Alice is now 19 and can’t quite remember Wonderland – was it just a recurring dream, or something more? Tim Burton’s new film doesn’t take the idea anywhere, but it has an uncanny resonance with my own viewing of the film. I can’t remember if I ever read Lewis Carroll’s books as a child properly or not. I suspect not; I think I may have seen the cartoon, and bits of the cartoon and read the Golden Books or Disney book of it. Yet, of course, so much is nearly familiar, as Burton gives us a sequel or a mash-up or something.

I think the film’s major failing is its uninspired and confused plot. Once we get to Wonderland, we get stuck in a cliche: the bad queen versus the good queen, with forces on each side, and no exploration of why.  There just has to be a good side and a bad side in any fantasy narrative. Don’t kids (and the adults taking them) deserve something a little more sophisticated? The pangs of betrayal? The nuances of the failings of any political system?

We get a couple of mentions of the Jabberwocky through the film, but no set up for the climax in which, of course, Alice must fight the creature. It makes it seem rather pointless, a video game with the big monster at the end.

The film’s strengths are its relentless zany visual interest and an enchanting performance by Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

I had the pleasure of seeing it at the Cygnet in Como, the first time I’ve ever been to this elegant one-screen cinema.

5/10

Ewan McGregor convincingly plays an awkward reporter in Iraq who stumbles into George Clooney, who used to be a part of the New Earth Army, an attempt to turn New Age/hippie practices into psychic warfare during the Cold War. The New Earth Army was founded by Jeff Bridges’ character, another great performance reminiscent – from a different angle of his character in The Big Lebowski. It’s a rather physical comedy, along with a number of funny lines, as we learn in flashback of the rise and fall of the New Age Army.

The scriptwriter doesn’t know how to finish it, and the climax isn’t anticipated well enough, but instead comes rather randomly, as so much of the film does. (It’s a universe of coincidence, but not quite enough is made of all the coincidence to convince.)

Showing at the Luna.

6.5/10

For me, it was worth seeing Jeff Bridges’ new film Crazy Heart just to watch him return to the bowling alley, the setting of much of his performance as the Dude in The Big Lebowski. His character in this new film, Bad Blake, is even more washed up than the Dude, an alcoholic fading country star who doesn’t look after himself, reduced to playing at bowling alleys and no longer given a bar tab.

It’s a film that starts out with a few laughs, but these soon dry up, as it settles in as a conventional redemptive drama. A young reporter/ single mother played by Maggie Gyllenhaal offers Bad Blake new hope, but she is wary of his drinking. Can Bad Blake get himself together, come up with some new songs and keep the woman he loves?

I like the setting, the open desert roads, small bars and bowling alleys of the southern states. I like Jeff Bridges, a lot, also. And Gyllenhaal plays her part just right. It’s too familiar as a film and the narrative is a little clunky (the trajectory doesn’t seem right, it seems to slow right down in the middle and get lost) but overall it’s… almost good.

6/10