Eleanor Reviews

** DVD Release As Britain prepares for the Second World War to end just after the stroke of midnight, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret persuade the King and Queen to let them join in the celebrations.   I suppose the premise is quite an interesting one: two Princesses escaping their sheltered lives for one evening to experience the life of their citizens as the War comes to an end. A nice idea, but poorly executed. Whilst the cast (Sarah Gadon and Bel Powley) as Elizabeth and Margaret respectfully, do their best with the plummy accents and clichéd 'oh, how awful' turns of phrase, the film lacks momentum and any clear structure, merely moving from set piece to set piece without any discernible wit or intrigue. What could have been an interesting comment on society at the time descends into shallow caricature scenarios, that even Emily Watson and Rupert Everett, as the King and Queen, can't rescue.   This is a deeply flawed film. Aside from the televisuality

**** The Bennet sisters don't just have to balls, clothes and potential husbands to worry about: there's a zombie apocalypse coming and the world will require their warrior skills before they can settle down to wedded bliss.   First off, I would just like to say that I just assumed that this would be a 12A rated film, so when I sat in the cinema and the BBFC 15 rating come up on screen, I was actually quite surprised. Yes, I had expected some gore, but mostly I'd expected a film aimed at the YA cinema audience in the absence of Katniss... How wrong I was! This is a brilliant gore-fest, with rotting zombies popping up here, there and everywhere and causing mass panic, leading to excellently choreographed action scenes that are immensely enjoyable to watch. And it's funny too, with the wit of Jane Austen's original novel shining through, even as her heroines stab their way through hoards of the Undead in their petticoats. It's essentially a cast of very

***** Jack has never been outside Room; his world is Bed, Wardrobe, Sink, Carpet, and Ma. Shortly after his fifth birthday, Ma starts to tell him of a world beyond Room, a world she used to live in, and how she needs his help to get back there.   This is a film about abduction, rape and depression, and yet it is not a sad story - it is ultimately extremely uplifting, moving and life-affirming in ways that I don't think I'll be able to describe here. The set up is immensely bleak: a young woman has been abducted and held prisoner, repeatedly raped over a period of seven years, in that time having a child, Jack. However, whilst the theme may be explicit, the film is not. The whole point of Ma's (Brie Larson) existence has become a battle to protect Jack (Jake Tremblay) from the horror of what is happening, and, as such, we are not witness to the abuse she suffers, the camera instead lingering on Jack in these moments. It is a wise choice by director Lenny Abrahamso