Movie Buzz

The Last King of Scotland

I saw The Last King of Scotland on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed it. Forest Whitaker's performance as Idi Amin is phenomenal. He does such a great job alternating between Amin as affable man of the people and Amin as sadistic megalomaniac. Kevin MacDonald, the director, also does a great job conveying the extent of Amin's bipolar disorder (my diagnosis) by juxtaposing such disparate scenes. For example, you'll have a scene of revelry immediately followed by a scene of barbarism, and then suddenly back to a scene of frivolity. It's jarring, in a very authentic sense. I'd definitely recommend the movie, especially since there's going to be a lot of buzz about it if Whitaker indeed wins an Oscar for this role, as many are predicting. And it's always nice to have seen a movie before everyone else is talking about it at the water cooler at work.

Also, while watching the trailers prior to the movie, I was struck by the fact that there are quite a few movies that will be coming out soon that I'd like to see. I was surprised because I'm not such a big movie buff. Anyway, here are the movies that caught my attention:

Amazing Grace

This is the true story of William Wilberforce, an English politician in the 18th century who was a big part of why the British abolished the practice of slavery in 1833. He's a hero of mine. His life is a great example for everyone, but especially for every Christian who questions what it means to live out their life in the faith.

The Namesake

The Namesake, starring Kal Penn, is the movie adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel of the same name.

Breach

This movie looks like it's going to be a suspenseful thriller about espionage, the FBI, and the Russians. It's always the Russians. How come no one ever expects al-Qaeda to have spies in the upper echelon of the country's intelligence agencies? No precedent?