Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Take Shelter: Michael Shannon digs deep to save family - 5 stars

Take Shelter is a fever dream of a thriller. It plunges you into anxiety and hope, victory and defeat. With humanity in trouble, sensitive everyman Curtis LaForche (brilliantly played by Michael Shannon) is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares.

Director Jeff Nichols lets you decide what this film is about. In an age of uncertainty, Curtis’ dark night of the soul feels universal.

Suspenseful and exciting from start to finish, Take Shelter portends the end. Depending on how you see, it will sweep you away with dread or faith. References to “the economy” and “fresh motor oil” lend timely foreboding.

A construction foreman in northern Ohio, tormented Curtis hides his condition from his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain). He seeks help from a doctor and a counselor, trying to quash his visions.

Shannon (Revolutionary Road; Bug) surrenders onscreen. Gangly, enigmatic and tortured, he remains a loving husband and devoted father to a hearing impaired child Hannah (Tova Stewart, sweetly perceptive).

Curtis wants to save his family at any cost. After visiting his mother (Kathy Baker), who’s institutionalized with paranoid schizophrenia, the quiet man understands that his curse is a gift.

March in step, Curtis’ best friend Dewart (Shea Whigham) and his brother Kyle (Ray McKinnon) tell him. Instead, he secures a home improvement loan to build an elaborate storm shelter. Curtis risks everything – home, family, and the health insurance needed for Hannah’s cochlear implant surgery.

Samantha (Jessica Chastain) takes refuge in family, friends and community. Love grounds and guides her. She sells her embroidery at tag sales to finance the family’s annual vacation.

Prolific Chastain (The Debt; The Tree of Life; The Help) creates yet another excellent character here in a spree of recent big screen roles. Samantha struggles to understand and stay with Curtis.

Natural disaster never looked so breathtaking. Adam Stone uses widescreen photography to see beauty in menace. Flocks of starlings, clouds and twin tornadoes loom. Real and impending catastrophes are colored by mystery and mental illness.

Nichols (Shotgun Stories) captures inner and outer worlds with authority and immediacy. His work is reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s, but with more ambiguity. It’s impressive that this is only Nichols’ second feature.

Tight, flawless editing by Parke Gregg enhances drama. David Wingo contrasts darkness and normalcy with his music.

End or beginning? The perspective of nature as a benevolent force ready to help humanity is missing here. It’s a worthy premise for another film.

If you like Take Shelter, you might enjoy:  The Tree of Life; Insidious; The Debt.

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Take Shelter    2011  /  R  /  2 hours

Cast Overview: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Ray McKinnon, LisaGay Hamilton, Rogert Longstreet, Kathy Baker, Tova Stewart

Director:  Jeff Nichols

Genre:  Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Horror

 

Terri: John C. Reilly feeds teen's big, hungry heart ****

 

Terri stands apart from The Art of Getting By and Submarine for one reason: John C. Reilly. The coming-of-age dramedy hinges on Reilly’s Mr. Fitzgerald, a vice principal who cares about kids in trouble. Jacob Wysocki stars as Terri, a huge oddball with a confused, hungry heart.

Reilly’s straightforward, unforgettable character walks his talk. He owns his own disappointments and shortcomings. Mr. Fitzgerald doesn’t pretend to have it all together, but he knows enough to share his homespun philosophy. When obese Terri lands in his office for daily tardiness, he sets up a weekly meeting to mentor the pajama-clad, good-hearted teen.

Terri’s inner monster is big, odd and misunderstood. He lives in a messy old house with Uncle James (The Office’s Creed Bratton, very good here) who’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Terri takes care of his uncle tenderly.

Trapping mice in the attic is necessary and gives Terri something to do. Glum and bored, he loiters in the woods each morning, watching his offering of dead mice on a log. When a raptor arrives, Terri yelps with excitement. It’s the first revelation of the big boy’s spirit.

An encounter with the bird of prey also sets this movie apart. The raptor is said to symbolize vision, power and guardianship. Connecting with nature is another way the boy heals. Mr. Fitzgerald suggests a new life perspective: “I like this person. I look forward to these days.”

Wysocki is extraordinary, an actor of imagination and warmth. Terri makes slow and painful progress. He aches, stumbles and has wise insights. He wants to fit in as he struggles to be himself. Patrick Dewitt’s understated dialogue rings perfectly. “The feeling is no feeling,” Terri tells his mentor.

 

Terri hangs out with two other outcasts, publicly shamed Heather (Olivia Crocicchia) and hair-pulling misanthrope Chad (Bridger Zadina). The trio reveals risky delight, a weird foray into friendship and experimentation. All three succeed with plain-spoken honesty. Director Azazel Jacobs captures odd beauty in this and other scenes.

Mr. Fitzgerald talks about life and possibilities from his heart and his gut. Reilly makes the character unique as a caring, competent man who admits his own shortcomings. The unapologetically odd vice principal grows on us throughout the film.

Terri finds Mr. Fitzgerald passed out in his car one Sunday morning in the school parking lot. He’s had another fight with his wife. The two share quality time, raiding aspirin from the nurse’s office and shooting hoops. The school’s motto towers above them in the gym: Pride. Tradition. Excellence.

In The Art of Getting By and Submarine, mentors are marginal and never fully developed. Here youth and age are both honored. Mr. Fitzgerald throws Terri a lifeline, and the teen gives him the opportunity to practice his life’s calling. There’s a boy within the man, and a man within the boy.

When Fitzgerald betrays the boy’s trust it’s devastating. He transforms the moment by apologizing. “Life’s a mess, dude, but we’re all just doing the best we can.”

In an imperfect world, Terri ends with a quiet, transcendent moment. This is not a feel-good movie, but one that celebrates flawed humanity and hope.

If you like Terri, you might enjoy:  The Art of Getting By; Submarine; Cedar Rapids.

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Terri     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 27 min

Cast Overview:  Jacob Wysocki, Creed Bratton, Olivia Crocicchia, Bridger Zadina, John C. Reilly

Director:  Azazel Jacobs

Genre:  Drama, Dramedy

 

Soul Surfer ***1/2

 

The comeback of surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her left arm in a 2003 shark attack, is filled with belief, love and ecstasy. On her website, Bethany quotes Bible verses.  She knows what it is like to rely on God alone. 

A born "mermaid," Hamilton rides mighty waves and swoops through funnels of moving water. Just one month after the catastrophe, the 13-year-old returned to the ocean, dreaming of going pro. “It was my own personal tsunami,” Hamilton writes in her book Soul Surfer.

Despite its flaws, the Hollywood-styled drama Soul Surfer glimpses both faith and rapture.

Magnificent cinematography by John Leonetti (Insidious; Piranha; The Mask) brings to life every wave, revealing surfers’ athleticism and skill. Doubles including Hamilton performed most of the surfing. Cameras were mounted on surfboards and jet skis. Filming took place in Hawaii at Turtle Bay Resort, Sunset Beach, Makaha and Waimea Bay.

AnnaSophia Robb (Race to Witch Mountain), her arm erased by CGI, renders a fine, fiercely competitive yet low key Hamilton. Dennis Quaid brings much-needed gruffness to the role of her dad Tom, and Helen Hunt lends sweet strength as her mom Cheri. Lorraine Nicholson (Jack Nicholson’s daughter) plays Hamilton’s spirited best friend Alana Blanchard.    

Soul Surfer is marred by one dimensional characters and weak dialogue. Robb, Quaid, Hunt and Nicholson manage to deliver despite an anemic script. What’s missing is deeper insight into every personality. For example, why not show more of the strength training Hamilton had to endure after the accident? How did she meet new social challenges? What was it like to be home schooled?

Hamilton despairs only twice. First she gives away her surfboards to young autograph seekers after wiping out at her competitive comeback. Later she rejects a prosthetic arm because it can’t be used in the water. The heroine’s quick recovery and uncomplaining course may seem too simple. “I don’t need easy, I just need possible,” she says. She no longer relies on her strength alone.

 

Commercially successful films with a Christian viewpoint, including The Blind Side and Secretariat, show faith in action.  A light hand is used with religious references, where a little goes a long way.

Director Sean McNamara and a team of seven writers (including himself), fill Soul Surfer with faith-based references. The result is a message film with less universal appeal.

Hamilton’s dramatic rescue scene is excellent. Kevin Sorbo and Nicholson play the father and daughter whose quick thinking and action save her life. Later Hamilton joins a humanitarian aid trip to Thailand following a tsunami there. Coaxing a young boy to trust the water, she rediscovers a sense of purpose.

In a weak film debut, Carrie Underwood lends preachy petulance to an important figure in Hamilton’s life, church group leader Sarah Hill. As a result their relationship doesn’t gel onscreen.

Hamilton reconsiders beauty when her mother shows her an image of the Venus de Milo. Long considered a pinnacle of beauty, the statue has no arms. Mother advises daughter to “pray and listen for what comes next.”

A plot device meant to add drama rings false. Competitor Malina Birch (Sonya Balmores Chung) bullies Hamilton even after her accident. When Birch wins a championship trophy, she suddenly announces that she’s sharing the title with Hamilton. Really?

Hamilton turned pro in 2007 and competes worldwide. She stars in a short documentary made by her sister-in-law, Heart of a Soul Surfer (2007).

If you like Soul Surfer, you might enjoy: The Blind Side; Win Win; The Music Never Stopped; Secretariat.

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Soul Surfer     2011  /  PG /  1 hour, 46 mins

Cast Overview:  AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood, Kevin Sorbo, Lorraine Nicholson, Jeremy Sumpter, Ross Thomas, Sonya Balmores Chung, Chris Brochu

Director:  Sean McNamara

Genre:  Action, Drama, Sports, Movie Based on the Book, True Stories

The Music Never Stopped ****

 
 
An ode to music, memory and healing, indie drama The Music Never Stopped features songs of The Grateful Dead and other classic rockers within a father-son reunion tale.

Jim Kohlberg’s directorial debut is a moving, timely exploration of how the human brain affects our lives and experiences. With a tiny budget, he captures the essence of a man emerging from a severe neurological handicap.

Living in the now is the only option for Gabriel Sawyer (Lou Taylor Pucci), a young man whose brain tumor leaves him in a coma in 1986. When he wakes after surgery, his memories are erased.  

Music is the key to engaging Gabriel, but not just any tune will do. Music therapist Dianne Daly (Julia Ormond) discovers that only 1960s rock rouses him.

Every song unlocks a different piece of Gabriel’s past. With brio he walks, talks and gestures. As soon as a song ends Gabriel withdraws into his usual silence, his expression mask-like.

Pucci (Carriers; The Horsemen) is edgy and sweet, more like Robert De Niro’s guru-ish Leonard Lowe than Daniel Day Lewis’ smoldering Christy Brown. Over time Gabriel is able to engage with others and even flirt with lovely cafeteria worker Celia (Mia Maestro). Hearing the music of his favorite band The Grateful Dead brings tears of joy and wonderment.

Based on Oliver Sacks' essay The Last Hippie, the film is pensive, exuberant and occasionally cliche.  Neurologist-author Sacks drew on real-life case studies in his writing, which also inspired the film Awakenings (1990) starring De Niro and Robin Williams.

Henry and Helen Sawyer (J.K. Simmons and Cara Seymour) visit the sleeping man who is their little boy. They haven’t seen him in 20 years. When Gabriel wakes up, Henry learns that his son fears him as a cruel authoritarian. Henry must face his shadow and take responsibility for his part in their estrangement.

Master character actor Simmons (Spider-Man; Juno; The Closer) plays a cranky square who never understood why Gabriel doesn’t revere the big bands. Now he wishes that new memories could be created in his son’s mind. That’s impossible, Daly tells him.

Henry grows forgetful and disengaged. When he’s fired from his engineering job, he can’t avoid visiting Gabriel and becoming involved in his rehab. The two gradually connect. There’s a renewal of Henry’s mental clarity and zest. Scenes where he temporarily rebels against Gabriel’s musical preferences stumble.

 

Seymour is refreshing as open minded, matter-of-fact Helen. Becoming the family breadwinner doesn’t diminish her empathy for son and husband alike.

Gabriel yearns to attend his first Dead concert.  Henry exchanges his records for modern ones, letting Gabriel teach him to appreciate a new generation’s vibes.

When Henry wins Dead concert tickets, father and son don love beads and tie died t-shirts for the event.  The concert scene is awkwardly beautiful and moving despite clumsy staging.

"A Grateful Dead concert had a way of setting you up with a koan or an aphorism and then opening up an improvisational musical space in which to ponder it,” writes author David Gans. “Lives were changed at Dead shows; decisions were made; creativity was inspired.”

Gabriel not only gets by and survives, but moves beyond A Touch of Grey.

If you like The Music Never Stopped, you might enjoy: The Soloist; Two Lovers; Win Win; Up in the Air.

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The Music Never Stopped   2010  /  PG  /  1 hour, 45 min 

Cast Overview:   J.K. Simmons, Lou Taylor Pucci, Cara Seymour, Julia Ormond, Tammy Blanchard, Mia Maestro, Scott Adsit, James Urbaniak

Director:  Jim Kohlberg

Genre:  Indie Drama, Drama Based on Real Life, Music

 

Top 10 Steps to Healing for Best Actor Colin Firth in The King's Speech

 

Best Actor Colin Firth transforms himself from stutterer to king in Best Picture The King’s Speech. Here are 10 steps for healing and self-discovery that he followed:

1. Overcoming the Stutter.  Firth plays a humiliated King George VI who fears that he will not be able to fulfill his new role. He faces subconscious terror.  Slowly, the royal begins to trust his new speech coach Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).

The new king exercised and practiced.  He used speaking strategies and learned to breathe more deeply.  He faced mystery with determination, finally believing that he could speak powerfully. Firth, who is classically trained in Shakespearean acting, painstakingly recreated the mechanics of the stutter and the king’s frustration. Like Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, he crafts an inspiring example for the differently abled.

2. Friendship with a Commoner.  The future king had to step down from his pedestal and seek help from a speech coach of modest means and impressive skill. Logue insisted that he and “Bertie” treat each other as equals in the privacy of the speech studio. Mutual respect is necessary to achieve progress.  After the death of his father, the student realizes that royal and commoner are two parts of a whole. He begins to respect and befriend Logue.
3.  Forgiving His Father.  Bertie forgives his father King George V (Michael Gambon) after the elder monarch dies.  He realizes his father did his best, and was himself formed and limited by royalty. As a dad, the character has the power to recreate fatherhood. He understands that George V was well-meaning even though sometimes cruel.  
4.  Forgiving His Brother.  When his brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) indulges himself and chooses love over royal responsibility, Bertie sees a new future before him.  Perhaps he always secretly wanted to become king. Now his brother is stepping down and he has an awesome opportunity.  The younger brother forgives Edward, who exercises his right to seek personal pleasure and romantic fulfillment.  
5.  Becoming King – Personal Greatness.  As George VI steps into the role of king, his voice becomes vital to his ability to lead, inspire and reassure the English.  He begins to value his speech coach and depend upon his new friend. He honors ceremonial traditions yet expands on the often limited views of the monarchy. At his coronation, George VI insists that Logue accompany him.
6.  Public Speaking. The king strives to enunciate clearly and make an impact. He must prepare, practice, speak firmly and pause appropriately. The process on film was enriched by Firth’s meticulous training as an actor.    
7. Father.  Bertie is known for telling bedtime stories to his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret (Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez).  After he becomes king, the new princesses curtsey to him.  He commands their respect in a loving relationship.  He’s a self-actualized man and father who is able to be tender and strong.   
8. Husband.  Bertie accepted his wife’s help long after he had given up hoping to speak publicly. Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) urges him to consult with the humble Logue after he exhausts all other possibilities.  The new king continues to partner with his wife as she guides and supports him behind the scenes.
9. Leading a Nation.  George VI learned about geopolitics as World War II approached. The king asked his people to pitch in to help save the nation. The king took the advice of Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall). He was forced to accept the resignation of Neville Chamberlain (Roger Parrott). He listened, considered and followed his inner guidance. 
10.  World Leader.  The new king taps into his true concern for the people. His own best qualities emerge: good character, maturity, sacrifice and hard work. His personal trials, and a world crisis, strengthen him. Before our eyes, George VI becomes a world leader.

Like Top 10 Lists? You might enjoy:  Top 10 Films That Change Us 2010 ©; Top 10 Steps to Self-Discovery for Best Actress Natalie Portman in Black Swan.

The Soloist ****

 

Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. lives for Beethoven.  The gifted cellist plays in the streets, where the acoustics of a traffic tunnel are perfect for him. It is there that he feels free and safe. Jamie Foxx stars in The Soloist, a true-life drama about a friendship between a homeless man and a newsman. 

Ayers is a gifted cellist and musician whose career ended when paranoid schizophrenia made it impossible for him to continue his Juilliard studies. He hears voices, and his mental state teeters between manic normalcy and incoherent rage.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) is moved one day by Ayers' violion solo in a deserted public plaza.  He is amazed to discover that the man is playing with only two strings.

Taken with Ayers’ musical gift, Lopez researches the street dweller and features him in his Points West column.  What began as a need for a story idea grows. Lopez seeks to befriend Nathaniel, coaxing him to reconnect with mainstream society. Their friendship becomes strained as he tries to “fix” Ayers, who says he is happy living in the streets.

Ayers alternates between nonsensical ramblings and lucid, even poetic observations. As he retires for the night to his sidewalk bedroll, he prays for “all God’s children.” Scores of homeless mill around him. Many talk to themselves, scuffle with others and get high.  In a powerful scene, Lopez spends the night beside Ayers, who gives thanks for all he has and sees beauty amidst rats and squalor.

While The Soloist has been criticized for its Hollywood take on mental illness, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Susannah Grant deserve kudos for a groundbreaking effort.  The Soloist’s trajectory does not fit neatly into the wishes of his sister, Lopez or many moviegoers. Ayers resists others’ attempts to change him, but he does open up instinctively to love.

The street cellist chooses to live independently with dignity.  His character differs from Russell Crowe’s John Nash in A Beautiful Mind, or Robert De Niro’s Leonard in Awakenings, where family and institutional care were key.

 

Foxx’s performance makes The Soloist great. With the friendship and respect of Lopez, he is transformed. Ayers is more than mentally ill, even more than a gifted cellist. At one point he confronts Lopez for calling him “Nathaniel” while he respectfully calls the reporter “Mr. Lopez.” Such honesty is the way of true friendship.

Hundreds of homeless individuals portray themselves in later scenes.  At the time of filming, there were over 90,000 homeless in Greater Los Angeles. This social issue is highlighted as Mayor Antonio Villaraigrosa (Marcos De Silvas) piggybacks on the popularity of Lopez’s column and directs more funding to the LAMP Community. The film is based on Lopez’s book The Soloist.

Unfortunately the impact of The Soloist is dampened with frequent cuts to Lopez’s mid-life crisis.

Catherine Keener succeeds in the kind of role she is known for. As Lopez’s neurotic, well-meaning ex-wife and his editor at The Times, she reins in the dreamer yet admires his idealism. Not without her own faults, she calls Lopez on his lack of commitment in relationships, yet remains his best friend.

Lisa Gay Hamilton accomplishes great emotive depth with very little screen time as the sister who approaches Nathaniel. She last saw him years ago as he fled, advancing into the street, cello in his arms.

If you like The Soloist, you might enjoy: 127 Hours; Man Push Cart; Please Give.

The Soloist   2008  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 49 min

Cast Overview:   Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Lisa Gay Hamilton, Catherine Keener, Stephen Root, Justin Martin, Tom Hollander, Angela Featherstone, Justin Rodgers Hall, Rachael Harris

Director:  Joe Wright

Genres:  Drama, Biopic, Music, Drama Based on the Book

 

Two Lovers *****

 

Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow reinvent the classic love triangle in Two Lovers. James Gray’s film showcases three flawed humans who each insist that they deserve love.

The film revolves around Leonard (Phoenix), a sensitive, bipolar man struggling to recreate his life after a failed relationship and suicide attempt. Paltrow is Michelle, a stunning new neighbor who lives a double life as a “kept” woman. Vinessa Shaw plays Sandra, a nice and sexy Jewish girl who insists that there are lots of men after her.

Phoenix’s can’t-look-away performance reveals an intense young man stuck for the time being in his adoptive parents’ Brighton Beach apartment.  By day he toils at his father’s dry cleaning business. He is the anonymous delivery man often seen on city streets, carrying freshly pressed clothes on hangars that proclaim “We Love Our Customers.”

The film opens as Phoenix jumps off a bridge one day, dry cleaning in hand. For an eternity he sinks downward. He sees his deceased mother who delivers a message. Changing his mind, he rises to safety.

Phoenix’s past is eclipsed by the present moment. He takes advantage of opportunities, whether it’s with the daughter of houseguests (Sandra), or with the flustered Michelle, trapped in the hallway when he first meets her.  Leonard is determined to create a life worth living. Love will be part of that life.

Sophisticated and troubled Michelle leans on Leonard as a confidante, turning away his declarations of love. Her affair with a married lawyer who won’t leave his wife upsets Leonard more than it does her.  The film’s macabre humor lightens its heaviness, for example when Michelle and her lover (Elias Koteas) invite Leonard to dinner at a swank Manhattan restaurant.

Sandra on the other hand says she understands Leonard. She knows his history.  “I want to take care of you,” she tells him.

Isabella Rossellini plays a Jewish mom who doubles as matchmaker. She loves and smothers Leonard, hovering outside his bedroom door to eavesdrop.  Moni Moshonov plays his pop. Leonard’s adventures include sneaking out of the apartment to console weeping Michelle on the roof, and engaging in a man-to-man sit down with Sandra’s father (Bob Ari) who asks him point-blank, “Are you a f*** up?”

Phoenix’s passion for music brightens the story. Leonard comes to life as he dances to rap at a nightclub. In another scene, he really listens to opera for the first time in his life. Just then Sandra knocks on his door.

 

Two Lovers’ conclusion is primal.  Thirty-something Leonard decides to run away from home.  His dilemma all along has been whether to remain rooted with his family with a secure but monotonous future, or to embrace excitement and escape.

Gray penned Two Lovers' excellent screenplay with Richard Menello.

If you like Two Lovers, you might enjoy:  Blue Valentine; Crazy Heart; The Town.

Two Lovers   2008  /  R  /   1 hour, 50 min

Cast Overview:  Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rossellini, Elias Koteas, Moni Moshonov, John Ortiz

Director: James Gray

Genres:  Drama, Romance

The King's Speech *****

 

The stakes could not be higher as Colin Firth portrays King George VI in The King’s Speech, a historical drama about a remarkable friendship and personal triumph over disability during one of history’s darkest hours. Tom Hooper’s film humanizes British royalty along the lines of The Queen (2006) and The Young Victoria (2009).

The King's Speech won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing (Original Screenplay), as well as a Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film. Firth won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

Firth suffers from a devastating stutter. After his father dies, his profligate brother (Guy Pearce) steps up and soon abdicates the throne amidst scandal. The new king will be required to speak publicly – often to an entire nation. Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) informs him that England’s declaration of war against Germany is inevitable.

The King's Speech swept many prizes, including a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Film Ensemble, and a Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.  

Firth is nominated for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for this role.

Firth is called upon to be a leader just as he’s ready to surrender. His wife (Helena Bonham Carter) has accompanied him to every speech therapist imaginable. Nothing has worked. In the excruciating opening scene, Firth is red-faced and furious, attempting to speak with a mouthful of marbles under a doctor’s direction.

Geoffrey Rush often steals the show with earthy, raucous humor. Lionel Logue is a bold Aussie and failed actor with plenty of experience coaching severe stutterers. In order for the treatments to work, Logue insists that the future king come to his speech studio in a rundown London flat. They must become “equals” and eventually friends. “Call me Lionel,” he insists.

Logue is no doctor. He doesn’t pretend to be. What he does share is ample wisdom and skill as the two men – a commoner and a royal – spar and get acquainted. Bertie, as the king’s family calls him privately, confides in Lionel about early childhood fears and his father’s cruelty.

 

Firth and Rush revel in their weighty roles, playing off each other superbly. Logue is as bold and expressive as the king is restrained and proper. Logue shares a warm and plain spoken relationship with his wife (Jennifer Ehle) and two sons (Dominic Applewhite and Ben Wimsett).

The speech coach brings just the insouciance needed to puncture the fears of the sensitive king. His is the perfect foil to royal stodginess. Bertie must learn to relax his tongue, breathe fully, and even lie down on the floor to loosen his diaphragm.

In one moving scene, Bertie shares a bedtime story with his adoring daughters Elizabeth and Margaret (Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez). His wife, the future Queen Mum of England, looks on. Elizabeth is destined to succeed her father to the throne one day.

The king’s family and close associates cheer him on during a riveting three minute speech at the BBC. Logue accompanies Bertie into the sound booth, coaching him with silent care as the king urges the nation to stand together at the start of World War II.

Director Hooper is known for his Emmy Award winning miniseries John Adams (2008).

The film received an “R” rating due to a single scene where Firth spouts a string of expletives, desperate to vent his anxiety and express himself at last.

If you like The King's Speech, you might enjoy: The Young Victoria; Another Year; An Education.

The King’s Speech 2010 / R / 1 hour, 58 min

Cast Overview: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter

Director: Tom Hooper

Genres: Drama, History

127 Hours *****

 
 

There’s a moment in the must-see drama 127 Hours where Aron Ralston (James Franco) straddles a spectacular rock formation in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. As the sun rises, the meaning of a man’s life is captured, along with the thrill of encountering the Absolute. It compels Ralston to plunge into the wilderness of his own being even as he daredevils over rocks and ravines. It’s a peak experience that flings him directly at life, death and eternity.

Accolades are piling high for Danny Boyle’s thriller based on Ralston’s memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place. The film was nominated for six Oscars and three Golden Globes. 

Franco won a Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe Award.

Franco becomes a force of nature on equal footing with wind, sun, earth and water. Convincingly he plays a cocky 27-year-old who doesn’t tell anyone where he’s biking and climbing that weekend, a lover of metal music and speed, a ladies’ man who is truly at home by himself in the elements.

What Ralston seeks (and Franco so eloquently portrays) is sabi, which can be understood as a longing for the Divine. It is that moment of grace, that discovery of beauty in the strange and mysterious.

Boyle’s film is unique as it focuses so well on both the extreme sports action and inner life of Ralston. The psychological suspense of this true-life adventure is intense even when we know how the story ends.

Franco canyoneers, meditates and hallucinates, recalling his almost fatal mistake of leaving behind a Swiss Army Knife. While trapped, he speaks with Source via his camcorder. It’s here that he dictates his bodily functions, regrets and dreams to his human family past, present and future.

What Franco learns is a core principle of sabi. It’s vital to maintain a healthy connection with those around us. It is in relationship where love can be found, where Source touches us tangibly and grounds us. The thrill of solitary spiritual experience, like anything else, can turn into a lair of self-importance, an addiction to danger.

 
At just over 90 minutes, the length of 127 Hours is just right. It’s a survival tale with more punch than Cast Away (2000) and Touching the Void (2003). This personal tale turns mythic alongside the petroglyphs and pictographs of the canyon. Most harrowing is the amputation scene where Ralston decides to save his own life.

Kudos go to Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for dynamic screenplay, and to Glenn Freemantle for sound design. Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak achieve alluring nature and special effects cinematography. Vast wilderness encompasses intricate detail. Over a hundred camera angles build momentum, intertwined with A.R. Rahman’s stirring music. Boyle assembled much of his Slumdog Millionaire team for this project.

Franco was nominated for Best Actor for this role. His death defying bravado and snarkiness is enhanced by the performances of Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn, two attractive hikers who join him briefly as he guides them and shows off.

In a recent interview on Inside the Actor's Studio, Franco spoke about desire to become a director. Franco is enrolled in graduate literature studies at Yale and is the author of a collection of short stories, Palo Alto.

Ralston’s book is worth reading for filmgoers who want to delve deeper into this gem of action and self-discovery. It’s reminiscent of Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, a lively addition to the nature adventure/inner journey genre. Ralston appears at the conclusion of the film.

If you like 127 Hours, you might enjoy: Winter's Bone; The American; Rabbit Hole.

127 Hours 2010 / R / 1 hour, 34 min

Cast Overview: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Treat Williams, John Lawrence, Kate Burton

Director: Danny Boyle

Genres: Adventure, Biopic, Drama, Drama Based on the Book