My Week With Marilyn

Of the films that Marilyn Monroe made, The Prince and The Showgirl would have to be on the top of my really odd productions list. She’s paired with the consummate actor, Sir Laurence (Larry) Olivier. During the time that she’s working on this film, she meets Colin Clark and shall we say, diverts her attention from her troubled marriage to Arthur Miller and health issues (both physical and mental). Marilyn wasn’t a “dumb blonde”, but she was fragile and would be what I would call “high maintenance”. Colin is working at his first job and is Second Assistant Director for the film, therefore, he’s a “Guy Friday” and is documenting his experiences through journals kept during his time with one of the world’s most desired women/actresses. The players here are: Michelle Williams who makes an incredible transformation as Marilyn, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, and Emma Watson (post-Harry Potter). The pairing of Marilyn and Olivier is like water and oil, never the two should/will mix. Rating: 3.5 Stars for the film, 10 Stars for Michelle Williams’ performance.

Hugo

Based on the Caldecott Medal book by Brian Selznick, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", we're introduced to the world of fantasy, reality, illusion, and intrigue through the life of a young boy in 1931, Paris. Martin Scorsese has concocted a beautiful interpretation of a very unique story and a book that is part graphic novel/part an artist’s visual masterpiece/part mystery. The attention to detail and use of modern technology to introduce us to really, the beginnings of that technology, is ingenious. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. I can only say that I was delighted to watch the cast, most notably—Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Sacha Baron Cohen, bring this story magically to life. Rating: 4 autonomatonically written stars