Hello and a (somewhat belated) Happy New Year to you and all our fellow cinema lovers. I hope you are prepared for what many pundits are calling as the biggest year in movie history because it's safe to say we are. Not only does 2012 see the release of some the most hotly anticipated films in recent memory,this year also sees the official launch of the Guildhall Cinema's monthly Focus Group and Gloucester Cinematics film club. So if you are an avid cinema lover and want to have a say in what we screen or fancy chatting with like-minded people about films then check out the website to find more info on both.So, with some of the biggest films on the horizon for 2012, January is a chance for you to catch up with some cinematic gems originally released at the tail end of 2011. We kick off the month in style with the Golden Globe nominated My Week With Marilyn- an adaptation of the actual diaries of a young production assistant and his relationship with the insatiable Marilyn Monroe. Set during the summer of 1956, the film focuses on 23-year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) who at the time was determined to make in to the film business. He then found work as a lowly assistant on the Pinewood set of The Prince And The Showgirl, a film that famously united Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). This was also the time that Monroe was on honeymoon with her playwright husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott).When Arthur Miller left England, the coast was clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her routine of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. This is the story of what happened during that week.With a supporting cast including Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) and the marvellous Dame Judi Dench, the undoubted star of the show is of course Michelle Williams who captures both the magnetism and the vulnerability of Marilyn Monroe effortlessly. Her performance has already been dubbed 'award worthy', so much so that she has received nominations from Independent Spirit, London Film Critics and New York Film Critics Circle. Director Simon Curtis has also taken the effort to make the film as authentic as possible by using the very same studio that The Prince And The Showgirl was filmed in.
Poised for success at this year's Golden Globes with nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Kenneth Branagh) and Best Actress (Michelle Williams) don't miss the chance to see what is essentially one of the best performances by a leading lady of 2011.
Check out the trailer below:
My Week With Marilyn (15) runs from Tuesday 3rd - Thursday 12th January 2012.
