Confession: I have never managed to sit all the way through any of Peter Jackson's interminably dull and juvenile Lord of the Rings epics. So it is heartening to find New Zealand's most famous cinematic export finally turning his formidable technical skills to more grown-up and challenging subject matter.
Adapted from Alice Sebold's best-selling 2002 novel, The Lovely Bones is Jackson's most emotionally mature film to date. Strangely, judging by its chilly reception in the US, it is also shaping up to be his first serious critical and commercial flop.
In fairness, the grim subject matter was never going to be an easy sell. Sebold's book is narrated from beyond the grave by Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who is murdered by her serial-killer neighbour in suburban Pennsylvania in 1973.
The young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan gives a highly impressive performance as Susie, conveying both childlike innocence and budding teenage emotion. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz are also solidly believable as her parents, even if both appear too youthful and Hollywood-pretty for the roles. And Susan Sarandon is a delight as the dead girl's eccentric grandmother, although her all-too-brief scenes are chiefly here for comic relief.
There are echoes of Jackson's past work in The Lovely Bones, especially in Susie's scenes, which recall the fantastical hallucinations in his real-life murder saga Heavenly Creatures and the majestic vistas in the Lord of the Rings series. He even includes a fleeting, jokey homage to JRR Tolkien in a shopping-mall bookshop scene.
As we might expect, Jackson dazzles with the CGI special effects sequences. After her death, Susie wanders a magical realm of infinite golden cornfields, dancing mountain ranges and full-sized sailing ships trapped inside vast glass bottles. These dreamscapes are brilliantly composed, but arguably overshadow the film's more tragic human elements.
Jackson and his co-writers, including his wife and long-term collaborator Fran Walsh, stay largely faithful to Sebold's book while dispensing with a few details. They skirt around more sordid aspects of Susie's murder, both for taste and commercial reasons. They also cut the affair between her mother and the detective Len Fenerman (Michael Imperioli), which is no great dramatic loss, but might have helped clarify the marital crisis midway through the film.
More questionable is the missing detail on the killer's childhood, which partially humanised him and explained his psychological motivation. Barely recognisable in a sandy brown, comb-over wig and false teeth, Stanley Tucci gives an excellent performance. He is convincingly creepy, but he remains a one-dimensional monster throughout. His eventual demise, in a scene added by Jackson in response to test screenings, feels a little heavy-handed.
The Lovely Bones is not the disastrous misfire that some have claimed - it's more like a technically dazzling but dramatically disjointed mix of disturbing murder thriller and uplifting fable. It is a commendably serious work, even if Jackson spends too long in his digital toy box at the expense of character depth and emotional consistency.
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
ENGLAND SQUAD
For first two Test in India Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson , Dom Bess, Stuart Broad , Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes. Reserves James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.
Cherry
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo
1/5
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Richard Jewell
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley
Two-and-a-half out of five stars
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse