Frozen has become a cinema icon, the most successful animated film of all time and sure to be a pop-cultural touchstone for today’s youngsters to enthuse about with both irony and nostalgia in fast food car parks in years to come. Not surprisingly, it’s sequel Frozen 2 is one of the most anticipated films of the year. Despite some impressive
Read moreMore than half a century after the much-loved original Mary Poppins comes Mary Poppins Returns starring the luminous Emily Blunt in the title role. Set once again in London but about 20 years after the original film during the depression, Returns sees the Banks children now grown up and dealing with the difficult realities of adult life. For Michael (Ben
Read moreFollowing the utterly enchanting Harry Potter film adaptations, the purported prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which focused on Ministry of Magic Zoologist and beast wrangler Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) was a disappointment. With a meandering plot, over-use of cgi and characters who ranged from unengaging to outright annoying, the film was confusing and dull. The sequel Fantastic Beasts:
Read moreSince the world-dominating success of the Harry Potter films, teen magic fantasies have been an El Dorado for film makers: guaranteed gold if the right approach can be found but as the likes of The Golden Compass and A Wrinkle in Time have shown, too often disastrous. There were high hopes, however, for the cinema adaptation of John Bellair’s 1973
Read moreAdapting the young adult, sci-fi/ fantasy, adventure novel to the screen is a tricky feat. If done right, as in the Harry Potter films, they can provide wonderful cinema. Too often, though, film-makers trying to adapt popular teen novels to the big screen fumble the task badly, exhibit A: The Mortal Instruments. It would be reasonable to expect that a
Read morePirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is yet another lumbering, plotless farce in what has to be one of the most undeservedly successful franchises in cinema history – first film excepted. These Pirate films should be rollicking campy adventures but they’re so waterlogged with cgi and so incoherently plotted that they lack both sense and charm. Also,
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