Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Tag Archives: Roald Dahl


by Leave a comment

MOVIE REVIEWS and NEWS ~ My Review of WONKA

Wonka, rated PG
*** ½   

Wonka is the delightful musical comedy prequel to the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film starring Gene Wilder (1971). The film tells the original story of Willy Wonka. Inspired by Roald Dahl’s Wonka books, the film was directed by Paul King (Paddington, Paddington 2), and the screenplay was written by King and Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2).
Willy Wonka is played by Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, Beautiful Boy). Willy’s mother, played by Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Blue Jasmine), tells him that every good thing started with a dream. Willy travels the world, spending seven years finding the best ingredients and perfecting his chocolate making craft. Now he has come to a great city to open his own chocolate shop.
The main villains in the film are three powerful chocolate business owners – Slugworth, played by Paterson Joseph, Prodnose, played by Matt Lucas, and Fickelgruber, played by Matthew Banton. The three control the chocolate making in the city as well as the corrupt police force, led by the chief of police played by Emmy winner Keegan Michael Key (Key and Steele). Continue reading →


by 3 Comments

Everyone should see the Movie “The BFG”

The BFGThe BFG (Big Friendly Giant), rated PG
****

This film is based on the 1982 children’s book by Roald Dahl. Dahl, who also wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach” which were also made into films, wrote “The BFG” in the last decade of his life and said it was the favorite of his books.

The new film (there was also a cartoon version of the book in 1989), is directed by three-time Oscar winner Steven Spielberg. The screenplay was written by the late Melissa Mathison who was nominated for an Oscar (for 1982’s ET), and to whom the film is dedicated. John Williams does the music score, the twenty-fourth time he has done so for a Spielberg film.

Ruby Barnhill portrays the ten year-old orphan Sophie who doesn’t sleep well. One night about 3:00 am Sophie sees the lanky twenty-four foot giant played by Mark Rylance (Oscar winner for the 2015 Spielberg-directed Bridge of Spies), outside of the orphanage. The BFG is afraid that she will expose him to others, so he takes her to Giant Country where he lives.

Sophie is initially afraid of the BFG, but a friendship begins to grow with this gentle giant. She finds out BFG puts dreams into the heads of children and other “human beans”, and that he is regularly bullied by the nine much larger giants. You will love how he humorously mangles the English language.

Sophie gets an idea to travel to London to visit Queen Victoria, voiced by Penelope Wilton (of Downton Abbey) for assistance with the mean larger giants. And oh yes, BFG also has quite an issue with flatulence when he consumes a certain drink, which are referred to as “whiz poppers”.

The CGI (computer generated animation) in this film is just amazing, especially the facial expressions and the enormous ears of BFG. The film contains themes of loneliness, love, friendship and family. It might be a bit dark and scary for wee ones.  Mark Rylance as the BFG and Ruby Barnhill as Sophie have great chemistry and they are perfect in their roles. I highly recommend this film for “children” of all ages, my favorite movie of 2016 thus far.