Magical Matilda is a topsy-turvy treat
FSTEPHEN GRAHAM AND ANDREA RISEBOROUGH ARE A JOY AS MATILDA’S GHASTLY PARENTS
irst things first, is not a new dramatisation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s novel about a preternaturally clever little girl, nor a remake of the very American 1996 film that starred Danny DeVito and Pam Ferris.
No, as the title suggests, it is an all-singing, all-dancing big screen adaptation of the RSC musical that has been playing to sell-out audiences in London’s West End since 2011. It is even directed by the same chap, renowned theatre director Matthew Warchus.
Shamingly, I have never seen the stage show, believing there must be better ways to spend an evening than watching a cast of over-excited children belting their way through big numbers penned by Tim Minchin.
Echoes of that prejudice linger, as the film gets under way with Matilda (played magnificently by 13-year-old Dubliner Alisha Weir) somehow surviving her wonderfully neglectful parents and beginning school at the ominously named Crunchem Hall.
Just as I feared, it is all a bit shrill and stage-schooly at times. But if you loved the stage show – and millions have – and enjoy Dahl’s topsy-turvy world of wicked adults and table-turning children, you’re in for a treat.
Emma Thompson, platform booted and gigantically bosomed, is unquestionably brilliant as Miss Trunchbull, the former hammerthrowing champion and muchfeared headmistress, who believes children are maggots, should be put down at every opportunity and, when that fails, sent to the naillined wooden cell known as ‘the chokey’.
Elsewhere, Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough are a joy as Matilda’s ghastly parents, Lashana Lynch a revelation as the kindly Miss Honey and Sindhu Vee lovely as the sympathetic Mrs Phelps.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is getting the oddest release, gracing cinemas for only another few days and then disappearing before being released on Netflix on December 23.
And perhaps that’s the best thing to do with a film clearly made for the big screen but not as good as the 2019 original, which first introduced Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc.
Played more obviously for laughs and becoming the second film in a fortnight to ape the structure of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians (the other was The Menu), it sees a group of old, puzzle-loving friends transported to a Greek island – complete with Bond-style central lair dubbed the ‘glass onion’ – owned by their billionaire chum, an Elon Musk-like character called Miles Bron, played by Edward Norton.
They are there to play a game of murder-mystery, announces Bron. But if it’s a game, why is Blanc there? Or Bron’s ex-partner, Andi (Janelle Monáe)? With hit-and-miss humour and an over-tangled plot, you’ll have only modest fun finding out.
She Said tells the story of the two New York Times journalists – Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey – who, back in 2017, broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long campaign of rape, sexual assault and harassment. The former Miramax boss was jailed for 23 years for rape. It’s a serious film about a serious subject that marked the beginning of the #MeToo campaign. Zoe Kazan as Kantor and Carey Mulligan as Twohey are terrific in a powerful film that calls to mind Bombshell and All The President’s Men.
Anyone who grew up watching the Twilight films might well enjoy Bones And All, a dark and stylish American road-trip movie that deals not with vampires but, er, cannibalism. Yes, Maren (Escape Room star Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet) are ‘eaters’, ie flesh-eaters. Directed by Italian film-maker Luca Guadagnino, it’s rich in menacing atmosphere, features a terrific performance from Russell and is let down only by an over-the-top Mark Rylance.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio is the third cinematic retelling of Carlo Collodi’s children’s classic in two-and-a-half years and, for my money, the best. Less dark than the Matteo Garrone version and less Disney-fied than Robert Zemeckis’s effort, the stop-motion animation is lovely and the storytelling impressive. I came out almost liking the naughty wooden boy.
Disney cartoon Strange World sees a family of explorers from the kingdom of Avalonia venturing deep underground to find out what is killing the plant that powers its towns and cities. The animation is stunning but the underlying environmental message is too complicated.