MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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Film round-up
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers
Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
Sparks & Embers (15)
Directed by Gavin Boyter?
THIS Christmas rom com about a man trying to reignite a former romance fails to show any spark of ingenuity or charm. ?Tom (Kris Marshall) has 45 minutes to win back his former love Eloise (Annelise Hesme) before she catches the Eurostar to France. ?
Directed by Tom Hooper
5/5
EDDIE REDMAYNE, Oscar-winner for his magnificent portrait of Stephen Hawkings in The Theory of Everything, deserves another for his extraordinarily moving and perfectly acted portrayal of Lili Elbe, the eponymous Danish girl who was one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment.
Yet Hollywood being Hollywood, my best guess is that Leonardo DiCaprio’s record-breaking scenery chewing in The Revenant will finally net him a golden statuette.
Lucinda Coxon’s screenplay is genuinely inspired by the Danes Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener, allowing the tormented transgender Redmayne and his wife (Alicia Vikander) to create unforgettable characters who emotionally grip and hold you right from the start.
Tom Hooper, too, deserves the highest praise for sensitive direction that impeccably concentrates on character and story.
Wegener’s poignant journey to escape from being a man trapped in a woman’s body is compellingly told, perfectly summed up when he tells the surgeon about to transform him from man to woman: “This is not my body, professor. Take it away!”
There’s nothing crass or crude here, simply one of the finest, most memorable biopics you could hope to see.
Review by Alan Frank
Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (U)
Directed by Steve Martino
4/5
CHARLIE BROWN, Snoopy and the gang are given the big screen treatment in this their feature film debut which proves to be a delightfully entertaining and nostalgic ride.
Although in 3D, the much-loved characters retain their comic strip-look, along with all their quirky traits.
The story revolves around renowned loser Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp), whose world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Little Red Haired Girl (Francesca Capaldi). He is desperate to impress and get her to like him.
Meanwhile, in the other plot strand, Snoopy (Bill Melendez) is in pursuit of his arch nemesis the Red Baron.
It’s all wonderfully charming and faithful to the original cartoon so there isn’t a mobile phone or laptop in sight — Snoopy is still writing on his faithful manual typewriter.
Sheer joy, and it’s preceded by an ingeniously brilliant short featuring Ice Age’s Scrat in his never-ending pursuit of his beloved acorn.
Review by Maria Duarte
Sleeping With Other People (15)
Directed by Leslye Headland
1/5
REMEMBER When Harry Met Sally?
It could be that writer and director Leslye Headland does.
Unfortunately, recall isn’t everything.
Nor, if Headland intended her lame rom com to be a homage, what ultimately emerges at the finale is more like pure fromage. Given the leading lady Lainey is played by Alison Brie, that might well be expected.
She and college student Jake (Jason Sudeikis, who also deserves better) casually lose their virginity to each other while at college.
Twelve years later they meet again in New York, at a support group. Lainey is locked in a loveless romance with randy doctor Matthew (Adam Scott) while Jake is a serial seducer. Will they get together again?
You might well find yourself sleeping with other people as well — partner filmgoers, of course — while this wannabe Woody Allen-style vehicle grinds away with only some brave and some moderately good performances to carry it on to an obviously signalled conclusion.
Review by Alan Frank
In the Heart of the Sea (12A)
Directed by Ron Howard
4/5
FORTUNATELY, director Ron Howard prefers good storytelling to simply sucking up to cineastes.
His dramatic reworking of the true saga of the 19th-century whaling ship Essex that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick makes compelling entertainment.
When aspirant author Melville (Ben Whishaw) interviews a traumatised survivor of the Essex — “His soul is in torment and in need of confession” — he learns about the terrifying destruction of the ship by a giant white whale.
That’s only part of a searing and horrific narrative of starvation, thirst and worse experienced by the survivors, who battle to stay alive at sea as the whale continues to attack.
Chris Hemsworth as Owen Chase heads a strong cast, while Howard makes impressive use of state-of-the-art special effects to create a terrifying giant whale without allowing them to detract from the scarifying human drama at the core of the story. And he finds space to condemn the profiteers involved in 19th-century whaling as the narrative unfolds.
Review by Alan Frank
Daddy’s Home (15)
Directed by Sean Anders
4/5
FANCY a shamefully funny antidote to saccharine Christmas sales promotion?
Reward yourself disgracefully as step-dad Will Ferrell and seriously weird biological father Mark Wahlberg go head-to-head in this enjoyably lewd comedy.
Ferrell’s the mild-mannered Brad, sterile after an unfortunate close encounter with errant x-rays, who’s happily remarried to Sarah (Linda Cardellini) and is slowly bonding with his stepchildren.
Enter Wahlberg as Dusty — “he’s wild and he’s crazy,” according to Sarah — roaring along on his motorcycle before rapidly reducing Brad’s serene life to farcical chaos by staying on, telling the kids fairy tales about the real king and the step king and demeaning his unwilling host whenever possible.
The comic flavour is decidedly low taste as the two dads spar in everything from skateboarding to tree house building. Randy humour proliferates, with Ferrell funny for the first time in ages.
Wahlberg raises laughs galore, too. To my shame, I often joined in.
Review by Alan Frank
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JAN WOLF enjoys a British revival of the 1972 come of age farce/panto Pippin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
DENNIS BROE enjoys the political edge of a series that unmasks British imperialism, resonates with the present and has been buried by Disney
GORDON PARSONS is disappointed by an unsubtle production of this comedy of upper middle class infidelity