Alice in Wonderland is the latest from kinky director Tim Burton using advanced digital 3D technology to produce a lush hybrid of Lewis Carroll's beloved stories “Alice through the Looking Glass” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. As with many adaptations in the past, characters are exchanged or blurred like the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts while other characters are introduced like the fierce Jabberwocky which is only alluded to in the books famous nonsensical poem. This is a much matured Alice (Mia Wasikowska) who at age 19 falls down a rabbit hole to escape an unwelcome marriage proposal only to revisit a long forgotten world. Here the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) with help from Stayne the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) controls the kingdom via fear of unleashing the vicious Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). The other creatures like Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) and Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) have eagerly awaited the return of Alice so that she might slay the Jabberwocky with the vorpal sword and restore power to the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Yet again Burton taps the copious talent of Johnny Depp to play the Mad Hatter who is only mad when channelling Ed Wynn but turns lucid while expressing himself in a Scottish Brogue. There is also a quasi romantic vibe between him and Alice that Lewis Carroll probably never dreamed of. Disney/Pixar do their usual magic with Burtons creative juices to make an exciting spectacle that like most of Burtons work and unlike most Disney productions may be a little too intense for the very young.
The Ghost Writer Stars Ewan McGregor as a biographer appropriately unnamed and in over his head when with a lot of cajoling by his friend Sidney Kroll (Timothy Hutton)he’s hired by John Maddox (a hairless Jim Belushi) as the nom de plume for Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) a very Tony Blair like ex British Prime Minister whose former ghost writer is recently quite literally a ghost due to drowning. The audience starts to doubt the accidental nature of his passing far sooner than our anonymous scribe does but the pieces start to fall in place as he observes the interaction of Mrs Lang (Olivia Williams) and Amelia Bly (BC’s Kim Cattrall with a convincing British accent) at the States side eastern seaboard bunker of the former PM and his entourage. As Adam Lang becomes the target of the International Court for war crimes our writer gets in jeopardy by confronting former CIA recruiter and Lang college mate Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson with a passable American accent). The Ghost Writer is a fabulously witty political thriller that may have as much to do with politics off the screen as on. It seems more than a coincidence that director Roman Polanski suddenly gets arrested for a nasty crime decades ago just as he’s receiving awards for a film that says “you think what I did was bad, look what these guys got away with”.
A Prophet s from France and stars Tahar Rahim as Malik El Djebena, a street level criminal and not even good at that judging from the physical scars he bears. He’s suddenly no longer a juvie and lands a six year stretch in a French maximum security prison which on the surface is remarkably cordial. However there is an underlying power struggle between the dominant Corsicans led by César Luciani (Niels Arestrup) and a growing Muslim population. Being of Arabian/Corsican mix is a hindrance rather than a helpful coincidence for Malik until the Corsicans need to dispatch an Arabic inmate and force Malik to act as assassin. As a reward his stay in prison gets easier although he’s forever haunted by the ghost of his victim. Meantime this illiterate 19 year old proves to be a fast learner and not just through prison rehab, and as the prison political dynamic shifts he uses that momentum to seize power. This film won the jury prize at Cannes and the quality is definitely there but maybe there was an all too real feeling in this country slightly xenophobic when it comes to Middle Eastern immigration. It’s also nominated for Best Foreign Language film at this year’s Oscars but perhaps like so many other such remarkable films should really be competing for best picture.
Also out this weekend:
Last Train Home
New York, I Love You
Frozen
Brooklyn's Finest