RECOMMENDED:
PIRATE RADIO - Funny, funny, funny! Recalls a time when people actually rebelled against the status quo. All performances rock - with Bill Nye and Rhys Ivans stealing the show. Emma Thomson is Absoloutely Fabulous, darling! Having worked in rock radio myself I can testify to the fact that radio DJ's (not the boring club DJ's), are a dying breed of irascibility, fierce dedication to the music, and just plain insanity. Sigh*, I for one, miss the underground...
THE YOUNG VICTORIA - Emily Blunt gives us an Oscar-worthy turn as Queen Victoria in this lavish costume drama. As her beloved Prince Albert, Rupert Friend shows a more accessible man than history has portrayed. We see his charm and love for the young monarch - which only later in their relationship develops into a controlling man who needs to establish his authority in a female-dominated household. Blunt's Victoria is fierce and determined and much more libidinous than the older queen - whose standards of the time have become associated with rigid morality. Miranda Richardson's return to the screen as Victoria's mother is a brilliant character study and I hope for an Oscar nod for her, too. History buffs will notice fact-gaffs in the story, but it must be noted that Sarah Ferguson is executive producer.....hmmmm......
CREATION - Paul Bettany is not only wonderful as the Prime Minister in THE YOUNG VICTORIA, but shines as Charles Darwin in CREATION. The cinematography almost steals the film from Bettany and his real-life wife, Jennifer Connelly who plays Mrs. Darwin in this film. Haunting, scary, dark imagery is a pervasive expression of the mental trials of the scientist Darwin as he struggles to reconcile his emerging scientific belief in evolution with his wife's uber-religious stances and the death of their bright daughter. Adults who balk at films dealing with history or serious issues will be seduced by the almost sinister shots and everyone else will enjoy the film because, well...they have brains.
THE EIGHT SAMURAI - Yes, that's right. Justin Ambrosino has directed a delightful short film that is quite an homage to the great director, Akira Kurasawa. Imagine a failed Japanese actor who finally gets his big role - as one of eight samurai in Kurasawa's film. What happens when Kurasawa decides to eliminate that role in his film is touching and beautiful. Ambrosino shot around LA for Japan and the cinematography is so Kurasawa-esque that the viewer is totally drwn into the story. AFI is releasing the film and I think the lead character, played by Eijiro Ozaki, is so engaging that the material should be developed into a full length feature!
THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE - There is so much to like in this film I don't know where to start. Robin Wright Penn stars as a women settled into a marriage that she feels saved her from a life of misguided debauchery. She is taken for granted by her older husband (another star turn for Alan Arkin), despised by her war-correspondant daughter, and feels out of place in the new neighborhood where the family has relocated. Penn's Lee is just going through the moves of her life when she begins to sleep walk - a disturbing and dangerous situation that belies a deep dissatisfaction with her current arrangement. The viewer slowly becomes aware of her troubled past life with her bizarre family (Maria Bello as her constantly drugged mother is an acting tour-de-force), her wild hippy days, and the circumstances surrounding her marriage to Arkin.
I thought the ending of the film was too pat, but for the most part, I think there will be a lot of Oscar noms for PIPPA LEE. An intriguig story, a stellar cast (including the often predictable Keanu Reeves), and a connection for viewers who may recognize parts of their own lives in the tale, make this a must-see film of the season.
