MIKE WARD’S SMALL SCREEN
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (15) (Download now, DVD and Blu-ray from Monday) FIRST World War film footage has become relatively familiar to us, but up till now it’s tended to be grey, fuzzy and jerky, and somehow looks so ancient as to not quite feel real.
So this new documentary, from Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson, is remarkable. Jackson has taken footage from the Imperial War Museums’ archives and applied the latest digital colorisation and enhancement techniques, bringing back to life these pictures of men from a century ago, heading into the unknown. They’re accompanied by veterans’ first-hand accounts, taken from the vaults of the BBC.
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG)
(Download now, DVD and Blu-ray from Monday) PADDINGTON did it. Peter Rabbit did it (albeit turning out to be an annoying little git), and now along comes dear Winnie-The-Pooh, the latest classic kids’ character to re-emerge as an uncannily lifelike digital reinvention of his old self.
Ewan McGregor takes the title role in this light-hearted live action adventure as Pooh’s once-devoted childhood owner, a tad startled now to re-encounter him in adulthood.
MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE (12) (Netflix)
THE Bare Necessities! I Wanna Be Like You! That one with the marching elephants!
Yes, these are just some of the much-loved Jungle Book songs that fail to make an appearance in this latest take on Kipling’s tale, directed by Andy Serkis.
In fact, there are no songs at all, nor many laughs, in a remake that boasts of being the story’s “darkest telling” to date. Essentially, jungle-raised Mowgli (Rohan Chand) is having an identity crisis (“I am not a man but neither am I a wolf…”) and must figure out his destiny. So I guess perhaps he’s right to skip the songs.
Christian Bale is the voice of black panther Bagheera, while scary tiger Shere Khan sounds uncannily like Benedict Cumberbatch.
THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL: SEASON 2 (15) (Amazon Prime Video) BACK for a second run, this is the multi-awardwinning comedy set in late-50s New York, centred on the remarkable Midge Maisel and the whirlwind her life has become since she discovered a knack for stand-up comedy.