My Week with Marilyn, 2011

My Week with Marilyn, 2011
Director: Simon Curtis
Cast: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Watson


Stage: Local theatre Komuna, afternoon screening


My week in short: Sir Laurence Olivier is making a movie in London. Young Colin Clark, an eager film student, wants to be involved and he navigates himself a job on the set. When film star Marilyn Monroe arrives for the start of shooting, all of London is excited to see the blonde bombshell, while Olivier is struggling to meet her many demands and acting ineptness, and Colin is intrigued by her. Colin's intrigue is met when Marilyn invites him into her inner world where she struggles with her fame, her beauty and her desire to be a great actress.


Preps: Hm. Two oscar nominees. Michelle Williams, who I adore ever since Brokeback Mountain. Marilyn Monroe, the icon I respect deeply. Need to see this. I get on a byke with one of my best girlfriends and drive to the nearest movie on a nice sunny afternoon.



Reality: Marilyn Monroe drives deep in veins. I am not so fond of the movie for the first thirty minutes, however, later on I get used to Williams' interpretation of Marilyn and I truly start to enjoy it. Marvellous. The cast of Williams is truly something you can only bow to. I am amazed of the interpretation, the sexapeal she shows and I cannot let the eyes of the screen. One of the best interpretations of someone I have ever seen.
On the other hand, I see Emma Watson (Harry Potter) growing into roles. Deep respect also for this girl, she has a shiny career ahead of her, obviously. Not really a great role, however, she stayed in my radar and I noticed her ways of expressions.
Now, the main topic, being naive or smart? Or on the other hand, being a celebrity brings glory and pleasure, or pain?
In this case, I believe it's a good showing of the special world celebrities live in. No place for real life there. Deadlines, schedules, normal walking through the streets.. forget it. Was Marilyn Monroe really such an icon? I suppose she could have been. Have the guys really fallen down to her knees without having the ability to say a word? I suppose so. Something that works like the Beatles. She came in the room, she shot some screens and all people in the room just fell to their knees. Now how brilliant and amazing is that? There weren't many icons in our world that could brag with something like that. I believe that this is something you cannot teach yourself to be or pretend. Either you are or you aren't, and that is the way things are. You are either born such a star or not.
The story of Marilyn is sad and depressive. Was she really that naive? Hm.. striving not to say unintelligent.. The scenes you see in this piece are a surreality show. I am in the skin of the director and I can identify completely. I couldn't stand such a team player in a project. I am striving to see how you achieve coping with this. When you need a celebrity ass and you cannot stand it. The movie is a struggle, from the start to its end, yet, at the end, I am satisfied.


My personal rating: 9,0 (splendid piece, I am sorry Williams didn't get an oscar for this. She bloody deserves it :)))


My week on IMDB

Thor, 2011

Thor, 2011
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth



Stage: Local theatre, late Friday show. Just a pop in my head makes me run as hell to catch the show. As I miss the trailer part and commercial, I feel pretty satisfied with myself, as the movie begins in an instant, as I sit down.


Thor in short: This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Kenneth Branagh directs this fantasy epic which stars Australian actor Chris Hemsworth as the ancient Norse god, Tom Hiddleston as his evil brother Loki, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, a young woman who befriends Thor on Earth, and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor's father and king of Asgard.


Preps: None in perticular, have seen the trailer, seems like a thing I would love to see in theatre, because of the effects and sounds.


Reality: Hm, it's fairly amusing, but that's it. Too much of photo shop and movie maker scenes make me not buy the scenery. It's obviously made in a computer room, and not by someone with a lot of imagination. I am not impressed at all. Normalwise, I prefer scenes that derive from imagination, to those that are filmed in real life. Here it's vice versa. Better constructed, with some vision and some energy. With real dialogues and some humorous scenes. For instance, imagine real god tremble into a real life with every day scenery - eating, sleeping, living like a human. All in all, this is supposed to be a punishment for Thor, for being too conceited and not ready to learn. With some help of a human mind, he turns into a good guy.. well, the transformation is too fast and I definitely don't buy it. If you have lived all your life as a conceited first son, ready to be a king, then you cannot really transform your soul and mind in a few days. Probably in a decade, or so, but in this piece everything is shown a bit too romantic - in sense of me trying to buy this and to accept it.

Natalie has definitely been a busy bee lately. I can see her in four movies at the same time. Unfortunately, none of them can raise up to the Black Swan - the cast here is poor and unsatisfactory, the same goes for Anthony Hopkins. Not enough energy coming out of this man. Hemsworth, on the other side, represents some sort of a back up of Brad Pitt in Troy. Nevertheless, the story is weak and too light to be seen in a real spectacle. It's more of a Sunday movie, when you have just eaten and just want something to amuse you and not knock you off your feet. And if you put into perception there is a divine world as opposed to normal human.
For Hopkin's cast - slightly better than in his other latest movie, The rite. In neither of both cases, an exclusive or impressive one. Nevertheless, always good to watch on screen.

The music shows respect to the scenario and to the scenes, wisely chosen and emphasizes the effect of some battles. Another thing that got me a bit cranky during watching this - the "doors" to other worlds. Just by coincidence taken from Stargate (the idea is the same, and the execution also almost the same). And the names of the world. Are we in LOTR or are we in some other movie.. well, it's a wise idea to be pulled on the ocean of other successful movies, but you need to draw a line somewhere and make your piece a bit more authenthic. Because to perceive viewers not so intelligent as some of them are.. is - well naive. I would prefer the worlds to be of another wording (Asgard - as in LOTR - Ares of Asgard); just a coincidence, that here it's one of the lands? ..

Anyhow, not really a splendid piece, but a pleasant Sunday one, as already said.


My personal rating: 4,0 (for the sake of the amusement).
Thor on IMDB