Movie Review: Main Street (2010)

Good little naturalistic thought provoker ___ 8/10

Main StreetBackground Note

Ellen Burstyn’s character, “Georgiana Carr,” bears the last name of an actual Durham, N.C., family that was prominent in the tobacco business. The large portrait in her house, showing a uniformed man with a big white mustache, is a picture of Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924), one of Durham’s earliest tobacco magnates, who was involved in a variety of other business enterprises and was a highly regarded philanthropist. The portrait normally resides in the North Carolina Collection of the Durham County Public Library. Continue reading

Movie Review: The King’s Speech (2010)

Worth watching, Anglophile or not __ 9/10
Review by Brian Wright

The King's SpeechLionel Logue: [as George “Berty” is lighting up a cigarette] Please don’t do that.
King George VI: I’m sorry?
Lionel Logue: I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you.
King George VI: My physicians say it relaxes the throat.
Lionel Logue: They’re idiots.
King George VI: They’ve all been knighted.
Lionel Logue: Makes it official then. Continue reading