EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA (12, 121 mins) Comedy/Musical/Romance. Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens, Pierce Brosnan. Director: David Dobkin.
Streaming on Netflix
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.
EDDIE THE EAGLE (PG, 105 mins) Comedy/Drama. Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken, Keith Allen, Jo Hartley, Tim McInnerny. Director: Dexter Fletcher.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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.
GREEN BOOK (12, 124 mins) Comedy/Drama/Romance. Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini, Dimiter Marinov, Mike Hatton. Director: Peter Farrelly.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (PG, 115 mins) Comedy/Drama/Romance. Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi, Daisy May Cooper, Aneurin Barnard, Hugh Laurie, Ben Whishaw. Director: Armando Iannucci.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
WRITER-director Armando Iannucci OBE realises great expectations with his madcap take on Charles Dickens' indomitable literary hero.
The Personal History Of David Copperfield breathlessly abridges the mid-19th century serial and novel to focus on the quixotic and colourful characters, whose fates intersect with the titular tyke.
A galaxy of stars in the British acting firmament sparkle in small yet perfectly formed roles including a delightfully bonkers Tilda Swinton as Betsey Trotwood, who mistakes salad dressing for smelling salts, and Peter Capaldi as lovable rapscallion Mr Micawber.
The setting may be pungently Victorian but the tone is unmistakably modern from the hero's knowing narration to nudge-nudge wink-wink flashes of directorial brio that bookmark each chapter.
Dev Patel plays the likeable comic foil in the midst of madness, who is slowly educated in the whims of his fellow man.
Flecks of tragedy are always hand-tied with fanciful ribbons to humour.
THE SHINY SHRIMPS (15, 99 mins) Comedy/Drama/Romance. Nicolas Gob, Alban Lenoir, Roland Menou, Romain Brau, Geoffrey Couet. Directors: Maxime Govare, Cedric Le Gallo.
Streaming on Netflix
AN EMOTIONALLY troubled swimmer gains a new perspective on life in a raucous road trip reminiscent of The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, co-directed by Maxime Govare and Cedric Le Gallo.
Channelling the spirit of a real-life LGBTQ water polo team, The Shiny Shrimps is a life-affirming celebration of diversity and acceptance.
The upbeat soundtrack includes a rousing chorus of Sabrina’s 1987 Italo disco anthem Boys (Summertime Love) to accompany an open-top bus journey through the sun-kissed French countryside.
Nicolas Gob plays Olympic champion Matthias Le Goff, who issues a homophobic slur during a testy exchange with a TV reporter.
The national swimming federation forces Matthias to atone by coaching a gay water polo team, the Shiny Shrimps, who are hoping to qualify for a berth at the forthcoming Gay Games.
While the polo team’s founder, restaurant owner Jean (Alban Lenoir), welcomes Matthias with open arms, other members like fervent activist Joel (Roland Menou) are less forgiving.
WONDER (PG, 108 mins) Drama/Romance. Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Izabela Vidovic, Danielle Rose Russell, Daveed Diggs. Director: Stephen Chbosky.
Screening on Film4 on Thursday November 19 at 6.45pm
LOVINGLY adapted from the award-winning 2012 novel by RJ Palacio, Wonder is an exquisitely calibrated drama, which eschews mawkish sentimentality but still has us weeping uncontrollably by the end credits.
An elegant script by director Stephen Chbosky, Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne confidently navigates the choppy emotional waters that threaten to separate four members of a Manhattan family, who have learnt the hard way that beauty comes from within.
A simple bookmark structure alternates between narrators, exposing chinks in characters' armours as they wrestle with insecurities and learn life lessons from a 10-year-old boy with a rare genetic syndrome, which has resulted in 27 agonising operations to painstakingly rebuild his face.
A stellar cast led by Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and 11-year-old wunderkind Jacob Tremblay makes light work of the two-hour running time.
Only a stone-cold heart will be able to resist the film's sincere and heartfelt charms.
