"...Because I Have a Voice!"
Warning: If you want action, explosions, and blood... this isn't the movie for you.
If you want a great, must-see movie... You know what to do.
"The King's Speech" - This movie was an excellently made character-drama. It follows "Bertie"... the Duke of York, son of King George V. He has a bad stutter. As Radio emerges, he has the need to give speeches in public. He has tried many speech-coaches but nothing works. That is, until he meets Lionel Logue. It follows his progression from Duke to King.
Cast: Collin Firth (Bertie), Geoffrey Rush (Logue), Guy Pearce (Edward, Bertie's Brother), Helena Bonham Carter (Elizabeth, Bertie's Wife), Michael Gambon (King George V), Timothy Spall (Winston Churchill)... Quite a high-class cast.
The story is quite endearing. You really get to know Bertie/King George VI. You feel his pain, you understand what it's like to stutter. In a few scenes, you might actually cry.
In other scenes, you will laugh. Sometimes the humor is subtle and witty, other times it's a little more obvious.
MPAA Rating: "R" For Language. There are 17 F-words and a few other S's, D's, and perhaps a few A's. An interesting fact about this, in England it was originally going to be rated at Age 15 due to the language, but the makers fought it down to an Age 12 because the language isn't used to be vulgar, offensive, or sexual. It is merely the word itself with little context... or to quote IMDB.COM, "Contains strong language in a speech therapy context".
(For those of you not familiar with those actors, Here's a cheat-sheet...
Geoffrey Rush plays Captain Barbosa in Pirates
HBC plays Bellatrix LeStrange in Harry Potter
Michael Gambon plays Dumbledore (the second incarnation) in Harry Potter
Timothy Spall plays Wormtail in Harry Potter.
that's right... A HP Reunion!)
31 January, 2011
18 January, 2011
The Green Hornet
If you like Seth Rogen, go see The Green Hornet.
The Green Hornet was an interesting movie. Kato was quite a fun character to watch. The fight scenes, although often drawn out, were mostly very intense. They were shot really well and I enjoyed the unique way that Kato saw the fights, weapons outlined in red. It reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes scenes where Robert Downy JR would pre-choreograph the fight in his head using his awesome deductive reasoning skills.
Seth Rogen was hardly playing Britt Reid.... he once again played Seth Rogen. This is ok, however, if you like Seth Rogen. A lot of the comedy was low-comedy, i.e. a lot of men were kicked and/or hit in the junk.
I felt the daddy-issues were resolved a little too quickly, but it made for an interesting plot-twist. The story was time-realistic. I thought that was clever as well. When Britt knocks himself with the Gas-Gun, he is out for 11 days and wakes up with a much fuller beard. Another time, Britt is thinking, piecing parts of the puzzle together and it takes him a little bit. One of the characters says something like "I can see by the look you've had in your eye for the last 5 minutes that..."
Back to the fight scenes... they were gruesome but not graphic. People getting crushed inside of cars, stabbed with table-legs, etc. but there is minimal blood. I thought Christoph Waltz's character, Chudnofsky/Bloodnofsky was very 1-dimensional and terribly clever. He was so simple, not complex at all, yet altogether likeable as a villian.
Some of the funniest parts of the movie were subtle lines, like Waltz's explanation of the double-gun or why he wants to wear red.
I personally enjoyed seeing Edward James Olmos, but cliche, he was James Reid's number-2 man and when Britt inherited it, he tried to run the company instead of letting Britt (reminds of Jeff Bridges character in Iron Man.) They do address this issue and work it out, which was a clever change of pace.
All in all, I give the movie 3.5 stars. Worth seeing at least once, but if you aren't a Seth Rogen fan, you'd be fine to wait for it to come out before seeing it.
Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and intense sequences.
The Green Hornet was an interesting movie. Kato was quite a fun character to watch. The fight scenes, although often drawn out, were mostly very intense. They were shot really well and I enjoyed the unique way that Kato saw the fights, weapons outlined in red. It reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes scenes where Robert Downy JR would pre-choreograph the fight in his head using his awesome deductive reasoning skills.
Seth Rogen was hardly playing Britt Reid.... he once again played Seth Rogen. This is ok, however, if you like Seth Rogen. A lot of the comedy was low-comedy, i.e. a lot of men were kicked and/or hit in the junk.
I felt the daddy-issues were resolved a little too quickly, but it made for an interesting plot-twist. The story was time-realistic. I thought that was clever as well. When Britt knocks himself with the Gas-Gun, he is out for 11 days and wakes up with a much fuller beard. Another time, Britt is thinking, piecing parts of the puzzle together and it takes him a little bit. One of the characters says something like "I can see by the look you've had in your eye for the last 5 minutes that..."
Back to the fight scenes... they were gruesome but not graphic. People getting crushed inside of cars, stabbed with table-legs, etc. but there is minimal blood. I thought Christoph Waltz's character, Chudnofsky/Bloodnofsky was very 1-dimensional and terribly clever. He was so simple, not complex at all, yet altogether likeable as a villian.
Some of the funniest parts of the movie were subtle lines, like Waltz's explanation of the double-gun or why he wants to wear red.
I personally enjoyed seeing Edward James Olmos, but cliche, he was James Reid's number-2 man and when Britt inherited it, he tried to run the company instead of letting Britt (reminds of Jeff Bridges character in Iron Man.) They do address this issue and work it out, which was a clever change of pace.
All in all, I give the movie 3.5 stars. Worth seeing at least once, but if you aren't a Seth Rogen fan, you'd be fine to wait for it to come out before seeing it.
Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and intense sequences.
Black Swan
Black Swan is the tale of a ballerina who gets the lead role in the ballet "Swan Lake" The dancer must exhibit the traits of both the Swan Queen and the Black Swan (the queen's evil twin). Natalie's character is cast but struggles portraying the black swan. As the swan queen, she's perfect. Shy, timid, and innocent. she can't quite portray the subtle seductiveness of the black swan.
As she begins to grasp the role, she begins to halucinate and struggle with who she is and what she wants to be in her life. The movie (and her life) is a complex parallel to the Swan Lake tale.
Rated R for language, sexual content, and suspense.
Definitely worth seeing. Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan is truly amazing. She is getting away from the traditional roles she's had and moving on to show us her acting chops. She is taking a little bit more risk with the darker roles, but she is also shining.
As she begins to grasp the role, she begins to halucinate and struggle with who she is and what she wants to be in her life. The movie (and her life) is a complex parallel to the Swan Lake tale.
Rated R for language, sexual content, and suspense.
Definitely worth seeing. Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan is truly amazing. She is getting away from the traditional roles she's had and moving on to show us her acting chops. She is taking a little bit more risk with the darker roles, but she is also shining.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)