"EASY VIRTUE" ... This modest
film adapted from a minor Noel Coward play
will
delight all Anglophiles in addition to pleasing others for its exquisite casting and strong performances by Kristin Scott
Thomas and Jessica Biel. A mother (Thomas) and a bride (Biel) at an English country house during the late 1920's fight over
the heart and soul of John Whitaker (Ben Barnes), the young son and heir, after he returns home with his new bride who turns
out to be (Gasp!) a brassy American, a young widow, an independent woman, and a race car driver!
The
grand estate soon fills with tension. John's two younger sisters quickly side with their mother, but the feelings of John's
dad (Colin Firth), a one time bon vivant, are left open to question. Due to developing events, the young couple are forced
to stay longer than they had originally planned, just long enough for devastating secrets to spill out on both sides.
With
Jessica Biel looking positively ravishing, it might appear to be an unequal battle between the mother and her new daughter-in-law,
but don't count this dour mistress of manipulation out. Kristin Scott Thomas plays to perfection her role as an ice queen,
while Jessica Biel continues to show a real flair for period costume dramas after this and her earlier fine role in "The Illusionist."
(B+, go see it.)
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"STAR
TREK" ... It is always a thrill to see a new version of
this storied franchise hit the silver screen, but this iteration has been wildly overrated (#94 on IMDB's Top 250? Come now!).
I found the film to be a great disappointment. The story tries to cover too many subplots and it ends up giving short shrift
to all of them. There was enough material here for three movies.
In
addition, this film commits one of my pet peeves by using jerky handicam motion as a substitute for actual physical action,
especially in its many fight scenes. This quickly becomes very tiring as it is, in essence, a visual copout.
The
film does offer many complimentary asides to earlier versions of "Star Trek," including the television series, and it is generally
well cast with young stars who will probably come back again and again as did their forebears. Seeing Leonard Nimoy again
was a treat, but I did miss seeing William Shatner. The basic story line offered possibilities, but it needed a blue pencil
to pare it down to its essence. (B, save it for free television.)
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"EARTH" ... Disney ought to be ashamed of themselves for putting out these recycled images in a messy and nearly incoherent
cut and paste job. It seems that Disney is trying to cash in by leveraging every single asset that they have.
For
example, midway through this movie lush scenes of the Okavango Delta are shown, and then a reference is made to their headwaters
up in the distant mountains. Suddenly, the scene shifts from Africa all of the way to the Himalayan Mountains in India and
then half way around the world to the Angel Falls in South America without any explanation or narrative. Admittedly dramatic
visuals, but from three different continents with nary a rhyme or reason...
Yes,
the scenes are beautiful, but any aficionado of the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet has seen many of these very same scenes
before. David Attenborough did it far better in his excellent series. (B, Skip this movie and rent David Attenborough.)
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"STATE OF PLAY" ... This Washington, DC political murder mystery perhaps aspired to be a modern rendition of the classic political
thriller, "All the President's Men." While an entertaining and thoughtful movie made for adults, it, sadly, has been a flop
at the box office ($36 Million) in spite of its top flight cast including Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Helen Mirren. Ben
Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, and Jeff Daniels round out the stellar list of costars.
Affleck
plays a populist congressman whose lead research assistant mysteriously falls to her death right before his hearings on a
corporation charged with domestic espionage. Old style pen and paper reporter (Crowe, looking disheveled and long-haired)
bristles at being teamed up with young gossip columnist and blogger (Rachel McAdams) for the followup on this story by his
editor (Helen Mirren). As it happens, the congressman (Affleck) and the reporter (Crowe), are former college roommates who
know each other well. Too well, it seems, as he lost his college sweetheart (Wright Penn) to the up and coming congressman.
Publicity from the hearings appears to have provoked a shadowy cadre of former military snipers to settle things their way.
(A-, See it and rent it.)
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