Big and red are just two words to describe the four-legged giant of children’s literature that is Clifford the Big Red Dog. This is the beloved canine creation of author Norman Bridwell. A star of no fewer than eighty books, between 1963 and 2015, Clifford is the lovable, clumsy and loyal companion of young Emily Elizabeth Howard. He’s also the star of Walt Becker’s brand new Hollywood franchise launcher. This isn’t Clifford’s first foray into cinema but it marks his debut in live action and his biggest budget to date. As it goes, the film’s a charmer and should leave fans seeing red for only the right reasons.
Fifteen years on from Casino Royale, few will deny Daniel Craig’s stamp on the James Bond franchise has been transformative. In the star’s latest and last, all that has come before finds reprisal. There’s room too for one last push at progression. No Time to Die crackles with the energy of its exquisite cast and heaps bombast and spectacle into a melting pot long since boiled over. It’s rather too daft for it’s own good, and can’t quite best Skyfall in a ranking of Craig’s five stints, but proves a belter nonetheless.
The increasingly ubiquitous Lin Manuel Miranda strikes it home yet again, with the third of his four dynamite movie musicals to find release in 2021. That the first proved a confounding flop at the box office and the second saw its theatrical release shelved is neither here nor there. This EGOT chasing virtuoso is on a role. Unlike In the Heights and Vivo before it – and, indeed, Encanto to come – tick, tick…BOOM! is unique in the quartet for casting Miranda not as lyricist but director. Working from the late, great Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical text and songbook of 1990, Miranda’s debut in the hot seat proves a sensation. Not one that is entirely unmitigated but a mighty attempt at perfection nonetheless.
The Film Blog 