Review of Winter's Tale (2014) by Ethan H — 21 Jun 2014

Deus ex horse. So this is about a burglar (Colin Farrell) who falls in love with a sickly girl (Jessica Brown Findlay). How will he use the one miracle he's entitled to? This movie was a major box office flop, and when you watch it, it is easy to see why it had difficulties connecting with its audience.

It practically had the deck stacked against it. Let's look at the facts. 1. Colin Farrell can't open a movie to save his life; I sympathize with him, because I think he gets an unfair reputation as an actor, but I'm pretty sure the last movie that he starred in as the lead that actually made its money back was 2002's Phone Booth.

2. This faced stiff Valentine's Day competition, and opening at number 7 goes to show how mediocre the trailers looked. 3. Sure, this does feature that doomed Romeo and Juliet romance angle that some ladies go wild for, but the intended audience is thrown a curve ball in that there is this supernatural element to it.

While I appreciate the latter, I feel that most people who were interested in seeing it are going to be off put by it, and the third act changeover will leave people more confused than anything. I would say that I was pleasantly surprised by this more often than not, if only because this is more ambitious than it lets on; I would rather watch something that tries and falls short rather than something that had no inspiration behind it.