TMW #3: Wicked, Spellbound and Layla reviewed

Plus, further recommendations for your weekend viewing, and the opinion-splitting trailer of a live-action remake.

Greetings!

This week, your Movie Wingman dispatch comes fresh from the Emerald City, with the hotly anticipated big-screen adaptation of musical smash Wicked leading the reviews. Matthew’s working his magic on that one, while Matt’s got the lowdown on Netflix animation Spellbound, and Jordan’s sharing his thoughts on Layla. Plus, plenty of ready-to-watch recommendations to keep you occupied this weekend.

Thanks for your support so far, and if you can afford to become a full member, please do - we’re not paywalling anything yet, but soon some of our content will be hidden behind the proverbial Wizard’s curtain, so take advantage of the intro offer while you can.

Let us know in the comments if you end up watching anything good this weekend, and we’ll be back on Tuesday with a rundown of the best Christmas movies of this century…

Matt (and Jordan and Matthew)

Reviews

Wicked

PG, in cinemas now

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked (credit: Universal Pictures)

Once upon a decade or so ago, Hollywood had a thing for splitting big-IP adaptations in half - which appeased the box-office gods, but left some punters questioning whether two Mockingjays were actually better than one. 

Recently, though, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune diptych proved there are more artistically credible ways to milk the cash cow. And now there’s Wicked Part 1 - the full title as seen on screen, but coyly absent from the marketing. Lasting almost as long as the entire fantasy-musical on which it’s based, Jon M. Chu’s 160-min movie could be accused of defying brevity. Yet for the most part this glides by like one of Chu’s swooping flyover shots. What’s more, it ends on the same high-impact note as Act 1 of the musical, capturing the integrity of the theatrical experience; the only difference being the 12-month intermission (Part 2 is slated for 21 Nov, 2025).

On this showing it’ll be well worth the wait. Chu has previous form with vibrant stage adaps (2021’s In the Heights) and Michelle Yeoh playing an imperious matriarch (2018’s Crazy Rich Asians); here he combines both in service of a retelling of the pre-Wizard of Oz womance between the future Wicked Witch of the West - here named Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) - and proto-Good Witch Galinda (Ariana Grande-Butera). 

The pair become reluctant roomies at Shiz University, under the scornful watch of Yeoh’s Madame Morrible. The faculty also includes talking goat Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), who poignantly embodies the film’s darkening take on animal rights. Elsewhere, Wicked explores prejudice - Elphaba is singled out for her green skin - dabbles in paternal mystery, rolls out a couple of potential suitors (Jonathan Bailey’s silky-smooth Fiyero, Ethan Slater’s sweetly awkward Boq) and introduces Elphaba’s younger sis Nessarose (impressive newcomer Marissa Bode), who’s destined for a bigger, deeper role if Part 2 maintains the fan-pleasing fidelity flaunted here.

Chu and his collaborators - including writers Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox - show great courage in transposing such beloved material wholesale to a new medium, and there’s ample evidence of brains in the FX (glitzy but not gaudy), the production design (a rotating library is like a cross between Inception and Waterstones) and the well-deployed Easter eggs (OK, maybe the discussion over what colour the brick road should be is a bit on the nose).

But the heart of Wicked belongs to its leading witches and their enchanting love-hate chemistry. Again and again, Erivo shows you the storm brewing beneath the surface without saying a word, while Grande-Butera is remarkably likeable as someone who initially appears to only have a talent for hair-tossing (which, admittedly, she does to an Olympic standard).

Together, the pair nail every comedic, dramatic and musical beat, en route to a cliffhanger finale that’ll propel audience emotions somewhere over the rainbow. (Matthew Leyland)

In short: A radiant, respectful adaptation that won’t confusify the uninitiated. The pinkest movie since Barbie is set to rake in a lot of green. 

Stay for the end credits? To enjoy the music, yes. For a glimpse of Part 2… no.

Best actor playing himself: That’ll be, that’ll be, Jeff, ah, gosh, Goldblum as The Wizard (think Thor: Ragnarok’s Grandmaster in tap shoes).

—

Spellbound

PG, on Netflix now

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Spellbound (credit: Skydance Animation/Netflix)

If you can’t be bothered to go to the cinema for your magic and music fix - or need something to entertain the kids before Moana 2 sails in next week - you could do worse than the latest slickly animated effort on Netflix. It’s got a starry voice cast, with Rachel Zegler as the young princess hiding a secret: her parents (voiced by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem) have been transformed into monsters. It’s directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek), but perhaps the biggest draw is having Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and Beast, tons more) on the music. While I didn’t see all that much rewatch potential in it, the songs hit the spot, the creatures are cute and the colours pop. Could’ve done with one more adventurous set piece, though there’s an inventive quicksand sequence, but the final message helps set it apart from similar fare, and took me pleasantly by surprise. (Matt Maytum)

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Layla

15, in cinemas now

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Bilal Hasna in Layla (credit: Curzon)

Identity and acceptance are the key themes in writer/director Amrou Al-Kadhi’s East London-set queer romance. Bilal Hasna (TV’s Extraordinary) stars as the eponymous Arab drag queen. While performing as the box-ticking headline act at a corporate ready-meal event, Layla locks eyes with Louis Greatorex’s gay ads exec Max - the beginning of an intoxicating romance (emphasis on ‘toxic’). Deftly balancing semi-autobiographical specificity (the experience of being a closeted non-binary drag queen in a Muslim family) with universal ideas of shaping one’s self-image to please others, it’s an intimate, assured and frequently funny debut feature, albeit one that can’t quite land the emotional haymaker it sets up. That said, it’s excellent counter-programming if witchy magic and soprano warbling aren’t your thing. (Jordan Farley)

Wingman recommends…

Witches

(Out now, cinemas)

Aptly released to coincide with Wicked (careful you don’t mix them up at the box office), Elizabeth Sankey’s new doc does feature a fleeting archival glimpse at the Wicked Witch of the West and some other notable big-screen broom-riders, but here movies are used as a reference point to make sense of Sankey’s experience of postpartum psychosis. It’s both fascinating and also frequently upsetting, but ultimately very moving, not least via the additional testimonies of the community of women who helped Sankey through that dark time. Shines a much-needed light on a topic too little discussed in films, or elsewhere. (MM)

Bread and Roses

(Out now, Apple TV+)

“Hello to a depressed and displaced city… Kabul.” Produced by Jennifer Lawrence, Sahra Mani’s documentary follows the upended lives of three women after the Taliban’s 2021 seizure of the Afghan city. Bread and Roses eschews the usual handrails of docu-making - voiceover, captions, talking heads - and is all the more intimate and immediate for it. There are moments of warm solidarity amid the shock and despair, though the most stirring footage sees schoolgirls vigorously chanting anti-Taliban slogans direct to camera. (ML)

An Almost Christmas Story

(Out now, Disney+)

This Disney+ Christmas short about a wayward owlet lost in New York has top-flight credentials - it’s directed by The Green Knight’s David Lowery, written by prolific wordsmith Jack Thorne and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. The similarly accomplished voice cast - John C. Reilly, Natasha Lyonne and Mamoudou Athie among them - oddball animal characters and stop-motion-aping visual style (though, rather impressively, it’s rendered entirely in CGI) give it the air of a Wes Anderson animation - certainly no bad thing. A sweet, if slight, tale to ease you into festive film season (more to come on that front in Tuesday’s Wingman). (JF)

Cheaters

(Out now, BBC iPlayer)

OK, so I haven’t actually watched Series 2 of Cheaters yet, which is streaming in its entirety now, but if you haven’t seen the first batch I urge you to catch up. A short-form sitcomdram, it follows the lives of Fola (Susan Wokoma) and Josh (Joshua McGuire), who impulsively hook up in Finland when their flight is delayed. But the high-concept wrinkle is, it turns out they’re across-the-road neighbours when they get home to London, and their pre-exisiting relationships are knottier than expected. It’s funny and gamely played, and the 10-minute episodes are just so moreish (and further proof to me that TV episodes are better off shorter). (MM)

Trailer Club

The first teaser for Dean DeBlois’ live-action adaptation of How To Train Your Dragon, the beloved 2010 animation that he co-directed with Chris Sanders, dropped online this week, and the reaction has not been kind. As a huge fan of the OG trilogy (particularly the first two) I see little evidence here that this is anything more than a business-forward bit of IP maintenance given how closely it appears to be hewing to the original (you could call it a ‘toothless’ update). But when the source material is that strong, maybe the smart move is not to fix what isn’t broken. Here’s hoping future glimpses are more promising… (JF)

Also worth watching…

• The Inside Out world expands with the new trailer for Pixar’s Dream Productions

• And speaking of Pixar, there’s a new teaser for the studio’s next original feature, Elio.

• Blocky bees, wolves and zombies about in the latest A Minecraft Movie trailer

• Seth Rogen and some very famous friends put Hollywood under the satire-scope in the first trailer for Apple TV+ series The Studio.

On the Wingman office stereo…

There was no other option after Matt was fatally earwormed during a preview screening of Better Man (out 26 Dec) this week.