After I saw the film last month, I immediately wanted to watch Election and Sideways again.  Actually, I did watch Citizen Ruth (which I had never seen) then opened a bottle of pinot noir and watched Sideways (the third time I have seen it).  I’ve seen Election many times for some of my research projects, so I know it holds up, and I was pleased to learn that Sideways holds up over time for me, too.

I like other work of Payne’s, like About Schmidt, but it’s really Election and Sideways that are the high watermarks for me of his work.

The Descendants is fine.  There are moments that feel emotionally authentic, and it’s fun to see George Clooney as a bit of a milquetoast with family events related to his wife’s accident and an upcoming real estate deal.  High points of the film often swirl around interactions with his older daughter, played by Shailene Woodley, who is very good.

In the end, this is a well-made film, I enjoyed watching it, but The Descendants has not touched me in any lasting, indelible way.  I wanted it to be more to me than it is.

I’m not sure what this means, but seeing The Descendants does make me less interested than before in visiting Hawaii.  Go figure…

Michelle Williams may not look exactly like Marilyn Monroe, but it’s hard to imagine how anyone could do a better job evoking the complex and iconic superstar.

That performance is one key to the success of the film, but the script (adapted by Adrian Hodges and Colin Clark from the latter’s memoir) is nuanced and engaging while also revealing a great deal about the elusive Monroe, her craft, her relationships, and her insecurities.

Similarly, the film presents an unusual coming-of-age story from Clark’s perspective (Eddie Redmayne plays the role) that feels emotionally authentic.  I did not know this story before seeing the film.

It’s tempting to compare this film to the 2008 release Me and Orson Welles, which I also enjoyed, but I think My Week With Marilyn has a broader appeal.

The success of Me and Orson Welles, I think, depends to a degree of how much knowledge about Welles and his work the viewer brings to the screen.  Similarly, knowledge about Monroe enhances a viewer’s appreciation of My Week With Marilyn, but enjoying the film and learning from it does not depend on having the context in advance.

It’s nice to encounter a pleasant surprise at the movies.

Pay attention.

The glasses are the same basic shape, but the lighter colored frames designate scenes before his forced retirement while the darker frames indicate the timeline after retirement when he begins a sanctioned but secret investigation of his former peers.  Keep the timelines straight, and you will love unraveling this yarn.

In fact, that’s how I described the film to a good friend of mine.  I’m a knitter, and this film is like an expensive skein of tangled yarn.  It’s tricky to unravel but worth working at the task.  When the knots become looser, the promise is palpable.  When the skein is unraveled and rewound, the result is exquisite.

This is an old-fashioned spy story featuring superb production design, fine writing and directing, and a terrific cast (Mark Strong, Colin Firth, John Hurt, and Toby Jones to name a few).

My advice to you is to take the time to untangle the yarn and enjoy a trip back into the intrigue of the Cold War.

Still, I felt the need to take a look at David Fincher’s film based on Steven Zaillian’s adapted script to compare.  Although it is longer than the Swedish film (about 2:40), the pacing is better.

I also prefer Rooney Mara in the role of Lisbeth Salander, which is essential in appreciating this film.

Otherwise, it’s pretty much a wash for me.  Both versions are suspenseful, well-made, good examples of the genre.  But, can’t we move on now to some other stories?

Although it earned Diablo Cody an Oscar, one of the things I disliked about Juno was the arch dialogue.  It took me out of the film.  This time, as Reitman and Cody team up again in Young Adult, the dialogue is less obtrusive, but the film will likely make viewers more uncomfortable than Juno ever could.

Charlize Theron plays a newly-divorced fiction writer who returns to her small town in Minnesota intending to get back together with her high school boyfriend by breaking up his marriage even though he is a new father.

Some of the conventions of the film play off of standard romantic comedy fare, but this film is anything but conventional.  Ultimately, as the viewer comes to see the main character not as she sees herself but from the pained perspective of others who know her better, the film turns increasingly dark and complex.

The result is a film that is painful but curiously satisfying because of the way it contrasts with commercial, Hollywood films.

There are some moments in the film that draw the viewer in, and I was surprised by Herzog’s access to interview prisoners and shoot sequences inside Death Row in a Texas prison, but there is little here in terms of insights and craftsmanship that has not been covered in many of the other documentaries dealing with crime and the death penalty.

I was disappointed.

But, yikes, there are limits to my ability to engage.

Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg give outstanding performances (among others in a star-studded cast) as sisters with complicated pasts who watch and wait for the end of the world.

If the title didn’t give you a clue that this film would be a downer, you were wearing blinders.

Lars von Trier has a hard vision, a nihilistic view, really.  I would not be the first person to call him a misanthrope.  In his story about the end of the world, there is nothing to grieve because humanity doesn’t seem worth saving.

The film is worth watching because of the performances and the singularity of von Trier’s vision, but it may only be worth watching for cinephiles who need to see Melancholia because it is part of a larger conversation about film.

I love to brag about Adam’s work, which includes an earlier collaboration with Nichols, Shotgun Stories, and a third film together that has wrapped principal photography.

The film is not just a favorite of mine; it’s also done well on the festival circuit and garnered a lot of critical praise.  Let me add mine to the rest.

Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon (love them both) star as a couple pulled apart by Shannon’s preparations for the end of the world.  The film has a slow built to a jaw-dropping confrontation scene with Shannon’s best friend at a community fish fry.  From that point on, the film is like a rollercoaster that has started its final descent.

Well-crafted and worth seeing.

I’m not that crazy about Spielberg films.  They are just too obvious, too artificial, too formulaic, and too sentimental for me.

Can’t say much beyond that about War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin except that the latter gave me a chance to check out the new IMAX screen at the Palladium, and I was pleased with the effect on a technical level (even though I’m not generally into 3D).

Also, I was reminded when watching Tintin how difficult it is to make a film that is satisfying for children and adults.  Renewed my appreciation for Babe.