philosoraptor42

The King's Speech (2010)
Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush both prove their mettle in this awesome character-driven drama. At a point in history where public speaking is becoming a vital part of the role of King, Prince Albert (Colin Firth) is suffering from a horrendous stutter which becomes particularly bad when he speaks in front of a large audience. Things become worse when it becomes clear that his brother Edward is not up to the role and that he will be expected to take the reigns.

The movie tells the story of the relationship between Prince Albert and Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a speech therapist. The two actors play off one another perfectly. The movie does a great job of showing off the talents of Colin Firth and it great to see that his career hasn't been ruined by his appearances in tripe like "St. Trinian's", "What A Girl Wants", "Mama Mia!" and "Love Actually". Meanwhile Geoffrey Rush is reliably excellent in the way he always is. I actually found myself wanting to re-watch "The Life And Death of Peter Sellers" which, while quite flawed, is an excellent showcase of Geoffrey Rush's abilities.

I thought I recognised the actress playing Mrs. Logue as Natasha Little (who I thought was brilliant in an adaptation of "Vanity Fair" but seems to have done anything much since), but it turns out I had the wrong costume drama. It turns out it was actually Jennifer Ehle, who played Elizabeth Bennett in the long-celebrated BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (in which Colin Firth played Mr. Darcy).

It's rather fitting that "The King's Speech" should be up against "Toy Story 3" since both manage to elicit tears from the audience. "The King's Speech" was, in my case, a little more successful. (To put this in wider context, it didn't make me as tearful as "Where The Wild Things Are" but then again "The King's Speech" was better paced and had a much stronger storyline too.) Colin Firth made me feel very strongly with his portrayal of Prince Albert.

While I still think "Black Swan" should win the Best Picture Oscar, it'd be nice to see "The King's Speech" running off with everything. Tom Hooper was previously responsible for "The Damned United" (which was very good, but let down at the end) and the excellent TV movie "Longford" (which starred Jim Broadbent as Lord Longford, Samantha Morton as the psychopathic Myra Hindley, and also starred Lindsay Duncan as Lord Longford's wife as well as featuring a turn from Andy Serkis as the other Moor Murderer.) This is clearly an accomplished director and not a one-hit wonder.

5/5

Black Dynamite (2009)
I really want to say that I must just not understand the genre it's spoofing properly. However, the problem is that there are so many parts which felt absolutely brilliant that I cannot help but feel distinctly let down by the misfires and the more purile humour. You cannot excuse unfunny rubbish by saying "but it's a spoof!" Also, one issue I often had was that I wasn't sure if I was watching bad acting or watching people acting intentionally poorly. Yet I can't tell you that all the best stuff is in the trailer. I think where this movie falls down the worst is where it admits that it is being intentionally daft. It would have been a lot better if the audience could imagine that this was a real "so bad it's good" kind of movie from the period. In fact, all the best bits are over the top in a way that you could imagine an actual movie doing.

In the end I don't think this took enough cues from Rodriguez's methods in "Planet Terror" where he starts out with a good idea for a movie and then humour comes out of the trashy low-budget fashion in which it is made. Heck, the guy in "Planet Terror" who collects balls was a little bit of a misfire, but that didn't matter because the movie didn't dwell on it too much. "Black Dynamite" suffers from a lack of forward momentum through some of the misfires. Overall there were more hits than misses, but a major miss, the plot involving the whisky towards the end, is far too central to the movie to really be ignored.

2.5/5

Partir (Leaving) (2009)
The chemistry between Kristen Scott Thomas and Segi Lopez in this movie is done really really well. I recognised that I must have seen Sergi Lopez in something before, so I looked him up. Turned out he was the fascist guy in "Pan's Labyrinth" as well as the hotel manager in "Dirty Pretty Things". Their acting is fantastic, the storytelling is brilliant and the movie really pulls on the heartstrings.

The problem however, was that there are SO MANY SEX SCENES. Seriously sex scenes turn up all the time with increasing regularity and it gets to the point where they don't really feel like they are pushing the plot forward but are instead acting as filler. While "Y Tu Mama Tambien" involved lots of sex scenes they generally felt necessary to the plot, but in "Partir" it's almost as if the director doesn't think we'll accept that the couple have a good relationship unless half the movie is taken up with them shagging the daylights out of each other. And they're wrong. Kristin Scott Thomas and Sergi Lopez have fantastic chemistry and sex scenes were not needed (not to this extent anyway) to hammer the message home.

Still, asides from the overuse of sex scenes there was a simple yet very very effective story here and the ending really hit home. Still, one can't help but compare this with Kristin Scott Thomas' previous outing "I've Loved You So Long" which was an absolutely brilliant film which managed to balance a whole array of interesting characters. By comparison "Partir" doesn't look so good where the spotlight is hogged by the main couple and any opportunity to bring depth to the rest of the case is squandered by excessively long sex scenes.

4/5

Harry, He's Here To Help (2000)
After seeing "Partir", I discovered that this is Sergi Lopez's highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. I decided to check it out. A man runs into an old school friend who he hasn't seen in a long time and barely remembers, called Harry. While reluctant to let Harry into his life, circumstances make his generosity difficult to refuse. And besides, what could be wrong with this man offering a little help? Harry's creepy yet oddly innocent eccentricities are played perfectly by Sergi Lopez.

The movie is wonderfully paced with lots of neat touches. While Harry's character becomes undoubtedly disturbing the movie has a good humour to it. When starting the movie, it's difficult to imagine that there might later be a nightmare sequence involving a monkey flying with a propeller on its head.

Sophie Guillemin (playing Harry's girlfriend 'Plum') seemed oddly familiar and it turns out I have seen her before in the, to my mind greatly underrated, Audrey Tautou movie "A La Folie... Pas Du Tout" (English title: "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not"). Interestingly both movies involve her acting alongside characters who are psychologically disturbed in some subtle way.

Perhaps I'm just drawn to black comedies, but I loved it.

5/5

The Silence Of Lorna (2008)
It seemed like an interesting subject. It's not hard to argue that we could do with a movie that looks at the world of fake marriages a little more realistically and with more appropriate levels of grit than "Green Card". To start with this looked like it was doing a pretty good job. The "husband" has clearly been picked because he's a junkie who needs the money for drugs, though naturally this causes problems for Lorna who has to live with him for appearances sake. The shady figures managing the deal are both a blessing and a curse in that they can threaten the junkie husband if he causes trouble, but they have pretty strict demands overall and very little in the way of compassion.

Perhaps the biggest problem for me here is the sex scene part way through. This isn't the same criticism as with "Partir". "Partir" actually did a pretty good job with its sex scenes and my criticism there was concerning the number of sex scenes and their length. What "Partir" cannot be faulted for is the emotional attachment that tied into those sex scenes. "The Silence of Lorna" on the other hand, features a sex scene which comes out of the blue with no good reason. It's not spontaneous or passionate and it's presence in the movie seems to be to persuade us of an entirely implausible change in Lorna's feelings. The dodgy thing is that we could have done with the emotional change before she started having sex. What's more this shift in Lorna's feelings is vital to the rest of the movie so, having not bought into it, the rest of the movie felt rather pointless.

The movie only serves to become more implausible after that point, with a particularly ludicrous ending. The narrative structure is poor and the characters end up appearing mostly cold and lifeless. It's a pity that after a strong start, the movie really didn't have anything terribly interesting to say and instead ends up wholly contrived and unengaging.

1.5/5

White Material (2009)
Admittedly if there's one thing I can't fault it for, it's the acting. (Which is not something I expected to ever say about a movie starring Christopher Lambert.) However, I must admit the point of this movie thoroughly eluded me. In an unspecified African country the French colonials are expected to get out and there is even provision made to help them leave safely, but a particular white French family want to stay. The mother in particular is adamant that she could never leave this beautiful country. Another important character, however, is her pathetic son who randomly goes mad part way through the movie and none of his actions seem to make the least bit of sense.

Gorgeously shot and well acted, but with a distinct lack of context and no real message or plot. I found this a rather unrewarding viewing experience.

1/5

Red (2010)
Well for starters let me make this very clear. It was better than The Expendables. The action was more exciting, the dialogue was better and one of the best ingredients of The Expendables was present in a much higher dose. The ingredient in question I'm referring to was, of course, Bruce Willis.

We're quickly reminded by "Red" that Bruce Willis started out in comedy before moving into action movies. He's left with some awful dialogue, but he makes it work due to some quite fantastic comic timing. John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Brian Cox all make a very good job of the roles they are given, but around about half way through, the movie stops being fun, the joke becomes tired and it all just ends up feeling stale. Still, it made a pretty good start, even if it ended up letting the audience down. Where it really has the edge over The Expendables is it's focus on character. All the actors make the most of the characters they are given and work wonders, though sadly not miracles, with a pretty uninspiring script.

2.5/5

Frozen River (2008)
I was told that this was similar to Winter's Bone and I can see what they mean. It's about a poor white family who live in a trailer and there are some reasonably gritty parts. Still, this never really goes to the level of darkness that Winter's Bone goes to.

A few bits don't work quite so well, at one point a criminal boss is ripped off without much in the way of consequences. The other bit that didn't work so well is the "miracle" towards the end which, while ambiguous, still feels pretty twee, not least because the movie seems to expect it to be uplifting rather than naive. Perhaps "Frozen River"'s biggest issue is that it refuses to go to darker places, even when it seems inevitable. Still, the ending is satisfying and the characters are built up well with some good performances.

The purpose of the "frozen river" surprised me and it's either extremely inventive or a very interesting idea from real life for the script to draw on. The movie does a good job of balancing a variety of characters and situations and keeps our interest well. The pacing is good. Comparing it to "Winter's Bone" is awkward for me because it means that it's inevitably going to look bad for it. The brooding and disturbing quality of "Winter's Bone" is pretty much missing here. Still, those people who disliked "Winter's Bone" because they found it too boring should find less of a problem with "Frozen River". "Frozen River" is a very enjoyable movie with a good storyline which really keeps your interest, but it's not a masterpiece (like "Winter's Bone" was).

While I say that "Frozen River" is missing darkness, it must be added (as a negative I'm afraid) that this isn't so true if we are talking literally. There are some points where the action on screen is quite hard to make out because of a lack of light. Scenes where characters are running around at night are shown with a fairly realistic amount of light i.e. not much at all. This isn't a real problem, but I think it's worth being prepared for.

To say that "Frozen River" explores illegal immigration issues seems misleading. But it certainly shows us a side of illegal immigration which is not generally explored. The protagonists are not desperate to cross a border, but are desperate to earn money from the opportunities provided. Still, there's no exploration of the morality here (which makes the "miracle" scene all the more misplaced). While it is acknowledged that the immigrants are getting a raw deal, that's as far as this goes.

When I first watched this movie I was fully intending to give this 5/5, but the more I think about it, the less deserving this really feels of that score.
4.5/5

To add to my list of movies I couldn't finish:
Beautful Kate (2009)
A bunch of unlikeable characters get together, most of whom are related, and this leads to flashbacks of a previous incestuous affair between brother and sister. Slow paced and wholly uninteresting. Generally pants.