Friday Film Reviews: Stalingrad 3D, The Invisible Woman, A New York Winter’s Tale

Check out reviews and trailers of the best and worst of new films in Irish cinemas this weekend.

Friday Film Reviews: Stalingrad 3D, The Invisible Woman, A New York Winter’s Tale

Stalingrad 3D

The highest grossing Russian film of all time replays one of the bloodiest chapters of the Second World War through the eyes of German and Soviet soldiers involved in the stand-off.

‘Stalingrad’ is the first project of its kind shot using IMAX 3D technology and Fedor Bondarchuk’s epic certainly looks spectacular in the eye-popping format.

Ash flutters down over the embattled city, bullets whizz out of the screen and several pivotal action sequences are breathlessly choreographed to take full advantage of depths in perception.

Audiences get plenty of bang for their buck and eye strain is minimal, despite a running time that exceeds two hours.

‘Stalingrad’ is an unapologetically patriotic spin on history that papers over the cracks of a lightweight script with stunning visuals, stirring performances and Angelo Badalamenti’s heart-tugging score.

Bondarchuk’s directorial brio holds our interest rather than the simplistic narrative, aided by an ensemble cast, who hunker down for the film’s big set pieces.

Digitally enhanced skirmishes between German and Soviet troops look stunning, bringing home some of the sound and fury of that ill-fated autumn.

Star Rating:

RottenTomatoes.com Rating:46%

The Invisible Woman

In Greek mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses, who embodied the source of knowledge and the arts, inspiring the literature of Chaucer, Homer and Shakespeare.

In modern times, a muse has been a collaborator, usually a woman, whose presence has provided a creative spark for artists to produce some of their greatest work.

Based on the book by Claire Tomalin, ‘The Invisible Woman’ charts the fragile relationship between one Charles Dickens and his muse.

Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes juggles responsibilities behind and in front of the camera, opening in 1885 Margate, where Nelly Robinson (Felicity Jones) is a school teacher with a doting husband (Tom Burke).

‘The Invisible Woman’ is a well-crafted if emotionally stifled account of doomed love and its manifestation on the pages of Dickens’ works.

Fiennes and Jones deliver solid performances but their on-screen chemistry is almost as muted as the colour palette, while Scanlan is magnificent as the wife, who begs her husband to come to his senses.

“Don’t be foolish. You cannot keep her a secret,” she snaps.

A quotation from ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’, displayed at the beginning of the film, argues otherwise, confirming that Dickens was a man who revelled in the “profound secret and mystery” of his fellow man.

If only Fiennes’s film revealed a few more of them.

Star Rating: 3/5

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 76%

A New York Winter’s Tale

Love never dies.

Nor do stories of good versus evil, screenwriters with a burning desire to sit in the director’s chair or high-profile actors with a dubious ear for Oirish accents.

We’re treated to all three plus Will Smith as the human manifestation of Lucifer and a white horse with wings in the fantastical romance, ‘A New York Winter’s Tale’.

Akiva Goldman’s film is based on the novel ‘Winter’s Tale’ by Mark Helprin but has been re-titled, presumably to avoid any confusion with Shakespeare’s 17th century problem play.

In truth, no one is likely to confuse the Bard’s verse with Goldsman’s shambolic script, which includes such gems as “Nothing seems to break [the human] capacity for hope – they pass it back and forth like flu at a school fair”.

Or when the terminally ill heroine tells her ardent suitor, “If you don’t make love to me right now, nobody ever will,” and he lustily responds, “Then that’s exactly what I’ll do”.

‘A New York Winter’s Tale’ has too many elements competing for our attention, and none of them gel. The titanic battle between angels and demons sits awkwardly with the rose-tinted central romance and the tear-filled histrionics of the final act.

Colin Farrell is unremarkable in an undernourished lead role but he does catalyse a handsome screen pairing with Brown Findlay.

Crowe’s accent is a treat, becoming as thick as mud without warning in pivotal scenes.

Star Rating:

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 13%

In selected cinemas…

Only Lovers Left Alive

Vampires grow weary of the modern technologically-minded world in Jim Jarmusch’s off-kilter love story.

Reclusive rock star Adam (Tom Hiddleston) has endured centuries of blood-sucking but he decides to end his life in Detroit with the help of a wooden bullet, procured by his assistant Ian (Anton Yelchin).

Adam’s wife Eve (Tilda Swinton), who is in Tangiers to received fresh blood from another vampire Marlowe (John Hurt), returns home at the earliest opportunity to halt his descent into the oblivion.

Shortly afterwards, her younger sister from Los Angeles, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), gatecrashes the idyllic reunion and causes fractures in the relationship that may never heal.

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 81%

Nymphomaniac – Volumes I & II

Cheekily billed as a one-night stand, this marathon back-to-back screening of both volumes of Lars von Trier’s contentious new film charts the turbulent life of self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe (played by Stacy Martin and Charlotte Gainsbourg) over the course of 50 years.

She relates her story to a caring old bachelor, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), who discovers her beaten and bruised in an alleyway.

As Seligman tends to Joe’s wounds, she reveals the dark desires that have controlled and consumed her, captured in sexually explicit vignettes.

Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Christian Slater, Shia LaBeouf, Connie Nielsen and Uma Thurman also star.

RottenTomatoes.com Rating (Vol I): 81%

RottenTomatoes.com Rating (Vol II): 83%.

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