Oz the Great and Powerful is set about 20 years before Dorothy gets whisked away to the magical kingdom by the tornado – so it’s kind of an “Oz origins” story. It tells how the “wizard” – actually a ridiculously crass, greedy and utterly ineffectual conman called Oscar Diggs – arrives in Oz and finds…
Read moreMy Week With Marilyn
I don’t do mental illness well (ok: at all) and just 24 hours with the kooky Miss Marilyn Monroe would’ve scared the bejezis out of me. The movie though – concerning Marilyn’s brief visit to London to film The Prince and the Showgirl reveals her absolute inability to be alone, turn up on time or…
Read moreMeek’s Cutoff
Set in 1845, Meek’s Cutoff is a remarkable, disquieting, thought-provoking film. On the one hand, it’s the simple tale of a handful of emigrant families who’ve been lead off the main Oregon Trail by their braggardly guide and out into the vast, droughty wilderness. Under this light, it’s as plodding as the footfalls of oxen,…
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