Film ratings [12]

“People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it’s like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor’s hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.”
— Barbara Covett

Notes on a Scandal features two of the best actresses out there, Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. They each deliver superb performances, in a way in which you believe that you’re watching real life being played-out, instead of a screenplay moving along with actors presenting their dialogue and actions. Then why is it that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with this Rudin/Fox produced motion picture?

I haven’t read the novel by Zoë Heller, so I cannot really judge whether the story disappoints me because of the screenplay, or because the original source material isn’t satisfying me. There are some really good scenes in Notes, especially the ones with Dench (Barbara Covett) being a psycho bitch, but there are also a bunch of scenes which could’ve used some more depth and length.

Furthermore, I couldn’t stand Bill Nighy as Blanchett’s husband (Richard Hart). To be honest, I’ve never been a Nighy fan, so I’m a little bit biased; but in this role, in this film, Nighy is simply a distraction. His acting isn’t that good in Notes and he never really fits the role in my opinion. Andrew Simpson on the other hand is perfect as Blanchett’s love-interest, Steven Connolly. Simpson really becomes the character, and enchants and envelops the whole film. Dench and Blanchett are superb — Dench more than Blanchett in this particular piece — but Simpson has the best acting performance here.

On to Happily N’Ever After 2. The first film was a disaster, so this time they could’ve turned it all ’round and wowed me. And of course they didn’t deliver; not sure where that little bit of hope came from, to be honest. The plot is insane (not in a good way), the animation is amateurish and awful (also not in a good way), and there is basically no direction to be found throughout the film (never a good way, I guess). Every scene is predictable, all the twists are laughable, and the ending — oy vey, even Glitter had a more satisfying ending.

Replace “Happily N’Ever After 2” with “Fashion Victim” in the previous paragraph, and look, my review of Fashion Victim has been written. (That was an easy one, I have to confess. Nothing in the film shines; not the acting, not the ludicrous script, nor the amazing art setting or the fabulous film score. Fashion Victim is a film without a heart and without a brain.)

Changeling on the other hand does have a heart and a brain. The film moves with a lovely pace, the acting is precisely right — not too much overacting, not too little — and the art setting is mesmerising. The plot could have used a little boost; many people will disagree with me on this one, but I was wishing for more (melo)drama to be honest. There was a lot of that already, yes, but a little bit more could’ve pushed the film over the edge towards ultimate superbness.

Many people complained that Angelina Jolie shouldn’t have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress at this year’s ceremony. First of all, it’s impossible that every acting member nominated her just because they wanted great ratings for the show. I mean, honestly, I can’t believe some people actually insinuated that scenario! Don’t you think Jolie an Pitt would’ve appeared at the Academy Awards anyway, regardless of the fact whether she was nominated or not?

Secondly, she deserved the nomination. There’s no way that she was worthy of an award, but her performance was excellent and very solid. Melodramatic when she needed to be, and when a scene called for it she suddenly turned to mellow and unexpressed, like that. People, stop complaining about her nomination. This was a worthy performance, period. (Saying “period” automatically calls for a comma before it, so it doesn’t actually help you out when you’re typing the expression. Moreover, then discussing it between parentheses also doesn’t help.)

Film ratings

Film	Studio	Grade	Stars
Happily N’Ever After 2	Lionsgate	4.2	—
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Universal Studios	6.9	—
Fashion Victim	Regent Entertainment	5.9	—
The Cat Returns	Studio Ghibli	9.0
And Then Came Summer	10% Productions	7.1
My Cousin Vinny	20th Century Fox	9.1
Notes on a Scandal	Fox Searchlight	8.7
Naked Boys Singing	TLA Releasing	7.3
Changeling	Universal Studios	9.2
Birth	New Line Cinema	8.8