Movie reviews

WONDER WHEEL

Watchable. Juno Temple has grown up to become a flirtatious curvy young lady in the 50s period drama. A clear-cut plot and lots of old charm moderate the story permeating with disillusionment and jealousy. Ginny is the nervous character typical for the director but Woody Allen's usual humour is missing. The woman in love with her much younger lover is the most tragic character but I didn't shed a tear.

24 HOURS TO LIVE

Watchable. An action flick about a mercenary/hitman/special agent with 24 hours left to live. Sounds familiar? Here he's even got a screen implanted in his underarm displaying the remaining time. But Ethan Hawke has decent acting skills and pulls it off. Superficial yet plausible psychology and great acting on all parts with good pictures make it much better than the synopsis would imply. The final scene suggests a sequel coming.

COCO

Watchable. Hispanic architecture, cenotes, mariachis and Dia de Muertos with a complete afterlife world including photograph control on the border and details like a Huesos Boutique signboard. The flimsy premise of a boy who wants to play the guitar - used in films over and over again as if teens had no other dreams - makes a base for quite a solid story. Cultural consultants were hired to help create a colourful family tale based in Mexico. It's just too sappy at times. Lovely animation employs varying techniques resulting in some faces looking smooth and other wrinkly, rocks differing from the pavement or the effect of translucent water.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Watchable. Nothing in this hollow adaptation of Agatha Christie's famous novel rings true. Malta, where it was shot, doesn't resemble Istanbul in the slightest. Swiss and French Alps, including Gorge de Verdun concealed beyond recognition, fail to impress as they normally should. The wintry backdrop they form doesn't match the foreground actors. You can see they don't walk on real snow and aren't out in the cold. Kenneth Branagh's, as Hercule Poirot, Belgian French accent sounds phoney. His and Ratchett's moustaches look glued onto their faces. All the celebrities act with theatrical exaggeration. Sentimental music deprives the production of any potential even tension. I just stayed watching out of my respect and admiration for Agatha Christie. It was a great disappointment to see such a parody of her work. The ending implies "Death on the Nile" is going to be next. I hope not.

ON WINGS OF EAGLES

Watchable. So slow I considered walking out. In the brief moments of better music it transpired it was the morose western-style classical soundtrack that ruined the movie. The sad story of an American Olympic runner turned primary school teacher in China who dies in a POW camp during the WW2 Japanese invasion could have been livelier. Based on true events so I watched to get to know how it was at wartime.

Seen from the comfort of a Cinema City seat. In the run-up to Christmas an increased number of commercials are screened before movies but at least mostly new ones and the moronic Mirinda spot is gone.