despite loving films of Yorgos Lanthimos like The Favourite and Poor Things, James was not enamoued of Kinds of Kindness, an anthology movie with Emma Stone which is weird without...

With the box office relatively robust, despite the warmer weather, James Cameron-Wilson saw Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy in #2 The Bikeriders, taking £1.1m. Despite its great look and some fine acting, he found it a poseurfest that doesn't knit together and lacks real characters. He was impressed by #10 Something in the Water. Although it only took £120,000, this terrific British-made Carribean-set survival thriller is head and shoulders above most genre films this year. Unusually for James, he...

James Cameron-Wilson reports UK box office up a remarkable 100%, thanks to the new #1 Inside Out 2, which took £11.3m. That's the biggest opening of the year and the 3rd biggest UK opening for an animated film. Pixar have done it again with an enjoyable adventure which is both exciting and funny. On Netflix, Glen Powell has a star-making turn in Richard Linklater's Hit Man, a romcom supposedly based on a true story. With a terrific script and great chemistry, it's an entertaining watch. And...

James Cameron-Wilson says the box office is only up 10% with new #1 Bad Boys: Ride or Die picking up almost £4m. James found this sequel, 29 years after the original, profane, violent, meaningless and formulaic. #6 The Watched is a cabin-in-the-woods horror written and directed by Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M Night. But it turns out to be cliched, dreary and often nonsensical. Simon recommended Italian drama La Chimera starring Josh O'Connor and Isabella Rossellini about a group of tomb...

James Cameron-Wilson reports that the charming IF has regained the #1 spot at the UK box office. He was less than impressed by #8 Sting, a horror film about a spider which is a dumb and ridiculous sub-Alien ripoff. Although it is familiar and feels like a video game jammed on fast forward, he found the Jennifer Lopez sci-fi romp Atlas on Netflix to be reasonable popcorn entertainment. He was even more impressed by Sky's Bonus Track about a teenager loner at school who suddenly finds direction...

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...