The Young Victoria is about the early days of Queen Victoria's rule in England and her blossoming relationship with the man she will come to marry, Prince Albert. Queen Victoria is played by Emily Blunt, who most of you will probably recognize from her role in The Devil Wears Prada. She is what makes this movie worth seeing. I'm not going to lie, I have a weakness for British period dramas. So when I first saw the trailer for this movie, I automatically knew it was something I would be seeing. However, when I started hearing all the buzz over Emily Blunts performance, I was intrigued. The girl from The Devil Wears Prada? Her first starring role, and their calling it oscar-worthy? Then she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress, and I knew I absolutely had to see it. She is, in my opinion, better than the hype, and better than I could have ever expected. She plays the role with such spirit that you can't help but be taken with her. She captures so much vivacity in her performance, and is so comfortable in her role as Queen Victoria that it is truly remarkable. And on another note, I can't help but mention how beautiful she looks throughout the entire film. She deserves a nomination, and she deserves to win it.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20332090,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontent
Up in the Air is about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who's job is to fire people for a living, who ends up as a mentor of sorts for Natalie (Anna Kendrick), an ambitious girl straight out of college looking to get into the business. When I first heard about the plot I was less than impressed. However, after hearing from multiple friends (and almost every single review I read) about how great it is, I decided I needed to see it. And I'm so glad I did. Up in the Air is one of the best movies of the year, and it's sure to be nominated for "Best Picture" at the Oscars. One of the best elements of the movie is that it's so inherently aware of its tone, which I think is a rarity in movies these days. It was a mix of drama and somewhat dark humor, but the blend was so seemless that it didn't feel forced or misguided (which is how I felt about the movie Funny People, and is one of the main reasons I think it flopped). The script is very witty and had a bunch of great one-liners, some that even had the entire audience in my theater clapping. However, Up in the Air is not a particularly fast-paced movie. That is definitely something you should know going in. It never felt slow or like it was dragging, but it kept the same steady pace from the very beginning to the very end. If this is going to be a problem for you, skip it. But if you don't mind spending two hours getting deeply immersed in these characters and their views on life, I highly recommend it! That's another one of the shinning elements of this film...the incredible character development. By the end of the film, you feel like you really, truly know all three of the main characters. You know their mindset, their strengths and their weaknesses. George Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga are all perfect in their roles, and play them with great depth. So I'm going to keep this short and sweet, and just end on this note: if you're someone who appreciates a really great script with relatable, well-developed characters, definitely see Up in the Air. You'll be sure to hear much more about this movie come Academy Awards time, I guarantee it!
http://www.filmjunk.com/2009/02/06/top-10-chick-flicks-that-men-secretly-love/
Oh man this is going to be a hard review to write. Usually I like to wait until at least the next day after seeing a movie to review it, because I have a tendency to go all "fan-girl like" and freak out and start throwing the "OMG!'s" around everywhere throughout the review. So I literally just got home from seeing the midnight screening of Avatar in IMAX 3D, it's 3:47 AM, and I honestly don't feel like I can wait until the morning to write this, so bear with me. First of all, I just need to get this out there: Avatar was without a doubt one of the most incredible, stunning, film-going experiences of my entire life. The only time I have ever experienced anything even close to this was when I was 7 years old and saw Titanic in theaters for the very first time. James Cameron is a genius. Period. No one can argue any differently. I've heard people say he thinks he's "all that" and that he thinks he's just so much better than the rest. But here's the thing...he IS all that! He is the epitome of what a director should be. He doesn't allow himself to dream unless he's dreaming big. No, all movies aren't meant to be epics (and shouldn't be)...some of the best movies ever made are just regular character dramas. But when it comes to epics, James Cameron is it. His attention to detail is inexplicable...I don't know how to phrase it, its one of those things where you truly need to see it to understand exactly what I mean. As most people already know, he created the revolutionary motion-capture and 3D technology used for this movie. Even Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson came to his movie set to get a look at it. He meant for this film to come out around two years after Titanic, but soon realized that the technology at the time just was not where it needed to be to make the film the way he wanted to. Now, 12 years later, and his first movie since Titanic, and I can sense another Best Picture and Best Director oscar nomination nearby!
The new, full-length Alice in Wonderland trailer just came out today...it looks perfect!
This is my first time ever blogging, but my goal is to do this very regularly. Basically, I see a lot of movies. I LOVE movies. So I'm going to come on here and post movie reviews (and movie info) for the movies I see from now on. I guess I'm starting this at a good time...everyone knows that all the best movies come out in December, because they are all hoping for an Academy Award nod. Right now I feel like I'm almost backed up when it comes to movies I need to see. Up in the Air is getting some serious acclaim, as is Precious. I plan on seeing both of them within the next week, hopefully. But more importantly, I'm seeing the midnight screening of a certain movie getting an enormous amount of hype. I'll give you one hint...they're saying it's a film that people will look back on in years to come and say how it completely revolutionized cinema. Yup, you guessed it...I'm seeing the midnight screening of AVATAR tonight! Titanic being one of my all-time favorite movies, every once in a while I would go on the IMDb to see when James Cameron would finally make another movie. Well, it took him 12 years later, but from the looks of Avatar, it seems like he made the right decision in waiting until he could finally do something that wouldn't be overshadowed by his previous films. It's only 4:00 PM right now and I'm already starting to get a little too anxious. Oh, and did I mention that I will be seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D tonight? Yeah, tonight is going to be a night to remember! Review coming soon!