The Actress vs The Person (Michelle Williams)

So here it is Oscar night and we all know what moment everyone is waiting for. As the other awards have passed and tonight has approached I have realized just how great a person Michelle Williams is.

As an actress I have never liked Michelle. She drove me nuts on Dawson's Creek. I found her performance in Brokeback Mountain to be overrated. And none of her other performances have impressed me. She always winds up in things I'm going to see so it's not like I go thinking this will be the performance that she proves something to me. She just ends up being there and never does anything for me.

However, over the last year as a person Michelle Williams has greatly impressed me. She could have used Heath's untimely death as some sort of attention grab. She could have played all kinds of sympathy cards and gotten attention and probably acting roles. However, she did nothing of the kind. She has been very silent choosing to focus on her daughter and avoid the spot light. Even as the nominations rolled in she stayed quiet. At any moment she could have stepped out and taken attention or asked to accept the awards. She again chose to stay out of the picture.

This to me speaks volumes about the kind of person and mother she is. If she had sought attention it would have eventually brought attention on Matilda. She has protected herself and her daughter and their privacy.

Whether someone is a good actress is entirely up to the individual viewing their roles. But, I don't think anyone can ever say Michelle Williams is anything other than a amazing person and a great mother, and that is far more important than what I or anyone else will ever think of her acting ability.

Rachel Getting Married

I really didn't have any expectations for this movie. Which is a good thing because I wasn't very impressed with the movie and if I had any expectations it would have been an even bigger disappointment.

Honestly all I really knew was the basic plot and that Anne Hathaway was in it. I somehow even managed to miss the fact that it was directed by Jonathan Demme.

I can not stand hand held "take you right into the middle" of it camera work. It always ends up taking me out of the story. When I walk around a room of people things are still people aren't bouncing around. Hand held camera work like they did in this movie kills the illusion.

As for the acting. Anne's performance was good but, there wasn't anything that great about it. Yes it was different from what she usually does but, I've seen better. Rent Havoc if you want to see what I'm talking about. The rest of the cast really wasn't that great.

And I know it's called Rachel Getting Married but, it was suppose to be about Anne's character getting out of rehab to go to the wedding and the wedding itself took over too much. It's like there wasn't enough of the of the main story to make a whole movie so they filled it with really annoying scenes involving the wedding. Those scenes ran way to long and really slowed down the movie.


Possible spoilers ahead:

One of the things that really bothered me about the movie was the fact that it left way too much stuff hanging. They explained how she killed her brother when she was 16 but, since that was what had cause her parents to split up you know it had been several years since that happened. But, they never explained why she ended up in rehab this time around.

The sisters best friend was annoying as hell. I could not figure out why she was constantly exacerbating the fights instead of trying to stop them. It seemed to me she would have wanted to do what she could to keep the fighting to a minimum and make sure her friend had a good wedding but, instead she took every opportunity to attack and make things worse.

I think the most powerful scene in the whole movie had to be when Kym and her mom got in a fight over why she left her in charge of her little brother when she knew how messed up she was. Wow that scene caught me so off guard. I did not see the physical part of it coming.



I saw a full price showing and it really wasn't worth it. Just wait for dvd.

He's Just Not That Into You

I'm just gonna tell you right off this is definitely a hit or miss movie with the audience. I don't think there is going to be a lot of middle ground with people. It's one of those either you like or you don't kind of movies. I liked it. It wasn't as consistently funny as I thought it would be but, it had some really funny moments.

All the performances in the film were good. For all the big name stars in the film I think it was a great move to give the true lead role to someone that people aren't as familiar with. She was very good in this role.

It's a tricky task to have interconnecting stories where the primary connection is more the overall theme of the story than anyone character. Meaning the actual character connections in this movie where very much a 6 degrees of separation kind of thing. But, in the end they actually pulled it off quite well.

The one thing I would have liked was to see a little more of the storyline for Drew Barrymore's character. In this day and age her character trying to negotiate the dating scene through all our various forms of communication technology is very spot on. It would have been nice to see a little more of her trying to figure out what's true and what's not in the cyber world.

Overall this is a pretty good movie. I know book was inspired by a line from an episode of Sex and the City but, this movie is actually put together very much like the series was. I think if you like the show you'll enjoy this movie.

I saw a matinee and honestly that's the perfect price. Good but, not quite good enough for the extra money for a night showing.

The Reader

I had no idea what to expect from this movie. I didn't even know what it was about. Sometimes that can be a good thing and sometimes it can be a very bad thing. This was a good thing. Honestly I think if you were to read too much about The Reader it would ruin the whole movie.



I don't know that I would call it a suspense or thriller. At least not in the traditional sense of those genres. It does kind of keep you guessing as too what's going to happen next. However, it's not a who's the bad guy kind of suspense.



You really have to be careful with what you say or write about it because you don't want to give too much away. And you really don't want to give too much about the characters away.



It absolutely deserved all the Oscar nominations it received. The directing nomination is totally deserved. There is scene in the film that brought me personally a feeling I have never felt at a movie. And it brought an uneasy feeling to the entire theater. I have never in my life felt something like that in a room full of people.



Kate was amazing. It's one of those roles that if you think dialogue is the most important thing you won't understand why she was nominated. But, it's a role that is perfectly suited to Kate. She has always been an actress who gave so much more to her parts through her body than her voice and a lot of this movie is like that. It's really hard to say what her chances are come Oscar night.

If this role had been nominated in the supporting category like it was at the Golden Globes and the SAG awards I'd pretty much guarantee she would win. However, in the lead category I am a little worried. The only other nominated lead performance I have seen this year is Angelina Jolie in Changeling and that was a superb performance and a true leading role. Kate's role in The Reader is at times the leading role and at time the supporting role. It's a very hard movie to figure out because honestly you don't always know which character the movie is suppose to be about. She is most definitely the lead female in the movie so in the respect it fits in the lead category. Hopefully the voters will see it as a real lead performance and finally give her, her long over due Oscar.

I am going to skip any section that would include spoilers with this review. I don't want to risk anyone accidentally reading more than they mean to when they skim over it.

This movie will definitely challenge your thought process as to the good and bad in people in the world.

Went to a matinee showing but, it totally would have been worth full price.