And talking of self-congratulatory masturbation... Tarsem Singh is probably the least restrained, least clever director currently working, who simply lavishes aesthetic everyway with all the artfulness and technique of an amateur Instagrammer taking "interesting" sepia-tone soaked close-ups of half-empty milkshake glasses with "profound" captions like "A Journey To The Bottom Of Me." Basically, he's over-blown, and so are all of his films, and despite the fact that Mirror Mirror had wonderful potential, and is beautiful a way that only Singh could manage, it's also as hollow as only the director could manage. Singh cast Roberts early, with the intention to make his Evil Queen more relatable, and less of a monster - but there's nothing really unique about the way the story is adapted, and it is against Singh's own agenda that Roberts' performance must be judged the biggest failure. She's supposed to be relatable, and sympathetic (because she's just really insecure) but the performance is one of pantomime and bluster, and it is the pinnacle of the film's passive aggressive half-attempt at revolutionary re-telling. And even worse, it's very, very obvious that Singh, Roberts and everyone else involved think that the performance is terribly funny. Which it definitely isn't. Which do you think are Julia Roberts' best and worst film performances? Share your own picks below in the comments thread.
