The Iron Lady (2011)

The Nick with Lauren on 1/31/12
So. Boring. There is not much going on in this movie at all. I'm sure that Margaret Thatcher's life was interesting and riveting and all that (to someone) but the only interesting or riveting thing about this film was Meryl Streep's performance and her makeup. She totally embodies Thatcher in everything from her weird gait to the gap in her teeth. Perfection. That being said, I think that Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn is just a touch closer to perfection for me. And, for the love of God, will someone please make a biopic someday that isn't framed?
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 131

My Week with Marilyn (2011)

The Nick with Lauren on 1/2/12
I had heard really mixed reviews about this film, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I have no feelings on Marilyn Monroe either way, though from what I've seen, she was an atrocious actress, and this movie really made me feel sad for her. Michelle Williams plays her perfectly, from the breathy voice to the little girl lost glazed look in her eye to the completely believable naivete that she carried with her. My only complaint is that Kenneth Branaugh looks nothing like Sir Laurence Olivier, and the woman they found to play Vivien Leigh looks even less appropriate.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 122

J. Edgar (2011)

Westbrook Cinemagic with Lauren on 12/19/11
I had heard that this was a terrible movie, but Leo is going to get nominated for Best Actor, so I felt that I had to see it. Turns out, it's actually decent. Leo is very convincing as J. Edgar Hoover, and Armie Hammer is heartbreaking as his best friend/unacknowledged life partner. Clint Eastwood makes Hoover into a pitiable character, and by the end, you almost want to forgive him for doing things like wiretapping his own employees. And I wish there was some way to know what was in those secret legendary files.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 113

Cleopatra (1963)

Netflix DVD over 5/18/11, 5/19/11, and 5/20/11
I know, usually I try to at least limit it to two days that it takes me to watch a movie, but this is four hours long and epically boring. Elizabeth Taylor plays Cleopatra as a lovesick girl with a singsong voice who gets what she wants because she whines for it - not at all like the strong and icy Egyptian queen who had her brother executed to usurp his power. Caesar and Marc Antony are similarly weak. I'm using the term "biopic" loosely, since the details of Cleopatra's actual life are pretty lost to historical fiction. The costumes and sets are pretty elaborate but not all that accurate, and I'm nearly positive that there were never any redheads in Ancient Egypt.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 35

The Runaways (2010)

Netflix DVD on 5/15/11
Considering that Kristen Stewart is best known as virginal (at least till Breaking Dawn), innocent Bella Swan and Dakota Fanning is the golden child actress of the last decade, this is a big, dark move for both of them. Drugs, random graphic sex, choppy 70s haircuts - not at all what audiences are used to. The story is also dark and pretty sad. Joan Jett and Cherie Currie produced great rock music, but it came from very hard lives (as most great rock music does). Overall, the movie has a dark, gritty look to it that I don't love, but both actresses sell their roles.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 33

Soul Surfer (2011)

Westbrook Cinemagic on 4/18/11
I was afraid that this movie was going to be very cheesy and overboard with the inspiration, but it's actually not. I think the key to that is in the performances. AnnaSophia Robb really owns the role of Bethany Hamilton and makes the audience feel for her. The Hawaiian locations are gorgeous and the surfing camera work is pretty eye-boggling. The one complaint I do have is with the shark attack itself - it's far too quick and too tame. Maybe it's my love of Jaws or some leftover scarring from 127 Hours, but I was hoping for a much more graphic moment - especially since that event is the catalyst for the major character arc.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

I'm sorry for the delay in posting. Unfortunately, we lost our office building to a fire on April 17th, and this whole week has been spent cleaning and seeing what is salvageable.

New Movies in Year Three: 24

190. January 27, 2011 - The Craigslist Killer (2010)

Yep, it's a Lifetime movie. And yes, it's sort of overdramatic. But it also only happened a year or so ago. When real life events get turned into movies (even Lifetime ones) that soon, they're bound to be melodramatic. I will say that I find it hard to believe that his fiancee would be that dumb in real life. Please tell me that they hyped that up for the movie. Also, I'm offended that they put the killer in a BU sweatshirt - I know he was in BU Med School, but do you really have to remind all of us BU grads about that?
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

185. January 21, 2011 - Finding Neverland (2004)

Though Johnny Depp isn't great with the Scottish accent, this is still a powerful and moving film - one that makes me tear up every time. I know that in real life there were questions about why JM Barrie was so close to the Llewelyn Davies boys (and that's addressed with a single, almost throw-away line in the film), but why do we all have to be so cynical? Kate Winslet is fantastic as always, though she got nominated for Eternal Sunshine that year, not this. Also, as I watched the movie this time around, I learned that Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the mother of the inspiration for Peter Pan, was the aunt of Dame Daphne du Maurier, who wrote Rebecca and the short story version of The Birds.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

177. January 4, 2011 - The King's Speech (2010)

This is a fantastic story and one that I think gets overlooked by history. Queen Elizabeth II is quite a wonderful Queen and she's one of the longest-reigning monarchs (the longest?) and all that, but this story of her father's paralyzing inability to speak clearly is fascinating. Not even supposed to be King, George VI (or Bertie) starts out bitter and hopeless about his speech impediment. Only after his sort of slimy brother (played fantastically by Guy Pearce) abdicates so that he can marry his divorced lover does he put his full trust in his speech therapist Geoffrey Rush. All of the performances are spot on and it's painful to watch Colin Firth struggle to speak. Look for Oscar nominations soon!
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

172. December 27, 2010 - Temple Grandin (2010)

This is an example of a smart biopic, since there is a story at the center of the plot as well as a person. Temple Grandin grew up with autism in a time when autistic children were institutionalized for life without a second thought. But she managed to graduate high school, college and graduate school and go on to design humane systems for animals in slaughterhouses - that was unheard of for autistic people at that time. Claire Danes' performance is phenomenal - her mannerisms and speech pattern make her unrecognizable as Claire Danes and transform her entirely into her character.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

141. November 4/5, 2010 - Princess Ka'iulani (2009)

This is the story of a Hawaiian princess who tries to save her kingdom from being overthrown by the US. It should be interesting, given the richness of traditional Hawaiian culture and the lush environment, but it suffers the curse of most biopics - there just isn't enough drama in Ka'iulani's life to make an interesting film. And what drama there is is downplayed and muted - the whole thing feels sluggish, like it's just woken up from a late afternoon nap. The most affecting part of the whole movie is the tagline at the end that explains what happened to the real Ka'iulani.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

124. October 1, 2010 - The Social Network (2010)

When I first heard that there was a movie being made about Facebook, I was concerned that there wasn't enough of a story to make it interesting. Of course, I had forgotten about all the drama and litigation that went with its creation (which I remember firsthand, since I was across the river at BU while it was all going on. And no, not all BU girls are bitches). None of the characters are particularly sympathetic, but David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin make the sympathetic character Facebook itself. It has become so much a part of our daily lives that we can connect to it as the center of the movie. The acting is fantastic and the writing is flawless, as only Aaron Sorkin can do. And thank you, Mark Zuckerberg, for giving Facebook to BU before BC.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

112. August 31/September 2, 2010 - Iris (2001)

I love Kate Winslet and nearly all of her work. While this isn't necessarily the most interesting film (biopics rarely are), the performances make it definitely worth watching. Since it features parallel storylines (Iris Murdoch and John Bayley when they're young and Iris and John when they're dealing with her descent into Alzheimers), great pains were taken to make sure that the audience could buy each pair of actors as the same character. It's a tragic story but it's also a tender one. Also, it doesn't drag on too long as some biopics can. It's enough to convey the beauty and hardship of the characters' relationship but not so much that the audience loses interest.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

20. March 10, 2010 - James Dean (2001)

I am not a huge James Dean fan. I recognize that he was a great actor of his time and I am very curious as to what his career would have been like if he hadn't been killed in a car crash after three films - Paul Newman-esque? More like Marlon Brando? Or would he have suffered the fate of other young actors who faded early? But as much as I'm interested in him in that respect, I really don't get him as a heartthrob. I do, however, really like James Franco, which is what led me to rent this. It's a very interesting look at a life that I knew little about and a fun look at what filmmaking was like in the 1950s. Elia Kazan is a major character, as is Martin Landau, but they don't appear as wooden charicatures of famous people - they are portrayed as real people, just like Dean.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

16. March 1, 2010 - The Last Station (2009)

James McAvoy plays a very similar character in this movie as he does in The Last King of Scotland - except instead of having to deal with a genocidal dictator, he has to deal with some intense, heavy Russian family drama. He plays the personal secretary to aging author Leo Tolstoy and gets embroiled in an all-out war between Tolstoy's wife and his friend Chertkov. Paul Giamatti plays a really good villain, by the way. Kerry Condon proves that she can act in something other than Rome, but beware of a couple very awkward sex scenes.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

15. March 1, 2010 - The Damned United (2009)

I really like Michael Sheen, first as Tony Blair in The Queen and all the way through his delightfully sadistic turn as Aro in New Moon, so I figured - underdog sports movie with Michael Sheen? Absolutely! And then I remembered that I don't know anything about soccer. Or care anything about soccer, for that matter. Also, how do I manage to find every movie shot documentary-style that I don't know is shot documentary-style?
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

11. February 21/22, 2010 - Il Divo (2009)

This movie is probably really interesting if you know a lot about late-20th century Italian history. Or, for starters, if you at least know who Giulio Andreotti was. I went in totally ignorant and as a result, this movie made very little sense. It got nominated for a Best Makeup award, which I assume is for the lead actor's look (who looks like the real Andreotti? See, again, would be better if I knew anything about this guy). It's a confusing mess of names and political intrigue, skipping around through time and introducing characters only to kill them off moments later.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

February 1, 2010

Schindler's List (1993)
#100 on my Top 100 List
In a lot of ways, this is one of the hardest movies to watch. At the same time, though, the end makes it one of the most moving. Oskar Schindler is kind of a smug bastard throughout the whole film, but his humanity becomes more and more obvious as his workers become more than just workers to him. I greatly respect black and white films when they're well-done - this one uses it to emphasize the bleakness of the subject, Good Night, and Good Luck. uses it for ambiance, and Ed Wood uses it to mirror the ridiculousness of the man it profiles. None of the gut-wrenching scenes in this movie are gratuitous. Seeing the Nazis repossessing the personal effects of the Warsaw Jews, even photographs, is a wake-up call at the beginning, while seeing ash from the furnaces over the city just like snow illustrates how commonplace the horrible events became. Ralph Fiennes is chilling as the villain (no wonder he plays such a good Voldemort) and though I'm not sure what I think she was meant to represent, I would be remiss not to mention the little girl in the red dress. Interpret her how you will.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars

January 28, 2010

Ed Wood (1994)
#75 on my Top 100 List
This is one of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's best collaborations, in my opinion. Johnny Depp is absolutely brilliant as Edward D. Wood, Jr. - the worst movie director of all time. The cast that Burton put together is awesome and includes Bill Murray as transvestite Bunny Breckinridge and Martin Landau in his Academy Award-winning performance as Bela Lugosi. Burton's decision to make the film in black and white makes in greatly reminiscent of the films that Wood himself made, deludedly thinking that they were bound to be remembered forever. Well, they were in fact remembered forever, but certainly not in the way that he intended.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars

January 24, 2010

Almost Famous (2000)
This is only sort of a biopic, since Cameron Crowe fictionalized his real life experiences, but it's close enough. It was different than what I was expecting (though I'm not really sure what I was expecting) but I really liked this movie. Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup were fantastic - I think that both are highly under-appreciated as actors (especially after Billy Crudup's performance in Watchmen and Kate Hudson's in Nine this past year). It's almost a road movie masquerading as an insider film, where the main character is more important than the plot (it does have a plot though, which is important and overlooked in favor of characterization in some instances). The rock stars and groupies are pretty realisticly written, which led to Cameron Crowe's Oscar win. Also, watch for a very young Jay Baruchel and Rainn Wilson in bit parts.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars