My Week with Marylin (2011)

Another film that is based on a book. It seems that awful lot of period films are based on a book. There isn't that much of plot in this movie, the title pretty much tells it all. Our main character is the youngest (if I remember well) son and also the black sheep of a wealthy British family. His dream is to become a famous director (if I remember well, to be honest it was quite a long time ago that I saw this, as part of the challenge I failed miserably...). He manages to get a job as the second director-assistant or something like that in Marylin Monroe's next movie (one of the last ones) that she happens to shoot in England. She grows to like him, and, I think needless to say, he totally falls in love with her. They spend a week together and pretty much this is what the movie is about. It  focuses on Marylin's growing addiction and her constant need for attention.

Now I must say that first I was kind of disappointed in Michelle Williams' acting but then I thought about it and realised that in each and every movie I'd seen with or about Marylin Monroe she behaved like that. So I think Michelle Williams did a great job with the role after all. I found the character a little bit annoying but it's not her fault. As I saw this quite a while ago, I don't really remember what kind of feelings it evoked but I think it wasn't a bad movie. There were some parts I skipped but then again, there are a really few movies which I can watch without any skipping so that doesn't mean that I didn't like it. I remember liking the music a lot.

(Excuse the style, I didn't really know what to write about this but didn't want to leave out either. Here's this kind of half-assed post as a result.)

Ballet Shoes (2007)

The film is based on Noel Steatfield's novel with the same title. Its story begins in the 1910s when a whimsical paleontologist is presented with an orphaned great-granddaughter whom he is more or less forced to adopt. Years pass by and he returns from each and every of his lengthy journeys with an orphaned baby girl. This is how the family of Sylvia (the great-granddaughter), her Nanny and the three girls, Pauline, Petrova and Posy is put together. The film focuses on the three girls' training in a dance acadamy and their struggles to reach their dreams. I guess it's the dance acadamy part where the somewhat misleading title comes from.

This film was rather easy to watch. It didn't have any serious message to convey or anything but I quite liked it. It was entertaining and cute. A good choice if you just want to have a little bit of distraction. It didn't really had roles that required amazing acting talents. Luckily for Emma Watson. But I will leave evaluating the actors' performances at that.

Miss Potter (2006)

The film is based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the writer and illustrator of the most successful children books of all time. It begins with her, after a long search, finding a publisher at last, and shows the years of her life during which she became a well-known author with occasional flasbacks to her childhood.

I'm a fan of Renée Zellweger so I had been meaning to watch this movie for a long time. Ever since it came out, actually, and I'm glad that I eventually got around to doing so, as I loved it to bits and bites. I think it goes without saying that Reneé Zellweger was absolutely brilliant. Also, it was a pleasant surprise that Ewan McGregor had a role in it, he's one of my favourite actors, too. So I think we can say that the cast was very fortunately chosen.

The story was sweet, even with the sadder moments, and had the cutest love story. I don't usually find love stories cute but I can't describe this one otherwise. Another thing that must be mentioned is the scenery. Parts of the story take place in the countryside and the scenery is simply breathtakingly beautiful. The visual effects with her drawings were pretty cool, too. They were simple and cute.

This movie is absolutely worth a watch. It is one of those stories that put a smile on your face that stays there for quite a while.

(On a side note, I don't like the poster at all. It is way too cold and makes it seem like the movie is about a witch or something. I get that the clouds and the shimmer refer to her imagination but still, I would have chosen green as a ruling colour.)

Atonement (2007)

The story takes place in the 1930s and during the first years of the Second World War. The wealthy Tallis family live their somewhat dull lives on their countryside estate. One day the 13 years old younger daughter, with rather vivid imagination, witnesses a string of events that she thinks she understands and makes accusations, which has serious consequences and changes the whole family's life forever. 

It is difficult to write about this film as I haven't decided fully what my opinion about it is. Its way of telling the story is interesting. At the beginning we see the events through the eyes of Birony, the younger daughter and the way she interprets them. Then suddenly there is a jump back in time (a small one) and we see what actually happened. In the first part of the film these jumps are pretty frequent. I liked this and, if you think of it, there aren't many more options to tell such a story. 

The use of music was interesting as well. I don't remember if there were scenes with actual music in them (it doesn't mean that there weren't, of course), only that strange rapid clicking sound that made those scenes even heavier than those with complete silence. The role of music in movies is usually quite different, it serves to make the events lighter, and well, easier to cope with, so to say, for the viewer. The effect here was pretty much the opposite, I guess it was intentional. 

I think this lack of music might have had something to do with it, but I found some scenes a bit boring and too life-like. If that makes sense. All in all, it wasn't a bad movie, I think it is worth a watch, but don't expect anything happy, bright and sunshiny.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

This film was, well, curious. 

The actual story that is narrated by Benjamin is embedded into a frame story that takes place in 2004, in New Orleans during the time when Hurricane Katrina is coming towards the city. A dying mother asks her daughter to read her from a diary. This diary is that of Benjamin Button's and this is how his story is told. I don't really want to write anything else or go into details why his story is curious because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Other than being interesting the movie was quite long. It's more than two and a half hours. I wasn't bored of it, though. As I mentioned, it is narrated by the title character. I like movies that are narrated, it makes them a bit more real, I guess. This narrator is also a really wise man, so it's like there are a strings of truths said there but in the simplest way possible. He's not trying to be smart or anything, it is just the way he sees the world.

One thing that I don't really understand is the frame story. Why did it have to take place during the hurricane? I can only think of it serving to reflect the inner conflicts of the daughter and the mother during they read/listen to the story, but even then I don't think it was necessary. In my opinion it didn't really add to the story. As for me, it would have had the same effect even if it had taken place on a bright and sunny day. I might miss something, though.

Nevertheless, I very much liked this film. If you have three hours and don't have problems with essentially sad stories, then this is your movie.

The Help

During the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s Skeeter, the freshly graduated daughter of one of the wealthy white families in Jackson, Louisiana decides to write a book from the point of view of the black maids. The film is about how she comes to this decision, how she finds the maids willing to help her and, of course, about the maids themselves and the stories they tell her. This movie was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. Part of the truth is that the day I watched it wasn't my happiest and sun-shiniest one but I think it has a strong effect on the viewer anyway. It didn't show open violence against the Black, instead it depicted their quiet suffering, and I think this is one of its strengths. It showed how racism was part of everyday life in those days and how from the "separate but equal" phrase "equal" was forgotten but "separate" was put into practice in every aspect of life. Emma Stone is one of my new favourite actresses so I would recommend the movie merely because she has a part in it but, really, all the actors and actresses did a great job and the story was interesting as well. The whole movie was amazing as it was.