A New York Winter's Tale hit the big screen at the beginning of the year and was an adaptation of the book by Mark Helprin, and promised to be a magical take of love and loss. Sadly, A New York Winter's Tale did not live up to the promise of the trailers and really was one of the most disappointing films of 2014.
A New York Winter's Tale
We are well on our way with our search to find the Worst Movies of 2014, and sadly, A New York Winter's Tale is in at number eight. The movie marked the feature film directorial debut of Akiva Goldsman - he also penned the screenplay - while Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findley, Russell Crowe, and Jennifer Connelly were some of the A-list names that made up the terrific cast.
Sadly, this great cast was not enough to save A New York Winter's Tale as the movie really did descend into chaos and failed to capture the magic and the grandiose of the original novel - which was a major shame.
Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, "Winter's Tale" is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.
The movie starts off well as the relationship between Peter Lake (Farrell) and Beverly Penn (Findlay) begins to develop and he sweeps her away in a bid to rescue her - you really do feel that the movie is going to deliver on the romance and the magic of romance that is evident in the trailer. Sadly, the movie never really gets out of first gear and all of the good work done the first third of the film is never capitalised upon.
The characters are never fully fleshed out and they are never developed in a way where you would find yourself rooting for them. Don't get me wrong Farrell and Crowe in particular do the best with what they are given, but this really is one of the worst movies that both of them have appeared in.
As the film goes along, the story gets more and more convoluted and - by the end - it really doesn't make a jot of sense - you know everything is lost when Will Smith randomly turns up as Lucifer… and on more than one occasion.
Sadly, Goldsman never really took a step back to look at the movie he was making and he managed to cut out everything that made the novel a special ready. Goldman directed, wrote, and produced this film, and the lack of perspective really does show - he really needed someone looking over his shoulder telling him what was good and bad about what he was trying to create.
The adaptation is void of the love and the magic that is packed into the book, replaced instead with silliness and mediocrity. In more experienced hands, A New York Winter's Tale could have been a very beautiful and moving movie, and it is a real shame that we didn't get to see this story in its full glory.
The movie boasts a very impressive cast list, but it just goes to show that if you don't have a well written script that if filled with a rich characters and an interesting story, then no acting talent is going to be able to save the film.
The cast really are not given much to get their teeth into and their character exists in the middle of a story that really doesn't make any sense. The story may be set over three different time periods, and yet none of them make a jot of sense. I suggest that you save two hours of your life and give this one a miss!!!