Movie #409 - The Libertine

The Libertine

2004 - Rated R - 1 hr 54 min
Director: Laurence Dunmore
Starring: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport, Richard Coyle

This movie has Johnny Depp plus not one, but two actors from the show Coupling. Well done!

Although, I have to admit it's not Depp's best looking role.  Something about all that syphillis...  I think the chameleon in Rango is a better looking Depp part. Just sayin.

Anyway, this one's a strange, twisted biopic, where Depp plays 17th century writer John Wilmot-- a sex-crazed lush who just doesn't know when to stop pissing people off.  Samantha Morton plays the plain actress he falls in love with and coaches to stardom, while she and her pure ambition start to mess with Wilmot's mind.  He blames her for making him love life, having been much happier doing nothing before.  Strange relationship there.

Malkovich is underwhelming as King Charles II, the very king Depp pisses off with his play. It's the beginning of the end for the writer, as he succumbs to his illness and constant drunken stuppor at only 33.

A sad and tragic story, cut out of history for our like/disklike/indifference.  Personally, I enjoy the style of the film, beginning and ending with a Depp-delivered speech to the camera, and the aimlessness of the main character.  Little pieces of history from the time period always enthrall me, however, so I might be a bit biased :)

Movie #216 - Fracture

Fracture
2007 - Rated R - 1 hr 53 min
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Billy Burke

I can never remember this movie by its title, so when I saw it on the wall I didn't know if I'd seen it already.  But as soon as I started watching it, it all came back.  Maybe the title just doens't fit, that's why my brain doesn't make the association.

Anyway, this one's great.  Anthony Hopkins is a jilted husband who wants revenge on his wife and her lover.  He sets up what he thinks is the perfect crime, then sets up the perfect acquittal  by representing himself in court again Ryan Gosling and proving the evidence to be invalid again and again.  But as with any good movie, in the end, he gets what's coming to him...the fun is in watching to see where he missteps.

It's smart and clever, the kind of cerebral intrigue that's nice to see from Hollywood once in a while. Hopkins is great, no surprise, but Gosling holds his own against him.  Well done all around.