Helen Mirren

Helen MIrren’s ‘Woman in Gold’ Glitters

May 16, 2015 By Thelma Leave a Comment

All that glitters is Helen Mirren’s performance

Helen Mirren has become like Meryl Streep: nearly every time she has a leading role a little alarm goes off that signals “Oscar.” In this deeply emotional drama with a surprisingly light touch from Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn), Dame Helen plays Maria Altmann. Who? The Jewish Austrian refugee living in Los Angeles who seeks the restitution of her aunt’s portrait by Gustav Klimt, then the jewel in the crown of Austria’s Belvedere Museum, a property transfer curtesy of the Nazis. Because of Altmann, that painting now hangs in the Neue Galerie on East 86th Street for you to see every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Its subject, Adele Bloch-Bauer has been liberated in perpetuity.

Altmann walked away from her wealthy, cultured parents – and their portrait of Aunt Adele – with nothing more than the clothes on her back and her husband, an opera singer, at her side. In this screenplay written by Alexi Kaye Campbell, the lushness of Altmann’s lost past, as gilded as her aunt’s portrait, contrasts with a present that unfolds with a thriller’s tension. When Altmann’s sister dies, Maria discovers letters that reveal a claim on the painting. She enlists the very green lawyer Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds, cast against type) to pursue her claim on the $100 million masterpiece. As it turns out, he has skin in the game, too: he is the grandson of the influential Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg.
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Need to Meet: Greta Gerwig

April 16, 2011 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Gerwig: The American Kate Winslet

(Marie Claire, April 2011)

Downtown darling Greta Gerwig, 27, cements her status as the new It chick in the big-budget remake of Arthur. Here, she rocks the MC questionnaire.

MC: What’s your best feature?

GG: My smile. Not because it’s so beautiful, but because it’s genuine. I have trouble fake smiling.

MC: Best attribute?

GG: My ability to be in the moment — which is also my worst attribute. I have trouble making plans.

MC: What’s your hidden talent?

GG: I’m a really great bridge player. My dad taught all three of his kids.

MC: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

GG: I’m not, nor have I ever been, cool. That idea is out there because I’ve done so many indie films. But I’m much more of a musical-theater kid — I know every word to Starlight Express and Cats. [Read more…]

Movie Review: Arthur

April 6, 2011 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Us Rating: ***

Russell Brand plays Arthur, a lovable alcoholic heir in NYC best explained by his aging nanny (a tart Helen Mirren): “He’s merely shaped like an adult.” The spoiled billionaire gets a wake-up call when his chilly mother threatens to freeze his trust fund. Her ultimatum: Arthur must marry domineering social climber Susan (a deliciously deceitful Jennifer Garner) to keep the cash.

Arthur accepts the offer — but then immediately falls for a free-spirited tour guide (Greta Gerwig). The hugely talented Brand nails his witty one-liners, such as when he says Susan’s lips make her look “like a sexy clown.” Garner embraces her inner bitch as his comic foil, and Gerwig (Greenberg) has a refreshing honesty that suits her softhearted working girl.

When the plot goes bigger than Brand’s personality, the movie runs off-course (a scene in which Susan’s contractor dad threatens Arthur by shoving his face toward a table saw is just uncomfortable). But largely, this is a laugh-out-loud romp — and the funnyman’s best screen role to date