50/50 by Jonathan Levine

This is a Christmas tale.

Some called the film pretentious, I would call it hopeful.

It depicts a painful and long way of a 27-year old journalist who finds out he has a 50/50 chance of survival and suffers from a rare type of cancer located near his spine. The story seems very true and is marvellously balanced between bitter and sweet aspects of everyday life, relationships, friendship, parent-child dependency as well as doctor-patient rules.

A beautiful tale of reaching the stages of denial, shock, acceptance of asking the questions – what if today was your last day? How would you live it, what would you do? Whom would you call?

Evenly paced, the film grasps the attention and emotions, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character is magnetic and the supporting roles fall into his shadow not too far, just the right amount of distance to show his loneliness and their efforts to support him.

Great cinema touching upon important matters such as cancer, death, human relationships.

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My week with Marilyn by Simon Curtis

A disappointment. I was hoping for a solid biopic. It’s a shame because with the budget and with the names on the poster, it could have been a much better film. I spoke to someone before viewing it and we concluded that Scarlett Johansson might have been a more true MM. Well, as it turns out, she was one of the big celebrities who actually turned down the role. Was it because of the thinness of the script? It may as well have been the reason.

The story is shallow and fails to turn MM into a valid human being. For the last two decades there was no film about the famous blonde and this attempt is quite frustrating. Despite the fantastic work of set decorators, costume designers, despite great music and interiors as well as locations (including Eton, Windsor etc.) the film is a weak reflection of what it could have been.

Dame Judi Dench, Kenneth Brannagh, Emma Watson… cast as if to compensate for the failures in other fields. Michelle Williams may be a good actress but there was a very limited amount of material for her to use her acting skills. Such a shame. Such a disappointment. I am still waiting for the next film, which will feature a fatter, full of sexappeal star and waiting for a script fully and fairly presenting Norma Jeane in her prime.