Movie Star Versus Actor

I've read  mixed reviews about My Week With Marilyn but the movie turned out to be an exquisite delight for me today when I finally saw it. Without being a spoiler, this Weinstein/BBC production adapted a true story from the memoirs of documentary maker Colin Clark about his week spent on- and off-set with Marilyn Monroe when she was in the U.K. filming The Prince and The Showgirl directed by Sir Lawrence Olivier in 1956.

The movie is about infatuation, innocence, celebrity, jealousy, insecurities, vulnerabilities, and competitiveness among famous actors. Moreover, it explores the ultimate question: is bombshell Monroe a dazzling movie star or a serious actor or both? As with all BBC productions, the film was shot with such nostalgia, beauty and subtlety that we boomers just can't help but fall in love with it.

Kudos go to British film director Simon Curtis who until recently has been making TV movies and programs for 20 years before this debut feature film. He's also married to the American actress Elizabeth McGovern who currently has a prominent role in the renowned TV series Downton Abbey. Curtis disclosed in his interview with The Toronto Sun that his parents actually met in Toronto which was considered a very glamorous city during the post-war era when England was recovering.

I was never a big fan of Michelle Williams's, but I have to give her credit for having done an amazing job in portraying Monroe. There might be another actress who looks more captivating than Williams, but she did it with such ease and natural charm without overdoing it as other actresses have done in the past - no high-pitching voice but enough giggling and femininity to remind us of the film goddess. She's not as voluptuous and attractive as the character she's portraying, but it's her vulnerability that makes Williams the ultimate Monroe. She also has amazing skin and complexion in the movie and boy, she can sing! I don't know what Williams has done to her voice training since her Blue Valentine role, but she is definitely a much better singer this time round. I can't even recall that Monroe herself could sing that well.

But the rest of the cast is equally amazing particularly Kenneth Branagh who plays Sir Lawrence Olivier, Julia Ormond who plays his wife Vivien Leigh and Eddie Redmayne who plays the 23-year-old Clark. Dame Judi Dench is her same magnificent self in every role she plays but Emma Watson as Lucy is totally replaceable. The fact that this is a true story makes the movie even more mesmerizing. Monroe's inner demons and the everlasting loneliness drove her men both crazy and infatuated. This also applied to her director Olivier. There are talks about Williams nominated for an Oscar for her role in this film. I, for one, would not be unhappy if she won.

Is Shakespeare A Fraud?

In spite of a couple of bad reviews about the new movie Anonymous, my girlfriend and I, who both majored in Shakespeare at university, went and saw it on its first day of screening and actually love the controversial flick!

First of all, two thumbs up to the bold German-born director Roland Emmerich who had the guts to question the authenticity of the Bard's works. He must have already foreseen the numerous Shakespearean scholars who would be up in arms after seeing this movie - including James Shaprio, English Professor, Columbia University, who also wrote a negative op-ed piece in The New York Times - when he shot the film with a screenplay that was written some 10 years ago. It's also hard to believe that this is the same director behind such Hollywood epics as Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow.

I can fully understand why there's such an uproar. Not only was Shakespeare, the greatest writer and playwright of all times, portrayed as a total fraud, but he was an illiterate buffoon, a scheming blackmailer and murderer, and a whoring commoner with no scruples. This is not the first time that the authenticity of Shakespeare as the real author of his plays is being challenged. Sigmund Freud, Henry James and other notable greats have also raised the same doubts. But Emmerich explored the big question mark in great depths.

But whether you agree with this premiss at all, the strongest merit of this movie is that it's so well done and written in such a witty way that even the Bard himself would have approved in spite of the atrocious defamy of his reputation! I love the Shakespearean themes of the 'play within the play';' the use of the Prologue with Sir Derek Jacobi; the female roles played by male actors in the Elizabethan era; the interactive nature of the plays being staged; a quick glance at some of the most famous scenes from Shakespeare's plays being staged in the movie, including Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and many others; and The Globe Theatre filmed in its full glory.

Also, who could dispute the excellent English cast? Vanessa Redgrave played the older Queen Elizabeth while her daughter Joely Richardson (of Nip, Tuck fame) played the younger monarch. But the most pleasantly surprising performance came from Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (best remembered as Spike in Notting Hill) who played the middle-aged, but still dashing, pensive Duke of Oxford. By playing such credible characters who are distinctly different from movie to movie, Ifans's acting excellence should be admired.

I don't believe the plot has any truth to it, but I would highly recommend this movie because like all other admirable works of art, this film is both provocative and irresistibly attractive and entertaining at the same time. The greatest line in this movie is, "All art is political, otherwise, it's only decorative." The flashbacks and the many characters in their young and old forms can be confusing at times; so, try to go see this movie when you're in top form!

A Movie That Connects With You Emotionally

Earlier this week, I attended an advanced screening of the movie The Way starring Martin Sheen (of Apocalpyse Now and West Wing fame) and was written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez (Bobby). I'm not a very easy audience to please, but I have to admit that there are no words that can possibly do justice to this movie - the flick is close to perfection!

Pilgrimages have long been the subjects of movies, but this Christian pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago is different. This is a journey of life - as the movie's promotional tagline sums it all up: "Life is too long to walk it alone."

The four pilgrims who are the protagonists of this film all embarked on the journey for different reasons. Tom, the Californian ophthalmologist (Sheen), wanted to walk it alone because he wished to remember his deceased son Daniel (Estevez) with whom he never managed to get along. The father never understood the son's "the life you live and the life you choose" philosophy. Along came Dutchman Joost (Yorick van Wageneingen) who's innately kind, but could be annoying because he was stalking Tom and chose to embark on this pilgrimage only to try to lose some weight because his wife refused to sleep with him. Then there's the bitter, chain-smoking and self-deprecating Canadian Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger of Spider and Combat Hospital fame), who went on this trip to run away from her abusive former husband and the pain of aborting her baby. Her resentment of the boomer generation explained why she kept calling Tom 'Boomer' throughout almost the entire journey. And about three-quarters of the way, the three of them met Jack (James Nesbitt), the Irish writer who had a writer's block and was looking for inspiration and material.

The movie is full of metaphors and ironies - of life, relationships, love, family, friendship, racial tolerance, inter-generation conflicts, motherhood, religious faith and many others. There are many breathtakingly beautiful shots of the Spanish scenery, but it's the emotional connection that the movie makes with its audience that becomes a flawless memory. This is a movie that will make you laugh and cry many times during the two hours.

After Bobby, which earned a long standing ovation at its debut in the Venice Film Festival in 2006, nobody will ever doubt Estevez's ability to write and direct a good movie. But The Way has just made him one of the most respected writers-directors of North America. At the question-and-answer session after the screening of the movie, Estevez said that he's glad that the audience liked his movie because he felt this was a great story of his own life and family that he needed to tell. And what a story - one that connects with us on many levels. The audience at Varsity Cinema was also classy enought that nobody asked Sheen and Estevez any questions relating to Charlie Sheen.

I understand that this movie will be shown in Canadian cinemas next week. Please do yourself a favour and don't sit on the couch and wait to see it on DVD - go to the cinema and share Estevez's passion! It will make you a happier and more fulfilled person!

A Delightful Dessert!

We need more comedies nowadays - flicks that can make us laugh our hearts out such as Extract! Having said that, I find comedies always difficult to please than tragedies. Slapstick comedies never work for me  - anything by Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy and the list goes on and on. I'm a Woody Allen fan, but there's only ONE Woody Allen in this world.

So when I watched Extract (at no extra cost apart from my monthly TMN subscription) on The Movie Network last night, I was absolutely thrilled. Jason Bateman, who's every woman's boyfriend, is once again outrageously funny. I never paid attention to Mila Kunis when she was on That 70's Show, but I started to take note of her femme fatale performance in Black Swan. In Extract, she's just the naughty, trashy con woman who traps every single man with her sexy and seductive looks. Even Ben Affleck is a pleasant surprise in this flick playing the ultimate hippy bartender who's always stoned.

If there's ever such a kind hearted, real-life man like Jason Bateman, even I will marry him! This movie just proves that what I've been saying about men is once again true - all men are ruled by their dicks! But this film is more than that - it's a funny, realistic picture about the clash between the middle class and the working class. Add in racial stigma, mid-life crises for both men and women, labour relations and brainless gigolos - these all constitute a very funny and delightful movie. It's like having a carrot cake for dessert!

What's Wrong With The Lincoln Lawyer?

I was disappointed withThe Lincoln Lawyer after seeing it over the weekend with a girfriend for the first time in the AMC Theatres at Yonge and Dundas. This flick has a lot of twists, but all of them are pretty predictable.

I don't know how popular Michael Connelly's novel was when it first came out in 2005, but the plot, based on this novel, is kind of weak. What is the motivation to kill and why didn't Ryan Phillipe finish all of his victims instead of leaving this one half dead?

Contrary to what most film critics said, I find this flick weak on a number of fronts. The first half of the film is so slow that it can put anybody to sleep. When the movie finally picks up its pace, the vulnerabilities start to appear - one by one. Brad Furman is not a famous director having just got only one movie within his portfolio (The Take) prior to this one. But what was he thinking by using the same bungalow of Ryan Gosling's in the 2007 Fracture as Matthew McConnaughey's house on a Los Angeles hilltop? Did he think that moviegoers would not be able to recognize and remember the same location at all?

Also, movie trailers are supposed to build suspense, but NOT give the entire story line away. For The Lincoln Lawyer, the bikers scene was already in the promotion trailer and we all knew that Phillipe is the bad guy before going to see the movie!

Having said that, this is one of the better movies that Matthew McConaughey has made after his rise to fame. But it's the supporting cast that made this movie a half success - particularly, Shea Whigham who plays an outstanding jailhouse snitch summoned as a court witness. He steals the entire show with just 10 minutes of air time! All the male supporting actors carry the movie - William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo (I'm dying to see his new one-man show on Broadway!), Michael Pena and Bryan Cranston.

I guess I would have been happier if I didn't have to pay full price for this flick!

This Is True Grit

2:22 is a movie you'd love to hate. The cast and promotion misled you to thinking that big stars like Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer are in the lead cast - not true. In fact, the whole movie features a cast that is not particularly well known, but they are all good! Byrne and Kilmer are just supporting actors, each appearing for probably less than 10 minutes in the whole film.

But I didn't end up disliking the movie - I actually quite liked it! This is true grit in its literal form - dark, depressing, no faith in human beings, friendship and loyalty. Leading man Mick Rossi won the Best Actor Award in the 2010 Milan International Film Festival. He's a complicated man - kind, ruthless, calculating and spontaneous all encompassed within his character. Producer Lenny Pitondo is from Toronto, but I also get an impression that this film was shot in Toronto, although I'm not 100 percent sure.

What on earth happened to Val Kilmer? The dashing young pilot, outshining Tom Cruise in Top Gun, has turned into a sloppy, overweight, very unattractive middle-aged man. It obviously doesn't help that he kept taking on 'loser' roles in recent movies.

This movie intrigues me because it took me by surprise. I recognize the Toronto scenes but the film is very European in style and ambiance. It's like watching a European mafia movie - violent, dark but artistic. And that's Mick Rossi too - apparently he's a very accomplished guitar player prior to his acting career.

Jeremy Irons Rocks

I've never doubted that I would love the new TV drama The Borgias which debuted last Sunday night on Bravo! But it turned out that the first two episodes of the nine-part, hour-long TV series exceeded all my expectations. It's like watching The Tudors, but even better.

Set at the 15th century Italy in 1492 at the height of the Renaissance, this period drama is all about hypocrisy, sex, power and animal magnetism. Jeremy Irons as the Papal Rodrigo Borgia is the ultimate evil holy man. At 62, Irons still has that 'creepiness' in him since his Dead Ringers days.

Shot in Hungary which serves as the ancient Rome, the cinematography is unparalleled. Neil Jordan of The Crying Game fame is in the Director chair in this Canadian, Hungarian and Irish international co-production.

Canadian veteran actor Colm Feore is at his best as Borgia's arch rival Cardinal Della Rovere. Another Canadian Francois Arnaud is mesmerizing as Rodrigo's son Cesare. The suspense built up by The New York Times just prior to its debut really intrigued me. Jeremy Irons was commenting on the fact that when he first received the script, he told director Neil Jordan that he found it difficult to play Roderigo who was so bloated that he could hardly fit his coffin when he passed away. But judging from the first two episodes, the tall and lanky Irons played the role with perfection. And the women who played his daughter and his first mistress are heavenly beauties.

I'll be very surprised if this TV drama doesn't move forward to win numerous awards in the coming months.