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New Release Reviews

New Release: Cruella

Following the anti-hero trend – from Maleficent (2014) to Joker (2019) – Disney brings back a most unexpected villain story: the animal abuser Cruella from 101 Dalmatians (1961, 1996). What is equally astonishing is how well put together everything is, but this completeness is only possible by examining Cruella (2021) on its own, not as a prequel to 101 Dalmatians. […]

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Feature New Release Reviews

New Release: Crazy Rich Asians

I recently saw Crazy Rich Asians, and afterwards joked that it’s one of the most interesting of the Disney cartoon-princess movies. Man—”Cinderella” is, apparently, immortal. The best way to understand this movie, I think, is to see it as a folktale. Which, after all, most romcoms essentially are. And doing so brings up many of […]

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Lost Classic Reviews

Lost Classic: Three Wishes for Cinderella (Václav Vorlíček, 1973)

The story of Cinderella has been adapted countless times, from the iconic Disney animation to Kenneth Branagh’s recent live action take. One less well-known adaptation is Three Wishes for Cinderella, a Czech-German co-production regarded in Central Europe as a Christmas classic. Václav Vorlícek’s film gives a different take on Cinderella to what we’re used to. […]