Winter's Tale

On a Scale of 1-10 With 10 Being the Best

5

Image Courtesy of Etsy

Plot: Peter Lake finds himself deeply in love with a dying woman, named Beverly Penn. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Peter Lake is a thief that used to work for an evil demon named Pearly Soames and now that demon is after Peter due to his "miracle". Essentially, devils don't want people to die with their "miracles" acted out as they will go to heaven. Pearly plans to kill Peter and anyone else to prevent him preforming his miracle. The movie takes a turn on whose miracle will save who. This movie is sadly predictable and the movie seems to jump from place to place (and time periods) but I thought it was so pretty and cute that I may watch it again.

*Note that this is based off a book so much of the cool details were probably taken out.* P.S. This is not based off the Shakespeare play like I thought. The book is written by Mark Helprin.

Characters/Actors of Note:

Colin Farrel playing Peter Lake: I think Mr. Colin Farrel did a fairly good acting job. His character is trying to find out his real purpose. This is reinforced when he loses his memory later on in this film. I kind of missed as to why Colin Farrel chose to give his character such a thick Irish accent when he was raised in America since he was a baby. I also didn't quite understand how Colin didn't figure out his former employer was a demon and also how a mortal even works for demons without selling his soul or something.  This character didn't have enough back story to really make sense. I do think that Colin Farrel's emotions with his lady-love were appropriate and not over the top. Much appreciated.

Jessica Brown Findlay playing Beverly Penn: Ms. Jessica Brown Findlay does a lot of narration for this film and I loved it and I'm glad they chose her instead of Colin to do the narrations. Her dialogue was great and easily quotable. She was also slightly British which makes me happy as everyone loves a British accent!  (Except the one British accent with the 'r' sound when there is no r in the word. That's annoying to me.) I thought she played her character as a loving and gentle soul well and it was very easy to like her character. 

Russel Crowe playing Pearly Soames: Holy snot rockets was this guy scary. I personally HATE it when characters faces change to something scary and he does it a couple of times during this film. His pure unadulterated hate for Peter is evident and the way he loves to kill makes me want to do this...

A new found fear has been sparked for me for this usually heroic actor. I like how Mr. Russel Crowe has decided to stretch is acting skill wings (Yes, that is an reference to this film) and decided to play a pretty scary guy.

Music: The tones and score for this film was sweet and loving, with the occasional scary sounds for the villains. It was so-so. 

Camera Work/Cinematography: This movie used lens flares, CGI, and textures to give this film a very pretty look. Some of it though, was not necessary or too over the top. For example, Peter Lake has a horse in the movie and let's just say that during some parts the horse looks way too...flashy. I also thought this film was too fast and jumped too often. I almost wish that two different movies were made. One with Peter Lake and Beverly and the second with Peter Lake in the year 2014. I feel, without reading the book, that a lot of details and important clues were cut from the film. 

RECAP: 

This movie was quite adorable from the little girl, to the relationship, and the "miracles." It was predictable and at times too flashy. I would watch it again but probably never own it. Those who love romances will probably love this and those who don't will probably give it an "eh" rating as well. 

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