Been to see a few good films recently after a long stretch of not going to the cinema.
Judi Dench and Cate Blanchet brilliant in Notes on a Scandal – the scandal being a school teacher having an affair with one of her students. Gripping story of betrayal and blackmail and a twisted concept of friendship. Bill Nighy as the cheated on husband was pretty damn good in it too.
I’m not a great fan of musicals but not averse to good music in films. I hadn’t realised that Dreamgirls was a “musical extravaganza”, and good thing too or might not have gone to see it. The film was great for the “music in films” part. There were a few bits I found somewhat excruciating where song was burst into for no apparent reason (the “musical” bit) but mostly I really enjoyed the film. The music was great, and Eddie Murphy as James “Thunder” Early (a sorta James Brown like character) had an unexpectedly decent singing voice. Real sheroe of the film in my book though was Jennifer Hudson, what a voice! Where’s she been hiding all this time?
Forest Whitaker’s performance as the brutal Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland is totally believable. The story (apparently based on real events) is gripping. However some aspects of this fictional account really grated. The Nicholas Garrigan character – Idi Amin’s personal physician (played really well by James McAvoy) particularly got on my nerves. The whole way they became involved with each other and the progression of the relationship from personal physician to personal adviser just didn’t feel very convincing to me and the end of the film was a bit of a cliché.
All three films definitely worth a look and got me in the mood for seeing more.