The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The loss of a loved one haunts gifted Clara's (Mackenzie Foy) heart, and her grief stricken father (Matthew Macfadyen) struggles to comfort her.

Festive ceremonies can't ease her troubled mind, nor can appeals to the breadth of tradition, nor the temptation to snuggle away.

Honestly immersed in dire bleak emotion, she visits a trustworthy friend (Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer).

And his supportive counsel and sympathetic understanding miraculously ignite her imagination, which magically blooms thereafter, a fantastic realm inadvertently emerging, wherein which she's respected as Queen.

Yet dark forces have set about undermining her rule, forces which take advantage of her naivety.

But those who remain loyal to her innate justice refuse to yield as the usurper rises, the rag tag as composed as they are outnumbered, united with the formerly influential.

Known as Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren).

As darkness descends.

In The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, an enchanting tale wildly revelling in solemn majesty, its embroiled burnished brightness boldly bursting the bland banal.

Within, inherent characteristics predisposed to leisure and play must outwit irreverent subjugation while clashing with concrete woe.

Is it so hard to enjoy the peaceful refinements a culture enlightens without being threatened by their jests?

Enamoured impulse, commercial spontaneity, sportspersonlike intrigue, a weekly night out?

Who doesn't like Mexican food?

The realization that the limitless nature of the democratic arts, as opposed to one-dimensional all-powerful commands they may be, produces much more lively overtures, which can creatively inspire curious hearts and minds, who produce much more clever material when given room to play, and freed from mind-numbing stereotypes, enlivens dull predictable routines, and lets you appreciate Birdman and Ferris Bueller sans hesitation, depending on complementary moods.

No one ever really listens to anyone who uses violence to assert themselves, although they pretend to to avoid pain.

I see smart men and women whose families respect them precisely because they don't micromanage things all the time.

They seem happy because their families are happy, and are always ready to provide assistance when required.

Perhaps Clara realizes her father is like that after contending with thoughtless Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley).

And agrees to dance with him lightly.

Caught up in spirited flight.

Safe Haven

Attaching a dipsomanic dimension to an otherwise light and fluffy romance flick, Lasse Hollström's Safe Haven quaintly juxtaposes psychosis and contentment as a struggling woman (Julianne Hough) searches for a new life.

Along the way she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widower with two children living in a seaside town.

I could relate to his love of the wilderness, his favourite places to chill etc.

They meet, start liking each other, authoritative madness intervenes, the symbolic clashes with the void.

Ms. Hough does a great job representing various components of feminine strength until it becomes clear that she's hooking up with Alex, after which Terry Stacey's cinematography becomes less provocative.

Don't let this trick you into thinking that since you're in a stable relationship you have to sequester your keen fashion sense.

On the contrary, this is when you're at your most beautiful and should therefore continue to find ways to share your beauty on a predictable yet regularly changing basis, thereby vivifying natural and urban worlds, keeping in touch with the changing seasons, transforming them into a living breathing tantalizing work of art.

Springtime.

It's springtime!