Messing with classics is dangerous business. The fact that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland isn't a straight retelling of the Lewis Carroll books might be motivated, as stated, by a desire to give the tale more narrative heft, but it also feels like a pulled punch.
Director Jim Sheridan's adaptation has a contemplative steadiness far more common in European films than American ones.
Because life, especially in wartime, can be understatedly described as "messy," it's perhaps feasible to excuse The Messenger's disarray.
Sexual abuse and incest are realities, and there's no reason why art shouldn't confront them. But when pop culture addresses them (and Precious, with its against-all-odds cheerleading and music-video casting, is very much a pop-culture commodity), the results deserve scrutiny.
Rock 'n' roll is great. But no matter how powerful, majestic, or even life changing three chords and the truth can be, rock 'n' roll cannot save Pirate Radio.