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Movie Review of the Week — The Young Victoria

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Movie Review of the Week — The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria

This film is one of the most beautiful, touching and memorable love stories ever about the life of Queen Victoria and her accession to the throne, and her relationship with Prince Albert, all set in Great Britain during the 1830s.

It’s history full of political intrigue and fascinating details about Queen Victoria, caught in a conflicted and manipulative world, struggling with her mother the Duchess of Kent. She and her unctuous adviser, John Conroy, go so far as to pressure Victoria to sign a letter of regency which, if signed, would postpone the princess’ accesssion until age 25 (?) and would give them control over the kingdom. However, the princess was determined not to let anybody control her, determined to take on her responsibility with her 18th birthday.

But the film glows after Victoria gets to know Prince Albert who is handsome, ardent, witty and vulnerable, a little shy, politically progressive and a man with an intellectual philosophy he intends to preserve. (He’s drawn his own designs for housing for the underclass and offers his insights for free: “I would like to be helpful to you,” he submits, quite earnestly). She cheerfully falls in love with him and the romance simply blooms, based in love, respect, partnership and loyalty.

The story is fascinating and strong, the costumes spectacular the scenes are shot in gorgeous locations, the performances are brilliant especially from Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and a amazing supporting cast.

Absolutely delightful well-worth a second viewing… Making we wish the story could go more further. It’s definitely a five star movie!

 

Cast

  • Emily Blunt as Young Victoria
  • Rupert Friend as Prince Albert
  • Jim Broadbent as King William
  • Paul Bettany as Lord Melbourne
  • Miranda Richardson as Duchess of Kent
  • Mark Strong as Sir John Conroy
  • Thomas Kretschmann

 

Director

Jean-Marc Vallee

Producer

Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Tim Headington, Sarah Ferguson

Screenwriter

Julian Fellowes

Movie Review of the Week — Green Zone

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Movie Review of the Week — Green Zone

“Green Zone” is a thought provoking war movie with action, drama and political intrigue. The film’s objective is to make the audience think about why we really went to war? Watching the thriller, we’re presented with various conspiracy theories regarding our government’s involvement and what really could have provoked the war in Iraq. Did we go to war for our own benefit, and looking for war-glorification?

The film was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City, by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran which documented life in the Green Zone, Baghdad. Also, what makes some of the scenes so intense, accurate and realistic is that the cast includes dozens of real soldiers recently back from Iraq and Afghanistan adding true authenticity to the dialogue and action scenes.

Certainly we have no idea what really happened in Iraq, but this movie and its plot seem plausible.

It’s hard to believe they were able to make the movie look so real as it was actually filmed in Spain and Morocco. And I just couldn’t finish the review without mentioning actor Khalid Abdalla for his great performance as “Freddy”, portraying a proud, injured, patriotic ex-soldier in the movie where he becomes Roy Miller’s (Matt Damon) translator. Ironically, Freddy has his own frustrations along with Roy about the war in his country. I thought the authenticity was amazing and well matched between both actors as Freddy showed sincerity, honesty and affection for his homeland while Roy, a patriotic US soldier, felt that he was being lead on a wild goose chase while the truth of his mission’s purpose was eluding him.

Green Zone may not be totally appreciated by the entire audience because of its perspective towards the Iraq war. Nonetheless, for those who like action movies with intelligence, suspense and intrigue, it’s a movie not be missed. It was excellent and very well directed.


 

Green Zone Details
Length: 115 min
Rated: R
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 2010-03-12
Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Khalid Abdalla
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lloyd Levin
Screenplay: Brian Helgeland, inspired by ‘Imperial Life in the Emerald City’ by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Music: John Powell

PS: For your consideration: 1.5 million dead Iraqis, over 31,000 US military deaths and 100,000 wounded, and 18 suicides per day.

Movie Review of the Week — Pirate Radio

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Pirate Radio is a British film and a true story about one of the most exciting periods in Rock ‘n’ Roll starting in the late 60s and early 70s with a group of outlaw disc jockeys who broadcast Rock ‘n’ Roll to Britain from a boat off the coast. The film has fun acting and strong conflicts between the characters. It’s well directed by a talented director with comedy and a touch of nostalgia. It’s brilliant, hilarious, easy to follow, has funny jokes all around, and full of fantastic music that brings back memories from that time. The songs really capture the true spirit, the soul even of the 1960s, a music era I really enjoyed despite it being before my time and very different from the artists of today.

It is one of the coolest movies that I’ve seen in a long time with such fun and excitement going on that you don’t even notice it’s been 2hrs in passing. The only disturbing part is when the government is trying to shut the boat down in their misguided efforts to control an art form. Like any government, they try to create laws for simple things which aren’t meant to be regulated. Besides this, Pirate Radio is definitely well worth to watching.


 

Movie Still: The Men Who Stare at Goats

Movie Review of the Week — The Tooth Fairy

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Welcome to the first edition of my new feature: Movie Reviews!

Every week I’m going to share some photos and recommend a movie that I consider inspirational and interesting. And what better way to start with one of my favorite theme Fairy Tales stories: The Tooth Fairy.

I watched this movie and to be honest I actually quite liked it. It made me laugh and made me feel good, but to truly understand this movie you have to transport yourself to the fantasy world where everything is possible. If you want to see a movie that has comedy and is inspirational at the same time clean for kids to watch (because today it’s rare to those children who believe in tooth fairy’s) then this one should be part of your collection. Please never judge a book by its cover, it’s the essence that is important. Enjoy this charming, sweet message, it’s all about the importance of following our dreams that carries us!


 

A scene from "The Tooth Fairy."

Dwayne Johnson as Derek in "Tooth Fairy."
Credits:
Distributor: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release Date: 2010-01-22

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Julie Andrews, Ashley Judd, Brandon T. Jackson, Billy Crystal, Stephen Merchant
Directed by Michael Lembeck
Produced by Jason Blum, Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray
Written by Joshua Sternin, Jeffrey Ventimilia, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Randi Mayem Singer

Visit the movie’s Official Site!