The Alto Knights
(15), 123mins
★★★☆☆
ON the face of it, this is an offer cinema-goers can’t refuse – Robert De Niro as two mob bosses for the price of one.
In this Godfather-style film based on a true story, the Oscar-winning actor plays both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.
They are friends from New York City’s streets who rise to the top of the Mafia, only to fall out over which one should be in control.
De Niro is at his best as the explosive mobster, putting in a psychotic performance that will leave audiences trembling.
But most of The Alto Knights focuses on the cool-headed Frank, whose politicking is more Starmer than Trump.
Director Barry Levinson, best known for Rain Man, fails to show the audience how close Vito and Frank once were.
Only at the end, when the audience gets to see an infamous meeting of the US’s top gangsters in rural Apalachin in New York State does this film truly begin to shine.
Disney's Snow White
(PG) 109 mins
★★★☆☆
THERE have been so many versions of The Brothers Grimm’s 1812 fairytale Snow White that Disney felt the need to put its company in front of this title.
And being Disney, it also means the story has been robbed of any of the drama and menace of the original.
Gal Gadot’s wicked witch stepmother is a comedy baddie carrying all the threat of apple juice while the huntsman looks like he would think twice about felling a tree, let alone callously dispatching a young woman.
Rachel Zegler as Snow White carries this musical’s new tunes with perfection.
What will entertain film fans of all ages, though, are the computer-generated dwarves who do all the heavy lifting with their gags and slapstick humour.
Flow
(U), 85 mins
★★★★☆
THIS year’s Oscar ceremony was short on surprise winners – apart from Flow.
Who would have thought the Americans would pick a dialogue-free Latvian production for Best Animated Film?
An unnamed black cat in an unidentified land is caught up in a massive flood.
This motley crew will keep little ones entertained and cat lovers will be fans of the main character.
What surely won over Oscar voters, though, is the dreamy animation, with colorful fishes, majestic buildings and a sky filled with stars.
Did you miss our previous article...
https://thecelebreport.com/television/a-married-at-first-sight-cheating-scandal-looms-as-couple-plays-footsie-under-the-table
