Hands down. Stamped it. Double locked it. No rubbsies. Cate Blanchett is the BEST actress working in Hollywood today. I have become obsessed with all things Tudor as a result of her SPECTACULAR performance of the regina vergine opposite sexy Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh and Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham. This is the film I have been waiting for all year and Indian director Shekhar Kapur does not disappoint. Although I was expecting some sexytime betwixt Cate and Clive (Sir Robert Dudley he is not) but Kapur more than makes up for it with an amazing montage of the fall of the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth was 55 at the time and past her blushing English rose prime although she still beats the tar out of her lady-in-waiting and sends Raleigh to the Tower for fornicating. Kapur sat down for an intelligent and surprisingly long (he loves talking about this film) Q&A where I asked him how much creative license he allowed himself given that his films will ultimately become texts for learning about the period for this and generations to come. We can expect a third part to this trilogy about the end of Elizabeth's life but Cate's gotta be older and willing to do it.*****
With the exception of one train robbery we are largely spared the predictable shoot ups of America's most notorious outlaw and his band of ho-bo-pick-em-up-bad-guys-for-hire. Filmed in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Canmore (director Andrew Dominik failed to comment on filming in Manitoba's capital and when asked in a press con
ference by a journalist from the Winnipeg Free Press, he answered 'Yeah. Calgary was great...) 'MM thinks she caught a glimpse of her brother Sam who played an extra in the train robbery sequence. The film is composed of mostly watching creepy Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) stalk Jesse (Brad Pitt) for 2 hours and 40 minutes. Not a huge fan of Westerns or the dialogue flick of which this film is both. Sam Shepard gets star billing and is in the film for 5 minutes. Pitt, however is outstanding as the dark, scary, bad guy you love to root for. My bet is he'll be nominated for (and likely win) the Oscar depending on the competition. ****
No comments:
Post a Comment