Reel Insight Episode 67: Kirsten Dunst

There were some big surprises and a few duds (of course) in this week's movie list.  However, the previous sections were also more fun than usual - check out a discussion of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and The Muppets.  Also, we seek advice on how to purge our DVD collections - anyone had success and managed to not regret sending away their DVDs?  It turns out Rach and I both treat them a bit like security blankets, even if we never manage to rewatch them.  Alas.  Enjoy!

New Movies with Kirsten Dunst this month:

Melancholia - Thankfully there has been a lot of buzz lately about this movie, though it is still available for rent on itunes (which is how I saw it).  I really expect that buzz will continue come Oscar time, particularly for visual effects, and perhaps for some acting awards for Ms. Dunst.  She plays Justine, a young women just married to Alexander Skarsgaard (seriously beautiful and kind in this - the opposite of his True Blood persona in many ways).  They've arrived at their reception, thrown by her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourgh) and brother in law (Keifer Sutherland).  It's wonderfully awkward and painful, but you watch Dunst going through the motions of trying to be normal and holding life together.  It turns out she suffers from terrible depression and a horrible family history of random evil.  The second half of the movie revolves around her sister, after Justine has completely fallen apart and gone into deep depression.  Meanwhile, the world might end as a gorgous star is on a collision course with earth.  We see the sisters reverse positions as Justine holds it together now that the worst has arrived and her sister falls apart.  Really wonderfully made.  Lars Von Trier makes some dreadful awful movies, but this one is particularly amazing and gorgeously shot.  Just go with it for a while and it pays off big time.  4.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Lover's Prayer - Dunst plays the daughter of a Russian princess who is a uber-tease trying to get men to swoon.  She befriends the neighbor son (Nick Stahl) and draws him into her web.  She's beautiful but the teasing is terribly annoying. Dreadful movie and painful acting.  Skip it. 1 of 5 stars/lambs

Deeply - An odd mixture of stories that I should probably rewatch, but I won't.  Lynn Redgrave lives on a coastal island (off Maine, I think), and is telling a story to a distraught teenager who has come to the island to recover from the death of her boyfriend.  The story follows Dunst and the curse that was put on the island causing the fish to disappear every 50 years and wreak havoc on the island.  2 of 5 stars/lambs (only doesn't get a 1 because I'm not sure I fully understood what was going on).