Winter's Tale (2014)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Beautiful, moving film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The book should have been made into a Netflix series spanning three seasons. The movie doesn't do the movie justice and the movie doesn't tell the whole story.

And I think it is grossly misleading for anyone to approach it with that expectation. Scorsese apparently thought the book was unfilmable (but I once thought that about LotR) and it would certainly require a mini-series to do it justice. So what the director has done is take the essence of the love story and made it into a film. There were also some differences between the book and film that I don't think detract from either. Accept that premise and I think one can enjoy it in its own right. Nevertheless, I was disappointed that we got so little of Beverly and Peter actually together that a lot of the sheer joy and beauty of the relationship in the book was lost. That may explain why people who haven't read the book weren't so invested in the characters, while those that had felt a bit disappointed. For all that, I enjoyed the film and will keep it in my collection.

I love fantasy, unlike my family. But to mix it in with an every day life scenario, it has to be done right. In the case of Pan's Labyrinth, the beautiful combination of the real war-torn world and the fantasy world worked spot on throughout the whole film.In this movie, the gaps of the fantasy world aren't really filled out properly. It presents itself as a world where demons and angels are fighting some kind of war. But the rules aren't very clear. This is made evident by the fact that the book is incredibly long and covers too much ground for it to be made in a film (Martin Scorsese himself deemed it unfilmable) The other, albeit much milder, problem I have with the movie is Will Smith as Lucifer. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Will Smith, but this just doesn't work. To play the devil, an actor has to have two things: Irresistible charm and the ability to terrify the wits out of you. Smith definitely has the first, but not so much the second. It unfortunately ends up being too sickly sweet and clichèd for my liking.

This film moved me in such a way that I was inspired to read the novel. I would recommend both the film and the novel. However, like most Novel-to-movie adaptations there are significant differences, but the overall delivery of the film is spot on. As I wrote earlier, this film moved me and made a deep impression upon me. Highly whimsical and enjoyable. Good/evil and Love and Light. Enjoy. Highly recommended.