Film Review: Alice In Wonderland

I went to the cinema for the first time in AGESSSSS to see in 3D Alice in Wonderland, the latest Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham-Carter team up.

It was IMMENSE despite some of the negative feedback it has received. I believe on IMDB.com one person has called it "the most generic and heartless Tim Burton movie since Planet of the Apes". OUCH! I am a huge Tim Burton fan and an even bigger Johnny Depp fan. In addition as lady crushes go, Helena Bonham-Carter is a hotty (Mainly due to her work in A Room with a View, Howard's End and Bellatrix in Harry Potter to be quite frank!!) SO despite the love going on there, as quality of films go, in short, I was not expecting a helluva lot from this movie. The tide of criticism was as high as the white cliffs of Dover from some people who are even bigger fans of Burton than me... HOWEVER. I was completely blown away by it. I really loved it and I will be purchasing it on DVD when it comes out!

A stellar British cast was involved including Barbara Windsor as the doormouse (Peggy from Eastenders for those commoners who do not know her for her Carry On movies), Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat (I bloody love that man!), Helena Bonham-Carter- of course-playing the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the blue Caterpillar- I could recognise that man's sexy voice a mile off, and Matt Lucas playing both Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

We also have Anne Hathaway as the White Queen with some weird hand/interpretive dance gestures going on, Johnny Depp (phwoar) as the Mad Hatter with a pretty fabulous dance at the end (FACTOID: Hatters often when mad 18th/19th century; it was the mercury they used in the hat making process that had psychotic side-effects and often altered their hair colour, so Depp's exotic hair colour is not too far from the truth.)

As character's go, they were well developed for a big blockbuster. Depp played at times a deep and sensitive Mad Hatter; Helena Bonham-Carter as a "Just Wants To Be Loved" evil character- insecure and in deep need of psychiatric help; Alice was the nuts though. Played by Mia Wasikowska, a newbie to me as an actress, Alice came to life. She was a character that you could invest in... well emotionally I guess but then I think that maybe a bit too exaggerated, but because you believe her to be a real character with charm, wit and smarts that you kinda get involved with her working out the plot of the dream/world she is in. I read a review on a fellow blogger's site and she kinda nails it. There are no good, strong heroines out there in films or in books at the moment. There is a deficit of female gumption, as Eli Wallach's character (Arthur) puts it in The Holiday to Kate Winslet (Iris). Great film by the way if you want to see a great chick flick.

This lack of female strength and being a bit flimsy is kind of inherent at the moment in life, but Alice has managed to claw back some ground previously lost. I know I do go on a lot about femaleness and feminism and just the need to prove ourselves (of which my mam says to me I push too far and alienate people- which again may be true- but I shall avoid the delving into my deepest character flaws to another time) but there is just such a lack of gumption, and I really can't find a better word for it, that we really do need to alter.

BACK TO A LIGHTER NOTE! Artistically the film was a triumph. Absolutely stunning. I never got to see Avatar but I can imagine what it would have been like. Wearing the fifth-time-hand-me-down 3D glasses and eating jelly tots and 'lips and teeth' sweets whilst swigging Pepsi I had a thoroughly great time. Of course, the company really made the day *hugs*. The film was just the icing as they say, but of course any day with Johnny Depp is, by far, a wonderful day well spent :)

From "Poundlund" to free parking (always a bonus for the newly initiated driver) what an immense day. Epic triumph in sort. Slough didn't let us down :) Yay!

PS. Also a shout out to the costume designer- amazing!! Just Alice's dresses were fabulously thought out alone!!

Film Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

Set in London in the late 1930s, Miss Guinivere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a down-and-out, strait-laced vicar's daughter, who has just been released from her former position but an alcoholic rich lady with bratty kids- the stereotypical governess' nightmare. She is the typical governess with her drab brown clothes, her tired/gaunt face and unfashionably frizzy hair. However, a stroke of luck for Miss Pettigrew who 'acquires' a post in desperation i.e. steals off a recruitment agents' desk and finds that Delysia LaFosse (Amy Adams) is it: a social secretary to the flighty, man-using but simply lovely Delysia. Three lovers to toy and manipulate is a hard task for Pettigrew to keep her charge out of trouble. The slimy Nick, clubowner and generally 'Nasty Nick' character similar to that on Eastenders, Phil the pretty-boy-slash-muppet-with-more-of-Daddy's-money-than-he-knows-what-to-do-with who is staging a musical- one in which Delysia wants the main part- and the heart throb Michael- guess which one I liked the most?- is a cabaret pianist in the club where Delysia sings at night. He is humble (with an odd accent- possibly American, maybe English with a hint of the Gaelic about him) but morally upright yet dashing and not boring (which is what you can sometimes get with those morally upright characters- dull dull dull!) so ensue love square (rather than triangle- sometimes there are just not enough corners on a triangle), and added to that some poignant moments for Miss Pettigrew and her tentative love interest (Joe) who is shacked up with a hideous monstrosity of a woman- played by the actress who is Moaning Murtle in Harry Potter and Bridget Jones' best friend- the crying one in the loo of the bank right?!- so he so ditches her for Miss Pettigrew the lovely lady that she is. Sorry for the plot spoiler there. Plus Joe this dishy man (ok so he is middle-aged- he can be very dishy- I think its the gruff voice lol) Ciaran Hinds, who plays a fab Captain Wentworth in BBC's '90s adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion).

Okay so that is a summary of the plot. As an aside it is based on a book, which is something I didn't know. Winifred Watson (the first name of my great-grandma- or as I knew her- just Grandma- the crazy lady who at 87 would still crawl around on the floor with us playing Doh-Nutters wearing the silly elephant mask too!!) wrote the novel in 1938 and I soooo know I want to read it, and probably will knowing me!! I need a lifetime to read all the books I want to read.

No what made the film for me? It was sharp changes from humorous and poignant that flowed together to make a really charming story, twee but not sickeningly so. That, I think, is down to the actors who really weight down the story and lift it up when the occasion arises. The New York Times simply swooned over Amy Adams in Miss P: "[Delysia] may be an amoral, sociopathic vixen. But in Ms. Adams's portrayal she is also an irresistibly endearing creature of moods and whims, one who melts the hearts of the possessive, egotistical beaus she carelessly juggles while pursuing the leading role in a West End musical." I quite frankly I agree. She is one of the best young actresses to come to the fore in recent years and a better icon than say Jordan and the like. Recently I have watched three very different films of Amy Adams. One was Enchanted- a Disney film (and one I have seen many times because I bloody love its cheese factor), Doubt where she plays a nun alongside Meryl Streep who accuses a priest of molestation and Miss Pettigrew. In each her acting was different and she played each character differently. I like. *Nods head emphatically*

However the New York Times' swooning, however, does touch on the sycophantic: "Beneath their wiles, Ms. Adams's princesses are true-blue souls who would sooner die than hurt anyone. They're just a little ditzy." Yet they hit a key note with me- ditzy. Maybe that is why I like her acting- there is that element of continuity throughout all her roles though different- that ditzy element that is so endearing and classically her. Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock all have an endearing quality. This is her own style. And with the ditzy factor- I think I can relate to her, though she is approximately a third of my size, gorgeous and can act. Meh, trivial aspects teehee...

Yet you cannot forget Frances McDormand the lead role of this film. She is terrific. Believable and loveable. She capturs the time in the way she holds herself and conducts herself as Miss Pettigrew. No one will mess with her not even the slimy Nasty Nick and everyone wants and heeds her advice, an incredible phenomenon but again believable. She is the main reason that the story runs and flows so well juxtaposing laughs with poignancy. In terms of critical review the plot got a wee bit panned saying "[it] is an example of how a little nothing of a story can be inflated into a little something of a move with perfect casting, dexterous tonal manipulation and an astute eye and ear for detail" (NY Times). Okay so it is quite a nice, eloquent panning and accurate in parts- the act is terrific and the directing of the tone and nice nuances really make the film that extra bit special. But this review kind of misses out on the charm of the film. That unerringly jaunty and fast-flowing pace (the film is all set over the course of a day) and the nice sentimental touches that put you back into context that it was the Depression-era, not everyone one was having a fabulously exotic lifestyle like Delysia. The fact that Miss Pettigrew is always so hungry throughout the film and almost on several occasions manages to eat something more than an olive out of a cocktail glass and the cucumbers from her facial but is thwarted. At the conclusion of the film having gone all day without real food, she sees a half eaten apple left in the train station. She makes a lunge at it, but the train porter sweeps it up before she gets there. A moment after that lone shot of the look of grim desperation on her face, Joe turns up. As they walk off into the proverbial sunset together he asks her whether she has eaten- it is soooo sweet and we know that he must have seen her diving for the apple but was gentlemanly enough to let her have a moment to compose himself before entering her eyeline. It is the most amazing and uplifting scene I have seen in ages. The entire film ebbs and flows with such ease and doesn't seem in any way contrived, which can be hard for the kind of twee movies I like to relax to. I sat on the sofa and squealed and laughed and almost shed a tear during the course of this little mountainous film.

I loved it so much so I a) blogged about it, b) am fighting my Dad to keep it on the Sky Plus Box- something he likes to wipe down every day grrrrr- completely unnecessary really, c) am going to buy it on DVD meaning that this week Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day will be receiving plus one more DVD sale! I know Dad won't be able to resist seeing that "Viewed" sign and for fear of the memory being taken up by my stuff will delete it. Bless him. He is so fastidious.

But on a concluding note about the film, as always I recommend to watch all my blogged about movies. This one is for the light-hearted, only takes up a hour and 32 minutes of your time precisely and it will make you feel uber good for the rest of the week after watching it. After that you can watch Persuasion, Doubt and Enchanted XD teehee

Happy Viewing All...