There have been numerous film adaptations of Italian author Carlo Collodi’s 1883 Pinocchio story but the most famous is the 1940 Disney animated film. That movie is apparently a favourite of a number of renowned directors including Steven Spielberg who used its ‘wish upon a star’ theme over the closing credits of Close Encounters and essentially remade it as AI:
Read moreDespite being directed by the revered George Miller, containing some inspired and quite startling moments and starring two of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, the oddball romantic fantasy and storytelling tribute, 3,000 Years Of Longing doesn’t entirely work. The title sounds like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel but George Miller and Augusta Gore wrote the film’s
Read moreThe seemingly endless Marvel movie parade careens ahead with the latest cgi-drenched action extravaganza, Dr Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. While as visually inventive and eyeball pummelling as any film in the various Marvel universes (MCU, Spiderverse) this movie seriously lacks the energy and fun of the best Marvel movies such as the recent Spider-Man No Way Home and
Read moreFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore After the zeitgeist-shaping triumph of the Harry Potter films, the Fantastic Beasts movies, which are essentially Potter prequels, have been a major disappointment. Whereas the Potter films brimmed with invention and the youthful energy of their extremely likeable teen cast, the Beast movies have been flat, dull, grey-brown CGI–drenched slabs with confusing plots and
Read moreWith a guaranteed worldwide audience but also an amazingly finicky, near-fundamentalist fan base, helming a Star Wars film must be a very tantalising and yet daunting prospect for any director. After directing the mostly loved The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams takes back the reins from Rian Johnson who gave us the intriguingly off-beat but ultimately silly, The Last Jedi. With
Read moreThe original Jumanji from 1995 was a minor Gen X pop cultural touchstone. Often resembling a Spielberg film, it combined childhood escapist adventure, over-the-top special effects and the late Robin Williams patented brand of manic performance for a mostly entertaining adventure. Sniffing the Gen X nostalgia dollar and the instant merch potential of a film built around a video game,
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