At the cinema: Into The Woods
If it’s January, it must be awards season. Cinemas are already playing prestige biopic The Theory Of Everything and quirky drama Birdman, and this weekend two more contenders enter the fray: gritty true story *Foxcatcher *and classy musical Into The Woods, adapted from the Stephen Sondheim Broadway hit. Sondheim is the composer whose Sweeney Todd yielded a grisly Tim Burton movie musical seven years ago. PG-rated Into The Woods, from Chicago director Rob Marshall, is a bit more family-friendly, as you might expect given it’s from the Disney stable, with a storyline that cleverly plunders classic fairytales Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack And The Beanstalk. Despite big US stars such as Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp and *Star Trek’*s Chris Pine, it’s our very own James Corden who has the lead role, playing a baker who must find four special objects to lift the curse of infertility that’s been placed on his wife (Emily Blunt). The film is nominated for three Golden Globes – the ceremony is on Sunday night.
On DVD: Life Of Crime
This US indie flick didn’t make much of a splash when it came out in cinemas last September, despite a strong cast including Jennifer Aniston as the trophy wife of a rich property developer (Tim Robbins). Turns out that the husband is in fact having an affair (with Isla Fisher in trashy mode), and couldn’t care less about the kidnapping – bad news for criminals John Hawke and Mos Def.* Life Of Crime* is adapted from a book by feted crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose works have inspired films including Jackie Brown and Out Of Sight. It’s another nice performance from Jen, who forms a tender bond with one of her kidnappers. Incidentally, Jen is also up for a Golden Globe on Sunday, but not for this film – her new one is called Cake, and we get that in cinemas here next month.
On TV: Skyfall (Saturday, ITV, 9.20pm)
Skyfall was one of the TV highlights over the Christmas break, but if you were busy on Christmas Eve and failed to set your recording device, here’s one more chance to catch it. The TV schedulers certainly imagine a lot of us will be staying in on Saturday – Skyfall is playing the same time as The Other Boleyn Girl (BBC2), Bad Teacher (Channel 4) and Mr & Mrs Smith (Channel 5). Our vote goes to Daniel Craig in his best 007 flick so far, which – hardly a spoiler at this stage – serves as Judi Dench’s swansong. The film introduces several new characters who are revealed at the end of the film to be essential components of the Bond universe, and who will appear later this year in Spectre. Skyfall is the biggest hit ever at UK cinemas (£103m), and with good reason: it’s brilliant.