War Horse (Steven Spielberg) **1/2

There are few directors that have managed the combination of beautiful visual imagery and heartbreaking human emotion as well as Steven Spielberg. Films like ET, The Color Purple, AI, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan are great examples of this. Spielberg's latest film War Horse once again demonstrates this skill with many memorable moments. The problem is that the moments in between are bland and generic, and the poorly structured story prevents War Horse from the greatness it so desperately seeks to achieve.

The film is based on a novel by Michael Mopurgo, which was later adapted into a theater production that won the Tony award for Best Play.. It tells the story of a remarkable horse named Joey who is bought at a auction by a struggling farm family. Teenage son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) works hard to train the horse and it begins to turn the family's fortunes around. With World War 1 looming, the family is forced to sell Joey to the military and he goes on a long journey, encountering both sides of the war and leaving a lasting impression on everyone he meets.

The most stunning relationship in the film is between two horses. While training for the military, Joey meets another horse named Topthorn. Without any dialogue, Spielberg develops a complete and thoroughly memorable relationship between the two horses.  One of the greatest moments in the film is when Joey volunteers to take a heavy load up a hill, knowing Topthorn probably will fall just like the previous horse did. This relationship is more well drawn and memorable than anything involving any of the human characters.

Everything in between these scenes between the two horses, especially scenes that don't involve Joey at all, fails to work up any dramatic momentum whatsoever. A major problem is episodic structure of the film that fails to give us enough time with the human characters Joey comes across. This is the 2nd film this year (Ides of March) adapted from a play that clearly suffers from such structure. The soldier that rides Joey in the war, a father and daughter that encounter him, and even Joey's owner who predictably ends up going to war himself are just not given enough screen time develop in a way to really care about them.

In a way, the film is both too long and too short. It's too long in the sense that the human scenes really begin to drag.  But it's also too short in the sense that with a longer running time Spielberg could've developed the human characters more. He's never been one to reinvent the wheel when it comes to storytelling as most of his films are formulaic and borrow from other sources. What makes Spielberg's best stories stand out are the fascinating characters he delivers to us. Other than Joey and Topthorn, there are no such characters in this film and thus these human segments just fall flat.

Spielberg is at least still in top notch technical form. Period details are convincing. Many of the battlefield set pieces are suitably exciting. He brings along John Williams once again for another majestic score. The cinematography is astonishing. The film's final shot is especially unforgettable, and perhaps one of the best of Spielberg's career. It's just too bad that so much of the film fails to deliver. I'll remember the horses and not much else.

My Week With Marilyn (Simon Curtis) ***1/2

One of the most difficult things about doing a film about someone as iconic as Marilyn Monroe is finding someone who can appropriately fit the role. That doesn't mean, as we've seen with many other attempts, just finding someone who can look the part. In fact, Michelle Williams looks less the part than many others who have done it, but there's never been a better attempt at matching the magnetism that Marilyn Monroe brought to the screen.

As the title suggests, My Week With Marilyn focuses on a small period of time in Marilyn Monroe's (Michelle Williams) life. It is based on a pair of published diary accounts written by Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne). Clark had the opportunity to work with Marilyn Monroe on the film The Prince and the Showgirl, which Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) directed and starred in. The film follows how Clark's relationship with Monroe developed throughout the course of the film's production.

It's a challenging part for Williams. The film would absolutely not work without her giving a great performance. There are many scenes where characters talk about how great Marilyn looks on camera, while watching in awe at the scenes they filmed the previous day. That's a lot to live up to, but Michelle Williams is up to the task. Probably no one can ever match the screen presence that Marilyn Monroe had, but Williams comes amazingly close and completely commands attention every scene she's in.

I liked the idea that the film only shows glimpses into Monroe's life. We've seen so many biopics that all seem to have a standard formula, so this one is a pretty refreshing take on the genre. We see her vulnerability, how much trouble she causes on set for Olivier and other cast members, and bits of her troubled marriage to Arthur Miller. The film doesn't attempt to come up with a grand psychological explanation for her behavior, but just gives us a few suggestions here and there.

If there's a drawback here, it is the lead character. Colin Clark is not very interesting himself, especially when set against these other iconic characters. That's to be expected somewhat, but it still is a bit problematic since he's in nearly every scene and we're meant to care about his fate. There's a cute romantic subplot between him and a costume designer (Emma Watson), but it is underdeveloped and merely seems to serve as a screenplay contrivance to create some conflict.

Director Simon Curtis does a really good job of maintaining a consistent tone. There are some very dramatic moments to be sure, but the film has a whimsical feel to it and nicely avoids descending into depressing melodrama. The supporting cast is pretty solid, with Branagh especially good as the proud, great theatrical actor equally frustrated with Monroe's difficulties on the set and for his inability to match her presence on the screen. It's a fun, often fascinating glimpse into the life of a screen legend and Michelle Williams' marvelous performance carries the film.

Films Seen - 2012

Here are all the films I've seen that were officially released in 2012. If I've written a review of the film, a link has been provided.



Chronicle (Josh Trank) **1/2

The Grey (Joe Carnahan) ***

Haywire (Steven Soderbergh) ***

Red Tails (Anthony Hemingway) **

The Secret World of Arrietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi ) ***1/2

Wanderlust (David Wain) ***

The Woman in Black (James Watkins) **1/2