Looking Elsewhere: November 25, 2005

Friday’s specials:

WAX OFF
Farewell, Pat Morita.

DAILY MAIL CRITIC GOES BANANAS FOR NARNIA
Sheeesh!

It is not just a ‘must see’ but a ‘must see again and again’.

Where is that sixth star when you need it?

Not only does it miraculously do full justice to CS Lewis’s classic fantasy, it improves upon it and gives a more sophisticated sense of humour.

Above all, there’s a spectacular sense of scale that turns the children’s sagas into a worthy successor to The Lord Of The Rings as an epic piece of storytelling.

Just as miraculously, it achieves all this without sacrificing the qualities of the original novel, including its charm, sense of wonder and feeling for myth.

Even the Christian subtext of Lewis’s book is handled with taste and sensitivity. It’s there, but never laboured.

Although shot in New Zealand by an American director, it remains lovingly true to its original cultural background.

With only a few weeks to go until the end of 2005, I was certain that Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit would be carrying off my plaudits as Film of the Year.

Now that I have seen this beautiful picture which achieves similar perfection on a far more stunning scale, I would have to give it to Narnia.

The script sticks amazingly – you could say ‘religiously’ – close to Lewis’s novel.

PUTTING JENNIFER GARNER OUT OF HER MISERY
Alias, which rapidly accelerated from being the best show on TV to one of the worst, will end in May.

“M” IS FOR JUDI DENCH, AGAIN
This year’s Bond will serve last decade’s M.

ABEL FERRARA’S “MARY”
Twitch has a trailer and scenes from Juliette Binoche’s upcoming film.