Here are some short responses to some of the films I've managed to see over the last couple of weeks:
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
I’ve never cared
about Marilyn Monroe one way or another.
Sure, I enjoyed Some Like it Hot
as much as the next guy, but she never lit my fuse like, say, Barbara Stanwyck
does.
That said, My Week with Marilyn made me care about
Marilyn Monroe quite a lot. The
story reminds one of My Favorite Year:
a show-business neophyte befriends a star, to mutual benefit. Michelle Williams plays Marilyn in the
full flower of her stardom, every bit as dazzling and insecure as history
remembers her. Lawrence Olivier
(the brilliant Kenneth Branagh) has hired her to come to England to film a
movie, and she’s so intimidated she can barely function. Enter Colin Clarke, the neophyte and
audience surrogate, who finds himself in the Star’s confidence.
Soon enough, I was
in. Through Clarke’s eyes, I came
to see Marilyn as an impossibly tough, delicate, and ultimately inscrutable
woman entirely worthy of fascination.
So much did this film pique my interest, I’m queuing up the
Olivier/Monroe pairing The Prince and the
Showgirl. I want to spend more
time with Marilyn.
THE MUPPETS
Hey, you. Yeah: you. You like big production numbers? Silly jokes?
Evil villains? Boom: here
you go, then. The Muppets is for you.
Here’s the story:
Jason Segel and Amy Adams help the Muppets reunite and put on a show. That’s it. Have at it.
So, enough about The Muppets. Let’s talk about Amy Adams. If ever an actress could lay claim the to the title, “The
Next Julie Andrews,” it’s her. She
can sing. She can dance. She can act. She can do all three at the same time, and do them
well. In fact, I’m kind of sorry
that she was born too late for the era of the Great Hollywood Musical. Given the right material, she could
have passed in to legend, like Andrews.
She’s young, still, and she has plenty of time. I loved watching her in The Muppets, I think she’s the real
deal, and I hope someone out there is building a musical around her.
I’d be there. Opening day.
THE DESCENDANTS
The Descendants is one of those films that takes a basically
likeable guy, piles a ton of manure on his head, and observes. George Clooney (CDNW) plays the guy,
nearly everyone else plays pilers, and we observe.
The result? A rich and rewarding character study of
a man going through the hardest period of his life, told with tenderness and
care. The Descendants is worth your time.
BRIDESMAIDS
Bridesmaids revels in the comedy of the uncomfortable. I found it so writhingly uncomfortable that I couldn’t wait
for it to end.
ATTACK THE BLOCK
Attack The Block introduces us to a gang of young thugs in
training, exposes them to an alien menace, and tries to get us to root for the
thugs as they battle monsters.
I never could bring
myself to care about the thugs.
Thus, I felt no tension.
Many of my friends laud this film as an innovative monster movie with a
nifty hook, but to me it was just another chore. Pass.
THE CAPTAINS
William Shatner is a
terrific interviewer. He’s so
blithely self-absorbed that he puts his subjects at ease, comfortable in the
knowledge that all they need to do for the next hour or so is sit back and hit
the softballs he tosses between monologues. And then they’ll inadvertently say something genuine, reveal
a doubt or a weakness, and whammo!
He homes in, relentlessly questioning until he gets at its kernel, and
we learn something.
In The Captains, Shatner interviews the
actors who’ve played the Captain roles in the five Star Trek TV series, as well as the one who played Kirk in the
newest movie. Of the group, Avery
Brooks is the most slippery and Chris Pine the least reflective (I’m not saying
he’s callow or dumb, just that he’s not yet at that stage of his life
path.). They come across as a
smart bunch, they know how to tell good stories, and Shatner really gets it out
of them.
If you love Star Trek or if, like me, you’ve
outgrown it but still love the idea of Star
Trek, you’ll love The Captains. As for me, I understand that William
Shatner has an interview show on basic cable somewhere. I’m going to look it up. The man is really good at this.
