Ah finally, a self rewarded breath of English movies after my non stop 14 Asian (Japanese) film marathon.
Hollywoodland (2006)
Based on one of Hollywood’s notorious true stories, Ben Affleck plays George Reeves, the actor who plays Superman and dies in an apparent suicide (or is it murder?). Adrien Brody comes in as the private investigator, determined to uncover the truth. The movie’s story takes place along two timelines - when Superman was alive, and after - during the PI’s investigation. Interesting premise, but fails to deliver. The intrigue barely succeeds, the plot twists are kinda pathetic, and the ending - ultra anticlimatic. The acting wasn’t too bad though, and the set was perfect in recreating the old 60’s detective noir feel (in colour) - but ultimately, this movie falls flat on my floor.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Yeah, the name says it all. This is a film about the life of one of France’s most famous/infamous queens. Of course, you’d have to know the actual history to appreciate it - and if you don’t, this movie will at least make you want to read up about it. Kirsten Dunst plays the young misunderstood queen, her life and journey into queenhood and how she got caught up in the French revolution (which ultimately led to her unfair trial and beheading by guillotine). The movie often has long scenes of ‘inactivity, slow silent conversation, and gentle boring everyday movements’ which I find, is great in capturing the ‘human’ side in a character - but somehow fails miserably in this 18th century French court setting.
Furthermore, Sofia Coppola opted to use contemporary pop rock music for the soundtrack, which was really jarring against the gorgeous beautiful dresses, wigs , costumes and scenery of that era. Well, kudos to her trying to be different, but sorry - it just didn’t work for me. Furthermore, the entire time, I didn’t know what to feel for her. I didn’t know if the movie was trying to portray her to be good, or really trivial / spoilt. I didn’t feel anything. The following review from Leah Rozen (People’s Magazine) sums it up perfectly:
“The absence of political context, however, upset most critics of Marie-Antoinette, director Sofia Coppola’s featherweight follow-up to Lost in Translation. Her historical biopic plays like a pop video, with Kirsten Dunst as the doomed 18th century French queen acting like a teenage flibbertigibbet intent on being the leader of the cool kids’ club.“
Bobby (2006)
After 2 disappointing movies, I have to say - this one was FANTASTIC.
It’s a fictional story about a bunch of different character’s lifes intertwining with the real story of Senator Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy’s assassination during his victory speech. It had a stellar cast of famous actors and actresses, it was beautifully scripted, and together, their performance was simply amazing. I particularly liked how it used old footage of Robert Kennedy to portray himself during the events in the movie. The soundtrack was also gorgeous. And without revealing too much, it had a powerfully moving ending - the sort that made me tear unabashedly (maybe because there was noone else watching with me at the time haha).
The movie preaches about tolerance, unity and understanding amongst humanity as a whole - and the way it does it (ala Crash style) struck me to the core. Despite the messages being infused with political American patriotism, it’s still universal enough that can be applied to ANY country and EVERYONE. Furthermore, it’s not easy fleshing out soooo many characters in the movie, to the point where the audience feels for all of them. Each 2-5 minute scenes featuring them has to be finely crafted - and that was done very well.
What I find really funny though, is that this movie got very mixed reviews. You either get people heaping praises on it (it was nominated for Golden Globe movie of the year), and then you have famous movie critics bashing it to the ground. Well, I happen to be in favor of it, and will gladly give this movie 9.5/10 stars without hesitation. 
Hmm.. I wonder what I should watch next over the Deepavali weekends..
