The King's Speech -A Review-

I've finally seen all of the Best Picture nominees that I wanted to before the big night. Oscar is coming, and I know who he's awarding Best Picture!

Although The Social Network should prolly take it, I think The King's Speech will be the victor Sunday night. Why? It's incredibly well written, acted, and directed, and it's exactly the 'type' of film the old school AMPAS voters cream their pants for.

The Royal Poop:

Duke Albert, or Bertie to his family (Colin Firth), is afflicted with a lifelong stammer that greatly impedes his ability to speak. At the urging of his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) he seeks out the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Together they work tirelessley to overcome Albert's impediment, while also forming an unusual and sometimes strained bond; Logue being the first commoner Albert has ever befriended. However when the time comes for Albert to assume his brother's title of King, Albert fears his stutter will keep him from effectively ruling at a time when war is imminent and the radio is the new form of communication. How can he rally his people and the world if he cannot speak a clear sentance? The pressure of his royal duty and the expectations of his people weigh heavily as he pushes forth to the fateful day when he must address the world, via live radio broadcast, and deliver the speech that will define his reign as King George VI.

This movie was incredible! Colin Firth stutters and stammers so convincingly and at the right moments that you believe him from the very start and rally behind him as he tries to get over it. His speech impediment is neither over the top nor reductive. Helena Bonham Carter elegantly embodies a royal air, one that in real life becomes the beloved Queen Mother of our time, mother of Elizabeth II. After all, let us not forget this is the story of the Father of our current Queen. Aside: there's a playful reference to the Queen Mum's tendancy to put on weight early on. Cute. Geoffrey Rush is animated and down-to-earth as the speech therapist and a man who would become a lifelong friend of the King. Another notable performance was Michael Gambon (of the Harry Potter films), who is pure classic royalty as King George V. Director Tom Hooper makes each moment work and rends a real emotional response from every individual scene.

As the story goes, mere months before filming began a relative of Lionel Logue found a diary of his and this information was used as a tool to make the film as historically accurate as possible, even instigating rewrites of the script to be as faithful to the source as possible. Although this relative, upon seeing the film stated that he couldn't imagine Logue ever referring to the King by his nickname Bertie. Also, apparently the timelines, as is usual with historical films, is changed for dramatic reasons. Otherwise I have faith that this was the excellent rendering of a fascinating story.

Also of note: this was all going on while the King's brother, King Edward VIII was abdicating the throne to marry american divorcee Wallis Simpson, a much bigger story in the papers at the time. The fact that this has become the better film is only more praise to the creators, who surely will be awarded well on Oscar Sunday.

DO NOT hesitate to rent or buy this incredible piece of history when it comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray April 19th. (Thats a Tuesday, y'all!)

Enjoy.

Unstoppable -A DVD Review

When I first saw the trailers for Unstoppable I thought it seemed like a one-track idea for a Chris Pine vehicle following the success of his turn in Star Trek. Hee's the next big thing, the It Boy, that kinda crap. Denzel was a draw cos he's great in everything, but ultimately it looked a little weak. Another case of bad marketing. I seriously think there needs to be a revolution in film marketing because those people are NOT earning their money. I wasn't all that interested in seeing this one. Thank god for the critics. They loved it, as did my personal god Roger Ebert, so I decided to give it a look. Glad I did. I'll tell you why.

The Skinny:

Will (Chris Pine), a freshly graduated conductor is new to the railyard. He is meant to get training from Frank (Denzel), a veteran engineer. Their training consists of moving a locomotive to another location to connect to a train and bring to another location. Simple enough. But meanwhile, back at the yard a pair of idiot workers manage to lose control of a train consisting of... I forget... fifty cars or something. It's a lot! Anyway, as the unmanned train (full of lethal explosives) approaches a heavily populated town, Yardmaster Connie (Rosario Dawson) realizes the intended company plan to save the train won't work and decides to go with an idea put forth by veteran Frank. With Will's help they try to stop the train and avoid what is constantly referred to in the film as "the worst disaster in the history of the state of Pennsylvania". With media helicopters and ground crews following their every move we watch as the two men try to avoid disaster. But can they do it? The odds are WAY against them!

This film started out with an intention. It felt like something was gonna happen. The music cued me in to that. Dun-dun. Dun-dun. That kind've thing. But it wasn't out of place. The opening scenes felt like you were being set up for something, which you are, but it was done well. If I think of a train with a lot of cars I think of it starting with purpose, but slowly. It gradually picks up speed, never shying from it's purpose, and eventually it's running full throttle and there's nothing you can do to slow it. Thats how Unstoppable felt. I was fully invested in this film from minute one, and the resulting journey was exhilerating! With some obvious personal struggle invovled for the characters (which was mostly unnecesarry but not distracting) the mains are motivated by sheer need! They HAVE to do this! It's a moral imperative! What they go through in the course of the story is both inspiring and tragic. Exciting and sad. They really are two fully developed characters doing what they have to do in the most precarious circumstance. The story is beautifully told by director Tony Scott (Top Gun, The remake of The Taking of Pelham 123), and was written for the screen by Mark Bomback (the awesome Live Free Or Die Hard). Unstoppable was called by Roger Ebert "a superb film". Nuff said.

Rosario Dawson as Yardmaster Connie was great as the go between for the right now and the corporate office. She communicated with Frank and Will and grounded the story. She was tough, cool, and believable. I'd let her do my friggin taxes now.

Unstoppable is an excellent film, worth seeing not just for action junkies, but for fans of decent cinema. It was an awesome experience!

DVD currently on shelves as of Feb. 15.

Black Swan - A Review

I'd heard a lot of good about this one, and a lot of bad. I think this was due to the marketing. When I first saw the trailer for this film I thought it was a supernatural thriller. Then the next wave of publicity hit and I thought it was just a good ol' thriller, no supernatural, but still, ya know, thrilling. Then the next wave of suddenly sterile publicity hit with all the critical raves and I thought it was an art house thriller. Then I watched it. What is it? Despite the misleading or at least poorly coordinated public campaign its a bit of all three. Wait... maybe the campaign wasn't soo bad... I only point it out because most people don't pay attention to the position the studio takes in marketing a film. I found it a bit all over the place. What do the numbers say? More of the same! Apparently in it's opening weekend it took in a mere 1.4 million$, compared to roughly eight weeks later it sits at something like 90million$! And the critics agree. The Academy gave it five nods including Best Picture, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), and Best Actress (Natalie Portman). And I just finished watching it. So here's what I think.

The Deal:

Natalie Portman plays Nina, an aspiring ballet dancer who has worked hard for her company for years. She has a great drive matched only by her way-too-dedicated mother (played by Barbara Hershey), who longs to see her precious and over-protected daughter succeed. And though the director of the company wants her to play the lead in his newly imagined production of Swan Lake (at the dismay of his now former principal dancer, played almost anonymously by Wynona Ryder) he has reservations about her ability to play the seductive Black Swan. See, Nina is sweet and innocent like the White Swan for which she is perfect, but he eyes a seductive and sexy newcomer as a possible replacement in case Nina can't pull it off. This brings us to Lily, played by Mila Kunis. It seems Lily, on loan from San Francisco, also wants this part but she tries to befriend Nina anyway, hoping to gel with the company.
Rehearsals are brutal, with the director Thomas (played with relish and intimidation by Vincent Cassel) trying to push Nina beyond her personal and physical limits. "Lose yourself" he would shout. "Surrender yourself to the part!"
As she continues to improve but still come up short Nina comes to see guile in Lily, and her motives come into question in befriending Nina. Especially when Lily is tapped by Thomas to be Nina's understudy. Meanwhile Thomas has his own designs for Nina. Intertwined with all of this is some beautiful dance and music.
One fascinating theme for me was how when we hear actors or actresses in interviews talking about 'the process'. "How did you immerse in that role" or "Did you lose yourself"? This film really brings home the effort artists put in to their work as portrayals of other peoples' visions. It really isn't as easy as we'd like to believe.
I was thoroughly enthralled by this film! Natalie Portman drew me in almost hypnotically as the shy, soft-spoken Nina. Her drive and passion as a dancer was credited by her 9 months of hard core training for the part. She looked every bit the hungry ballerina. Vincent Cassel was fantastic as the wolf-like director of the ballet. Mila Kunis was underplayed and exceptional as Lily, and was totally snubbed by the Oscars as Best Supporting Actress, but again, the Oscars don't mean shit. (Did I mention Halle Berry in Monsters Ball?) She was understated and fun as the would-be usurper of the crown. And then there was Barbara Hershey. Typically good, because lets face it she's a phenomenal actress, but what was with her teeth? In Beaches it was her blown-up lips, here it was her bizarre caps. Poor Barbara. Anyway, she delivered a great performance as the creepy stage mom. Maybe in a role like this her plastic surgery lends to the patheticism of the character.
Anyway, I loved this film. It was full of the kind of magic that starts and ends with the credits. Opening credits you know nothing, end credits you know all you need to know. It was beautiful. The climactic scene towards the end (which of COURSE I won't spoil) is one of the most beautiful moments on film I've ever seen. But don't see it for that scene, see it for the entire experience.
It's a wonderfully artful film that can be appreciated by anyone if you give yourself over to it.

Black Swan is in theatres now. It is expected on DVD in March 2011.

127 Hours -A DVD Review

*As always this is a spoiler free zone. This film is based on a highly publicized true story so we go into it knowing how it ends. This film isn't about the ending, but the journey to get there. Just so you know.*

This is another film I've been wanting to see but hadn't. Well, now I can say I have. The title alone lends itself to so many good 'bad review' one-liners; "It FELT like 127 hours just watching it!", or "I wanted to cut my arm off just to get out of the theatre!". Director Danny Boyle was flirting with a bad pun Hindenburg! Fortunately for him this was far from a disaster. 127 Hours is based on the true story written by title character Aron Ralston, who became trapped in a crevasse while canyoneering in the middle of nowhere. He was, as the title of his memoir points out, 'Trapped Between a Rock and a Hard Place'. After enduring five days of living hell as his arm slowly rots under the weight of a boulder he has to cut himself free if he wants to escape. I remember reading about this story when it was in the news, and was watching when he told his story to David Letterman. It's an incredible story! You would think it impossible to tell it effectively, but thanks to Ralston's best-selling memoir and Danny Boyle's incredible gift for storytelling we have this amazing film. Man oh man.

Here's the skinny:
Aron Ralston (James Franco) heads out in the early morning to hit a favourite climbing spot in Utah. While there he explores an unfamiliar canyon and trips, dislodging a boulder which falls deep into the canyon with him and pins his arm against the canyon wall. Initially angry his emotions soon give way to the myriad phases one must feel before death, except for one: acceptance. Somehow he is able to stay alive and motivated for five days until he realizes that the only way out is to amputate his own arm. But get this; after he chops through his arm with a cheap, blunt multi-tool he emerges from the canyon and rappels down a sheer 65 foot rock face. Then, after six hours of hiking he finds a family who ultimately has him airlifted to safety. According to Wikipedia but not in the film, he eventually returned to the site of the accident to spread the ashes of the amputated arm, which was retrieved by park officials.
First thing you pick up on is the direction. Danny Boyle is working at a frenetic pace, cutting from angle to angle, inserting multiple views in one screen, pulling flashbacks and flash-forwards, and giving you everything you need to feel what Ralston was feeling. Ralston himself said, upon seeing the film, "so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama." Not to remind you but the source material was Ralston's own account. Nuff said. Franco did a fantastic job as Ralston, playing the cocky sportsman to an almost arrogant 'T', but retaining a humanity and likability that could easily have been lost in all the possible histrionics. This was a calm, thoughtful character who was self-aware and assured but still showed weakness in his desperation. I think we root for him because he's the cool but down-to-earth guy we'd all like as a friend. He never quite lets you in, but any glimpse is gold. There's a moment in the film where the character, in his acceptance of the situation, says something like, "this rock has been waiting for me all my life". I think this role has been waiting for James Franco all his life. What a way to come out of the Spiderman movies! The story is handled with minimal fictionalization by Boyle and co-writer Simon Beaufoy. The early scenes of Aron and the lady hikers he meets are fiction, but the time in the crevasse is, well like Aron said above. Now, I'll reference the amputation scene. Although reports say that during several early screenings a few viewers fainted at this point in the film, it wasn't over the top. I think Boyle showed enough to make it visceral for the audience without making it grotesque. What was shown needed to be shown. It was a pretty fucked up moment in this guys life, and a defining one. It wouldn't have been a complete film without a faithful treatment of that scene. It was done well. I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a simple but powerful story told with the benefit of all the resources available to a gifted director like Danny Boyle (Slum Dog Millionaire), and the talent of an underrated actor like James Franco. He's won tons of awards for his work and even an Oscar nod, though he probably won't get it. Not because he wasn't great, but because the Academy Awards are full of shit. (Halle Berry, anyone? Monster's Ball? Seriously!?) At the end of the day the reason I love this film is the message it delivers. In lieu of a surprise ending you'll have to wait for the message. It's delivered very subtly but very profoundly. We are actually privy to one of the most personal moments in Ralston's life which has nothing to do with the scenes in the canyon, and it made me weep like a baby. Discover it for yourself. I promised no spoilers, and believe me, this movie wil surprise you in so many ways. Enjoy.

127 Hours is not yet available on DVD; that's March 1st. I'm looking forward to some juicy extras like interviews with Aron Ralston and James Franco. We'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, see this film.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -A Retro Review

Finally, after all these years I got around to seeing this film! It kinda flew under my radar but was mentioned by people who knew I was into horror films. Not exclusively of course, just so we're clear! Anyway, I got my hands on an unrated copy and had at it. After a little research while deciding if it was worth my time I gave it a go. It was made in 1986 on a budget of $125,000. Modest, even in the '80's. It's a frank look at the horror genre in a time when loads of blood and sensationalism was the formula. 'Henry' is an in your face, almost documentary-like look at a remorseless murderer and a very short period in his life. Although some adverts call it a film "based on the crimes of Henry Lee Lucas" -a man who confessed to hundreds of murders and was actually convicted of 11- the filmmakers claim it's based on some of the more fantastical claims he made, and therefore not a strict retelling of his actual life, tho there are similarities. Henry was inspired by his real-life counterpart, and he lived with a man whom he met in prison, but thats where the similarities take a holiday.

Not to say the man wasn't a horrible serial killer; that much is true, but the crimes depicted in the film may or may not have happened as portrayed.

Here's the poop:

Henry is a serial killer. He has no motive. He kills for fun, or out of boredom. It isn't clear but he kills. A lot. He lives with Otis, a perverted ex-con, and his sister, Becky, a young stripper who falls in love with Henry.

Out of some kind've implied homosexual crush on Henry Otis is drawn into the killing and they wreak havoc on many people, including an unfortunate family in which they videotape the massacre and molestation. It's a disturbing scene in which Otis takes especial glee in molesting, murdering, and then molesting again the mother. It's difficult stuff to watch at times. Then circumstances find Henry and Becky running off together and as abruptly as it starts, the film ends.

I liked the first two-thirds of the film. I thought it was well done on all levels, drawing me in and really keeping me interested. I wanted to see what would happen next. The final act was a bit of a letdown, but the final act is so short that I guess it was mitigated. At any rate it didn't sustain, and as much as I would recommend this film to horror buffs as an example of when horror got real, I wouldn't suggest the passive horror fan watch it. Yes, a lot of the imagery was brutal, and the pretty sheen of the 80's was taken off killing in film when lots of blood was enough to suggest brutality, but this film, though actually brutal and in your face, fell short in storytelling in the end. I'm glad I watched it, I'm glad I marked the milestone in horror cinema, but ultimately it was, in the end when it came undone, a passable entry in the genre.

Available on DVD. Check out the wikipedia page for this one; interesting release history due to controversy.