365+ Movies in 365 Days: Day 65 -The Young Victoria, The Taking Of Pelham 123 & 9

The fog came in yesterday and the night was chilly so Fourth of July festivities were held indoors with a triple movie feature.

Fist up was the 2009 film The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt. Queen Victoria was the longest reigning queen in British history. An entire era is named after her and this film details the early days of her rule and her romance with Prince Albert.

Emily Blunt plays the woman destined to be a queen. She has all the issues any young girl would have, in addition to the manipulations of those who would use or steal her power for their own use. King William (Jim Broadbent) is ill and may die any day. It is possible he will die before Victoria is old enough to become Queen. There are three factions who are attempting to influence and control her. There is her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) and her lover Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong). They wish for Victoria to declare her mother Regent to rule in her stead, until she becomes of age. There is King Leopold of Austria (Thomas Kretchmann), who needs the support of Great Britain and sends Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) to woo her. And Finally there is Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany), the prime Minister who influences the young Queen for his own political ends.

The movie tells the the story of how Victoria navigates her way through palace intrigue and ends up finding true love in Prince Albert.

The film moves quickly at the beginning throwing characters at you right and left. The film is told in part flash back and since historically everyone knows Elizabeth became Queen and married Prince Albert, some of the intrigue does not come off. This film joins a long line of films about the British monarchy including Elizabeth, The Queen, Mrs. Brown and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. if you like these you'll like Young Victoria.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars.

Next up we watched the 2009 remake of The Taking Of Pelham 123 starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. I skipped this film in the theatres. I have seen the Walter Matthau/Robert Shaw original and it is one of my favorite "New York" movies. I saw no point in a remake and I saved my ten bucks.

While I'm glad I saved money at the the theatre on Blu-ray it's an acceptable home video experience. Director Tony Scott jacks up the volume and the hyper kinetic pace of this thriller to keep the action moving. Both films are based on the novel by John Goodey.

The basic premise is the same a band of armed criminals hijack a NYC subway train and demand a ransom form the city of New York. The new film dropped the humor of the first and added modern day touches such as the Internet and video streaming. Travolta plays the lead villain, Mr. Ryder as a man on a hair trigger who might kill out of spite and Denzel Washington is the flawed rail center controller that ends up negotiating with the criminals. This film is almost entirely about Washington or Travolta, with one or the other on the screen almost all the time. The hostages, other criminals and city officials are pushed to the sidelines.

The first two thirds of the film work because the pace is fast and the action never lets up. Director Tony Scott uses the countdown to keep the action moving. The movie slows in the third act and never quite rights itself. This movie intensifies the dual between the two men by having them meet face to face and in the end confront each other to.

The rest of the cast includes James Gandolfini doing a good turn as the Mayor and John Tuturro playing an NYPD hostage negotiator.
At the movie House rating **1/2 stars

And finally we ended the night watching the 2009 sci-fi animated film 9. The film is about a dystopian future (or past, is this some odd WWII alternate reality) where man has created machines that turned against them and the world has been destroyed. The only survivors seem to be these rag dolls that were created by a scientist before the end so "some life would go on".

The film opens with 9 coming to life. He is alone in a destroyed home, the scientist dead on the floor. he begins to explore this ravaged world where he encounters 2 another of his kind. Before they can say more than hello they are attacked by a mechanical dog monster and 2 is carried off and 9 is injured. When 9 is rescued by 5 we soon learn there is a group of these living creations each one numbered by the creator and currently hiding out in a destroyed cathedral (Notre Dame?). They are led by 1 who's notion is to stay in hiding and avoid contact with the outside. But 9 is young and inexperienced in this world and leads a rescue party to find 2.

This rescue party accidentally activates the machine that created the robots that destroyed the world and now its soul mission is to destroy the last remaining life on earth, these 9 creatures.

The film is based on an Oscar winning short story of the same name and visually the film is stunning. It creates a world of destruction that staggers the imagination. But unfortunately the plot and dialog falls into standard action/adventure picture mode, that does not do service to the the imagination that inspired this creation.

It's worth a look if you want to see superior CGI animation but if the thought walking, talking heroic rag dolls does not sound like your thing, skip it.
At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars