Award Season 2011 Roundup

THE KING’S SPEECH-2010
HISTORICAL DRAMA

This film is a lavish, well done Masterpiece Theater episode. If you don’t know what Masterpiece Theater is, don’t read this review. It is a true story about King George VI (Colin Firth), who had a terrible stuttering problem, and the unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). The action is all in the dialogue so this is NOT for action hounds!!!

The acting is incredible especially by the two lead actors. Both are nominated for Oscars. It is nominated also for Best Screenplay by David Seidler, and should be. The controversy was about should it receive the dreaded rated R or PG-13 and the reason is the f-word is said too many times. There is no nudity or violence in the movie.

BLUE VALENTINE-2010
ROMANTIC DRAMA

I have never seen a flick done so realistically of love gone bad!!! To me this is NOT a date movie at all!! It is about Dean (Ryan Gosling, The Notebook) and Cindy (Michelle Williams--the late, great Heath Ledger’s girlfriend, Brokeback Mountain, Shutter Island). They fall in love, something happens and they get married. The performances of the two leads are nothing short of wonderful, but Gosling wasn’t nominated for BEST ACTOR, while she was.

Cindy didn’t seem to be in love with Dean in the first place, but he cared very much about her. She‘s a mess!! Unhappy parents made her start having sex at thirteen and she had twenty-five partners!!! Not qualified for safe sex advocate, now is she? She works hard as a medical assistant but is emotionally cold. Dean is not too bright, but really cares for her and her daughter. He is immature at times but he means well.

The film is monotonous, for it's supposed to be to show that romance is not always a romantic comedy!!! It is an independent movie so it is not for everyone. Should you see it? Yes, if you want to see a good, gritty movie, but see a funny movie afterwards!!! It was given the rating NC-17 for cunnilingus scene (slang--going ‘down south’), but what is so shocking is that (SPOILER) it was done in Black Swan!!! I believe they did cut it to an R.

THE FIGHTER-2010
BOXING DRAMA

Boxing movies are usually about one guy who rises above all odds to become champion. This movie is no different, only he is trying to escape his family to make it!!! Mark Wahlberg is Irish-American working class Micky Ward, who has a brother a local legend Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) who tries to train him despite he is a crack head and a loser. His mother Melissa Leo is his manager, who isn’t very good. Micky loses fights but he listens to his family over his own judgment until he meets a girl who works at a bar named Charlene (Amy Adams) and when he loses badly and the family laughs it off.

It is a different boxing movie I’ve ever seen. They acted very real and at times very ghetto. Christian Bale MUST be nominated as Dicky for best supporting actor. He is interesting the moment you see him on screen. The fight scenes are very realistic. It is a good sports drama but it not the Rocky-type movies many fans are used to--that are realistic too.

BLACK SWAN-2010
DRAMA

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman, Star Wars) is a young dedicated dancer who gets to play the lead in Black Swan. She is so consumed with the part she loses her mind!!! The movie is not for the beer belly crowd. It is an art film with lesbian sex in it!!! Miss Portman is great in the film. She is fragile, determined and in so much agony. YOU feel her pain when she makes mistakes it is frightening!!! You really wish she didn’t take the part.

Mila Kunis (Family Guy and That 70’s Show) is very good as Lily who may or may not want the lead for herself. She is the total opposite of good girl Nina. Vincent Cassel (Ocean Twelve, Eastern Promises) as Thomas Leroy the work-until-you die oversexed trainer is not bad. The director Darren Aronofsky also did The Wrestler in 2008. If you look up his resume he is a unique director--no two movies are the same.