Young Victoria

Young Victoria covers about 5 years of Queen Victoria of England’s life when she becomes queen and meets and marries Prince Albert. If you like movies about the English monarchy (and I really do!), you will like Young Victoria. Not only is the romance very sweet, but also learning about the insular and rare world that Victoria managed to thrive in is fascinating.

Me and Orson Welles

There is a type of movie where there is a lot talking and not a lot of plot, where the pursuit of art is valued above all else, and earnest youths try to find their purpose – usually by talking it about it . . . a lot. This type of movie could be called a Richard Linklater movie. Typical Linklater movies are Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Slackers, (less typical, but another one of his is School of Rock)
Linklater’s latest version of the talky, plotless movie is Me and Orson Welles. Beautiful young lad Zac Effron’s character Richard uses his wit and tenaciousness to get him a small part in a Orson Welles’ play Caesar. We view Orson Welles and the production of the play through his eyes. The cast of the play is filled with interesting and quirky characters. The 1930s theater life is another reason to see this movie. Also, it is fascinating to learn about Orson Welles; Christian McKay who played him did a great job. This type of talky movie is not for everyone, but I enjoyed spending an afternoon with these smart, passionate people. (I love Before Sunrise and Before Sunset) When you get a hankering for one of these type of movies, check out a Richard Linklater movie.

PS. Claire Danes is in this movie too! Bonus.

Cheri

Cheri is about an 18th century aging French courtesan who falls in love with a pretty boy called Cheri. Michelle Pfeiffer is the aging beauty and the pretty boy is played by Rupert Friend, a fey, fair-skinned boy, who would be very attractive if not for an ugly shoulder length hair cut. (You might remember Friend as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice) The movie is pretty ho hum with a few funny moments supplied by Kathy Bates as mother to Cheri. One scene of note takes place at the end when Pfeiffer’s character is transformed from a beauty to an old woman as she stares at the camera. It’s a cool scene.

An Education

An Education is based on the memoir of the same name by Lynn Barber. She looks back at the early 60s when she 16 years old going to a London prep school with plans to attend Oxford. The thing that is great about the movie is the Jenny, Barber’s younger self, played by Carey Mulligan. Jenny is razor smart, skewering her buffoonish father with witty asides and speaking French to anyone who listen. When she is dazzled by the much older David, played by Peter Sarsgaard, who she later finds out is a con man, she begins to lose her way. Unfortunately she is not helped by her parents who are made to be simpletons who are duped into allowing her daughter to be taken away for weekends with David. David appears to be a big creep to the viewer but this smart girl gets taken in though she is never totally controlled by him and in some ways is smarter about a lot of things than he is. An Education is a slice of life movie about a time when girls had few choices for their lives. I think without the great acting by Mulligan the movie would not shine as well as it does, but with her it is well worth seeing.

Oh and learning about the real Lynn Barber is fascinating. Check out this article from the Telegraph.

Defiance

Defiance tells about the four Bielski brothers who lead a group of Jews to safety in the woods from the German Soldiers during WWII. This actually happened: A group of over 1,000 Jews, mostly women and children, hid in the woods protected by some rather thuggish armed men. Of course the lead savior/Bielski brother is played by the studly Daniel Craig who makes some rather remarkable inspirational speeches to a group of beleaguered Jews. Liev Schreiber plays the brute second brother who is bent on revenge and breaks off from his older brother and fights with the Russians violently killing his way through the countryside. (There were several extremely violent parts that I had to fast forward especially when he was on screen) Besides the Bielski brothers there are some lovely women on screen, Mia Wasikowska from In Treatment (she was so good in that if you ever get a chance to see the 1st season of In In Treatement)and Alexa Davalos who seemed a little too beautiful to be covered in dirt in the woods. The movie doesn't hang together that well and there some too sentimental moments in a movie that tells about such a grim period in history and it is very violent. But, with that said, Defiance tells about such an amazing piece of history about a community that survived despite incredible odds that I am glad I saw it. And had to find out what was the “real” story of the Bielski brothers after I saw the movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielski_partisans

Bright Star

Bright Star tells of an intense three-year romance between the Romantic poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Beautiful Fanny’s passion is for making fashionable clothes and needlework and Keats, of course, is in love with words. Sometimes movies about great artists don’t even delve into the work that makes them great. Not so with Bright Star. The poems and the visual beauties written about are the center of the movie. Poems are recited, like parts of Endymion (“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”) and the poem about Fanny, "Bright Star". Plus, the actors (Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish) read from love letters written when they are separated. The movie is sumptuous, with each shot there is so much to look at, Fanny’s stunning dresses or a white room filled with butterflies. There is one playful scene where John and Fanny are walking behind Fanny’s sister trying to hide their affection for each other, and each time the girl turns around they stop moving, like they are playing freeze tag. Sure some may find this movie a bore, intense conversations about poetry and love in the time when a valentine was cause for a passionate yelling match between two suitors. But, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and am even now compelled to read some Keats:

The First Stanza Of "Endymion"

A THING of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways::
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

Secret Life of W. and Australia

Three movies I have seen in the last week:

The Secret Life of Bees: I liked Dakota Fanning as Lily, the girl escaping her abusive father with the help of her African American housekeeper (Huck Finn, anyone?) But the movie gets too syrupy and "heartfelt". A bonus is the appearance of Paul Bettany, a great British actor as the father.

W.: too much of a caricature of George Bush -- Oliver Stone is as heavy handed as he was in JFK.

Australia: This movie could have been ended after two hours when the cattle were driven to market. A perfect ending, almost, but there was still another hour and a half! Yikes! I actually had to watch it over two evenings. I can't imagine sitting through the whole thing in the theater. There is a very cool Baz Lurman (Moulin Rouge) highly-stylized look with a dash of Gone with the Wind and Wizard of Oz thrown in. But it's a mess of a movie in the end. It could possibly be worth seeing it for the adorable aboriginal boy who is also the narrator for the story, but probably not.

The Reader

I was most interested in the boy who plays Kate Winselt's lover in The Reader. David Kross is a German actor who has a baby face and plays a 16-year-old who meets up with the older jaded Winslet, so at first you are horrified when you see Winslet's Hanna and Kross' Michael naked and hungrily grasping each other. As the movie progresses, though, it seems less lascivious and more a story about a very sad woman -- I had sympathy for all the characters, even Hanna who does unexplainable horrific acts as an S.S. officer. Kate Winslet is great as a the harsh perfunctory Hanna, and watching her listening so rapturously to great literature is mesmerizing. Ralph Fiennes is the adult Michael and is of course good, as he is in everything, but I think the best part of the movie is the young David Kross. The movie is based on the book by Bernhard Schlink's book of the same name.

Brideheads Revisited, the movie

Since I loved the 1981 mini-series Brideheads Revisited based on Evelyn Waugh's novel, I was reluctant to see the 2008 version. And, as to be expected, I was disappointed by the movie which runs at 2 hours and 14 minutes, compared to the 8ish hour mini-series. The barely scratches of the surface of the complex and wonderful characters rife in Waugh's book. What happened to the lovable Sebastian? The movie offers a very superficial version of his character-- Maybe I am disappointed because I miss the wonderful Anthony Andrews Sebastian. (On a side note -- there is only a passing glance of Aloysius, Sebastian's stuffed bear) I liked Matthew Goode who plays as Charles Ryder, and I liked the Julia, Hayley Atwell. But because the movie was trying to do so much so quickly, none of the actors had a chance to delve into their characters. The filmmakers decided to amp up the gay and the catholic in the movie. Make Sebastian more flamboyant and overt in his love for Charles --not too mention the actor is so fey, thin and wispy that he seems like he is going to float away. They also oversimplified the Catholic conflicts throughout the movie, so the movie-goer never really gets why the Flytes are so tortured. Finally, the great Emma Thompson seemed wasted in this movie. She hit one note, dour Catholic mama.

So instead of watching this movie and if you happen to have 8 hours of time on your hands for great TV watching -- watch the 1981 mini-series which I re-watched last summer -- I was entranced all over again. But pass on the the latest movie version.

Check out my list of great min-series too!

Weird Movie Weekend

Last weekend I saw two disturbing films, Savage Grace and the Fingersmith. I did not intend to watch two movies of such a freaky nature all in one weekend, but Netflix has control over my movie watching habits and decided it would be a good idea.

First, Savage Grace. This movie is about the real life murder of Barbara Baekeland who was killed by her son. Wait, that’s not the freaky part. The mother and son have a sexual relationship according to the movie makers – and that’s just something you don’t want to see on film – the whole family is weird as a matter of fact and I think the movie makers decided to take a strange real life story and make it even weirder. There are great actors in this movie though: Julianne Moore, Stephane Dillane, Hugh Dancy, and a newish cutie on the movie scene, Eddie Redmayne as the disturbed son (Redmayne is also Angel in the latest Tess of the Durbyville, FYI) Despite good acting and lovely filming in Spain, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to see this movie. I can’t imagine why I wanted to see this movie.

Next, weird movie on the docket, Fingersmith. Based on a Susan Waters historic novel, Fingersmith imagines a lesbian love story in Victorian England. The movie has mysterious twists and turns with mistaken identities and babies switched at birth etc. and even a tyrannical uncle who collects pornographic books. It’s sort of a modern take on a Dickens-like plot. It was actually quite good and definitely not predictable. Plus, my new favorite actress, Sally Hawkins, from Happy-Go-Lucky is in it. Strange, but worth seeing. It was originally shown in the UK on BBC and is a two part mini-series.

Hodge Podge

I have actually seen four movies in the last week, but haven't been keeping up very well with ye olde blog. So here's a quick synopsis starting with last Friday night when I was watching a DVD with my niece Holly . . .
Charlie Wilson's War: Holly could barely pay attention to this political movie, what with all the texting and facebooking. I tried my best but also was a little distracted by the world of the Internet. And quite frankly it was a tad boring. I thought the concept, a war started in Afghanistan by huge American egos, was fascinating and learned a something, but I had trouble sustaining my attention. Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were good in it, though.
Rachel Getting Married: I dragged Holly and three friends to this movie and regretted it. One friend said, "I never would have seen that movie if I knew what it was about." All four found it to be a real downer. Yet, I wanted to see it -- you know my penchant for anything Indie. Sure it was depressing and odd all at the same time. Oh, and irritating, note the bizarre dishwasher filling competition, and you will wonder what the deal is with these psuedo-intellectual weirdos. Yet, I thought Anne Hathaway was really good in it, and there were some genuine moments in the film and some really good music. Oh, and some annoying music too. The genuine moment came in the cold way Hathaway's mother played by Debra Winger politely dismissed her daughter as she left the reception -- that was painful to watch. So sorry friends for putting you through that, but you know.
In Bruges: is a violent black comedy with Colin Ferrel, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes, and it really was violent, but also funny. I couldn't imagine how a story of three paid assassins who have a strange holiday in Bruges, could possibly be funny, but it is. Worth seeing. and Bruges is incredibly beautiful.
Jodhaa Akbar: Finally, today I saw a 16th century, three hour Hindustani epic with subtitles. How does that grab you? Well, if you want to learn a little about Indian history in a toned down Bollywood style, you might like this, but I doubt it.

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.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Then She Found Me

I recently watched these two female transformation movies. Frances McDormand plays Miss Pettigrew an out of work nanny/personal secretary who is hired by Amy Adam's Delycia and straightens out her crazy life while fixing her own -- all in one day! It's kinda sweet and I find Amy Adam buoyant sweetness irresistible. Since I love period pieces I enjoyed this s1940s slice of life and one of the three beaus of Delycia is especially fetching, the cute Lee Pace of Pushing Daisies. This movie is a farce, I hear. But what is a farce, I ask myself. So I looked it up. A farce is "a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character." That fits.

Then She Found Me is not quite so light and airy. It has great actors, Bette Midler, Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick. The plot is interesting, but something just goes amiss, maybe it is Hunt's dour presence on screen, or maybe it's her desperation to have a baby, or maybe it's just a screenplay that doesn't hang together. I don't know, but great actors does not a good movie make.

Brideshead Revisited, Update

So I finished it. All 11 hours of the original miniseries, Brideshead Revisited, late last night, and it kept getting sadder and sadder. I don’t remember it being so sad. At the end we are left with people with pretty desolate lives, Julia, Charles, and Cordelia. And what happens to Sebastian and his “dipsomania” as his alcoholism is referred to, is just horrible. I think this profile of the English aristocracy before WWII, makes them all seem so incapable of dealing with their problems and so eager to suppress their emotions. The view of Catholicism, I can’t quite wrap my brain around it, but it comes off as another character in the movie – an authoritarian mother with no mercy for the wavering. Again, as I have said in earlier blog entries, watching “old” movies made even in 1979, seem like from a different time all together. Scenes are drawn out, people are shown walking from one location to another, and conversations last more than 30 seconds. This is a miniseries that really does justice to Waugh’s book of the same name, and I can’t imagine how the new movie, also of the same name, can possibly portray this expansive novel in 2 hours. I am going to see it surely. Maybe it will even come to a location near me, doubtful, but there are always DVDs.

Brideshead Revisited

I have been watching a few series lately. I just finished a BBC series called Lilies about three working class sisters from Liverpool. It tells about their exploits right after WWI. It's pretty good and I especially enjoyed the accents and their passionate-unrestrained ways. Taking place at about the same time, but about a completely different English class, Brideshead Revisted tells about Charles Ryder who becomes infatuated by the upper crust family who inhabit Brideshead Estate. I loved this series many years ago over 25 years ago (yikes, I must be getting old) and thought, with the new movie of the same name coming out, I had better see it again. I just started it -- it's a long one, 11 hours! So I will be working on this one for a while.
I will report after finishing it!

Becoming Jane, Again

It was at the library, that is why I got it again. I didn't really like it that much the first time, so why did I watch it again?I still found it weirdly inappropriate for the world of Jane Austen, boxing? Prostitutes? Naked buts? Come ON. I watched the extras and all of the actors dutifully shared their knowledge of the time, costumes, manners or the world of Jane Austen, yet the movie seems to stray from this, in so many ways. Anne Hathaway who plays Jane too.

Other thoughts
Super sexy brother Henry -- I could see him in something else
Not as good as PBS’ attempt at a Jane Bio, Miss Austen's Regrets

Emma

The 1996 Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow is such a delight. Wow, it came out over ten years ago and back when the movie first came out I do recall, I found the movie too slick and snappy and missing key elements of the weighty novel. Right now I am listening to Emma on librivox.org, so I can more accurately compare the novel with this movie. I see now that it made sense to take out a lot of the stray plot elements and also was surprised how much of the movie’s dialogue comes right out of the novel. Gwyneth Paltrow is a charming Emma and the sexy Jeremy Northram is probably way too cute to play the staid Mr. Knightly but he is fun to watch in the part. Oh, and I forgot that Ewan McGregor plays Frank Churchill (making me think he often plays goofy fops (see entry on Stay). Oh and don’t forget Sophie Thompson, Emma Thompson’s sister, as the chatterbox Miss Bates; she is a hoot in this movie, and her mother in the movie is her real life mother, Phylida Law. It was a lot fun watching Emma again.

Reds

Reds (1981) is a one of those movies that I have such nostalgically fond memories of that I feared it would not stand up to my seasoned adult standards. Happily, I find that it does stand up and is even better than I remembered. I didn’t remember it providing so much food for thought about communism, the Bolshevik Revolution, the individual’s power to make a difference, the United States political system, journalism and so on… I didn’t really quite get the movie back when I first saw in the theater, I guess. And besides it being really about something important, it is also very entertaining. I could barely do a crossword and watch this movie (that means I REALLY liked it). This early 20th Century love story of John Reed, journalist and American Communist, and writer Louise Bryant, is so fun to watch develop. The lovers are played by Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. Beatty is much cuter and more charming than I remembered and Keaton, after reflecting on her recent light-weight roles, is a much better actress than I remembered. The two challenge each other intellectually with witty and smart banter. It is indeed a feat to make a movie that is a sweeping 3 hour saga that doesn’t get bogged down by stray storylines or indulgent scenes by the actor/director/producer Beatty. The structure of the film is anchored by Reed and Bryant leaving each other and finding one another in unexpected and suspenseful ways: at a party, in a New York apartment, on a train heading toward Russia, and finally and most memorably when they reunite, again in Russia, in a train station. It’s one of the great scenes of filmdom! So, if you’ve never seen Reds, you must, and if you have vague fond memories, seeing it again is very enjoyable.

By the way, it is also fun to watch the DVD extras where Warren Beatty reflects in 2006, 15 years later about the making of the film. The extras on this DVD are actually interesting.

Elizabeth, The Golden Age

It's hard to understand why Elizabeth, the Golden Age falls flat. It has all the elements of a great movie: stunning visuals, costumes and scenes, a fantastic actress in Cate Blanchett, a great story, a studly dude Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh. Still, it's just kind of boring. I loved the first Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett -- she's such a great Elizabeth. So where did it go wrong?

Jane Just Plain Rules

Now I feel sad -- Miss Austen Regrets' portrayal of my dear Jane made me lament her short life once again. This Jane seemed more like the Jane of my imaginings than, well certainly more than Becoming Jane. I liked her snippy and funny comments -- many of the lines came straight out of her letters to Cassandra ("shocking acts of dancing") -- and her hunger to write and find solitude. This Jane wanted to have fun and dance and have too much to drink; she even had a hangover. When Cassandra burned Jane's letters after her death, I wanted to grab the letters out of the fire and save all the rich wonderfulness of her words. Ah me -- and then her problems with money and the position that she is put in to try to help her sister and her mother. "I'm to be my own husband, it seems" she complains about her situation. I think I will reread Persuasion now and try to hear the voice of Jane reflecting on her life.

As You Like It
I also saw the HBO movie version of this Shakespeare play -- one of my favorites. I'm pretty sure it is only a movie that English teachers and their students will watch.