Currently browsing the "Kelly Macdonald" tag.

Mini-Review: Dirt Music

Good actors in gorgeous settings without a cohesive story does not add up to a great movie. In this rom-dram from down under, Georgie (Kelly Macdonald – No Country for Old Men, Puzzle) is living in an insular small town in Western Australia with its most powerful resident Jim (David Wenham – Lord of the Rings, 300) who she’s not really that fond of any longer. One early morning while swimming nude she meets a hunk named Lu Fox (Garrett Hedlund – Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Mudbound) who’s out lobster fishing where he isn’t supposed to. But one thing leads to another and soon they’re romantically entangled. A tragedy haunts Lu and though Georgie is prepared to give everything up for him, her partner Jim doesn’t want to let her go. But when Lu leaves town to get away from Jim’s thugs, Georgie follows him to the ends of the earth.

Review: Puzzle

Directed by Marc Turtletaub, who produced Sundance faves Little Miss Sunshine and Sunshine Cleaning, Puzzle is the story of Agnes, a woman in her 40s who has yet to push the limits of her proscribed identity of wife and mother. Her life consists of taking care of her husband and two college-age sons and taking part in her local Catholic church. But when she receives a jigsaw puzzle for her birthday, it leads her to begin venturing out and finding that life has a lot more to offer. Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men, Boardwalk Empire ) is simply perfect as the awakening protagonist, putting together the pieces of her new life and realizing her own worth. It’s not a big film, but it is satisfying.

Anna Karenina

If ever there were a Chick Flick shoo in, this should be it. A tragic heroine foolishly throwing off her shackles for a forbidden love, and all wrapped up in really beautiful clothes — not to mention adapted from one of the greatest of all Russian novels. Anna Karenina stars Keira Knightley and is directed by Joe Wright who also made Atonement and Pride and Prejudice with her in the lead. In case you never read the book, the basic story is that Anna is married to a Russian aristocrat and high-ranking civil servant (Jude Law). They have a young son she adores, but a chance meeting with a handsome young army officer, Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), changes her very staid life in every way possible. It is love at first sight, and in late nineteenth century Russian society, even rich women had few rights and a long list of rules they were required to live by. Having a very visible affair was definitely not an option.