where: CINE ARTS @ PLEASANT HILL in Pleasant Hill, CA
when: Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
show: 4:50 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $3.75 small Diet Coke + $13.37 lunch at China Wall Buffet ( + $2.63 Tip ) + $4.00 Bridge Toll = $33.75
auditorium: 5
seat: 5th row, 10th column
synopsis: A love story based on Victoria's ( secret ) diaries.
In the midst of court intrigues and political machinations, an 18-year old Victoria ( Emily Blunt ) ascends to the English throne when King William IV ( Jim Broadbent ) dies in 1837. And her long distance love affair with her first cousin, Prince Albert ( Rupert Friend ) of Belgium, leads to marriage which would witness the rise of the British Empire in an age of industrial revolution and social reforms that would come to be known as the Victorian Age.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Preparing for courtship; 2.) Chaperoned "chess pieces"; 3.) King William's birthday reception; 4.) Long Live The Queen; 5.) Buckingham's first royal; 6.) Courting; 7.) Played the game and lost; 8.) "You may nots"; 9.) The Waltz; 10.) Uncle Leopold's (Thomas Kretschmann ) ideas; 11.) Lord Melbourne's ( Paul Bettany ) influence; 12.) Demonstration; 13.) Albert's counsel; 14.) Marriage; 15.) "Fine" weather; 16.) "For all three days"; 17.) Re-organization; 18.) General account of finances; 19.) Prince Albert and Lord Melbourne; 20.) Sir Robert Peel's ( Michael Maloney ) new government; 21.) Lovers' quarrel; 22.) First assassination attempt; and 23.) Melbourne's good advice.
audience reaction: Although quite a number of patrons turned up for this particular show, I didn't hear any positive feedback after the movie ended. But they did laugh at some of the scenes--the funny ones, that is.
recommendation: I like this movie. It's a good love story. This is definitely a couple's flick.
spoiler alert! Queen Victoria gained the title of "Queen Dowager" after the love of her life, Prince Albert, died of typhoid at the age of 42. From which point on, the "Widow of Windsor" took to wearing only black clothing to symbolize her loss as she spent the next nineteen years of her reign in almost total seclusion. But since she was the reigning sovereign monarch and Prince Albert never became king, then the proper title for her should have been, "Queen Regnant."
It's true that the setting for this movie was well before the electric light bulb was invented, but did they have to make a lot of the scenes look so dim and out of focus?
I was disappointed in the King's banquet scene because I was denied even a fleeting glimpse of a British "Spotted Dick"--why? was it too small ...? I don't think I'd want to swallow whole something with spots all over it in the first place so I guess that I'll just pass on this one.
fyi: Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, a widower who also had lost his only child, became an overly-protective surrogate father to the young and naive Queen Victoria, almost to the detriment of her early rule.
Queen Victoria was buried beside her beloved Prince Albert in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum at Windsor ( built to her specifications--a British Taj Mahal, if I may be so bold as to draw upon the similarity in concept ). The inscription above the door are the words of Queen Victoria herself: "farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again." But ... ( here's the big BUT ) ... in her coffin were placed a lock of hair of, a picture of, and a wedding ring of John Brown, the queen's manservant at Balmoral---shouldn't this be Bad Moral---Castle in Scotland. At the Resurrection, I, Cine-Man, want to have a front-row seat when Queen Victoria and John Brown rise up and The Lord Christ lets Prince Albert out of the can! Ha, ha, ha. Popcorn, anyone ...?
word of advice: Judge for yourself.
Beware of Cine-man for he drives around with a pen and paper handy all the time!
tidbits: I think that there is a gastronomic conspiracy afoot that's preventing me from having an Indian Buffet meal! For the third time in a row, I was denied such a pleasure because the Indian buffet restaurant, Namaste, was closed until 5:00 p.m. for that's when their weekend dinner buffet starts. And to think, I wanted to have an Indian buffet meal in honor of Queen Victoria, Empress of India and Lordess of Bombay Sapphire Gin! Oh, well .... Next time, maybe.
Hungry, I just went into the China Wall Buffet next door. As I was loading-up my plate with dessert, an Hispanic little brat was repeatedly sticking his right index finger into the frozen yogurt spout and licking it. I could see the sushi chef, holding his ginzu knife, staring at the brat and probably wishing to sushi-fy him right there and then! Where are the f--king parents? If not for the comic possibilities, I would never set foot at this place ever again!
I missed the first few minutes of the movie because I had to perform my usual before-seeing-a-movie ritual: empty my bladder first so that I don't go on a trip in the middle of the movie and miss an important scene--I already miss some good scenes each and every time because of my note-taking in the dark, as it is!
I wanted, at first, to sit in the sixth row but a lady in the seventh row had her feet up on the back of a seat and I didn't want to sit in such proximity to where scrutinizing eyes may cast a disapproving glance at my ungrateful and ungracious repugnance at the lady's seemingly permeative malodorous bipedal display! My courteousness has its sensory limits after all. ( Did I just channel British English? Well, I'll be darned! )
After the movie, I went to the Dollar Tree Store adjacent to the cinema. I purchased six glass tankards, as a gift ( Yup, I'm Mr. Cheapskate ) for my friend, Hector , and two bags of two-pound long grain rice.
On my way out of the shopping center at 7:25 p.m., I stopped at a stop sign in front of Kohl's and motioned for a young lady to cross. That bitch didn't even acknowledge my courtesy with a simple "thank you" gesture. I wasn't even checking her out! That plain-looking, pock-marked face bitch who's only beautiful in her own delusional imagination! Sheesh, wake up and give me a break!
And when I got to the corner of Monument Boulevard, this white Ford ( I think ) pick-up truck, with Texas license: AB8 6638, which I followed from the shopping center, motioned to make a right turn but occupied both the right lane AND my lane, too! What's with rednecks who drive big pick-up trucks and can't park right and can't drive within a lane? Are they overcompensating for a deficiency in their manhood or what ...?
