The first one I saw is “The Descendants,” with George Clooney. It’s by the same writers that did “Sideways” and “About Schmidt.” They are able to bring humor and life to middle aged men characters going through change. In this one, Clooney’s character must reconnect with his two daughters after his wife has a terrible boating accident. As he says, he was always the “substitute parent” to his wife. His daughters are quite the characters. The younger one is bullying girls at school and has quite the mouth. They have to go pick up the teenager daughter from a rehab facility. She decides to bring a guy friend along on the emotional journey the family has to go on during the film. It’s a realilstic story of family and is really heartwarming. I feel like the actors who play children in these indie movies that go on to win awards usually end up having great careers afterward and I think that will be the case for the two daughters and the male friend in this movie. The entire movie takes place on the various islands of Hawaii, which has made me really want to travel there now. The backdrops are gorgeous, the beaches look like screensavers and the water is that special shade of blue that apparently only the Hawaiian Islands get to enjoy. The only bad thing I have to say about this movie is that I think I am a little younger than the target demographic and at some parents when it was delving into the 50 year old male psyche, it dragged a bit for me. Regardless, this movie will definitely be getting a lot of buzz come awards season.
The other big movie I saw was “My Week With Marilyn,” starring Michelle Williams. This movie is based off a non-fiction book written by a guy who was in his younger 20s in England and worked on the set of a Marilyn Monroe movie that never got made. This was right before her big hit, "Some Like It Hot" and during her tempestuous marriage to playwright Arthur Miller. I was a little skeptical of this one, as Michelle Williams did not seem like a good casting for Marilyn to me. Williams seemed to wispy and not charismatic enough. I totally take this back because she transformed in Marilyn and it was amazing. I will be shocked if her acting in this does not get some form of nomination. Eddie Redmayne plays the boy who gets to work on the set with Marilyn and ends up becoming her friend. He does a fantastic job, coming off as lovably naïve and caring. Emma Watson (HP, woohoo) has a small role. Kenneth Branagh and Julia Ormond also embodied their roles as famous screen icons Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier. I would recommend either of these movies to theater-goers this holiday season!
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