Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Robert Zemeckis.
Cast: Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Callum Blue, Jim Carrey, Michael J Fox, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth
Description: A computer animated version of the Dickens classic about miser Ebenezer Scrooge as he learns the value of Christmas and his place in the world thanks to the intervention of three ghostly guides. With his eyes now fully open, Scrooge makes amends to his assistant Bob Cratchit and the people closest to him.
Country: US. 2009. 95mins
Admirable: A Christmas Carol
“It’s as if Charles Dickens wrote this story to be a movie,” says Robert Zemeckis, the writer-director of this splendidly mounted and visually imaginative animated 3D version of the classic novel.
That’s true enough — but what we get from him is a thrill ride rather than the sentimental kick of the best versions.
This time Scrooge is voiced, a little peculiarly, by Jim Carrey who also does the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
Gary Oldman plays Bob Cratchit, Young Marley, Marley’s Ghost and — who would have thought it? — Tiny Tim.
It is admirable in many ways but you get the feeling that someone didn’t quite trust the story.
Watch the opening few minutes, where Zemeckis and his team set the scene, and you can only wonder. Watch the last sequence, which ends the abruptly, and you may curse.
Still, in between, there are many wonders and a series of weathered and withered faces of which Dickens himself would have been proud.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Morning:
3°c
