A Christmas Carol (2009)
The ghost of Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman) visits his former partner,the rich but miserable, Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carey) to warn him he needs to change his selfish ways. On Christmas Eve, three ghosts (all played by Carey) show Scrooge visions of Christmases Past, Present, and Future and by the end of the night, he’s a changed man, abandoning his previous materialism for an enlightened humanism.
This adaptation of Charles Dickens’s famous story, features top-notch performances from Carey, Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth, and Robin Penn Wright and director Robert Zemeckis makes good use of motion capture technology to create a visually arresting film, but unfortunately it feels hollow.
The distance created by innovative filming techniques prevents the performers and audience from fully investing in the story and Carey’s natural tendency to overact detracts from the film’s dramatic needs. Ultimately, this adaptation doesn’t add anything; it’s a well wrapped Christmas present, but it’s empty inside.
Snowpiercer (2013)
After a botched attempt to correct global warming inadvertently caused an ice age, all of humanity lives on a train where society is organized around class based distinctions.
The upper class lives in opulence at the front of the train, while the lower class lives in deplorable conditions in the rear, barely surviving.
Fed up with their situation, Curtis Everett (Chris Evans), leads a rebellion to wrest control of the train, guided by the elderly Gilliam (John Hurt) and assisted by Edgar (Jamie Bell).
The rebellion fights its way to the front, defeating the forces led by Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton), but when they finally confront the train’s owner Wilford (Ed Harris), he surprises them with uncomfortable revelations about the train and their own rebellion.
Chris Evans shows something here beyond the boyish charm which has endeared him to film fans as Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers. From Alien (1979) to Doctor Who, John Hurt has a long history of work in science fiction, but this will surely rank as one of his best.
Adapted from a French graphic novel by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, this English film is an amazing achievement, managing to make a film about people trapped on a train feel large and expansive. Like the best science fiction films, it respects and trusts its audience to understand the bigger picture. This is about the depths to which humanity will sink for survival and the nature of rebellions which often wind up replacing one set of oppressive despots with another.