TOMBOY (France 2011) ***
Directed by Celine Sciamma

TOMBOY tells of the pleasant story of Laure (Zoe Heran) who poses as a boy for convenience when her family moves to a new town.  Her new friends believe her to be male and with reason too.  Laure dresses and acts like one and introduces herself as Mikael.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (UK/USA 2011) **
Directed by Simon Curtis

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, based on the two books my Colin Clark depicting the making of Marilyn Monroe’s 1957 film with Laurence Olivier is film assistant Clark’s vanity project spotlighting his success on the film set and his relationship with the at the time, most famous actress in film.

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (UK/USA 2011) ***1/2
Directed by Sarah Smith

It has been quite the spell since Aardman Studios released CHICKEN RUN, FLUSHED AWAY and the WALLACE AND GROMIT movies.  This time around, the Studios produce a 3D CG-animated comedy for Sony Pictures Animation and as expected is pure delight.

HUGO (USA 2011) **
Directed by Martin Scorcese

Based on Brian Sleznick’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret”, HUGO has been praised as Martin Scorcese’s masterpiece, but in reality, the film is an outrageously proud work that falls flat due to its slow pacing and monotonous storytelling.

THE MUPPETS (USA 2011) **
Directed by James Bobin

After a 12 year absence, THE MUPPETS are reunited by big fan Jason Segel who pitched with co-writer Nicholas Stoller of the script the film concept to Disney Studios.