What’s the most popular movie actor right now? If you guessed Robert Pattinson, you’d be correct! The British actor has been in the spotlight recently for his role in the new Batman movie, but he’s been in the business for a while and has appeared in many big-name films. There are several reasons why this year has been such a profitable year for Pattinson. First, he’s appeared in some incredible films. Second, he’s continued to gain popularity internationally, especially in China. And last but not least, this year has been a blockbuster year for movie releases. The most popular movies this year have been Pattinson’s choices, so it’s clear that he’s become the talk of the town. Let’s take a look at five of his best movies from this past year. If you disagree, feel free to express your opinion in the comments section!
Dangerous Method
In a nutshell, Dangerous Method is the story of a famous English writer, David Leavitt (Ramin Tahir), who is on the verge of losing his mind. For the past few years, he’s been having an affair with a younger woman, Sally (Naomie Harris), who works for a magazine. He falls in love with her, but she doesn’t feel the same way. She discovers his past, which includes an eccentric uncle who he claimed to have loved as a child, and she realizes that she can never truly be with him. After a fight that leaves her bruised, she leaves him and decides to take their relationship to the next level. For some reason, she calls him a couple of weeks later and invites him to meet her in Japan. She doesn’t tell him that she knows about his uncle, or that she’s going to ask him to leave the country. The movie is based on Christopher Hitchens’ Vanity Fair article “The Art of Fiction No. 376: Stories from My Life”, which was first published in 2007. For those of you who haven’t read the piece, it’s pretty interesting. Hitchens, who was an English journalist and writer, had a notorious habit of breaking celebrity news stories before they hit the mainstream media. One such story involved actor Robert Pattinson. When Vanity Fair contacted Hitchens about the piece, he told them that he had met Pattinson during the Cannes Lion Festival in 2006. Hitchens wrote the story while waiting for an interview with the Twilight actor, who was wearing an “I love James Bond” t-shirt at the time. (Yes, Twilight was a thing back then.) In the story, Hitchens mentioned Pattinson’s name in a few different ways. First, he said that he was a “famous English actor” with an “unbelievable” face. Then, he wrote that Pattinson had a “dangerous, leopard-like” quality about him. Finally, he said that the actor had “killer eyes.”
The first thing that comes to mind when you think about Dangerous Method is the film adaptation of the Roald Dahl masterpiece, The Twits, which was released last year. The movie starred Eddie Marsan (Father Ted) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Scooby-Doo). If you’ve never heard of The Twits, it’s probably time to rectify that situation because it’s a beloved classic. The movie is about two insane old men who convince their neighbors that they’re rabbits named Thomas and Tulse. They make a living stealing rabbits, cooking them, and then serving them at random times. Most of the comedy in the film comes from Marsan and Leigh’s exaggerated performances. If you’ve never seen either one of them act before, then this would be a good opportunity to do so. Some of the other movies that have been massively successful at the box office this year also have their English roots. The King’s Speech, which stars Colin Firth, was based on the true story of King George the Sixth, who was born in 1889 and had a passion for orchids. When he became King in 1926, he began a journey that would see him struggle with alcoholism and mental illness. The movie is about his time in Worcester Park Palace, which was the largest mental institution in England at the time. It mainly houses patients who are considered to be dangerously insane and serves as a setting for several of the palace’s patients to come to terms with their condition. The movie was directed by Tom Hooper and released in March. Other British films such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Lady in the Van also deal with mental health issues. If you think that any of these subjects matter to you, then you might want to see what the British are doing these days. It’s not just about war and terrorism anymore. Many of our leading men and women are struggling with issues that they’d rather keep private. Mental health is becoming a way of life rather than something that only crazy people struggle with.
The Rover
In a nutshell, The Rover is the story of George Mackenzie (Rafe Spall), who is reluctantly coerced into becoming a gentleman adventurer in order to pay off his father’s large gambling debts. The film was directed by Mackenzie who also stars in the leading role as Mackenzie, a role that he was born to play. The setting for the movie is the Scottish Highlands, which is one of the most stunning landscapes that anybody could ever photograph or film. The rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands inspired the scenery as well as the costume design (the kilt) and the soundtrack (traditional Scottish music). Additionally, the movie features a Gaelic song that appears in the film’s opening scene. If you’ve never been to Scotland, then this would be a good opportunity to visit one of its cities, such as Edinburgh or Glasgow. The locations alone are worth the trip. You can also do some hunting for your own food, which is quite rare in most cities. (Although, it’s not like they starve the animals elsewhere.) Some of the other movies from this year have a backdrop of some sort, which allows the viewer to picture themselves somewhere warm, relaxing, and beautiful instead of the cold, dark scenes that we often associate with movies. The Rover is one of these special films. It’s a shame that it wasn’t made more popular when it was first released, which would have made it a better fit for the summer season. Nevertheless, it continues to find an audience after all these years and manages to stay fresh by injecting some new elements into the genre every time that it updates its script.