13 GOING ON 30: Directed with a light touch by Gary Winick, 13 Going On 30 is Big with lipstick and heels, chronicling the madcap misadventures of a teenage girl who yearns to grow up and then gets her wish in one of those magical twists of fate that only happen in the movies.
Like Tom Hanks, Jennifer Garner is lovable and goofy as a 13-year-old trapped in the body of a successful fashion magazine editor.
Her natural charm carries the film, most notably when she sparks a disastrous work party to life by recreating the dance routine from Michael Jackson’s Thriller, cajoling other guests to join her by impersonating zombies.
Garner spends much of the film affecting a wide-eyed stare as life throws one obstacle after another in her way, including the startling realisation that her nerdy best friend from school has blossomed into a handsome photographer (Mark Ruffalo). The soundtrack fizzes to retro 1980s hits from the likes of Madonna and Pat Benatar.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: Gliding through every frame in swathes of Galliano, Valentino and, of course, Prada, Meryl Streep is utterly breathtaking as the sadistic reigning queen of fashion torn from the pages of Lauren Weisberger’s international bestseller, who is armed to her polished teeth with knockout one-liners.
As despicable as her character may be, Streep expertly reveals tiny flaws in her villainess’s designer label armour, showing glimmers of humanity and vulnerability beneath the impeccably coiffed facade.
We come to love this silver-haired bully — the way she terrorises her staff, her refusal to tolerate fools — at the expense of the heroine, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a graduate from Northwestern University who lands a plum job as second assistant to fearsome Miranda Priestly (Streep).
Emily Blunt is adorable as a permanently stressed-out gopher on a new diet: “I don’t eat anything and then when I feel like I’m about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese.”
EDDIE THE EAGLE: Cheltenham-born athlete Eddie Edwards became a media sensation in 1988 when he represented Great Britain in the ski jump in Calgary. His remarkable story of triumph against gravity, which swelled the patriotic hearts of a nation, provides the creative spark for Dexter Fletcher’s comedy drama.
Eddie The Eagle is an unabashedly crowd-pleasing delight for all ages. Screenwriters Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton don’t let the truth get in the way of telling a good yarn, slaloming between historical fact and humorous artistic licence to ensure their film remains giddily airborne. Fletcher’s light touch behind the lens concentrates on the camaraderie between a remarkable underdog (Taron Egerton) and his fictional trainer (Hugh Jackman), who defied the snooty naysayers to prove that anything is possible when you take a leap of faith. In real life, Edwards never climbed on to the Olympic winner’s podium but Fletcher’s charming film is champion.
ELLA ENCHANTED: Based on Gail Carson Levine’s best-selling novel, Ella Enchanted re-imagines the Cinderella fairytale in a sassy world of giants, elves, witches and talking serpents.
Director Tommy O’Haver’s fantasy is 96 minutes of rollicking entertainment, crammed to bursting with visual gags, smart one-liners and some rousing song and dance numbers including Queen’s Somebody To Love and a fabulous full cast rendition of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
Anne Hathaway recaptures the sweetness and steely determination of her Princess Diaries character and she gels nicely with Hugh Dancy’s dreamboat royal (the cover boy of Medieval Teen magazine, no less).
Supporting performances are suitably larger-than-life from Aidan McArdle’s overly sensitive elf (“Elves aren’t that short you know. That’s just a stupid myth created by that Elves And The Shoemaker story … stinkin’ Grimm Brothers”) to Joanna Lumley in full pantomime mode as a monstrous stepmother. If Cary Elwes’ villain twiddled his moustache any more maniacally, it would surely fall off.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: Love it or mistakenly loathe it, nothing embodies the spirit of togetherness and creative joie de vivre quite like the Eurovision Song Contest.
The 65th edition of the annual spectacle of cheesy pop, outlandish costumes and on-stage theatrics, due to be held in Rotterdam, was cancelled in response to the pandemic.
Thankfully, nothing can stop director David Dobkin’s feelgood comedy, which follows the exploits of Icelandic double-act Fire Saga, aka Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), as they proudly represent their nation in front of a worldwide television audience of 180 million viewers.
Written by Ferrell and Andrew Steele, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga wears campness on its sequinned sleeve with pride. Festivities reach a crescendo with a “song-along” of Believe by Cher, Ray Of Light by Madonna, Waterloo by Abba and I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas featuring previous contest winners Jamala, Loreen, Netta, Alexander Rybak and Conchita Wurst. Resistance is futile.
GREEN BOOK: Inspired by a real-life friendship, Oscar-winning comedy drama Green Book follows the tyre prints of Driving Miss Daisy to spark mutual appreciation between a chauffeur (Viggo Mortensen) and his back-seat employer (Mahershala Ali).
In the case of Peter Farrelly’s charming picture, the lead characters — an Italian American bouncer and a black pianist — stand on opposite sides of a racial divide at a time when American motels and restaurants could segregate or exclude clientele based on the colour of their skin.
The script fine-tunes conflict between the two men during an eight-week pre-Christmas concert tour, which screeches from the bright lights of New York City to the Mississippi Delta.
Mortensen gained 45lb to convincingly portray his brutish family man with a penchant for fried chicken. Co-star Ali walks a tightrope of repressed emotions as his mannered musician tentatively rewrites the soundtrack to a conflicted life.
Both actors are handsomely cast, confronting insecurities far from home on the road to understanding and acceptance.