The Last King of Scotland and The Painted Veil (DVD)

The Last King of Scotland - If I had to pick one word to describe this movie, it would be 'engrossing.' This is a modern day masterpiece of a film and it absolutely holds your attention from beginning to end. The movie follows the life of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) a young Scottish man who graduates med school and decides, instead of following in Dad's footsteps and working in family medicine, to take off to Uganda to have an adventure and maybe do some good for the African people. At first, he does do some good, working at a small mission and helping sick children. Then he meets the new president of the country (who just overthrew the former president), Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). The two form an unlikely friendship and Garrigan becomes Amin's personal doctor and, reluctantly, one of his closest advisors. The story of their complicated friendship is wonderful. Once Garrigan's conscience gets in his way (and after he has an affair with the Amin's wife played by Kerry Washington), Garrigan is more or less stuck in a very tough situation. The screenplay and directing are both great. The quick cutting editing is perfect and helps to make the film feel fast paced and helps to keep it from ever getting boring. But the performances are what's really worth talking about. Out of last year's Best Actor nominees, Whitaker definitely deserved the Oscar for his mecurial performance. I've always thought he came across as such a soft-spoken and sweet guy. It's amazing to his transformation into Amin. He's at times absolutely charming and likeable. His people admire and respect him. But then that admiration turns to fear. At the drop of a hat, he can become an angry, rageful and downright scary man. Then, he switches back to being so charming so quickly. His performance is really a pleasure to watch. However, not only does McAvoy hold his own against Whitaker, but also, in my opinion, he steals the entire movie from him. McAvoy is a revelation. I never heard of the guy until last year at Oscar time and he absolutely blew me away. Had he been nominated for an Oscar, I would be singing a different tune about who deserved to win. He's got this childlike innocence mixed with a sort of world-weariness that is a weird mixture but it works for him. Overall, this is a great movie that you absolutely need to see. Right now.

Grade: A

The Painted Veil - This movie is a glamorous sort of throw back to Old Hollywood romance movies. It boasts excellent cinematography, a solid script and great performances. It follows Walter (Edward Norton) and Kitty (Naomi Watts), a couple who meet in London and marry, eventhough Kitty goes into the marriage in order to get away from her mother. They soon move to China where Walter works and Kitty enters into an affair with the married Charlie (Liev Schrieber). When Walter finds out, he threatens to divorce Kitty and tarnish her name unless she goes with him to a small village with an outbreak of cholera. After Kitty realizes that Charlie never intended to leave his wife for her, she reluctantly goes with her husband. What initially starts out as punishment for her, soon turns into redemption as she learns how to love her husband eventhough it may be too late. This movie is a sprawling, beautifully filmed epic. There are so many wonderful shots of nature. Watts and Norton have amazing chemistry and play off each other very well. Norton inhabits his quiet yet firm and somewhat cocky doctor perfectly. No matter how popular he gets, he'll always be the epitome of a character actor. Watts is wonderful as well as the once spunky girl who is unwilling to stay shackled in a loveless, unhappy marriage. The emotional turmoil she portrays near the end of the film is really, really great and if last year wasn't such a strong year for female performances, she would have been a lock at Oscar time. Toby Jones and (the absolutely amazing) Diana Rigg lend some much needed support. The main problem I had with the movie was how it just drags on and on and on. It could have been about 3o minutes shorter. Plus, you could tell they cut some scenes a bit confusing at first (but if they hadn't cut scenes, it would have been painfully long). All in all, it's not a great movie but it does boast great performances and beautiful cinematography so it's well worth checking out.

Grade: B+