Easy Virtue

Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas

Directed by Stephen Elliott

Rating: B

When a newly married couple go to stay at the husband's family country estate in England, the impending feud between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law is obvious from the start.

As Mrs. Whittaker (Thomas) learns that her son, John (Barnes), has abruptly married an American during his travels, she immediately finds reason to dislike her. John was promised to a neighbor's daughter that would connect the two families into one large estate. John is young and foolishly in love, but he is blind to his wife's discontent living in the country. Larita (Biel) is a city girl with a need for a faster paced life racing cars. Larita's only other ally is the estranged father of John, Mr. Whittaker (Firth).

Mrs. Whittaker and Larita go head-to-head, trying to show each other who is the alpha in this country home. John's two younger sister's don't help Larita's cause when she accidentally causes embarrassment and harm to the two. John's youngest sister contacts a relative in New York and digs up Larita's dirty past for all to hear.

"Easy Virtue" is a surprisingly enjoyable film. The mother-in-law hates daughter-in-law was predictable but the characters helped move the story along at an easy-going pace. While Mrs. Whittaker had wished for her son to marry the neighbor's daughter, she doesn't force them uncomfortably together as other predictable movies do. John and the neighbor's daughter get along fine enough but there is no blossoming romance to steal the spotlight. Being the new person in the house brings attention to Larita. She wishes that everyone will accept her since she grew up in a different lifestyle. Her fair treatment of the household staff holds her in favor over the residents themselves, who have their rules they stick to.

As a period piece, "Easy Virtue" should not scare away viewers. It's not a depressing drama nor will it bore you with subtle history lessons. There's humor and not an overly-sickening romance like "Pride & Prejudice" to scare the male viewers away. It's also one of the better roles Jessica Biel has portrayed. So if you're looking for a movie that won't puzzle your mind with a confusing story line and are looking for something different to watch, "Easy Virtue" may be the movie you should try.

Love Actually

Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Martin Freeman, Keira Knightley

Directed by Richard Curtis

Rating: A

An ensemble movie with a huge cast, "Love Actually" tells the stories of different people's love stories during the Christmas holidays. Jamie Bennett (Firth) finds out the hard way that his girlfriend is cheating on him -with his brother- and he takes to France during the winter holidays to write. Daniel (Neeson) just lost his wife and has a young stepson who locks himself in his room all day. Daniel tries to connect with him, since they both lost someone very important in their lives. Hugh Grant plays the British Prime Minister (he doesn't have a proper name in this movie) and is distracted from his job by the one of the household staff, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon).

"Love Actually" is a great movie to watch for any occasion. It's a great Christmas movie to watch, perfect for Valentines Day, and to watch during the summer when you're craving a good British film. "Love Actually" isn't the average cheesy romance that we tend to see in the U.S. It has substance, humor, a great cast, and yes, romance. It's not just a "chick flick" because there are actually a good handful of guys who appreciate this movie too. So there! It's great for all audiences but it does have some rated "R" moments so anyone under sixteen might have to wait.

"Love Actually" doesn't bore you with one straight plot line. Instead you follow different characters (and it's not too confusing to remember who's who but you might have to watch it a second time). This is one of my favorite movies of all time (number two!) and you can never go wrong gathering some friends and watching this for a fun movie night.

Dorian Gray

Ben Barnes, Colin Firth

Directed by Oliver Parker

Rating: 1 star

Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) is an innocent and pure young man. He is easily misguided by Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth) and corrupted by Henry's antics. Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) wanted to capture Dorian's innocence by painting a portrait. Dorian wishes to trade his soul for his youth and unbeknownst to Dorian, his portrait takes on the sins he later commits. While Dorian remains young for years to come, his portrait grows old and ugly. Upon noticing this, Dorian hides his portrait and continues to live a corrupted life.

An erotic and horribly twisted version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, this movie should never have been made. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE. I was deeply disgusted with this version and personally cannot believe someone could make a movie so bad. It was a very sensual and disturbing take on Wilde's novel. Honestly, it was a waste of time. Colin Firth made an embarrassingly bad career move when he took on the role of Lord Henry Wotton. Sure, he played it all right but it was such a horrible movie! And Ben Barnes, while he may be an ideal actor for Dorian Gray, unfortunately not even he could save this movie. The cast was fine, the content however is a different story.

(Warning: next paragraph may be disturbing as I describe some gruesome scenes from the movie.)

The movie had similarities to the book. It's been a while since I read the novel so I can't remember if they strayed too far but they got the main points. However, what wasn't heavily influenced in the book that was put in the movie was Dorian's sex life. What a scandalous young man! In the movie, he has sex with a young girl (teenager, he wasn't a pedophile) and when the mother comes looking for her in the bedroom, the young girl hides under the bed while he has sex with the mother! The ONLY thing I actually laughed at in the movie was the death of Sibyl Vane's brother because it was unexpected. I preferred his death in the book but in the movie it was humorous to see him die by falling in an underground railroad and run over by a train.

I would only recommend viewing this movie if you want to be disturbed.

The Kings Speech

Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush

Directed by Tom Hooper

Rating: 5 stars

Before you come to know him as King George VI (Colin Firth), the movie starts off before he became king. George (or "Bertie" as those closest called him) grew up with a speech impediment. This was something his parents tried to correct while he was growing up. However, it was to no succession. Even as an adult, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), looked for speech therapists to help him overcome his stammer. Frustratingly, Bertie had had enough and was done with the fruitless attempts. Yet Elizabeth looked for one more doctor and came across Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Lionel's unusual methods was able to make Bertie's life a little bit easier, though he was never cured of his stammering. Lionel was an important asset, and friend, to Bertie in life; especially when his brother abdicated the throne and Bertie is thrust into a life he never wanted.

The Kings Speech clearly deserved five stars. Usually when you hear that there is a movie based on a king, queen, or president, you don't tend to jump up in excitement and say "I want to see that!" But with the Kings Speech, it's different. First of all, Colin Firth is playing the lead. That should be reason enough. Of course, that's not all. The Kings Speech brings humor into it and you find yourself chuckling in your seat throughout various scenes. (Especially the scene where George is introduced to Lionel's wife and he says, "It's nice to meet you again." Colin Firth and the wife, Jennifer Ehle, were Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice.) Also, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush make a great on-screen friendship. It's fun to watch them together; especially seeing the unusual methods Lionel uses.

What I liked about this movie is that it's not boring. It not only keeps you entertained and makes you more knowledgeable about Britain's King George VI, it brings awareness about stuttering. I'm sure a lot of people who have this problem could relate to what King George VI went through and yet it also brings a message of hope. Even though the Kings Speech is rated R, it's for language. There's no nude scenes or drug usage. It's not like you're hearing curse words fly out at you every few minutes either. It's just here and there, not something you would really consider not seeing this movie for. This movie, however, is not for everyone. It's more like an acquired taste. I could never see my sister, for example, sitting through this movie and saying it was great. Not in a million years. Therefore, I would recommend watching the trailer for this movie on youtube before deciding whether you're interested or not.