“Unbroken” And “Into The Woods”

 

 

“Unbroken”

Release Date – December 25, 2014

TONY TOSCANO’S rating –

Opening Christmas Day it’s Angelina Jolie’s World War II biography of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini “Unbroken.”

The film chronicles Zamperini’s life from his boyhood to his service in WWII. After a near-fatal plane crash, he spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he’s caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Under Jolie’s direction the film does a masterful job in engaging the audience and bringing Zamperini’s spirit to the screen

“Unbroken” gets four plays and is rated PG-13.

 

“Into The Woods”

Release Date – December 25, 2014

TONY TOSCANO’S rating –

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[/one_fourth][three_fourth_last]Also new on Christmas Day Anna Kendrick, Meryl Strep and Johnny Depp star in “Into the Woods.” Based on the Broadway musical about a witch who tasks a childless baker and his wife with procuring magical items from classic fairy tale characters to reverse the curse put on their family tree. I was hoping for so much more. Especially with the cast! But what I got was a lack-luster film with no “hit song” in my head to take home. In the final reel “Into the Woods” just can’t get out of the mud! It gets two-and-a-half plays and is rated PG-13.

 

 

“Unbroken” is a war drama film produced and directed by Angelina Jolie based on the 2010 nonfiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. The film, which revolves around the life of Olympic athlete Louis “Louie” Zamperini, stars Jack O’Connell, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund and Domhnall Gleeson.

 

“Into The Woods” is a musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is directed by Rob Marshall, and adapted to the screen by James Lapine from his and Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. It features an ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp.  Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, the film is a fantasy genre crossover centered on a childless couple, who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful witch.