Tangled

Alongside the big Oscar hitters, there’s also a movie for the kids this week in the cinema with the modernised version of the classic tale of Rapunzel which can also be seen in 3D.

The plot is simple and easy to follow and modernises the classic tale of Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), the girl with the insanely long magical hair who has been locked away in a tower all her life so that old Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) can use her hair to stay young forever.  On the eve of her 18^th birthday, Rapunzel gets an urge to escape and ventures out of the tower for the first time in her life in the quest for love when she spots a passing bandit that steals her heart.  The bandit, Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi), along with his trusty steed, agrees to take her to the big city away from the tower.  But Mother Gothel is not prepared to give up her youth without a fight.

There’s lot of colourful action and songs and the kids will love the gags from the animals that all seem to be smarter than the humans which all in all makes the movie very easy to watch for both children and adults.

The King's Speech

The King's Speech has emerged from under the shadow of ‘The Social Network’ these last two weeks to become the leading contender to pick up the Oscar for Best Picture as well as Colin Firth riding the wave of momentum on his quest for Oscar gold as best actor. 

World War II is on the horizon and it’s down to the recently crowned King George VI (Firth), after his brother, the rightful heir following his father’s death, abdicated from the throne, to rally England but such a task looks beyond him due to suffering from a speech impediment.  With Hitler and the threat of his army looming, King George has no choice but to find his voice in order to lead his country to war.

Under the instruction from his supportive wife Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), he goes to see a speech instructor, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).  Their relationship is one of teacher and student which develops over the course of the movie into something quite close.  Their friendship is what makes this movie so memorable and engaging.

Probably not for the young or the action hearted but it is a brilliantly told true story and make no mistake about it, Firth deserves his Oscar nomination and he also deserves to take home the prestigious award.  His amazing performance where he portrays a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders as he fights his stutter and lisp from bringing a man and a nation to its knees is remarkable.

Black Swan

The psychological thriller that has everybody talking is Black Swan and stars the Oscar nominated Natalie Portman along with Mila Kunis who perhaps unfairly has not been given the recognition she deserves for her part in this cinematic masterpiece.

The fragile and perfection Nina Sayers (Portman) is a ballet dancer performing in the New York City production of Swan Lake.  When the leading role becomes available, Nina looks a certainty to fill the departing star’s (Winona Ryder) shoes.  However, the lead role, Swan Queen, requires one to portray not only the innocent White Swan but also the dark and passionate Black Swan who is better suited to the newest member of the team, the free spirited Lily (Kunis).

Despite his reservations, the production director goes with gut instinct, sensing a passion locked away within Nina, and gives her the part and casts Lily as her understudy.  The road to opening night though is a long one and with it comes mounting pressure which makes Nina take a dark psychological journey of hallucinations and also a growing sense of paranoia that her understudy is conspiring to take her part away from her.  The deeper though that she delves into the darkness, the better she performs as the Black Swan.

Due to some graphic sexual scenes, it probably isn’t for the younger viewers but it is a must see.  Director Darren Aronofsky delivers a psychological masterpiece that shows the sacrifice, dedication and the brutality performers of the arts must endure to deliver something as majestic and beautiful as ballet.

Morning Glory

Rachel McAdams is one of those actors that you can’t help but like and you know that she is just waiting for that one movie to elevate her to the next level and unfortunately, despite its enjoyable element, it’s not Morning Glory.

It all starts off when Becky Fuller (McAdams) is fired from her morning news program in New Jersey.  Not to be beaten, the determined and an ambitious young TV producer sets off to New York where she is given the chance to shine when she is handed the job of lifting the fortunes and ratings of ailing breakfast show DayBreak.  Her problems don’t stop though at lifting the ratings as crusty Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) and Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), the hosts of the morning show, make Becky’s job even more difficult through their constant squabbling and demands. The hosts bickering interaction with one another plays out brilliantly on screen and is one of the highlights of the movie.

Morning Glory is a good movie that’s worth seeing but it won’t win, or be nominated for any Oscars, and as I said earlier, it won’t raise the stock of McAdams.  It’s just one of those light, fun movies where you find yourself rooting for the main character to turn it all around as her world collapses around her.

The Dilemma

What would you do if you found your best friend’s partner having an affair?  That’s the situation Vince Vaughn finds himself in in The Dilemma.

The movie is centred around Ronny Valentine (Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James) who have been best friends since college and are business partners.  Nick is the brains of the business, despite his awkwardness, while Ronny is the handsome and charismatic one.  Together, they have managed to become successful and are on the verge of a crucial business deal.

Early on, we find that Ronny idolises Nick for his commitment to his college sweetheart, Geneva (Winona Ryder), and how he admires him and them for managing to stick together for twenty years.  His idolising bubble is popped though when he catches Geneva kissing a much younger and handsome guy called Zip (Channing Tatum).  Now he is in a dilemma; does he tell Nick what he knows about his wife and risk destroying their marriage and jeopardising their business deal or does he say nothing and let his best friend continue living in a sham of a marriage.

The Dilemma is billed as a comedy however that really isn’t the case.  There are a few laughs here and there but not as many as you would think and in all honesty, The Dilemma is an unintentional drama that just so happens to star funny men Vince Vaughn and Kevin James.  If you want to see a comedy, I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you’re interested in a story of how two friends work through a difficult situation, then it may be worth going to.

The Green Hornet

From the writers of The Pineapple Express and Superbad comes this tongue in cheek family fun superhero adventure, The Green Hornet, the often forgotten superhero franchise that was brought to us in 1936, three years before Batman even existed.

The story goes that after his father passes away, playboy Reid (Seth Rogen) inherits the responsibility of running the family business – The newspaper empire that is the Daily Sentinel.  Not something he’s ready for or wants but he has the help of Lenore (Cameron Diaz), his love interest, to help make sure the paper is running without hiccups.  His ambition though is not to run a business but to fight crime and through the help of his father’s former assistant, Kato (Jay Chou), he gets to realise that dream as The Green Hornet.

The gags lie in the chemistry between Reid and Kato as Kato is a mechanical genius and a master of the martial arts while Reid is incompetent and needs constant saving.  Despite being so overwhelmed by his partner’s skills, Reid’s ego tries to demote Kato from partner to sidekick which is not appreciated by the masked wonder. Chistophe Waltz makes a good job of playing the megalomaniac villain kingpin, Benjamin Chudnofsky, who will stop at nothing in order to make a profit.

With impressive action scenes and a mindless, humorous and easy to enjoy story, The Green Hornet is a superhero movie that you can lean back and laugh out loud with.