Reviews

The King's Speech, the film, is very much like the king's speech, the speech. It is deliberate, heartfelt, softly powerful and beautiful to the ear (and the eye). Despite its backdrop of historical events of global and continuing significance, The King's Speech focuses relatively minutely upon Bertie (Colin Firth), otherwise known as King George VI, and Lionel (Geoffrey Rush), his unconventional speech therapist. Burdened from childhood with a stammer, Bertie must deal with his duty of public appearances, a domineering and unsympathetic father and a free-spirited brother who is uninterested in his destiny as the crown prince. The film follows Bertie's speech lessons and budding friendship with Lionel, as circumstances raise him to the office of monarch of a nation on the brink of war.

The script feels like a play in its pacing and witty dialog, yet Tom Hooper directs it into a film with a simple, personal and artistic style. He often utilizes off-center framing, fish-eye close-ups and several sequences of following a character's back as he moves through rooms and passages, allowing the viewer to see every mixed emotion as it registers on a face and to really feel the world from Bertie's perspective. Firth gives a vulnerable, powerful and nuanced performance in his Oscar winning role. Rush, Helena Bonham Carter (as Bertie's wife Elizabeth), Guy Pierce (as Bertie's brother David, King Edward) and Michael Gambon (as Bertie's father, King George V) turn in the winningly solid performances one would expect from these gifted actors. Timothy Spall does a highly recognizable Winston Churchill without falling off the caricature deep end, and Jennifer Ehle (whom many may remember as Elizabeth to Firth's Darcy in 1996's Pride & Prejudice) pops up now and again as Lionel's wife Myrtle. This quiet, aesthetic, inspirational and charming film justly deserves its Best Picture Academy Award.

EntertainmentReviewRevue.wordpress.com

"Zero Hour" is a fast paced, twist-a-minute, intriguing, historical thrill ride that doesn't quite measure up. With its codes, symbols, maps, hidden objects and messages, and "ultimate secret", it's no wonder "Zero Hour" draws inevitable comparison to "The Da Vinci Code". This hour-long action drama centers on unraveling a mysterious secret hidden by twelve "new apostles" appointed by the church in 1938 to transport and safeguard some apocalypse-inducing secret from away from clawing Nazi hands. The mystery kicks off when the antique clock shop proprietress wife of Hank, played by "ER" (and "Top Gun"!) vet Anthony Edwards, is kidnapped after purchasing an unusual clock at a flea market. Hank runs a magazine called Modern Skeptic, focusing on conspiracy theories and historical mysteries (how convenient), and after being disillusioned with the abilities of the authorities, he enlists two of his young staff members, "Greek"'s Scott Michael Foster and his fellow "Californication" alum Addison Timlin, to follow the clues and track down his wife himself. This leads him to discover the rather convoluted conspiracy already outlined, and the necessity to investigate and travel the world to unfold the clues and match pace with the kidnapper, who is doing the same thing.

So many things happen in the first episode alone, it's tricky to keep track of it all. The conspiracy is interesting, especially its echoes of the supernatural, with genetic experimentation and a Nazi doppelganger of Hank, that make it a global "National Treasure" with the spirit of "Lost". While there are some very convenient discoveries and knowledge, there is at least an attempt to make the method of deduction somewhat plausible. The characters are under-developed but likable. Hank is so far a rather generic smart, good guy who just wants to get his wife back. His employees Arron and Rachel are also pretty stock characters (though it would be hard to fill in too many characteristic details for them and still have time for the plethora of details involving the plot set-up), their distinguishing characteristics being youth, loyalty, tenacity, and the extreme likelihood that they'll end up together at some point (if the show isn't canceled before they get around to it). More interesting are baddie Victor, who, though also thus far a non-specifically broad antagonist, is brought to life with grit and a somewhat psychopathic nonchalance by the Swedish "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" actor Mikael Nyqvist, and unconventional FBI agent Beck, played with a mostly successful American accent by Brit Carmen Ejogo. The dialog is nothing to write home about, and I'm not sure they can (or should!) maintain the breakneck pace of the first two episodes, but despite its shortcomings, the fun and infinitely expandable premise, the obviously decent production budget, my hope for future improvement, and a soft spot for Nyqvist, Foster and Edwards will definitely keep me coming back every Thursday at Zero Hour (8 o'clock…), for the time being.

For those who overlooked this funny, entertaining film because, basically, it's about zombies, you're missing out. There are few good and myriad poor examples of the teen supernatural love story film out there these days, but "Warm Bodies" falls pretty well into the "good" end of the spectrum.

R, well played by "About a Boy", "Skins" and "X-Men: First Class" actor Nicholas Hoult, is a relatively self-aware zombie who does all the right zombie things. He doesn't remember his human life, shuffles around the airport where he "lives", grunts "conversations" with his best friend M (The Daily Show's Rob Corddry), and participates in feeding raids where he devours the brains of the few remaining humans for sustenance and the chance to live a little by experiencing their memories as though they were his. On one feeding frenzy, after eating the brain of her boyfriend (Dave Franco), R encounters Julie (Take Me Home Tonight's Teresa Palmer) and spontaneously decides not only to not eat her, but to protect her from the other zombies. The more time they spend together, the more human he becomes – gaining more and more speaking ability and knowledge, and less and less desire to mindlessly kill and do nothing. And the awareness is spreading. But danger lurks in the form of super skeleton zombies, who have lost every last shred of humanity (including skin and hair) and are much taller, faster and more agile than your average zombie, and in the human-protection-through-zombie-extermination philosophy of Julie's military leader father, played by John Malkovich.

I'm ashamed to say it took me longer than it should have to catch the obvious play on Romeo and Juliet here (I mean, R and Julie, come on, right?!), but it's a very loose interpretation (as half the cast being zombies alone attests to…). The story is straightforward and not overly developed or reliant on heavy mythology. Zombies have already taken over the world when the film starts, and we don't know, or really care, why or how. The commentary by R gives voice to his physically comedic, mostly-silent acting, and is genuinely funny. Hoult and Palmer are an engaging pair of young actors, carrying their irreverent roles with aplomb, and solid turns by Corddry and Malkovich make their roles memorable. Franco and former America's Next Top Model contestant Analeigh Tipton, as Julie's best friend, deliver acceptable performances but don't stand out. It's no Oscar contender by a long-shot, but "Warm Bodies" is a gore-and-war, comedic, supernatural love story that will make you smile and leave you feeling, yes, warm and satisfied. EntertainmentReviewRevue.wordpress.com