Michelle Williams Elevates My Week with Marilyn to be Something Better than it's Subject Material

My Week with Marilyn (3 out of 5 Stars)Directed by: Simon CurtisWritten by: Adrien HodgesStarring: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie RedmayneMarilyn Monroe was a icon; she was someone women wanted to be, and men wanted be with.  Monroe was idealized that there is often a thought that she was never truly herself, or that even in life she was always playing a role.  This film centers around Collin Clark who wrote two books about the film actress entitled "My Week with Marilyn" and "The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me."Collin Clark (Redmayne) was an ambitious young man from a privileged background; he went to the finest schools in England, like Eaton, but loved film and wanted to work in the film industry.  At...

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New York Film Critics Association Like Brad Pitt Films this Year and The Artist

The New York Film Critics Association kicked off the award season, for the first time in many years (it's typically the National Board of Review) by announcing their winners via twitter.  I hate twitter but watched as this group tweeted the victors.  Usually critics awards solidly focus one or two films but New York went with a different pattern this year.  The group honored 9 different films (not including documentary and foreign language film).This could be the first year for Brad Pitt to be an Oscar winner.  Pitt could even be a double nominee as he is campaigning lead for his film Moneyball, and Supporting for Tree of Life.  Both of these films earned honors in other categories as well.  Moneyball took...

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The Descendants Ascends to be a Solidly Quirky Film

The Descendants (4 out of 5 stars)Directed by: Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt, Sideways)Written by:Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim RashStarring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, and Amara MillerSeven years ago was the last time Alexander Payne wrote and directed another film.  Payne's last film was the brilliant Sideways, which chronicled a wine connoisseur's experiences in love, and life.  Payne has had a great repertoire of films.  The first Payne film I saw was 1999's Election (potentially his best) then there was About Schmidt in 2002, and my personal favorite his last film Sideways (2004).  The Descendants ranks as my least favorite Payne but this is also some pretty solid film making.The Descendants...

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Academy Awards Best Picture Revisited: The Departed (2006)

When I got back home from Thanksgiving in Albany I did two things, I went to the gym, and then ate Thanksgiving left overs while watching The Departed.  The Departed is the first Best Picture winner I am re-visiting.  The other nominees in the Best Picture category this year were Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen.The Departed was directed by the brilliant director Martin Scorsese.  Scorsese is known as one of the best film makers living today, and he is one of my favorite directors ever.  I love his style of direction, there is always this dark gritty feel, but he also puts unique touches to each film he directs making them all different.  Scorsese's first major film was Mean Streets...

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Movies that Put Life into Perspective: Pretty Woman Edition

This past week was my first time at home since I moved to Boston.  I go into town on Wednesday, and celebrated Thanksgiving with my family on Thursday.  On Friday at Midnight I went Black Friday shopping with my sister at Target.  Then on Saturday my mom made Thanksgiving part two to celebrate my favorite meal for my birthday.  My family and I spent the rest of Saturday watching movies and spending time together.  My parents fell asleep (as usual) but woke up and ended up watching Pretty Woman with my sister and I.Pretty Woman (1990) is the story of the millionaire/billionaire Richard Lewis (Richard Gere) who picks up a hooker named Vivian (Julia Roberts) on Hollywood Blvd..  Richard has sex with Vivian and...

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What Happened to The Learning Channel (TLC) ?

Today my sister was watching TLC, and all the shows started to blend.  There were two shows about weddings, and I honestly could not tell the difference nor did I see the purpose in either of these shows.  One of the shows had a girl planning here wedding, and the other had two sisters who owned a cupcake shop working on one their weddings.  I watched these show while I was eating my lunch and could not take much more!  I thought this network was about something different.When I was going for my Master degree at Bowling Green State University an alum from the Popular Culture department Eileen O'Neill came to speak to our class.  O'Neil is currently the Group President at Discovery Communications.Now before talking about...

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Things in Movies, TV, and Music I am Thankful for This Year

MoviesMore films centered on women-Maybe Hollywood will realize that women centered films can be Post to both solid, and money makers.  Two films that come to mind right away are The Help, and Bridesmaids.  Both films were some of, if not the most entertaining films of this year.  Bridesmaids was hilarious, and there were very few central male characters.  The Help was heartfelt and well acted and was focused centrally on the women.TwitterThe Muppet's-I am so happy this group of puppets is back.  I am so happy Jason Segal brought Kermit, Miss. Piggy, Gonzo, Fozie, and Animal back into my life.  The movie was hilarious, and brought out some great celebrity cameos.Marvel Comic Book Movies-They started with Thor, then there X-Men: First Class...

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My Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes

Thanksgiving is that time of year when everyone goes home to spend time with their families or avoids their families like the plague an attempts to make on their own with their friends. This is one of the best times of the year where there are numerous holiday episodes.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday with the great food, and its also because it is close to my birthday.  Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving episodes.1-Friends-This is the show that had a special Thanksgiving episode almost every season.  This show did Thanksgiving episodes best.  In the shows first season the thanksgiving episode "TOW Underdog Got Away" the six characters all made plans separately but Rachel could not get away and others plans got...

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It's time to play the music It's time to light the lights, It's time to me the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!

When I was a young kid my parents and I would always go to Coulsens News.  My parents would go for various reasons, but I would always talk them into buying me comics or more importantly renting me a video.  One of the videos I rented the most was The Best of the Muppet's Show.  From Pigs in Space to watching the old men in the balcony rip a part the Muppet's I always loved this show!The Muppet's were my childhood.  Along with The Muppet's Show I made sure I rented all of their movies.  The first of their films was The Muppet Movie (1979).  The Muppet Movie (1979) chronicles how the characters met one another, and tells of their battle with a restaurant that serves frog legs (gulp)....

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Melancholia has some moments of beauty but is weighed down by Lars Von Trier's self-indulgent direction and screenplay

Melancholia (2 out of  5 stars)Directed and Written by: Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville)Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Kieffer SoutherlandI promised myself I would avoid writing about his comments about Hitler at Cannes, but I guess I lied to myself.  Von Trier stated "What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit."  This helps pose the question who is Lars von Trier, and is this statement veiled in his work.  My guess (and I am not defending him) is that von Trier was trying to be edgy/ironic in his comments....

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Academy Awards Best Picture Revisited: Juno (2007)

Well this was a fun weekend, my friend Keith came to visit from New York City.  We had a good time, and I thought after he left I would let my liver rest, but I went to Tremont 647, a Boston bar/restaurant and drank.  When I got back I past out and woke so I did not get to watch Juno until  late at night, but I was able to watch it.  Unlike typical Academy Award films, Juno is quick watch, and much more entertaining.   Juno was one of the first films I saw three times in the movie theatre, I have never seen a movie more than three times.Juno is the product of team of two minds, director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody.  Jason Reitman is the son of director Ivan Reitman.  Ivan Reitman was the mind...

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Margin Call is a Smart, Thrilling Ride, about the Financial World

Margin Call (3 1/2 out 5 Stars)Directed and Written by: J. C. ChandorStarring: Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, and Jeremy IronsIn our current economy the DOW is up and down, there are numerous people losing their jobs, and there is fear that things will not getter better.  This film is about a nameless company prior to the financial crisis in 2008.  At the beginning a group of people come in to tap workers on the shoulder to ask them to come to a room and get fired.  Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) is tapped on the shoulder.  Dale explains to the women who are firing him that he is working on something he would like to finish, but they tell him that is not an option.  Dale...

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Stylistically J. Edgar is a Clint Eastwood film, but this is one of his weakest films

J. Edgar (2 out of 5 Stars)Directed by Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven, Gran Torino)Written by Dustin Lance Black (Milk)Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts and Judi DenchWho was J. Edgar Hoover?  The answer to that question is not in this film, but like with most biopics they are only meant to provide a story or version of actual events.  The film starts with J. Edgar dictating his own story to different agents of the FBI.  The film jumps back and forth between Hoover as a young man climbing through the justice department under the Attorney General to founding the FBI, and then working under President Kennedy.  Hoover served under 8 different Presidents as head of head of...

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Academy Awards Best Picture Revisited: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

I had planned on watching the Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire, but I must have let someone borrow my copy, because I could not find it.  So I went with one of the other four nominees that I had not seen in a while, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  The other nominees this year Milk, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader.Button was directed by the talented director David Fincher, who directed great films like Alien 3, Se7en,next Fight Club, Zodiac, and in 2010 The Social Network.  Fincher like Tarantino is known for quirkier/darker films.  Along with feature films, Fincher has worked with musicians to help direct  documentaries of their work, and work with music videos.  His first major foray into the...

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Beginners, Adeptly tells the Story of two men Starting to Find Love Late in Life

Beginners (3 1/2 stars out of 5)Directed and Written by: Mike Mills (Thumbsucker)Starring: Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, and and Christopher PlummerLove is seen as an important to emotional stability. The definition of of love is so broad.  Love can mean love of family, friends, God, or that eternal love of another human which people marry or form a longer lasting relationship. Beginners is the story about a father and son Oliver (McGregor) and Hal (Plummer) starting their journey finding that last kind of love.The film starts with Oliver rifling through his father's belongings, finding and finding things in his father's place like his first personal ad in the gay world.  At the beginning of the film the director...

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Taking Shelter takes Fear to a Whole new Level

Take Shelter (4 1/2 out of 5 Stars)Directed and Written by: Jeff NicholsStarring: Michael Shannon and Jessica ChastainIn today's era people fear almost everything.  With the economy tanking people have a fear of losing, well everything.   Take Shelter starts with Curtis LaForche standing outside of his home while his wife cooks and his daughter is playing.  In the distance Curtis sees storm clouds, and its start to rain a yellowish color, a signal of the end of days.  This starts a cycle of paranoid acts, and dreams as Curtis struggles to keep his family afloat.After a long day of work Curtis spends a night out at the bar with his co-worker and best friend Dewart.  Dewart (Shea Whigham) starts talking about...

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