Tag Archives: My Week with Marilyn

This Fall’s Awards Contenders

Being originally from New England, fall has always been my favorite season. You’ve got the cool, crisp air and the bright-colored leaves. Then there’s the holidays and my birthday. But chief among it all … the movies! We’re ramping up for awards season, so now’s the time for the studios—big and small—to put out some of the best cinematic fare of the year. I spend all year keeping my eye on awards contenders, but the fall is when the best films are released. It’s a simple principle: the last thing you see is the first thing you remember. And that’s why studios wait until the end of the year to put out their big guns. These are the films that voters are most likely to remember (and consider) for the year’s top awards. Here are just some of the remaining films to be released this year that are primed for awards consideration, as well as some of the categories for which they stand to potentially receive nominations. (Note: This is not an exhaustive list, as several earlier releases are worthy of consideration in various categories.)

If you’re anything like me and you determine which movies to watch based, at least partly, on awards viability, then set your calendars for these upcoming releases (release dates listed below).

Best Picture

       

Continue reading This Fall’s Awards Contenders

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Press Conference at New York Film Festival

I caught a screening of the Michelle Williams-starring My Week with Marilyn, prior to its world premiere at the New York Film Festival today. This true story stars Williams as Marilyn Monroe during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) in England. Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a 23-year-old film enthusiast who pushes his way into working with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) on his new film, which he’s directing and starring in opposite Monroe. Throughout filming, Olivier finds it difficult to work with the struggling Marilyn (she’s not the great actress she wants to be), who is newly married to famed playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). When Arthur leaves Marilyn’s side to be with his children in New York, the delicate and troubled Marilyn begins to confide in young Colin, who grows close to her despite the advice of everyone around.

The film is Simon Curtis’s feature directorial debut and also stars Emma Watson, Julia Ormond, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Derek Jacobi, Zoë Wanamaker, and Judi Dench, with a script by Adrian Hodges, based on Clark’s diaries. It opens in theatres on November 4, undoubtedly with an awards push for Williams’s stunning performance.

Here are a few clips from today’s press conference at New York’s Walter Reade Theater, featuring Curtis, Williams, and Redmayne. (The sound quality is acceptable, but not ideal.)

[CLIPS HAVE BEEN DELETED.]