The King's Speech (Impediment)

The King's Speech is a movie starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. It is about King George VI and his battle with the contradictory nature of his predicament, possession of both a stammer, and a public position that requires him to publicly address an entire nation through radio broadcasts during a time of stress for the country. 

Set in the cavernous and looming rooms of palaces to further highlight his daunting task, The King's Speech is beautifully shot. In particular, the early scenes of his speech therapy with Geoffrey Rush, "Lionel" are very visually compelling. This film is also incredibly funny, the comedic timing of the three main actors renders many otherwise average lines humorous. 

The interesting power dynamics at work throughout the film deepen the characters, for the relationships we are following begin when Colin is merely the Duke of York, then continue through his kingship. Helena Bonham Carter as his wife, Queen Elizabeth, is particularly excellent. Actually, the three main actors all do incredibly in terms of creating and bringing to life  characters people feel like they know. The movie itself however is a little long, and the pacing drags a bit. Some of the scenes feel extraneous, or if not entirely unnecessary, too long by a significant amount of time, something I would blame on editing that isn't disciplined enough. 

Overall, definitely one to see, however don't go to the theatre tired. 

The Eye Wasn't As Corny(a) As I Expected It To Be

Recently, I bought The Eye, mainly because it was 5 dollars and because I love Jessica Alba without parallel. But not blindly. I know a shitty movie when I see it, even if I love one of its protagonists (Love Guru comes to mind but there are more, Good Luck Chuck isn't winning any awards anytime soon). However, I decided to give this one a shot, it's based on a japanese movie which usually works out well.

Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist who hasn't been able to see since she was five. But because of technology (wooo technology!) she can now get a corneal transplant. So she does this, and can now see! But she starts to see scary visions mainly involving fire and freaky ghost children. So she selfishly makes her eye therapist (who is of course in love with her) risk his license, finding out who the donor was and taking her to MEXICO so she can talk to the girl's mother about her dead daughter, while looking into the eyes of her buried child. But surprisingly, this works out well for all parties. I'm not going to ruin the ending, but this movie was well-acted by Alba, however it was a little bit of a one note bird. It's a good note though.

I like the ending, it's not too feel-good fairy tale. It's a good little movie, especially if you're not REALLY into scary movies, because it is scary, but not filled with cheap scare tactics and unnecessary gore the way some of these "movies" being made nowadays are. CoughTexasChainsawMassacrecough.

Also MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Oh Hey Darren

                    BLACKSWANBLACKSWANBLACKSWANBLACKSWANBLACKSWAN

Okay so I just watched Black Swan with my family. This movie is a tumultuous little ride of emotion, at times it can seem like a cheap/bad horror movie at other times, a well made "psycho-sexual thriller" (what does that even mean, and why is everyone so addicted to saying it?) For those of you who have been living under a stupid rock, this movie is about a ballerina, Natalie Portman, who desperately wants to be featured more in the ballet company she is in. When the new production of Swan Lake is announced she of course wants the role of the Swan Princess, but according to the head of the company, Tomas, she lacks the duality and sexuality needed to dance the role of the black swan, as well as the white.

Between her crazy overbearing and potentially sexually abusive (?) mother (Barbara Hershey) and the new sexy young thang in the company, (Mila Kunis) Nina (Portman) has a verifiable cornucopia of choices for her night plans; stay in getting her nails clipped rather bloodily, eating cake and scratching herself while her mom  paints endless portraits of her and lives vicariously through her, or go out, do ecstasy, make out with a few guys in a sheer black tank top and eventually have an intense lesbian sex scene.

But not only does Nina not know if she is a lesbian, she doesn't know if she's crazy either! Throughout the film she continues to see copies of herself walking around. However if I looked like Natalie Portman, I would want to see myself everywhere too, so I don't know if that really verifies that she's crazy.

Winona Ryder sneaks her way into this film as a jilted "little princess," the last favorite of Tomas, until she gets too old and has to be cast aside, as is the way in the cutthroat world of surrealist ballet, as we all know. She also gets hit by a car (accidentally intentionally or pushed, we never find out) but of the couple times Nina visits her in the hospital, during one, she shoves a nail file into her face repeatedly, so look forward to that.

This film really is great, Aronofsky has proven himself time and time again to be a storyteller of great vision, especially for the very corporeal subsets of society (drug addicts in Requiem, wrestlers in The Wrestler, and cancer patients in The Fountain) which now includes ballerinas. I'm looking forward to his next film about circus performers, because I feel like it's coming.

Things We Lost in the Fire

This is a beautiful film starring Halle Berry, Benicio del Toro and, (even though his character dies in the first 10 minutes of the movie) David Ducohvny.

It is a very beautifully done piece about heroin addiction and survival from all things. The characters and the film is presented in a very realistic manner, shots are slow and wide, there is no quick cutting around, as a viewer, you stay with the people and the story for a very long time and soak it in. Following in the naturalism vein, none of the characters wear any facial makeup. This is notable especially on Berry, who is obviously still gorgeous, but this lack of cover allows her acting to come from deep down and lets the audience see that depth. It seems at times as if she is acting from her pores, it's so ingrained. Del Toro also benefits from this choice, as an addict, he looks honestly awful most of the time. But this makes the progression over the course of the film more powerful.

The complicated narrative is also served by this simplistic presentation, the audience is often lulled into a plotline only to realize it belatedly with a jolt at the exact moment of realization for the characters. This creates an added empathy between viewer and character.

The movie also is presented in an interesting mix between past and present, which again, in an ancillary way, adds to the beautiful pace and unfolding of the film.

The movie strays from overly dramatic renderings of drug use and cliched plotlines. All that is left is beautiful acting, a ringing true story, and the serene yet memorable visuals.