Films
Helen Mirren looks mad as a hatter in new trailer for Christmas classic The Nutcracker
Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger (Picture: Disney)
It’s Helen Mirren as you’ve never seen her – looking..
It’s Helen Mirren as you’ve never seen her – looking mad as a hatter and loving it – in these brand new images for Disney‘s The Nutcracker And The Four Realms.
Based on the beloved ballet, the film follows Clara, – played by Twilight star McKenzie Foy – who is looking for a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift from her late mother.
Unfortunately the key disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world that Clara is forced to enter, where she meets all manner of strange and wonderful creatures, including a soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and Land of Sweets, and Mirren’s tyrant Mother Ginger, who lives in the ominous Fourth Realm.
Keira Knightley also stars in the film as the enchanting Sugar Plum fairy – and earlier in the year, comedian Miranda Hart also confirmed she would be making an appearance as a fairy.
The live-action adaptation of the Christmas classic, itself based on E.T.A Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, will be released on October 26 2018.
MORE: 18 nativity play stories that will make you snort with laughter
MORE: 17 magical Christmas outings for you and your family to enjoy in or near London
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Films
‘Antebellum’ has a ‘Get Out’ vibe, but doesn’t live up to its twist
“Antebellum” is built around a provocative twist, and it’s a good one — as well as one that definite..
“Antebellum” is built around a provocative twist, and it’s a good one — as well as one that definitely shouldn’t be spoiled even a little. Once that revelation is absorbed, however, the movie becomes less distinctive and inspired, reflecting an attempt to tap into the zeitgeist that made “Get Out” a breakthrough, without the same ability to pay off the premise.
Originally destined for a theatrical run, the movie hits digital platforms trumpeting a “Get Out” pedigree in its marketing campaign, since there’s an overlap among the producing teams.
More directly, the film marks the directing debut of Gerard Bush + Christopher Renz, who have championed social-justice issues through their advertising work. The opening script features a quote from author William Faulkner, whose intent will eventually become clearer: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
If that sounds like a timely means of drawing a line from the horrors of slavery to the racism of today, you’ve come to the right place.
The story begins on a plantation, where the brutal overseers carry out grisly punishments against those tilling the fields. A few have just tried to escape, led by Veronica (Janelle Monae), and they pay a heavy price for their resistance, which does nothing to curb her defiance.
Also written by Bush + Renz, the script take too long before revealing what makes “Antebellum” different, but the middle portion — a “The Twilight Zone”-like phase when it’s hard to be sure exactly what’s going on — is actually the film’s strongest. (Even the trailer arguably gives away too much, so the less one knows, the better.)
The final stretch, by contrast, veers into more familiar thriller territory, and feels especially rushed toward the end, leaving behind a host of nagging, unanswered questions. That provides food for thought, but it’s also what separates the movie from something like “Get Out,” which deftly fleshed out its horror underpinnings.
Although the filmmakers (in a taped message) expressed disappointment that the movie wasn’t making its debut in theaters, in a strange way, the on-demand format somewhat works in its favor. In the press notes, Bush says the goal was “to force the audience to look at the real-life horror of racism through the lens of film horror. We’re landing in the middle of the very conversations that we hoped ‘Antebellum’ would spur.”
