Ralph's Movie Reviews: MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Saturday, January 21, 2012

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Biographical drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Eddie Redmayne: 23-year-old Colin Clark
Kenneth Branagh: stage and screen star Sir Laurence Olivier
Julia Ormond: his wife Vivien Leigh
Michelle Williams: 30-year-old Marilyn Monroe
Dougray Scott: playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn’s third husband
Zoë Wanamaker: Marilyn's acting coach Paula Strasberg
Judi Dench: stage and screen star Dame Sybil Thorndike
Emma Watson: wardrobe girl Lucy
Dominic Cooper: Marilyn’s manager
Toby Jones: Marilyn’s press agent

REVIEW
Based on the memoirs of Colin Clark and his involvement in the making of the 1957 romantic comedy “The Prince and the Showgirl” this film encompasses more than a week. In addition to being an insider’s look at the production problems it is an insightful portrayal of the “goddess of sex” herself.

The stunning performance by Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe outshines the rest of the cast, none of whom are slouches in their own right.

Production values are high with great attention to detail and some lovely cinemaphotography of the English countryside.

CLASSIFICATION

for profanity, sexual content and nudity.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.