After the success of the success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 2010, Disney started adapting another of their successful animated tales into a live-action movie. While Alice was more of a sequel to the original, Cinderella is more of a remake, but with several twists to the story; like Ella (as she is called in this telling) meeting The Prince prior to the fateful ball and the Fairy Godmother having a much larger role.
Lily James (Downton Abbey) stars as Ella and Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) stars as Prince Charming while Cate Blanchett is Lady Tremaine (The Wicked Stepmother) and Helena Bonham Carter is The Fairy Godmother. Like Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent before it, Cinderella is expected to be another success for Disney mining their classic animated movies and early reviews indicate that it will be even better received. Adding to its box office potential is the addition of the animated short Frozen Fever, featuring the characters from the blockbuster Frozen.
It was only two months ago I wrote about Taken 3 and how, at 62 years old, Liam Neeson’s career is stronger than ever and as an action hero on top of that. He continues that successful career path with Run All Night, in which he plays a Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man known as The Gravedigger. However, his life has hit rock-bottom as he is haunted by the sins of his past and his only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass. To make matters worse, his estranged son becomes a target of his mob bosses and must chose between his crime family and his real family he abandoned long ago.
The World Community Film Festival returns to Kelowna March 12-15 featuring 30 documentary films from around the world.
One of the featured movies this year is The Paddler, the locally produced documentary about Kelowna stand up paddler Bob Purdy who for more than four years has paddled every day attempting to raise awareness about people’s impact on the environment. It recently was given an award of excellence by the Canada International Film Festival.
Films will be screened at UBC Okanagan, Ki-low-na Friendship Centre and at the KLO Campus of Okanagan College. Admission to the film festival is free but donations are accepted and will go towards the festival, Ki-low-na Friendship Centre and Inn from the Cold.
To see the full list of documentaries and schedule go to www.worldfilmfestkelowna.com.
