, A Scanner Darkly
) pulls together one of the most interesting films about the theater industry I've seen, not normally an avenue I have any interest in. While Efron struggles to hold his own against the powerful McKay, he's not all that bad as a whole. Maybe he's not the talent sinkhole I made him out to be. Seeing Welles portrayed with such vigor only made me sadder that such a monumental talent's career wasted away to the point that his last film role was as the voice of Unicron in Transformers: The Movie
. 7/10
Only the great Spanish director Pedro Almadovar could make me want to see a movie within a movie called "Girls and Suitcases". The brilliant auteur behind Volver
and Talk To Her 
makes his 4th film starring the vivacious Penelope Cruz, and nobody shoots her more beautifully than he. I see why she keeps coming back. Almadovar uses his trademark overdramatized, telenovella style to paint a passionate portrait of unfulfilled love, jealousy, and simmering hatred. The story involves a blind writer, Harry Caine, who used to be a director by the name of Mateo Blanco. The reasons for the change and how he was blinded are left up in the air. The film takes place in both the 90s and the present day, when Mateo falls for Magdalena, the wife of an older influential businessman. He casts her in his latest film on the spot, causing a rift that takes the film on an unexpectedly dark and mysterious path. Almadovar's use of color is breathtaking. Every scene jumps off the screen, making it feel more alive than almost anything I've seen this year. And yet he uses an almost film noir style to the storytelling, leaving the mystery wide open and just off to the side until the clues finally piece together. My favorite Almadovar film yet and another masterpiece. 8/10
and Talk To Her makes his 4th film starring the vivacious Penelope Cruz, and nobody shoots her more beautifully than he. I see why she keeps coming back. Almadovar uses his trademark overdramatized, telenovella style to paint a passionate portrait of unfulfilled love, jealousy, and simmering hatred. The story involves a blind writer, Harry Caine, who used to be a director by the name of Mateo Blanco. The reasons for the change and how he was blinded are left up in the air. The film takes place in both the 90s and the present day, when Mateo falls for Magdalena, the wife of an older influential businessman. He casts her in his latest film on the spot, causing a rift that takes the film on an unexpectedly dark and mysterious path. Almadovar's use of color is breathtaking. Every scene jumps off the screen, making it feel more alive than almost anything I've seen this year. And yet he uses an almost film noir style to the storytelling, leaving the mystery wide open and just off to the side until the clues finally piece together. My favorite Almadovar film yet and another masterpiece. 8/10
My self imposed exile from period pieces such as this was lifted mainly due to Emily Blunt, who I think is one of the most impressive young actresses working today. Having yet seen her in this type of role I figured it at least worth a look, and she makes the future Queen far more desirable than portraits have painted her out to actually be. Without Blunt's energy, this would be a slow plodding bore. The film chronicles her budding romance with her future husband Prince Albert(get your mind out of the gutter), and the political machinations working to keep them both apart. The biggest problem is that if these people aren't yelling at eachother, then they're sitting around writing letters to one another, and that ain't all that exciting for two hours. But I did genuinely get invested in the romance between Victoria and Albert(Rupert Friend) once they finally got past first base. Enjoyable as far as movies like this go, but most will grow tired of it quickly. 6/10
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