© Disney
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Released 6th November 2009
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With the nights growing longer and the shops shimmering with glitter, it’s hard not to get into the festive feeling, and be drawn to the nearest Christmas flick on offer. This year that would be Disney’s A Christmas Carol, all in 3D. Getting in early on the act - and even earlier if you count the glimpse at Cannes this year, and released on 6th November, is special effects guru Robert Zemeckis‘ version of Charles Dickens‘ 166-year-old novella of redemption, a stalwart classic that has been reinvented many times over the years for the silly season in both traditional and contemporary versions. What is surprising is that Zemeckis has not taken up the well-worn reigns before now and adapted it into his own zany, breathtaking 3D vision. The screenwriter/director has gone for the traditional plot, keeping it topical, heartfelt and immensely witty.
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Released 6th November 2009
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Some stories seem dafter than fiction, even when they are based on fact, and this is one of them, inspired by Jon Ronson’s non-fiction best-seller of the same name. If we told you that the U.S. government trained a crack team to stare the hell out of animals to cause fatal coronaries (naturally, the next step being the enemy), or even walk through walls, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the writer was on a paranormal planet all of his own making. But the one thing this kooky, but real-life-based tale adapted by screenwriter Peter Straughan does is inspire “thinking outside of the box”, even for a couple of hours, because it is certifiably eccentric viewing with an undoubtedly fabulous cast to boot.
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Released 6th November 2009
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Secret love affairs set in another period have a special place in the British public’s heart, and Jane Campion’s latest ballad to Keats, Bright Star, is an exquisite example of the arousing, poetic and ultimately harrowing extremes of forbidden love in an age of social restrictions. Campion beautifully crafts another delicate tale, long after her laudable 1993 film, The Piano, which is set to thrill fans of romantic period drama.
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Released 30th October 2009
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What is it that Danny ‘one-take’ Dyer does best? You’ve guessed it: Playing the entertaining East-End light relief, with a tough-guy cockney accent in a drug-infused gangster movie. Director Alex De Rakoff (The Calcium Kid) seems to have discovered the elixir of eternal film magic; the return of the Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan double act. Surely, any film with The Football Factory stars in, is an instant box office hit?
