The Young Victoria

2010, Rated PG, 105 minutes, Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, Written by Julian Fellowes, Produced by Colin Vaines, Cinematography by Hagen Bogdanski, Original Music by Hagen Bogdanski

With: Emily Blunt (Queen Victoria), Rupert Friend (Prince Albert), Paul Bettany (Lord Melbourne), Miranda Richardson (Duchess of Kent), Jim Broadbent (King William), Mark Strong (Sir John Conroy)

“Some palaces are not what you think. Even a palace can be a prison” says Victoria. The Young Victoria takes the same imprisoned tone in its depiction of Queen Victoria’s life (at least the young part of it) except, instead of the dark dungeons of the standard 18th century prisons, the prisons are instead lavishly opulent castle with intricately detailed costumes instead of the normal scraps of clothing. What makes it more prison like however is the lack of detail and development in the story. The Young Victoria is an excellent movie to see but not nearly as exciting to listen to.

The Town

2010, Rated R, 123 minutes, Directed by Ben Affleck, Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard, Produced by Basil Iwanyk and Graham King, Cinematography by Robert Elswit, Original Music by David Buckley and Harry Gregson-Williams.

With: Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay), Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey), Jon Hamm (FBI S.A. Adam Frawley), Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin), Blake Lively (Krista Coughlin), Titus Welliver (Dino Ciampa), Pete Postlethwaite (Fergie), Chris Cooper (Stephen MacRay)

Audiences are thrust right into the heat of the moment as the bank robbers quickly and efficiently bust into the first bank to be taken down in The Town. They take their time, they know exactly what they are doing yet not everything goes according to plan as flashes of intensity punctuate the moments of efficiency. The Town sets the tone for the entire film in the opening moments of the film. It takes its time with character development and plot reveals. It is meticulous in its details and efficient in its story line. At the same time, there are moments of great intensity and uncertainty. The tone and progression of the film makes it a wonderfully intense and methodical narrative that enthralls the viewer in the ebb and flow of a man trapped in a world of crime and distrust whose metaphorical perimeter is closely guarded by both those inside and out. 

84 Charing Cross Road

1987, Rated PG, 100 minutes, Directed by David Jones, Written by Hugh Whitemore based on play by James Roose-Evans based on book by Helene Hanff, Produced by Geoffrey Helman, Cinematography by Brian West, Original Music by George Fenton

With: Anne Bancroft (Helen Hanff), Anthony Hopkins (Frank P. Doel), Judi Dench (Nora Doel

I do not often come across a movie that is about the love of books. As a book lover myself I was very intrigued about a movie that was about letters written between a British bookseller and a New York writer. What made it intriguing, unfortunately was also  not quite right for film. Almost the entire movie is letters being read as the actors silently act out their emotions. It is an interesting concept that makes the movie mildly entertaining but by no means take your breath away exciting.

Crazy Heart

2009, Rated R, 112 minutes, Directed by Scott Cooper, Written by Scott Cooper based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, Produced by Scott Cooper, T-Bone Burnett, Robert Duvall,  Cinematography by Barry Markowitz, Original Music by Stephen Bruton & T-Bone Burnett

With: Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake), James Keane (Manager), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock), Colin Farrell (Tommy Sweet), Robert Duvall (Wayne)

I have always been interested in the creative process of songs. So many of them are heartbreaking and I wonder if that really happened to the artist. The tagline for Crazy Heart was “The harder the life, the sweeter the fall.” Let me just say that Bad Black (Jeff Bridges) had a hard life. The movie gives us an excellent and insightful picture into the life of an artist, but, moreover the life of a man struggling to overcome his past mistakes and confront his addictive present. It is a character driven film seen through the lens of music and life; both those elements of the film shine like a melodic sunset.

Eastern Promises

2007, Rated R, 100 minutes, Directed by David Cronenberg, Written by Steven Knight, Produced by Robert Lantos & Paul Webster, Cinematography by Peter Suschitzky, Original Music by Howard Shore

With: Viggo Mortensen (Nikolai), Vincent Cassel (Kirill), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Semyon), Naomi Watts (Anna)

The mafia lives in the world of secrets and deception, money and power, influence and intimidation. Eastern Promises fits squarely into that world in its depiction of the Russian mafia in London. It is a slow burn film that inches its way forward into a crescendo of twists and fights. It is a deep investigation into the underworld that while well focused undoes itself in the minutiae and teeters on the brink of monotony.

Broken Embraces

2009, Rated R, 127 minutes,  Directed & Written by Pedro Almodovar, Produced by Agustin Almodovar and Esther Garcia, Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto, Original Music by Alberto Iglesias

With: Penelope Cruz (Lena), Lluis Homar (Mateo Blanco/Harry Caine), Blnaco Portillo (Judit Garcia), Jose Luis Gomez (Ernesto Martel), Tamar Novas (Diego), Ruben Ochandiano (Ray X)

Broken Embraces  is the fourth time Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz worked together, and it is this pairing of the two that creates a lush and enthralling noirish love story that will enrapture your senses. Broken Embraces is a beautifully created story about all kinds of love: obsessive love, passionate love, love of family, love of film and love of beauty. Almodovar constructs a beautiful world where Cruz is able to take her acting to places it has never been to breathe a beautiful depth to the film.

The Sting

1973, Rated PG, 129 minutes Directed by George Roy Hill, Written by David Ward, Produced by Robert Crawford, Cinematography by Robert Surtees

With: Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff), Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker), Robert Shaw (Doyle Lonnegan), Charles Durning (Lt. Wm. Synder), Ray Walston (J.J. Singleton), Eileen Brennan (Billie), Harold Gould (Kid Twist), Dana Elcar (FBI Agent Polk)

Con movies have been done before, they have been done since, and we will continue to see con movies throughout the cinematic future. The Sting stands out as the best according to many critics and I tend to agree. It deserves the 7 Oscars it nabbed, including best picture, because it is an exquisite film that makes you continually evaluate and reassess who exactly is being conned and how is this all going to turn out. 

$9.99

2008, Rated R, 78 minutes, Directed by Tatia Rosenthal, Written by Etgar Keret and Tatia Rosenthal based on short stories by Etgar Keret, produced by Amir Harel and Emile Sherman, Cinematography by Richard Bradshaw, James Lewis & Susan Stitt, Original Music by Christopher Bowen

With: Joel Edgergon (Ron), Leon Ford (Stanton), Claudia Karvan (Michelle), Anthony LaPaglia (Jim Peck), Ben Mendelsohn (Lenny Peck), and Geoffrey Rush (Angel)

$9.99 is a stop motion clay animated film about the residents of an apartment building in Sydney, Australia. Like a real life apartment building, the characters in the movie have their own lives and their own story. This of course makes perfect sense as the script is based on a series of short stories by Etgar Karat. The problem is that this makes the movie disjointed and jumpy.

Easy Rider

1969, Rated R, 95 minutes Directed by Dennis Hopper, written by Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Terry Souther, produced by Peter Fonda, cinematography by Laszlo Kovacs

With: Peter Fonda (Wyatt), Dennis Hopper (Billy), Jack Nicholson (George Hanson)

Easy Rider is on many must see movies lists; #84 on the AFI Top 100 movies list. Even though the film is over 40 years old, it still garners praise as a must see movie. Many have seen pictures of the two main characters riding their motorcycles to Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.” It has become an iconic image to numerous generations. After finally sitting down to watch the film myself, I say with certainty that the film lives up to its hype.
Easy Rider is a beautifully done minimalist movie with a sweeping social commentary on the cultures of the 60s. More than a countercultural film, it is a commentary on American society. It stands up against the test of time and continues to address relevant issues in today’s culture.

New Moon

2009, Rated PG-13, 130 minutes, Directed by Chris Weitz, written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the book New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, Produced by Wyck Godfrey, Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe, Original Music by Alexandre Desplat

With: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Anna Kendrick (Jessica)

I am not a die hard Twilight series fan. I let the young teenagers handle that department. I avoided seeing the movie in the theaters in order to avoid the rabid screaming fans that would have hindered the viewing experience. So the time finally came to watch New Moon  this weekend and overall, the movie is a marked improvement from the first installment but lacks certain cinematic essentials that make it a slightly below par flick.

Mulholland Dr

2001, Rated R, 147 minutes,  Directed and Written by david Lynch, Produced by Pierre Edelman, Cinematography by Peter Deming, Original Music by Angelo Badalamenti

With: Naomi Watts (Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn), Laura Harring (Rita), Ann Miller (Catherine ‘Coco’ Lenoix, Justin Theroux (Adam Kesher)

A limousine traverses down the winding and scenic Mulholland Dr. A beautiful woman (Laura Harring) waits to reach their destination only to find the car stopped and a gun pointed at her. Her time has come to an end until a car smashes head on into the limousine leaving everyone dead but the woman who only has a scratch. Dazed and confused she heads through the woods towards LA. 

And so you enter into the Lynch’s world where you will be scratching your head asking yourself constantly what just happened, who is that, where is this going? Many of these questions will remain unanswered but will be in your mind days after the final credits roll. The multiple stories in the movie will converge and diverge sometimes at the same time. Mulholland Dr will capture your imagination but at the same time leave you with a furrowed brow and a brain tied up in so many knots that even a seasoned sailor would have trouble getting them out.

Knife in the Water

1962, NR, 94 minutes, Directed by Roman Polanski, Written (in Polish with English subtitles) by Jakub Goldberg, Roman Polanski & Jery Skolimowski, Produced by Stanislaw Zylewicz, Cinematorgraphy by Jerzy Lipman, Music by Krzystztof Komeda 

With: Leon Niemczyk (Andrzej), Jolanta Umecka (Krystyna), Zygmunt Malanowicz (Young Boy)

It all started innocently enough. A older professor and his much younger wife decide to spend a day sailing on the lake. But that all changes when the professor decides to pick up a brash young hitchhiker and bring him along. With the addition of one man a day on the lake becomes a day of tension and competition, a male one upmanship. So is the story in Roman Polanski’s A Knife in the Water.

Duchess

2008, Rated PG-13, 110 minutes, Directed by Saul Dibb, written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen, Saul Dibb, based on the book “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire” by Amanda Foreman, Produced by Michael Kuhn and Garbrielle Tana, Cinematography by Gyula Pados, Original Music by Rachel Portman

With: Kiera Knightley (Georgiana), Ralph Fiennes (the Duke), Charlotte Rampling (Lady Spencer), Dominic Cooper (Charles Grey)

“It’s just our way of expressing ourselves...you [men] have so many ways of expressing yourselves whereas we must make doe with our hats and our dresses” said the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana. And Georgiana expressed herself fully through the clothes she wore. Trapped in a loveless marriage, forced to tolerate and even cohabitate with the Duke’s mistresses, Georgiana seemingly accepted her fate and let herself be heard through style and even her politics.