Last King of Scotland gets an A. It is a compelling and convincing telling of how a young Scottish doctor gets drawn into being the personal physician to Idi Amin, the brutal Ugandan president in the 1970’s. Based on true events! Superb acting from Forest Whitaker who appears to be the popular bet for best actor this year (imdb 8.1/10.0). (Warning: some flashes of intense graphic violence.)
Dreamgirls gets a C+ (but Bella thought it was ‘really good”) imdb 7.1/10.0. Remember the king in The Holy Grail, the one who was always shouting to keep his son from bursting into song? Don’t get me wrong, I love musicals, but Dreamgirls needed some heavy-handed editing. I found myself making snipping motions in the air every time the dialogue turned to song. Basically, the premise was fun, the stage shows entertaining, but there were no lovable characters, the music was mediocre, and all the sung dialogue needed to be cut. I still like Eddie Murphy. And Jennifer Hudson, who was voted off American Idol, is now in line for Best Supporting Actress.