Monday, December 12, 2011

My Week with Marilyn

I saw My Week with Marilyn this past weekend and thought it was a successful film. Focusing on the true story of Colin Clark, at the time a twenty-four year old third director's assistant on The Prince and the Showgirl. His job at times enlisted him to look after the star, Marilyn Monroe, who, much to director, Laurence Olivier's, disdain, was rather erratic. Colin ended up helping Marilyn, and eventually falling in love with her, though she was in her third marriage to Arthur Miller at the time. She breaks his heart in the course of the movie, but they remain close.
Acting wise, I thought everyone did a fantastic job. Michelle Williams as Monroe was brilliant and you could really see the look of nervousness on her face when it came up in the scene. Her raw performance was breathtaking at moments. Eddie Redmayne as Clark was also superb. He had to be a lover in this film and did it well. He previously was on Broadway in one of my favourite plays, Red by John Logan, and won a Tony as Mark Rothko's timid assistant. It was a far stretch from what I'd seen him in before and he pulled it off. Emma Watson as Lucy, a wardrobe mistress, was a quick appearance, but it proved that she could play other roles than that of Hermione in the Harry Potter series. Kenneth Branagh as Olivier was brilliance, but he is brilliant in every role.
The cinematography by Ben Smithard was the stand out of the film for me though. The lighting was just perfect the entire film. It gave me chills at points to see the way the shot was lit and the angle that they were shooting from. The colours as well... They were breathtaking. I don't have much to say on the cinematography besides the fact that it was perfect.
This film was put together really well, with only a few flaws that I can over look due to the other aspects of it.
Grade: A

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Descendants

I saw The Descendants this past weekend. Overall, I thought it was a rather beautiful film, crafted well. When it first started, I thought that I was going to hate it. George Clooney, the star, just talked over the film for the first ten minutes. Voice overs used when they could just use a regular scene are one of my pet peeves and they did it over the first few scenes. That was my main issue with the film. It was filmed in Hawaii, in places that I have actually been so that was fun to see. They had landscape shots that were beautiful and really showed the scenery and setting well. The acting was superb, especially by the daughters, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller. Many have said that Woodley's portrayal of Clooney's seventeen year old sarcastic daughter will earn her an Oscar nomination, along with Clooney. I agree completely that they both deserve the nominations. This adaptation of a novel was very successful. The writers did a superb job. They created a character that was a friend of the older daughter and he
just follows them around, supporting them all the way. At first, you think, "Why is he there", and then he turns out to be a really sweet character.
Overall Grade: A-

Friday, October 7, 2011

this is my blog

blog my is this.
whatifyouhadtotypewithoutspaces?
whatifyouendedeverysentencewithquestionmarks?
whenyoudonthavespaceswordslookdifferent?
petrichoristhesmellafteritrains?
noonewillreadthisprobably?
maybesomeone?
thatcouldactuallybeaquestion?
cestlavie?
aurevoir?
bonsoir?