Kate Winslet

Wonder Wheel (2017)

 

On Coney Island in the 1950s, a lifeguard tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator, his beleaguered wife, and the visitor who turns their lives upside-down. 

Despite some beautiful period cinematography by Vittorio Storraro and an especially vivid performance by Kate Winslet this melodrama is quite stage-bound and somehow misses the tone for its story, appears to be a satire rather than a tragedy.

Titanic (1997)

Kate Winslet

(ph: Helmut Newton)

The Mountain Between Us (2017)

Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness.

Formulaic and predictable survival tale including a likewise corny romance has mainly some good beautiful landscape photography to go for it; no challenge for the two stars either. 

Kate Winslet

(ph: Peter Lindbergh)

Steve Jobs (2015)

Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.

Energetic, breathless tour-de-force character study easily makes one forget that it mostly consists of talking heads; Winslet and Fassbender deliver amazing performances.

Contagion (2011)

Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a worldwide epidemic as the CDC works to find a cure.

Realistic, grand-scale and star-cast catastrophe movie manages to keep multiple stories and locations  seamlessly in line with the major plot; however, the matter-of-fact approach underplays the doom of a pandemic.

Maltin***: "Pulse-pounding account...Scott Z. Burns' screenplay is scary  because it's all so credible. Soderbergh handles the material in utterly straightforward fashion; there's no poetry here."

Divergent (2014)

In a post-apocalyptic closed-in Chicago divided by factions based on virtues, a young teenager learns she's Divergent and won't fit in.

Fairly well made sci-fi thriller for teens thrills only in parts and the paramilitary brouhaha is disturbing; Shailene Woodley does her job well, though, in the lead role.

Maltin**1/2: "Enfrossing-enough adaptation..., although these youth-empowerment stories set in a dystopian future, like THE HUNGER GAMES, are starting to blur."

Titanic (1997)

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a procedure to have each other erased from their memories, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.

Complex and intriguing love drama playing with our sense of time and memory; well worth watching, but at times a strain putting the parts together. 

Halliwell*: "Another film with a beginning, middle and end, though not necessarily in that order; indeed, the beginning is the end. It is too fussy in its writing and direction to maintain interest in its shifting narrative."

Maltin***: "Ingenious, Oscar-winning screenplay by Charlie Kaufman...is extremely well executed by director Gondry (and cinematographer Ellen Kuras), though the film tends to cleverly dance around the roots of emotional and romantic pain rather than fully engage them. Carrey has never been better; Winslet is (as always) exceptional."

Titanic (1997)

On the set: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Winslet