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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.