My Week With Marilyn (2011)

The white dress, the red lips and the unmistakable voice is finally revived after many years, My Week With Marilyn provides a brief glimpse into one of the world’s most iconic figures from decades past. Many are fascinated with her style, grace and more importantly her private life and what was going on behind closed doors. Simon Curtis has brought Colin Clark’s memoirs of his first job on set of a film (The Prince and The Showgirl) to life, and what a time he would have on this production.

Michelle Williams leads the production with a stellar cast to back her, including Dame Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier along with relative newbie Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark himself. From the outset I was relatively wary of how Marilyn Monroe would be portrayed but as soon as Michelle Williams appeared on screen you could see it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Clark’s memoir begins with him describing how he ended up on site at Pinewood studios. Camping out on Sir Olivier’s company couch a job was found, 3^rd Assistant Director and Laurence’s skivy.  From then on his life became work, 24/7, exceeding his parents expectations and his own. After running around on set and in his own time for cast, crew and the big guys, he comes into contact with Marilyn for the 1^st time and is mesmerised.  Slowly she becomes more and more dependent on him as protector and confidant as their relationship blossoms. Clark’s life will change, for better and for worse.

Simon Curtis captured 1957 stylistically with the set designs and costumes. Marilyn being dressed in figure hugging clothes and her standard red lipstick transforms Michelle Williams into her carbon copy. Capturing her unease, vagueness and fear of failing others perfectly, Williams captivates the audience. Very few knew Marilyn up close and personally despite her shortly lived life being controversial and covered by press. Rumours were fuelling information within the press which could prove that becoming the actress completely would be difficult; however Williams rises to the challenge and hits the nail on the head. The only criticism I have is that despite spending most of the time on screen, I still left feeling like I knew very little about the actress and why she acts this way. Why does she need copious amounts of pills to get her through the day? What happened in her past to effect her bright future so much? Maybe lack of information and first hand details is why the film felt incomplete.

Eddie Redmayne appears, young fresh faced and raring to go from the beginning. Full of enthusiasm and enchantment the audience will fall in love with him as soon he appears on the silver screen, and feel for him when things start to go wrong. His character is much younger than he is personally, but his talent shows that he can situatehimself in a place where his life is just starting to take off and the world is his oyster. Despite being in small roles previous to this, he proved he has the weight and talent to carry on much further. I look forward to watching the next project he takes on.

My Week With Marilyn soars above my expectations despite not being as meaty as I wanted it to be. The acting was first class, despite Kenneth Branagh’s annoying accent. One question I find I keep asking myself is what happened to Marilyn, where did it all go wrong after The Prince and The Showgirl?

Immortals (2011)

Men, swords, gore and romance, what more could you want from a film? Everything in the case of Immortals, created by director Tarsem Singh, most famous for The Cell. In tribute to the Greek legends that have spawned many Hollywood films, Immortals had a lot to live up to. Early projects on Greek Mythology such as Jason and the Argonauts (1963), the first Clash of the Titans (1981), and more recently 300 (2006) set the tone and expectation. After seeing the previews I expected a fast paced, action fuelled, gore fest; hoping for it to be much like 300, both visually and content wise. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Chosen by Zeus to become Mankind’s saviour, Theseus (Henry Cavill – Stardust, The Tudors) sets out on a mission to prevent King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler, Iron Man 2) releasing the Titans from Mount Tartaros using the Epirus Bow. If this happens he can then over throw the God’s and rule over human kind….no big deal or anything. So the film begins with a look at Theseus’ life before he becomes hero, legend, God. He lives with his mother in a tiny building in a hole… in a wall… (the wall being a massive side of a cliff). Being a peasants son and a stonemason, he is looked down on and treated with disrespect. Unable to join the ‘good’ army of men who fight for their people, he carried on with the life he was dealt until the day his village comes under the wrath of King Hyperion’s army. Most are slaughtered, leaving him reeling and hell bent on revenge.

The next hour is then spent carrying out the various tasks:  

1. find the magical Bow preventing King Hyperion releasing the Titans

2. Hunting down the ‘good’ army to let them know Theseus and co are onboard

3. De-flower the virgin Oracle

4. Sulk around and fight a bit

I often found it hard to keep my eyes open when watching this, not only was there a lot of brooding and talking, it wasn’t actually worth paying attention too. Henry Cavill despite being alluringly looking is dull at best when acting this part. Mickey Rourke may have been the wrong choice when casting the Greek enemy as he comes across as a thuggish brute, not how I imagine a Greek ruler, albeit a evil one, to be.  The God’s were fleetingly interesting at the beginning however became tedious. Their head wear could have been what pushed it over the edge for me.

The only positive attribute of the film were the final fight scenes. They were engaging and what I expected the whole duration of the film to be like, it’s a pity that expectations are rarely met or exceeded anymore.