Love Actually is just an all around fun, charming and heartwarming romantic-comedy-drama that features an amazing ensemble cast and even though I’ve seen this numerous times, it still doesn’t fail to make me smile.
Years and Years is a Limited Television series originally airing on BBC and later in the States, on HBO, featuring Emma Thompson. The DVD from the Warner Archive Collection is out on February 25th.
Last Christmas is an imperfect but still enjoyable film from Paul Feig that hinges and succeeds on the chemistry between Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding, and a respectable supporting cast.
Missing Link is a nice little stop-motion animated film with a standard but still entertaining story to go along with a nice voice cast which includes Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana and Zach Galifianakis; I would say this worth a rental.
Johnny English Strikes Again is not a very good movie but at least is tolerably bad if only for Rowan Atkinson’s physical humor more so than the actual jokes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is perhaps one of my favorites of the series and kind of a shame director Alfonso Cuaron didn’t return to do more of these and it was a nice, and necessary, change-up as Harry’s storyline advances to darker territories.
To say I was disappointed in this Beauty and the Beast live action adaptation would be an understatement. Although the technical aspects were impressive, the performances, particularly for Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, were underwhelming, and the new music was rather forgettable.
Burnt isn’t a bad little drama-comedy, propelled more on the performances by Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and Daniel Brühl than the culinary-centric plot itself. I don’t know if it’s worth a purchase (unless you like Cooper) but certainly worth a Redbox or Netflix rental.
Sense & Sensibility is a well made adaptation of the Jane Austen classic headlined by a stellar cast but especially Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant and is well worth watching as it has its heartfelt but funny moments. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has good video and audio transfers and a fine selection of bonus material.
Henry V is yet another fine Kenneth Branagh Shakespearian drama with great performances all around including future Dame Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and Emma Thompson while Christian Bale makes an appearance in one of his early roles. The Blu-ray released by Shout Factory has good audio, merely acceptable video but sadly no features.
Historical inaccuracies aside, Saving Mr. Banks is still a fine drama featuring two wonderful performances from Emma Thompson, who should have received an Oscar nod, and Tom Hanks. Yes, it is emotionally manipulative but it’s for one’s heartstrings not to be pulled at certain scenes.