Disney’s Moana was a justifiable smash hit. A cute, charming and extremely visually inventive animated adventure that drew on the familiar Disney trope of the feisty but sensitive young woman going on a journey of self-discovery. It was distinguished, however, by its South Pacific island setting (the fictitious island of Motonui) and its references to Polynesian history, culture and mythology.
Read moreWicked is the hotly anticipated cinema adaptation of the hugely successful musical theatre production of the same name. I haven’t seen the stage version and all I knew was that it was a prequel of sorts to The Wizard Of Oz that involved origin stories for the good witch Glinda and the wicked witch Elphaba. The filmmakers certainly believe in
Read moreTodd Phillips’ Joker (2019) reimagined the supervillain origin story as a study of a fracturing mind with the beaten down incel Arthur Fleck transforming into the weirdly charismatic murdering psychopath clown of the title. In this age of superhero/ villain obsession it was an ambitious and subversive take on an iconic character but not always a riveting one. For those
Read moreThe Colour Purple is the cinema adaptation of the stage musical adaptation of the 1985 Steven Spielberg film adaptation of the 1892 Alice Walker novel. This time, Blitz Bazawule rather than Spielberg directs although Spielberg and Quincy Jones return as producers alongside the stage musical’s producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey. The stage to screen adaptation can be a tricky
Read moreLook out Generations Y and Z, your cool cultural icons are now becoming retro nostalgia. The latest acquisition is high school clique comedy Mean Girls which was originally filmed in 2004 and propelled Lindsay Lohan to stardom. Like the Colour Purple, Mean Girls was turned into a stage musical that has itself been adapted into a film. The buoyant preview
Read moreThe aroma of chocolate filled the air as an eager Sunday morning preview audience filed into the Rivoli cinema for a screening of Wonka a mostly fun, good natured but thinly-plotted musical origin story for the mercurial chocolate maestro Willy Wonka. This is not an adaptation of any specific work by author Roald Dahl whose 1964 novel Charlie and the
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