My Review of Cinderella (1950)

 

Written by William Peet And Ted Sears And Homer Brightman And Kenneth Anderson And Erdman Penner And Winston Hibler And Harry Reeves And Joe Rinaldi

Directed by Wilfred Jackson And Hamilton Luske And Clyde Geronimi

Fairy Godmother: "Oh, now, now, now, now, now, just a minute. You must understand, my dear: On the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."

Cinderella: "Oh, I understand, but... it's more than I ever hoped for."

There are two reasons why I'm now reviewing this movie. First of all, it's turned seventy five this year and secondly, the upcoming season of Bridgerton will be very influenced by this story. There's also the fact that I happen to like it as well.

One of the earliest Disney movies that I watched as a child, Cinderella focused on the titular character (Ilene Woods) who lost both her parents and got made into being an unpaid skivvy for her mean spirited stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Eleanor Audley) and petty stepsisters, Drizella (Rhoda Williams) and Anastasia (Lucille Bliss).

Between the three of them, Cinderella's pretty keeping the house barely together but on the other, her best friends are mice and she did manage to keep them safe from Tremaine's spoiled cat, Lucifer. In return, they also help to create a nice dress for her.

A dress I should point out that Tremaine manipulated her awful daughter's into tearing to pieces, just so Cinderella couldn't go to the ball and meet Prince Charming (William Edward Phipps). Luckily there's a Fairy Godmother (Verna Felton) on hand to make sure that Cinderella could go to the ball.

Yes, Cinderella got a very nice dress, horses and a pumpkin carriage. She also got to meet Prince Charming and fall in love with him. She also had midnight working against and left a glass slipper behind. At least the prince had something to go on in order to find her.

It's almost a silly way as the Prince should have been able to recognise her but it was an amusing plot to have Tremaine try and fail to marry off one of her daughters. Of course Cinderella ended the movie going from servant to princess. 

- There are two animated sequels and a live action remake that was released in 2015. I'll tackle them all next year.

- Apparently this film took six years to make and it has about eight writers and three directors. I'm surprised it turned out so well.

- Standout music: A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and So This Is Love.

- Chronology: It's based on Charles Perrault's 1697 tale.

Cinderella might not pass a certain test but it's a delightful Disney movie with some good songs, helpful mice and a mostly helpful Fairy Godmother. Is it in my Top 10 Disney movies? No, but it's certainly a good watch nonetheless.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "Winter Fire"

 

Written by Jason Fuchs 

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Ingrid (to Beverly): "You know what they say about Derry. No one whoever dies here ever really dies."

And that's how you stick the landing. What a finale. All the big stories and themes coming to a satisfactory conclusion and more linkage to the movies themselves. All in the space of 68 minutes. I loved this episode.

Last week, Pennywise abducted Will and this week he went one step further and took the majority of the kids from Derry. This meant Lilly, Ronnie and Marge had to team up with the dagger to stop Pennywise while Leroy and Hallorann also went against General Shaw and even each other to an extent.

I can see why Hallorann wasn't keen to get involved considering the shit he's been through but that's where having Charlotte and Rose turned out to be of use. Both were able to get through to him better than Leroy and as the only responsible adults (plus Hank), they also tried to step up to save the day.

As for the irresponsible adult, damn that idiot General Shaw. His brazen arrogance and stupidity was the reason Pennywise got free in the first place. Shaw was daft enough to believe that he could control Pennywise and found out in record time just how wrong he was. Unlike Ingrid, who was misguided, Shaw knew exactly what he was doing and he got the most deserved comeuppance for it.

As for Pennywise. He was vicious, he was cruel and wasn't afraid to drop spoilers at random to Marge when he wasn't using his Dead Lights. He also went up against the wrong group of kids and got put to sleep. Then again, he's got twenty seven years to plot his revenge.

Pennywise's defeat closed the chapter for these kids. Marge now knows she's got a son and told Lilly about Pennywise's relationship with time. The Hanlons got to take over Rose's duties of guarding the cage while Ronnie and Hank get to escape Derry. Someone had to get out of town and it made the most sense for it to be Ronnie and Hank.

- Yes, Marge was revealed to be the mother of Ritchie Tozier from the IT movies. Hallorann decided to check into a hotel. 

- Speaking of those movies, it was nice to see both Sophia Lillis and Joan Gregson reprise there roles as Beverly Marsh and the older Ingrid respectively.

- Standout music: Max Hansen's Det er det skønneste jeg ved.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Winter Fire really was the perfect way to end this series. At the same time, I'm hoping that Andy Muschietti will get to have the second and third seasons that he wants for this show. An absolutely brilliant ending all round.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Witch Of The Waterfall"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to Salt): "You'll never swim alone."

After that rather lagging middle episode, this was something of an improvement. The deaths from before held some proper weight, baddies felt consequences (bye, bye Spears) and war was about to break. Oh and two characters got a lot closer.

The two characters of course being Barclay and Salt. Yes, this interspecies romance was telegraphed months ago and while Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give it their best, something felt a bit off here. Mostly with Salt.

I feel like the character's personality almost shifted a bit too quickly and her wonders at the surface world felt almost too childlike at times. Then there's the off screen sex between her and Barclay and some attempts of flirty wordplay. It kind of worked but kind of didn't either. 

I also felt that Barclay and Salt who spent most of the episode off grid after both of them "betrayed" their parties were a bit too easily caught. Of course enlisting Barbara and Kirby would have the British army catching up with them. On the other hand, Barclay got captured, Salt went back into the water and Kate showed a darker side.

Jemma Redgrave definitely gave the best performance of the episode. Kate's grief for Ibrahim was actually affecting and she had some rather nice scenes with Shirley. She also had some tense moments with Homo Aqua's second ambassador, Tide (Samuel Oatley) and he was more keen on war than Salt happened to be.

With one episode left to go, I'm not sure how they're going to properly resolve all of this. Homo Aqua absolutely want a war and humanity certainly want one too. I feel like Barclay and Salt's love story will not have a happy ending either as there's likely going to be something that will sever them for good.

- Salt admitted that her kind's punishment for betrayal to swim alone forever. She alluded to Barclay's ears as fins and him tasting like her namesake.

- Tide mentioned that Homo Aqua can use rust and water in the air to mess with humanity if they don't follow the five year demand. Samuel Oatley previously played Tzim Sha in the eleventh series of Doctor Who.

- Ibrahim's killer was dealt with off screen, Kirby had a secret phone, Morris Gibbons was mentioned and Kate has a daughter living in Dubai.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Witch Of The Waterfall wasn't without it's problems but I liked it more than the previous episode. The aftermath of that death worked and there's something chaotic and messy about that Barclay/Salt hook up, though if this show was Torchwood, more potential would've been explored.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Deep"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Salt (to Barclay): "We could make a difference, you and I. End the conflict between our species before it's too late."

Now here was an episode where the meaning "treading water" would be a totally appropriate thing to say. Until the last five minutes that's exactly what this episode was doing. There's almost a tonal whiplash.

Let's cut to the biggest shocker of the episode - the death of Colonel Ibrahim. This episode so wanted to land a death as gutting as Ianto Jones from Torchwood: Children Of Earth episode Day Four. Sadly, it just didn't land for me.

I will give both Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient their dues. They both tried their hardest to sell the moment and it was certainly a way to end this episode. However, it's just a painful reminder of how barely development both Kate and Ibrahim have been as characters. This should've felt devastating but it didn't and I felt for Kate. 

Ibrahim could've been a great character and he certainly had a likeable quality about him but we barely knew the guy. We were barely given a reason to invest in him and Kate as a couple. Watching the episode a second time and it still just didn't hit me like it should've. I hate that for me.

As for the rest of the episode, it felt an eternity for Barclay, General Pierce and other ambassadors to actually plummet the depths of the ocean for the next meeting with Homo Aqua. In fact it took up way too much time though it did build up Ted Campbell (William Gaminara) as a character.

Barclay and Salt's continued to build on their connection during the aquatic meeting with the latter's people. Just when things looked like they were going well, Ted revealed himself to be a traitor and people died underwater. Except for Barclay, who Salt decided to rescue at the expense of her own species. More on that in the review for the next episode.

- Barclay talked about nursing his mother through cancer. People online think he's a traitor, useless and a bootlicker to name a few choice insults.

- The cabinet meeting scenes with Kate, Sir Keith Spears and the Prime Minister really lag. Those type of scenes were better handled sixteen years ago on another spin-off I mentioned.

- I think we actually saw a glimpse of the original Sea Devils during that meeting but they were badly lit.

- Chronology: A few days seem to have passed since the events of the previous episode.

I really wanted to like this episode but I have to admit that The Deep was by far the weakest one so far. It just lagged too much, the Severance strand could've been handled better and that big death just didn't have the impact it should've. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

 

Written by Charles S. Haas

Directed by Joe Dante

Kate (re Gizmo): "What happened to him?"

Billy: "I dunno. I guess they pushed him too far."

Looking at my blog, I'm surprised that I reviewed Gremlins (1984) nearly a decade ago. I could've sworn it wasn't as long ago but here we are. Then there's this sequel. I know, I know but a negative isn't what to expect here.

I can't really give a negative because I actually like this sequel. Probably a lot more than most people do and I am at peace with that. I just think it's rather neat. Does it match the brilliance of the first movie? Of course not, but I have fun with it.

Taking place some years after the first movie, Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and his fiancée, Kate Beringer, (Phoebe Cates) have now relocated to New York and working in the same building. Billy gets to design buildings while Kate's a tour guide. Billy's also got the unwanted advance of co-worker, Marla Bloodstone (Haviland Morris), which sparked a rivalry with Kate.

Of course this ain't much compared to the return of Gizmo (Howie Mandel). He was brought to Clamp Centre to be experimented on by scientists. It did mean reuniting with Billy and Kate but yet again, it also meant the creation of more evil Mogwai, in particular characters like the Intelligent Gremlin (Tony Randall), Mohawk (Frank Weller) and the rather amorous, Greta. The latter in particular had a thing for security chief, Frank Forster (Robert Picardo).

There's a fun supporting role for John Glover as Daniel Clamp along with the return of Billy's neighbours, Murray (Dick Miller) and Sheila Futterman (Jackie Joseph), an amusing team up with Kate and Marla and unlike the first movie, at least Gizmo got to stay with Billy this time. That in itself certainly cemented a spot in my heart for this sequel.

- I loved Christopher Lee popping up as an evil scientist along with the Looney Tunes bits. There's a good few cameos to keep an eye out.

- Joe Dante took some convincing to do this sequel. He really didn't want to do one.

- Standout music: Fats Domino I'm Ready and Jeff Beck's Sling Shot.

- Chronology: A few years since the first movie and set in New York.

There's a lot of fun to be had with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It's a mad sequel, delightfully satirical and didn't repeat the first movie too much. I cannot bring myself to dislike this, even a tad. It's too much fun.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Jingle All The Way (1996)

 

Written by Randy Kornfield

Directed by Brian Levant

Howard: "I couldn't find the kid a doll. Now, does that make me a bad father? No. But yelling at him for no good reason? Now, that makes me a bad father."

Myron: "Look, we get one chance a year to prove we're not screw-ups, and what do we do? We screw it up!"

I remember this was a movie that I saw in the cinema when I was younger and had no idea at the time that it had such a poor reception. I always thought it was a pretty fun Christmas movie but oh well.

The 1990s were certainly a time for Arnold Schwarzenegger to flex his comedic skills as an actor and he was a few months away from his take on Mr Freeze in Batman & Robin. This movie went for something of a much straighter role for Arnie.

In this movie, Schwarzenegger took on the role of Howard Langston. He's a workaholic mattress salesman who's kind of been ignoring his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) and son Jamie (Jake Lloyd). It's much worse with the latter as Jamie has given up on having any trust in his father. Howard was determined to make up for that.

The way for Howard to do that was simple - buying the right toy for his son at the right time. The toy being a Turbo Man Doll but Howard made the Cardinal error of leaving it to the very last minute and spent the movie going on a mad dash to get one for his son. This also meant striking up a rivalry with postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad). What turned into a friendly competition got vicious really fast.

There was a lot of fun to be had with both Howard and Myron trying their hardest to get that doll, ultimately bringing out the worst in each other. At one point, Howard even tried to steal one from his annoying next door neighbour Ted Maitlin (Phil Hartman). Honestly I didn't blame him for attempting that given how irritating Ted was as a character.

Saying that, getting to be Turbo Man at a parade was certainly a way of Howard to get the toy and get back into Jamie's good books. There was also a lesson that Jamie learned when he realised that Myron wanted the toy for his kid more than he wanted it. Again, why was this movie so disliked?

- This was meant to be a commentary on the hype that certain toys have at Christmas. 

- A post credit scene showed that Howard had forgotten to get Liz a gift.

- Standout music: Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Back Door Santa and Jingle Bells Rock.

- Chronology: Minneapolis during the Christmas season.

I gotta say this - I really like Jingle All The Way. I liked it when I first saw it as a child and I still like it a lot as an adult. It's a lot of daft fun and there's a good back and forth between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Silent Night (2012)

 

Written by Jayson Rothwell

Directed by Steven C. Miller

Sheriff Cooper (to Aubrey): "Don't put avacado on the burger!"

With the latest remake of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise currently in theatres, it was time to check out the first attempt of a remake from 2012. The fact that this was called Silent Night (2012) was telling in itself.

This doesn't feel like a remake whatsoever. Aside from the killer dressed as Santa, this felt like a standalone Christmas horror movie and a rather bad one at that. This Santa's nastier than the Grinch and Krampus combined.

Things started with Deputy Kevin Jordan (Brendan Fehr) and his mistress Alana Roach (Ali Tataryn) being horribly killed by the killer Santa. Their deaths sparked off an investigation in the small town, led by Sheriff James Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) but he's not quite up to the task of actually taking out a serial killing Santa Claus.

Someone who was would be Aubrey Bradimore (Jaime King). Easily the best character in a generally bad movie, Aubrey's a consistently likable, sympathetic and flawed character throughout. She's the closest to a protagonist in this movie and genuinely wanted to do right.

Of course like most protagonists, she did get the identity of the killer wrong twice. She thought both the belligerent Jim Epstein (Donald Logue) and social pariah Stein Karsson (Mike O'Brien). Aubrey was wrong on both counts but at least an urban legend that Karsson told her eventually pointed her to the actual killer.

Yup, Ronald Jones Jr. (Rick Skene) turned out to be the killer and flashbacks did show how an affair made Jones Sr absolutely homicidal. There's several gory kills, including personal ones before Aubrey and Jones Jr. faced and even then, it's rather anticlimactic.

- There's some inventive kills involving characters going through a wood chopper, death by fairylights and a flamethrower.

- Aubrey's father was involved in the death of Jones Sr. A lump of coal was given to the Bradimores before Hank was killed.

- Standout music: O Come All Ye Faithful, Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

- Chronology: Set in the Midwestern town of Cryer during Christmas.

Silent Night (2012) isn't good, either as a remake or even a standalone horror. The idea was sound and the lead protagonist was likable but it's still a rather horrible movie that felt like the equivalent of a lump of bloody coal.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Rose"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya: "I never hear about you with girls."

Shane: "It's private."

Ilya: "Right. Private."

Shane: "I keep a lot of things private, obviously."

I think this week, Ilya got a taste of what happens when you push your secret lover too far. For all his teasing that Shane wasn't into women, Ilya inadvertently pushed Shane into the arms of a woman and a famous one to boot.

Enter Rose Landry (Sophie Nelisse). She's a reasonably famous actress filming the sequel to X Squad in Montreal and funnily enough, both herself and Shane managed to hit it off without having to be set up with each other. If Ilya can continue whatever his relationship with Svetlana is, shouldn't Shane explore something with Rose?

Except that's not the show either gay men or the female audience want to watch. With Svetlana, at least she's aware of the score with Ilya but I have a feeling that Rose will fall in love with Shane and find out in the worst way possible that he's in love with Ilya. There's two episodes left to confirm that theory.

Now what of the rest of the episode. Shane and Ilya got their scenes together and they were as racy as the first two episodes but it's like they're falling for each other and don't know how to deal with it. It's definitely a reason why Ilya made a point about telling Shane that he liked girls. 

Ilya must have known that Shane was getting annoyed with Ilya going on about it. Likewise when Ilya found out about Shane and Rose, he could barely contain his own annoyance. It's like he went to that nightclub and got with a woman just to antagonise Shane publicly.

In fact, the two of them getting under each others skin definitely affected their game playing this episode too. They both had bad performances on the ice rink at different points in the episode. Then there was that last scene, which was pretty telling too with how they're effecting each other.

- Shane's friend now is about to be a father to a fourth kid. His daughter Ruby and Emma seem to be a handful.

- Rose talked about playing kidnap victims in a lot of her movies as well as working with Bill Paxton. 

- Standout music: Feist's My Moon My Man and t.A.t.u and Harrison's versions of All The Things She Said.

- Chronology: Summer 2014 to October 2016 in this episode.

Rose surprisingly enough didn't have as much focus on the title character as I thought but it did an okay job in establishing her relationship with Shane. While I didn't think this was a bad episode, I would say it's weakest so far.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Miracle On 34th Street (1947)

Written by George Seaton And Valentine Davies

Directed by George Seaton 

Fred: "Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."

For the first time the other night, I actually watch this. I've been a fan of the 1994 version since I was a child and I've always wanted to catch up with this one. This week I finally did.

The movie started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and you've got the Santa sloshed, much to the annoyance of event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara). Fortunately there's Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) and he's more than qualified to assume the role of Santa Claus.

In fact, Kris was so good in the role that Doris's own daughter, Susan (Natalie Woods) started to believe in Santa Claus and she was convinced by her mother that he didn't even exist. All Susan wanted was a family and her mother's friend, Fred Gailey (John Payne) as her stepdad. Fred wanted that too.

Within this film we saw Susan tell Kris Kringle her wish for a bigger family while preparing herself for Kringle to be unable to deal. Then there's the altercation with the disgruntled Granville Sawyer (Porter Hall) that nearly ruined Kris's reputation. Of course the court scenes only further added to Kris's credibility about being the real Santa.

The ending of course was mostly Susan getting her wish. I mean both Doris and Fred got together as she wanted and the house of her dreams. It was enough for Fred to consider the idea of Santa being real after all.

- In this version of the movie, Kris spoke Dutch to an adopted girl.

- Macy's and Gimbels only agreed to be featured in the movie after seeing a cut of it. If they hadn't, the movie would've been rewritten.

- Standout music: Jingle Bells and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

- Chronology: Thanksgiving up to Christmas Day in New York.

This version of Miracle On 34th Street, I think it's a classic after seeing it. Brilliant performances and a wonderful sense of magic to proceedings to boot. You really will believe in Santa Claus after watching this.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League Unlimited - Episodes 36-39 Reviews

Final batch of episodes and there's an unavoidable fate for Supergirl and the return of Darkseid.

Episode 36: Far From Home

Supergirl and Brainiac 5. Maybe one of the most underrated couples in the DC Universe. Their first meeting wasn't exactly love at first sight. Supergirl along with Green Arrow and John Stewart wind up in the 31st Century where they encounter Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Lad with the Fatal Five as the main baddies here. In the end, Supergirl made the choice to stay with Brainiac 5 and it's in the same episode she had a costume change. 7/10

Episode 37: Ancient History

Earlier in the season, Hawkman was introduced. He's back for this episode as Shadow Thief decided to show both him and Hawkgirl their respective past lives in Ancient Egypt. We also got a bit of love triangle with the pair and John Stewart along with Hawkman making a sacrifice to stop Shadow Thief. There's also a poignant final scene where Hawkgirl asked Batman to tell her about her son. 7/10

Episode 38: Alive!

The first of a two part series finale. First of all, there's some major infighting with the Secret Society. Tala's attempts to use Gorilla Grodd to usurp Lex Luthor ended up backfiring on her spectacularly. Lex had no problem siphoning Tala's magic in order to revive Brainiac. Instead he ended up bringing back Darkseid. The episode ended on a rather explosive note. 9/10

Episode 39: Destroyer 

The series finale. Darkseid being back for another attempt to destroy everything. The Justice League and Secret Society (who are down some members) being forced to work together. It was totally expected, plot wise and as a series finale, it was a brilliant way to end the DC Animated Universe. The final shot in particular was a nice note to end on. 9/10

And thus concluded my time with the DC Animated Universe.