theycallmemrglass

Reading the past reviews do not reflect the shockingly low rating at all. However, it is remarkable to see that almost all of the negative reviews written were from people who saw this short film as a warm up to Coco in cinemas, whilst positive reviews are from watching at home. Perhaps that was Disney's mistake. They played this to the wrong initial audience (perhaps I might have felt the same, who knows. It is true that we are easily influenced by our anticipations and surroundings, even if one is in denial of it).

I only found the existence of this on my recent subscription to Disney Plus...and it alone made the first month's subscription worth it. I ended up re-watching it four times so far.

This is a most beautifully crafted musical animated short that plucked the emotional strings with harmonious pleasure. The songs are outstanding in lyrics and melody and I am surprised at how many songs they managed to fit in. Each song was very distinct and delivered with passion and soul from the main performers. Although Olaf is the main character in this short, most songs were sung by Anna and Elsa's beautiful vocals. But Olaf also shines with his playful number too.

The story is heart-warming, funny, and festive, making this a perfect treat on a Christmas/thanksgiving day topping off with an emotional crescendo that had me in tears, albeit happy ones.

And of course the animation is as stunning as ever, whisking my senses away into the world of Arundel. Breathtaking stuff for an animation short.

I am honestly bewildered at the negativity but this is the weird world of the internet so I guess I shouldn't be bewildered but at least I can add my voice of support to this wonderful franchise short film instalment, even if my thoughts are a single drop in the ocean.

This is now amongst my favourite festive shorts.

Hey Wallace, Gromit, yes and you too Luxo Jr, make room for my new best friends Olaf, Elsa and Hannah, please...and play nice!

10/10

The Disney Plus streaming service has introduced me to so many unexpected delights old and new that I would not have otherwise bothered with.

This is one such unexpected surprise. In fact, I actually did read the novel a few years ago and I hated the saccharine overly done "love" theme and in your face religious aspects (I do enjoy subtle religious underpinnings in movies that give good morals but not when it's in your face). The book had some standout sequences that are memorable but overall it was not a children's book that I liked. To give you context, I adore children fantasy stories such as Tom's Midnight Garden, Moondial, Narnia series, Harry Potter, Dark Materials, etc.

But I do love the promotional images of this film, it looks lavish and at least I thought to watch it just to appreciate the visuals. I am one who never ever watch or read something based on other people's opinions. I will decide for myself and I literally judge a book by its cover.

One of the many positive stand outs in this film is the surprisingly nuanced performances of all the child stars. Particularly, 9 year old Deric Mcabe who literally stole the show for perhaps a good quarter of the movie's runtime. What a delicious performance, I hope this young child actor is well taken care of, has a happy childhood and not pushed into a career for the sake of wealth. But as long as he wishes to continue on that path, he will have my attention of high anticipation for greatness. The main star, 14 year old Storm Reid was also impressive with some moments of very heart felt nuances. There is no forced acting that one expects with child actors. The adult stalwarts did their part in their accomplished professional ways.

But the film itself turned out to be a lovely visual journey with some heartfelt moments of psychological drama and surreal weirdness (something I wish it had delve into further)

It has it's plentiful flaws for sure but seeing all those one star ratings is just utter madness. One of those flaws is a certain obvious godliness of Oprah Winfrey's presence that seems a bit unnecessary. I like Oprah, I just don't think it was really needed for her to be so godly! Being the leader would have sufficed.

Another criticism I would have is that this could have done with much more humour. Reese Witherspoon's character has some comic relief moments but..just didn't feel enough.

What I really appreciated is that unlike the book, this film gives a satisfying complete story. The book had sequels to complete it's main storyline. But as with all movie adaptations, much is cut out and I do feel the stripping down of some of the novel makes the flow of the film rather too haphazard.

But the film works for me. It has some memorable sequences and is not anywhere as saccharine as I feared it would be. The journey is disjointed but the performances, visual imagination, Deric Mcabe's show stealing sequence and overall storyline makes up for the shortcomings.

I give this a very worthy 7/10.

This film only got a very limited cinema release in UK with absolutely no marketing and no top critic reviewing despite it being released nearly a week ago as I write. In fact, even Rottentomatoes has zero critic reviews on it.

Which is MADNESS. It's a brilliant and highly tense spy thriller, far superior to last year's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and nearly in league with a film like Argo. I would say its one of the best cold war spy thriller in years. Its edge of the seat stuff as well and psychologically exhausting. The film revolves around a top level Polish army officer who is concerned about the apparently destructive plans of his superiors and the repercussions it will have on his homeland. His journey is enthralling, riveting and terrifying. The soundtrack adds to the tension with its superb minimalistic impending doom beats.

It's based on a true story but its so good I am sure there is lot of artistic licence taken. Nevertheless, I am enthused to find out more about the truth. It's as incredible as the Cuban Missile Crisis saga. There was tremendous world wide stakes involved, it's terrifying to think how fragile the world is in the hands of nuclear armed states and how much just one person can tip the scales either way. I fear for our damn future watching films like this.

What you won't get in this film are any bouts of humour or entertaining dialogue, no George Clooney swooning his way with a cigar in a war zone or any comedy relief. This is straight up relentless reality based thriller much in the vein of Argo with tightly edited pacing, taught direction, and solid performances.

If there are any negatives, it would be that some moments WILL remind you of Argo and other known political thrillers in its execution. I did get the feeling of that trick has been done before but at least its executed with maximum impact. Also, the dialogue could have perhaps be injected with some light relief humour in some places, there were opportunities but its no biggie.

This is an intelligent and educational movie worthy of being seen by all. Sure, much of this film is in Polish which probably explains the lack of any marketing but if they are going to release it in UK cinemas then at least tell people about it. Its also partly in English as the film switches to and fro America and Poland. It has an American star too, Patrick Wilson, in a very prominent role.

Because of the lack of marketing, it doesn't look like this film will be seen by many. It's a real shame but if you are reading this and want to see a top cold war thriller that is also a true story, be educated at how close again a nuclear war could have ignited in the early 70s, then see this film, either at the cinema or as a rental. As long as you don't mind reading English subtitles for most of the film, which very understandably is a put off for some people but it's worth the effort.

8.5/10