The Duchess

The Duchess has everything I like in a movie: a period piece with great acting and gorgeous landscapes. And yet, I thought it was only so so. I thought Ralph Fiennes' dry cold humor is amusing, Kiera Knightly is lovely and the story of the Duchess Georgiana is fascinating, and yet, the movie didn't wow me. Georgiana, the main character, was known for being an 18th century Hollywood-like star -- everywhere she went people were awed by her wittiness and her magnificent outfits--but Knightly didn't seem to have the fire needed to play this big character. Knightly is definitely fantastically adorned and has many clever lines but she is too understated as this attention-seeking diva. I don't know. I liked it, I guess, but I just wasn't wowed.

Atonement in the theater

It's always nice to see a movie in the theater; it seems like I do that less and less and watch DVDs more. Probably due to my Netflix compulsion. Anyway, I just saw Atonement after hearing mixed reviews from friends and critics. I had read the book (although I did some paging through the boring parts like the war scenes) and knew pretty much what to expect. While I could see why some people thought the movie was boring, I was not bored because it was so nice to look at -- it is so lush and beautiful -- beautiful mansion and gardens and actors. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are both stunning and the young actress who played Briony is entrancing as well. The war scene on the beach is bizarre and marvelous, like a dream sequence. Each little scene is glorious in some way -- but maybe it's that the movie just doesn't hang together very well and seems a little flabby in parts, but it is definitely something to look at.

I also saw on DVD Hoax about the writer who pretended to know Howard Hughes and write his biography. It's a pretty outrageous story.

And I recently saw Jeff Tweedy, Sunken Treasure Live, a concert film. I liked watching and love Tweedy of Wilco's music and his fantastic voice. You got a glimpse of what kind of person Tweedy is and well he comes off kinda jerky at times but not so jerky that you don't still admire his music.