2011: A LOOKBACK IN FILM

Source: Firstshowing.net

1) Watch: Another Awesome Look Back at ‘The Motion Pictures of 2011’

2) Must Watch: Kees van Dijkhuizen’s Year-End Review in ‘Cinema 2011’

3) Watch: Stunning Look at the Year in Cinema with ‘Filmography 2011’

4) Watch: First Excellent Tribute to This Year in Film – ‘The 2011 Portfolio’

Some I’ve seen, some I’ve not.
Some I loved, some I adored.
Some I wanted to see, some I couldn’t see.

This explains why my to-watch list is getting horribly long.

“BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE!”

King George VI: If I am King, where is my power? Can I declare war? Form a government? Levy a tax? No! And yet I am the seat of all authority because they think that when I speak, I speak for them. But I can’t speak.

The King’s Speech is a biopic on Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth) who later becomes King George VI after the death of his father, King George V, and the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII. King George VI, who has suffered from a speech impediment all his life, meets Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist, whose unorthodox and controversial methods of treatment put them off to a rough start. Eventually, the two of them form an unbreakable bond as Logue serves as a friend and part-time psychiatrist over the course of treatment. With the country at the brink of war and in need of a leader, King George VI would go on to overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that will inspire his people and unite them in battle.

Lionel Logue: I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you.
King George VI: My physicians say it relaxes the throat.
Lionel Logue: They’re idiots.
King George VI: They’ve all been knighted.
Lionel Logue: Makes it official then.

I think it’s safe to say I was blown away by The King’s Speech. When it started with Prince Albert’s speech at Wembley Stadium, my eyes watered because you can see and feel how hard he tries to utter those words but it just wouldn’t come out. It was heartbreaking. The mood lightened up when Prince Albert meets Logue, whose unconventional methods (blasting classical music, jaw relaxing, rolling on the floor, singing and swearing among others) improves his condition. They soon become friends and confidants, which proves helpful as Logue helps find the root of Prince Albert’s stammer.

Lionel Logue: Do you know the “f” word?
King George VI: F-f-f-fornication.

One of my favourite scenes involves Logue provokes Prince Albert to start swearing, since his anger helps to fuel smooth enunciation, and the result is excellent. It also spreads a little to the titular speech at the end, when Logue mouths some swear words to ease the flow of speech.

Lionel Logue: Forget everything else… and just say it to me.

Both Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush delivered truly brilliant performances. You can literally feel the frustration and desperation of Prince Albert each time he tries to speak. Whereas, the character of Lionel Logue is animated and quirky without being over the top. I liked those scenes whenever both of them appear onscreen together. Meanwhile, there were a few Harry Potter alumni in the cast: Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth, wife of Prince Albert aka Bellatrix Lestrange; Michael Gambon as King George V aka Dumbledore and Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill aka Peter Pettigrew/Scabbers.

King George VI: ‘Cos you’re b-bloody well paid to listen.
Lionel Logue: Bertie, I’m not a geisha girl.

Go watch it – 5 out of 5 stars!

As at time of post, Colin Firth won Best Actor at the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards and 68th Golden Globe Awards among others and the movie leads with 12 nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards.

NO ONE AND EVERYONE

As mentioned, I saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I think it’s so good, it makes me want to read the Millennium Trilogy rightaway.

An investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, is offered an assignment from Henrik Vanger, the former CEO of Vanger Enterprises, to look into the mystery of the disappearance of his beloved niece, Harriet Vanger, 40 years ago. A comprehensive investigation into Mikael’s personal and professional history was carried out before Vanger decided to engage his help. The investigation was handled by Lisbeth Salander, a private investigator/hacker. Mikael accepts the assignment and moves to Hedeby. As he delves deeper into the case, he injects life into the cold case and has a shot at solving it with the help of Lisbeth.

At 152 minutes long, this is one of the longest films I’ve seen but I do not regret it. It is much better than splitting up the film into two parts and show them half a year apart. You can literally feel the adrenaline build up when Mikael discovers new leads into the old case.

The most shocking scenes would involve Lisbeth and her guardian because the guardian is simply sick in the head. I really wondered how he became a guardian. OMG Lisbeth had to limp home after that?! I suppose those are the parts that deserve the R21 rating. The photos from the news clippings aren’t for the weak-hearted because they are every bit of grotesque imagery. Lisbeth may be a very tough and intense woman but somehow, she’s still subjected to such anti-feminist treatment. But her retaliation was nicely done. Mystery-wise, it is very thrilling. Considering that it’s a 40-year-old case, you have to consider the fact that technology isn’t as advanced; photos are captured on film, records are not kept, sorted or could have been destroyed and most of the people involved may have passed away. Thus, Mikael and Lisbeth really did a good job through good and thorough research and having a keen eye for detail. Especially Lisbeth who could really hack into files and discover old news clippings that could be related to the case. If you read your fair share of thrillers, you could even guess who’s the perpetrator towards the end of the movie. 4 and a half out of 5 stars.

Mark your calendars because the two sequels open in Singapore on:
September 16, 2010 – The Girl Who Played With Fire
October 21, 2010 – The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

MAKE A STAND

So, I caught Clash Of The Titans on its opening day – April 1, 2010 – and I thought its trailers were much better.

Don’t believe me? Check out the trailers – personally, I really like the score featured in the trailers cos it has a rock feel to it.

This is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name and follows the adventures of Perseus, a demigod raised as a fisherman. The people of Argos have stopped praying to the Gods and are relying on their King instead, who have declared war against the Gods when they destroyed the statue of Zeus. Hades (God of the Underworld) arrives and kills the soldiers involved and demand that they sacrifice their daughter, Andromeda, or the Kraken will be released in 10 days.

Perseus, whose family was killed by Hades, leads a group of soldiers from Argo, to try to defeat the Kraken. Guided by Io, his spiritual guide, they set off to seek the Stygian Witches who will tell them how to defeat the Kraken – a supposedly impossible task of getting the head of Medusa. Along the way, they meet with obstacles like Calibos, giant scorpions (a truly heart-in-mouth moment) while coming across Pegasus, the Djinn and of course, Medusa.

It’s very action-packed and you can feel the adrenaline each time the soldiers and Perseus are being attacked. Especially the scorpions! They are HUGE. But at 106 minutes, it doesn’t feel long enough to be an epic and it felt sort of rushed at the ending. Sam Worthington is quite hot and I think some of us will be quite tempted to catch him in an upskirt moment because there are just (almost) so many of them. Gemma Arterton (Io) and Alexa Davalos (Andromeda) are very pretty! Anyway, I caught it in 2D (instead of 3D) because I’ve heard the 3D was only so-so because the movie was filmed in 2D and the conversion (to 3D) was done later. 3 and a half out of 5 stars.