Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/333851
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JUNE 2014 THIS WEEK 32 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer 17:15, 19:15 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Simshar (12A) 10:15, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30, 20:55 Maleficent 3D (PG) 10:30, 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10 Blended (12A) 10:30, 13:15, 16:00, 18:35, 21:15 22 Jump Street (15) 10:15, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Grace of Monaco (12A) 10:15, 13:45, 16:10, 18:40, 21:05 The Fault in Our Stars (12A) 18:25, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 22 Jump Street (15) 14:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:35 Godzilla 3D (PG) 14:30, 20:50 Godzilla (PG) 18:20, 23:25 Heaven is for Real (U) 14:10, 16:20, 18:35, 21:10, 23:20 Grace of Monaco (PG) 14:20, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:20 Blended (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:15, 23:40 Maleficent 3D (PG) 14:10, 16:25, 18:40, 20:55, 23:10 X-Men: Days Of Future Past 3D (12A) 14:30, 20:45 X-Men: Days Of Future Past (12A) 18:05, 23:25 Edge of Tomorrow (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00, 23:25 Bad Neighbours (15) 14:20, 16:25, 18:35, 20:45, 23:00 Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (18) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:05, 23:30 The Two Faces of January (12A) 14:10, 16:15, 18:25, 20:50, 23:00 The Other Woman (12A) 14:30, 23:50 The Fault in Our Stars (12A) 18:15, 21:15 God's Not Dead (PG) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:15, 23:40 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Maleficent 3D (PG) 11:05, 13:45, 16:00, 18:10, 20:50 Simshar (12A) 11:15, 13:35, 15:55, 18:15, 20:45 Edge of Tomorrow 3D (12A) 11:00, 13:55, 18:05, 20:45 Grace of Monaco (PG) 11:10, 13:40, 15:55, 18:10, 20:55 SOMETIMES, actors dominate a production so utterly that any other element begins to seem su- perf luous to their performance – to their mere presence, even. This has always struck me as slightly curious: shouldn't actors slide into the texture of the film, chamele- on-like, and serve to deliver and accentuate whatever the story re- quires of them? But alas, it's not as though Holly- wood listens to logic, ever. And so, here comes yet another example of just the thing I was talking about: Disney's Maleficent, a supposedly 'fresh' take on the Sleeping Beauty story, starring Angelina Jolie. Star- ring the crap out of Angelina Jolie. In fact, if Jolie starred in this any harder, the posters would have had us squinting; the trailers forcing us to cover our eyes with our hands to avoid permanent blindness. As the promotional material made it very clear from the begin- ning – that's just about a year ago when promotion for the film began in earnest – a Mads-Mikkelsen- cheekboned version of Angie Jolie will be taking on the role of the gothic-collared Disney antagonist, in a blockbuster which will pur- port to tell the familiar story from her side of things. Being something of a chiselled sex goddess even before she was ALSO a serial adoptee and UN Goodwill Ambassador, any film starring Angelina Jolie – yes, the repetition of her name is part of the point – was bound to attract attention… never mind one that taps into our collective childhood memory to serve up a new version of a classic Disney cartoon. So it was a given that Jolie would eclipse this production from the start. But does her character arc justify the hype? Well. Maleficent starts with a young version of our (anti) heroine, as- siduously but joyously overseeing the fairy realm of which she is part, and which is strictly segre- gated from its neighbouring hu- man settlement. But a crack in this cold war scenario appears when Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy) meets a young human intruder, Stefan (Jackson Bews) and the star-crossed pair fall in love. But as the years go on, Stefan shows more and more interest in the "ambi- tious" world of men. To prove his worth to the King Henry (Kenneth Cranham) – who is eager to have his revenge on the fairy lands after he suffers a humil- iating military defeat at the hands of Maleficent (now Angelina Jolie) and her tree-folk soldiers – Stefan (now Sharlito Copley) pays a long- overdue visit to Maleficent's neck of the woods… only to lull her to sleep with a potion and cut off her wings. The King is satisfied, and names Stefan as his successor. Cue con- venient jump-cut by which time the King is dead and Stefan is sit- ting on the throne joined by a pret- ty queen (Hannah New) and their offspring, Aurora. Naturally, Maleficent is none too happy with this development, so instead of rejoicing with the rest of the kingdom, she opts to crash the Christening and bestow the child with the familiar curse: on her 16th birthday, Aurora will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep, and would only be awakened by "true love's first kiss". But as Aurora's deadline ap- proaches – and as she grows into Elle Fanning – Maleficent begins to get second thoughts… Neither the groundbreaking masterpiece that its marketing machine suggested it would be, but neither a shoddy fairy-tale- remix of the Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) ilk, Maleficent walks a fine line between average and misguided; by turns spectacu- lar to look at and suitably exciting as any kid-friendly blockbuster should be, but also carelessly put together and running on a confus- ing central 'message'. The key to fairy tales is their – often deceptive – simplicity, and it's something which has held Dis- ney in good stead for a couple of generations, too. So by focusing on the villain's perspective – not a bad thing in and of itself – while also trying to tell the story we know and love in a fresh way as possible, the filmmakers set themselves an impossible task from the word go. So instead of gliding elegantly to the finish line, the film stag- gers and stumbles along, break- ing things on its way. Its suppos- edly gender-correct retelling of the source material is clumsily handled: simply relegating all the male roles to either suddenly-evil antagonist figures (Stefan), or passive comic relief (Maleficent's sidekick Diaval, played by Sam Ri- ley) does not redress the balance in a meaningful way. But neither is the story elegantly told. Don't get me wrong: taken in iso- lation, the film's prologue is close to f lawless. Managing to incorpo- rate both a classic-as-can-be fairy tale narrative (Maleficent and Ste- fan's cross-species romance) with a supremely enjoyable slice of fan- tasy action (Maleficent vs Human Army), it's also an excellent show- case of the immersive CGI world- building on display: the swooping, richly textured fairyland justifies the enforced 3D screening like no film since Avatar. But spending so much time on the backstory – and expending so much emotional heft in the first half – the climax just feels like a rushed, foregone conclusion. For what is essentially a fairy tale story, this revamp proves to be a pretty tricky film: visually stunning and never-boring, it also lacks any real grace. And what about Angelina, in end? Well. Maleficent is a carefully curated presence – so enwrapped in the iconic costume and caked behind so much make-up and CGI that a live person is hard to detect be- neath all the trappings. So it's damning with faint praise to say that Jolie lends the necessary poise to an already stilted creation. But to damn more plainly: that accent isn't fooling anybody sweetheart, not even the denizens of fairyland. FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Oh what could have been, once upon a dream… ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ SLEEPING BEAUTY ★ ★ ★ ★ STAGE BEAUTY ★ ★ ★ PRETTY PLAIN ★ ★ FACE IN THE CROWD ★ SLEEPY Bless the child: Angelina Jolie pays an unwelcome visit to Aurora's christening in this re-imagining of the Sleeping Beauty story MALEFICENT (PG) ★ ★ ★