Tag: movies

Yup, I contributed to Unknown winning the box office bonanza for this past weekend. It was the number one movie grossing $25+ million. I wasn’t the only one as the Sunday matinee was packed. Lots of old, white folks. They switched from Owings Mills to Hunt Valley.

Anyway, without spoiling it too much, the movie was a complete Jason Bourne ripoff. Oops. I said too much.

It was very confusing when the twists started happening. Just what was Liam Neeson’s motivation supposed to be? Thinking more about it. A lot of the twists don’t make any sense because it completely wrecks any character motiviation as to why they played each other for the fool. I was expecting a nice little thriller in the Hitchcock mode. What I got was Bourne Identity 2: Married with Children.

2 of 5 stars.

If you have to see a movie with Natalie Portman doing the dirty, make it No Strings Attached rather than Black Swan. She enjoys the sex much better in No Strings Attached. You will enjoy her too as this movie gives you a chance to catch multiple glimpses of Natalie Portman skin. Not that I was looking.

In No Strings Attached, Portman plays the man role in a rom-com. She’s the one who is non-committal. Ashton Kutcher plays the girl role smitten from the beginning waiting for the right man to commit. They make for a refreshing rom-com couple. Ivan Reitman directs a script written by Elizabeth Meriwether, a woman, and he comes back with a solid effort than makes you forget his past couple of stinkers. It was the script that makes the movie.

I laughed throughout. I almost cried, but knew that this was where it was going to end. I wanted to see these two get together because I was rooting for love. I always root for love, but I don’t mind all the fun sex that lead them to love.

It’s deserving of a much higher ranking.

3 of 5 stars.

The King’s Speech tells the fascinating tale of Young Prince Albert who became King George VI father to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. He stutters which is not good for aspiring to be King. Yet, it is hinted that his stuttering is because he doesn’t want to be King. Guy Pearce even doesn’t want to be King, and he wishes that he wouldn’t become King replacing Dumbledore. So he abdicates to sleep with that harpie from the colonies. Prince Albert assumes the kingship and must be regal. Will his speech impediment hinder him?

This movie is the story of Albert trying to live up to being royalty and to meet the challenges of the changing world. It follows his relationship with the speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The Prince wants a cure. The therapist wants the Prince to be true to himself and act as kingly as possible. They clash in styles. High-low. Commoner-king. Teacher-student. Patient-doctor.

The reluctance of the Prince to take on the mantle of the heir apparent manifests in his stuttering. The pressure is great on him. He must be great and rise up to the challenges that were facing England and the world in 1930s. The weight of the world is on the stuttering fool. He will recover with the help of the speech therapist.

I liked it. I liked that it was something in the Prince to overcome: being afraid. I liked Geoffery Rush as the Prince’s speech therapist. His character didn’t care if it was the King he was helping. They were all of the same caste. I guess it takes an Australian to not be too concerned for the social station.

I also liked the fact that Helena Bonham Carter acted. You forget that she can because she’s always directed to be over the top. As Queen mother, she is the rock base for the Prince. She loves him and wants him to be as good, as great, as she believes him to be. The love helps him. Bonham Carter makes it believable. Dial her down a notch and she becomes watchable.

You know this rating is going to bite me next January, but I really dug this film while watching it. Very well told story, good acting, and clear direction. It’s been some time that I’ve doled out the max, so here it is. Because it is all true.

5 of 5 stars

Black Swan is a cautionary tale for the creative types. If you seek perfection in what you do, the rigid regimen may leave you vulnerable. You can’t really play wild because it requires you to let go and be rather than act. Of course this could be dangerous as this throws all logic out the window and you’ll go crazy. Just ask Natalie Portman.

Her character can’t be perfect to play the black swan. It tears her up inside trying to find perfection in the flawed. Then it tears her up literally in order to find that spark of inspiration to be the black swan.

This movie pretty much writes itself once you know the players. In fact, I knew even before what was going to happen once you hear about Swan Lake. Portman is the quiet, mousy type who’s talented but vulnerable. Her mother, Barbara Hershey, lords over her as only a tyrannical stage mother can. The French ballet dude lords over her too making her a new star to take the place of the aging Winona Ryder. Mila Kunis comes in as the doppleganger who could be her rival and/or her lover.

I liked that Winona represented the old guard. You have the millenium generation’s ingenue replace gen-x’s gamine. Very symbolic. And lots of this movie made use of symbolic things. Swan Lake with the white swan-black swan. Old versus new. Darkness versus light. Perfection versus intuition.

One last thing, that scene, you know that scene, was pretty hot. Filmed like a nice porno. And don’t masturbate if your moms sleeping in the same room!

3 of 5 stars