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By Arty Chick, on February 21st, 2010
 This is a wonderful film! It should be on the expanded Academy Awards list for Best Picture, but sadly it isn’t. At least both Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sofya are nominated in their respective acting categories. The Last Station is the story of the last years of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s life, his tempestuous relationship with this wife, his coterie of adoring sycophants who turned him into a cult figure, and a young man who became his personal secretary and family confidante.
Fear not though; this is not a [... Keep reading]
By Arty Chick, on December 30th, 2009
 To look at The Young Victoria for historical accuracy would be the wrong way to approach it. Screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) admits to taking dramatic license in many places for effect. And it is effective as a coming of age love story set inside that gilded cage known as the British monarchy. The story begins with 17 year-old Victoria a heartbeat away from being crowned Queen, as her mother, the scheming Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), along with her power hungry advisor (Mark Strong) attempt to set up a regency thereby taking power themselves until [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on December 5th, 2009
 Simply put: If you liked Jerry Maguire or Antwone Fisher (both excellent films, by the way) then you’ll definitely like The Blind Side. It’s not so much a movie about football as it is a movie about human kindness, defining family, overcoming adversity, and beating the odds. In other words (if you’re a sap like me), bring Kleenex.
The Blind Side is based on the true story of NFL rookie Michael Oher before he joined the pros (go Ravens!). It chronicles Oher’s journey from a quiet, troubled, homeless teen to the adopted son of an affluent, compassionate, football-obsessed family in Memphis.
Newcomer [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on November 9th, 2009
 It’s good to see Hollywood paying homage to a bevy of strong, independent, talented and spirited women (Fanny Brawne in Bright Star, Amelia Earhart in Amelia, Coco Chanel in Coco Before Chanel). I just wish these movies weren’t quite so… boring.
All three felt excessively slow to me. Excellent performances seem wasted on scripts and pacing that will surely fail to spark – or keep – the interest of mainstream audiences. They will likely find an appreciative niche among festival-goers, arty Netflix queuesters, and curious industry insiders in aviation, poetry and fashion. But that’s about it.
Coco Before Chanel is a [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on October 24th, 2009
 The new biopic on the life and times of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart doesn’t crash and burn. But it doesn’t soar either. It just sort of taxis on the runway, gets some occasional lift, and glides back down again. Not the most exciting ride. And that’s disappointing, especially when you consider her remarkable story.
Earhart was an accomplished pilot and writer. She was an avid risk-taker. She was a role model. She broke records. She scored endorsement deals. She was a champion for other women fliers. She had a zest for life. And in 1937, she vanished in the South Pacific, [... Keep reading]
By Mainstream Chick, on September 14th, 2009
 Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–//Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night//And watching, with eternal lids apart//Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite//The moving waters at their priestlike task//Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores//Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask//Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–//No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable//Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast//To feel for ever its soft fall and swell//Awake for ever in a sweet unrest//Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath//And so live ever–or else swoon to death. – John Keats (1819)
Okay, so here’s the deal: If you like/understand/are intrigued by [... Keep reading]
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