New Oz: The Great And Powerful Trailer looks suitably epic

It’s going to be very strange watching Oz: The Great and Powerful after reading Wicked. You may recall that, in Gregory Maguire’s novel set in L Frank Baum’s universe, The Wizard was the bad guy who tricked Dorothy into offing his political rival, “The Witch of the West”. He’s still pretty dubious in this one, but less overtly, um, wicked. Sam Raimi directs, so we should be in for a visual treat, and the trailer certainly hints at the expected rip-roaring rollercoastery stuff. It’s a Disney film, which will rein in Raimi’s habit of grossing out the the audience, though I’m sure he’ll have plenty of opportunities to “punish” his cast.

The Lovely Bones

It’s not much of a surprise that a Peter Jackson film is beautifully-filmed. Neither does it come as much of a shock to find that its one flaw is that it drags a bit in places – so eager to preserve its dreamy stillness and occasionally unbearable tension – but like most of Peter Jackson’s work, it has much to recommend it.