Snow White review

 

Disney’s venerable fairy tale deals in absolutes so may seem ill equipped for the modern age where everything is held to question and things are rarely clear or clean cut. Can a story with such simplistic figures survive? The answer, at least as far as the latest adaptation goes, remains in the air. Online generated controversies over casting and the rumoured political differences between the two leads that made them enemies in real life as well as on screen have already given the film a bad reputation. Judging from the rows of empty seat at the first week performance I attended this may have put some people off.  Yet those arguments, rather like the plot of Snow White, take a simplistic view of matters being either right or wrong and few things actually are. On an artistic level the film is also suffering due to its proximity to Wicked which has superior songs, stellar performances and a more involving plot. Nevertheless Snow White does what it is supposed to do and if the delighted reaction from kids at one particular development at the showing I went to is any indication it seems to hit the right notes for a younger audience.

 

Film reviews - Gran Turismo and Heart of Stone

 

The long absent Neil Blomkamp (its eight years since the under rated Chappie) returns with what may seem like an artistic left turn but in fact it suits his style perfectly. It may be a movie made in the tradition of `unlikely hero trying to beat the odds` but the director’s sensibility steers it cleverly between hazards. While filmmakers have recently been discovering better ways to adapt video games for the big screen in the case of Gran Turismo there is a readymade true-life story that forms the basis of this movie. You might watch it and think it unlikely but most of what we see happened and as a film its excitingly rendered whether you know the story or not.

 

Wonder Woman 1984 review

At the end of this year it is more important than ever to be reminded of the power of the big screen. The largest tv in the world cannot compete with the average cinema screen for depth of picture, crispness of sound or the ability to transport you somewhere else and make you forget for a couple of hours what a crazy place the world is right now. If you can go to a cinema and see this film (or any film) to have that reminder do so. Eventually, hopefully, cinemas will be back, fully open and ready and it would be a shame if when that happened people no longer wanted to go. Wonder Woman 1984 is a perfect reminder of the power of cinema as it includes at least two sequences that the big screen is there for. You may carp and groan about CGI or superhero clichés or simply morality- and yes its all here- but there is something great about reconnecting with all that. Perhaps when cinemas were places we took for granted we became too cynical about the mechanics of production or too demanding for something new. Right now this movie tells a story that is straightforward, sometimes fun and always on the move. I’m glad that unlike so many other films lately it has been released to watch on the big screen.

 

Justice League

Considering all the flak Justice League had had hurled towards it my expectations were fairly low however while far from perfect this is an enjoyable enough big budget movie best seen in a cinema. It still seems far too soon for these avengers to assemble when only one of them has had their own film but given those limitations the results are better than expected with some interesting script ideas and well delivered action.

Spoilers past this point

Wonder Woman

Go Gal! DC films lift off at last!

Thanks to Gal Gadot’s personal charisma Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman was about the only good thing in the otherwise clunky Batman Vs Superman so expectations for her own film were high and pleasingly the result exceeds those hopes. This is a terrific movie perfectly handled by director Patty Jenkins to kick start the DC movie universe properly. It is the equal of most of the Marvel films with which it shares a storytelling and action dynamic that keeps the audience involved from beginning to end.

Spoilers past this point…