Reviews and More

I read a lot of celebrity gossip sites to keep up with the latest Hollywood happenings. It amazes me how often some of these big stars get busted for speeding — and how often they manage to get out of their tickets based on various technicalities. I won’t go so far as to say that their celebrity status has anything to do with it, but I do sometimes wonder….

At any rate, thanks to the Original Ticket Busters over at TicketBust.com, even regular folks can learn how to fight a speeding ticket and come out on top.

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That sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

I’ve got a friend named Chris who lives in Los Angeles, and he’s the type of driver who can’t resist putting the pedal to the metal every once in a while. I’m going to tell him about TicketBust.com and make sure he bookmarks the site. He’ll probably end up needing their help sooner or later!

While I clearly remember being shocked to hear about Princess Diana’s death in a Paris tunnel back in 1997, I didn’t pay attention to the extensive coverage that surrounded the event. Indeed, I never paid attention to anything the royals did, so I didn’t even realize that there was bad blood between Diana and Queen Elizabeth II. And naturally, I didn’t understand the importance of what happened in the week leading up to Diana’s funeral, when the Queen at first refused to speak of the tragedy in public, and then finally relented enough to say a few words.

So when I heard that this was the subject matter of Stephen Frears’ 2007 film The Queen, I was a bit hesitant to rent the DVD. Frankly, it seemed like I’d get a boring movie at best, filled with incomprehensible scenes and stilted dialog. But I very much wanted to see Helen Mirren in her Oscar-winning performance, so I decided to take a chance on this movie anyway — and it’s a good thing I did!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): On August 31, 1997, the world received some shocking news: Diana, the former Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in Paris, after the vehicle she was riding in was chased down by paparazzi. The reaction in the United Kingdom was particularly poignant, with crowds gathering outside Buckingham Palace by the thousands to place flowers and other memorials for their beloved Diana.

The main storyline of The Queen concerns itself with the reaction — or, more specifically, the lack of a reaction — from Queen Elizabeth II (played by Helen Mirren). When news of Diana’s death reached the Royal Family, the Queen, her husband Prince Philip (James Cromwell), Prince Charles (Alex Jennings), and young William (Jake Taylor Shantos) and Harry (Dash Barber) were at their sprawling Balmoral retreat in Scotland.

Charles went to Paris to claim the body and bring it back to England. At that time, he issued a brief statement to the press, but no one else from the royals made a public appearance. Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), on the other hand, made a memorable speech almost immediately, in which he expressed sadness at Diana’s passing, and referred to her as the “People’s Princess”.

Blair knew that the British public wanted some kind of response from the Queen, so he kept calling her to try to convince her that she was making a major mistake by not speaking up. The Queen, however, insisted that Diana’s death was a private matter, and refused to showcase the royal family’s mourning to the public.

As the funeral approached, Brits started voicing their displeasure even more. They believed that at the very least the flag at Buckingham Palace should fly at half-mast to signal the tragedy. The Queen nevertheless held out — until Blair outlined a three-point plan that he believed the Queen must follow in order to regain her popularity. Part of that plan included making a public appearance at Buckingham Palace to view the tributes to Diana, and making a short statement about Diana’s passing. The Queen finally complied, after seeing polls indicating that her approval rating was at an all-time low.

My Reaction: Speaking as someone who has no interest in the Royals, I was surprised at how completely fascinating and intriguing The Queen was. I thought Frears’ decision to use archived news footage to show genuine reactions to the tragedy was a sound one, and made the film all the more enjoyable.

Helen Mirren was positively brilliant in this film, and I found her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II to be extremely sympathetic. From everything I’ve read, the Queen is considered to have an icy demeanor and is known to be very stubborn. But as I watched this film, I found myself siding with her opinion that it wasn’t her place to get involved. However, it was good to see her bend a little at the end because that provided just enough of a character arc to make the film great.

Overall, I thought The Queen was an outstanding movie. If you’ve avoided this one because it looks too dry or boring, then you’re really missing out on something terrific. I give it 9.0 stars out of 10.